Chapter 1: The Plan
Even Thomas couldn't help but laugh.
He just HAD to laugh.
He had to LAUGH at Emily joking about how bossy she had been to him. He COULDN'T tell her off or explain to her how irritated he felt when she did so.
Thomas didn't hate Emily, not in a single sense of the word. On the contrary, he had really come to love the Scottish Stirling as a sister. Sure, their friendship had gotten off to a rocky start, but it had grown in the first several months that they had known each other. Whenever they had spent time together then, Emily had really loved to spend time with him and Percy, chatting it up. In those days, she had seemed more like a fellow tank engine than the small tender engine that she was- and the two tank engines had loved her for it, accepting her and forming a trio of best friendship.
But now that friendship was strained, and the worst part was that Thomas and Percy didn't know why. All they knew was that, almost right before their eyes, the engine they viewed as a sister had become...distant. Distant and bossy.
Thomas had been the first one to experience it, when Emily had bossed him about days before a large snowfall hit the Island of Sodor. She had scolded him for going too fast, which had only irritated him, but then she had made him angry when she had scolded him for simply taking a moment to talk to some children- so angry that he swore not to listen to her anymore. Everyone knew the rest of the story: Sir Topham Hatt had told Emily to pass his message along and inform Thomas to wear his snowplough, Thomas ignored her believing she was only bossing him about, and had learned the hard way- getting stuck in the snow and having to be rescued by Emily- that she had only been trying to pass along his controller's message.
He had been grateful to hear her own up, to accidentally leaving out the fact that it was Sir Topham Hatt's idea, and he had been relieved to see her shed her bossy attitude in exchange for her real, sisterly self.
"Thank you for owning up." He had told her, as the workmen fitted his snowplough, "You're a good friend."
"That's alright." She had said, sweetly, "You're a good friend, too." Then she had smirked, "But next time, just do as I say."
He had laughed.
He just HAD to laugh.
No rebukes, just laughter.
In all honesty, he thought that she was just joking.
But then the storm had happened, and he had witnessed her being bossy to both his other friends and the workmen on her way to Farmer McColl's. Not only that, bossiness turned to being mean: Molly was made fun of on her first day, Toby and Percy crashed because Emily had wanted to be a queen, he and Percy were told that they might as well not show up for an important inspection, she hadn't welcomed him in her shed at Knapford, she had ruined his milk delivery, and so many other events. Not even being given a spot on the Steam Team seemed to help.
Gone was Emily the Stirling Engine, replaced by Emily the Bossy Boiler.
All around Thomas, Percy and several others tried to be patient, hold out hope. But Thomas knew that, maybe if he hadn't laughed, maybe they wouldn't have to wait. He tried to put on a smile every time he and Emily passed one another on his branch line, but inside he frowned. Aside from moments like that, she never talked to him and Percy anymore- Emily was practically a stranger, a mere coworker, around them.
And Thomas hated it.
….
A familiar whistle snapped Thomas from his usual musings, and he looked up. Seeing Emily up ahead, in a siding near a water tower, he sighed and rolled his eyes, Here we go again.
"Thomas, how many times do I have to say it? Slow down!" Emily scolded, frowning as he approached, "You know you're bumping your passengers."
"I know, Emily." He said as he passed by, keeping his eyes forward, "I was just-"
"There's no excuses for a poor job done." She interrupted with an annoyed huff, "All it takes is one passenger to give Sir Topham Hatt a rude remark," She rolled her eyes, "and our whole railway will get closed down!"
Thomas said nothing, but of course, Emily smiled with approval as he passed by, thinking he had gotten HER message while she hadn't gotten HIS.
Once he was around the bend, and out of sight, he let out a sad sigh, mumbling, "What happened to you, Emily…?"
Of course, he knew it was pointless to ask. Others have tried, he knew, but Emily always avoided the question.
Behind him, Annie spoke, "You shouldn't listen to her, Thomas. You know we will warn you if you're going to fast."
"I know, but Emily doesn't care, Annie." Thomas responded.
His tone of voice was quick to let the coaches know that he was in no mood for conversation.
A few minutes of silent puffing later, Thomas soon saw the next station come into sight and got ready to apply his brakes, like clockwork. However, looking at the other platform, his eyes brightened when he saw Toby with Henrietta. Finally coming to a stop, Thomas smiled at the steam tram.
"Hi, Toby." Thomas said, trying to be cheerful and forget about Emily for a moment, "What are you doing here?"
"There's not too much work to do around the quarry today, so Sir Topham Hatt asked me to help take any extra passengers you might have."
"Annie and Clarabel ARE overloaded today..." Thomas considered, "Are you going the same way?"
"Sure am!" Toby grinned, "Was hoping to catch up for a bit with you, anyway. It's been a while."
"You're not wrong." Thomas laughed. In all honesty, he felt that he needed a bit of cheerful company.
In minutes, their passengers were ready and the guard blew his whistle. Being a steam tram, Toby's casual pace was a bit slower so Thomas slowed himself down a bit to keep even with him as they talked.
"How's Mavis?" Thomas asked, "I heard you and her are still together."
"It's a bit strange, being in love with a diesel," Toby sighed, "but I wouldn't trade her for anything. I mean, you know very well that she's almost like a steam tram herself."
Thomas hummed in thought, "What HAS it been like these past three months, being with her most of the time?"
"A lot really hasn't changed, to be honest: She STILL likes to challenge me to shunting contests during work, and let me tell you, it's currently a split down the middle as to who's the overall winner." Toby laughed, "She and I are still like best friends in every way, but if one thing's changed, I've started getting a better night's sleep."
"A better night's sleep?" Thomas snorted, "You two are in love, and the only thing you can do is SLEEP?"
"I can if she sneaks down my branch line in the middle of the night, visiting and staying with me in my shed, buffer to buffer." Toby smiled to himself at the memory, "OR if I stay with her at the quarry and just...know she's there next to me."
"Ah, I see."
"Speaking of sleep, though." Toby suddenly looked at Thomas, "You don't look so chipper, yourself. What's up, Thomas?"
Thomas frowned, "It's...nothing."
"Thomas," Toby deadpanned, "we've been friends for, what? Ten or so years? Percy and I both know when you're lying."
"Okay, then I won't lie you." Thomas surrendered, "Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You might get...what is it called?" Thomas found the term, "You might get a Vietnam flashback."
"Are you calling me old?" Toby scowled.
Thomas looked at his friend's wooden frame, "Well…"
"Out with it!"
Thomas raised an eyebrow, challenging him, "It's Emily."
Just as Thomas had warned him, Toby's face scrunched up with a flashback- a painful Queen Emily flashback. As expected, there was only one thing he could say,
"Oh."
"Yeah…" Thomas sighed.
"What happened this time?" Toby asked, "Bossing you about again?"
Thomas nodded, "I was bumping my passengers again, apparently."
"I have to say, I've been a member of several railways," Toby closed his eyes, "but even I have to admit that I've never seen anything like it before. It's a shame really: Emily's a beautiful engine, and she's got so much potential. She's also really good with children, and Sir Topham Hatt lets her take them to school often. But when it comes to engines, she's…" He sighed.
"She's a lost cause, isn't she?" Thomas said.
Toby was silent for a moment, "I know that Duck thinks so, and he refuses to speak to her at all. Mavis always argues with him when he visits the quarry and it comes up. She was always the optimist." He glanced at the tank engine, "What about a lot of you guys?"
"Percy's holding out hope, but Edward's stopped speaking to her like Duck has." Thomas informed, "I don't know about Henry, Gordon, and James. I just know that Harvey doesn't like encountering her either, but he practically lives by a hippocratic oath as a crane engine." He looked down, "I feel like I've lost hope, myself."
"Have you even tried to do anything?" Toby asked.
"No, but I know others have. Trying to be nice, socializing, doing EVERYTHING they can think of. I even know Molly and Rosie have tried to befriend her, you know they're forgiving engines, but she won't have any of it."
Toby said nothing.
"It's on my mind all the time, the question." Thomas rolled his eyes, "Where did she go, the Emily I met? She won't say anything, and I just. Don't. Know." He sighed, "I'm sorry, Toby, we're supposed to be catching up, and I'm just blabbering about a lost cause."
"Maybe it's not." Toby suddenly said.
"Huh?" Thomas raised an eyebrow, "What do you me-?"
All at once, Toby suddenly stopped dead in his tracks- literally.
"Toby, what are you doing?" Thomas fearfully stopped next to him, "The passengers will be furious!"
"Just follow my lead." Toby winked.
True to Thomas's fears, the windows on Henrietta, Annie and Clarabel all opened and the passengers peaked their heads out. It was the middle of the summer season, so most of the people riding were tourists. Despite the beauty of Sodor, however, many of them look irritated that they stopped.
"What's going on here?" One man, an American judging by his accent, asked.
"Why did we stop?" A woman questioned in an Irish accent.
"It's hard to enjoy Sodor on the move." Toby answered, gesturing with his eyes at the lovely meadow they were currently in, with lush green trees dotting the landscape and birds and butterflies everywhere, "So my friend and I figured that you ladies and gentlemen would like the chance to stretch your legs and take better pictures."
To Thomas's shock, it was as if Toby was a wizard using magic: All at once, most if not all faces turned from irritated to considering, and then finally to intrigue as the doors on their coaches opened and many tourists got out. Several children cheered, running out to frolic among the flowers while their parents stood and sat on the hill to watch them. Other passengers grouped together with cameras, and one man- an artist, Thomas guessed- even pulled out a sketchbook.
"Fifteen minutes, everyone." Toby called, then looked at Thomas, "And now we can talk."
"We were talking before, weren't we?" Thomas was confused.
"But now you can focus on what I'm saying, fully and without excuse, so listen up." Toby grinned, "Thomas, I don't believe in lost causes."
"What do you mean?"
"Before you give up all hope on Emily, I have an idea for how you could try to deal with her bossy buffers."
"You do?" For the first time, something involving Emily made Thomas's eyes brighten.
"It's up to you to come up with the details, but what if...Okay, you said that you, Molly, Percy, and Rosie tried to just be nice and get closer to her, right?" Toby asked, "But it didn't work?"
Thomas nodded.
"What if, instead of being nice," Toby looked around, "you turned the tables on her."
"Turned the tables?" Thomas frowned, but then his eyes widened, "Y-you mean...be bossy to HER?"
"By being nice, you're submitting to her too easily, and she's rolling right over you." Toby reasoned, "By being bossy, however, you'll be using reverse psychology. She won't see it coming!"
"Toby, that's…" Thomas was unsure, "I don't know. I...I can't be bossy to anyone. I'm cheeky, sometimes, but that's just to joke around. I can't actually, SERIOUSLY boss someone around like she does. Besides, even if I do that, she'll catch on eventually, she'll adapt-"
"She's not bossy CONSTANTLY, either." Toby pointed out, "And neither will you: be bossy, be nice, be bossy, be bossy, be nice be nice, use a random pattern."
"I don't want to make things worse…"
"Would you prefer things as they are now?" Toby raised an eyebrow, "Let me tell you this: When I told Mavis I loved her, she flat-out rejected me the first time, and she wanted me to KNOW she wasn't interested- several times, she even slept in a siding instead of the shed. She was practically hostile with me for so long, as if confessing to her had made her my enemy. No matter what I did- doing her work for her, complimenting her, even helping her out once when she crashed- she pretty much let out friendship be run into the ground."
"What did you do?"
"I turned the tables. I stopped doing nice things for her, I stopped speaking to her, I pretty much showed her, 'Okay, fine, our friendship's over.' At first, nothing happened and I felt worse than ever, but eventually she took notice and then SHE was the one to try and talk to ME." Toby sighed, "I kept giving her space, letting her have what she wanted. Eventually, though, she had had enough, especially since Bill and Ben are the only other engines who live there with her on a regular basis: She started sleeping in the shed with me again, trying desperately to make conversation and she eventually began to constantly ask me if I needed help on MY work."
He smiled at Thomas, "Maybe it was cruel, but I let her see my perspective, let her know how much I truly valued her friendship and how I felt when she did the same thing to me. Eventually, after about a month, things were back to normal. It was still another week before I admitted what I was doing," He chuckled, "In hindsight, her biffing me into the shed's buffers and then kissing me wasn't the norm, but it was as a good a way as any to start a relationship."
Thomas burst out laughing, "It COULDN'T have worked, just like that. That was...wow, Toby, just...wow…"
"I know." Toby laughed, "It's hard to believe, but it worked, and it can work for you with Emily- in a sibling sort of way."
Thomas considered it with a frown, "It'll be risky, but...I guess it's worth one last try to get through to her." He groaned, "I really should've told her off during that snowplough incident."
"Don't blame yourself, Thomas." Toby sighed, "It might not have helped anyway."
"It might've made things just a BIT easier…" Thomas glanced at him, "Okay...so...turning the tables, huh? Where should I start?"
As Toby considered it, the fifteen-minute mark passed and the passengers began to climb into the coaches again. The engines had already set off down the line once more before Toby grinned.
"Perhaps tomorrow," His grin turned Thomas-level cheeky, "you should start with something small…"
….
They finished the rest of the passenger run with no problems, and arrived only a few minutes late at Knapford. Sure enough, Sir Topham Hatt was there and waiting to berate the two, only to confronted by the tourists who claimed that they enjoyed the unexpected stop, as it allowed them to truly enjoy a bit of Sodor's countryside. In the end, the dumbfounded controller had no reason to punish or scold them, and both Toby and Thomas burst out laughing once they were a safe enough distance away from the platform.
After that, Toby and Thomas finalized a few last details of their plan before the steam tram parted ways with his friend, having more jobs to do around the island. Toby returned Henrietta to the coach shed on his branch line, then went about doing various other jobs such as hauling a milk delivery for Farmer McColl.
He was just getting over Gordon's Hill when he saw Emily coming up the other side, pulling a line of freight cars.
Might as well… He thought, then rang his bell, "Hello, Emily."
"Hello, Toby." Emily whistled as she came closer, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just pulling this milk to the dairy."
"Those cars are full!" Emily seemed horried, "What are you doing, Toby! You have to go faster and hurry up, or else it will spoil!"
Aaand there goes the nice Emily. Toby rolled his eyes, "I've done this for a long time, Emily, don't worry. I've never let the milk spoil."
"Maybe they should get a faster engine for once, just to be safe. You're just like Thomas." Emily rolled her eyes, rushing past, "There's always a first time!"
And just like that, she was gone.
Toby sighed, used to such remarks but disappointed that it was Emily saying it, If I didn't know any better, I could've sworn that was GORDON talking…
As he had said, Toby delivered the milk on time and without any problems. For the rest of the day, he was able to go about his other jobs- delivering chickens to the docks, helping Edward shunt cars at Wellsworth, and even serving as Henry's back engine for a freight train of logs- and each one took awhile to finish. By the time he was finally done, he was worn out and the sky was orange and red from the sunset.
However, he smiled when he "realized" that he just so happened to be quite a distance away from his shed- and he knew he didn't feel like travelling long distances at night. Therefore, he decided to puff to the quarry instead. When he arrived, the workmen were mostly gone and the machinery was silent, the only real sound being Bill and Ben snoring away in their shed. Toby just rolled his eyes, and instead puffed further into the quarry to where another shed stood alone.
Inside was the beautiful black-and-yellow diesel that he loved so much, fast asleep. With a cheeky grin, Toby puffed up and pressed his buffers against hers, leaning forward and softly kissing her.
Mavis woke up with a jolt, rolling back a bit in a defensive manner. However, when she saw it was Toby, her face flushed with embarrassment, "S-sorry...Toby."
"It's alright." Toby rolled inside her shed, "So...is this spot taken?"
"You know it's yours." Mavis buffered back up to him and sighed with content, nuzzling him, "You didn't want to go back to your shed?"
"You know I'd never miss a chance to spend the night here with you." Toby returned her nuzzle.
"I know, and I'm grateful." She chuckled, "Bill and Ben argue too much to really be fun in a shunting challenge, and today just wore me out."
"Incredible: One day I'm a fusspot to you, and the next-" Toby laughed at her glare, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
"Yeah, uh-huh, sure." She rolled her eyes, but then kissed him anyway, "So...anything interesting happen today?"
Toby thought of the passenger run, and chuckled, "Nothing much. Just catching up with Thomas…"
And here we go! This isn't the first fanfiction I've ever written for TTTE, but it's definitely the first I've ever published. Anyway, I'd like to thank AaronCottrell97 for inspiring me to get back into this fandom- in fact, it was the story "Thomas and Emily's Relationship" that inspired this work.
Anyway, since I get quick and easy writer's block, I'm gonna try and ask you guys for help: How should Thomas begin turning the tables on Emily? Remember, it has to be something small to start off with.