A/N If you happen to be a new reader, I'm not British, they are, so don't flame me for my word choice. I tried.

Hey, it's me again, Thomas. This time I shall tell of when I had trouble with coal.

It was a beautiful morning on the Island of Sodor.

My blue paint sparkled in the sunshine as I puffed happily along my branch line with Annie and Clarabel. I was feeling very pleased with myself. My paintwork looked quite good, I thought. Someone told me once I was rather vain that day.

'Hello, Thomas," whistled Percy. "You look splendid!"

"Yes, indeed," I boasted. "Blue is the only proper color for an engine." I've been known to exhibit some ego. My friends disagreed with my line.

"Oh, I don't know. I like my brown paint," said Toby.

"I've always been green. I wouldn't want to be any other color, either," added Percy.

"Well, well, anyway," I huffed, "blue is the only color for a- for a Really Useful Engine. Everyone knows that."

Percy said no more. He just grinned at Toby.

Later, I was resting when Percy arrived. A large hopper was loading freight cars full of coal.

I was still being cheeky. Most tank engines seem to be that way, if not faceless. "Careful," I warned. "Watch out for those silly cars."

"Go on, Go on," muttered the cars.

"And by the way," I went on. "Those buffers don't look very safe to me."

The last load of coal poured down.

"Help, I'm choking!" I cried. "Get me out!"

Percy was worried, but he couldn't help laughing. My smart blue paint was covered in coal dust from smoke box to bunker.

"Ha, ha!" chuckled Percy. "You don't look Really Useful now, Thomas. You look really disgraceful!"

"I'm not disgraceful, " I choked. "You did that on purpose. Get me out!" I was angry at my friend.

I was filthy. It took so long to clean me that I wasn't in time for my next train. Toby had to take Annie and Clarabel.

"Poor Thomas," whispered Annie to Clarabel. They were most upset. I was near enough to know what was said.

I was grumpy in the shed that night.

Toby thought it was a great joke, but Percy was cross with me for thinking he had made my paint dirty on purpose. "Fancy a Really Useful Blue Engine like Thomas becoming a disgrace to Sir Topham Hatt's railway," I heard him say of me.

Next day I was feeling more cheerful as I watched Percy bring his cars from the junction. The cars were heavy and Percy was tired.

'Have a drink," said his driver. "Then you'll feel better." I was present and that's how I knew that.

The water column stood at the end of the siding with the unsafe buffers.

Suddenly, Percy found that he couldn't stop. The buffers didn't stop him either. "Ooh," wailed Percy. "Help!" The buffers were broken and Percy was wheel deep in coal.

It was time for me to leave. I had seen everything. "Now, Percy has learned his lesson, too," I chuckled to myself.

That night we made up from our quarrel.

'I didn't cause your accident on purpose, Thomas," whispered Percy. "You do know that, don't you?"

"Of course," I replied. "And I'm sorry I teased you. Your green paint looks splendid again, too. In the future, we'll both be more careful of coal." Seeing Percy covered in coal, too, led me to make up with my friend.

A/N I followed show canon, mostly, because that's how I grew up.