A/N: This chapter and the next will be a change of pace so I can start introducing my other OCs. Rather than focusing on Michaela, this time I'd like to branch out to other parts of Sodor and focus on the Steam Team members instead. I will go to other areas of the island in the future and visit more canon characters as I bring in more OCs to work alongside them. But don't worry—chapters seven and eight will be about Michaela again. After that, I'll introduce another OC and move right back to Michaela's story in this pattern, since she's the main character here. Also, I probably should have just said this in a much earlier chapter and not accidentally waited so long to put it in until now, but Michaela's name is pronounced "MEE-kay-luh."

Sigh... I really hope you Irish readers/those of you who live in Ireland like this chapter, and more specifically my OC. I'm a bit nervous about how she turned out... as in apparently I can write a (terrible) Scottish accent, but I have no clue where to begin with an Irish one, so I didn't. This character's name is pronounced "Enya" in English.

The sun was beginning to rise on the island of Sodor, and *Rebecca smiled as she opened her eyes and glanced over at Gordon, who was sleeping peacefully next to her in his berth at Tidmouth Sheds. Henry was beginning to stir on the other side of the big blue engine, and Nia yawned and opened her eyes from where she sat next to Henry. Edward, James, and Thomas were still asleep, but Percy and Emily were wide awake and ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Some of the engines began to wake the others when they saw the Fat Controller's car drive up to the sheds. He got out and walked up to the Steam Team, who had all snapped to attention.

Sir Topham Hatt straightened up, looking rather important. "I have an announcement to make. Edward… as you know, things have been getting rather busy on your branch line."

"Yes sir," the blue tender engine responded, trying to ignore James whispering to Thomas about him being "too old".

"Well, I have good news. I have purchased an engine from Ireland that will be arriving at Brendam Docks in about a half hour or so. She will help with goods traffic on the line, and I expect that you will all make her feel welcome when you see her."

"Yes sir," all the engines responded this time.

After the Fat Controller had left, one by one, all the engines began to leave Tidmouth Sheds to start their jobs for the day.

Edward was the last to leave, and as he puffed onto the turntable, James called out, "See you later, scrappy!"

Edward was hurt by the insult, but he brushed it off with a sigh and went to go work on his branch line.

When Edward arrived at Brendam Docks to pick up his first load of trucks, he was surprised to see a large, strange-looking engine waiting there. Her livery was a bright sea green color, and the number 66 had been painted onto her cab. Whether she was a steam engine or a diesel, Edward couldn't tell.

He puffed up to her and smiled politely. "Hello, I'm Edward. What's your name?"

The engine lifted her gaze and smiled back shyly. "I'm Eithne," she said with a light Irish accent.

Edward realized that she was the engine who was going to be assisting him on his branch line. He wasn't too sure what to think of her, but she seemed gentle and friendly.

Sir Topham Hatt arrived at the docks a few minutes later to speak with Eithne about her job on the Brendam Branch Line. As he watched her in silence, Edward suddenly felt the flames in his firebox increase in intensity, before dying back down again. He blushed and looked away from Eithne. Why was he suddenly feeling this way about her? He had never felt like that before around any other engine.

As the two both went to collect a goods train and get working, Edward noticed that Eithne used steam to power herself and begin moving, but as soon as she began to pick up speed, she stopped putting out steam, and the hum of an ancient diesel engine could be heard coming from inside of her.

Once they had left Brendam Docks, Edward finally decided to ask her. "Eithne, pardon me for asking, but… what kind of engine are you?"

She glanced over at him and let out a chuckle. "I knew you'd ask. Everybody wants to know when they first meet me. I'm part steamie and diesel. My main power comes from the diesel engine, but as an experiment, they gave me steam power too. It helps me to start moving, and it also keeps me going in overload situations."

"Wow. So… which one are you then?"

"Yes."

"'Yes?'"

"I am both a steam engine and a diesel." Eithne went to smile, but it suddenly fell into a frown. "I… I wasn't always treated kindly because of it… The steam engines I met hated me for being part diesel, and the diesels despised me for being a 'steamie', too."

Edward began to feel sad for her. He wasn't always liked by some of the other engines either, but for someone to be hated just because of what they looked like on the outside… It felt so wrong.

He looked over at Eithne and realized that there was more to her than just her appearance. Although her face seemed to radiate an optimistic approach to life, Eithne's eyes were sad and weary, and the smile on her face seemed almost delicate and a bit forced, as if too much grief would make it disappear at a moment's notice.

From that moment on, Edward resolved to try and take away that sadness by making her as happy as he possibly could.

Later that day, Eithne was taking a load of freight to Brendam Docks by herself. She had gotten pretty used to the layout of the branch line by this point, and she was enjoying her first day on Sodor so far.

Salty and Porter happily greeted her as she dropped off her train and went to pick up a load of coal. But as Eithne buffered up to the trucks, they suddenly bumped into her and spilled coal onto the ground.

When Eithne looked back to see what had happened, a black diesel oiled out onto the track next to her and scoffed. "And what are you supposed to be?"

"E-excuse me?" she stammered, shocked at how rude he was.

The diesel sniffed. "Are you a diesel, or one of those 'steamies'?"

Eithne took a deep breath. "I'm both a diesel and a steam engine. Why does it matter so much to you?"

The diesel gave her an evil smirk and blew out a cloud of black smoke at her as he drove away. "So long as you're a steamie, you won't be expecting any sort of alliance with me."

Eithne blinked back tears as she watched him go. Once she had left Brendam Docks and there was nobody around to see her, she began to cry softly.

When they stopped to drop off some coal at the shunting yard in Suddery, Eithne's driver got out of her cab to comfort her. After a few minutes had passed, she opened her eyes and tearfully asked her driver, "Why…? Why c-can't the other engines accept me? And all just b-because I'm a blend of both kinds?"

He sat down on her bufferbeam and gently wiped a tear off of her cheek with his sleeve. "I wish I knew, Eithne. Perhaps… I could speak to Sir Topham Hatt about it?"

She was silent for a moment. "No… I've been through this before, and every time I told somebody, they just told me to ignore the other engines. I'm afraid the same thing will happen again…" More tears began to pour out of Eithne's eyes.

Just then, she heard a whistle sound from nearby and looked up to see a small blue tank engine with the number 1 painted on his side coming down the track.

The engine stopped when he saw Eithne, and he was gazing at her with curiosity. "Hello! Are you new here? I've never seen you before… In fact, I've never seen an engine like you in my entire life."

She smiled sadly, attempting to hide her pain. "Most people haven't. I'm the only one of my kind, because I was an experiment."

"Really?" the tank engine asked. "What kind of experiment?"

Eithne hesitated, fearing how the engine would respond. "...One that made it so I can move under steam power… and diesel."

Much to her surprise and relief, the engine's eyes brightened. "So you're a diesel and a steam engine? That's incredible!"

"R-really?"

He smiled warmly. "Of course it is! I'm Thomas."

"I'm Eithne. I came here from Ireland to work on Edward's Branch Line."

"So you've met him already? He's a kind engine. You're very lucky to be working with him."

Eithne's cheeks began to turn pink, and she could suddenly feel her diesel engine heating up a little. "Oh…?"

Thomas's grin increased. "Uh-huh. Well, I have to go to Brendam Docks now, but it's nice to meet you, Eithne!"

"Thank you, Thomas. I'm glad to meet you, too."

Eithne's driver climbed up into her cab as she watched Thomas leave. "Now that you have another friend who really likes you for you, are you ready to continue with this coal delivery?"

She smiled. "Yes, I am."

It was getting to be sunset when Eithne and Edward finally saw each other again long enough to stop and talk.

"I'm going to sleep at Tidmouth Sheds now… but Eithne, I just realized that you don't have a place to sleep yet," said Edward.

"That's alright. I can find a shed to stay in."

"Are you sure?" Edward had a look of concern on his face. "If you want, you could stay at Tidmouth in my place…"

As much as Eithne appreciated the offer, she was worried about what the other engines there would think of her. "No, thank you. I think I'll be able to find a place to sleep before the night's over."

"Okay, then… Do you need me to help you find a shed?"

"It's alright, I can find one by myself. You go rest up—there's still so much for us to do here tomorrow," she said, trying to be as polite as possible so as to not hurt his feelings.

Edward looked like he wanted to say more, but he respected Eithne's decision, and the two sat in an awkward silence for a moment before he finally broke it again.

"Alright, well… Good night, Eithne," he said with a gentle smile and puffed away to Tidmouth Sheds.

Eithne went to look for a place to sleep, but no matter where she went, something always happened that sent her searching again. **First, she tried sleeping down at Brendam Docks, but Salty began to sing a sea shanty in his sleep—making it impossible for Eithne to get any rest!

She left after a half hour of trying to fall asleep and went up to the China Clay Pits, but there was no room for her to stay. As Eithne traveled down the line, she noticed that a track led into the forest and wondered if she could just sleep there. But when she had gotten settled for the night, the forest seemed to come to life with hooting owls.

Wearily, Eithne trudged up the branch line and scanned her surroundings for a shed. By the time she reached Wellsworth, she was struggling to stay awake. Just then, Eithne heard the hum of a diesel from somewhere nearby, and a little green-and-yellow diesel boxcab rolled up to her.

"Hello!" he greeted her cheerily. "I'm Philip! Who are you? What are you doing here? Why are you still awake at this time of night?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." She yawned.

"Me? Well, I was about to go to sleep in my shed, but then I heard somebody coming up this way, and that somebody turned out to be you."

"A… shed?" Eithne murmured drowsily.

"Yes. Wait, don't you have a place to sleep? Ooh, I know! Do you want to sleep in my shed tonight?" Philip asked excitedly.

As much as Eithne didn't enjoy how talkative he was, she really did need a place to sleep, and so she agreed. But once they were settled in Wellsworth Sheds and Eithne's crew had left her, Philip immediately began talking.

"So, you didn't tell me your name yet? I heard your driver call you 'Eithne'. That's a nice name. Do you have a number? What is it?"

"My number… is 66…" she said sleepily.

"66? Cool! Mine is 68. We're so close to each other in numbers! Does yours have a story behind it? I'm sure mine does, but I don't know what it is yet."

"Philip," Eithne began, but the little boxcab interrupted her.

"Wait, you have an accent! I like it a lot! Where are you from? I'm from America. I used to have lots of friends there too, you know…"

When Edward saw Eithne the next day, she looked very tired indeed.

"Good morning! Did you find a place to sleep last night?" he asked her.

"More or less," she responded with a yawn. "I stayed at Wellsworth Sheds with a chatty little diesel boxcab named Philip, and he wouldn't stop talking all night. I wonder where he gets enough energy to stay up without any need of sleep…"

Edward frowned. "Oh, yes… Philip. I'm sure that if you ask him, he would probably let you get some rest next time. That is, if you plan on staying there with him. You know, you could always take my place at Tidmouth Sheds if you really need it…"

Eithne wanted to be able to sleep that night, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to find another shed where its inhabitants would accept her and treat her kindly. She decided to take Edward's advice and ask Philip to allow her some time to rest later that evening.

"I'll be fine, thank you, Edward. You're very considerate of others' needs, especially mine. I appreciate that."

Edward blushed. "...You're welcome, Eithne. Since you're tired, how about I help you with your jobs for today?"

"I thought I was supposed to be helping you?"

"I guess we'll just have to help each other, then."

The pair burst out laughing, and Edward and Eithne got straight to work, smiling and gazing sweetly at one another as they did.

Eithne had finally found friends that liked her for more than just what she was: who she was, and the smile on her face was more genuine and pure than ever before thanks to Edward.

A/N: I named Eithne after the Irish singer Enya, who I adore. Eithne's basis is the 1924 Kitson-Still locomotive, an experimental steam/diesel hybrid. Unfortunately, the real life engine was scrapped when Kitson and Company closed in 1934. In this story, however, Eithne was not scrapped and was instead sent to work in Ireland. There, she was finally given a name instead of being called by her number all the time (said number being a fictional one that I gave her), and Eithne worked there right up until Sir Topham Hatt purchased her. She is also a little bit smaller than her basis was in real life. I know that there's already an engine on Sodor with the number 66 (carried by Whiff), but I guess they can just share numbers or something.

*I redesigned the layout of Tidmouth Sheds, as well as some of the timeline of Seasons 21 and 22... Okay, I actually altered Season 22 so much, it's really just become Michaela's story at this point. Instead of crashing into the sheds during Season 21, The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor takes place during what would've been Season 22, before Confusion Without Delay happens. As a result, the sheds get two new berths added for Nia and Rebecca (who has been purchased by Sir Topham Hatt and is on her way to Sodor at this point in time), and Edward and Henry get to stay at Tidmouth as original members of the Steam Team.

**Yes, this part of the story is loosely based off of the Season 21 episode, A Shed For Edward.