A/N: Okay, this one took a lot of research into Scottish traditions, and I had to push my way past some writer's block, so again, I apologize for posting a day late. Apparently, I've had a thing for animals lately—specifically lost ones—and it's carried over to this chapter as well.
In response to Eliot Reader's review: That's cool; I didn't know about the heroine of Sodor. Michaela's exact role will be revealed bit by bit once she realizes just what's happened to her, and how to summon and control what she's been given.
To those of you who are especially interested in this story because of the romance: I guess I tend to go kind of slow with the relationships (except for that one time with Edward and Eithne) so I can keep them as realistic as I can—at least for a very unrealistic story, lol. If a ship in here is taking too long to develop, don't worry, because they'll all be pretty well-fleshed out by the end, and there will be extra fluff as time goes on.
Also, I think I'd better explain a plot hole from Accidents and Agitations: Michaela does have sandboxes, but considering that she's very clumsy and forgetful, I think she'd forget to use her sand to grip the rails most of the time.
One night, at Tidmouth Hault Sheds, the engines were telling stories before they went to sleep.
"...So there we were, hiding for days on end on an old quarry branch. Diesels prowled like hounds right outside of the blocked off cutting. It was a wonder we were able to slip away in the end."
Michaela gasped in awe, and Duck let out a slightly annoyed sigh. For the past hour or so, Oliver had been telling them all about his and Toad's escape from scrap, and… well, not all of the engines present were happy to listen about it.
Donald and Douglas listened to Oliver's tale with longsuffering expressions on their faces, and Toad was bored—not to mention a little agitated from having heard it so many times before—but Michaela listened to it all with an enraptured look in her eyes.
"We made it as far as the Vicarstown Goods Depot before the most dreadful thing happened…"
Michaela held her breath as Oliver paused for dramatic effect.
"...I ran out of coal."
"You didn't!" his adopted sister gasped.
"I did. And what's worse, there were still diesels all around, and at any given moment, one of them could've spotted us and alerted somebody that we were there."
"Were you ever discovered?" she asked fearfully.
"Sadly, yes. But I lived… because it was Douglas who found us!"
Douglas blushed and, fed up with the dramatic storytelling, rushed out the rest of the events. "Then ah helped 'em escape from th' yard an' brought them tae th' works, where Oliver and Toad were mended, an' now they're still alive tae this day. Th' end."
"If I could clap…" Michaela began, but Oliver butted in.
"Hey, I was telling the story!" he said disappointedly.
"Well, the story's over," said Duck. "That's the umpteenth time I've heard it, and now I'd rather we talked about something else."
Michaela spoke up. "But that was my first time hearing it. And to be honest, I quite enjoyed it."
"Thank you!" said Oliver with a pointed glare at the other engines.
"So… what story should we hear next?" asked Toad after a brief silence.
Donald's eyes lit up as an idea flew into his funnel. "Ah ken! Have any o' ye heard th' tale of th' Loch Ness Monster?"
"Och, nae, Donnie…" came his twin's reply, but Michaela perked up with interest.
"No. What's a monster?"
Donald opened his mouth to tell her, but Douglas interrupted him.
"Dinnae tell th' lassie; she'll get nightmares fer a week!"
"Is this going to be like the tale of the Black Loch monster?" Duck asked in a bored tone.
"Nae, o' course not! This one's verra different," Donald replied.
"Is there a loch monster in it?" the pannier tank engine asked him.
"Aye."
Duck rolled his eyes. "Then I already know the story. Let's just go to sleep."
"Wait, wait," said Michaela. "I want to hear the story. And I still don't know what a monster is."
"Och, ye'll find out soon enough whit a monster is, Michaela," said Donald. "Ye see, back in Bonnie Scotland, there was this loch up in the Highlands, an' people believe tha' there's a monster who lives in its waters. Some say tha' Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, drags anybody who gets too close tae th' water intae the loch, never tae be seen again."
The iridescent engine's eyes widened in shock, and she trembled a little.
Seeing her fear, Douglas immediately butted in. "But, Michaela, there's nae solid proof tha' it actually exists. And ah dinnae believe tha' it does."
"But Douggie, it do—" The older twin was quickly shushed by the others.
After letting out a deep breath to calm herself, Michaela gave them all a reassuring smile to show that she wasn't feeling scared anymore… for the moment.
"Right. Now can we go to sleep?" Duck asked in a pleading tone.
The others all laughed.
"Of course we can," said Michaela. "Goodnight, everybody!"
"Good night, Michaela," the boys all replied in unison.
But Michaela didn't get as much sleep as she would've liked, for that same night, she had a nightmare. It was becoming more common for her to have nightmares lately, but this one scared her so badly, Michaela's whistle went off loudly on its own, and she woke up crying.
"Another nightmare?" Douglas asked her as he went to comfort Michaela with a buffer press.
"Uh-huh," she sniffled. "And it was about th-the monster that you guys told me about before we went to sleep."
Douglas inhaled sharply and glared at his brother. "See, ah told you ye shouldnae have told th' wee lass about the Loch Ness Monster! Now she really is gettin' nightmares about it, jist like ah said!"
Donald's response was cut off by a loud sob from the iridescent tender engine, and Douglas turned his attention back to her.
"Michaela, th' Loch Ness Monster isnae real; it cannae hurt ye."
But Michaela just stared off into the distance with a pained look, before starting to cry all over again.
The younger twin engine was unsure how to deal with Michaela's emotional outburst, so he just pressed his buffers firmly into hers, before pulling back and returning to his berth.
Donald narrowed his eyes at Douglas as his brother settled in next to him. "Why'd ye tell her tha' it's no' real?! It is tae!"
"Is nae, Donnie, an' ye ken that!"
"Is tae!"
"Is nae!"
"Is TAE!"
"Is NAE!"
Duck and Oliver, who had also been woken up by the commotion, gave each other a look that said, 'Kill me.' Toad had been trying to go back to sleep, but the twins' arguing was disturbing his rest, and he winced in agitation as he tried to block out the sound of their voices.
Michaela eventually stopped crying after a few minutes, but it took her a full hour of listening to Donald and Douglas fight about the existence of a loch monster in order to finally fall asleep again.
"Well, if it isnae tha' wee lassie with th' bonniest voice ah ever heard!"
Michaela's dark eyes immediately brightened when she saw the Scottish twins' older sister puffing into the Tidmouth Hault shunting yard. "Calumina!"
The dark blue tender engine chuckled as she pulled up next to Michaela. "Call me 'Caley'. Ah'd rather go by that, but only mah brothers have called me by tha' nickname so far. An' yer family tae me, lassie."
The iridescent tender engine blushed. "R-really?"
Calumina grinned mischievously. "Aye. Ah've seen how mah youngest brother looks at—"
"Caley!" Douglas interrupted her on purpose as he joined the two girls. "Whit are ye doin' here, sister?"
"Och, jist pickin' up a goods train." Her eyes twinkled. "But ah'm glad tae have an excuse tae see ye an' Donnie agin."
Douglas frowned with disappointment. "How did ye ken it was me?"
"Even without yer nameplates an' numbers, ah'd still be able tae tell ye twain apart from a mile away."
"We're losin' our touch, Donnie," he told his brother as Donald also joined the group.
"I can tell the difference, too," said Michaela. "One of you believes in the Loch Ness Monster, and the other doesn't."
"Which actually does exist, Douggie." Donald glared at his twin as he said this.
"Does nae."
"Does tae!"
Calumina smiled. "Och, so ye told th' lassie about Nessie, ye did?"
"And scared me to the point where I had a nightmare last night," Michaela added, with a little irritation in her voice.
The dark blue engine frowned. "Och, is tha' so? Well, th' legend o' Nessie might be verra frightnin', but ah'll tell ye, there are more mythical creatures o' Scotland that are nae scary."
"Which dinnae exist, by th' way!" Douglas butted in as he continued to argue with Donald.
"Like what?"
"Well, mah driver once told me tha' if ye stand quietly in a Scottish forest, ye might glimpse somethin' magical hidin' among th' leaves…"
Michaela was curious. "What?"
"...A unicorn."
"Which actually does exist, Douggie!" shouted Donald as they fought.
"Does nae!"
"What doesn't exist, Douglas?"
All four tender engines immediately fell silent as the Fat Controller approached them.
"Oh! Good afternoon, Sir Plumpy—aah, Sir Topham Hatt!" Michaela stammered out, only just remembering his name at the last second.
"Good afternoon to you too, Michaela! I actually have an important job for you today. Since you're still getting to know the rest of the island, I would like for you and Calumina to be the ones to collect the equipment for Callan Castle's highland games from Brendam Docks."
The twins' jaws dropped, and Calumina gasped. "Th' highland games, sir? Really?!"
"Yes. Lord Callan told me all about it, and he plans to hold them there at the castle stadium." Sir Topham Hatt's voice lowered as an overeager look crossed his face, and he spoke to himself. *"I'm especially looking forward to the haggis he told me they would be serving tonight at the opening ceremony…"
"To be honest, sir, you could lose a few po—"
Kennet only just managed to cover Sam's mouth in time, before the Fat Controller could hear what Michaela's fireman really had to say.
"The supplies will arrive at the docks within the next half hour, so be there by then to pick them up," Sir Topham told the two female engines.
"Aye, sir!" Calumina chirped her whistle happily. "Did ya hear tha', lassie? We git tae help wit' the highland games here on Sodor!"
Michaela blinked. "What's the highland games?"
The Scottish siblings all glanced at each other with a smile, as Douglas explained, "Th' highland games are events tha' all started in Scotland. There are athletic games an' competitions, and lots o' music an' dancing…"
Michaela noticed that his voice started to trail off in sadness at the end, and the other two Scottish tender engines looked away, sympathetic expressions on their faces. They, too, missed their home country very much.
Sir Topham Hatt patted his engine's buffer comfortingly. "Right you are, Douglas," he said, in the hopes of cheering him up.
Douglas took the chance to stick his tongue out at his brother—who did likewise—and Michaela could feel the tension between the two picking up again right where it had left off.
The Fat Controller didn't notice the exchange and continued. "Well, I'm off! I have the rest of the railway to run." His voice lowered. "And some haggis to try later tonight."
"Again, sir, I really think you should try to go on a diet until th—" Sam was cut off by a relatively harmless blow in the stomach from Kennet.
As the Fat Controller drove away, the engines were just about to get on with their day's work—when the sound of quacks and little chirps filled the air.
Donald gasped as he saw a familiar animal waddling towards him with her babies and mate in tow. "Ah dinnae believe it! Mah wee lass came all this way wit' her whole family jist tae see me!"
"What is it, Donnie?" Michaela asked.
Donald's eyebrows raised in surprise at hearing her call him by his nickname, and she immediately dropped her gaze and blushed.
"Um... I-I mean... er, what I meant to say, was… Calumina told me to call her 'Caley' earlier, and I… I thought…"
He laughed. "'Tis alright, lassie. Ye kin call me 'Donnie' if ye wan' tae. This bonnie white duck ye see here b'fore ye is mah sweet Dilly. Ah've known her since she was jist a wee bairn o' a duckling. Och, an' tha' reminds me—it's actually kind o' Duck's fault tha' we met in th' first place."
Douglas burst out laughing when he heard that last part, and Calumina smirked.
"Ye still need tae tell me tha' story," she reminded him.
Sam leaned out of Michaela's cab. "Wait, her name is Dilly?"
"Aye, but most people call her 'Donald's Duck'," said Douglas.
"So, Dilly as in 'excellent', or 'foolish'?"
Donald narrowed his eyes. "What are ye talkin' about?"
Sam shrugged. "That's what her name means."
Michaela's fireman could've sworn that the white-feathered duck suddenly looked up at him and gave him a condescending glare that only a duck could.
"Well, th' first yin, obviously!" Donald said rather angrily.
Michaela smiled as Dilly quacked and jumped onto Donald's buffers, followed one by one by her ducklings.
"Hello, Dilly. How do you do?" she said.
The mother duck turned to face her and quacked in a friendly manner.
Michaela had always loved animals. She puffed closer to Donald and made an adorable face. "Aww, they're so cute..."
Dilly's mate quacked proudly as he joined his family on top of Donald's buffers.
"Have you found a name for the daddy duck yet?" Michaela asked.
"Ah was thinking o' callin' him 'Dally', since Donnie already has Dilly tae fawn over," said Douglas.
"Aye, but ye didnae raise Dally since he was a ducklin', now did ye?" said Donald.
Douglas rolled his eyes, but he had a ghost of a smile on his face. "Ah didnae ken tha' was a requirement. Ah'll keep tha' in mind next time."
"Fine... Wait, did ye say 'next time'?" Donald asked.
Calumina reluctantly pulled forward and gave her brothers a sad smile. "Ah'm sorry, but Michaela and ah had better git goin' now. We have tae leave now if we're goin' tae be on time."
Michaela frowned and looked down with sad eyes. "Aw…"
The two girls barely heard Donald's reply over the peeps and quacks coming from the ducks. "Sure thing, we'll see ye later."
"Have fun!" called Douglas.
As Calumina and Michaela left the shunting yard, nobody noticed that one of the ducklings—a fuzzy little baby named Nessie—jumped into Michaela's tender as she passed, carrying the baby duck away with them.
Donald gazed after them as they disappeared, then he smiled down at his fully grown pet and watched as Dilly quacked for her children to follow her back onto the ground.
Donald idly counted the ducklings as they all jumped back down and flopped around on their small webbed feet. "One, two, three…" His voice trailed off. Wait... Had he miscounted, or was—
"Donnie! Come an' help me with th' train we're supposed tae be takin'!"
Donald sighed in an agitated way. "Ah'm comin', Douggie. Hold on..."
One, two, three…
"Dooonnieee..."
"Ah said, hold on!"
Donald recounted the ducklings one more time. He frowned as he noticed that Dilly was suddenly acting rather worried, quacking anxiously and flapping her wings in distress.
Douglas pulled up next to Donald again. "Donnie, ah need yer help over yonder!"
His twin didn't look at him, keeping his eyes on the family of ducks. "Douggie... How many ducklings did Dilly have?"
Douglas thought for a moment. "Och, she had about four. Last ah checked, anyway." He began to reverse, hoping his brother would follow suit and get back to their job.
Donald didn't move. "Maybe ah need tae have mah eyes checked... but ah'm only countin' three."
"Mm... three?" Douglas kept reversing, then he suddenly stopped and screeched back up to Donald. "Three?!"
The twins recounted the ducklings together, then they looked at each other with panicked eyes. "Och, nae!" they gasped in unison.
"Ya really tae see a real castle, lassie?" Calumina excitedly asked Michaela as they were about to be coupled up to the train they were taking to Castle Loch.
"Kind of…" Michaela's voice softened, and the Scottish tender engine grew concerned.
"Are ye okay?" she asked her.
"It's just that… Well, I hope you don't mind, but… I have a smaller tender than all the other tender engines I've seen on the Island of Sodor, so I might have to stop frequently to refill."
Calumina smiled gently. "Tha's alright, lass. Ye jist do whit ye need tae do. Ah'll wait."
Michaela hesitated, before smiling back. "Thanks, Caley."
"Nae problem, Michaela."
As the iridescent engine went to fill up with coal, neither she nor her crew noticed that a certain baby duckling, who had been peeping curiously out of Michaela's tender, suddenly had to hurry out of the way as lumps of coal rained down all around it. It scrambled off to a corner of the tender and curled into a fuzzy ball, trembling with fright.
Michaela could feel something soft in the corner of her tender, but she thought nothing of it and soon forgot that it was even there.
Although it took them a little while longer than they had hoped, the two girls finally made it to Black Loch, where they began to make their way to the castle.
"It's so beautiful here," Michaela remarked as they steamed past the loch.
"Aye," Calumina agreed. "It reminds me verra much o' th' mountains back at home…"
She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in, pretending that she was back in Scotland.
Michaela was silent at first so her friend could enjoy the peace and quiet, but she suddenly let out a gasp of wonder when she saw something magnificent up ahead. "Oh, wow!"
There was the castle, looming straight up ahead. It stood perched on top of a massive rock, overlooking the loch and surrounding forest. Four towers extended from the corners of the castle, giving it a fairytale-like appearance. The Saltire flew on a flagpole that was mounted to the central tower, waving gently in the breeze.
Calumina opened her eyes again and smiled as they drew closer. "Did ye ken tha' back in Scotland, there are over four thousand one hundred castles?"
Michaela put on her brakes for a split-second. "Wait, really?"
"Aye, but most o' them are in ruins by now."
A red-bearded man wearing a kilt greeted Calumina and Michaela at the platform as they pulled in with the train.
"Och, if it isnae th' lassie tha' came up here jist th' other day! Calumina, wasnae it? Ye look so much like yer brothers."
Calumina blushed a little. "Aye, tha's whit everybody tells me. Ah guess it must be true!"
The man turned to Michaela. "An' ye must be th' wee lass tha' the Scottish siblings keep tellin' me about! Yer a verra bonnie engine."
Calumina keeps calling me that, and I don't know what it means but it must be a good thing, she thought to herself.
"I'm Michaela," she told him.
He smiled. "And ah am Lord Callan, th' lord and owner o' Callan Castle."
The workmen began to unload the equipment for the highland games, and Lord Callan walked away to show them where to set it all up.
As the two engines were being uncoupled from the train, nobody noticed a small duckling flop out of Michaela's tender, before waddling away from the platform on its tiny webbed feet.
"Nessie!"
"Here, Nessie!"
Donald and Douglas, along with Dilly and her family, had been searching up and down the Little Western for Dilly's lost duckling.
As they stopped to refill their water tanks, the twins were feeling very discouraged by now.
"'Tis nae use, Donnie. Th' wee ducklin's probably somewhere tha' we cannae be, or… or worse yet, she's…" Douglas told his twin.
"Dinnae say tha'! She's got tae be here somewhere."
Donald looked down at Dilly, who was perched on his bufferbeam and quacking anxiously, her head searching in all directions for her baby.
It was then that Michaela returned from taking the supplies to the castle.
"Guys! I just went up to Black Loch and Callan Castle for the first time, and it was amazing! But honestly, it's a wonder I even found my way back." She giggled.
"Tha's great an' all, lassie, but…" Donald began.
Michaela looked up and noticed the worried expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?"
"One o' Dilly's ducklings has gone missin'," Douglas told her. "Have ye seen it anywhere?"
Dilly looked up at the iridescent engine with pleading eyes, and Michaela felt the flames in her firebox flicker with compassion. "Aw… No, I haven't. But I'll help you look for it."
"Ye ken," said Donald, "Ah could've sworn tha' all o' them were here when they first arrived… None of us realized tha' yin was missin' until after ye an' Caley left fer th' docks."
Douglas gasped. "Wait… Whit if th' ducklin' somehow left wit' Caley an' Michaela?"
Donald's face turned white. "Och, nae…!"
Michaela's eyes widened as she suddenly recalled the odd sensation that she had felt in her tender earlier. "When I was filling up with coal before we left at Brendam Docks, I felt something soft and fuzzy in the corner of my tender. Maybe the duckling came with me on our journey to Callan Castle!"
Sam climbed into her tender and searched it. "There's nothing in here," he said after a minute.
The Scottish twins immediately began to move. "Then we'd better go look fer it up at th' castle!"
Michaela puffed after them, but she noticed that it was starting to get dark out, and the memory of what had happened the night before came back to her. She gulped nervously and followed the twins back to Castle Loch.
By the time they reached Black Loch, the sun was already setting, and fog was creeping in over the loch. It gave the place an eerie feel that made Michaela shiver.
Douglas noticed her hesitation and stopped, and Donald did the same.
"Ye okay?" the younger twin asked her.
Michaela stared fearfully ahead. "No…"
"Ye look anxious."
"Yes…" she blurted out.
"Whit's makin' ye anxious?"
She kept staring in front of her. "Yes."
The twins glanced at each other. If they had been capable of shrugging, they would have.
Michaela finally looked back at them. "Oh, sorry. I mean, well… After what happened last night, I… I don't know if I can go past the loch without…"
Donald's eyes widened. "Are ye scared tha' th' monster in this loch will come an' git ya?"
"...Yes."
Douglas sighed angrily. "Ah told ye nae tae tell her tha' story, an' now look! We need tae go past th' loch tae look fer th' ducklin', and she cannae even go past it at night!"
"But Douggie, there is a monster! How many times do ah have tae tell ye?!"
"There is nae!"
"Is tae!"
This went on for another minute or so, until Dilly suddenly flew out of Donald's cab and began to screech angrily at the boys. This silenced them, and she continued to scold them in furious quacks until she had finished saying… whatever it was that she had said.
Michaela hesitated, then she slowly steamed forward. "L-let's just get this over with already. I want to help Dilly find her baby… even if we have to get past the loch to do it."
Donald and Douglas were surprised, but they eventually agreed, and the three tender engines puffed into the fog.
As they moved slowly past the loch, Michaela's anxiety began to get worse, so she started to sing in an attempt to remain calm.
"There are times to be brave
And times to be strong
When you're lost and you're all alone.
You might be somewhere
Strange and dark
But long to be safe at home."
A strange, high-pitched noise echoed from somewhere in the fog. Michaela whimpered, and she accidentally bumped into Douglas from behind.
"Sorry," both of them said to each other at the same time.
Donald decided to tease Michaela for a second. "Do ye ken whit tha' sound is, Highness? Those are th' shriekin' eels."
"Really, Donnie? Th' 'shriekin' eels'?" Douglas asked him incredulously.
But his joke only made Michaela more anxious, and she began to sing again as they kept going.
"Well you might be lost
On a foggy night
Stuck fast on a snowy day.
It's times like that you feel afraid
So that is the time to say."
Suddenly, the engines could hear a splashing sound in the water next to them.
"Oh, wh-what is it?" Michaela asked nervously as she buffered up to the twins, who had stopped.
Donald peered through the fog. A fuzzy white creature was swimming towards them in the loch, and he broke into a grin. "Nessie!"
But although the twins were excited to see Dilly's duckling again, Michaela thought that they were talking about the monster. She screamed and quickly reversed, and Douglas called after her.
"Michaela, it's alright! We've found th' ducklin' we were lookin' fer!"
She slowed down and came to a stop. "Wait… really? But what about the—"
"Lassie, tha's whit we named Dilly's duckling," said Donald.
Michaela was silent for a moment. Then her eyes actually met his, and they were filled with rage. "You named a duckling NESSIE?!"
Donald and Douglas glanced at each other, a little fearful for their lives.
Dilly quacked happily as her duckling joined her in Donald's cab, but the tender moment was interrupted by another strange sound echoing all around them.
Even Michaela quickly cooled back down when she heard the noise. "...What was that?"
Suddenly, a strange shape moved towards the engines through the fog. It looked very much like the neck of the loch monster, moving towards them at an alarmingly fast pace.
"It's th' monster!" Donald shouted.
"Quick! To th' castle!" yelled Douglas.
Michaela yelped and raced after them as fast as she could go.
A maroon tank engine with a crane mounted on top of his boiler stopped as he emerged from the fog, watching the three engines flee.
The engine, Harvey, sighed and looked down at the ground. "Every time…"
"Donnie? Douggie? Ah'm so happy tae see ye here!" Calumina greeted her brothers as she joined them at the platform beside Castle Loch. "An' ye tae, lassie!" she added to Michaela.
"Looks like we're not the only ones who decided to come up here," said Oliver, who had arrived with Calumina.
Donald smirked as he looked back and forth between Oliver and Calumina. "Oliver? Whit are ye doin' up here, lad?"
Calumina answered for him. "Och, ah invited him tae come up here wit' me. Th' real question is, whit are ye doin' up here?"
Michaela, Donald, and Douglas all blushed and tried to act normal.
"Och, nae reason."
"Um, it's v-verra nice up here, is it nae?"
"Yeah, it's just really great up here… where there are no monsters."
Calumina and Oliver glanced at each other, then back at the three tender engines.
The trio chuckled awkwardly, wearing all too wide smiles on their faces that looked rather suspicious.
Just then, Dilly, Dally, and their (thankfully) four ducklings all came back onto the platform, having snuck some food from the feast up at the castle stadium and eaten their fill.
Oliver's face lit up when he saw the mother duck. "Oh! Hello, Dilly!"
Dilly turned to him and let out a pleasant quack, happy to see another close friend of hers.
"So, just what exactly did you name the other ducklings?" Michaela asked with a dangerous edge to it that only the Scottish twins detected.
"Och, well," said Donald, "w-we named them, er… Their names are Daisy, Daffy, Howard, and… Nessie."
Each duckling lined up with a smug pose as he said their names, and Dilly and Dally quacked with pride.
"Don't you think those names are a little unusual?" Oliver asked after a short silence. "Maybe even… a little boring?"
Donald scoffed. "Dinnae be so daft! We almost called them 'Huey', 'Dewey', and 'Louie', until we realized tha' there were nae enough lads fer that."
His voice lowered. "Either way, we were always goin' tae call one 'Nessie', so tha' took care o' the last yin," Donald whispered to Douglas, hoping that Michaela wouldn't hear.
Unfortunately, she did hear and opened her mouth to say something about it—but right at that moment, a loud noise sounded from the stadium, and it startled Michaela very much.
"What on earth is that noise?!" she yelled.
The Scottish siblings all burst out laughing.
"Those are bagpipes," Douglas told her with tears of laughter in his eyes.
Up in the stadium, Sir Topham Hatt was seated at a large table next to Lord Callan. On the plate in front of him was a steaming hunk of haggis.
"Time to dig in!" he exclaimed, and took a bite.
The Fat Controller's face turned green, and he quickly looked around, trying to locate a trash can that was out of sight.
"How is it, Sir Topham?" He jumped nervously as Lord Callan leaned over to him. "Is it everythin' ye've ever imagined?"
"Oh, yes…" was all that Sir Topham Hatt could get out, before hastily excusing himself and rushing away from the table.
Back at the platform, Kennet and Sam sat next to the engines, each with their own plates of food.
Sam cautiously examined a piece of haggis, then took a bite. He nodded as he chewed. "Hey, this is actually pretty good."
Kennet poked him in the stomach. "Might want to eat that slowly. After all, you're already a pretty fat 'Hobbitses'," he teased.
The fireman saw his chance and shoved a chunk of potato into Kennet's face, which started an all-out food fight between the two. Several minutes later, both men were out of breath and collapsed on the food-covered platform.
Michaela waited until her driver had caught his breath again to ask him a question. "Hey, Kennet? If I was built in Scotland, does that mean I'm Scottish?"
Kennet wearily shook his head. "No… You weren't nationalized until you reached Sodor, so you're actually Sudrian."
She pouted in disappointment, and the other engines laughed.
The ceremony continued late into the night, and everybody except for the poor Fat Controller had a good time.
And down in the Black Loch, a creature with a long neck slowly rose from the water and turned its head to look up at Callan Castle. The corners of its mouth rose with contentment, and its two humps briefly touched the surface as it disappeared back underneath the water.
A/N: Great news! The document that I've been writing all of Iridescence in is exactly one page away from being 200 pages long! More Michaela and the Scottish twins to come in the next chapter, and with it, maybe some more Michaela x Douglas because I'll admit that I do need to pick up the pace on that one.
*The highland games on Sodor don't actually begin until the next day in the timeline. Only the opening ceremony takes place in this chapter.