Chapter One: A Terrifying Nightmare

WARNING: This fanfiction contains death, violence, and scary scenes! Viewer's discretion is HIGHLY advised! So, if you don't like horror or you're sensitive, please read my other fanfictions that suits more to you like something wholesome or adventurous! Again, viewer's discretion is advised!

It was such a peaceful Autumn evening on the Island of Sodor. There, the wind blew the leaves across the area gently. All the leaves began to change into a pleasing shade from red to yellow as some began to wither away from the tree branches. Some of the animals, such as the playful squirrels, began to gather their food supplies to prepare for the upcoming Winter. Autumn was such a lovely yet simple season that's full of changes that go slow yet subtle, and all the engines from The North Western Railway appreciated its beauty and wonder.

…

At Tidmouth Sheds, the full moon had illuminated the area as the owl hooted with crickets coming out to play. Inside the berths, nine engines were chattering and laughing as they discussed how their day went, "Thank goodness that I don't have to do The Flying Kipper tonight. I'm feeling quite exhausted.", Henry sighed in relief.

"We are all lucky to get our goodnight sleep as we did work very hard today.", Nia added.

"At least we don't have to smell any fish.", Thomas smirked as many of the engines laughed with him.

However, Gordon was annoyed as he wanted to get some rest, "Oh, do be quiet! I have to pull the express tomorrow, and I need some sleep!", he groaned as he shut his eyes tightly.

"Typical Gordon.", Thomas smirked, "Always believe that his express is more important than having fun or friends."

Gordon frowned as he immediately opened his eyes and gave a glare to Thomas, "Ridiculous!", he cried as he began to explain truthfully, "The express may be important, but friends always come first."

"Oh, you do care, Gordon?", Percy grinned as he giggled.

"And I know who he cares about the most!", James exclaimed as he raised his eyebrows multiple times while looking at the big blue tender engine with a big teasing grin, "It's a certain yellow engine with her laugh so contagious that she will make him act like a "silly tank engine"."

Gordon flustered with a big frown as Rebecca, who was next to him, blushed in a light shade of pink as she and Gordon had been together for many months. This made the three best friends laugh so hard. They find it amusing to tease the grumpy engine while many disapprove of their immature behaviour. One of them was a medium-sized blue tender engine named Edward. He gave the three engines a slight frown with narrowed eyes, "Now that's enough.", he spoke a bit sternly, "You went too far on the teasing."

"Sorry, Edward.", Thomas sighed with remorse as he, James, and Percy looked at each other with puppy eyes with a blush of shame.

Thankfully, Edward was a kind and caring engine as he forgave them but reminded them when the teasing went too far. With all the matters settled, Rebecca yawned, "I think Gordon is right. We should get our goodnight sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.", she spoke kindly as her weary eyes began to get the better of her.

All the engines agreed that tomorrow would be such a hectic day as some have to pull trucks or others take passengers. There, all of them bid each other goodnight, and one by one, they allowed their eyes to close shut as they fell asleep. With all the engines sound asleep, only the crickets made noises as the stars danced across the dark blanket sky with the full moon watching the stars and everything below it.

…

Thomas opened his eyes slowly until his pupils dilated in horror and confusion. There, he was in a red room that was filled with smoke, with the heat being so intense. Thomas had no clue where it was, but judging by the environment he was in, he knew it was terrible yet so familiar somehow, "W-where am I? What is this place?", he asked himself as he looked left to right to see nothing.

The only response that he received, which made his boiler go cold and felt the chills when he heard an eerily voice of a female as she sang sinisterly, "This is the hottest place in town. We'll warm you up when you're feeling down. We'll make a smile out of every frown. Just take a look around at the joy we've found."

When Thomas heard that song, this made his mouth drop as he remembered the song very well. What's more, he now figured it out where he was. This place was a place that the engines couldn't escape after being "the favourite engine". This place will turn anyone's smile into a frown and will bring nothing but suffering and agony. There, the surroundings began to change as he saw steel pots full of molten, hundreds of steel statues, and tools to handle hot objects that filled the place up. This had confirmed Thomas's belief in where he was, and that place was The Steelworks, "No... i-it can't be.", Thomas tried to deny himself until he knew that he must escape once and for all, "I-I need to get out of here again!"

With that, he narrowed his eyes, tooted his whistle frantically as he puffed down the track to try and escape the facility. However, as his pistons were pumping wildly and his boiler was fit to burst, he heard an awful shriek behind him and a chilling whistle, "You can't just go, Thomas! You're our number one! You're our favourite engine!"

Thomas squinted his eyes tightly as he screamed while puffing down the track as fast as his six small wheels could carry, "No! Go away! Leave me alone!"

As he tried to get away, he suddenly bumped into something or more like someone very hard as this startled him. There, he opened his eyes and what he saw made his wheels wobble as his face went pale as a ghost. There, he saw a silver LMS Compound 4-4-0 tender engine, covered with rust, dents, and scratches. The engine looked terrible in shape as its black wheels looked like the paintwork was fading away. The buffers looked severely damaged, and the front couple looked like they could fall off in a matter of seconds thanks to the rust and its position.

However, what made the engine look so terrifying was its face. Its eyes were milky blue with rusts and scratches all over its face as its smile gave a negative vibe to the blue tank engine. There, Thomas tried to summon his courage as he could as his voice sounded like a mouse being caught in a trap, "W-who are you? W-what do you want from me?"

The mysterious engine gave him the answer with a fake innocent smile that looked so sincere, "I'm just a friend. Don't worry, I have no ill intentions for you, little Thomas. I can help you get out of here.", the engine spoke in a feminine yet eerily tone.

Thomas was speechless. He doesn't know if he can trust her or not. Her voice matched the voice that sang the song that made his boiler run cold, and her shriek also matched hers. However, just seeing her fake persona of being creepy yet caring and a reliable engine made him raise his eyebrow as he was not sure if he could trust her or not. His firebox feeling told him to puff away from her, yet his wheels felt like jelly from feeling fear if he wanted to. There, he looked at her more as he stuttered, "R-really?"

With that question, the engine's fake innocent smile quickly shifted into an evil grin, "Of course. The most important thing is being friends!", she snarled as she began to laugh maniacally.

As the scary engine went crazy, a giant magnet landed on Thomas's cab, as Thomas was horrified. He looked up, but by then, he was lifted into the air and was slowly taking towards the pot of molten as he screamed some of the engine's name, "James! Percy! Edward! Gordon! Emily! Nia! Anyone? Help me, please!"

With this event occurring, the engine whooshed out steam as she vanished into thin air, only for her evil laugh to echo in The Steelworks as Thomas hoped that someone could hear him and rescue him. However, this wasn't his case as the giant magnet's force was switched off with Thomas falling to his demise, and he cried in horror with tears escaping his eyes, hoping that some miracle would occur, but that wasn't the case. Even though his fell was quick, all his memories began to flash in his mind as he remembered some good memories and some traumatic memories. Still, it seemed like he was thinking about all the traumatic experiences he had gone through or witnessed, and all he wanted to think about were the happy moments like being with James, spending time with his friend and his two faithful coaches, Annie and Clarabel, of being a useful engine for The Fat Controller.

…

"No!", Thomas cried at the top of the lungs, if he had lungs.

What he didn't expect was that all the other eight engines woke up simultaneously as they all cried in horror and fear. Once all the engines awoke, they all panted and examined their surroundings from left to right, and to their vast relief, they were home at Tidmouth Sheds. With everyone sighing to relax and to cool their whistles, they all noticed each other as everyone was awake. This got them dumbfounded as they never thought once in their life that they would all wake up at the same time for one reason that they all share.

"You're all awake?", cried Percy as he panted.

"Is everyone alright?", asked Rebecca as she tried to control her wobbling wheels of fright.

"Cinder and ashes! Everyone is awake! What's the reason?", Thomas questioned as he was now curious to know their reason for waking up in fright.

"I-I had a t-terrible nightmare.", Gordon stuttered as he shook, and he didn't care about being judged for his behaviour at this point, "I-It felt s-so real."

"Me too!", exclaimed James.

This got everyone gasped in disbelief as they all began to explain that they had a nightmare as well, "I can't believe it!", cried Thomas, "We all had a nightmare at the same time! I dreamt about being back at The Steelworks, and it felt like it was replayed!"

"I dreamt about The Flying Kipper Incident, and I was going to be sent to scraps!", Henry trembled as he shuttered the idea of being scrapped.

"I've dreamt that I was going to be scrapped for not being good enough for anyone!", Rebecca sobbed softly.

"And I dreamt that I got into another crash at the exact field when my brakes were made out of wood!", James cried, "It felt like it was so real that I was convinced that not only my brakes were made out of wood, but my splendid paintwork was back to my former paintwork!"

With that, everyone told their nightmares and how it felt like they were either back in time or it felt legitimate. While they all said about their nightmares, Edward listened carefully as something sounded off. How could everyone have a nightmare that was associated with their past traumatic experience or their biggest fear? Was it a coincidence, or was there something more sinister that was involved? When it was Emily's turn, she explained to her friends that in her dream, something or someone was taunting her and kept acting like it was sincere or honest, "I dreamt that everyone had forgotten me and I kept hearing some whispers that sounded so scary. It sounded like she had a malicious intention, and when I saw her, she looked awful."

"What did she look like?", Percy gulped as something in his boiler was telling him that the answer he would receive would shock him.

"Well… she was a large tender engine with a bunch of dents, scratches, and covered with rust. She had milky blue eyes, and she doesn't have a dome or a number.", Emily described the engine.

Everyone's mouth dropped, "No way, I saw her too!", James yelled, "And she taunted me about my wooden brakes and that she can "stop me" from crashing!"

"I saw her as well!", added Nia, "And she was very menacing!"

"And wicked!", exclaimed Henry.

"And freaky!", cried Percy.

"Cinders and ashes!", Thomas cried in disbelief, "I can't believe that not only do we all have nightmares, but we saw the same engine!"

With that, everyone began to talk about the mysterious, scary engine as Edward started to try and find a logical reason for him and the others experiencing a terrible dream that involved an engine with a sinister intention. As he thought carefully, something in his boiler told him that the engine they all met in the dream was once a real engine. Yet, he didn't want to jump to conclusion without evidence, "This engine felt so real like it wasn't made up. Yet, how could everyone have the same dream with her involved? Could it just be a mere coincidence or is there a message or intention going on?",he thought to himself thoroughly.

After thinking to himself, everyone was now making some wacky or plausible theories about the bad engine, "I think we had a bad coal, and it somehow gave us nightmares!", James declared his theory.

"Rubbish!", snorted Gordon, "Bad coals only makes you sick, not giving you scary dreams. say it's just an unlucky coincidence."

"Or, it could be an evil spirit!", Percy shivered as he couldn't imagine the idea that a spirit was invading their minds.

"Spirits and ghosts aren't real. It's just a tale to make engines behave.", Henry explained as he didn't want to think that spirits are real.

As they were about to debate about spirits and ghosts, Edward intervened in the conversation to prevent arguments, "I say, for now, it's just an unfortunate coincidence. Try and forget about this engine, but if it happens again, then there might be something going on.", he suggested.

"That's a great idea.", Thomas agreed.

"I agree.", added Rebecca, "Besides, I think we all worked very hard that it just happened by luck."

With that, everyone agreed with Edward's idea as they began to settle down and feel less intense and more relaxed and secure, "Yeah, I think we should get some sleep.", Thomas yawned as his weary eyes began to close, "Goodnight."

Everyone said each other goodnight in return as, one by one, they all began to close their eyes gently as they ease themselves. Thankfully, during their sleep, none of them met the bad engine again in their dream, and they all thought it was over or that it was just them that experienced the scary dream. However, they all would discover soon or later that this wouldn't be the actual case.