At Ffarquhar quarry, Derek and Mavis were getting ready to turn in. They were in a shed, chatting quietly about the day.

"I don't know how you do it, Derek," Mavis said. "You're gentle with the trucks. But how?"

"I don't want to hurt them," Derek replied. "And they don't want to hurt me in return. It's an unspoken truce between us, like the one some trucks have with Peter Sam."

Mavis smiled. "Well, we got the yard in shape regardless." Her expression changed. "Did Bill and Ben seem awfully...quiet today?"

"Now that you mention it, they did seem a little better-behaved than they normally are," Derek mused.

"Do you think they're up to something?"

"I don't know. Usually, around me they're a lot nicer. I think they must have a list of engines they refuse to play tricks on, engines like Molly and myself." He yawned. "Goodnight, Mavis. It was a pleasure being here again."

"You too."

And they fell asleep.

Mavis' worries were not unfounded. Bill and Ben were indeed up to something. Having convinced their drivers and firemen to stay into the night, the saddletanks were outside the tunnel.

Ben backed down on the train, whose first few cars protruded from the tunnel. "Anyone around?"

"Nope," Bill replied. "Pull away. Get every last truck out."

Ben did as he was told. At the back end of the train, Lady stirred in her sleep when she began to move. Burnett Stone was still asleep in her cab. Eventually, Lady was out in the open. When Bill saw her, his jaw dropped.

"Is everything okay, Bill?" Ben asked.

"Y-yes...driver, uncouple the train from the engine."

His driver, shaking in his boots, complied. Ben pulled the train away and put it into a siding. He got himself turned around and returned to a line next to the tunnel.

"Alright, let's see just who we've got here," Ben said. "It'll be nice to meet a new friend; maybe she'll want to help us prank the other engines. Bill?"

Bill was silent. It was then that Ben noticed Lady.

"The Lost Engine," Ben breathed. "The stories were true! Bill, it's the magical engine! We've found her!"

Lady jolted awake. She saw the twins in front of her. "W-what do you want from me?"

"You're the source of the gold dust!" Bill exclaimed, finally exiting his trance. "How did you get fixed?"

"Does your railway know you're here?" Ben asked.

"Do you have any gold dust?" Ben stared at Bill. "It's a valid question!"

"N-no, this isn't good," Lady began to panic. Her driver was awake now too, and Stone saw that they were out. "You got that right," Stone gulped.

"This is amazing! We've got to tell everyone!" Bill said. "This is the discovery of a lifetime! She's going to be famous!"

Lady trembled. Then she screamed, and hastily puffed out of the quarry.

Derek and Mavis exited their shed. "What's going on here?" a groggy Mavis asked.

Derek saw Lady rush out of the quarry. He glared at Bill and Ben. "I told you NOT to try and find out who she was," Derek groaned.

"You KNEW she was here!" Ben exclaimed.

"I do. She wanted out of The Golden Railway. So she had Murdoch, Billy and I smuggle her out away from the prying public."

"I can see why you'd have to do that," Mavis said. "She's magical, after all."

"No, she isn't!" This caught the others offguard. "Lady is not any more supernatural than stones and wood. The stories about her were a lie meant to make money for a newspaper. I wouldn't be surprised if someone made a shoddy movie adaptation out of them, they're so popular."

"So why did you hide her?" Ben asked.

"She's not good with being in the spotlight, as I've told you before. And if you talked to her about fame, which I'm sure you did, you scared her off."

"We didn't mean it," Bill said. "We just wanted to find out who she was. It was Ben's idea anyway."

"MY idea?! It was yours!"

"Knock it off, both of you!" Mavis snapped. "We've got a frightened engine now, who's probably lost! You should've waited until she was comfortable enough to show her face!"

Derek sighed. "I hope Lady's alright."

Lady was rushing down the main line at high speed. "Slow down, girl!" Stone exclaimed. "I can barely keep up with you!"

But Lady couldn't slow down. All she could do was remember something from her distant past...

September 17, 1982. Lady had only been brought to life a few days earlier, and had been sent to live and work at Muffle Mountain, a Lifer railway in western Pennsylvania. She was painted dark green back then, with a black smokebox and stripes, making her reminiscent of the GWR 101 she was based on.

Today was supposed to have been a good day, but it hadn't been. As the sun began to set, three of the engines had pulled a mean prank on her, and Lady was now covered in raw sewage.

"You are NOTHING!" a PRR K4 roared, finishing a profanity-laden tirade at her. "You don't deserve to be here."

Lady started crying.

"Yeah, that's right, cry like the little baby you are," sneered the Reading Crusader on the K4's left.

"Get lost!" added the PRR Q1 on the K4's right.

And Lady did, running away from the crowd laughing at her, tears streaming down her face.

Back in the present, Lady found a vacant shed. She got turned around, backed into it, and cried. Stone leapt out of her cab and tried to comfort her, but it was no use.

"Um...excuse me?"

Lady looked up to the source of the feminine voice, and had another flashback.

Lady looked up in awe at the voice's source. She was an EMD GP9, tall and imposing. But she had a softer, more motherly look to her than the three steam engines Lady had the displeasure of meeting.

"Don't cry, little one," the diesel cooed. "Today was rough, but we all have bad days. And we all have good days, too. I know, it's hard to deal with Kim, Miley, and Taylor sometimes; I've lived on this railway my whole life. But don't let them keep you down. You are strong, you are powerful. Because you are you."

Lady stopped crying.

"What's your name?" the diesel asked.

A faint blush spread across Lady's cheeks as the diesel's soothing voice rippled through her frame. "Lady," the tank engine said meekly.

"Well, Lady, let's get you cleaned up, shall we?"

"Hello?"

Lady snapped out of her flashback and saw a yellow GER S46 in front of her. "Oh, sorry. I spaced out there for a sec."

The Claud Hamilton squinted. "...Lady? Of The Golden, Lady? Are you actually magical?"

"No."

The other engine squealed in delight. "I knew it! You're just like the rest of us! No offense."

"None taken."

The other engine chuckled. "I'm Molly. It's such an honor to meet you."

"Y'know, I think your sister works at The Golden," Lady said.

"Yeah, Vanna's my sister all right." Molly sighed. "If only I could be recognized as special too."

"Eh, special's overrated. Being one of a million's a lot better, believe you me."

"Well, to each their own, I guess."

"Listen, can I stay here for tonight? I'm trying to hide from two yellow chumps who outed me."

"Pay no mind to Bill and Ben. They're mostly harmless, just very annoying. But yes, you can stay here."

Molly turned herself around on the turntable and slid in front of Lady, obscuring her from view. Then the girls fell asleep.

Our first look at Muffle Mountain! Looks like there are bullies here. Kim is the K4, Miley is the Crusader, Taylor is the Q1. Connor and Caitlin are from the same railway. All female engines on Muffle Mountain (except Lady) are painted reddish-purple with light blue stripes (e.g. Caitlin), while all male engines are painted teal with white stripes (e.g. Connor)

The GP9 is an important character, so look out for her.

Lady has been found out and ran away. Now everyone is worried for her wellbeing.

What will happen the next morning? Will Billy learn about this? And when are Diesel Ten and Lady going to meet already?

All this and more in the next chapter - Chance Encounter!