Well. Here we are.

This is the end of an era I guess.

So, let's get the boring stuff out of the way first. I'm going on holiday to Cornwall at the end of the week, thus I'm going to be out of commission on this fanfiction for a good two of those weeks. Not to say I won't be working on the episodes, just that I'm not going to be uploading them until I get back. Hope this tides you over and serves as our little break for what it's worth.

Also, I'm going to be denoting when a specific piece of music I think suits the scene should be played. Just figured I'd put that in there for a one off.

Now, let's talk about the Classic Series. Make no mistake, though I've been critical of Season 6 and 7, I've loved seeing these again. It's not just the narration and the models and the music and the funny jokes and the movie-like camera angles and the constant upgrading as the show went along for better or for worse. It's all of those things and just a general sense of love for the show. Though my heart will always belong to the first two seasons and Ringo Starr's lovely narration, I've regained a lot of affection for the later seasons, found things out that gave me new perspective, and I hope that even through the bullshit I throw at the series, the love I have shines through.

And though it might seem odd to do so, I would like to thank you for sticking with me these past years. Whether you've been picking up on spelling errors that I've made, making sure that plot holes don't go unnoticed or even giving me legit criticism of what it is I'm doing wrong, it's helped a lot. And I'm glad that you've joined me on this revisit of a show that we all really kinda love in our way. I hope my take on the darker years will be just as welcomed!

Now, reviews!

AaronCottrell97: Eh, that's fair, I like Rusty and Duncan's dynamic, so a lot of the time I'm having fun with that more than anything.

Game-Watch: Drivers and firemen get away with a lot of shit in this series. XD.

MattPrice01: Thanks, this episode ain't really a dramatic one, more ending on a cliffhanger that'll get bigger and bigger over the course of the remaining episodes and specials. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Radical Sandwiches: It's a nice little ending, I think.

Hughie96: Thank you for all of that, I don't have anything specifically to remark upon, but ta very much!

UGX7: Thank you, I wanted to have a few little humanising moments (Ironic, I know) with the engines, especially as the end is coming.

jsw: Ah, but you are forgetting that in this universe, the Railway Series books didn't happen in their proper timeframe (I.E. mid-forties to early seventies). The events of Season 1 and 2 for instance, which were the Railway Series stories adapated, happened in 84-86 in my timeline. And to add to that, while it's true that Thomas and Friends was a massive merch shifter in the Classic Series, I'd argue that it became the juggernaut that it is today over the course of the New Series, to the point where it reached 80's level of introducing characters to sell toys and so on. It was well known before 2004, but now it's going to be literally everywhere.

Garchomp65: In short, yes and...*shrugs*

Guest: Yeah, it's weird.

Acehoneycomb: I won't lie and say I'm not daunted, but I'm hoping that my sarcasm will carry me through, and the plot will be there to stop me from going round the bloody twist. My own, not the episodes.

StreakofScarlet: Five minimum, ten maximum.

Reality Rejection Service: Yes, I actually realised that it would be a nice way to cap the Narrow Gauge story for a series or so! I'm glad you liked it!

This is the last time I'll ever write these words with regards to MY theme, the theme that I remember telling me that I was about to have fun back in my childhood days. So for now, as I said so long ago, Mr Campbell, Mr O'Donnell; if you would be so kind!

1. 2. 3.

CUE THE THEME

So we'll be seeing more of each other, Steve?

Yeah, now that David's leaving, the new company wants me to stay on and run things. Make sure that the old guard has some hand in production.

Huh. Wow, it feels so long ago that I was starting off.

And you? Are you leaving, Mr Angelis?

Uh, apparently my contract got renegotiated? And also I've got to take something before we record each episode. Apparently they're quite powerful stuff. Knocks me right out.

And that…doesn't worry you at all?

Hmm?

Oh, nothing, nothing. All right, when you are ready. Let's finish this off.

…..

It is perhaps fitting that the last episode of the old guard came to be filmed upon the start of a new year. The twentieth year of this strange show. How much had changed. And how little, too.

The engines were feeling that strange sensation too, on an exciting day on the Island of Sodor. Perhaps something had caught fire, or maybe there was a fete, or perhaps there was a fete upon fire.

"GOOD MORNING!" bellowed Harold. No one was around to listen to him on the coastal run. They'd all left.

Annie and Clarabel were full of happy children. Which meant a few things.

1: A severe amount of spray painting on the walls
2: At least three rolls of loo roll were to be thrown around and draped across the seats (They didn't even have toilets, how they had got there, no one was sure)
3: Thomas was going to be the only one cheerful.

They approached the area set aside for the annual sports day. Yes, in January. What, are you critiquing the Sudrian system? Ha! I thought not! How could you when the sports include football, the hurdles, some…limbo looking thing and….and nothing else!

"Cutbacks." The site manager shrugged. "Love em or leave em."

"I'll leave em!"

"Can't. Just have to say that for legal reasons."

"I hope I'm Number One and win a medal!" said Robbie, the local favourite. Not because he was special or anything, just because his parents were running the sports day, and also had the use of various threatening items to be used.

Somewhere, Robbie Rotten felt as though his meme was being stolen.

"It must be nice to win gold." Thomas growled. "Those assholes running the camera crew have won gold, but WHAT HAVE I GOT?! Severe buffer pains, that's what! I'M ENGINE NUMBER ONE, BUT IT'S NOT LIKE I CARE AT ALL! Don't look at me, my good side isn't feeling it today!"

"Hello Thomas!" said Arthur, cheerfully. "Look at this! I've just received a Lifetime Award from BAFTA! Isn't that grand!?"

"You are DEAD to me, Arthur!" Thomas screamed.

…..

Thomas worked hard all day…relatively speaking. But he kept thinking about medals, and how he really should have medals coming out the bunker with all the stuff he had done. There had been that time he had one the Island of Sodor Wacky Races, after getting his driver to tie all the other engines to the tracks. And that time where he had eaten the most chocolate coins in one sitting, before Percy smashed that record and stole the trophy off him.

"IT ISN'T FAIR!" He bellowed to all who would listen. He was thinking a golden medal with a red ribbon, wrapped around his funnel.

"How smart I would look!" He bragged. Henry looked at Thomas and laughed long and hard about the idea of the tank engine being considered clever by any stretch of the imagination.

He arrived at the yard (Thomas, not Henry. He had been carrying the Flying Kipper at the time and, well take a wild guess how well that had gone), just in time to see Bertie and Percy there.

"Hello Thomas!"

"Sup, Percy. You look remarkably cheerful, given what-" Thomas stopped himself mid-sentence. Even he was not that thick. "Given the weather!"

"I'm going to take the Fat Controller to sports day!"

"Didn't know he was taking part!" Thomas was then greeted by the very funny image of a 'Haul the Topham' wheelbarrow race style event. It amused him greatly. "Probably get to see the egg and spoon race!"

"I didn't know eggs and spoons had races!"

Thomas, for the moment, considered just leaving the Island at this moment and becoming a monk, with a vow of silence to follow. Because honestly, how was he expected to respond to a statement such as that?

"The CHILDREN race with the eggs and spoons, VAROOM VAROOM!" said Bertie, who was nothing if not consistent.

"And the winner gets a medal. I DESERVE A MEDAL, DON'T I, PERCY?!"

Percy looked at Thomas, and offered the engine equivalent of a shrug, which was…well, make it up. "Won't you need to win a race first? I mean, you couldn't even win a Mayoral Race!"

"IT WAS CLOSE!" hollered Thomas, as Percy left the yard. The tank engine suddenly felt very bored.

"I'll race you, Thomas! First one to the station, wins!"

"Which station?"

"ANY OF THEM!?"

Thomas thought logically about this. And then he decided to stick logic where the sun didn't shine. "You're on! No passengers with me! READY STEADY GO!"

"Not fair!"

And the two of them once again took off down the track and road respectively.

"MOVE IT, LAZYBONES!" Bertie howled as Trevor moved at glacial speed. "I have bragging rights to win!"

"Nope." Trevor said, and if anything went even slower.

"YA BOO SNUBS!" shouted Thomas as he passed. "Hurry up Bertie!"

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" But Bertie grinned, for he could see that the fork in the road led to the bridge. And the bridge meant a station, and a station meant one very angry Thomas.

"Come on, come on, just get on!" hissed Thomas as the passengers all began to slowly enter the coaches with the speed of very bored ants.

"Better hurry up Thomas!" Bertie cackled.

Oh, how amusing, thought Thomas in a hiss of rage that manifested as steam. He waited for about five seconds as he tried to calm down, then swore and raced off down the line. But secretly he was rather enjoying himself.

"OH LOOK AT THAT!" He declared, as he saw the level crossing up ahead. "SHADES OF 84! Deja frigging vu! TA TA, BERTIE! Last one there puffs hot air!"

"Well I feel sorry for you if that's the case, BECAUSE I AM NOT COMING IN LAST TO YOU AGAIN!" Bertie shouted. Secretly, he too was having the time of his life.

"VICTORY FOR THOMAS!" declared the eponymous tank engine, as he drew near the last station. But as he did, he saw a signalman rushing out ahead with a red flag. "That's not for us!" He protested.

"Thomas."

"No! Really! It's…It's for the other engine behind us!" Thomas sighed as his brakes were applied. "So, what's the crack, brother?"

"I…I don't what that means."

"Oh! SIR!" Thomas offered a big beaming smile. "COURSE!"

"The sports day medals have been left at my office! We must fetch them at once! And by them, I mean you!"

Thomas groaned. "But…But…"

And then, something struck Thomas for the first time in ages. His conscience began to play up again. He had thought he had bludgeoned it to death a long time ago, but there it was, poking up.

"Sure." He said, quietly.

"We can't let the children down!"

"Of course not, sir. Of course not."

…..

Elsewhere, at the station (chosen to be Wellsworth), Bertie drew in, did a few victory laps and began to crow.

"AH HA! AT LAST, VICTORY FOR BERTIE! VROOM VROOM! Got to go fast! Up yours, Thomas! Didn't even need wings!" And he waited for Thomas to arrive so that he could rub it in, significantly.

He waited, and waited. So long, in fact, that Edward's last look over his branch line was stopped by him having to thaw Bertie out, who had frozen to the tarmac.

But Thomas didn't know any of this, as he raced past Butch having to tow Tiger Moth out of a massive crater. "Can't let them down! Can't let them down!" He said, slightly aware that really, he was a sap when it came to kids.

As he entered Knapford, he slammed on the brakes. "WAIT! What the hell happened to Percy?! Why couldn't he have done that stuff?!" Fuming, he waited until the stationmaster handed the medals to his driver, then puffing and huffing, he set off on a full circuit of the Island.

"I'VE GOT A PAIN IN EVERYTHING!" He declared.

"Now you know what it feels like to be us!" shouted Gordon, James, Toby and Emily as one.

Harold had arrived in the mean time, and was now mocking Tiger Moth significantly, as Thomas raced around the corner and nearly came off the rails completely.

"Well done." Said the Fat Controller, barely looking up.

"I should bloody well hope so." Thomas panted.

"What?"

"I mean, thank you sir!"

As the awards were presented, Thomas blacked out. It was a good thing too, Sir Topham crushing three children after demanding to take part in the sack race was not a pleasant sight to behold.

…..

"I'm too knackered for this." Thomas said, as the next morning, the last shots were being filmed. "So, just look the camera, say something inspiring and-"

"Hang on." Allcroft and Mitton looked behind them. "Er, Sir Topham?"

"Keep the camera rolling!" As Robert stepped off the bus, followed by other kids, Topham coughed. "It's pretty hard to come by, but there it is." Robert climbed up a ladder, and draped a red ribbon around the funnel. A golden medal clanked onto the smokestack, with Topham's face engraved upon it. "We thought you helped out a lot at sports day!"

"So we wanted to give you a medal of your own." The boy said.

"This is mine?" Thomas stared. "My very own medal."

He had a quip in mind as he looked at the golden Topham…and it died a death on his tongue, for this was the first time in a long while that he actually had something, other than cracks and dents and memories, of a good thing he had actually done. And for the first time in a long while, he felt….strangely touched. "Thank you."

"Three cheers for Thomas!" chanted the children. "The Number One engine!"

"I still won the race!" Bertie said, the moment grabbing glory hog.

But Thomas just peeped happily.

…..

(BGM: It's Over Now-Star Wars Rebels)

And that was the end of the seventh season of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Though the 'The Tank Engine' would be dropped, it seems only fitting to call it what it is.

"Well Miss Allcroft, Mr Mitton. Thank you." Hatt smiled softly. "For a great many things."

"Who'd have thought that twenty years ago, when we tried to blackmail you with photographs of your soon to be second wife, we'd become such firm friends!"

"Wow our early days were weird!" Hatt paused. "But seriously, it has been an honour. Where to next?"

The two of them looked at each other, and shrugged. "Wherever there's interesting stories to be found." Britt remarked, at last.

Hatt nodded, and with one last firm handshake for both of them, he turned on his heel and walked back to his car.

David and Britt looked at each other for a long time.

"Well, I guess this is it."

"See you soon, I hope."

One hug later, and the two of them walked towards the dock, soon to be swallowed up amongst the crowd of people.

….

"Sorry lad."

Edward and Thomas watched as the tracks leading to their respective branchlines were shut down for the last time.

"It's fine."

Thomas didn't sound convinced. Edward didn't blame him.

…..

"House lights up, exit audience, the end." Steve Asquith remarked. The cameraman paused and watched as several of the old cameras were moved and dumped into boxes. "Wow. Gonna miss this."

As Gullane left for the final time, their quaint little cars were soon drowned out by the roar of lorries and vans carrying the latest and greatest cameras, all for the new series.

"When do we start?" Steve glanced at his clipboard. "TWO MONTHS?!" He shrieked.

…..

"What is this place?"

Lady hissed in pain as the cracks on her body were slowly refilled back in. "Part of the Magic Railroad. It's an easy place to rest up after a fight, I did it quite a lot before I was critically injured. This place should be hidden for quite a while."

"So what now?"

Lady looked at the five little engines and sighed.

"We need to be ready. I can't keep you here forever, but I have work that needs to be done, and you can assist me on quite a few projects. It'll save a lot of lives, I can assure you."

The five engines looked at each other, feeling very weary all of a sudden.

….

The station that Edward had once tested out with Stepney was shut down not too long after this. It had been agreed that the Island had no real need to hold any contracts with anyone bar the companies that the new shareholders wanted, and the Bluebell Line was quite simply, no longer profitable.

Truth be told, the engines weren't too bothered by this, they needed to keep Stepney safe, and there would be no such thing as safety on this Island anymore.

But even so, watching as the line was cut off felt very grim indeed.

…..

That night, Edward and Gordon, without any word to each other or anyone else, began to drink and drink. Stuffing their faces with alcohol and whatever was in front of them, determined not to look at each other despite being perfectly aware they were in the same room together.

James simply turned around and began to vigorously go through his self-care regiment. Somehow his heart just wasn't in it at the moment. Watching it brought Emily no joy, as she watched Henry mournfully take several drugs which made him, sadly, even worse in temperament.

Percy just looked out at the stars, remembering days spent at the Regatta and missing those days tremendously.

Thomas didn't know what to say. He had never known what to say, but it was only now that this fact was brought home to him.

….

"Well, here we are."

Toby looked around his new shed (Technically his old shed) and sighed. "Well, at least it's quiet."

He sat, and considered things.

"This was a mistake." He said, five seconds later.

…..

"So nae where?"

"You didn't have to come with me."

"Aye, mebbe not." Douglas glanced to Duck. "But yon enemies hurt Oliver. And despite him being a wee annoying idiot, I dinnae regret saving him from scrap."

"Besides, we were nae letting ye quack off the mortal coil without taking yon bastards down!" Donald grinned in a slightly edge manner. "So, I say again, nae where?"

Duck took a deep breath. "We take the long way round to the Bluebell Railway. We check in with Fergus, Stepney and his lot, make sure Oliver's all right. Besides, if we weave around long enough, we'll probably be able to lose any pursuers."

"….We should nae be leaving the others."

"No." Duck sighed, sadly. "But at this point I don't know what else we can do."

There was nothing more to be said about that. And so the three of them set off together into the wide world.

...

"How did you get this back off them?"

The Malignance shrugged. Or rather, Zero assumed he did, having abandoned Ivo Hugh's body, this meant that Zero had to make guesses a lot of the time as to what the strange flickering light was doing.

…..

TWO DAYS AGO

City of Truro sat, thinking deeply, and watched the cameras as the image of Fergus and Boxhill, carrying a broken Oliver across the lines, filled several screens. "Well this is a fine mess we're in." He remarked at last.

"Do you want us to pursue?" Mallard was careful to keep the tone neutral, no excitement nor trepidation in it.

"Hmm….no, I think we'll let the others handle it. The rest of the world breathing down our necks problematic enough." The Juggernaut rolled into view and offered a quick hum that indicated that Truro was wanted. "Update me if there is any more information."

Truro gasped in delight at the sight of the Malignance. "My lord!" He would have bowed, had he the ability. "It is an honour once more to see you in person!"

"Calm yourself, Truro. I am impressed at how easily you managed to put my advice into practice." The Malignance let out a little sigh. "But there is one thing I would request."

"Anything, sir!"

"You have a property, I believe, that could of use to me. Please release it into the custody of my other associates."

"It shall be done."

…..

"Oh, you know, benefits of having a plan that speaks to them, or so I believe."

Zero snorted. "Of course. Should have known, whenever I've seen Truro he's come across like one of us on the wrong side. Still….didn't think he'd be willing to give up such a big prize."

"What else are they going to do with this place?"

"True." Zero looked to John companionably. "Come on, lad, let's look around-"

And as everyone else took the tracks or the roads, Zero and John walked back into the Other Railway complex with a spring in their step.

"-And drink to the future."

…

As the eight engines sat in a land that they no longer wholly recognized, under the rule of someone who clearly did not have their best interests at heart, and with friends disappearing left and right, they didn't say a word.

Instead, they merely closed their eyes, looking for something to help them get through the next few years.

And pictured a land where the sky was so blue. A storybook land of wonder. A magical land, just waiting for them.

The Island of Sodor.

And perhaps one day, all of their dreams might come true.

THE END FOR NOW.