Stephanie was thinking to herself while sitting in her room, searching through the collection of Crystal Dusts she had gathered through her search around Muffler Mountain.
Strangely and somewhat ironically, Stephanie figured out that Muffler Mountain is the same mountain as the one in Shining Time, which is magical.
Stephanie picked up one of the Crystal Gold Dust in her hand, looking at its color and glitter.
There was nothing wrong with the Crystal Gold Dust as Stephanie inspected it underneath her desk lamp.
It was not cracked either and had no signs of anything bad, blackened, or having a squishy texture whenever she applied pressure.
Stephanie paused as she thought back to the crystals she had been collecting, noticing some infused with each other had blackened to an ugly color and had a somewhat hardened and squishy feeling whenever she touched them.
It would freak her out whenever she stumbles upon these infused crystals, but it would stump her at what they could be.
But half of her does not feel like she should be messing around with something potentially dangerous.
She does not want to worry Sir Topham Hatt again after spending a night in Shining Time Station with two people who work with Diesel 10.
…Though she was starting to worry if she had accidentally spilled too much information towards Diesel and P.T. Boomer, even if they had promised her.
Yet again, people do break promises, and she had grown used to hearing empty promises from a lot of people-
"Stephanie?" Stephanie perked up after hearing a voice and glanced down at her lap, looking at Notches. "Something wrong?"
Stephanie softly smiled after Notches asked and reached down to his face, gently scratching his chin and cheek as she said, "Nothing. Just thinking to myself about things."
"Alright." Notches nodded with a light purr in his voice. "Just be careful about overthinking."
Stephanie nodded as she removed her hand from Notches' face, returning to what she was doing as she looked through her collection.
Lucy was watching her from in front of her, looking at her key for any damage done to it or any cracks on her gemstone.
Stephanie sorted through the Crystal Dusts by color before pausing when she was about to put them into bins, realizing she had yet to buy one.
So she took out a pencil and wrote down on a notepad:
Reminder: Get bins for your collection of Dust Crystals.
After writing the reminder, Stephanie returned to what she was doing, pausing when she noticed she had collected a new Crystal Dust in an aluminum color.
Stephanie moved the Crystal Dust to her nose and sniffed, noticing the aluminum smell.
"Ah," Stephanie perked up. "This is Aluminum Dust! Why did I think this was Silver Dust?"
She shrugged to herself as Stephanie placed the Aluminum Dust down and finished sorting, still silently wanting a bin to keep them apart for her use.
As she was about to continue writing, Stephanie's bracelet started glowing, and she looked down at it, muttering, "No, not now. I'm busy sorting through-"
A sudden thump startled Stephanie, Lucy, and Notches from what they were doing, causing them to glance at what had landed.
To Stephanie's surprise, it was the same trunk Stephanie found with Diesel and P.T. Boomer.
Stephanie picked Notches up from her lap and held him before moving a hand to Lucy, and she put her key away, climbed into her hand, and was moved to her shoulder.
She walked over to the trunk and knelt in front of it, placing Notches down as Lucy hopped off her shoulder onto the floor.
"Do you recognize this trunk?" Notches asked.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded. "I found it after my bracelet led us to a secret place, which was closed off after finding it."
"Really?" Notches asked. "What did the place look like?"
"It was a huge cave," Stephanie explained as she sat comfortably. "There was a lot of water dripping everywhere and stalagmites and stalactites."
"I wouldn't go in there because of the water," Notches remarked. "But where was the trunk hidden?"
"Behind a carved mural of a sea serpent," Stephanie explained. "An ancient language was written underneath, but I couldn't read it."
"Hmm." Notches gently hummed. "That sounds like something familiar to an ancient creature."
"Really?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes." Notches nodded. "There was a legend about a sea monster that roamed the ocean floors and was once fearsome."
"What happened to the sea monster?" Stephanie asked.
"Hunted down," Notches responded. "Someone couldn't stand being afraid of the sea monster, so he went into the ocean and hunted down the monster. That's where the legend went."
"That sounds almost familiar to a Zodiac," Lucy remarked.
Stephanie and Notches looked at Lucy as Stephanie asked, "There was a sea monster Zodiac?"
"Was, yes," Lucy nodded. "But he went missing centuries ago after he went to Earth."
Stephanie looked thoughtful after Notches, and Lucy explained to her before turning to the trunk, noticing no letters were appearing when she placed her hand on it.
Or pricking her finger like the last time.
Stephanie opened the trunk and peered inside, seeing the scrolls and other items still inside.
She took out one of the scrolls and carefully removed the ribbon, unrolling it as there was more ancient language, but it was all written.
After reading the scroll's handwriting, Stephanie looked confused but noticed the same handwriting on the trunk's cover.
Her bracelet glowed, which caused Stephanie to look at it, watching as the letters on the scroll changed to English, just like last time.
In English, it reads:
To use the staff's ability, you will have to wield it in your hand, draw a magic circle using the staff itself, and think of an element you want to use.
If you want to use the staff's constellation ability, you can just draw the constellation in front of you, and the constellation will appear for you to use.
You can even open a small pocket dimension to store the items you have collected over time or link them to any pockets or bags you carry.
But be warned, using the staff's magic will drain your energy over time if you use it too many times, causing you to either pass out or collapse from using too much.
Some of the spells will backfire if you attempt to use them against a mirror, which will bounce right back at you.
"Whoa." Stephanie remarked as Notches and Lucy perked, and Notches asked, "What is it?"
Stephanie showed Notches and Lucy her bracelet, saying, "My staff can translate what was written on the scroll."
"It does?" Notches perked.
"Yes," Stephanie smiled before looking back at the scroll thoughtfully. "But I never thought my staff could act as a pocket too."
Deciding to try it out, Stephanie rolled the scroll back up, placed the ribbon on it, placed it into the trunk, and stood up.
She flicked her hand as the bracelet magically popped off and transformed into a wand for her to use.
"Hold on," Stephanie paused. "Let's not use magic in Sir Topham Hatt's mansion, or he would be mad at me."
Stephanie walked over to the door and focused on where she could practice before opening the door and poking her head through.
She looked confused when she stepped into a gigantic white dimension with nothing around, not even wildlife or anyone else.
"Okay," Stephanie spoke as she opened the door more. "This is new."
Notches poked his head through the door frame as Stephanie flicked her wrist, transforming her wand into a bracelet as she went to carry the trunk.
Lucy did the same as Notches smelled the ground, smelling nothing as he looked around cautiously.
After checking around, Notches and Lucy cautiously stepped into the dimension as the floor underneath them was solid before walking inside.
Strangely, they both could breathe in this empty dimension without difficulties, and nothing dangerous would happen.
Stephanie stepped inside with the trunk dragged in before closing the door, and it disappeared into the ground as Stephanie watched.
"Okay," Stephanie gently clapped her hands together. "This is going to be very new."
Remembering the scroll she previously read, Stephanie flicked her wrist as her bracelet magically came off, transforming into a staff instead of a wand.
Stephanie focused, and using the staff's gemstone, she drew a light cyan-blue circle in front of her, causing Stephanie to perk up.
She moved the gemstone into the spell circle, and a massive gust of wind came from it, causing Notches and Lucy to be flung backward.
"Oops!" Stephanie exclaimed as she moved the gemstone back, breaking the circle and placing her staff down as she went to the two. "Sorry! Are you two alright?"
"We're fine!" Notches exclaimed as all his fur was sticking up from the ends.
"Be careful where you are practicing your magic!" Lucy exclaimed as Notches shook himself to flatten his fur.
Stephanie blushed a little after they exclaimed as she returned to her staff, picking it up as she made a huge mental note to be careful with where she was pointing the staff.
After making a mental note, Stephanie decided to practice with the staff in her hand again, making another spell circle, except it was blue.
Notches and Lucy went over to Stephanie, and she inserted the gemstone into the circle, watching as a massive water ball launched out of the circle and landed a few feet away.
"Okay," Stephanie nodded as she mumbled to herself. "That was water. I wonder if I can attempt to use a different style of water."
Stephanie drew a larger blue spell circle and inserted the gemstone into it, finally being able to shoot a hose of water as it sort of pushed Stephanie backward.
But Stephanie kept herself upright as she gripped the staff with both hands, smiling with interest as she shot water.
She moved the staff back to break the spell circle, stopping the water as it had created a medium-sized pool of water.
Stephanie drew another spell circle in front of her as it was a light blue color, and instead of putting the gemstone into the spell circle, Stephanie instead tapped the water puddle she made and watched as it transformed into ice.
After the entire water puddle was transformed into ice, Stephanie drew another red spell circle and tapped the frozen ice with it, causing the ice to melt into nothing as it disappeared into mist.
"Whoa!" Stephanie remarked with a smile. "I can combine spells using the staff too!"
Stephanie continued to practice using the spells with the staff before changing it to a wand and using many spell circles, pausing a little from using her wand.
Instead, Stephanie used her hand, and nothing happened, perking Stephanie's curiosity as she attempted to do it repeatedly.
After using her hand, Stephanie used the wand, and a small fireball shot out before landing a few feet away.
She then used another spell circle and shot water to extinguish the fire.
"So it only works with the staff," Stephanie muttered curiously. "Interesting."
Stephanie paused from using more spell circles and thought, muttering, "I wonder if I can use the constellation ability the scroll mentioned."
She paused as she thought of an easy constellation but perked up after one of them popped into her mind.
Using her wand, Stephanie made four dots in the air before connecting them like she saw in one of the library books about constellations.
Once the constellation was finished, it started taking shape as Stephanie perked up, watching the constellation transform into a beautiful bird-of-paradise, except with the color scheme of the night sky.
The bird of paradise landed on Stephanie's arm, and she softly gasped, watching the bird tweet as it flapped its wings.
"Wow!" Stephanie remarked with a smile. "It's beautiful!"
The bird-of-paradise tweeted as Stephanie transformed her wand into a bracelet, petting the beautiful bird-of-paradise with a hand as it made small noises.
Then Stephanie noticed the collar around its neck, which has the constellation of the bird itself, matching the ones Stephanie takes off to transform to normal.
Curiously, Stephanie gently gripped the collar and removed it, causing the bird of paradise to disappear into thin air.
"Oh!" Stephanie perked up as the collar disappeared with the bird. "That's how the constellations disappear."
Stephanie looked at the bracelet around her wrist thoughtfully, wondering what else the staff had.
Sir Topham Hatt returned home after a long day at work, sighing as he pushed his cat into place.
"Good evening, sir," one of the butlers greeted him.
"Good evening." Sir Topham Hatt nodded before deciding to check on Stephanie.
So he headed to the spare room he gave her, knocking on her door as he spoke, "Stephanie? Are you in there?"
There was no response, and Sir Topham Hatt felt confused and worried.
Did she walk off again?
"Stephanie?" Sir Topham Hatt took the doorknob in his hand and turned it, only to open the door to a vast jungle.
Sir Topham Hatt stared at the jungle with confusion as he looked down the hallway that was his house before looking back at the jungle.
He stepped into the jungle and closed the door behind him, wondering what had happened to Stephanie's room?
Unless she could have been using spells to recreate this room into something else.
He will have a long talk with her when he-
Sir Topham Hatt almost tripped over something that caused him to stop as his hat was knocked off slightly, but he adjusted it back into place.
Glancing down at what he almost tripped on, he saw a trunk filled with scrolls on top of a rock at his height.
He looked at the scrolls inside the trunk as he picked one of them up, noticing they had a ribbon with a medal on it with a sideways nine.
There were also what looked like pieces of a fish scale with jewelry and some pieces of gemstones.
Does this belong to Stephanie?
Deciding not to poke his nose into Stephanie's belongings, Sir Topham Hatt closed the trunk before calling, as he cupped his hands over his mouth, "Stephanie? Where are you?"
He soon came across what looked like a waterfall with a pool and continued glancing around, calling, "Stephanie?"
A head popped up from the grass and noticed Sir Topham Hatt before exclaiming, "Sir?!"
Sir Topham Hatt flinched after hearing Stephanie's voice and glanced over, seeing Stephanie walking around the grass as she held a staff in her hand.
"How did you get in here?!" Stephanie exclaimed but wobbled a little.
"I entered your room through your door," Sir Topham Hatt explained. "It was unlocked, but," he paused as he looked at the jungle, asking, "What on Sodor happened to the room?"
"Actually, it's not a room," Stephanie told him, seeing his face more confused. "Here, let me show you."
Stephanie transformed her staff into her bracelet, which concluded that it was truly the staff Lucy and Notches mentioned, and she took his hand, leading him through the jungle.
"Ah, excuse the greenery," Stephanie apologized with a gentle chuckle. "I sort of went a little crazy with my magic."
"You were practicing magic?" Sir Topham Hatt asked.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded with a smile. "I learned how to use elemental spells and even how to bring constellations to life too!"
"You did?" Sir Topham Hatt asked, a little bewildered at how fast she learned. "But it'll take years for someone around your age to learn this!"
"True," Stephanie nodded before they soon exited the jungle. "Ah, here."
Stephanie gently tugged Sir Topham Hatt forward, showing the edge of the jungle, and there was only a vast white space, causing Sir Topham Hatt to be confused.
"H-How?" Sir Topham Hatt stammered, sounding confused.
"It's, ah, a part of my ability," Stephanie responded. "Not my staff. It's a secret magical ability of mine."
She paused as she summoned her wand with a flick of her wrist, making a small ocean-blue circle as the same door appeared from the ground in front of them.
Stephanie turned the knob and opened the door, showing the room to Sir Topham Hatt as Notches and Lucy were there.
"It turns out I can open doors to different places." Stephanie chuckled sheepishly.
"You can?" Sir Topham Hatt asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes!" Stephanie nodded as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. "I didn't have the chance to explain to you since I have been wandering around Sodor to learn of the island's magic."
Sir Topham Hatt looked surprised after Stephanie explained before saying, as he looked back at the jungle, "I didn't expect you to use that much magic, though. Doesn't it tire you out?"
"Actually…" Stephanie paused as she leaned against the doorframe, the wand transforming back into her bracelet. "I think I did exhaust myself from doing all that."
Sir Topham Hatt gently scooped Stephanie into his arms as she drooped, looking tired as she took her glasses off.
"Note to self," Stephanie spoke as Sir Topham Hatt entered her room. "Don't go bonkers overusing magic."
She added, "And close the door too, so my ability would stop working and no one else would walk into it accidentally."
Sir Topham Hatt closed the door after Stephanie pointed it out and opened it, seeing that it did stop as it was back to the hallway he had walked through.
"I need to get used to this magic," Sir Topham Hatt sighed as Stephanie sat on her bed after taking her sweater off.
Stephanie chuckled after Sir Topham Hatt sighed as she said, "It's okay, sir. Try taking it at your pace. Overstressing yourself by attempting to get used to it doesn't work that well."
Stephanie lay comfortably on the bed underneath the blankets as Notches hopped on, laying around her stomach area.
Sir Topham Hatt turned the lights off as Stephanie's tiredness approached her.
She eventually fell asleep as he closed the door, and the lullabies with Notches' purring filled the air as she drifted to sleep.
With Sir Topham Hatt, he wondered how Stephanie managed to do all that in a whole day?
He had heard of how people used their magic when they were young, and it took them a decade to practice.
But Stephanie just learned hers over a day!
He could ask J.J. Silvers how Stephanie could do all that when he could ask him.