Chapter 198: Thomas and The Magic Railroad Part 6

Mr. Conductor opened his eyes to find Shining Time in ruins. Buildings were cracked, trash littered the streets, and not a soul was in sight.

"No…no, this can't be!"

"Mr. Conductor? Mr. Conductor!"

Mr. Conductor saw Stacy walking through the desolate streets, her clothes disheveled and her body worn.

"Mr. Conductor, where are you!"

Mr. Conductor opened his mouth, but no words came out as Stay contined to wonder the wasteland.

"Mr. Conductor, why did you leave? Please, come back! We need you! Mr. Conductor…"

"Wakey Wakey, Twinkle Toes!"
Mr. Conductor jolted from his sleep to see Diesel 10's engine looming over, jumping just in time to dodge the claw as he took off running, Diesel 10 in hot pursuit.

"You can run, but you can't hide!"

Pulling out his whistle, Mr. Conductor desperately tried to teleport away, only to achieve the same results as his previous attempts with the same results.

"Left the sugar at home? Too bad, cause now we get to play!"

Mr. Conductor continued to run, narrowly avoiding the claw as needed…

Until he came to a dead end, no where to run as Diesel 10 closed end.

"Alright, Twikle Toes, play time is over! Now you're going to tell me where the magic buffers are, or I'm going to have to get violent."

Knowing he was on his very last bit of Gold Dust, Mr. Conductor raised his whistle to his lips and blew. Diesel 10 lowered his engine's claw, ready to go in for the kill…

Only for it to swipe air as Mr. Conductor finally disappeared, leaving nothing but bits of Gold Dust in his place.

"Curses! I'll get him yet!"

With that, Diesel 10 slunk away, plotting his next plan of attack.

Over in Muffle Mountain, Lily had settled in with her grandfather. She had made quick friends with Patch, and loved going on long walks through the forest, but she couldn't help but notice something was off with her grandfather. He seemed more distant than usual, hardly saying a word and always disappearing somewhere. She was beginning to get worried, but every time she told Patch he told her everything was alright.

One morning, a few days after she had arrived, Burnett asked her to go to Shining Time Station. He was expecting a package on the morning mail train, but since there was no train station near his house, he had asked Stacy to keep an eye on it for him. Eager to see Stacy again, Lily agreed, and Patch gave her a ride on his horse.

"Hey Patch, how long have you known my Grandfather?"

"A few years. I've done odd jobs for him every now and then, and he pays me good money."

"Does he feel, I don't know…off to you? Like there's more going on than he lets on?"

"How do you mean?"

"Don't you ever wonder where he disappears too?"

Patch was silent for a minute before shaking his head.

"You'll have to ask him that yourself. I don't like to pry into other people's business."

After a few more minutes of riding, Patch arrived at the town. Lily dismounted, grabbing her bag as Patch directed his horse to leave.

"Alright, the stations at the edge of town where the train tracks are. Big red building, you can't miss it. I'll see you in an hour."

"Got it, thanks Patch."

"No problem, Lily. Say hi to Stacy for me."

With a wave, Patch rode off to his home. After a few minutes of walking, Lily found the station. Walking in, she found Stacy at her desk.

"Morning Stacy, is my grandpa's package in yet."

"Oh, morning Lily. No, I'm afraid the mail train hasn't arrived quite yet, but you're more than welcome to wait. It should be in any minute."

"Thanks Stacy. Oh, Patch says hi."

Stacy walked away to put away some documents while Lily walked over to the large mural. She stopped to admire how intricate it was and was just about to turn away when she heard an odd sound. It sounded like it was coming from the painting.
"Alright, all set! Better get to Sodor quickly before anything else goes wrong."

Then, to Lily's amazement, a tiny man appeared in a burst of magic. Junior wavered for a minute, struggling to get his balance.

"Haven't done that in a while, I'd forgotten how unsettling it could be. Better not use any mor gold dust, need to save every drop of it I can. Guess I'll have to go the long way."

"UUUUUUUUUUUh…"

Junior looked over to see Lily looking at him.

"Oh, hello little lass. Name's Junior, what's yours?"

"Li-Lily Stone."

"Stone? You wouldn't happen to be related to Burnett Stone, would ya?"

"You know my Grandpa?"

"Know him? Why, he's an old family friend. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm needed elsewhere. See, my cousin's in trouble on Sodor, and…"

"Sodor? Its real?"

Lily had heard all kinds of stories about Sodor from her Grandfather, but she had never thought they were true, even though she wanted them to be."

"Why, as real as you and me! Say, why don't you come with? Anyone related to Burnett Stone is a friend of Sodor?"

"I'd love to, but I need to run an errand for Grandpa."

"Ah, it won't take long. Besides, with my magic I can bring you back to the exact second you left."

"Really?"

"Yep. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

Lily thought for a moment. On one hand, she did have an errand to run, and she didn't want her Grandpa to worry. When she had told him about her run in with PT. Boomer he flipped out!

But on the other hand, she so desperately wanted to see Sodor for herself. Hearing stories about it was one thing, but to go there would be a dream come true!

"Alright, I'm in!"

"Excellent! Just give me a minute to make the final preparations."

Junior turned to the painted tunnel on the wall and tapped it in a pattern Lily couldn't follow. A soft rumble was heard, and it began glowing. He then turned to his companion.

"Ready to go?"

"How do I…"

"Just hold your hand up to it. Like this…"

He held his own hand up, and was sucked in. Lily, both scared and excited, followed suit, and was sucked into the adventure of a lifetime.

When Lily and Junior landed, they found themselves in the Sudrian countryside, just in front of a set of buffers. Junior picked himself up, dusting himself off.

"Phew, forgot how rough the landing could be."

He then helped Lily to her feet.

"Thanks. Now where do we start?"

"Well she should ah…ah…ACHOO!"

Lily jumped back as Junior let out a terrific sneeze.

"Ugh, sorry, allergies. Now as I was saying, we should find my cou…cou….CHOO! Stupid allergies. We should find my cousin."

Just then, they heard a whistle and saw a wisp of smoke, making Junior smile.

"Ah, and here comes our ride now."

Thomas drove his engine around the bend, and Junior waved him down. Thomas groaned when he saw who it was.
"Oh great, not him."

"Thomas, Long time no see! How long has it been, five years?"

"Yes, when you put itching powder in my underwear."

"Oh, come on, we all had a good laugh."

"You did. What do you want, Junior?"

"Glad you asked, I'm looking for my cousin. Could you give us a lift?"

Thomas sighed, but complied.

"Lucky for you, I'm looking for him as well. Come on in, but no funny business!"

He then turned to Lily.

"And who might you be, miss?"

"My name's Lily. No need to introduce yourself, I know all about you."

Thomas chuckled, a little embarrassed by his popularity.

"Well Lily, take my advice and don't wind up like Junior here. Come on, we'd better start looking."

Lily and Junior climbed in, and together the three of them kept an eye out for Mr. Conductor. As they were about to turn around, however…

"Look over there!"

Sure enough, a cloud of gold dust appeared on the Railside near an old windmill, from which appeared Mr. Conductor, stumbling as he tried to gain his footing.

"Phew, that was a close one!"

"Cousin!"

Mr. Conductor looked up in relief to see Junior walking up, then became confused when he saw Lily.

"Don't worry Couz, she's with us. She's Burnett's granddaughter."

"I'm Lily, its really nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Lily, I'm Mr. Conductor. Did you bring my reserve Gold Dust? I used up the last of mine in a narrow escape."

Junior pulled out the small bag, containing their last reserves.

"This is all there was. We'll have to use it wisely."

It was just then that Mr. Conductor remembered where they were.

"Wait a minute, if this is what I think it is…"

He then began walking towards the structure, pushing his way past the overgrown branches and shrubbery. Confused, his three companions followed him to the far side of the building.

"Let's see, if I remember correctly… Aha!"

After a series of taps on certain stones, strange ink began to float onto the surface to Mr. Conductor's excitement, and everyone else's confusion.

"What is this?"

"When we closed the entrance to the magic railroad, The Conductor Family hid the secrets to our magic in certain places we knew no one would look. This windmill contains the secret to our Gold Dust."

After a minute, the ink formed sentence, which read "Stoke up the magic in the mountain and the lady will smile. Then watch the swirls that spin so well."

Everyone was silent, trying to make sense of the words.

"What does it mean? What lady, and what swirls?"

"Magic? Mountain?"

Mr. Conductor shook his head, not able to answer any of their questions.

"I don't know, but we'll have to try and make sense of it later. Come on, you two are more than welcome to stay with me while you're here."

With that, the four climbed in Thomas's engine and headed back to Knapford, the riddle still on their minds.

Later than night, Junior was walking in the yards. He couldn't get the riddle out of his mind, and their gold dust shortage weighed heavily on it.

"I do hope we can figure this out soon. Otherwise, who knows what will happen? After all, if we run out of Gold Dust, then there'll be no way to connect Sodor and our world. And if that happens…"

He was shook out of his thoughts when he heard a Diesel engine approaching. Panicked, Junior hid behind some scrap and watched as Diesel 10 drove past, singing loudly and off key:

"Old MacDiesel had a plan,

Hee hee hee hee hee.

With a pinch pinch here,

And a pinch pinch there,

Here a pinch, there a pinch, everywhere a pinch pinch!

He heh, I crack myself up!"

As Diesel 10 drove off, Junior peeked out from his hiding spot.

"That must be Diesel 10. If I follow him, I might find out what he's planning!"

He then ran off to find the nearest available engine. James was getting his engine ready for his evening Mail run when Junior rushed into the sheds.

"You? What…"

"No time to explain! I need you and your engine!"

"But what about…"

"This is important! Just follow that diesel!"

"Are You…"

"YES, NOW DRIVE!"

A little scared, James drove out of the station and onto Diesel 10's track. Toby watched them go, suspicious.

"That can't be good. I'd better follow."

With that, he silently followed behind. Although his engine wasn't as fast, he knew where they were going, and it wasn't someplace good. He just hoped he could get there before they got into trouble.

"Be careful, James. Diesel 10 isn't playing around."