Chapter 2: ...Is Shining Time.

Now I started this story by mentioning that the Isle of Sodor was just one part of it, on the other side, in a land far and away, across oceans of time, tucked away in one of the snow covered valleys of Solitas, hidden by Muffle Mountain, is a little dockside town known as Shining Time. You'll know you've arrived to the town by the cheerful train whistle blown by then resident locomotive driver, Bill Twofeathers. For being a town on the verge of being lost to the snow, there's a feeling of goodwill and courtesy here, a reason for why the town is still known as Shining Time.

I'd think you'd like it.

Shining Time has its own charm and magic to it, though it helps that Mr. Conductor lives here. But that being said, Mr. Conductor's always been the private kind of fellow, living alone in the station in a private elderly coach from when the town was new. He means well, of course, and will help tie Shining Time into the events on Sodor.

- The Storyteller.

... "Shining Time Station, Station Manager, Stacy Jones speaking." Stacy held up her phone as the person on the other end asked a question. "Oh yes, the 10:15 from Mantle to Shining Time should be right on time!" As the person hung up on Stacy after saying a pleasant thank you, Stacy looked out at her waiting room. The waiting room itself wasn't that huge, only taking up a small portion of the station's footprint for a few benches and her desk, and the restrooms. It meant she could see everything she needed to right there, and not only that, the doorway leading out to the common area was quite open.

It was still early in the day, but Shining Time's station was already busy, with townsfolk milling about their mornings. The building's centralized heating infrastructure meant that unless a blizzard came through, the floors were always at a warm enough temperature to melt snow and ice, leading to it becoming quite the cornerstone of life in Shining Time.

The station building housed quite the number of smaller businesses inside of it as well, which drew in people at all times of day. From the lovely Jukebox Cafe, to Bill's workshop which had a tool for just about anything, and Schemer's Bar and Arcade, all working together with the railroad feet away to make a pleasant station for visitors and residents alike.

She sighed happily as she relaxed, before announcing on the station intercom. "The 8 o'clock to Dillywick Junction is departing in five minutes!" As she let off the intercom, she saw the man who was driving the train himself walk into the room. "Oh Billy!"

Bill Twofeathers is an honest, hardworking man of direct and carefully chosen words who has quite the instinctive understanding of all things spiritual and beyond sight. He turned to her and smiled. "Oh, good morning Stacy."

"Bill, do you happen to have a moment?" Stacy spoke up as she watched Bill walk over. "I found this in one of the lockers in the lost and found earlier, and wanted to show you." Stacy pulled out from next to her desk, a large oil painting of a little blue tender engine with a number 2 on it's cabside but the name on the tender was unreadable. The countryside along the engine seemed idyllic in nature. Yet as Bill looked at the painting, his eyes were drawn to the fact that the painting's most defining feature was that it seemed like the little blue engine had a face where its smokebox door should be!

"Wow, that is quite the impressive piece of art, Stacy, did you happen to find who painted it?"
Stacy just brushed her hand over the little blue engine's clouds of smoke that took centerstage in the painting. "Oh yes, I noticed that hidden in the clouds is the painter's name, 'Tasha Rose', does that ring a bell?"
Bill was taken aback a little as his smile faded and chills went down his spine. "Ah yes… Tasha Rose, she was Burnett Stone's wife."
Stacy just looked on with a hint of bewilderment. "She was grumpy old Burnett Stone's wife?" Burnett Stone, Stacy had been told, was a former resident of Shining Time who moved out to a small mine in Muffle Mountain not long after his wife's passing. He came to the village every so often to purchase food and materials, but that for the most part was his only contact with them. Years of isolation had made Burnett cold, never really speaking to anyone in the town. Stacy had heard rumors from other townsfolk that the reason was that Burnett held so much grief, he left the town to protect it from the Grimm.

Bill just nodded. "Yes, she... always brought a smile to Burnett's face, I happened to meet her a couple of times when they'd visit the station with their kids..."

"I've never seen him smile in all of life." Stacy commented solemnly.

Bill just smiled at Stacy, memories of his past coming to him. "Oh, Burnett had such a wonderful smile back in the day, he taught me a lot of what I know about railroading, and while he wouldn't tell me outright, I believe he knew these lands were..."

"Magical?" Stacy said, lifting up a little and smiling.

"Precisely Stacy..." Bill just sighed, and dusted off his jeans. "Well, I need to get going soon, the ol' Rainbow Sun needs her driver. You should save that art piece to give to Burnett the next time he arrives, I think he'd love to have it, Tasha was such an amazing artist, it'd be a shame to see this piece forgotten..."

Stacy nodded. "Alright, take care Billy." Stacy watched him leave again after picking up something from his workshop, she couldn't help but stare at the art piece, hoping she could see Burnett smile when she'd hand it to him the next time he was in town…

Edward was still troubled from that morning's actions as he puffed up the line. His crew had tried to cheer him up at Ulfstead, by giving him a full washdown before returning to Tidmouth, causing Edward's blue paint to glisten in the summer sun. His crew had even taken extra time to clean up his number, causing the 2 to shine as Edward pulled into the first large stop on his line.

The town of Ffarquhar.

A once quite quiet town, home to barley and oat farmers, cattle and sheep ranchers and eventually home to Sodor's largest and most known brewery, Felgood's. An Sudric staple since their arrival in the town at the time of the first railways. Felgood's brought business to Ffarquhar, and that business needed the railways to take them to Ffarquhar, and bring them the finest ales on all of Sodor.

Near one of the crossroads on the outskirts of town, a great source of study stone was rediscovered and kept bringing new workers into the town, nearly overnight the once sleepy town exploded into the town Edward now saw before him.

The yard at Ffarquhar was a little bigger than one might expect, due to the industrial tramway up to the stone quarry. They had a small three road shed up in the yards, home to Toby and Mavis, the tram engines who worked the Anopha quarry. The third shed was sometimes used by Thomas or Percy when they had early morning stone runs.
Speaking of Thomas, as the stationmaster started to unlock his coaches, Edward could hear his whistle off in the distance. Not a minute later, Thomas came storming into the station yard.

"That big bully..." Thomas muttered to himself, not noticing Edward on the opposite track.

Edward sighed to himself, it seemed to him that Thomas too, had been troubled by that large diesel, or something happened between him and one of the others… but they both knew better. "Still thinking about that big diesel from this morning?" Edward spoke up, he put on a face to try to sound less troubled than he had been earlier.

Thomas's brakes flew on as he screeched to a stop outside of the signal box and looked over to Edward as his driver climbed down to chat with Edward's own crew. "Oh.. Hullo Edward." Thomas said, taking a deep breath before admitting the truth. "Yeah, I am."

Edward chuckled, showing a soft smile to Thomas. "Whatever he has in store, we'll be able to stand up on our own wheels against him." He paused and looked at Thomas, noticing Thomas' normally cheeky smile didn't rise from his comment. "Did you happen to have a conversation with him?"

Thomas wheeshed a little in frustration. "Yes." he answered sharply. "Me and James were at the sheds when he oiled in and dropped some more details on why he's here... mainly to spite and threaten us."

'He tried to threaten you two?' thought Edward to himself, as his smile dropped instantly before tensing up and speaking. "Go on."

"He said that his boss was looking for Lady. Not to restore her, but to kill her, and once that happens, he'd scrap the rest of us in time, you know I won't stand for that to happen."

'They're looking for Lady.' Edward thought to himself as he quietly spoke up, reassuring Thomas "I know Thomas, I know." Edward sighed a little to himself as he heard his coach doors start to slam behind him, he needed to hurry up and tell Thomas some things before they had to leave. "Right... I think that gives me an answer to who we're actually dealing with. Now... hurry along and reach the lonely signal box outside of Ulfstead, you know the place. Mr. Conductor should be there shortly."

"Edward?" Thomas asked, a little puzzled. "Just who are we up against?"

Edward sighed, he didn't want to give Thomas the direct answer, not yet. He needed to speak to someone about Lady before making the final call. "I... don't worry about it for now Thomas... Just focus on finding Mr. Conductor... and please, if this is who I think it is we're dealing with..." Edward paused again, as he looked at Thomas longingly. "I need you to give a message to Mr. Conductor for me."

Thomas smiled. "Of course Edward."

"Tell him to go to the Windmill near Hackenbeck. That's where he'll find the answer."

"Answer? Answer to what Edward?" Thomas asked, more confused than before.

"I can't say anymore..." Edward said as his guard blew his whistle. "I'm off, hopefully I'll see you tonight at the sheds... Good luck." and with that, Edward was off, slowly puffing out of the station. Once he was at Tidmouth, he needed to make a call and see if someone would change shifts with him for a run or two, there was another tank engine he needed to see.

On the eastern side of the island was Crovan's Gate, a large town situated in a narrow valley with a river flowing through the middle of the town. The town had gotten its name from a battle held not far from the site of the town, as the valley walls here had the best passages connecting the far eastern side of Sodor and the mainland, to the heart of Sodor and the western edges.

In the 1800s, a small mineral railway had opened up shop in the town, ran by the Crovan's Gate Mining Company, which still served the town with the Skarloey Railway and the Crovan's Gate Workshops complex. The workshops had been once owned by the North Western until it had been sold to the Mining Company to keep it from being closed.

James had arrived in Crovan's Gate on Bear's train after his discussion with Thomas, he was thankful that Crovan's Gate Works was busy but it meant he had to be put in a siding for an hour or so. The works had been overhauled recently by the Crovan's Gate Mining Company to be a modern workshop for all engines, and thus engines from all over the UK were now sent there to be refitted and checked up.

James took the chance to be shunted next to the Skarloey Railway, and as he waited, a few of them eventually showed up and started chatting, before James spoke up. "E-Excuse me?" He asked, as five pairs of small eyes turned to face him.

"Yes James?" Asked Skarloey, the small red tank engine that had been the last to arrive at the sheds. Skarloey was the eldest of them, and with age came wisdom, a natural Sudric historian. James knew she might know about what the Diesel was on about, as he tried to smile.

"W-Well, I was wondering... there's... trouble brewing on the mainline and I wanted to ask…" That surely got the little engine's attention, as they all started to look interested in James' question. "Have you ever heard of any lost engines... here, on Sodor?"

The little engines all turned to look at Skarloey who pondered for a bit. "Lost engine?" She eventually answered. "You'd have to be more specific-"

The old tan tender engine next to Skarloey, Duke sighed, drawing attention to him. "Proteus." To James, Duke was only known as an old engine, not as old as Skarloey, but quite up there, having come from a different railway near Thomas' branchline.

"I beg your pardon?" James asked, a little confused, as one of the other tank engines, a blue one with the nameplates 'Falcon', just looked down at his buffers.

Duke looked over at Falcon for a moment, as he tried to speak up. "His name was Proteus…" He sighed and started to trail off. "Falcon... do you...-"

Falcon turned to look at Duke, as the others could see his solemn expression. "It's... alright, if he's curious, there's no harm in telling James, after all... he'd like that."

Duke just smiled as the green little engine in the shed with a squashed looking funnel, Peter Sam, cut in. "Who's Proteus?" Peter Sam, to James' knowledge, was the most cheerful and curious of the little engines in the hills, though it'd been some time since they had really had a good chat.

Duke looked up into the air for a moment. "Proteus, was Falcon's sibling, the original No. 4 of the Mid Sodor...He was a cheerful fellow, a kindred spirit who had a large lamp that could be seen for miles around. Proteus had told me a couple of times that he believed that his lamp was magical, a gift from the gods..."

The other engines were starstruck and just listened intently to Duke's words as he continued.

"I didn't believe him, but I feel now that I should have..." Duke paused for a moment. "That being said, the lamp kept him operating the night trains, and eventually Lady Luck caught up with him... it was a foggy night as he trundled down the Mountain Road.. but after he passed Cas-Ny-Hawin, he was never seen again, at least... in person."

"In Person?" asked Peter Sam.

"It's become... a folktale that on fully moonlit nights, people who travel up to the Old Iron Bridge claim to see a little engine trying to make their way home... but never make it to the other side. Some say he hit a bent piece of track and came off, others said he shapeshifted, others say he was whisked away by the gods themselves for their own pleasures... but whatever the case may be... all I know, is that, before he had left that night, he had told me that, if he were to disappear..."

Duke chuckled a little. "Sorry, but... it's just Lady Luck really did have something in store for him... but he said that his lamp was in fact magical, and that if anyone were to find it, that it would grant wishes to them."

Rusty, the little orange diesel who was sitting next to Peter Sam, perked up. "And how'd you know that you had found the lamp?"

"First... you would feel a rush of wind when the lamp was near... then you'd start to hear some ominous creaking coming from it... before the lamp would flicker on and off...off and on." Duke chuckled. "No one's found it, so it's safe to assume where Proteus is, he has his lamp safely with him."

Skarloey just smiled warmly as she wheeshed off a bit of steam, her eyes turned to James, who now looked a little disgruntled. "Are you alright, James?"

James just looked up and after a moment spoke up. "I'm sorry about your brother, Falcon. But honestly? A Magic Lamp? Gods? What rubbish."
The other engines just looked at him with annoyed expressions, guess after all these years, James still hadn't learned to believe in at least Lady Luck as they had, his amount of accidents could attest to that though.

Duke just looked at him and sighed. "I only believe in what I've seen, youngster, you best take care once you've been repaired..."

James just rolled his eyes, he was nowhere closer to finding out anything useful to help Thomas and the others. "Silly stories about ghosts, besides… the engine I was looking for was female." he muttered to himself.

That got Duke and Skarloey to look over to him, as Skarloey coughed, trying to catch James' attention. "A female engine?"

James wheeshed indignantly. "Yes. Lady something. Standard Gauge like me."

Duke sighed as he looked out towards the station. "Lady Argidrhod then. She was a kind spirit alright, I knew her for a time when we'd see each other at Valesbridge before…"

Skarloey chimed in. "Argidrhod… that's the name of one of the Sudric Goddesses, meaning Silver Wheel, the Goddess of the Moon."

James sighed. "Let me guess, she ran afoul of the Moon goddess and got whisked away to some magic railway to serve as their servant, like Proteus."

Duke just chuckled. "I actually don't know, no one does… not even her owner Lord Callan did, that being said, some do say she could be still seen crossing her railway's dam every night." He chuckled again. "But no, I doubt that happened to her, she just… disappeared one night in the 1930s and well, she hasn't been found in 50 odd years, even with those volunteers restoring her line as the Heritage Railway."

James just rolled his eyes. "So, coming here to ask was pointless." he grumbled to himself as one of the shop shunters soon approached him and coupled up. "Thank you at least for this chat."

Duke just wheeshed some steam, clearly unsure how to respond. "Take care, youngster."

James soon was moving away from the sheds and into the works, he was no closer to finding out about this engine, than he had been, other than her name.

Lady Argidrhod. What a funny name indeed.