MAVIS AND THE TWINS

Based upon "Bill, Ben and Fergus" by Brian Trueman and "Buffer Bother" by Ross Hastings

Adapted by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens

On the day that the wedding between Annabelle Regaby and Paul Percival took place, some of the engines on the North Western Railway attended the afterparty at Crovan's Gate. Thomas, Percy and Toby were amongst the engines to attend, as were Annie, Clarabel and Henrietta. And in their place on the Ffarquhar branch line, three engines were called in from the Rolling Hills Railway. They were Toby's sister Flora, a South Western well tank named Josephine (she preferred Joey for short) and a Great Northern submarine tank named Kessie.

A few days had passed since the wedding, and the three engines, along with the other visitors, had stayed on Sodor for a little bit longer to get the railway back up to speed. And on this particular evening, the Ffarquhar crew and their guests were at Ffarquhar sheds together.

"Thanks for the help, dears," smiled Daisy. "It was really fun having all girls on the branch line for a while."

"It was great working with you too," said Flora. "I hadn't shunted trucks like that in a long time!"

"It was fun handling regular passengers too," added Kessie. "Tourists are nice, but it's such a thrill to actually take people to work or school again."

"Not to mention the post train," grinned Joey. "No wonder you speak so highly of it, Percy."

"You three did a great job filling in for us," said Percy. "It's nice to get a rest, or a change of pace, but it is good to be back on our branch line."

"I know I was glad to be back after going to the Brendam branch for a while," said Mavis. "The engines there are nice, but the china clay pits just wasn't the same as the quarry."

"No doubt it was because of Bill and Ben, wasn't it?" asked Thomas.

The visitors glanced curiously at the Ffarquhar quintet. "Who are Bill and Ben?" asked Joey.

"They're a pair of cheeky twins who work at the china clay works," Daisy explained with a huff. "I'm very glad I don't spend too much time with them."

"Were they as bad as Toby here?" remarked Flora. Toby glared at his sister, but the other Ffarquhar engines laughed.

"Well… it certainly wasn't easy working with them," Mavis admitted. "I suggest you pin down your brakes and listen up…"

Past

During the construction of Maithwaite station, some rabbits had dug burrows which caused the track above to weaken, and Thomas nearly got into an accident before Jack came to his rescue. The branch line was temporarily closed while repairs took place, and Mavis' new job was to help Bill and Ben. She'd never been down to Brendam before, and was feeling excited.

"BoCo says I should be careful around the twins," Mavis hummed as she shunted the trucks. "I can handle Bill and Ben. Toby's taught me well. We'll have this lot sorted in no time."

Of course, this was Mavis' first time working with them.

"Now we'll have some fun!" whistled Ben.

"We'll have her radiator in a spin," steamed Bill.

As the trio shunted trucks about, Bill bumped his set of trucks hard into each other. Some slabs of china clay fell onto the ground.

"Be careful, Bill!" called Mavis. "Those slabs could've hit me!"

"Heh, whoops," he said innocently. "I'll be careful next time."

"Uh-huh…"

Then it was Ben's turn to play a trick on Mavis… by trapping her in a siding with his trucks!

"Ben, what's the meaning of this?!" she cried. "I have to get to those trucks over there!"

"Oh?" Ben tried to hide a laugh. "Are you sure you didn't mean those trucks down there?"

"Huh?" Mavis glanced to where Ben gestured to. "Where? I don't see any…" Then she heard the sound of puffing and the china clay engine had gone. "Ben! Hey! Get back here! You– Ugh!"

Mavis had managed to get out of her predicament when Derek came to collect some trucks.

"Hello, Mavis," he greeted. "How are you doing at the china clay works?"

"Could be better," she groaned. "I swear, Bill and Ben are puffing circles around me!"

"Ah, yes, they are quite tricky," chuckled Derek. "Edward and BoCo have a real knack for them."

"I wish I did!" said Mavis. "They were great on my first day, showing me around and explaining how china clay worked. But now… ugh! They're doing my radiator in."

"Hmm…" Derek pondered. "Maybe, in order to get them to fall in line… you have to think like them."

"Think like them?" asked Mavis. "How do I do that?"

"Think about what they like to do," said Derek. "Or maybe tell them something that they cannot disobey."

Mavis thought for a moment, and then chuckled. "I think I got something, Derek. Thank you. I'll tell their manager this evening."

The following morning, as the three engines were getting ready for the day's work, Mavis put her plan into action.

"Bill, Ben," she said calmly, "I spoke to your manager last night. He said that Bill and I have to collect the rock crusher for the clay works today."

"But what about me?" asked Ben. "Bill and I are twins; we do everything together!"

"Well, Donald and Douglas are twins too; sometimes they work apart," Mavis explained. "The manager wants to see how you handle work apart from each other."

"Perhaps he doesn't trust Ben with the rock crusher after he dented his buffers last fortnight," joked Bill.

"No, I didn't!" huffed Ben indignantly. "The trucks were just being troublesome!"

"Okay then," smirked Bill. "It was both your faults!"

"No, it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was!"

"Wasn't!"

"Was!"

"Would you two stop being so crabby?!" Mavis scolded. "Come on, Bill; we've got work to do!"

Mavis and Bill started off, while Ben headed off to do shunting.

When Mavis and Bill arrived at Brendam docks, Cranky was unloading an usual machine onto a well wagon.

"Oooh! This makes my chain ache!" groaned Cranky. "You two had better take care with this thing! This isn't a job for one engine alone!"

"We'll keep it in mind, Cranky," called Mavis. "Thanks for the warning."

Bill grinned to himself. "How wonderful it is that our manager trusts me with the job. Heh, Ben won't be happy."

However, at the clay pits, Ben was actually pleased with himself as he arranged BoCo's train.

"At the clay pits, all by myself!" he smiled. "It's such a big job, but I can handle it. Bill needs Mavis' assistance; he's not trusted at all."

Ben finished his handiwork, then went to the china clay chute. He saw one of the more… disagreeable china clay workers. "Ooh!" he chuckled. "Hey, Bill, let's move our trucks too quickly for the chute and–" He broke off. "Oh… oh, that's right. He's still with Mavis collecting that rock crusher…"

Back with Bill and Mavis, the two were steadily pushing and pulling the machine down the line.

"Ohhh, this is really heavy…" groaned Mavis. "How can so many trucks of stone be lighter than this?!"

"That's a… good question," puffed Bill. "At this rate, we may need Edward or BoCo to help us!" He wheeshed steam as he tried to get more power. Unfortunately, because of this, combined with the wind, soot blew everywhere… including Mavis.

"Ugh! Bill!" she cried.

"Whoops… sorry!" said Bill. Maybe staying at the china clay pits was the better option today… he thought. What's he doing right now, I wonder…

Back at the china clay pits, BoCo arrived to collect his trucks.

"Thank you for arranging these, Ben," he grinned. "How's things without Bill?"

"Oh… uh, good, yeah, great!" said Ben quickly. "I've been managing things just… fine."

"Are you sure?" asked BoCo. "You and Bill haven't been apart for this long before."

"I…" Ben sighed. "No. You're right. I did have fun at first, but… every time I make an observation or joke, I just expect Bill to respond. And he doesn't…"

BoCo looked sympathetically at the smaller engine. As cheeky as Bill and Ben were, even their in-fighting wouldn't last forever. "Bill will be back soon, Ben," he assured. "But this experiment could be the start of something bigger. You may have to have lengthy overhauls one of these days, and not at the same time."

"I didn't think of that before," Ben realized. "I… I don't know how I can handle that!"

"When that day comes, Ben," said BoCo, "the rest of us will be there to support you and Bill in the best way we can. And I'm sure Mavis would too… if you gave her a fair chance."

Ben looked down at the tracks. "W-well… it was only a few harmless tricks, BoCo, you understand."

"Mavis may not see it that way," BoCo insisted. "She's been frustrated with you two, and she may not want to come back to the branch. Do you want that?"

Ben didn't reply, glancing down at the tracks as BoCo started away. Unfortunately, Ben was so lost in thought that he and BoCo didn't realize that something black had splashed onto the tracks.

After a long, exhausting journey, Bill and Mavis had finally returned to the china clay pits with the rock crusher.

"There you two are," said Ben. "Whoa… that does look heavy."

"Tell us about it…" groaned Bill. "Where do we have to move this thing, anyway?"

"It's supposed to go over there." Ben gestured toward where the men had been blasting. "But the cliffs are too unstable right now. Maybe try shunting it in the siding on the other side of the clay pits."

"That's fair enough," said Mavis. "Bill, let's head to the points and change tracks."

As the two of them slowly made their way forward, Mavis' wheels lost their grip. "Whoa!"

"Mavis!" cried Bill. He tried to pull back as hard as he could, but the weight of the crusher and the slippery oil pulled him forward instead. "ARRGH! Oh, bust my buffers…" And he did.

"Mavis, Bill!" exclaimed Ben. "Hang on, I'm coming!"

As Ben rushed after them, there was a loud rumbling noise.

"No, Ben!" called Mavis. "Get back!"

Without thinking twice, Ben pushed Bill and Mavis out of harm's way, as a rockslide rushed down the cliffs. The three engines managed to clear the rockslide safely, but they weren't out of danger quite yet.

"Oh no!" cried Bill. "We're trapped!"

"Hang on, you three!" called a voice from above. "I'll get help."

"Harold!" cried Mavis as she caught sight of the helicopter. "Are we glad to see you." Without another word, Harold flew off as quickly as he could.

Before long, Edward and Derek arrived. They quickly got trucks to help move the china clay slabs away, while Mavis, Bill and Ben handled moving it from their side of the accident.

"Say, where's BoCo?" asked Mavis.

"He had to go to the Dieselworks," explained Edward. "BoCo was leaking oil on the way to Brendam docks."

"What?!" cried Ben. "Oh… so that's how the rockslide started!"

"Great Railway Above!" exclaimed Mavis. "Is BoCo okay?"

"He will be," said Derek. "Just a few minor repairs and he'll be back in order. Speaking of which… Bill, what happened to you?"

"My buffers got damaged trying to stop the rock crusher from dragging us," Bill said glumly. "And it was after I teased Ben for getting his damaged this morning!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Bill," smiled Ben. "Damaged buffers can easily be repaired. The important thing is that you and Mavis are alright."

"Ben is right, Bill," said Edward. "It could've been far worse for you three. You could have been covered in stone and the workmen could have been digging you out."

Mavis and the twins shuddered at the notion. "No, thank you," they chorused.

"In any case," said Derek, "you three will soon be out of there. I can take Bill to the Steamworks. Mavis, do you think you can handle Ben for a while?"

"I think I can," she smiled.

"Hey, Mavis," said Ben. "I bet I can get more trucks shunted than you once we're free."

"You're on!"

Present

"…Bill's buffers were soon repaired, and he was back to work as if they'd never been damaged in the first place," finished Mavis. "Then came along the arrival of another diesel shunter to help out at Brendam, and I think you know the rest from there."

"That would be Salty, right?" asked Joey. "You spoke positively of him too."

"Indeed," said Mavis. "Salty keeps Bill and Ben most entertained with his stories and shanties." She chuckled a little. "It certainly helps to get them to behave."

"I bet it does," giggled Flora. "I sure hope to get on Bill and Ben's good side, should I meet them."

"Might be a while," said Kessie. "Flora, Joey, we'll have to go home first thing in the morning."

"Oh, that's a shame," said Joey. "Well, thanks for the story, Mavis. We really enjoyed it."

"And our time here," said Flora. "We hope to see you again soon."

"As do we," said Toby. And with that, the engines all fell fast asleep.

THE END

Author's Comments

I wasn't really intending to adapt elements of Buffer Bother for the third time (the previous two being Salty's Secret and One Biff and One Bash), but that's more or less how this rewrite turned out. And it's rather fitting too, since Mavis appeared both here and in Bill, Ben and Fergus alongside the cheeky twins themselves. Something that just occurred to me and Rachel as we were writing this out was, why were the twins so complacent about safety at the clay pits if we take Heroes into account? Was it to spite Fergus or something like that? I don't know, but it makes even less sense since they got defensive with Thomas in Tale of the Brave, especially after they saved him from a rockslide. Here, it was changed up to be more of an accident, and both engines along with Mavis all avoid the rockslide. The entirety of the flashback occurs around the time of Gordon and Spencer, which is when the Ffarquhar branch was freshly closed down for repair work.

Upcoming rewrites:

- Salty's Stormy Tale

- Stick with Steam (Mud, Glorious Mud/Pop Goes the Diesel)

- Hockings' Last Stand (Trusty Rusty)

- Oliver the Snow Engine

- Duncan's Wild Ride (The Runaway Elephant/Rheneas and the Roller Coaster)