Turning Red - ThomasNATION Fanstory
July 22, 2023
“Sorry, Edward.” said Victor. “We looked everywhere and unfortunately, I don’t think we have any more blue paint.”
"No blue?" gasped Edward. "Are ya sure?"
"We really tried, Edward," Kevin replied, "but nothing."
Edward sighed in discontent. He was, ironically, feeling blue about this whole ordeal. "Well, I can’t go back to my branchline in just my undercoat. What if it rains?"
Victor considered this deeply. "Very good point. Perhaps you’d like to try a new color? A while back we repainted our friend Rheneas to a nice shade of yellow, and granted everyone thought he was Duncan, but we can take extra precautions to make sure no one confuses you for anyone."
"What are the options?" asked Edward.
"Well, you could try a nice purple, a bit like Charlie or Ryan?" suggested Kevin.
"Hmm…" Edward thought. "...that doesn’t sound like my kind of color."
"How about orange?"
"…tempting. Very tempting."
The three back-and-forthed on this for a while. Victor and Kevin suggested repainting him yellow, magenta, mauve, even chartreuse, but Edward wasn't fond of any ideas...until Victor thought of the perfect color. "Hey, I have an idea!"
Hours passed and Edward was finally done being repainted in a completely hue. He had been repainted completely red. He looked like a completely different engine, as noticed by Henry and Rebecca who were transporting an unusual engine to the Steamworks.
"Wow, Edward?" gasped Rebecca. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." chuckled Edward. "What do you think? It's not too much, is it?"
"No!" laughed Henry, "It looks amazing! It reminds me of when I first came to Sodor and I was painted blue."
"Oh, yes! I quite liked that blue you." Edward reminisced. "What happened?"
"I got covered funnel to footplate in mud."
"Oh, I remember that day. Wasn't that the day you got splashed by an elephant?"
"I honestly have no idea how that happened twice."
"Erm, should I be listening to this?" said the strange engine. "Can I get repaired please?"
Edward took a gander at the engine. He was very old, rather small and made of wood. "Who's he?"
"The name's Ted," the engine spluttered, "the Mainland's bona-fide circus engine, at your service!"
"Circus engine?" Edward pondered. "But why are you here?"
"Ah, it's because-" Ted was interrupted by his coughing and spluttering.
Edward winced. "Oh dear, you sound awful."
"Yep, that and some improperly set points." Ted explained, "I was supposed to take the circus train from Brendam back to Barrow, but...you can probably guess why I can't."
"So who's taking the circus train?" asked Edward.
This question carried over to Knapford. It was all the other engines were talking about.
"Does one of us have to take the circus back to Barrow?" asked Philip. "Doesn’t the circus have its own engine?"
"Yes, Philip," said Sir Topham Hatt, "but that engine is in need of repairs. I was hoping to give this load to Edward, but he’s away at the Steamworks."
"No, I'm not," said Edward as he and Henry pulled in. "I'm right here."
Everyone was shocked at Edward's new color. They certainly weren't expecting this!
"Edward?!" Thomas gasped. "Is that you?"
"I like the new color, Edward!" chuckled Sir Topham Hatt. "I suppose I have to call you Redward now, eh?"
Edward laughed. "Thank you, sir. James was right about this color being splendid. But keep in mind it's only temporary."
"I like it," said Toby. "it's very fancy."
Gordon merely snickered. "Imagine the look on James' face when he sees this!"
And, like clockwork, James was speeding into the station, braking harshly. "Heeere's James!"
"Hello, James!" cried Philip. "…hey, wait! James, look at Edward real quick!"
"Why?" asked James before looking over at Edward and gasping. "WHAAAT?!"
"Like it?" Edward giggled. "While I’m waiting for new blue paint, I’m just gonna be red for a while."
James was unbelievably ticked off, immediately storming off.
"Was it something I said?" asked Edward.
James was still mad about Edward's new paintjob as he pulled into Brendam Docks. "Unbelievable, first Rosie gets repainted red, and now Edward? Who else? Is Thomas going to be repainted red next?!"
"What are you waffling on about now?" asked Cranky.
"Get this!" James complained. "Edward was just repainted red!"
"...and?"
"Wh-he's been repainted red, Cranky! Red!"
"What's so wrong with red engines?" asked Salty, suspiciously.
"It's the way he's been repainted, Salty." groaned James. "He's gone for that splendid shade of red, like, James red, and everyone's just eating it up! They've even started calling him Redward! It’s like everywhere I go, people look at me and go "look! James looks just like Edward now!" How's that-"
Salty chortled, clearly distracted by that pun. "Hahahahar! Redward! That's clever!"
"Salty!" grumbled James. "Are you even listening?"
"Sorry, go on."
"Anyway, he said it's a temporary thing while they wait for fresh blue paint. So maybe this'll blow over after I take the circus train back to the Mainland."
Then, Edward and Emily pulled into the docks, overhearing part of the conversation. "What's this about the circus train?"
"I think James has been called to take it back to Barrow." said Salty.
"Really?" asked Emily.
"James, I’m not sure you’ll be picked to pull the circus train back to Barrow." said Edward.
"Oh, why not?" grumbled James. "I pulled a circus before!"
"Yeah, and what happened?"
"An elephant escaped from that circus."
"...why?"
"Because I was being impatient and didn’t let the workers check to see if the doors were closed properly!" James moaned. "I get it! But I'm more careful now."
"Besides, James," continued Edward as he coupled up to the circus train, "Sir Topham Hatt specifically asked me to handle the circus train."
James couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?! You're taking it?!"
"Yeah, hope you don't mind." smiled Edward as he disembarked for the Mainland. At that point, James couldn't take it anymore. He was utterly fuming and wasn't willing to listen to logic. All he wanted was Edward's red paintwork gone.
Edward pulled into Vicarstown a few hours later pulling the circus train. Henry and Rosie were finishing up their jobs for the day, but stopped to see Edward off.
"How you feeling, Edward?" asked Henry. "You nervous about heading to Barrow?"
"Of course not," chuckled Edward, "I've been loads of times. It’ll be a cakewalk, then afterwards I can get repainted back to blue. Simples.”
“But this is a huge thing,” said Rosie, “this is one of the biggest circuses in Britain.”
“Exactly,” said Henry. “their acts with their animals are revolutionary! Their acrobatic bears, their escape artist sea lion, the…I think there were penguin mimes?”
“I’m sure it’s no different from any other circus in the country.” laughed Edward as he left. “Cheerio!”
Unbeknownst to Edward, James was slinking behind him. He had concocted a pretty devious plan to spoil Edward’s red paint. He had snuck over to the Mainland and poured buckets and buckets of water onto the track next to Edward’s path, so when he arrived at Barrow, the 18:07 freight train would come in, racing over the mud and messing up his paintwork. But first, he had to be fuelled up at the goods yard.
“Hey, James!” said Henry.
“Hello, Henry.” smirked James. “So, that Redward, huh? Isn’t that red livery something?”
“Yeah, it is,” Henry chuckled, “but I hear he’s a little insecure about it.”
James stopped smirking. “Huh?”
“Yeah, apparently he’s worried about looking too much like you,” explained Henry, “he really wants to be blue again. In fact he even told me that he can’t pull it off better than you.”
James was shocked. This whole time he assumed Edward was stealing his thunder, but that wasn’t the case at all. He wasn’t thinking about how he felt at all! “What have I done?”
James raced off, determined to stop his trick.
Soon, Edward arrived at Barrow-in-Furness, ready to drop off the train. James wasn’t too far behind, but he was almost too late. The 18:07 engine was speeding right up to the puddle of mud and there was no way to stop him. James didn’t know what to do…until he had one idea.
“Edward, look out!” he cried as he raced right next to him. The 18:07 raced right through the puddle, splashing James with mud. James’ plan had managed to keep Edward completely clean.
“James, what’s going on?” Edward asked, confused. “Your paintwork!”
“I know,” James said, out of breath, “I laid down all that water to try and mess up your red livery, but I wasn’t thinking about how you were feeling. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, James,” Edward smiled, “but you should know that jealousy isn’t a very splendid color on you.”
“Yeah, I’m aware.” James chuckled. “So now what do we do?”
“Let’s get you cleaned up, eh?” suggested Edward. “I think Sodor’s big enough for two splendid engines.”
With that, Edward left the circus train at Barrow and the two headed back to Sodor, glad to have patched everything up.
A couple days passed after that, and quite a bit had changed. For one, the Steamworks finally got a fresh shipment of blue paint, so that meant Edward can finally get repainted back to how he’s used to. However, Sir Topham Hatt had heard about James’ little prank, and needless to say he was not amused. In fact, he decided to live up to an old promise. But we’ll get to that when we get to that. Edward had just pulled into Wellsworth, blue and all, and the engines there were glad to see him back to his old self.
“Looking good, Edward!” smiled Nia, “I missed that blue paint.”
“Yeah, it feels nice being blue again,” Edward chuckled, “thank you, Nia.”
“I wouldn’t have you in any other color,” said Rebecca. “but what about James?”
“Well, after his little stunt on the Mainland,” explained Edward, “Sir Topham Hatt had a little idea.”
Just then, James pulled into Wellsworth, and to everyone’s shock, he was blue as well! Nia and Rebecca couldn’t contain their surprise.
“Uh, James?” started Nia.
“I know, Nia,” James sighed. “I can’t act like I didn’t see this coming.”
But don’t worry, folks, James wasn’t blue for long. But at least he learned his lesson about his jealousy.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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