Christmas was approaching in Cornwall, and everywhere you looked merriment seemed to fill the air. Although the snow had been falling upon the county for several days now, the cold weather was more than enough of an indication that the day that marked the halfway point of the darkness was near. And those who lived in the region were used to the cold.
Falmouth, like so many other places along the coast of Britain, was faring better than many places inland. Although winter was indeed cold, Falmouth sat on the coast and as a result was warmer during the winter thanks to air currents and the heat trapping properties of water. Not only that, the city had succesfully recovered from the disastrous events of a few months prior when Sprout had trashed a surprising amount of the town. On top of that, the rubble had all been removed, and the beach was once again enjoyable to all.
Voice called and cheered to one another as goods and people moved about. In one street, a lorry rolled up the road, its gearbox straining at the steep hills. "Oh! My gears and axles!" it groaned. "I had no idea these roads were so incredibly steep!"
"This place wasn't exactly designed for the car," the driver replied. "I'm still not used to my delivery van talking to me."
The van eventually made it to the top, and stopped next to the main yard in the Falmouth area. Within this yard, the familiar sight and sound of Salty was there. He rolled back and forth, assembling freight trains so they could go on their long journeys to places far away.
Sunny, of course, was at the controls. Having recovered quite well from the earlier events of the year, she had settled in to driving a dockside shunter on top of her other responsibilities. She lowered the window on the shunter's cab as she saw the van approach. "Got something you need to deliver?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact!" the driver replied. "I've got a shipment of fish that needs conveying to Exeter. Where should I put it?"
"Park next to the line of vans and unload there," Sunny replied, her voice devoid of its usual warmth. Truth be told, there was something tugging at her heart strings, and there was something about the season that just wasn't speaking to her right now.
The van driver nodded, and began to back up. "Thank you!"
Sunny moved Salty forward and parked him on a siding, noticing the time. Time to stop for lunch. School had let out a few days earlier, which explained the extra time they had available. She stopped Salty's engine for the meantime and hopped out of the cab.
"Have a nice lunch!" Salty called. "I've heard the seafood is especially good at this time of year!"
"Thanks," Sunny replied.
Salty picked up on something. "You alright? You sound blue."
Sunny didn't reply as she walked back home. The lighthouse had luckily survived Sprout's demolition spree, and as a result she still had somewhere to live. As a result, it made her feel some guilt about her melancholy mood. Some people around here had lost their homes, after all.
She opened the door, and called out. "Mom? Dad? I'm home."
She was immediately greeted with the sound of the radio.
"The glisten of the snowflakes falling in your hair/
Yeah, come on, everybody, don't you feel this way?
"Every moment, every sound/
Every feeling, sing it loud/
No, I, no, I, no, I, no, I/
No, I just can't wait/ (no, I can't)
No, I just can't wait 'til it's Christmas Day!"
"Yeah!"
As the song faded out, the announcer spoke up. "And that was the new Number 1 single this Christmas, which has succesfully dislodged Mariah Carey from the top spot. Don't forget to tune in later this evening for the first night of the Great Western Royal Carousel Concert, coming this year from the seaside town of Swanage! This year's program promises to be even better than last year!"
Argyle was the first to respond. "Hey Sunny! Lunch is almost ready. I reckoned you fancied something warm considering the weather outside, so I've got some bacon cooking."
"Thanks," Sunny replied, as she removed her coat and took a seat at the table.
Goldie emerged from another room a few moments later, looking rather frazzled. "My clients always seem to wait until the last possible moment to do anything," she grumbled. "They've had several months to figure that deal out, and they wait until two days before Christmas! At this rate I'll be working Christmas Eve!"
"That sounds awful," Argyle replied, flipping the pan. "Still, you can take your mind off it for at least a few moments whilst we have lunch. And perhaps listen to the concert they're broadcasting tonight."
"Hopefully it's shorter than last year. That performance had lots of unneeded padding that added nothing to the experience."
"Me too."
Did you have any luck securing a turkey?" Goldie asked, walking over to help with the plates.
"Yes. Unfortunately they only had the large ones left, as all the small ones were sold for Thanksgiving." Falmouth had a small contingent of Americans living there, and they marked Thanksgiving, naturally. This kept local turkey farmers very busy in November and December.
"Rather too large for just three people?" Goldie pondered.
"I was thinking of inviting some friends over to help us with it!" Argyle joked.
Hearing that made Sunny slump.
"Is something wrong?" Goldie asked.
Sunny nodded. "This may seem stupid, considering what others lost, but... I miss my friends. You know, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp. I know it's selfish but I wish they were here."
Argyle's face noted this as he layed the plates down. "Sunny, just because other people lost more than you doesn't make your own sadness any less valid. We all have losses and regrets, and there's nothing worse than going through Christmastime away from someone you love. I know what that's like the hard way."
"As do I," Goldie admitted. "Remember how we used to have Christmas dinner with me over a livestream?" She placed her hand on Sunny's shoulder. "I'm certain they miss you too. But you never know, there may be a Christmas miracle that helps you."
Sunny nodded. "Thanks guys," she said, and she popped open the sandwich to add some sauce.
Sunny returned to the dock feeling refreshed and somewhat better. Salty was sitting there, with Rebecca currently assembling a goods train to head on up the mainline. "Hello Sunny!" she called. "You may want to be careful with the rails. They're still a bit wet! I needed my sanding gear on the entire way up the hill!"
Sunny nodded. "I take it Hitch isn't going too hard on your regulator?"
"He's quite good at this, actually!" Rebecca replied. "Just a few more runs to go, and then Christmas is here. It'll be nice to mark it here and not in pieces in a workshop."
Hitch had finally returned with a sandwich, and stopped next to his engine. "Well, that's another morning over," he said. "Hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Day. We spend so much time waiting for it to come, and then, just like that it's right on top of us!" He took a bite out of the sandwich. "Hmm. Not sure why the shop insists on putting cranberry sauce in everything. Has he been listening to John Lennon recently?"
"It's for the expats in the town," Sunny explained. "They like the reminder of home." She turned to Hitch again. "So, got any further things that need doing, or will you be clocking off now?"
"Nope," Hitch replied. "I got a notification that the roads are bad, so the Royal Mail vans can't get through. Instead, they've decided to move the mail by rail, and seeing as Rebecca is the most powerful engine here she'll be pulling it. They're currently at the platform being loaded."
A quick glance revealed a hastily assembled line of vans lined up at the station. People were moving large numbers of parcels and letters about on BRUTE trolleys and forklifts, being certain to place them carefully so they did not get damaged.
"It shows how much faith people have in the postal system," Sunny said. "Dad says that where he grew up something similar used to happen. He knew people who posted gifts due to be sent overseas on Christmas Eve. The sentiment is understandable, but not even our post is that fast."
That elicited a laugh from Hitch. "But apart from that, we should all get a nice, long break over Christmas. I'm looking forward to taking it slow for a bit and perhaps interacting with my family a bit more. Given all the racing around we did this summer, they probably miss seeing me around. Still, here's hoping all stays calm and nothing goes wrong."
Suddenly, there was a ring on the telephone, and Sunny went to answer it. "Hello?" she said.
She was there for a few minutes, before returning over to where Hitch was. "Got some bad news," she said. "A train has got caught in the bad weather between Penrhyn and Perranwell and can't get clear. Somebody needs to go up there and clear the snow from the train." She sighed. "And it looks as though that's going to be us."
"Avast, mateys!" Salty called. "It'll be like clearing pack ice from an old steamer. If you like, we can provide music."
"Let's wait and see how serious the problem is before we decide on music, shall we?" Rebecca suggested, as the duo were prepared for duty.
Salty was coupled into the train first, and a snowplough was fitted to permit him to move along reliably. He may have been a reasonably powerful design, but his low top speed made him poorly suited to pushing snow out of the way. Rebecca was next. She would be doing the bulk of the pushing, and pulling for that matter, as she was pulling a collection of vans and coaches. These were currently being loaded with snow supplies, tools, and other useful equipment, including several bottles of something marked 'HANDLE WITH CARE'.
"I wonder what that's for?" Sunny asked.
"I don't know," Hitch replied. "Perhaps to help with snow clearance."
The train was finally ready, and a gang of workers hopped onboard to assist them on their mission. Sunny sounded Salty's horn to let Hitch know she was ready to move off. Hitch, in return, blasted Rebecca's whistle to let her know he was ready to open the regulator.
And before long the terrain echoed to the twin sounds of the roar of a diesel engine and the puffing of a three cylinder steam locomotive. Salty's engine had been repaired since their last adventure, so Sunny could use as much power as she wanted.
Some of the snowdrifts came apart easily with a bit of force. Others caused the train to get stuck fast, and men with shovels had to get the worst of the snow free.
To try and keep spirits up, Salty tried another of his sea shanties.
"Yo ho ho and a bucket of prawns! The shipmate slipped and the Captain yawned!"
This had no effect on the shovelling, and Salty sighed. "OK, that one needs some work."
At long last, they reached Penrhyn, a journey that would normally have taken about ten minutes. But instead had taken close to forty. Here, Salty was detached and Rebecca was run round the train to propel the works train to the site.
"I'll go ahead to investigate the site ahead of time!" Sunny called.
"Gotcha!" Rebecca replied. "We won't be going anywhere!"
"Most certainly," Hitch replied. "The signal will be red whilst they are away."
Salty set off, battling his way through the snow. "Nelson's Jumping Jackboots, this storm is bad!" he said as he rattled along, the storm threatening to derail him.
"Keep it up Salty!" Sunny called. She had turned on the cab heater, but this had only had the effect of fogging up the cab windows. She stuck her head out- and immediately reached for the brakes.
A figure was standing next to the track, waving her arms and clad in many, many layers. "STOP! STOP!"
Sunny slammed on the brakes and brought Salty to a stop. She secured him in place, and then climbed down from the cab. "Hello?" she said. "Can we help you?"
The figure, a young woman with turquoise blue skin, green eyes, and a rather messy mane of hair in shades of green and blue, seemed very out of breath. "Snow... caught us on our way... to Falmouth... I ran... all the way... here!"
Sunny placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, easy. I'll get you down to the next station where you can have a rest, and we can dig your train out."
"Can I help?" the girl asked. "I'm not leaving my engine out there to freeze. In fact, he's probably still producing a fair bit of heat from his boiler."
"Of course you can, erm... sorry, what's your name?"
The girl looked around. "I'm Mary, no, Misty, erm..." she glanced about in confusion, as if having trouble remembering her surname. "Err, fuel switch! No, not that, too obvious. Err, tree. No, who's called tree as a surname?" Just then she glanced up at the sun cutting through the cloud. "Brightdawn!"
Sunny nodded, and got her radio. "Base camp, I've found somebody. Prepare some cocoa, I think she's suffering from dehydration."
After Sunny had dropped off Misty, and left her with Hitch to keep an eye on her, Salty was attached to several of the trucks to haul them up to the work site. With a roar of his engine, Salty effortlessly hauled the load up the the site, and the men hopped out with their tools and shovels.
Sunny parked Salty in a siding and then secured him in position and went a grabbed a shovel herself to help with digging the train out of the snow. It was a lot of work, removing drifts that seemed to go on for miles into the earth. But at last, the form of an engine began to emerge.
"That girl was brave driving one of those in this weather," a workman commented.
And it was easy to see why. The engine, a tank engine, had a rather exposed cab and a rather small bunker. The boiler had cladding, but seemingly had no tanks, and a small dome sat atop this boiler. A squat stovepipe chimney capped in copper sat atop the smokebox, which in turn sat above two outside cylinders. A pair of sandboxes sat behind those.
The engine was painted a very muted shade of brown with yellow and gold lining, and a pair of nameplates sat on the boiler cladding.
"I can see why," Sunny remarked. "That cab must produce a serious draft!"
"Thanks for digging me out," the engine said. "It's probably good you found me when you did. Any longer and you'd have needed to throw my fire out!"
"I take it your name's Bellerophon?" Sunny asked.
"Interesting name for a steam engine," Salty remarked. "What brings you here?"
"Well, where there's a mine or a hole in the ground, that's where I'm headed for, that's where I am bound," Bellerophon replied. "Is Misty alright? Girl with blue skin- and not from hypothermia, if that's what you're wondering."
"My friend Hitch is currently helping her to warm up," Sunny explained. "We'd best get you moved as well. The line's currently blocked."
"We'll need a bit of time to get the carriage axles defrosted," said the foreman. "We're using rags soaked in paraffin to heat up the axles and get them rolling again."
Sunny nodded. She hopped onto Bellerophon's footplate and released his brakes. "I've not driven a steam engine before, but the principles can't be that different to diesel." She moved the reverser backwards and opened the regulator.
"You may want to open the cylinder cocks first!" Bellerophon suggested. "Water's had time to collect in my cylinders!"
Sunny pulled back a lever, and steam shot from the tank engine's cylinders as he rolled back. Eventually he rolled into the platform at Penrhyn, where Sunny secured his brakes.
Hitch and Misty were sat on a bench on the platform. "You did a good job getting those two out of that snowdrift," Hitch said. "Misty's warmed up now and ready to travel again."
Misty, now revealed to be wearing a white shirt and blue overalls combined with blue loafers, got up and shook Sunny's hand. "Thanks for the help, err... what was your name again?"
"I'm Sunny Starscout," Sunny replied.
"The girl who brought back the magic!" Misty exclaimed.
"Well, I can't claim solo credit. My friends played an equal part in restoring the magic. But I have an offer to make."
"Yes?"
"I get the impression you've travelled a long way."
"All the way from Staffordshire!" Bellerophon said.
"That is a long way," Rebecca chimed in. "Much longer than the Waterloo to Bideford runs I used to do."
"I'll get to the point," Sunny said. "Would you like to stay over the winter break with us?"
"Really?" Misty said. "That's really kind of you. You know, you really don't have to!"
"I insist!" Sunny smiled. "Cornish hospitality. Besides, there's plenty of dockside for you and Bellerophon to shunt on. And we've got lots of coal and water for your engine."
Misty nodded, a grin on her face. "Thanks. But only until I'm back on my feet, OK?"
Sunny nodded in return. "Seems reasonable."
Misty walked back onto the footplate of Bellerophon and prepared him to move. Before she did, she took out a phone and flicked through her contacts to a person called Boss. She then typed a message.
Sunny has been located. I'm in.
Two days later, Christmas Day arrived, and Sunny got out of bed to the familiar sound of the Salvation Army brass band playing in the streets. She got out of bed and pulled on a dressing gown before walking downstairs and finding her parents already sat at the table.
"Merry Christmas, Sunny," Argyle said.
"We've got something very special for you," Goldie said. "Open the door."
Sunny nodded. "Must be something very big if..."
Her words trailed away as she saw what was on the other side.
Before her were Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy, alongside Porter, Charles, and Sophie! In an instant, they began to sing.
"We wish you a merry Christmas/
We wish you a merry Christmas/
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin/
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!"
"Aren't we meant to demand figgy pudding next?" Charles asked.
"Guys! You're all here!" Sunny said. "How did you get here?"
"We got your dad's call and made our way down," Izzy explained. "Running down from Bury overnight was a fun challenge. Porter did it all under his own power!"
"And we proceeded from Swanage in convoy," Zipp explained. "Straight after the Carousel Concert. Boy was that exhausting."
"Oh, how is Rebecca?" Sophie asked. "We haven't talked in a while."
Suddenly, Goldie spoke up, looking at the sight before her. "That works out to eight. And we have a turkey to serve eight. What a strange coincidence."
"Eight?" Porter asked. "There's seven people here."
"Guys," Sunny said, "meet Misty and Bellerophon. They're staying here for the season."
"Does anybody feel a song coming on?" Pipp asked. "Cause I do."
To everybody's surprise, Sunny was the first to start singing.
"What a day, magic everywhere/
Snowflakes in the air/
I wanna share it with you!
It's time to celebrate/
To "Jingle All the Way"/
Oh, there's so much we can do!"
Pipp interjected. "Reachin' for rainbows, spreadin' good cheer-"
Followed by Zipp. "Cherish the moment, now that Christmas is here-"
And then the three together.
"Family and friends and good times with you
It's the best thing to do!"
Seemingly, the others picked up on the new melody.
"'Cause all I want to do/
Is celebrate with you!
Because I love you/
From my heart to your glue!"
"That doesn't make sense," Porter grumbled.
"We're makin' memories, everybody!
The holidays are here/
It's the sweetest time of the year!"
Ignoring the interjection, Sunny resumed lead vocal responsibilities.
"So much fun, a holly jolly time/
A joyful Christmastime!
I wanna spend it with you!"
Hitch finally got soloing responsibilities. "Reachin' for rainbows!"
Only for Sunny to immediately take back the microphone. "Spreadin' good cheer!"
Pipp joined in. "Cherish the moment, it's the best time of year!"
And then Zipp. "Family and friends!"
Then Izzy, who had otherwise been quite quiet, joined in. "And all humankind!"
"What about us engines?" Sophie asked.
But at last, everybody joined in together.
"Let's have a good time!"
"'Cause all I want to do/
Is celebrate with you!
Because I love you/
From my heart to your glue!"
"We're makin' memories, everybody!
The holidays are here!
It's the sweetest time of the year!"
(Heart to heart, Heart to heart)
"The sweetest time of the year!
(Heart to heart, Heart to heart)
The sweetest time of the year!"
"Glad to hear you're all in such good voice," Argyle smiled. "I still wonder how this song business works. How do you all know what the lyrics and melody are going to be?"
"It just comes naturally," Pipp smiled.
As the opportunity for new friends was fully embraced by all, the merriment of Christmas spread, as it should do. In that moment, none of them realised the next year would bring fresh challenges, and these would put them all the test.
Author's Note
If this locomotive design looks familiar, it's because the Haydock Foundry well tank was used as the basis for Sonny, who made his debut in the 24th Season. Here, however, I have decided to keep him with his original name.
And also Misty has made her first appearance. Keep an eye on her, as she'll be important. Her design here is based on this piece of fanart:
Finally, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hearth's Warming, or a Holly Jolly Wishentine. Let us hope that the New Year proves to be better than the old one.
