A few weeks after Luke and Duncan rescued the other narrow- gauge engines from an avalanche at the Blue Mountain Quarry, it was finally Christmas Eve. The engines were buzzing, as there was to be a Christmas Party at Skarloey Station- and the narrow-gauge engines were invited!
"Isn't tonight going to be great?" Peter Sam asked excitedly, letting off a cloud of steam.
"Bah, humbug!" Duncan grunted, who didn't care for the merry season that much. "I guess sae..." he was secretly enthused for a special mention at the party, as he had been promised by Mr. Percival. However, the stone of the day needed to be shunted and ready for the last train of the day; as they would otherwise not be sent out until after New Year.
"But we do have to work," Skarloey reminded them. "Otherwise we wouldn't be allowed to go- you all know this stone needs to be ready for delivering by tonight; or else it can't leave here, and we won't be allowed to go to the party."
"Won't be allowed to go to what?" An Irish accent piped up curiously from behind them.
The engines all realised something- Luke's first Christmas on Sodor was coming up, and he was very excited to spend it with his friends, though the others weren't sure how to tell him about the party. He couldn't come with them, because he was still a fugitive, and they didn't want to risk him being sent away; but they also couldn't abandon Luke on Christmas. They felt bad enough Owen and Merrick were stuck here until they resumed work after Christmas.
"Well, it's nothing, Luke." Skarloey lied, hoping to spare their friend's feelings. But the little green engine looked unconvinced at this, and was about to ask more on this, when a harsh, loud horn suddenly echoed round the Blue Mountain Quarry.
"I'm back, you pathetic little metal runts!"
Duncan went red in the face and wheeshed a lot of steam towards Diesel's general direction.
"Quick Luke, hide!" Peter Sam insisted, panicked and fearful for his dear cousin's safety.
So, Luke obeyed, and reversed into the tunnel as quick as his wheels could carry him.
"We'd better go and see what he wants." Peter Sam whispered nervously to his friends, as the little Irish engine had zipped back into the tunnel he had emerged from.
Cautiously, Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam and Duncan all chuffed over to Diesel; who had been doing nothing but bully the engines all day long and bang the trucks about carelessly- and what was even worse was that he was expected to work with them until Paxton was repaired.
"We're here, Diesel." Skarloey said bravely, as the cavalcade all drew to a halt by the Black BR Class 08. "What is it?"
"You little steamies shouldn't be sitting round in the sidings gossiping! That's for when you all finally reach the scrapyards!" Diesel bellowed at them.
They winced on hearing this.
"I don't want to spend any longer than I have to with you lot, so get moving!" He ordered, blowing exhaust fumes at the group of friends.
"Sheesh, what's gotten into him?" Rheneas muttered to Skarloey, who glared defiantly at Diesel. And at that, they went away to do their jobs- and get away from Diesel as best as they could.
….
"Oi, where's Sir Handel?" A disgruntled Diesel complained rudely to Peter Sam, who frowned in concern.
"I'm sorry, Diesel, but I'm afraid I don't know," he replied politely. "He must have been a bit delayed, that's all. He'll be here." He tried to reassure the bigger engine; but his kind words fell on deaf ears.
Diesel was apoplectic on hearing that answer. He thought lowly of steam engines as it was; and he thought even lower still of tardy ones; regardless of whether the steam engine was responsible or not.
"That's no ruddy excuse!" He bellowed, causing Peter Sam to jump. "The Skarloey Railway had no business buying you MSR lot! It's just a pity they didn't leave you two with Duke when the line closed down!" Diesel cackled maliciously at the end of this statement.
Peter Sam felt his smokebox tighten. He wanted to shout, to snap, at Diesel; to defend his home, his brother and their beloved mentor… but he couldn't speak. All that emerged instead was a strangled whimper, and tears of hurt and fury.
"You seem to love hearing your own voice, Diesel," Said a new voice, which Peter Sam instantly recognised as Rheneas. "I bet you're just dying to share that opinion of yours with the Thin Controller-and see what he thinks, aren't you?"
Diesel's face went pale on hearing that. "Erm, no thanks, Rheneas." He muttered, sulkily, and stormed off, vowing vengeance; leaving the two little engines alone for now.
"Are you alright, old chum?" Asked Rheneas softly, eyeing a shaken Peter Sam; he was trembling from funnel to fender, and his eyes were still filled with tears.
…..
Luke watched his friends from the tunnel. He was unhappy at the way they were being treated, but he couldn't do anything to help them; at least, not without getting caught and possibly exiled. He would hear Diesel bellow at the little engines and call them rude names; but it was the incident with Peter Sam that showed how heartbreakingly rough the situation was for the little NG engines, having to work with a tyrant who bullied Luke's friends, all because he didn't want to be here.
...
Luke wasn't the only witness to Diesel's bullying. Rusty himself had also been spared, because he himself was a diesel, and he usually worked with Owen anyway, so Diesel didn't bother yelling steam lover sentiments up to him. And of course, Owen and Merrick saw this too; but Merrick was usually either asleep, or the duo couldn't always hear what Diesel had to say over the sounds of exploding gelignite; so, they were quickly left alone.
"It's not right!" Owen said crossly as he waited for Rusty to load his platform, watching Diesel berate Skarloey for 'being a silly little engine who was way too out of date to be Useful to the SR, so he should be scrapped along with his brother.'
The incline engine was rightly angered at this; and when the Class 08 had reduced Peter Sam to tears, Owen had never, ever wanted to see Karma hit another engine so badly. He would do it himself; but he couldn't exactly play vigilante hero whilst remaining secured to a rock face.
"I know. At least Luke's not being picked on- but I can't stand Diesel picking on our friends much longer!" Rusty fumed. "I mean, he nearly made Peter Sam cry! And he said that Skarloey and Rheneas should have been scrapped! How much longer do we have to deal with him?!"
Owen was disgusted at Diesel's rude, cruel behaviour towards their friends. "He should be taught a lesson." He said sternly.
"Yes, only we haven't got any proof to get him to back off." Rusty replied, ruefully. "What we need is a trick..."
"Would it work?" Owen asked dubiously.
"Well, I don't know, but anything to show that we are not weak pathetic little engines would do nicely- so long as no one gets hurt." Rusty replied reassuringly.
"Shh, he's there!" Hissed the incline, warningly. Sure enough, Diesel was parked at the bottom of the incline, waiting for his trucks.
"Come on! I have not got all day!" He roared, his horn blaring into the cold air of the mountains around them, causing everyone; from engine to workman; to wince and try to continue work.
"Well someone took the wrong diesel fuel this morning." Rusty remarked sarcastically to Owen under his breath, "Lower the trucks please, Owen."
"Righto, Rusty. It's going down- next stop, the bottom of the hill!"
...
Once Diesel had gone away out of the Quarry again, Rusty told the other engines- via Owen- on how they should get Diesel back for the bullying.
"Hm, we need something unexpected..." Skarloey murmured.
"Well, has anyone got anything?" Sir Handel asked, annoyed. He was especially eager to get back at Diesel for making Peter Sam cry, and for making inappropriate, cruel comments about Duke and the MSR.
"Nope," Peter Sam replied glumly, still sniffling. "What can we do?"
The engines all sighed. It was looking quite hopeless now- Diesel would be stuck with them until the end of Christmas Eve.
It might only be a few hours; but what if Paxton wasn't ready after New Year? Would they be stuck with the horrid engine again?
...
Luke watched, wondering on how he could help his friends. "Oh, I wish I could bring some hope to my friends." He whispered to his crew sadly.
...
Author's Notes: Yes, I'm back with a sequel to...Loyalty to Luke! I thought of doing it a few days ago and I will be writing it up in due course. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I also hope you're as excited as I am. Now, the explanation is that I never actually set any times in years in the original story, so I am going to write further into this. Please review if you want to!
EDIT: I'm going back over the story to revise/update it.