The New Year's Brawl

The New Year's Brawl
Season 1, Episode 16
First Aired (CAN) 2011
First Aired (USA) 2011
Episode Guide
previous "Toby's Traditions"	next "The Mysterious Shadow"

The New Year's Brawl is the sixteenth episode of "Sodor High School: Thomas and Friends Tales".

Synopsis

A fun New Year's Eve party turns into a disaster thanks to Brad.

Plot

It was now December 31st on the Island of Sodor. That meant it was New Year's Eve, and lots of teenagers from Sodor High were very excited for the big New Years party being held in the hills near Muffle Mountain. It was being set up and hosted by much of the Narrow Gauge students from Sodor High, and it was suppose to be the biggest party of the year.

Inside Rosie's house, the pink-haired girl was alone in her room looking over one of her photo albums. One page she was looking over in particular had a photo of herself and most of the friends she had made when she first came to the High School. And even a week later, Rosie couldn't stop thinking about that little kiss she gave Thomas on the right side of his face. She felt her lips, and smiled.

"It was a nice kiss," Rosie thought happily to herself.

She put her photo album down on her nearby nightstand, got off her bed, and quickly left her room to go down to the kitchen. Rosie was just walking out of her bedroom, when she suddenly tripped over something and fell on the floor.

"Watch where you're going, stupid!" shouted a voice.

Rosie looked behind her. It was Brad, her brother. He was looking down at his sister with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

"Why did you go and do that?" Rosie whimpered. "I didn't do anything wrong to you."

"No, you were just being a stupid nimrod," Brad snorted, beginning to walk away to the staircase. "I don't know why you are still part of our family. You're useless to us, freckles!."

That comment made Rosie tear up. Brad meanwhile chuckled meanly to himself from his own 'joke' and walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. When he was gone, Rosie immediately went back into her room, sat on her bed, and did some thinking.

"The way he acts reminds me of the way George used to act," The pink-haired girl said to herself sadly. "I don't know what changed you Brad. Why can't you just be the loving brother I've always known?"

Soon, on Rosie's dresser nearby, her mobile phone started to ring. Hearing the phone ring, Rosie stood up and walked over to her dresser. Once she was there, the pink-haired girl picked the mobile phone up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rosie. It's Thomas," came Thomas's voice on the other line.

Rosie just had to smile brightly. Just hearing from her blue-haired friend was almost always enough to bring a smile to her face, because as we all know, the pink-haired girl had a huge crush on Thomas.

"Hey, Thomas. It's good to hear from you again. What's up?"

"Well, I've been invited to the big New Years Eve party near Muffle Mountain, and I was wondering if you would like to come with me and Emily?" Thomas replied.

"Emily is coming too?" Rosie asked.

"That's what I've just said. So yeah, she'll both be going, and so are both of my sisters, from what I do know. In fact, Emily had offered to take Annie and Clarabel both shopping at the big mall for brand new dresses. So anyway, would you like come with us? It might help you get away from the house and your brother for at least the night."

"Well sure, I would like that, where should we meet?"

"How about at Knapford Station? We can take the train," Thomas suggested.

Rosie felt very happy. "Okay then, I'll meet you at Knapford around four, okay?"

"Great! I will see you there."

After hanging up, Rosie started blushing hard and happily cheering. Unknown to her however, someone was listening onto the conversation coming from outside of Rosie's room, and that someone was Brad. After listening to the whole conversation on the phone, the devious green-haired young man slowly closed the door and thought to himself with an evil smile.

"So, they're going to Knapford to take a train to some New Years Eve party eh?" he thought to himself. "Well Rosie, this is going to be one New Year's party that you will never soon forget."

He then began to chuckle maniacally to himself, but then stopped himself before too long.

"I mustn't laugh too loud, otherwise Rosie will hear me."

Brad then tip-toed away, chuckling to himself over a very devious plan of his.

Much later in the evening, outside Knapford station, Thomas was waiting for Rosie to show up. He leaned patiently against a pillar as he waited and waited. As the blue-haired boy waited, some footsteps were heard from nearby. Thomas soon felt someone tap him on his shoulder.

"Hello?" spoke the familiar voice of Rosie.

Thomas looked and saw Rosie standing before him. The pink-haired girl was now wearing the very same dress she wore to the ball back before the Christmas holidays. She also had makeup applied too, and her hair was all let down. Seeing Rosie look beautiful made Thomas's heart skip while he blushed.

"Am I late?" Rosie asked sweetly.

Thomas quickly regained his composure. "Oh, n-no, you're actually early."

"That's good," The pink-haired girl said flirtingly.

But then Thomas noticed a little something on Rosie's left cheek.

"Hey, what happened to your face Rosie?" he asked in surprise.

Rosie sighed, figuring that Thomas spotted the bandage on her face after getting hurt by Brad earlier in the day.

"It was Brad. He tripped me just as I was coming out of my room," she explained.

Thomas felt sorry for the pink-haired girl, and so he approached and brought a hand up to Rosie's face and stroked it softly.

"I'm sorry he did that. Does it hurt?"

Rosie couldn't help but blush a small shade of red from Thomas's kind and gentle gesture, but she did go and answer his question.

"N-no, my mother cleaned up the bruise and placed a bandage on it," she replied. "I-I'm okay."

They both stood there in complete silence for what seemed like forever, until they all heard the sound of a steam engine's whistle. The sound brought a small smile to Rosie's face.

"It's music to my ears, that's a former Pennsylvania railroad K4 steam locomotive's whistle," she remarked.

Thomas looked down the platform to see if it was one. Sure enough, there really was a former Pennsylvania railroad K4 steam engine coming in with the passenger train. Thomas looked back to Rosie, who was smiling as she stared at the steam engine with amazement.

"Just seeing that engine reminds me of our old home back in the United States," said Rosie.

"Speaking of the United States, where did you live before coming to Sodor?" Thomas asked, sounding rather curious to know.

Rosie smiled fondly. "We lived in New York City. One of the biggest cities in the world," she answered. "Population wise, anyway. Oh, how I miss that place."

"Well anyone would miss their old home after spending so many years there, just ask Toby, he can tell you. But enough about that, are you ready to go?"

"Of course," Rosie nodded.

The two teenagers walked over to the first coach, but they were both completely unaware that they were being watched by Brad, who snuck into the last coach without being seen by the guard or anyone else for that matter.

The train made excellent time as it rolled along on the North Western Railway's tracks. Inside the first coach, Thomas and Rosie had both sat down at a seat.

"So, will Edward, Gordon, Henry, and James be there?" Rosie asked.

Thomas shook his head. "Edward is coming, but Gordon, James, and Henry are going to spend the night together and have a guys night of movies, video games, and junk food." The blue-haired boy couldn't help but grimace at what those three older boys could have gotten to eat.

Inside Gordon's house and room at the time, James had just popped in a DVD into the DVD player.

"For tonight's first feature: We have 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'!" The red-haired boy announced eagerly, just as he walked back over and sat down on a large bean chair.

Around the three older teenage boys, there were six paper bags containing food (Burgers, French fries, and Onion Rings) from 'Burger King', six containers of original recipe-season chicken from 'KFC', and two boxes of pizza from 'Dominos'. Gordon was lying on his bed reading his favourite comic book...or, rather, history book on the Star Trek franchise. Next to the big couch Henry was sitting on, there were ten DVDs that they were going to watch for the whole New Years Eve. James bought all of the food from those fast food places, while Henry brought all of those movies.

"All of this food may have cost us our life's savings," Gordon said, grinning widely. "But it will all be worth it!"

"Yup!" Henry smiled.

The movie had then begun playing on Gordon's TV.

Back in the train's first coach, Thomas remained silent during much of the trip, he merely just looked out the window. Rosie was busy looking over at a picture of her and Brad. It was from when they were younger, many years ago. Rosie had a sad expression on her face as she continued to stare at the picture, and Thomas had quickly noticed it and spoke up.

"What's that you got there Rosie?" he asked.

Rosie looked up and showed the picture.

"It's a picture of myself with Brad when we were kids," she answered. "When we were younger, we could never be separated.. He was a wonderfully sweet brother."

"Aww, how cute." Thomas smiled as he looked at the photograph.

"You mean it was cute," Rosie retorted. "Nowadays, instead of a kiss on the right side of the face, it's more like a punch from his fist. I don't know what has exactly changed him, but I miss…I miss…I miss…I MISS THE BRAD I ONCE KNEW!" And she burst into tears.

Thomas felt really bad for Rosie, so he placed his hand on Rosie's shoulder and held her close to him. The pink-haired girl burst into more tears on Thomas's shirt.

"It's okay Rosie, it's okay," the blue-haired boy said softly. "Who knows, maybe someday, he'll change back to the brother you once knew. Don't worry yourself, you got friends to look out for you."

Hearing that made Rosie feel slightly better, but regardless, she was still extremely sad.

"Maybe you're right," she whimpered. "Maybe you're right!"

With that, Rosie cried her eyes out for another four minutes until she could cry no more tears. As soon as she finished, Thomas spoke to her.

"Will you be all right now?" he asked with worry.

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks for asking," The pink-haired girl replied, feeling much better now.

She then smiled when she heard the K4 steam engine whistle blow loud and long.

"Someday," Rosie thought to herself.

At last, the two teens arrived at the junction where the North Western Railway met up with the Narrow Gauge railway of the high hills leading towards Muffle Mountain. Skarloey of the Narrow Gauge Class was at the platform at this time.

"Hey Skarloey!" called Thomas.

The red-haired Narrow Gauge teen heard Thomas's voice. He turned around and saw some of his good friends approaching him.

"Hello everyone!" he greeted, before looking at Rosie with a flirting smile. "And hello to you too Rosie."

He then grabbed Rosie's right hand and kissed it like a gentleman would. Rosie blushed a small shade of red. Skarloey turned his attention to Thomas, "Where are Emily, Annie and Clarabel?" he asked. "Aren't they coming to the New Year's party?"

"Oh, they're coming," Thomas replied. "They'll just be coming a little later."

"Edward, Percy, Toby and Mavis will also be by later too," Rosie added in, having also been informed of this by Thomas at an earlier time.

The Narrow Gauge teen nodded understandingly. "Very well then, shall we get going?"

"Let us shall," Thomas agreed.

With that confirmed, the two teenagers joined Skarloey in the first coach of the narrow gauge train. While Brad, the sneaky green-haired young man, snuck into the brake van and hid away so that the guard couldn't find him. Inside the coach, Skarloey and the others joined Sir Handel, as all other seats were taken by the other passengers.

After an hour, the train finally reached a small village near Muffle Mountain, where the new year's party was to be held. Duncan and Rheneas were both hard at work helping to set everything up for the party that night. They weren't alone as Peter Sam and Rusty were both helping out too.

"Oh good Skarloey, perfect timing," smiled Rheneas. "What do you think of the decorations so far?"

Skarloey smiled back. "It's looking very good Rheneas. This is going to be one of the best New Year's parties we've ever had."

"Sure looks like it," Peter Sam spoke up, stopping to give a quick thumbs up.

"Oh shut up and get back to work!" Duncan's voice snapped nearby. He was shown carrying a large, heavy cooler filled with ice and full cans of soda and/or juice.

Peter Sam wasn't happy about being snapped at, but decided to resume work anyway. Rosie felt bad for that Narrow Gauge teen though.

"That was a little harsh of that guy, don't you think?" she said to Skarloey.

"Oh don't worry about it my dear," he replied. "We're used to him acting like that."

"Yes, while Duncan can be a bit of a jerk, he is an okay guy," Peter Sam stopped to explain to Rosie about Duncan. "The reason for his attitude is because his parents used to work in a factory for the military, so they often used foul language in front of him. Get where I'm going here?"

"Yes, I suppose I do," Rosie nodded gravely.

"We still need some extra help setting up," Rusty stated, carrying two medium sized boxes of light decorations. "Do you guys want to help out?"

Thomas looked over to Rosie.

"What do you say?" he asked. "Want to give them a helping hand?"

"Of course I would like to help!" said Rosie happily.

"Well then, you've got my vote," Thomas said to Rusty.

With that confirmed, the two teenagers immediately got to work helping the Narrow Gauge students set up for the party. A couple of hours later, it was night time. The party was all ready, and it had also finally started. Emily, Annie, Clarabel, Percy, Edward, Toby, and Mavis all showed up, along with Donald and Douglas.

"We met up with them at Knapford Station," Emily explained. "They said they were on their way to the party."

"How convenient," remarked Thomas, while folding his arms. "It's nice of you two to show up."

"Och aye, we wooldnae want tae miss thes party fur naethin'," said Donald, smiling widely.

"Right, Donal'," agreed Douglas, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, just before looking in Rosie's direction. "By th' way Rosie, some green-haired lad wanted us tae gie thes tae ye."

He handed Rosie a brown package and she took it. Looking at it curiously, the pink-haired girl opened it and gasped with horror at what was inside.

"It's my doll!" she wailed. "Brad destroyed my favourite doll!"

Thomas and Percy both looked inside the package. Inside, it was Rosie's doll all right, but it wasn't in one piece anymore. The two best friends noticed tears coming down from Rosie's eyes.

"He gave me this doll when I was only six, he said that this doll was his favourite little sister," The pink-haired girl sobbed. "I guess he really does hate me if he destroyed something so valuable."

Poor Rosie fell to her knees and started crying hard. Thomas got down onto his knees and gave the young teen a hug, Emily didn't mind seeing this, for she knew that Thomas always likes to help his friends whenever he can, but at the same time, the dark green-haired girl still couldn't help but feel slightly jealous also.

"I'm so sorry Rosie," Thomas said softy, before looking at Donald and Douglas. "Where is he?"

"We dinnae knaw," Donald replied, now looking rather angry. "We bumped intae 'im 'at borgus-frat at a café nae far frae haur."

"Ye micht be interested inn knowin' thes," Douglas added. "He was laughin' tae himself as he left."

By this point, even kind-hearted and mild mannered Thomas was seething in absolute anger.

"That two-faced jerk!" he snarled, turning around to go and leave the party. "I'll-"

But before he could leave to go find Brad and make him pay for harming Rosie emotionally, the pink-haired girl went and grabbed him by the arm. From there, she stared into her friend's eyes with both worry and sternness. It was pretty obvious she didn't want Thomas or any of her friends to get involved with her family business.

"Thomas, please don't do something you're going to regret later," Rosie said firmly, before looking over to her other friends. "That goes for all of you guys too. Besides, this is a family matter, so it does not concern any of you."

"But-" Thomas started to argue.

But Rosie cut him off. "I mean it! Besides, this is suppose to be a party after all. Am I right?"

"Yup!" nodded Toby.

"That's the spirit Rosie!" Mavis cheered.

Rosie dried her eyes and smiled brightly. "So let's have fun!"

"Attagirl Rosie!" Emily praised.

Thomas calmed himself down and smiled right back, and thus the party began. The music was blaring, snacks (potato chips, cookies, vegetables, nachos and salsa) were being eaten. At one corner, Annie and Clarabel both hosted a limbo contest (which much of the Narrow Gauge teens took part in). At the dance floor, Thomas and Percy both took turns dancing with Rosie.

"You're a really good dancer Rosie," Percy remarked.

Nearby, Thomas was sitting at a table drinking a can of lemonade when he quickly smiled.

"I give you a ten!" he called, while setting his can down and holding ten fingers up.

"Thank you so much Thomas and Percy," Rosie said happily. "Taking dance classes back when I was living in the United States helped with that."

Watching Thomas at a nearby table while standing up was Emily.

"After all, they are only friends, and he's just trying to cheer her up," The dark green-haired girl said to no one but herself. "Still though, I…"

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a green-haired young man walking past her, briefly shoving her aside rather rudely might I add. That didn't go unnoticed by Edward, Mavis, Toby, Donald, and Douglas, who were also at some nearby tables chatting and enjoying some of the food and juice. Mavis actually seemed to recognize that young man from earlier at an instance, based on what Rosie told her at an earlier time.

"Hey Donald," The black-haired girl spoke up. "Isn't that the green-haired guy you and Douglas both saw earlier?"

"Aye, it's th' borgus-frat himself," nodded Donald.

Douglas nodded. "What's he daein' haur?" he quizzed.

"No clue," replied Toby. "But it surely can't be good, because it doesn't look like he's here to enjoy the party."

Percy walked over to see the others after allowing Thomas a chance to dance with Rosie.

"Whatever the case, we'd better keep an eye on him," he said rather seriously. "Just to be safe."

"Good idea," said Edward.

Meanwhile, Rosie and Thomas were both dancing when the former felt a slight tap on her shoulder.

"Yes, who is-" she started, before turning around and giving a gasp of shock at who it was. "Oh my goodness…"

Standing before her was Brad, looming before her with a sinister look on his face. His eyes had a look of pure evil and hatred in 'em...more so than even before.

"B-Brad?" Rosie gasped.

"That's right. Did you get my gift?" he asked menacingly.

Rosie's shock at this point turned into anger.

"You destroyed my doll!" she exclaimed. "Why?"

A small smile crept on Brad's face. "There's only one reason why, my foolish little sister: I simply hate you." His expression quickly grew more maniacal. "Now, I've heard that you said you wanted to go to a party that you would never forget. Well, I happen to know of a way on how to make it unforgettable: I'm going to give you a good old fashioned beating…or in my new words…" He then licked his lips with evil delight. "-your destruction."

Hearing this, Rosie became really scared of getting hurt or even killed, and thus began backing away from her evil brother. Then she gasped when she saw Thomas bravely stand in front of her.

"I won't let you hurt her!" he declared.

"Away with you!"

Brad went and punched Thomas hard on the right side of his face. He went flying back and fell onto his back in the middle of the snow, injured, though not badly. Emily, who was standing nearby, watched this in horror.

"THOMAS!" she screamed with worry.

Brad cackled evilly at his wicked deed and slowly started to slink over to Rosie, who was now backing away until she bumped into a table behind her. He went and cracked his knuckles, expressing glee in aiming to brutally hurt his own little sister. Meanwhile, still lying in the snow nearby, Thomas managed to sit back up and watch in helpless anger.

"Brad, you harm one hair on her head and you'll be sorry you ever did!" he growled threateningly.

"Is that so?" Brad raised an eyebrow in dark amusement. This caused him to approach and pluck a single pink hair off of Rosie's head. Once he did the deed, Brad held it up and let the wind carry the piece of hair away. "Here, you can have this, I won't harm that one piece of hair. The rest of her however, I will!"

With that said, Brad winded up a fist and punched poor Rosie on the left side of her face and she fell back. The pink-haired girl landed into the snow and looked up in pure shock after that. It only got worse from there, like when the young teenager tried to get up back, both of Brad's fists suddenly made contact with her in the stomach which sent her back slightly. Then the evil brother went and smacked her across the face so hard that she fell back onto the ground, rolling along it coming to a stop. Her face was now more bruised than before and was red with pain when she looked up with a look of terror in her eyes. Sitting up slowly nearby, Thomas had watched this happen and slowly became overwhelmed with great anger.

"Why Brad? Why are you doing this?" Rosie asked weakly. "You once said I was the best baby sister you've ever had. You even gave me that doll to prove how much you cared about me-"

"Shut up! I never loved you Rosie!" Brad shouted acidly. "I hated having a younger sister!"

He slowly walked over to Rosie, and was about to beat her up some more, but he never did. Because getting up and picking up a metal shovel that was lying nearby, Thomas had finally snapped. He started to race forth with the shovel in hand, while screaming with rage. When he reached Brad, Thomas went and swung the shovel hard, managing to smash the metallic part of the shovel right into Brad within the face, hurting him quite a bit. The force of the attack made the green-haired young man stumble back some while stunned by the 'shovel to the face' strike for a second. Taking the chance, the blue-haired boy went and sent the evil brother off with a reverse tornado kick. Brad rolled along the snowy ground before kneeling weakly.

"You deserved that and more!" Thomas shouted furiously. "How can someone like you possibly say and do such horrible things to your own little sister?"

Getting back up onto his feet while stumbling slightly, as well as a nose that was bleeding rather badly, Brad merely smirked darkly.

"Simple, it's because I hate her," he retorted. "Now get out of my way fool. I want to go and finish what I've started."

"NEVER!" Thomas roared, as he stood his ground and posed with the shovel.

Brad was now back on his feet, and was also now just about to charge in and attack Thomas ruthlessly. Suddenly, Donald and Douglas both came soaring through the air into aerial kicks, kicking both their feet forth. Donald's feet struck Brad in the chest first. This was followed by Douglas' feet striking the green-haired young man in the neck. The combined blows sent Brad flying back into a brick wall of the nearby building, and then he fell back down below onto the snowy ground. The two Scottish twins went and joined up with Thomas.

"Och, nae ye dornt!" said Donald firmly.

"Ye want Rosie? Yoo'll hae tae get through us first!" added Douglas.

Brad got back up and stomped his feet on the ground like a bull, getting ready to move in and attack anyway. He stopped when he saw Mavis, Toby, and even Emily each come running in, and defending the pink-haired girl, getting into fighting stances in the process.

"No one's gonna lay a hand on her!" declared Mavis boldly.

"That's right!" added Toby, readying to fight.

"Now I'm normally against using violence..." Emily stated calmly, flipping her hair back...just before raising both her fists angrily. "BUT I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB IF YOU TRY TO TOUCH ANOTHER HAIR ON HER CUTE LITTLE HEAD!"

Brad threw his head back and laughed loudly at the teen's threats, thinking they were funny and foolish.

"You poor, pathetic fools, thinking you can defeat me?!" he scoffed. "You should know you could never hope to stop someone like me!"

"Oh, really?" came Percy's voice, just as he and Edward both came in and joined their friends in standing up to the green-haired young man.

In his POV, Brad stared long and hard at the large group of goody-good teenagers. He was determined to finish the job, but was also now looking worried, because he was greatly outnumbered by the lot. Finally, Brad ultimately decided to back off.

"Fine!" he growled. "You guys win, I'll go. But remember this Rosie: You won't have your guardians to stand by you when you come home. You'll be all alone, and that is when I will finish the job!"

Brad finally walked away from the party, laughing with an evil tone in his voice. Poor Rosie fell to her knees and began shaking with both sadness and complete fright from overhearing Brad's threat.

"I can't go home now," she whimpered.

Donald, Douglas, Mavis, Thomas, Toby, Percy, Edward, and Emily all approached her. They each felt a lot of pity and sorrow for the pink-haired girl.

"We're so sorry Rosie," said Mavis sadly. "Sorry that your brother is such a monster towards you."

"What am I suppose to do?" Rosie asked, wanting to cry, but being unable to do so. "I have no where else to go to now."

Everyone else watched this scene with worried and/or sad expressions. Pretty soon, Thomas finally spoke up with an idea on hand.

"Maybe not, but you can always stay with my sisters and myself," he stated thoughtfully.

Emily gasped when she heard that. "But Thomas, we don't have enough room at the house..."

Emily gasped again, suddenly realising what she had just blurted out, and it didn't help that there were a few people who weren't aware of what was going on. Yup, the dark green-haired girl had officially said way too much.

Rosie looked over to Thomas. "Is there something you're not telling me Thomas?" she asked curiously and hurtfully.

"Or me?" Mavis added, looking a little disappointed.

"What is exactly happening Thomas?" Edward asked.

Thomas sighed, and looked over to Emily. "What do you think? Should I tell them?"

Emily nodded her head unhappily. And so, Thomas told Rosie, Edward, and Mavis all about Emily's current problems, and how she was forced to leave her home due to Diesel 10's recent return and escape from prison.

"...and that's pretty much it. Ever since that day, Emily has been living with my sisters and myself."

"Wow!" Rosie gasped, "I had no idea that was going on."

"Well, it was...and right now still is." sighed Emily.

"Oh dear," gasped Mavis, sounding and looking very shocked. "But at least that explains why you guys hang out so much."

"Indeed," nodded Thomas. "Now getting back to what we were talking about before; you can stay with us as long as you want to Rosie. "You can have my bed while I sleep on the couch."

"You...you would really let me stay with you and Emily?" she asked, hoping that it wasn't a joke.

"Of course I would," Thomas smiled kindly. "That's what friends would do: Help each other out."

Edward had to speak up next: "Listen Rosie, if there is one thing you're going to learn about Thomas is that he'll do anything to help a friend in need, even if it means allowing someone else to move in with him."

Rosie began to think it over. Everyone else nearby waited anxiously to hear what the pink-haired girl's answer was. Finally she approached Thomas, took him by his hands, and smiled at him, feeling very grateful.

"I would love to stay with you Thomas," Rosie said happily, but then became saddened. "But what about my parents? They would never allow…"

Just as quickly, Emily approached and handed Rosie her mobile phone.

"Here, just give them a call and ask them," she offered. "If they ask where you're going to stay, just tell them that you're staying with me at my place."

Rosie nodded her head slowly, then she proceeded to call her parents and tell them what had happened. Thomas looked over to the others, hoping that this idea will help their pink-haired friend out. After what seemed like minutes, Rosie hung up and looked in Thomas' direction.

"Well?" Emily asked patiently.

Rosie took a deep breath and gave her answer:

"My parents said it's okay: I can stay with you Thomas," she said, feeling thankful.

Everyone gave a happy and relieved sigh, knowing that it was all going to work out.

After the New Year's Eve party was done and the new year had officially started, the large number of teenagers all began to set off back to Knapford Station.

Once they arrived in Knapford city, they parted ways with Donald and Douglas. The remaining party of Thomas, Rosie, Toby, Percy, Edward, Mavis, and Emily all then took the train back to Ffarquhar Station, then they walked the rest of the way to Thomas's place. Percy, Mavis, Edward, and Toby all departed once they've arrived outside the household. Emily had kindly offered a set of her pajamas for Rosie, and also even gave the pink-haired girl one of her spare book bags.

"Thank you so much everyone. This means a lot," smiled Rosie with a weak smile. "Because I'm sure Brad is going to destroy all of my things."

"He's a horrible brother," said Annie.

"He's not like Thomas at all," scoffed Clarabel.

"Or even Emily!" The twin sisters both said at the same time, kindly referring the dark green-haired girl as like an older sister figure to them.

They both then took Rosie up to Thomas's room, while Thomas himself took out a few blankets and a pillow from the nearby closet. Emily only watched him from the nearby doorway.

"Hey Emily," Thomas called. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is okay," she answered. "I just feel so sorry for Rosie. It's not going to be easy for her to go through each day without her parents."

"Which is why we're going to do everything we can to cheer her up..." Thomas stated.

"Just like you're doing with me," Emily said rather quietly.

"What was that Emily?"

"Oh, nothing Thomas," Emily replied. "I'm going to go upstairs to check up on Rosie and see how she's doing."

And that's what she did, but there was another reason Emily wanted to get away from Thomas. What was it? It was because she was blushing bright red, and she didn't want him to see that.

Once Emily had changed into her pajamas and had checked on Rosie, she went downstairs to check on Thomas.

"Oh, he's sleeping," The dark green-haired girl sighed, just as she stepped into the living room.

Sure enough, Thomas was fast asleep on the couch. He was so tired that as soon as he laid down on the couch, he fell fast asleep. Emily walked over to where the blue-haired boy was.

"He does look handsome just laying there," she thought to herself with a smile. She then leaned down, her lips were getting closer to Thomas' lips...but just before they connected, the dark green-haired girl opened her eyes and stopped what she was doing. "Oh my gosh! What am I doing?"

Emily ran out of the living room and headed off back to her room upstairs.

"I...I almost kissed him," she groaned. "I almost kissed him."

Emily didn't fall asleep for a long while. She was too busy thinking about what she almost did.

Inside Thomas's room, Rosie was lying in bed looking at the same picture she had shown Thomas while on the train. She couldn't sleep right at that moment because she had so much on her mind from the recent events.

"What's happened to you Brad? What changed you?" Rosie asked herself quietly, just before pocketing the small picture. "Oh, why am I even asking. You'll never answer my questions because you'll never change your ways."

With that, poor Rosie cried herself to sleep. Unknown to any of the protagonists however, their troubles with Brad were far from over.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the night, someone was standing outside of the house very quietly. He wore a trench coat and had a cowboy hat on his head, concealing his face, and showing only his glowing eyes.

"He's not going to get away with this..." The figure growled to himself. "He'll pay for what he did to them both."

With that, he departed into the very shadows of the night. Who was that guy you might be asking? Well, we'll find out soon enough in the next story.

Characters

• Thomas
• Emily
• Percy
• Rosie
• James
• Gordon
• Henry
• Edward
• Toby
• Annie and Clarabel
• Donald and Douglas
• Mavis
• Skarloey
• Rheneas
• Duncan
• "Brad"
• Peter Sam (Debut)
• Rusty (Debut)
• Sir Handel (Debut; does not speak)
• Diesel 10 (mentioned)
• "George" (mentioned)
• Mrs. Vulcan (mentioned)

Trivia

• This serves as the New Year's episode of the series.
• Gordon, Henry, and James each are revealed to be "Star Trek" fans, having planned to watch a number of "Star Trek" films, starting with "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", for their New Years plans.
• The scene where Mavis, Toby, and Emily each defend Rosie from "Brad" uses some modified dialogue from the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" Season 2 episode "Dragon Quest".
• Near the end of the episode, Emily almost kisses Thomas while he was asleep. She would eventually kiss him while he sleeps in "The Valentine's Surprise".