Chapter 31
Tin Toy
The wind blew across the grassy hills in the kingdom of Blaiddru. The stones that dotted the greenery stood firm as the blades of green shivered around them. Until the sky flashed, and the stones shivered under the booming noise that followed.
In the dark room, the shadowy figure was hard at work. If she was going to properly take what she needed from the mouse, her machine had to be modified, and the restraining apparatus had to be reconstructed.
The cold stone walls of the room lit up brightly as electricity crackled about. The wires had to be rerouted for the modifications, but the figure had forgotten to turn off the power to that particular circuit.
At the moment, she was shivering and jolting as electricity coursed through her entire being.
One of her arms stretched across the room to shut off the power. With a loud click, the voltage stopped coursing, and she fell limp onto the floor. Once her rubbery form stopped smoking, she crawled to her feet.
“Oh, you! I don’t care how badly you need new parts! This job is getting done! And nuts to you!” the figure shouted.
A live wire burst from the metal casing, and lashed at the figure.
The figure dodged the wire, leaned back, stretched her arms across the room and shut off that circuit. Once the danger passed, she snapped her body back in front of her machine, and jabbed a finger at its side.
“Don’t you dare talk back to me! Now, get your gears in gear, and start cooperating! Doctor’s orders, schmuck!” the figure said.
The machine only fizzled slightly.
“Okay. Maybe I was a bit forceful. But, we really do need to get this done. That mouse is the key to this entire operation. And we really don’t want to let Yen Sid down,” the figure sighed, as she gently leaned against the side of her massive machine.
Her gaze drifted to the work she had yet to do. It would be a long, arduous task for her to do things as she was now. If the mouse ever decided to leave, the figure knew she would have a difficult time keeping her there. Even with most of the town’s population under her control, it would be a complication.
But, there was another way. A way that the figure truly disliked, but would be the quickest, most time efficient way to get things done.
“Alright. I really hate doing this, but it’s for both our benefits.” She stepped back for a running start. “Open wide! I’m going in!”
The figure charged forward, and dove headfirst into the opening of the machine. Something changed in that moment. The figure’s entire body deflated, leaving it limp and useless on the ground. Inside the machine, something new was swiftly moving. Something that quickly moved what parts had to be moved, rerouted the necessary circuits, rearranged the nodes and everything else that had to be finished.
On the top of the machine, two electrodes chattered, as though to giggle at what was going on inside of it.
The new presence inside the machine worked faster, and the machine was quickly changed. The restraining apparatus was quickly undone screw by screw and bolt by bolt. It was reshaping now, to a form that would hold the mouse steady as her heart was taken.
The chattering electrodes now thundered loudly, as if to howl with laughter.
Throughout the room, more lights turned on, and screens lit up. On one of the screens, static warped and distorted the image of an amorphous face, which cackled maniacally along with its creation.
From the sudden surge of power, the two electrodes on the table gathered magical stardust, and showed the image of the prospective specimen once more.
In a small town inhabited by the theows of the kingdom, windows rattled, shops shook, and not a single one of the hoofed wolves ran for cover as lightning flashed and thunder roared above them. In fact, not one of them acted like they heard or saw the disturbance.
The only ones who reacted were the mouse, the hound dog and the dragon from out of town.
“Oh, my! It sounds like that storm is getting closer!” Minnie said.
“Closer!? It sounds like it’s right on top of us!!” Spike said, as he hid beneath Pluto.
Pluto, in turn, hid behind Spike.
Spike quickly used his tail to jack Pluto up, and hid beneath the hound dog again.
“Alright, you two. It’s only a little storm. Nobody ever got hurt from loud weather,” Minnie chided her two companions.
“Maybe where you’re from! Things are different in Equestria!” Spike rebutted.
“But, we aren’t in Equestria anymore, remember?” Minnie said, as she pulled Spike out from beneath Pluto by his claw. She tucked a finger beneath Pluto’s collar and guided them both along. “Now, come along. We need to find out why we were brought here.”
There was no arguing with Minnie. Spike knew that the nature of the magical light would not have led them to that new land without good purpose. With that in mind, he cautiously allowed himself to be led by Minnie to the middle of town. The place where the butcher had told them of all the unusual happenings.
The town square was nothing impressive, to say the least. In fact, it reminded Spike very much of the one back home in Ponyville.
To Minnie and Pluto, it was like the first home they lived in with Mickey. Far in the rural countryside, with only a few neighbors and several small businesses. There was even a blacksmith and a well, just like that first home.
The well itself was rather plain, but what really stood out was the clocktower. The grand structure of wood and brick, with a massive clock face on all four sides at the top. Nothing strange could possibly have been gleaned from a first glance.
Pluto didn’t know what he possibly could have found there, but he put his hunting dog nose to work anyway.
He sniffed his way through the ups and downs of the square. He sniffed around the business set up in the square. He sniffed through the flower trolley.
“Diwrnod da, ci. Dych chi cael rhosyn,” the theow florist said, as she placed a tiny rose in Pluto’s collar.
Pluto didn’t understand what was said to him, or why he was given a flower. After all, he couldn’t eat a rose.
The florist went back to lovingly arranging her flowers, and Pluto went back to sniffing for anything unusual.
His search took him to another trolley, where books were sold.
“Mae'n ddrwg gen i. Nid oes ddim deganau ci'n yma. Fodd bynnag, gallwch fynd â'r cylchgrawn rhad ac am ddim hwn i'ch perchennog, os dych chi'n eisiau,” the theow running the trolley said, as he offered a magazine to Pluto.
The hound dog merely sniffed the magazine, but found nothing odd about it. He simply continued on his way.
His nose led him to the well in the square. Pluto circumnavigated the base, sniffing all the while.
He knew was on to something. With the scent of water and mud, there was something else that he couldn’t put his paw on. Whatever it was, he was going to let the others know. He jumped into the air and landed with his nose pointing at the well.
Spike was the first to notice the hound dog. He trotted over to see what he was looking at.
“What’s up, Pluto? Did you find something?” the dragon asked.
He looked to where Pluto was pointing and investigated the well.
From what he could see, there was nothing of any great importance on the outside. Curious as to the nature of what Pluto was looking at, he hopped up and looked in.
It was far too dark in the well for him to see clearly.
Something moved at the bottom.
For all appearances, it looked like the surface of the water below was simply rippling. But, there was something unusual about it. Something that made it look like water, but wasn’t.
As Spike investigated, Pluto too noticed something unusual.
At the top of the clock tower, hidden within the rafters was another odd find. A clear, gelatinous blob. The very same as the one he saw at the butcher shop.
“ARF-ARF!! RUFFRUFFRUFFRUFF!!!” Pluto barked at the blob.
The moment he started barking, the blob squeezed its way between the cracks of the woodwork, and hid itself.
Spike jumped and snapped his eyes to the barking hound dog.
“Pluto, stop barking!” Spike said.
When he looked back into the well, he found a curious sight.
Spike squinted and thought he could see a darker shape within the unusual water. One that drifted about in the dark and the murk. Not as if it were swimming, but as if it were being pushed slowly about by the water itself.
“Hello? Is somepony down there?” Spike called, as he leaned over the side of the well.
“Spike!!” Minnie said, as she pulled the dragon away from the well. “What were you thinking!? You could have fallen in!”
“I think somepony’s down there! In the well! They might be hurt!” Spike said.
That was all Minnie needed to hear to spur her to the well. When she peered over, she was joined by Spike and Pluto.
“Where? I can’t see anything,” Minnie said.
“Right there! There’s something moving!” Spike said, pointing a claw to the dark water below.
Try as she did, Minnie couldn’t see a thing.
“I don’t think there’s anyone down there,” Minnie said.
Spike squinted to see as best he could. The dark shape was gone, as if it had been pulled out of existence.
“But, it was there! I saw something down in the well!” the dragon insisted.
“It was probably just your shadow. See?” Minnie said, waving her arm over the opening of the well, and casting her shadow to the water below.
“It wasn’t my shadow! Something was in the well!” Spike said.
“Then, we’ll just have to ask one of the theows about it. And stop leaning so far! Or else there’s really going to be someone down the well!” Minnie said, as she pulled Spike back from the well again.
As Pluto looked into the well, he too noticed something odd about the water. More still, he could smell it. He knew precisely what water smelled like, and that was not water. Something had found its way into the water, and had taken residence in the well. Whatever it was, he was going to let the others know.
“ARF!! ARF!!” the hound dog barked.
Nearby, Minnie and Spike were tuning him out to talk to each other.
“You don’t need to keep pulling me away from the well! I’m not going to fall in,” Spike said.
“I’m not about to take that chance. If you fell in, who knows how badly hurt you could get. Or if you’d even survive the fall,” Minnie rebutted.
“ARF-ARF!!! ARFARFARFARF!!”
“I wasn’t going to fall in! I’m not a baby! I can handle these kinds of things!” Spike asserted.
“Oh, can you? You didn’t look like you had such a handle when Pluto and I found you in the woods,” Minnie admonished her young companion.
“That--That’s different. And you didn’t seem to have such a handle on things when that snake caught you,” Spike rebutted.
“Spike--You...If you were my son, you’d get such a time out!” Minnie said.
“Well, I’m not. And you aren’t my mom. So, stop acting like it.”
“ARFARFARFARFARF!!!”
“Pluto, will you stop barking already! There’s nothing to see in there!” Minnie said, as she pulled the hound dog away from the well.
Pluto knew there was something there. Something that needed to be discovered, and nothing would stop him from it.
Once again, the sky shattered with lights and sounds.
Pluto jumped into the air, and when he landed ran right into Spike.
The dragon flipped into the air, and grabbed onto Pluto’s tail as the hound dog ran for the nearest open door.
Minnie watched her companions run off and slam the door behind them. She sighed at herself. She fully realized how silly their argument was, and only wished to keep the young dragon safe. The next time they saw one another, she would apologize to him. Perhaps they would take another look into the well. In the meantime, she would ask the other theows about the town.
Unknown to herself, something had entered the bottom of the well. As though pushed from a hidden channel, something now drifted about the unusual waters, which were slowly rising to the top.
In one of the homes of the village, Spike and Pluto waited beneath a table.
“I think it’s gone now,” Spike said to the hound dog.
Pluto listened for any more sounds of the storm outside. Though his ears found nothing, his hypersensitive nose caught wind of another strange scent. There in the shop, there were the unmistakable scents of metal, grease, plaster, paint, and just a hint of rust. Most of all, there was the same mysterious scent as the one in the well.
Slowly, the hound dog crawled out from beneath the table, and went searching for the source.
“Pluto? What are you doing?” Spike asked.
Of course, there was no way for the hound dog to answer. Instead, he continued to sniff through the shop.
Spike too decided the shop was worth a look around, and saw exactly where he was.
All around him, the shelves were lined with tin figurines. And the counter at the front was loaded with more of the tiny toys.
Spike found a mechanical frog with a key in its back. Taking the toy in his hands, he turned the key twice and placed the frog back on the counter.
First, the toy frog’s eyes opened. Then its throat, made of layered tin and springs, bulged outward with a tinny croak. Next, its whole body shook, before it hopped forward.
Spike smiled as its mouth opened up. He was surprised when all of a sudden a short spring with a rubber ball on the tip shot out and retracted.
The frog was not the only surprise to be found. Pluto’s nose caught the mysterious scent all over the shop. During his search, he flicked a switch, which activated a toy train.
For a moment, the hound dog was distracted by the course the train took. All around the shop, tiny tracks were set, and the train passed along them all. Through a model town, across a painted river, into tiny woods. At the door, a steep track was set to arch over, and a mountain was painted over the door frame.
Pluto half expected to see another one of those strange blobs hidden in some corner as he followed the train. No such thing was to be seen, but he could still smell the strange presence.
As Pluto searched, Spike examined more of what was to be seen. With a push of a button, a tiny beehive in a miniature tree buzzed with bees. Soon after, a mechanical bear colored like honey climbed the tree and reached for the hive. When the bees attacked it, the bear slid back down the tree trunk.
It was like nothing the young dragon had ever seen. Ponyville had its toy shop, but it never had anything like this. Whoever worked in this place clearly had a love and a heart for all of their creations.
On the floor, Spike found something else. A wind-up key, which was larger than any that the other toys had. For as much as he looked, he couldn't find where the key could have fallen from. In his mind, the dragon imagined what grand toy could have a key so big, and he decided to start searching for it.
Behind him, Pluto was still sniffing for the source of the scent. His search put his muzzle between two tiny, dancing toy theows. As the toys’ dance ended, they faced one another and leaned in to kiss. Instead of kissing each other, they kissed Pluto’s snout, making the hound dog gag slightly.
After pulling his head from the toy lovers, he continued his search to the back of the shop, where Spike was still searching.
In the back, there were even more toys and figurines. Each one was at varying stages of completion. Some looked like they were one step from being finished. Others looked like they had just begun. Simple bases from which something wonderful would be built.
Among the items, Spike found a large figurine of a silver swan in a simulated lake of glass and tin. Beneath it was a solid pedestal, painted to look like a lakeshore, complete with reeds and grass. This was surely what the large key was for.
Curious and excited to see what activating the toy would yield, Spike started looking for a place to insert the key and activate the marvelous craft. However, on the opposite side, there was already a key.
As Pluto sniffed around behind him, Spike turned the key.
Music started to play, as the swan preened its silver feathers with uncanny lifelike movements. From the silver reeds behind it, two silver cygnets swam around the larger swan. The larger swan leaned its head into the simulated water, and snatched a single golden fish, which it fed to one of its babies. The other cygnet dove underwater, as if to try fishing for itself. In the end, it came up with a larger fish than what its parent caught.
The larger fish wriggled away, and the two cygnets swam out of sight through the silver reeds. Then, the music ended and the silver swan stopped moving.
Spike was amazed and amused by what he found. Whatever the key he held went to, it was sure to be the greatest thing in the entire shop.
Pluto’s search led him right to the pedestal the swan was atop, and he started sniffing it. There, the strange scent grew somehow stronger.
The hound dog knew he was getting close, and started pawing at the side panel of the pedestal.
“Hey! Don’t do that. You might break something,” Spike said, as she tried to pull Pluto away from the marvelous toy.
His limited strength was not enough to pull Pluto away. As the hound dog pawed at the panel, he began to pull it loose.
Not wanting to let any damage befall the wonder of mechanical workmanship, Spike devised a new way to get Pluto away from it. He welled up embers in his mouth, and shot a green flame to the tip of Pluto’s tail.
The hound dog yelped loudly and ran from the toy. Unfortunately, his flailing paws took the panel off, and a large part of it fell out.
“Aw! Pluto, look what you did!!” Spike said.
Pluto didn’t answer. Instead, he quenched his tail in a can of grease, which sizzled loudly.
Spike set to work trying to put the fallen part back in. To his greatest surprise, it was not a part of the machine that fell out. Instead, what he found was another mechanical toy. And this one was the most wondrous of all.
It was a small, tin theow. Its shape was exactly like those of the creatures inhabiting the village, complete with simulated fur and eerily real eyes. Its size was much smaller, though. In fact, it was shorter than Spike was, making the dragon think it was supposed to be a puppy.
It was wearing a simple, red coat, which was so large it reached all the way down to its wearer’s rear hooves, and the tip of its tail just peered out the opening in the back.
Spike curiously looked over the mechanical creature and pulled back its coat. On its back, he found a slot for a wind-up key. One that looked just the right size for the one he held.
Quickly and carefully, Spike took the coat off of the mechanical theow, folded it up and placed it in his backpack. Once that was out of the way, he put the key in the toy’s back and wound it up.
Pluto finished quenching his tail, and darted over to Spike to growl in his face. Any anger the hound dog had turned to curiosity when he mechanical theow stood up. Music played from within the creation. A simple melody like a foal’s lullaby filled the room, and the doll started dancing.
The dragon and the hound dog watched the life-sized creation dance about. Its movements were simple and limited, but they were at once wondrous. And it was all the more enchanting when it started to sing.
“Y mama blaidd yn canu,
Cân o gariad at ei phlentyn,
Mae'r lleuad yn crio am ei llais.
Golau’r lleuad yw eu cynhesrwydd,
Oherwydd yn eu calonnau mae tân”
“Chwythu gwynt. Dail yn dawnsio,
Mae'r diwedd i ddod yn fuan,
Byddan nhw'n ochneidio eu olaf,
Gyda phopeth arall”
“Dymuniad yn hongian ar seren,
Am byth, ac ar ôl,
Mae eu calon yn aros am byth”
And the doll stopped moving.
Although neither Spike nor Pluto understood a word of what the magnificent creation said, they were at once thrilled by its performance, and touched by her song. For whatever reason, they felt she was singing about something terribly sad, yet completely hopeful. Like something that would never last, but would stay forever.
Spike looked over the mechanical doll, and saw truly the work that went into making it lifelike. Everything about it seemed uncannily real. All but the panel on its side. Curious as to how such a thing was made, Spike opened up the side of the doll.
Inside were innumerable moving parts. Cogs, springs, levers, loops and catches of all shapes and sizes were seen. And in the middle of it all was one noticeably large empty space. On either end of the empty space was what looked like a receptacle for securing a component.
Spike’s mind filled in the blanks, and he produced a shape from his backpack he thought looked like it fit the empty slot. In his claws, he held the cylinder he found before and held it in front of the open space inside the doll.
From the simple eyeball measurement, he could see it would fit perfectly. It was a wonder to him why such a thing would be left so far from the machine it went to, and even more of a wonder why it was buried. Still, he had found the two components, and decided to reunite them. He placed the cylinder inside the doll.
The key on top began spinning all on its own. Inside the doll, all of the working parts started moving on their own. The panel on the side closed on its own, and the doll’s body began to tremble.
“M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-” the doll stammered.
Spike’s chest clenched. Had he somehow broken the doll?
“M-M-Mamma?” the doll said.
Spike was profoundly relieved. It was just a voice box to help the doll speak. Perhaps now, it would sing a different song.
“Thank Celestia. I’d hate to have ruined something like that,” Spike sighed.
“Ble mae mamma?” the doll asked.
With a jerking, mechanical movement, her neck swiveled around and her eyes glanced about, as though to look for something.
Pluto became unnerved by the action. To him, the doll moved with nearly lifelike motions, almost as if it had a thought process behind each action.
The mechanical theow’s gaze met the two visitors in the shop.
“Oh. Diwrnod da, ci a draig. Dych chi'n gwsmeriaidau fy mamma?” the doll said.
Spike nor Pluto could quite comprehend what was happening. If they didn’t know better, they swore the doll was talking directly to them.
“Uh...Hi?” Spike said.
“Helo. Fy enw i yw Caru,” the doll answered.
“What?”
“Caru dw i.”
“Um...your name? Is it Garry?” Spike guessed, not understanding what he was told.
“Na. Caru,” the doll answered.
“That’s what I said. Garry.”
Pluto dragged his paw down his face, making his nose twang up and down.
“Na. ‘Gah-ree,’” the doll emphatically said.
“Caru?” Spike said, finally.
“Ydw. Caru dw i,” came the answer.
It was at once unnerving and astonishing. Never before did Spike think he would come face to face with a walking, talking, singing, dancing doll. Even less did he think he’d have a conversation with one. Still, the doll had given her name, and it would be impolite for him not to return his own.
“Well, hi Caru. I’m Spike. Uh, Spike dw i. And this is Pluto. Pluto...dw i…” the dragon trailed off on his introduction.
“Pluto? Na. ‘Mae ef Pluto,’” Caru said, pointing to the dog.
Feeling as if he were being corrected, Spike pointed at Pluto and answered, “Mae ef Pluto.”
“Ydw. Dyna sut mae theowau yn siarad,” Caru giggled.
Hearing the mechanical theow giggle put Spike more at ease with her. For the friendly, warm hearted laughter she expressed, he could see she was practically as alive and real as himself. Even if she was just a toy.
Caru trotted out to the front, her tin hooves clattering against the wooden floor.
“Mamma. Mae gennych gwsmeriadau,” Caru called out.
There came no answer.
“Mamma?” the doll called again.
Spike and Pluto waited for an answer. When none came, Pluto started to sniff for the one she wanted.
There were plenty of scents in the shop, and there was still that strange one. The source of it was not Caru. And as far as Pluto could infer, it was not the one she kept calling ‘mamma.’ Still, the doll was looking for someone, and he was going to put his hound dog nose to work finding her.
He sniffed all around, picking out an isolated scent, and found it was strongest behind the counter. There were many other toys back there and a few small tools, but surely not the person Caru was looking for.
Still, the strange scent was lingering there. Pluto stood up and placed his paws on the countertop. He sniffed all of the contents atop there, and bumped off something.
Spike investigated the fallen object, and saw it was a name plate of some sort. He held the short, thin piece of metal in his claws and read the words on the front: ‘Taffy Siop Teganu.’
“Taffy…” Spike thought aloud.
It was the same name as the theow the butcher said ran off. If she was the one Caru was looking for, the doll was out of luck.
“Caru,” Spike called.
“Ydw?” Caru answered.
“Your mom? Is her name Taffy?” Spike asked, holding the nameplate and pointing to the word ‘Taffy.’
“Ydw. Taffy yw enw fy mamma,” Caru answered, pointing her tin hoof at the name.
Once more, Spike could only guess what Caru said to him, but was sure she was affirming her mother’s name.
“I don’t think she’s here anymore,” Spike said.
“Mamma dywedodd hi byddai adref yn fuan. Ble mae hi?” Caru asked.
Spike looked at the uncannily lifelike eyes of the doll, and saw nothing but worry. He tried to piece together what events had led to Taffy running away, and leaving Caru’s primary working part in the wilderness. But, for the time being, it would remain a mystery. At the moment, he would have to find Taffy to make sense of things.
Outside in the town square, Minnie was busy at work asking the various theows about what had been happening in the village.
“Excuse me,” Minnie asked a theow who was baking bread in a brick oven.
“Iawn neu beth. Beth am ddarn?...Er, sorry. I didn’t realize you were from out of town. What do you need?” the baker asked.
“I’m wondering if you know anything about all of these theows appearing in the middle of town after disappearing,” Minnie asked.
“Sorry. As far as I can tell, they’re just leaving for a bit, then the next place they’re remembered being seen is over there. It’s a small village, you know. Most folks are seen in the town square at least once a day,” the baker answered, as he pulled a loaf of bread from his oven.
“Oh. Okay. What about someone called Taffy? Do you know why she went running away earlier?” Minnie asked.
“Taffy? Can’t say that I do. But, if she ran off, you may want to check the middle of town,” the baker answered. He pushed forward the fresh loaf he had baked. “Have a piece? Two gynnygs for a slice. Ten gynns for the whole loaf.”
“Sorry. I don’t have any of your country’s money with me. But, thanks for the offer,” Minnie said, before she walked away.
“Hope you find what you need,” the baker said, before he went back to work.
In the rafters above his shop, another gelatinous blob seeped into an unreachable hiding place.
It seemed like it was the same every time. Whenever Minnie talked to any theow, they spoke in their native language first, before suddenly speaking the same as her. She asked about Taffy, and what was happening, and she was always directed toward the middle of town square.
She was about to go and ask at the next shop about the incidents, when she noticed something new. There, in the middle of town square was a theow, sprawled flat on her side. Simply lying there in the open.
“Goodness!” Minnie said, before she ran to the aid of the creature.
Unseen by herself, the theows all around her turned a blind eye to the incident.
The mouse knelt down by the theow’s side and gently jostled her.
“Are you alright?” Minnie asked.
The theow blinked her eyes open, and lifted her head. In a moment, her eyes shot wide open, and she looked around herself.
“Ble dw i? Ble yw Caru?!” the theow asked.
“What?” Minnie asked.
“Caru! Ble mae hi!?” the theow desperately asked, as she shot to her hooves.
“Slow down! What are you trying to say?” Minnie asked.
The theow stopped moving so abruptly and looked to the mouse. As if something within her changed, her entire body relaxed and her tone became steady.
“I’m sorry. You don’t speak our language, do you?” the theow asked.
“For the hundredth time today: no. What happened to you? Are you hurt?” Minnie asked, her worry growing by the second.
“Nothing happened. I just fell asleep somewhere, and woke up somewhere else. That’s all,” the theow answered.
It was the strangest thing Minnie had heard that day. After hearing everything that the other theows were saying, she thought she could guess who she was talking to.
“Are you Taffy?” the mouse asked.
“Yes. I’m Taffy. Who’s asking?” the theow wondered.
“My name’s Minnie Mouse. I was told you went running out of your shop earlier today, and you disappeared after that.”
“Oh, that. It was nothing. Just needed to get out and see the countryside for a bit,” Taffy said. For a moment, her eyes glinted, making Minnie feel the slightest apprehension. “If you want to hear about it, come to my shop. I can tell you all about this village, and what goes on here.”
It was an unusual, but lucky break for Minnie. Now, she had a chance to learn some solid details about the place they were in.
“Okay. But, can you keep it short, please. I need to find my friends around here,” Minnie said.
“Of course. This won’t take any time at all,” Taffy said, as she guided Minnie to her shop.
High up, hidden on the face of the clock tower, a gelatinous blob watched the mouse and the theow walk toward the toy shop.
In the dark room, the shadowy figure watched the events unfold on her starlit surface.
“That’s right. Keep walking,” she said, as a smile morphed onto her face.
Electricity crackled through the room, illuminating the changes to the machine. Most of all, the apparatus that would steal Minnie’s heart.