Chapter 36
Made to Be Broken
The hunt was on.
The air was stirred and displaced by deep, repeated sniffs.
For every inhale, Pluto’s nose was assaulted by the pungent, stagnant aromas of the flooded, underground ruins. But, between the two sources he had been given to follow, he was able to pick out the faint traces of tin, grease and woven fibers that still lingered from Caru.
Behind him, Taffy followed worriedly behind, hoping to find her daughter before anything she didn’t dare think about happened. She had already lost one pup, and didn’t know if her heart could handle losing Caru.
She knew they were on the right track when she saw wires overhead. Where there were wires, there was the path to the doctor’s laboratory. But without any power flowing through them, they had to rely on Pluto to see them through.
At the very back, Minnie kept a watchful eye on all of the others before her. She knew full well the danger they were walking toward, having been in its clutches only just prior. If anything happened, she was going to be ready to protect the others.
The mouse glanced to her side, and saw Spike focusing solely on the direction Pluto was headed. It was his focused stare, and the way that he was clutching Caru’s red coat that let Minnie know what was precisely on his mind.
She turned her eyes to Spike’s backpack, and saw Caru’s lifeless tin head peering out the back of it. She could see full well the dragon’s desire to restore the doll to life. How even though Caru was built as a toy, she had come to mean much to the dragon. Why or how the two had bonded, Minnie could not know. She only knew that they had to rescue their new friend.
Pluto stopped at an intersection in the halls and started sniffing in circles.
Everyone waited tensely to see what direction the hound dog would choose.
Taffy ground her hooves into the stone floor, and clenched her teeth. Every second was valuable. The longer Pluto took, the longer Caru’s heart remained in the clutches of the mad doctor.
Pluto sniffed, and snuffed, and huffed loudly, trying to find the proper direction. It was the hall to the right which had the strongest scent, and that was where the hound dog led the others.
Soon, Taffy looked up and saw wires hanging from the ceiling. There was no power to them, after she and the others destroyed the clockwork at the base of the tower. But, she knew that soon enough, she would be able to find her way back by memory and rescue her daughter.
Formulas bubbled rhythmically. Tools clanged and clattered with a harmonious beat. And amidst it all, the amoeba danced her way through her lab, shaking her hips in tandem with the music that seemed to compose all around her.
Even the noise of the doctor clamoring through her tool closet seemed to mix perfectly with the industrial beat in the room. When she found what she was looking for, she closed the tool closet’s door with her foot, and danced her way back to her work area.
On her way back, she took hold of a mechanical arm, which was previously arranging vials of stolen magic, before the power in her lab had been disrupted. She twirled around, as if to dance with her machine, and continued on her way.
Tools in hand, she returned to her table where she resumed her diabolical work.
The mechanical heart she had stolen was nearly completed. The work on building it was already done. Now, she just had to reconstruct, reconfigure, rewire, and redo the whole thing to make it suit her ends.
Adding a new receptacle on the outer casing was easy enough. Everything else was a bit trickier. But the theow who created the heart was kind enough to have set up the groundwork already.
In no time at all after returning to her lab, the amoeba finished recreating what somebody had created to bring joy to others into her own twisted vision.
With slightly trembling hands, she exhaled quietly and held the corrupted mechanical heart in her palms, marveling over the completed work.
The doctor couldn’t help but giggle. It was time to now test the creation.
Gently, she carried it over to her machine. She unbuttoned her lab coat, the front of her suit opened up, and her pseudopods set to removing the machine’s metal casing. Inside, there was the device’s core. The beating heart of the contraption, now cold and lifeless.
The doctor placed the heart she held into her pseudopods, and reached her hands into the machine. With the softest touch, she removed the old core, took Caru’s corrupted heart, and placed it into the slot.
Two loud clicks sounded, and the amoeba stepped back to observe the fruits of her labor.
It began with only a tiny spark. Like the tiniest ember that bloomed into a raging wildfire, the glimmer of voltage soon coursed through the rest of the machine, making it come to terrible life.
The doctor beamed widely, her membrane arranging itself to a parody of an overjoyed smile. All around her, monitors started turning on, showing images of stolen magic. Electrodes came alive, shooting electricity along one another as if they were old friends joining hands for the first time in ages. Machinery whirled to life. Gears ground and pistons pounded, applauding loudly for the success of the experiment. And up above, the lights overloaded with power, illuminating the whole room brightly, before they exploded, showering all below with their light in celebration.
As the doctor madly danced amid the clamor, more electricity flowed forth from the corrupted core, and through the rest of the ruins.
In the halls of the ruins, the wires that hung limply overhead began shaking violently, as a powerful current coursed through them. Some shook so hard, they threatened to break free from the clips and hooks that secured them.
Deeper within, Pluto continued the hunt for the stolen heart, when his canine ears picked up a sound in the distance.
“What is it, Pluto?” Minnie asked.
The hound dog turned his head and lifted one ear. It was a sound he had heard some times before. Once, he heard it all too closely, when he sniffed an exposed wire while Mickey was fixing a wall outlet. Now, the sound was faint, but growing steadily closer.
Taffy’s canine ears caught the sound next, and she glanced upward. She saw the wires above start swinging. Softly at first, the wires began shaking harder, and a light started shining from around the corner at the end of the hall from both sides.
In moments, the chattering grew so loud that it echoed off the walls, as an electrical current rushed through the wires.
Everyone covered their ears as the hall around them was illuminated by the crackling voltage. All around them, their shadows multiplied and jumped about on the walls, as though they were all trying frantically to escape the sudden clamor.
Even deeper, the current found its way to the ruins’ clockwork foundation. As the massive plasm in the room repaired the broken clockwork, the generators in the room roared to life.
With a sudden surge of power, the clockwork in the room began to spin on its own. Parts of the plasm were pulled in and wound through, having their globules crushed in the working parts. The plasm that was unharmed set double time to fixing the clockwork, making the machine come back to life. Once it was done, it retreated from the room, into the halls of the ruins.
Above on the surface, the hands on the clock tower spun madly around in circles, as the structure rumbled from within. Lightning was drawn from the sky, and surged into the clock tower. The added power of the lightning coursed through the wires in the ruins, and brought more of the evil machines back to life.
The sudden upsurge in activity at the base of the tower made the entire underground ruins rumble. Every subterranean room shook, as if an earthquake had struck the kingdom.
Spike held firmly to Minnie, as the mouse braced herself against the wall, next to Taffy. Pluto had dropped to the floor, and covered his eyes with his ears, hoping the terrible tremors would end.
The amoeba wobbled back and forth across the floor, trying to save as much of her equipment as she could.
“Whoah!” she shouted, as she collected a bubbling flask. “Could you please--” She caught a falling microscope, “--Be more gentle!!?”
At the other end of the table, her all-seeing eye started wobbling dangerously close to the edge.
In a sudden burst, the doctor’s arm stretched as far as she could send it, and caught the device just as it was inches from the ground.
Another tremor, and the doctor had to roll to the side to avoid the other instruments on the table falling on her.
Before she could save her equipment, another tremor kept her rolling across the floor, until she bumped into the side of her control console.
For a moment, she regretted putting so much power into her own machinery. At the rate things were going, her entire lab was going to fall apart.
A surge of power coursed through the electrodes at the top of the console, and arced to the surveillance device in the doctor’s hands.
The doctor jumped and thrashed about, sending the equipment she had managed to salvage flying across the room. All but the surveyor, which she held in her clenched grip. Soon, the surge ended, and the amoeba was left smoking on the floor.
Abruptly, she stood up and raised the surveillance device over her head.
“Why, I oughta--” she growled, before the device in her hands started to glow.
It seemed that the power surge involuntarily activated the device in her hands. With a curious glance, the doctor saw the halls of the ruins being rapidly traversed. In another moment, the plasm she was seeing the world through retreated to inside the walls, to avoid an oncoming surge of electricity from the wires above.
Through the walls the plasm passed, and through the cracks in the structures the doctor saw a familiar and expected sight. The mouse and her friends had escaped the attack of her theow minions, and were now traversing the halls.
Between slamming into her machine and seeing what she did on her magical monitor, an idea began to swim about inside the amoeba’s translucent head. She was going to take full control of everything in her lair. Become one with her machine, and operate as a single being. A devious mix of machine and microorganism, to conquer all that there was within the kingdom of Blaiddru.
With a devious smirk, the doctor threw off her lab coat, revealing her containment suit in full. Placing her hands gently atop her console, she gently squeezed the edges as if she were taking the hands of her groom before matrimony. Their future together was going to be wonderful.
In a sudden motion, the front of her suit opened up, and her entire form went sliding into the machine console once again. It was somehow more blissful than before. She didn’t even feel like she would mind it when the time came to struggle back into her suit. But for the sheer power and control she was feeling, the doctor felt she may not want to leave her machine.
Another surge of power, and she was suddenly everywhere at once. She could see everything. Feel everything. She was everything.
In moments, the tremors caused by the clockwork slowed to a dull rumble, and the electrical current in the wires lessened to a steady, powerful stream.
The entire machine chattered with electricity, and was joined by manic laughter that echoed through the entirety of the ruins.
In the ruined halls, Pluto’s ears perked up and tried to pinpoint the source of the mad cackling. To the others, it seemed the laughter was coming from no one source, but from everything around them. From the wires that buzzed with electricity overhead, to the cracked stone walls that surrounded them all.
In moments the laughter stopped, and its echo faded into silence.
They all listened for what more was to come, but heard only the electric current and the dripping water.
When all seemed to have passed, Pluto took the first step forward to tracking Caru’s scent.
Taffy’s heart clenched at the thoughts of what could have caused the sudden upsurge in power. Whatever was being done, she hoped soon to rescue her daughter.
As Minnie walked, she saw something on the very edge of her peripheral vision. The stones in the wall began to vibrate ever so slightly. There was a glint of something reflective and translucent behind them, and the mouse’s brain snapped to alert.
There was no thought that entered Minnie’s mind, as she leapt forward and tackled the others out of the way, just as the stones in the wall slammed into the ones opposite them.
“What the hay was that!?” Spike said, as he lifted his head from the watery floor.
The dragon’s question was answered, when all of a sudden the walls started oozing more of the amoeba’s vile plasm, carrying with it the broken bricks.
The bricks swirled about inside the substance, until they arranged themselves into two concentric circles, alternating between themselves and the globules within. At the very center, one large, black globule set itself, and the entire thing seemed fixated on them.
Nobody had to wonder about the bizarre arrangement. They were being watched. And they knew by who.
Pluto was the first to run off. He knew the others would follow, and he would be able to lead them to Caru’s heart. However, leading them there would be far more hazardous.
The hound dog’s chin was hit from below by a rising brick, which took him off his paws.
Behind him, everyone else was assaulted by the very walls themselves. For every attack they dodged, they were hit by two more.
Minnie took her hammer from her belt, and started batting away the attacking bricks.
One brick was slammed back into its place in the wall. When it was, four more sprouted forth to attack.
The mouse knocked away two bricks that attacked high, and was hit by the two attacking low.
Spike fell backwards as entire chunks of the ceiling tried to crush him. As he scrambled backwards, Taffy pulled him clear of the hazard. After, Pluto pulled both Taffy and Spike clear as another part of the roof was punched down by the plasm.
Minnie ran forward, knocking away the attacking bricks with her hammer as she ran.
“Move!” the mouse shouted.
Pluto ran beside Minnie, frantically trying his best to keep on the trail of the scent, while the mouse batted away the attacking bricks.
Behind them all, the floor began to flip itself upward, as if something large were burrowing beneath it.
Taffy glanced behind herself, and saw the tiles of the floor spreading apart as they bulged, revealing the mass of plasm beneath. And it was rapidly closing in on them all.
Nearest to it was herself, with Spike right beside her.
“Llygoden!!” the tinker shouted.
Minnie screeched to a halt and batted away another brick, before she turned to see what Taffy was shouting about.
What she saw was the tinker pick Spike up with her teeth, and toss the young dragon toward her. Just as Minnie caught her friend, the floor beneath Taffy started to bulge up, and she was hoisted into the air by the plasm lifting the tiles.
Minnie quickly handed Spike off to Pluto and rushed to Taffy’s aid.
The moment she started running forth, the ground beneath her started to shift. As if the doctor could feel every step, the plasm started lifting the tiles in an attempt to stagger the mouse.
Minnie stumbled and tripped on her way to help Taffy, as she was assaulted from all sides by the bricks in the walls. No matter how she tried to deflect the attacks, she was struck from behind, and went tumbling forward.
Taffy jumped from her perch, and helped Minnie to her feet. Before they could run, the ground beneath them started opening up.
Both mouse and theow tried to keep ahead of the falling floor, knowing it would put them back in the clutches of the evil doctor.
Spike reached into his backpack and retrieved one of Caru’s legs. Keeping his head as low as he could, the dragon rushed past the attacking bricks, dove forward, and extended Caru’s leg toward his friends.
“Here!” Spike called.
Just as the floor fell from under them, Minnie and Taffy jumped forward and grasped onto the doll’s tin leg. Taffy held Caru’s hoof firmly in her teeth, while Minnie grasped the tinker around her waist.
There was only darkness beneath them. A deep, gaping hole where tendrils of plasm reached forth.
Minnie put her hammer back on her belt, drew her hacksaw and began slicing the reaching pseudopods apart.
Pluto quickly crawled to Spike, and began helping pull up his friend by gripping Spike’s tail. Little by little, they were coming up. But, not fast enough.
The plasm kept closing in.
In a desperate move, Minnie released Taffy, and landed precariously on a broken piece of floor.
Taffy was pulled up to the surface, and looked into the hole with the others.
“Minnie!” Spike shouted.
“Find your friend! I’ll catch up!” Minnie replied, as she slashed away the approaching tendrils.
For a moment, Spike and Pluto hesitated. But, the responsibility they felt to Taffy for her daughter kept them going. Quickly, they all started running down the hall.
Minnie continued fighting off the attacking tendrils, and was about to climb her way out of the dark hole to follow after. Until her foothold started to slide from its slot, and sent her plummeting into the darkness.
On and on the mouse fell, until she was caught by a pseudopod. Without even thinking, Minnie slashed the globules within it, and was dropped to an unseen floor.
Everything around Minnie was darkness. She could hardly see her own hand in front of her face, let alone her attacker.
In the darkness, electricity began to crackle, illuminating the entire area around the mouse.
She was in a room with many wires, electrodes, grounds, transformers, low walkways and platforms. Voltage arced viciously between them all, until the wires above Minnie started to crackle.
Before she was struck by an improvised lightning bolt, the mouse dove forward to the watery floor. From the ground, she looked over her shoulder and saw electricity arcing to the other electrodes around her.
With the chattering current, Minnie knew she could hear maniacal laughter among it. She was not alone in that room. And she readied herself to fight back.
Before her, a massive current of electricity arced between two electrodes, and the amoeba’s plasm started oozing onto its power console. The more Minnie looked at it, the more she knew that she was looking at a face slowly forming. And it was laughing at her.
“Look at the mouse caught in a trap! People have been looking for a better one of these since the wheel was invented! And honey, have I got it!” the doctor’s voice said, as electricity flew around the room.
“What have you done to that little girl!” Minnie demanded.
“What little girl? The little tin thing? I did what any scientist worth her salt did, and gave her an upgrade!”
Minnie was beyond shock and anger. The mere idea of exploiting a child’s heart as the doctor had offended every one of the mouse’s sensibilities.
“You--” Minnie said, as she clenched her fist on the handle of her hacksaw, “I’ll never forgive you for this! You evil, blobby--!”
The next word Minnie spoke was drowned out by the sound of chattering electricity, as though the machine itself was laughing at her.
The amoeba’s plasm before her seemed to smile like an amused child, spiking Minnie’s anger.
“An evil, blobby-- *BZZT* --am I?” the doctor said, as electricity blazed forth, muffling her speech. Whether it was from the machine, or from the amoeba herself, Minnie could not tell. “Get as mad as you want, mouse! There’s nothing you can do about it! Just look at where you are! This is no mouse hole! You’re in my world now!”
Minnie knew the amoeba was right. And she was going to take direct advantage of it to defeat the mad doctor once and for all.
In a sudden burst, Minnie kicked the water on the floor onto the console the amoeba was occupying. The voltage within it shorted out, and Minnie smiled complacently as she heard the doctor’s voice gibbering as electricity coursed through the plasm.
With one last burst of smoke, the voltage stopped, and the doctor was heard loudly coughing and sputtering.
Minnie knew she had angered the doctor. Even though the plasm on the console before her had been reduced to an inert, useless blob, she could hear the boiling rage in her opponent’s ragged, heavy breaths.
“I--am sick--and tired--of being--ELECTROCUTED!!!!” the amoeba shouted, as electricity arced throughout the room.
Minnie looked down, and saw the danger she was in. As long as she was ankle-deep in water, she may as well have been a living lightning rod.
The mouse leapt forth to the safety of a walkway, just as the watery floor was charged with electricity. From her prostrate position, Minnie saw one of the power transformers charging up, and the electrodes atop it were crackling with voltage.
Minnie rolled to the side, just as electricity arced to where she just was. When the current died, she could hear the doctor’s mad laughter. She knew then just how right the amoeba was: she was in a completely different world of evil and danger. And it was out to get her.
The peril was equally so for Spike, Pluto and Taffy. The very fixtures of the ruins themselves were turning against them.
The already twisted halls and corridors became moreso, sometimes forcing the three to literally walk along the walls and ceilings.
Even through the peril, Pluto did his best to keep his hound dog nose on the trail of Caru’s scent. But with the halls constantly reorienting themselves, and the water splashing about as a result, keeping a steady lead on the scent was proving more dangerous than it was worth.
The broken tiles of the floor constantly raised and lowered, making the very ground ripple and wave like a stone was thrown into a pond.
It was only Taffy’s naturally cloven hooves that kept her mostly upright. Having lived her entire life in the rolling plains of Blaiddru, the tinker was accustomed to uneven terrain. But, not when it came alive to deliberately attack her.
Spike rolled around the turning hall like a sock in a dryer. Between dodging flying bricks and reaching pseudopods, the dragon was beginning to wonder how much longer he was able to hold out.
The plasm that moved the bricks was just visible through the spaces, as the floor waved about. Spike blew forth his flames and destroyed the globules within, making the plasm go limp.
There was only one small safe area for the dragon to stand now. And it was quickly occupied by more of the vile plasm, and shook violently.
Spike was thrown forward to the ground, and landed before a brick in the wall that was shaking loose.
Taffy rushed forward and picked the young dragon up in her teeth, her haunches taking some of the brunt of the errant brick.
As he was carried, Spike blew his flames at the rising tiles, shriveling the plasm and creating a safe path for the tinker to follow.
Pluto flattened his body against a wall when he heard his dragon friend’s flame approaching from behind.
When Taffy and Spike passed, the hound dog jumped off of the wall when he noticed the evil plasm reaching for him through the cracks in the bricks.
The three kept on the path Spike was creating for them, all the while keeping their best to avoid the attacking bricks.
Pluto was beginning to catch wind of Caru’s scent again. They were still on the right trail, but they were coming to an intersection in the halls.
Behind them, the tiles of the floor rose up, and surfed forward on a tsunami of plasm. And it was rapidly closing in on its prey.
At the very rear, Pluto could feel the floor arching up behind him. With every rushed step, he tried raising his rear paws off the ground, until he was running on only his front paws. It did little to help him, as the plasm suddenly surged forward and scooped up the hound dog.
The floor ahead stopped waving, making Spike wonder what had happened. He glanced over his shoulder, and was horrified to see what was coming toward them.
Before he could warn Taffy of the danger, the wave caught them both and carried them down the hall.
The closer they were taken to the intersection in the halls, the more they were pushed to the outer edges of the wave. Right into the path of the oncoming corners.
Preferring not to become a smear on a wall, Spike reached into his backpack and retrieved Caru’s legs. The dragon used them to deftly climb up the wave.
At the top, the plasm was exposed, and Spike could see the globules within that gave it life.
Bracing himself with Caru’s legs, Spike welled up the biggest flame he could muster, and blew it into the wave.
The globules within fried, sizzled and burst. Their power over the wave was dwindling, making it lose its momentum.
Taffy and Pluto both took advantage of the lull. They climbed up to the top, Pluto pushed Spike forward, and they all went tumbling down the back of the wave.
The wave in the floor crashed into the corners of the intersecting halls with a sickening splat. The plasm itself slid to the floor, as if a solid body had impacted the wall, and slid back beneath the tiles. The tiles themselves all evened and smoothed out, as if they were completely undisturbed.
Even though they had all survived, Caru’s legs had bent, and one of her joints was loose. Taffy stood dumbstruck over her mechanical daughter’s limbs. But, she knew she could not dwell on them. Those legs could be easily repaired or replaced. It was Caru’s heart that mattered the most at that moment.
There was a new problem. Of three possible paths, the doctor could only have taken Caru down one of them. And the amoeba was still trying to eliminate the intruders in her domain.
The splintered wooden beams up above started to shake.
Spike quickly crawled across the floor to avoid being smashed by a heavy beam.
After dodging, the plasm reached down from above and collected the beam to swing at the dragon.
Spike shot forth a flame to incinerate the wood, only to find that years of water damage had rendered it all but fireproof.
The dragon was taken off his feet by the swinging lumber, and crashed into a wall. Taffy was struck next, and was knocked to the floor.
Pluto tried his hardest to discern the direction of Caru’s scent. But, the hazard the flying woodwork was presenting made his task more difficult.
With a deep inhale, Pluto ducked under a swinging beam, and got a snout full of watery scent.
The hound dog jumped over another swing, toward the direction of another hall. The scent of water lingered in his nostrils, keeping Pluto from tracking Caru or the doctor.
He snorted, trying to exhale the smell of water from his nose, then was struck by the swinging lumber.
The hound dog rolled across the floor, and stopped short of being smashed by a falling chunk of the ceiling. One look, and Pluto knew the plasm that held the ceiling was looking at him. A thousand eyes contained within a single, massive surface, all staring focused at him. Anticipating his move.
Pluto scrambled away from the plasm as quick as he could, and resumed trying to pick up the scent of Caru once more.
As the hound dog circled the middle of the intersection, Taffy bumped into him as she dodged a pseudopod that reached for her.
The tinker lashed forward and chomped the globules within.
The pseudopod fell limp and useless, and trickled back beneath the floor.
In the next moment, the center of the floor rose up. Beneath it, a singular mass of plasm rose almost to the ceiling, and branched out with many pseudopods like an amorphous tree.
More plasm started dripping from the ceiling, creating translucent columns that carried the wooden beams from the ceiling within them.
Spike tried to well up another flame to destroy the globules within the substance, but his racing heart betrayed his breath.
A rafter was swung at Spike, knocking the wind from the dragon and releasing his fire.
The plasm knocked Spike against a wall, but was destroyed by his flames.
The dragon was pinned beneath the heavy woodwork. His heart stopped when the plasm in the middle of the room turned toward him, and aimed every brick within it at his head.
Taffy rushed to Spike’s side, and quickly moved the heavy beam. Both dragon and theow dove aside, just as the wall behind them was smashed.
Pluto jumped, as his friends rolled to the floor beside him. Keeping to his duty of finding the scent, he frantically sniffed the air by the next hallway. He jumped back and forth across rising floor tiles. The smell was still weak, but it was not getting any stronger in that direction.
Another pseudopod started swinging a beam at them all.
Spike knew he could not risk his fiery breath failing again. He reached into his backpack and retrieved the first thing that felt solid enough to strike with.
With a mighty swing, the dragon sliced right through the tendril of plasm, making it drop its weapon.
For a moment, Spike realized that it was Caru’s tail that he had taken from his pack. It seemed that its slightly curved, flexible design, along with its simulated tin fur made it ideal for cutting apart the vile plasm that was assaulting him.
Taking the doll’s tail in his claws, Spike set forth slicing through the substance that tried to attack.
The mass of plasm in the middle of the room seemed to reel from the repeated blows to its pseudopods, and began to wobble about. As if to retaliate, it sprouted more branches of tendrils from its body, tore entire chunks from the walls and ceiling, and started lashing out at the dragon.
Taffy pulled Spike from danger once more by grasping his spines in her teeth. She jumped aside, carrying Spike with her, as more bricks hammered down, shaking the hall with every miss.
Pluto continued to sniff for Caru’s scent. And finally, he found it. Though it was still very faint, he could smell it more strongly coming from the hall to the left.
“ARF!! ARF!!!” the hound dog called to the others.
Knowing that their canine companion had found the way, Taffy and Spike started running for his direction.
The doctor would not let them escape so easily. A pseudopod swung another piece of lumber at them both.
Spike took Caru’s tail, and swung it like a hatchet at the oncoming attack.
The beam was upon him.
The dragon swung his improvised weapon, and struck true.
The well-worn wood could not handle the impact. Between the massive water damage, and the serration of Caru’s tail, the entire wooden beam split apart.
Spike and Taffy could not grieve for how warped and broken Caru’s tail had become from the solid impact. Her tail could be easily replaced.
The hammering bricks of the plasm behind them spurred them all onward.
The rapid hammering proved to be the downfall of the plasm, as the shockwaves it was creating brought the very ceiling down on top of it.
As the roof caved in, Pluto led Taffy and Spike onward to the doctor’s lab.
Behind them, the plasm started seeping through the cracks in the fallen bricks, ready to resume its pursuit.
The battle was to begin. Minnie readied her tools to attack, and take on the mad doctor once and for all.
Plasm surrounded a cluster of three wires, making them come alive and shake loose from their surge arrestors. The coppery ends of the wires arced electricity between them all and struck for Minnie.
With all haste and speed, Minnie dodged the attack of the wires, which curved around to face her.
The mouse took a screwdriver from her belt, and used it to pin the vile cords to the nearest solid surface.
The plasm slid from the live wires and into the transformer where Minnie had stuck the cords. In the next moment, the entire fixture bulged and shot forth all of its bolts at the mouse.
Minnie was struck over and over, and was pushed back along the walkway toward the very edge.
She teetered at the edge of the walkway, with only the toes of her boots on any solid surface.
The water below charged with electricity, and Minnie’s screwdriver was shot from the side of the transformer.
Minnie spun on the very tip of her toe and caught her screwdriver, but was then faced with the electric hazard below.
The mouse rapidly spun her arms, attempting to balance herself back up to the platform.
The freed wires shaped themselves into the outline of a boot, and wound up to kick Minnie into the water.
With a solid hit, Minnie was pushed over the side of the walkway.
The mouse sailed off, and saw her end in the crackling water below.
Reaching out, Minnie took hold of a hanging wire.
The wire was disconnected from its base by the doctor’s plasm.
Minnie rapidly climbed up the wire, as she swung over the water. Only the tip of her tail skimmed the surface, giving her a terrible shock.
The mouse let go, and landed on another platform. Whether it was her frayed nerves, or the will to win her fight, she rolled as soon as she landed and dodged a heavy panel that dropped from a transformer, revealing the plasm within.
When she was on her feet, Minnie took her wrench and jammed the open jaws of the tool into the fixture.
The two tips of the wrench found two fuses to contact, and sent a surge of power through the machine.
The plasm in the transformer was shocked, and the globules within it burst. Most of them, at least.
The remaining plasm within burst forth, carrying with it all of the sharp copper inside of the console.
Minnie used her wrench to block the attacks, but could not spare her arm from being cut.
The mouse yelped, and was knocked backward between two metal coils. She quickly jumped away, just as electricity arced between the coils.
Her landing took her to the watery floor, where more wires were beginning to hover over.
Minnie shot to her feet, and started running toward the relative safety of a platform.
The wires were only inches above the water.
In a daring move, Minnie jumped and took hold of one of the lowered wires, narrowly avoiding an electric demise.
The wire Minnie held started to shake, trying to throw her off, as more wires started hovering over to her.
The mouse took the hacksaw from her tool belt, and started slicing the crackling wires that threatened her.
Shifting her weight, Minnie swung from the wire she was holding, and jumped to another walkway.
Minnie stood up, ready to fend off whatever the doctor would attack with next.
A wire lowered from the ceiling, just behind Minnie.
The mouse sensed the danger behind herself, and swung her hacksaw as she turned.
The wire deftly looped around, remaining unseen behind Minnie’s back.
Minnie whipped her arm again, missing as the wire stayed out of sight behind her.
Almost playfully, the wire rose up and tapped her shoulder, sending a small shock to the mouse.
“OH!!!” Minnie shouted, as she jumped forward, turned in mid air, and landed facing her opponent.
The single wire that tormented her was joined by four others. Two slightly lower than the first, and two more almost to the floor, arranging themselves into a pentagon pattern.
Electricity arced between the five wires, conjoining to a point in the center where the chattering current took the vague shape of a stick figure. The wires bent in a way that manipulated the figures movements, so that it assumed a fighting stance.
“You and me, mouse! I’m gonna make extra crispy cat snacks out of you!!” came the doctor’s voice from the hanging wires.
Minnie almost didn’t believe what she saw. The amoeba had become the very room itself, bringing it all to literal life. Even the electric current carried some trace of the doctor’s consciousness in it.
She knew she could not falter. Taking her hacksaw in hand, Minnie readied to fight the doctor rodent-to-eukaryote.
Both duelists ran toward each other.
The doctor jabbed her electric fist.
Minnie bobbed and swung at the doctor’s midsection.
The doctor dodged, arced electricity between her fists, and swung both her fists down on Minnie’s head.
Minnie ducked low, only the tips of her ears taking the brunt of the attack. She swung her hacksaw again.
The doctor rippled her electric body out of the way, and snapped back with an electrical surge.
Minnie was knocked backwards, and rolled across the floor. She landed in a kneeling position.
A panel on the console next to her was opened by a pseudopod, intending to smash her face.
Minnie blocked with her hammer, stood up and kicked the panel shut.
The plasm sprouted from the top of the console, ready to attack.
Minnie swung her hammer at a coil atop the console, bending it to contact the plasm.
The plasm was shocked, the globules within it burst, and it fell dead.
The doctor’s electrical mannequin lashed to attack again.
Minnie kicked the panel door of the console next to her open, and knocked away the wire that tried to attack her.
She swung her hammer at the side of the console, and made the entire side of it swing to strike the doctor.
“In here!” the doctor said, as five more wires shot out from inside the open console to attack..
Minnie shouted, as she slammed the console shut.
With the console shut, and the view ahead clear, Minnie saw the electrical mannequin was gone.
“Here I am!”
Minnie swung her hacksaw upward, as the doctor’s wires came dangling down from above.
Quick as they came, they retracted upward.
“On your six, honey!”
Minnie swung behind herself.
The wires disappeared again.
“Comin’ atcha!”
Minnie readied to attack the electric mannequin as it charged her.
The moment the mouse swung, the wires all spread apart, passing their arc through Minnie, who jolted violently and dropped to the ground.
The electric mannequin reassembled itself, and laughed heartily.
“It sucks when it happens to you, doesn’t it!?” the doctor said.
Minnie shook her head to steady her trembling nerves. The doctor was right. Receiving an electric shock like that was by and large one of the most unpleasant things the mouse had ever experienced. And she was going to make sure that the cackling amoeba was going to feel the same way by the end of it all. With interest.
It then occurred to her how the doctor was attacking her, and how she could have been doing it. In order to do so, she would have to get a little creative. With a grunt, Minnie rose to her feet.
The doctor was still laughing at the mouse’s expense, doubled over, as the wires held her simulated sides.
The sudden sounds of pattering feet caught the amoeba’s attention. She looked up, and saw Minnie running away from her down the walkway.
“Oh, no you don’t!” the doctor said, before the wires that made her electric mannequin retracted upward.
Minnie ran along the walkway, keeping her eyes on her destination. If she could get to the transmission tower, she knew she would have her opponent beat.
Along the way, plasm started reaching up to shake loose the walkway Minnie was on. With a sudden jerk, it dislodged the section of walkway and lifted it into the air.
Without stopping, Minnie jumped from the walkway she was on, and landed on the next before she was tossed into the electrified water.
The mouse continued to run, as the world around her lashed out to attack.
She reached the transmission tower, and waited at the base of it. In seconds, the entire structure started to shake, and the many wires connected to it started to come alive.
Minnie could see she was facing a beast greater than any she had yet encountered. Worse and more terrifying than The Massster and his lethal stage production. But, victory was in her grasp.
Plasm reached down to take hold of her.
Minnie sliced through it with her hacksaw, and stuck it to the side of a conduit box with her screwdriver.
The plasm simply pulled itself from around the screwdriver, pulled the tool out, and began stabbing at Minnie with it.
The mouse dodged the attacks of the plasm, between dodging the swings of the electric wires.
She jumped to a ladder on the side of the transmission tower, and started frantically climbing.
The electrical wires applied their coppery ends to the metal ladder, pushing their current through it.
The rubber soles of her shoes and palms of her gloves kept Minnie safe from most of the shock. So long as she made sure no other parts of her body touched the ladder.
She reached the top, where the electrodes at the top sparked loudly as electricity arced between them.
The electrical wires all rose up to surround Minnie, illuminating the whole world around her. Above, the mouse could see the amoeba’s plasm stuck to the ceiling. A huge, undulating mass that was controlling everything. Within, she could see her screwdriver poised to shoot down on top of her head.
This was it.
Minnie drew her hammer, as the wires around her crackled loudly.
Electricity arced between the many wires.
As the wires lashed to deliver their final blow, Minnie raised her hammer over her head.
The surging power all arced to the metal head of the mouse’s hammer, which in turn arced into the metal screwdriver that the plasm still held.
The tower sparked brightly, and shot forth many sparks.
“OH!!” Minnie shouted, as she fell off the tower.
Using her wrench, she hooked onto the side of the structure. Another shock, and Minnie simply dropped down to the walkway. Upon landing, she held out her hand and caught her falling screwdriver.
From where she stood, Minnie could see that her plan worked better than she had imagined.
Electricity continued to arc up into the plasm above, causing the whole room to go haywire. Lights turned on and off. Panels opened and shut. Sparks flared up and died just as quickly. And through it all, Minnie could hear the doctor jibbering and jabbering as enough electricity to light a metropolitan city coursed through the plasm.
A new sight caught the mouse’s eye. A door was opening and closing rapidly across the room. Past the door, a tiny room was seen. One that Minnie knew was her ticket out of the power grid.
Running through the shower of sparks was like victorious fireworks for her. And it all culminated into a grand boom when she reached the elevator.
Once inside, Minnie pressed the first button she saw. She didn’t care which floor it took her to, or to which room. As long as she escaped the electric inferno of the bowels of the ruins.
The elevator doors continued to rapidly open and close, as the mouse rode upwards. She knew it was only a matter of time until she crossed paths with the mad doctor again. The next time they met, she intended for it to be their last.
Pluto continued to lead the others through the ruined halls. It had been eerily easy for them to progress as they were. Ever since the encounter at the intersecting halls, they had not once been attacked by the doctor’s plasm.
It was the absence of seeing their enemy that put them all on edge. They knew she was still very near. Picking her moment to strike again.
Around a corner, and there was another intersection. There was still no sight of the doctor’s plasm, but the hall at the far end was brightly illuminated by coursing electricity.
Taffy knew then that they were very near the mad doctor’s lab. The electric current was what led her there before, and she was going to follow it back to the belly of the beast to rescue her daughter.
The tinker sprinted ahead of Pluto, making the hound dog spin in her wake.
“Taffy! Wait!” Spike called after.
Pluto spun again, as his dragon friend ran past him. Once Pluto stopped and shook his head lucid, he followed after the other two.
As Taffy ran, she noted the direction that the electricity was traveling, and followed its current.
The ruins around her were growing more familiar by the moment. In no time at all, she found the flight of stairs that led to their ultimate destination.
The tinker’s hooves clattered loudly against the stone steps, announcing her arrival to the occupant of the room above.
When she arrived at the top of the stairs, the door to the lab was already open. But, Taffy didn’t care if she was running into a trap. She was going to find Caru’s heart, and take it from that terrible place she was in.
Just behind her, Spike and Pluto had rushed up the stairs to join her, only for the door to slam shut in their faces.
Though Taffy could hear them clamoring to enter, she did not stop to allow them in. Desperately, she began tearing her way through the laboratory to find Caru’s heart.
“Caru?” the tinker called, hoping her daughter would answer her in some discernible way, as she frantically searched the nearby table. “Caru!” she shouted again.
The answer she got in return was an amused chuckle from an unseen source.
“Hate to tell you this, but ‘Garry’ isn’t here anymore,” said an eerily familiar voice.
Taffy’s eyes shot to the source, and saw a control console with a large screen on it. The screen lit up, and on it was an image of the amoeba’s nucleus, surrounded by plasm.
“Ble mae Caru? Rhowch hi'n ôl ataf!” the tinker demanded.
“Hold on a second. That gibberish isn’t computing here. Let me just--” the doctor said, before an electrical current coursed through the electrodes at the top of her machine. <”Okay. Testing.”>
<”What have you done to my daughter!?”> Taffy shouted.
<”Oh, for Pete’s sake! That’s the second time I’ve been asked that in the last few minutes. I should have that answer printed on the door, just so your pet dragon doesn’t bother me with the same question!”>
<”Where is Caru’s heart!!?”> Taffy said, cutting past the doctor’s runaround.
<”What heart? She’s a doll!”>
<”I’m not going to ask you again! Tell me where my daughter’s heart is, before I dismantle this whole room with my bare hooves!!”> Taffy loudly threatened.
<”Wait,”> the amoeba said, as if it suddenly occurred to her what Taffy was talking about. <”You can’t mean that thing I yanked from the doll’s insides earlier?”>
<”I want it back! Now!”>
<”No can do, honey. But, if you want, I can give you a replacement.”>
In the next moment, electricity crackled through the room, revealing a ghastly sight.
On another table, mechanical arms were busy at work crafting more hearts of tin. A mass produced plethora that at once resembled Taffy’s work, but was different. One look, and Taffy could see that not one of the copied hearts carried any of the love and warmth of Caru’s original.
<”Pretty picture, isn’t it?” the doctor asked. <”Just my little contribution to my master’s cause. Once these puppies get finished, they’re going into every little meat puppet in the land. After a quick charge of some of his magic, that is.”>
In a nearby machine, Taffy saw what looked like pure starlight tumbling end over end, like socks in a dryer.
When the day began, she had simply been commissioned to fix the faulty clockwork of the town’s tower. Now, she had stumbled upon a plot as viciously diabolical as was concocted by any wicked witch in a fairy tale. But, if reading those fairy tales to Caru had taught her anything, it was that those evil creatures could always be stopped. And she was going to find a way. For Caru, she had to.
More mechanical arms came to life, lowering from the ceiling. Blades of all shapes and sizes branched from them, like fingers. One arm held a completed replica heart.
<”How about a little surgery, fuzzy?”> the doctor said.
Taffy warily eyed the surgical instruments as she lowered herself to the ground, devising a way past them.
At the other end of the lab, a bell dinged and a door opened, revealing Minnie inside.
The mouse’s nerves bristled the very second she entered the room.
“Taffy!” she shouted.
The nucleus on the console screen turned to the source of the mouse’s voice. Upon seeing her, the amoeba’s rage spiked. After the shock she had suffered in the power grid, she was going to make sure the mouse never lived to see another day.
“DIE, RODENT!!!!” the amoeba shouted, as every single machine in the lab loudly whirred to life.
Minnie dove beneath a table to dodge a slicing buzz saw.
She crawled under the length of the table, while the table itself was reduced to sawdust by the flying blades just behind her.
Once she was out in the open, Minnie rolled to her feet and drew her wrench.
The mechanical arms sliced at her.
Minnie parried with her wrench, caught a bolt and twisted hard.
The parts holding the blade to the arm fell off, removing the spinning buzz saw from the mechanism.
The mouse jumped backwards, as the saw was still spinning when it hit the floor.
Taffy took Minnie’s example, and retrieved a manual drill from off of a wall rack.
Keeping the handle in her teeth, Taffy tried to dislodge the fixtures from the mechanical arm that attacked her. Only, with every attack, the tinker backed away. It seemed that she lacked the nerve that the mouse had.
She ended up backpedaling from the attacking arm, and ended up against the side of one of the room’s many machines.
The blades of the arm all aimed squarely for every vital part of the tinker’s body.
As Minnie battled the mechanical arm, she saw the danger Taffy was in, and rushed to help her.
She was cut off by a swing of a blade, and forced to re-engage in battle with her mechanical opponent.
Taffy closed her eyes, regretting she would never be able to see Caru again.
The mechanical arm that aimed at Taffy locked up and began shivering. The more it shivered, the more of its fixtures fell loose, making it fall apart piece by piece.
“No! Stop hurting! Stop hurting!! Leave mommy alone!!” the doctor shouted. The image of the nucleus on the screen shivered violently, and an electric shock was seen coursing through the console. “Whew! I lost my head there for a second,” the amoeba said, in her usual aloof and unsympathetic tone.
That was it. Taffy now knew how to rescue Caru and defeat the evil doctor once and for all. Taking her drill in her teeth, she dashed toward the machine console.
Once she arrived, the tinker quickly started undoing the bolts that held the machine’s casing. With her years of mechanical experience, she finished her objective in seconds, and allowed the casing to fall right off.
Inside, there was a horrid mix of electrical circuitry, grinding clockwork and living plasm. Among it all, Taffy saw Caru’s heart set in the middle.
The moment Taffy reached in to retrieve her daughter’s heart, the plasm within reached out and knocked her backwards.
As the tinker rose to her hooves, she saw the plasm ooze out of the console. Still connected, but far enough beyond to continue blocking her attempts to save Caru.
Outside the door, Spike and Pluto were still desperately trying to enter. They tried everything, shy of blowing the door apart. And without any explosives, that was far out of the question.
Spike looked through his backpack for anything that could help. The only thing of remote use he could find was Caru.
Caru, who even after she was rendered a lifeless doll, was still helping him out of trouble. And she had paid the price for it time after time.
The doll had only two working legs. Both of which seemed strong enough to pry the door open.
Spike took the two remaining legs in his claws, and stared pensively at them. Looking to Pluto, he could tell the hound dog was feeling the same way as himself. Caru would have wanted to help them any way she could. Even if they had to sacrifice her legs.
Knowing they had to save their friend’s stolen heart, Spike passed off one of the tin legs to Pluto.
Spike wedged Caru’s hoof at the bottom of the door, while Pluto stuck his near the middle.
Both dragon and hound dog pried with all their might. Over and over, they heaved and strained, feeling every ounce of tension building in the doll’s legs.
The door was beginning to crack open.
With one last mighty heave, the door swung open. But, at the cost of Caru’s legs. Now, her hooves swiveled loosely in their sockets like a stripped bolt.
After a moment of shock at what he had done to the doll, Spike put the tin legs back in his backpack and rushed into the lab with Pluto.
It was pandemonium within. Minnie was fighting against a mechanical menace, while Taffy was going hoof-to-pseudopod with the doctor’s plasm.
Minnie parried the arm with her wrench, and knocked it away with her hammer, before she noticed her companions at the door.
“Spike! Pluto!” she said.
Taffy heard the names called, and looked to them.
“Spike! Dyma Caru! Yn y consol peiriant!” Taffy shouted, before she had to dodge the doctor’s plasm.
It only took a cursory glance to see what the tinker was indicating. There, in the console was Caru’s heart.
Spike was taken by surprise when Pluto suddenly bucked him onto his back. Taking hold of the hound dog’s collar, the dragon rode across the room, past the many hazards.
The mechanical arm lashed out to slice him.
Minnie parried with her hammer.
The arms on the tables started knocking formulas down on the running pair.
Pluto deftly skittered around the shattering glass flasks. He yelped loudly as one exploded uncomfortably close to his rear legs. The hound dog ran forward on his front legs, as the formulas exploded around him, or ate through the floor where they landed.
Spike held tightly to Pluto’s collar, as the odd riding angle threatened to make him slip off. Slip, he did, as the young dragon held tightly to the hound dogs collar, and found himself holding onto his mount’s underside.
Down low, Spike found himself closer to the hazards the falling formulas posed, and winced when a tiny pressure wave and several shards of glass bounced off of his scales.
The pressure wave and the extra weight of the dragon made Pluto start tumbling end over end, until he ended up by the machine console.
Taffy was still trying to combat the plasm within the machine, doing her best to jab at the globules within it.
One look into the machine, and the dragon and hound dog could see what needed to be done. First, they needed to get the plasm out.
Not wanting to risk damaging Caru’s heart with his flames, Spike tried to think of another way to help her.
It was Pluto who saw the solution. Within the many spinning cogs, there was one open space. A space where if a cog, or something similar were inserted, it would solve their amoeba problem.
One look at the spines down Spike’s back, and Pluto knew he would finally be able to pay Spike back for setting his tail on fire.
With a devious smile, the hound dog picked Spike up in his paws, and started curling him into a ball.
“Hey--What the hay are you--Stop it!” Spike shouted, as he was shaped to the hound dog’s design.
When he was finished, Pluto had made Spike into an impromptu cog. Before the dragon could even move, Pluto placed him into the machine, fitting his spines between the many teeth of the cogs, and started spinning him.
Spike shouted loudly as he spun, not knowing how he was helping in the victory.
The cogs in the machine started spinning in a different direction, moving the plasm within, away from Caru’s heart. The faster Pluto spun Spike, the more the plasm started being forcibly extracted from the console entirely.
The doctor was loudly protesting the effort against her, but Pluto couldn’t hear it. He was too busy trying to make Spike spin faster and faster.
With one last powerful swing, Spike went flying around and around. The cogs connected to him all started spinning madly, and electricity began coursing through the machine. The plasm within all started leaving on its own, and joined with the mass that was attacking Taffy.
Spike popped out of the machine on his own, and landed on his stomach, facing the plasm.
Pluto was not done yet. Taking the dragon’s tail in his teeth, the hound dog pumped it up and down like a bellows.
Fire flew forth from Spike’s mouth with every pump, frying the plasm, and reducing its size with every globule he destroyed.
Once it was reduced enough, Taffy lunged forth and started eliminating the globules that gave the plasm life.
Minnie too finished off her opponent, by removing the last of the slicing blades, then removed the pins that held the next highest joint. The mechanical arm was rendered to a useless stub, and could only shake angrily at the mouse.
The mouse and tinker both grouped with the dragon and hound dog at the console. It was now a straight shot to rescuing Caru, whose heart was now completely unguarded.
Feeling her own heart lighten, Taffy reached in to make her family whole again. But, it was not to be.
An electric shock surged through the console’s innards, making Taffy quickly retract her hoof.
“Back off, Rover!!” the doctor’s voice said, as the room started surging with power.
Nobody was prepared for what happened next. Every one of the machines in the room came alive. And it was not alone. The doctor’s plasm started seeping in from every corner, every nook, every cranny. It was clear now that she was not going to let anyone leave the room alive.
A tiny spark inside the console caught Taffy’s attention. Somewhere inside, a small voice was calling for help.
A look to the tin heart, and Taffy could see something on it that was not there before. A singular globule had attached itself to the core. The very same as the one on the screen that was mocking them all. It was then that the theow realized not one heart was controlling the evil machines, but two.
It was then that she realized what she had to do. What Caru was telling her to do. Quickly, but hesitantly, she took her drill in her teeth, and started jabbing at the doctor’s nucleus. Each time, she either missed or came up short, receiving a shock that made her retract.
Spike held onto Minnie, as the plasm closed in around them. Looking to Taffy, they saw what she was trying to do.
There was no way to get past the electric shocks. Not without putting a tool of some sort inside.
As the plasm and machines closed in, Spike made the most difficult decision he ever made in his young life.
Turning to the console, the dragon blew his flames at Caru’s heart, engulfing the doctor’s nucleus in the fire.
The sound of the doctor screaming filled the rooms, and the plasm and machines all started shaking violently.
Without their globules bursting, the plasm all started falling limp and dead, and disappeared through the cracks in the floor. The machines themselves all shook loose from their bases, and started falling apart piece by piece.
With one last burst of fire, the doctor’s screams reached their peak, and the nucleus dripped out from within the tin heart.
Minnie, Spike, Pluto and Taffy all backed away as the doctor’s evil heart dropped to the ground. As it fell, it pulled Caru’s fire-damaged heart with it. The nucleus melted into useless nothingness, and the doll’s heart cracked against the floor.
Nothing was said. No sounds were heard. Nothing moved. The doctor had been defeated, but at a terrible price.
With shaking claws, Spike took his backpack off, and removed Caru from within.
Taffy quickly pieced together the doll’s broken body, then took hold of her heart.
The broken core was carefully placed within Caru, and Taffy waited tensely for her daughter to come alive once more.
An eternity seemed to pass, and Caru remained motionless.
“Caru…?” Taffy shuddered.
No answer.
She would not give up. For everything she had gone through to rescue her daughter, Taffy was going to see her move again. Hear her sing. Watch her dance.
With shaking hooves, Taffy turned the key on Caru’s back. Her heart steadied, and the corner of her mouth twitched as she watched the doll’s clockwork insides start to jitter. The clockwork jumped and stuttered within their slots, and Caru’s mechanical mouth started to twitch.
“M...M...M...Mam...ma-a-a...Mam-ma...Mam-ma…” the doll said.
<“I’m here. Caru, mommy’s right here!”> Taffy said.
From where he stood, Spike could see something was terribly wrong with Caru. Her broken core was spinning unevenly, and splitting along its fracture with each rotation.
Minnie gently tightened her grip on Spike’s shoulders, which the dragon slowly leaned into. Next to them Pluto tried to get a better look at what was going on inside of the doll.
<”Mommy…? Is that y-y-you…?” Caru asked.
<”Yes. I...Mommy’s going to fix you…”> Taffy said.
Caru was silent. For a moment, everyone feared the doll had stopped working, until she spoke again.
<“Mom-my--I-I-I-I can’t be fixed...”> the doll said.
<”No. Caru, I’ve fixed you hundreds of times before! This is just another little scrape!”> Taffy said, trying to calm both herself and Caru.
<”Mommy-y-y…”> Caru began. <“You sa-id that th-the most important part of a theow was their hear-r-rt...And that n-n-nothing could replace them. I know that ev-en if I’m not a real the-e-ow, I can’t have the same heart again…”>
<”Honey, don’t talk like that! You are a real theow! Just like me!”> Taffy said, nearly on the verge of tears.
Caru shook her head.
<”I know I’m just a d-d-d-dollll...But...You made me-e-e-e feel like I was real...And Pi-i-ike...And Ffion...And Ar-anau...And now...Spi-ike too--I’m sorry, mommy--I c-can’t be your daughter anymore…”>
It was a shock to Taffy’s entire system. It was like losing her pup all over again.
Even though the others could not understand, they knew full well what was happening. Caru was not going to ever be the same again.
Though her insides were dislodged and broken, Caru stood as best she could. Slowly, she crawled to her hooves and began to rise. Her tiny, tin legs began to shake and shudder, as though they would fall right out of their sockets under the weight of her body.
With a labored grunt, Caru was on her hooves.
Taffy wanted to say something. Anything to encourage her mechanical daughter on. The lump in her throat kept her voice from escaping.
The doll limped forward on her broken legs, until she was able to rest her head against her mother’s chest.
Taffy rested her head atop her daughter’s trying her best not to cry. She wished more than anything to hold Caru closely to her in her last moments, but feared she would release her tears.
Spike watched the scene play out before him, hoping that Caru was going to her mother for repairs.
“Minnie? Caru’s going to be okay, isn’t she?” Spike asked.
Minnie said nothing. The only answer she gave was when she gently bit her own lip, and slightly shook her head.
The aspect of not knowing was worse than anything for Spike, who averted his gaze from the scene by burying his face into Minnie’s arms.
Nothing was said. The only sound that broke the silence was the quiet ticking of Caru’s clockwork body.
Limply, Caru swiveled her neck to look at Spike.
<”I have to--g-go now...P--Promise you won’t cry...Please…”>
Taffy had to hold her breath to keep any promise to Caru. Slowly she nodded her head, before the doll spoke her last words.
<”Mommy...I love you…”>
Her voice was followed by the sound of something solid and metallic falling to the ground at her hooves.
Hearing Caru’s voice, Spike took his face from Minnie’s shoulder, and turned to see what had happened.
Taffy hardly dared to look, but she had to face the inevitable truth. There on the ground at her hooves was Caru’s heart, broken in two.
“Caru?” the tinker asked. She stepped backward, and saw Caru staring blankly forward, as the key on her back spun around. “Caru…?”
Taffy could bear it no longer. A terrible feeling rose from her chest, and into her throat, when she released a quiet, dry sob.
<“Hello. My name is Caru,”> the doll said.
Taffy gasped sharply. Those were the first words Caru had ever spoken, long before she was given a heart.
<“I was made to play with you and make you smile. I would be so happy to bring you all the love and joy you could ever want. Would you like me to sing for you?”> the doll continued.
Taffy was silent. She looked at her daughter’s broken heart lying on the ground. She could no longer keep her promise. Tears trickled down her face, to the ground around Caru’s core.
<“Yes...Sing for mommy. One last time,”> Taffy choked.
For whatever reason, it seemed to the onlookers that Caru smiled for a moment, before a simple melody of a foal’s lullaby filled the air. And with broken, disjointed movements, Caru began to dance and sing.
<“The wolf mother sings,
A song of love to her child,
The moon is crying for her voice,
The cold of night is warmth for them,
Because in their hearts, love is a fire”>
<“Wind blowing, leaves dancing,
The end is soon to come,
They will sigh their last,
With all else in the world,”>
<“Wish hung from a star,
Forever, and after,
Their heart stays forevermore…>
And with those last words, Caru stopped dancing. Her legs twitched, and buckled beneath her.
Though her song had stopped, Caru’s music filled the room long after.
Minnie slowly approached Taffy, not knowing how she could offer any comforts. She had no children of her own, and could never know the heartbreak of losing anyone as precious as Caru.
“...I’m so sorry…” the mouse quietly said. It was all she could think to say, even if Taffy could not understand her.
The tinker sniffled, and leaned her head onto Minnie’s shoulder.
The mouse gently embraced Taffy.
Pluto and Spike too offered their comforts for their lost friend.
Slowly, Caru’s key stopped spinning, and the music she made was silenced.
On the road beyond the village, a melancholy procession followed the path. Between Minnie and Spike, Taffy walked with Caru on her back.
Ahead, lying beneath a tree was Pike. He had kept his promise to wait for Taffy, and lifted his head the moment he heard her steps approaching. Upon seeing her, he trotted over to greet the tinker.
No words needed to be spoken. One look at Caru, and he knew she was not the same pup who he played with in the village.
Taffy hung her head low, and rested against Pike’s burly frame.
Pike returned the comfort by gently nuzzling Taffy’s ears. In a moment, he guided Taffy beneath the tree and laid down with her in the grass, while Caru was settled between them.
Minnie saw no more reason for them to intrude on the private moment they were sharing. She picked Spike up, set him on Pluto’s back, and quietly guided them along.
As they walked out of the theow’s lives, Spike took the one last thing of Caru’s from his pack.
The red coat she was wearing when he first found her was still with him. One look at it reminded him of the short time he had spent with her, and the profound lessons of friendship she had unknowingly taught to him. Even if she was a doll, he learned more about the heart of friendship from her than his lifetime spent with Twilight.
A single tear fell down his face, onto the coat. With a heavy heart, he put it back into his pack.
The road ahead was sure to be longer and more treacherous than before. But, for the sake of others like the theows, they had to brave what was coming. No matter what.