The Toymaker

The pitch-black unicorn stallion glared at his challenger with eyes red as flame, a mixture of curiosity and amusement present in the smirk on his face. The charred battlefield that they stood in was filled with the discarded bodies of fallen soldiers, all slain by the single pony who stood before his arch-nemesis at last. His yellow coat was marred by dirt and debris, and his dark blue eyes were returning the gaze of his opponent. His wings were spread, ready to take flight at any given moment.

"You would dare to battle me? You don't know who you're dealing with, boy! I am the lord over all things that oppose harmony and order! I am not like the silly creatures that you have fought in the past, for I am Chaos itself!" After he was finished boasting, the stallion let out a deep, booming laugh as lightning began flashing behind him.

"Tell me where you've taken the Princess, you fiend!" the pegasus demanded, with his yellow coat marred with dirt and debris and his face twisted into a loathing scowl.

"I have a better idea. How about I show you?" With that statement, Chaos's horn was illuminated by a bright red light, followed by a magical, spherical barrier materializing next to him. Trapped within its surface was none other than Princess Celestia, who appeared to be in a comatose state.

"However, I'm afraid that your efforts thus far have been in vain. My armies are marching through Canterlot, and soon, there will be no kingdom for you to even save!" Chaos indulged in another burst of laughter, the glow of his horn ceasing and the bubble of magic disappearing in a flash.

"I have not traveled this far to be defeated by someone like you!" the pegasus yelled. "Have at you, foul beast!"

He took to the air, speeding towards his opponent with the speed of a bullet. But before he could ram into Chaos, a sound began reverbeating through his subconscious.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Stitches! It's time to go to bed!"

As the voice began speaking in his mind, the pegasus's surroundings melted away, and the world he once knew dissolved into a black void...

"Aw, Mommy! I was just about to start the big fight!"

The voice of the small colt carried disappointment with it as he gave his mother a somewhat upset stare with his bright orange eyes, which seemed to grow bigger when seen through the lens of his almost ridiculously large glasses.

Placed nearby were two dolls: One of them was fashioned after a yellow pegasus with black hair, and the other looked like a black unicorn with a flowing, dark grey mane. To the side was a doll that looked like Princess Celestia, and other toys littered the surrounding area, looking like they were just tossed to the side.

"You can finish your game tomorrow, honey." The colt's mom patted her son's messy black hair, and he seemed to calm down somewhat. "Here, let me put away your things for you..."

The mare then used the magic of her horn to move the assorted plush toys around, placing them all in one neat pile. However, Stitches let out a terrified gasp in response to this action, and his eyes widened considerably.

"Nononono!" he said, running over to where his mom had placed all of his toys. "Chaos has to be over in the corner, or he'll start messing with the others! And Stormbringer has to be over here next to the door, so he can keep watch for any intruders! And..."

As the young pony spoke, he began running across his fairly spacious room in a frenzy, placing the plushes where he thought that they should go. His mother just watched with a bemused smile. Stitches was a turquoise blur as he organized his toys. With his need for everything to be properly organized...he was so much like his father.

Once he was done, he was exhausted from all of the running he had done, walking back over to his mother and collapsing next to her pale yellow legs. Stitches was then slowly brought into the air by his mother's magic, and moved over to his bed. The colt was then set down onto the soft sheets, and a blanket was draped around him.

She then trotted back over to the door, giving one last look across the room before turning out the lights.

"Goodnight, Stitches."

A few minutes later, Stitches's parents were on the porch that stood next to their front door, the moonlight softly illuminating the Canterlot streets. Even in spite of the late hour, there were still occasionally ponies who walked buy on some midnight errands.

"Mary, I understand that you might be worried about the rumors that have been going around recently," the stallion said, trying to comfort his partner. His pale blue skin seemed to shine in the night air, and his bright, pale greene yes stood out in a similar manner. "But you don't need to worry. Stitches will be safe."

"You can't just toss the chances of something happening away like that," the mare, Mary, said. She was anxiously pacing around the stone porch as she spoke, starting to sweat out of nervousness. "These people are going to stop at nothing to make their point. What if they go after Stitches? Or, even worse, what if they go after us? What will our little colt do without us, Frederick?"

"Mary. The chances of that happening are very slim." Frederick now spoke more directly, seeing as gentle consoling didn't seem to work. "If you keep dwelling on every little thing that could possibly happen, you're going to run yourself dry. Now, let's go inside. We have to restock the shop tomorrow, and you know much much time it takes to prepare for that."

The mare let out a sigh, but before she could give a verbal response, there was a bright flash. A magical blast of energy was then fired, its exact source unknown, impacting with Mary and causing her to land in a heap right next to the door. She didn't appear to be breathing, and her eyes were glazed over.

Frederick was caught off-guard by the sudden attack. Then, his horn began glowing dangerously as his head whipped around to try and find the source of the projectile. However, he got more than he bargained for when four unicorn ponies, all dressed in black jumpsuits and blank masks, teleported on either side of him. He quickly found himself unable to move as their horns began flaring with a white light.

Then, with a bright flash and a muted scream on the part of the stallion, there were two unmoving bodies on the porch, and three of the four attackers had disappeared just as abruptly as they had arrived. The one that remained, however, shot a blast of magic onto the nearby porch, which left a marking that looked sort of like the cutie mark of Celestia, but pitch-black and with an X drawn through the center circle.

The unicorn then proceeded to focus a beam of magic towards another section of the area, scrawling out a message before disappearing without a trace. The message, as roughly and hastily written as it was, was still readable:

THE SAVIOR HAS ABANDONED YOU

The sun that rose the next morning revealed the lifeless bodies of Frederick and Mary, still sprawled out across the smooth porch, and ponies from across Canterlot were all crowding around their doorstep with a mixture of curiosity and fear. There were two of the Royal Guards looking around the scene, and one of them managed to locate the symbol that was presumably drawn by the perpetrator. The pegasus gave a scowl when he recognized the symbol.

"The Eclipse." He muttered the name under his breath as if it were the vilest of profanity. They were a group of extremists that had cropped up, trying to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of Celestia's law enforcement. And, for some reason that was probably only understood by their own, they decided to do this by seeing how many innocents they could get away with killing.

The investigation, however, was abruptly cut off when the front door opened, revealing none other than Stitches, whose expression almost instantly turned into one of shock and horror. The crowd gave a gasp of shock, and even the guards, who were known for being straight-faced in just about any situation, had a momentary lapse in composure.

There was an almost deadly silence, with Stitches just staring in disbelief, and the two police officers not knowing what to say. They knew that the two had a young colt, but he was incredibly sheltered and rarely interacted with any other individuals. The young pony slowly began moving towards the body of his mother, face still stuck in the same expression, moving as if he were in a daze. Once he reached his mother, he gave her a slight poke with his hoof.

"Mommy...wake up," he said in a soft whisper, the weak poking now giving way to frantic shaking as he continued to say that one phrase with increasing amounts of panic. Eventually, he just fell to the ground in exhaustion, and at this point any coherent speech was drowned out by gasping sobs.

"We're afraid that your parents have been-" One of the guards had managed to regain his composure enough to speak, but he didn't get far before Stitches interrupted him with a quiet, but forceful statement.

"Go away."

The two guards each gave the colt a mildly annoyed glare. "Excuse me?" he said, the pony's voice now developing a sudden edge. "Young colt, don't think for even a moment that you can tell us-"

"GO AWAY!"

As Stitches turned to face the two guards and gave that scream, his horn began flaring dangerously with magic. Before the guards could react, though, a bright flash was produced from the unicorn, signaling a massive magical discharge. Once the flash subsided, the two guards that had been standing before him only seconds before...weren't there.

Stitches was panting heavily due to the spell, and the crowd stared at him in awe. The colt gave a sideways glance at them, before slowly dragging the bodies of his parents through the front door of the house, and slamming the door shut. The group of ponies was quick to disperse, leaving Stitches in the house. Alone.

Stitches started crying. Crying up to the point where his eyes start running out of tears to shed, and his lungs only allowed him desperate, gasping breaths as he clutched his mother and father. He was always a pony that heavily relied on his parents for comfort and support. Most other ponies weren't too fond of him.

It was then that he noticed that the light from the workroom had been left on, and then a thought came to him. He had always loved his plush toys. They were his own world, a place where his imagination could roam free. His father had even told him that "anything can happen. All you have to do it believe."

His parents could be brought back to life. He believed it. His childish mind believed that there was a way for his parents to live. And he knew how he would do it.

So, he dragged the two bodies into the workroom and closed the door shut. His father had showed him the basics of making plushes, seeing as he was supposed to eventually take over the business. So, he knew what he had to do.

He would start with his mother. Sprawling her out amongst the floor, Stitches began rummaging around the room for the tools that he would need. Eventually, he managed to locate a long piece of string, a pair of scissors, a stitching needle, some glue and two pairs of buttons. Not the most ideal tools for the job, but they would have to do.

He started with the eyes. Giving a deep breath, he used his magic to bring the scissors closer to the mare's face, her face transfixed in an expression of horror. Summoning all of his willpower, he plunged the device straight through her eye, a squelching sound signifying that he had hit his mark. As he brought the scissors back out of her skull, the eyeball then detached from the socket with a slight popping noise, the blades of the scissors still skewered through the pupil. Shaking the tool around in the air, the eye flew off from the tool, rolling to the ground a good distance away.

After repeating the process with the other eye, Stitches manually closed his mother's open eyelids, and brought out the needle and string. He then began stitching the eyes closed, eyes narrowed in concentration. Skin was a bit easier to go through than fabric, but it was still doable. After the eyes had been sewn closed, he brought out two of the buttons and glued them to the eyelids. He then sewed her mouth closed in a similar fashion.

Moving on, he trailed down towards the mare's stomach. Giving a nervous gulp, he brought out the scissors once again, the steel now stained with blood. He then brought them down with all of his might, right into the pony's skin. Face now contorted due to the exertion, the device began slowly tearing through the flesh, making a rather rough cut. After cutting open a sufficient amount of skin, it was then peeled back to reveal the innards of the pony. Stitches gave a startled wince and a slight gasp at the sight. This wasn't usually a problem when his dad made plushies.

As he wracked his brains trying to come up with a solution, his magic began flaring once again and provided another magical outburst. Before his eyes, his mother's organs began melting into a thick, ugly paste. Matter of fact, just about all of the mare melted away, and her body suddenly thinned until all that was left was the skin. Taking a moment to realize what had just happened, Stitches continued his work, grabbing a large box that was filled with stuffing. He then began cramming the fluffy substance into the hole he had made, filling up as much of the body as he could before stitching it back up.

He then repeated this exact same treatment to his father, working well into the night. As he worked, a song suddenly sprang to mind. A song that his parents sang to him on nights that he felt scared, nights that he felt he needed them. Well, now, he needed them more than ever. Thus, as he continued, the words subconsciously began flowing into the air.

"Quiet little filly, there's no need for you to fret
Dry your tears, there's no need to be upset
Though you might want to scream, and you might want to cry
All you need to do is look through different eyes"

When he was done, his mother and father were two life-size, rather crudely constructed dolls. There was something that was off, though. They were too...big. Summoning his magic once again, their bodies began glowing...and then they started shrinking. Shrinking until they were just the right size, just small enough for him to carry.

His work finally done, Stitches picked up the two dolls, and gave them each a massive hug, tears now refreshed and streaming down his face once again, but this time they were tears of joy. He smiled at the two dolls, and they smiled back with the faces that he had given them.

"I love you, mommy. I love you, daddy."

And with that, he fell to the ground, exhausted by his work, still holding onto his parents. As he began drifting off into sleep, his flank start glowing. When the light subsided, there was a mark left on his flank. His cutie mark, depicting a white pony plush.

The Toymaker was standing at his desk, now having resumed his previous work of repairing the doll. It was now dead at night, and at this point, the repairponies that he had called in to fix the door had already done their work. There was a sense of anxiousness in the back of his mind, though. Even though it had mostly worked to his benefit, Rarity's little act of vandalism had brought unwanted attention to his store. It was only a matter of time before ponies started getting suspicious...

He put down the toy and opened up one of the drawers in his desk, pulling out to reveal two, fairly decrepit dolls. One of them had cream-colored skin and a red mane, while the other had pale blue skin and white hair. He used his magic to bring them out, and gave the dolls an embrace, tears once again starting to form in the stallion's orange eyes.

"It's all going to be over soon, Mommy..." he whispered, the childish dialogue sounding very out of place considering the stallion who was speaking it. "It's all going to be over soon..."

A small knocking sound perished these thoughts from his mind, though. Putting down the toy, he began walking over to the back door, behind which was his workroom. Stepping into the cold, rather foreboding area, he trotted towards a particular portion of the wall, tucked into the very corner of the room. The Toymaker's horn began glowing, and a slab of the wall slid back to reveal a rather small secret entrance, which opened out towards the surrounding back alley.

To anyone else, the sight that was right behind that wall would've been horrifying. It was a doll in the likeness of Sweetie Belle, which was standing upright of its own accord. One of the buttons that had been placed over its eyes had fallen out, revealing a particularly gruesome opening that looked more like flesh and blood than simple fabric, in addition to sporting a jagged, toothy grin. A few of its teeth were missing, and some kind of pink fluid dripped from its partially open mouth. It was dragging three bodies with it, all of them brutally lacerated and missing eyes. Even amongst the predominant color of red, the colors of the bodies were still identifiable: bright orange, pale yellow, and white.

The Toymaker gave a smile and quickly ushered the doll in through the tiny crevice, as if he was speaking with a normal pony. "Good work, Sweetie. Now, come in. It's about time your friends join us."