Chapter Two: Fairies, Toys, Elves, and Eggs

The Guardians made their way through the bustling North Pole and Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy couldn't help but stare in wonder at all of the activity that was happening. Yetis were constructing toys at every corner and the elves ran past their feet carrying various Christmas decorations. It was a rather amazing sight that was both organized and a bit chaotic at the same time. North stopped at his office to grab his coat, hat, and swords and led the group to where he kept his sleigh. Tooth and Sandy stared at it in awe.

"I thought your sleigh was old fashioned," said Tooth as she fluttered around the flying device. "At least, that's what I heard from other immortals."

North rolled his eyes. Why did everyone think that his sleigh was old and rickety? He ushered his friends into the sleigh and turned to Bunny, who was staring at the sleigh with a look of nervousness written on his face. North smirked in amusement

"Vhat is the matter, Bunny?" asked North. "It iz just sleigh."

Bunny coughed. "Uh...I think I'll just take my tunnels, mate."

"Nyet. Tunnels are to slow. Get in!"

Bunny was about to walk off when North grabbed him and placed him inside. Bunny pretend not to be absolutely surprised that North could actually lift him up so easily and asked, "Yer a careful driver...right?"

North turned to Bunny with an impish gleam in his eye. "I am careful when I want to be."

Bunny's eyes widened in horror as North cracked at the reigns and the reindeer dashed down the long, icy tunnel. Tooth and Sandy shouted with glee and Bunny clung to the sleigh with all of his might, screaming in terror. Snowflakes blasted at the Guardians faces and the air rushed passed them. North laughed as he whipped the reigns once again, urging the reindeer to go faster. The sleigh's speed increased and the Guardians went upside down momentarily due to a loop-dee-loop.

"Slow down, slow down!" Bunny shrieked.

"Did you say 'speed up?'" asked North even though he clearly heard what the Pooka said. Bunny shook his head vehemently but it went unnoticed because North cracked the reigns once again and the sleigh zipped through the tunnel and eventually ran over a wood ramp. Bunny squeezed his eyes shut, thinking that they were all going to fall over the edge but to his surprise, they all took to the air and did a quick lap around Santoff Claussen, then took off.

Tooth brushed her ruffled feathers and said, "That was amazing, North!"

Sandy nodded in agreement and threw his hands up into the air. North laughed.

"I am glad you enjoyed it," he said. The man in red then turned to Bunny with an amused expression on his face. "How was the ride for you, Bunny?"

Bunny pointed at North. "After this whole thing is over, mate, I am never ridin' this bloody thing ever again." The Pooka clutched the side of the sleigh when he looked over the edge. "Can ya at least put some seatbelts on this thing?"

"I will add it to list," replied North. At the bottom of list, he added pensively. The Guardians continued to fly through the air and North pulled out a roud, circular object. One of his many snowglobes.

"What's that?" asked Tooth.

"It iz snowglobe. Iz how I get to places faster," said North. "I say where I want to go, throw it, and then portal appears."

Tooth nodded. The Tooth Fairy knew that North used magical portals, but she never knew how he made them. Tooth assumed that he used some sort of spell in a spellbook, but a snowglobe seemed more fitting for North. The ex-Cossack whispered "Punjam Hy Loo" into the snowglobe and tossed it. A colorful portal appeared in front of the sleigh and North ordered the reindeer to go through it.

"We're goin' through that thing?!" exclaimed Bunny in shock.

"Of course!" said North nonchalantly. The sleigh zoomed into the portal and the Guardians briefly traveled through a magical tunnel that seemed to block out all noise. It felt a little strange, but the Guardians popped out the other side and Tooth's Palace was just up ahead. North steered the sleigh toward the palace that was built into the mountainside and landed on a golden platform. Bunny was the first to jump out of the sleigh and sighed with relief.

"So, Bunny is afraid of heights," remarked North as he ran a hand through his beard, laughter dancing in his blue eyes. "Interesting."

Bunny snapped his head toward North's direction. "I ain't afraid of heights! I just...have a strong dislike for them. I'm a Pooka, and I stay on the ground."

North nodded, but amusement still lingered in his eyes. "Vhatever you say, Bunny."

Bunny frowned at North but Tooth popped in before the two could start an argument. "My fairies are this way. Follow me!"

Tooth led Sandy, North, and Bunny to the heart of her Tooth Palace. Fairies were fluttering around either placing teeth in their designated Tooth Boxes or flying out of the palace to collect a tooth and place a coin under that child's pillow.

"I thought you collected the teeth," said Bunny.

Tooth nodded. "I do sometimes, but my fairies help me. I mostly just direct them where to go from here."

A small Tooth Fairy with a yellow feather sticking out of her head instead of a blue on like the rest fluttered up to Tooth holding up a shiny white tooth. Toothiana gasped and she cradled the little cuspid in her hand.

"Oh. My. Moon! Isn't this the most beautiful cuspid you guys have ever seen!" Tooth exclaimed as she held the tooth out to them. Sandy, North, and Bunny didn't know how to respond to the fairy's slightly peculiar behavior over a tooth.

"Uh...it's nice," said Bunny.

"Very pleasant looking tooth," North said.

Sandy put up the image of the tooth and a smiley face, which translated to exactly what North and Bunny said. Tooth smiled cheerfully and handed the tooth to her smaller copy, trilling something to the little fairy and the fairy nodded and waved at the other Guardians. Then, she flew off to put away the tooth.

"What did she say?" asked North.

"She says it's nice to meet all of you. I was introducing you guys," Tooth replied. She let out a bird-like call and a large group of fairies appeared. Sandy, North, and Bunny stared in awe. The group of fairies was like a giant army.

"You guys are going to help Sandy spread some good dreams," Tooth explained. "Grab some of the bags that we used to use in the storage room and bring them here. You'll use them to carry the dreamsand."

The fairies nodded and flew off. They soon returned with miniature bags and held them out. Sandy sent streams of dreamsand into the small pouches and nodded. The fairies then attached the bags to their waists and took off to resume collecting teeth.

"Hopefully that's enough dreamsand to last the night," said Bunny. Sandy nodded, silently saying that it was.

"If they need refills, they can come here or to Santoff Claussen," said North. He then clapped his hands. "Let's head back so ve can work on next part of plan."

The Guardians nodded and then headed back to the sleigh (Bunny took his tunnels before North to drag him into the sleigh). None of them noticed the tall shadow that was watching them, but the shadow wasn't a shadow at all.

It was Pitch. The Boogeyman watched as the fairies flew off to collect teeth and chuckled to himself.

"They expect little fairies and sand to defeat me?" Pitch said. The Nightmare King dived into the shadows and appeared back in his lair. He looked around at the large group of fearlings and nightmares that were gathering in the middle of the dark, twisted lair. Pitch smiled evily.

"They'll never stand a chance," the Boogeyman sneered.

…

The Guardians returned to Santoff Claussen and quickly got to work. North called several yetis to help with the preparations and Bunny returned from his Warren wih paints, eggs, and materials to make chocolate. North told him that he already had paints and the ingredients to make chocolate.

"Well, mate," said Bunny with a smirk. "I make my chocolates with special ingredients and I paint with special paints."

North curiously raised an eyebrow, but let Bunny use his kitchen anyway. Tooth and a small group of her fairies helped direct the yetis while Sandy helped construct things. The Guardians needed to make a lot of toys and gifts for the children, something that would take them the whole night long if everything went well.

"I don't like it, paint it red!" North bellowed to a yeti. The tan yeti groaned and threw his paintbrush at the wall in frustration, but picked it up and began to repaint the wooden dolls. A group of yetis were sewing stuffed animals and the elves were...being elves.

"Oi! Get back here with my chocolates!" shouted Bunny as he ran after a small troupe of elves that were carrying a tray of fresh chocolate. The Pooka growled as the elves ran out of his grip and Bunny bumped into North as he was chasing after the little creatures.

"How do ya live with 'em?" asked Bunny as he glared at the elves.

North shrugged. "You get used to it." North turned to the group and whistled loudly. "Give Bunny back his chocolate."

The elves' faces fell and they handed the tray of chocolate back to Bunny. The Pookan warrior snatched the tray from the elves and nodded at them gruffly. An elf quickly snatched a piece of chocolate off the tray and then ran away with the others. Bunny rolled his eyes and squawked in protest when North picked up a piece of chocolate as well and put it in his mouth.

North's eyes widneded. The chocolate melted in his mouth and when he swallowed, the sweet, nectareous tast was still there. It was the best chocolate North had ever had. Even better than the ones the yetis made in the kitchen! But of course, he'd never say that out loud.

"This chocolate is amazing!" exclaimed North. The ex-Cossack reached for another one but Bunny swiftly batted his large hand away.

"This is for the children remember?" said Bunny. "Yer eating their chocolate!"

"Oh, right," said North sheepishly. "Sorry."

Bunny chuckled. "It's fine. I'll make extras for ya and the others."

The elves heard that Bunny was ging to make more chocolate and instantly ran up to the Pooka with begging expressions on their faces. Bunny glared down at the elves and said, "No, ya aren't gettin' any!"

With dejection, the elves walked away. North patted Bunny on the back and said, "You aren't really not going to make them some chocolate, are you?"

Bunny turned to North. "They already stole some. They aren't gettin' any more." Bunny's ears twitched when he heard a crash come from the kitchen and his eyes widened. "Ya elves better not be messin' with my chocolate again!" he shouted as he ran back to the kitchen. North laughed. There hadn't been this much excitement in the North Pole for a long time. Another clamorous crash came from the kitchen and North could hear Bunny shout again.

"CRIKEY! PUT THAT KNIFE DOWN YA BLOODY NUSCIENCES! " Bunny yelled. North then decided to go and help out and hurriedly headed toward the kitchen before things got out of control.

…

After hours and hours of constructing toys, wrapping toys, and some rather chaotic chocolate making, the Guardians finally had only one thing left to do and that was to paint some eggs. North blinked in confusion as Bunny handed the white oval object to him.

"Um, Bunny. I think I speak for all of us when I ask…why are we painting eggs?" asked Tooth as she examined the egg she was holding in her hand.

"Because the eggs are the chocolate," said Bunny as he split one in half, revealing the brown treat inside. "It's just to make them look more appealing for the anke-biters."

Dreamsand weaved over Sandy's head creating the image of an egg and a question mark. "Why eggs?"

"Why dreamsand? Why teeth? Why elves and yetis?" Bunny said. The other Guardians didn't know how to respond. They picked up paintbrushes and began to paint the eggs with bright, vibrant colors. It was a calm, peaceuful session compared to what had happened in the kitchen while Bunny was making his chocolates. After some time, the eggs were painted and ready to go. North still had a look of bemusement on his face as he placed the last egg he painted into a basket.

"It iz still egg," said North.

"It's a special egg," Bunny corrected. He picked up the basket and looked out the window. It was getting dark and the Moon was already visible in the sky, meaning that it was almost time to put the plan into action. The Guardians headed back to the sleigh, which was now filled with different types of gifts for the children. Books, games, toys, boxes of chocolate (North's recommendation) and chocolate eggs all sat in the back.

"Won't the children think that it's a bit strange that they're being deliver Christmas presents and chocolate eggs when it isn't Easter or Christmas?" asked Tooth as she fluttered into the sleigh and sat down.

"Children will not mind at all," said North. "Although they will probably mind about Easter stuff."

Bunny scoffed incredulously. "Naw, mate. They're definitely going to be more confused about the Christmas stuff."

"No, the Easter stuff," said North.

"Christmas stuff."

"Easter stuff."

"Christmas. Stuff."

"Easter. Stuff."

"Boys!" cried Tooth from the back. Bunny and North stopped their little quarrel and turned to the Fairy Queen. "We don't have time for this! We have to ge these delivered to the children and make sure the dreams get to them without any trouble. Now stop arguing and let's get going!"

North nodded and Bunny quickly muttered, "Christmas stuff" before disappearing into his tunnels. North cracked at the sleigh reins and he, Tooth, and Sandy took off into the night sky to deliver the gifts to the children.