The trio strode down the hall, Penny's shoes and hat ringing with every step. The sight of all the elves working hard to get Christmas back on track filled them with determination. A few of the elves cheered as they walked past. As soon as he noticed, Sparkle ran up to them and stiffly fell into step beside Penny.

"Ms. Penny, I'm sorry, but Mrs. Claus is-"

"With Mother Nature, I know." Penny looked down at the little secretary elf, not bothering to slow down so he could keep up. "Take these two to get the supplies, ya squirming seadog. I gotta go adjust the sleigh so I can steer the great metal bird." Sparkle blinked in surprise.

"These two?" Penny turned around to face Sparkle, beginning to walk backwards instead.

"Sparkle, those two are who we got tonight besides me. So, meet Red-Nosed Nita and SantaMike!" Penny strode away, leaving the elf standing next to the two stand-in Santa Clauses. Sparkle sucked a frustrated breath in through his nose and pivoted on his heel, gesturing for Nita and Mike to follow him. The trio walked by a stack of hiking backpacks and Sparkle instructed them to grab three.

"I don't know how, but Santa manages to lose one of those every year. We keep backups just to be safe," Sparkle said as he nodded to another elf. The elf nodded back and grabbed the rest of the stack before scurrying away to the sleigh. "You'll need those in case you lose the ones you just picked up. Cookie is going to put them in the sleigh." Their next stop was at a large refrigerator. The handle was easily five feet above the ground, and it would take a giant to be able to reach the top shelf. Sparkle walked around to the side, grabbing a few red pouches out of a basket stuck to the fridge with candy cane magnets. He handed the pouches to Nita, then pulled her towards a tube drilled into the side of the fridge.

"Hold the bag open to the spout and let it fill up. The machine will stop dumping potions in when the bag is full. You two fill those and don't cause trouble. I'll be right back." Nita and Dynamike shrugged at each other and began filling bags as Sparkle bustled away. A few minutes later, he came back, clutching a small frame in one hand and holding a mesh bag full of small green pouches in the other.

"It is very important that you do not confuse the two pouches, as doing so could lead to disaster." He handed the bag off to Dynamike, but kept the frame tucked under one arm. Dynamike fumbled to grab the bag and adjust his grip on the other pouches he was holding.

"Say, uh, Sprinkle?" he began.

"Sparkle."

"Right, right. Sparkle, what's all this for? I ain't seen this many pouches since Jessie tried to use posies and lavender to freshen up the mine!" Sparkle glared at the miner out of the corner of his eye before shoving three small earpieces into his hands, not helping his already overflowing arms.

"Penny can tell you later, but we haven't the time right now. Let's keep moving." Sparkle began moving again, and Nita and Dynamike had no choice but to follow along. They made their way back to the sleigh, stopping only once more to pick up a large green present wrapped in a big red bow. When they got back to the sleigh, Penny was hauling the old bench away from the launch area. It seemed as though she had replaced it with one more suitable for her size. Sparkle cleared his throat, gesturing to the present when Penny turned to look at him.

"Ey! Lobber 2.0! Been a while since this old thing needed maintenance. Barely seen it since I made it." Nita's ears perked up when she heard the familiar name.

"Lobber 2.0? Like Ol' Lobber? What's this one do?"

Penny grinned, "I'll teach you in a sec." Penny hopped down from the sled and trotted over to Nita and Mike. She grabbed one of the red pouches Dynamike was carrying and stuck her arm in, rustling about for a second before pulling out a small bottle. Popping it open, she flashed the duo a smile. "Like you say Mike, down the mine!" She put the bottle to her lips and drank the entire thing in a quick swig. As she did, she started vibrating, becoming a blur before their eyes. She tipped them what might have been a wink, then flashed away. They watched her figure rush up the side of the sleigh, finally coming to a stop on the seat. She held up the frame Sparkle had been holding, a strange hologram could be seen in the center. Lobber 2.0 sat on the seat next to her. Sparkle sighed behind them.

"I suggest the two of you take one as well. A fair warning: They taste terrible." Nita reached into one of the pouches, pulling out a second bottle. She pulled the cork out and drank the contents. Sparkle was right, it did taste bad. Like spoiled eggs and long forgotten jolly ranchers. When she pulled the empty bottle away from her lips, the world was slower. Elves brought buckets to the reindeer and Bruce in slow motion, and Sparkle was talking to Dynamike as if his words were molasses. The only person who seemed to be moving normally was Penny, who was waving her over.

Dynamike stared as Nita blurred away to sit next to Penny. "So, this is what those drinks do? Make whoever drinks them fast?"

"Faster both physically and mentally. They also strengthen the skin of its user-" Sparkle leaned in close- "For wind resistance."

Dynamike took another look at the drink, "But what about the reindeer? We might be faster, but how are they gonna get around the world in a single night?"

Mike and Sparkle both turned to see the animals pacing at the speed of sound. Their hooves sounded off on the metal flooring like millions of firecrackers. A few careful elves could be seen fleeing the track with empty buckets. "They're having what you're having." Sparkle directed his attention to the roof. They could see the starry night sky expanding the heavens above. "Better hurry, it's almost time to take off."

Sparkle walked away on that statement. Dynamike took a deep breath, he had seen Nita's reaction to the drink but he wasn't prepared for it's putrid taste. After choking the drink down, the world slowed down to a near standstill. Nita screeched for him to join them. He was surprised to see Bruce was moving normally. That same mystical liquid that he had drunk could be seen coating the bear's maw.

Dynamike took a seat beside the child, "Isn't this awesome Mr. Mike? We're faster than Max!" She was bouncing up and down beside him.

"It's… a lot."

Penny placed a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah, I feel ya. But there's no time to explain." She pointed to an elf waving a green baton. She took a hold of the reins. They felt oddly heavy in her hands, but she didn't have time to waste. "You ready?"

Nita screeched her approval, her bear Bruce raising his paws to show agreement. Dynamike however, "Maybe we have time for a short explanation?"

"Here we go!" Penny whipped the reigns eliciting the reindeer to rush forward. Dynamike fell backward, Bruce easily catching him as they flew into the night sky. A giant cloud of snow and candy flew out the workshop with them.

When Dynamike recovered from the inertia he was staring down at the polar ice caps. And he was on eye level with the moon. He and Nita starred up at the massive sphere, it's lightly so soft yet so powerful. Penny peeked over her shoulder, "Enjoying the view?" They both just nodded absently, they were in a trance. "Well focus up. The mission starts now."

Penny passed Nita the frame she had been holding, "Nita, where we heading?"

The girl looked at the frame, "What?"

"That frame is a map. Which way is the nearest home?"

Nita looked down at the hologram again. It showed a bunch of scrolling names at the speed of light. Then there were locations for each name and a green or red mark for each. "I can't read it."

"You don't have to read it. It's magic. Just think about all the boys and girls that won't get their presents if we don't hurry and it'll point you in the right direction."

Nita took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and imagined the world. The morning of Christmas. Thousands of crying children as they looked under their trees to find a barren land. She could feel her heart ache as she thought of her friends and all their joy ruined because she wasn't fast enough.

As these thoughts grew louder she could hear a faint beeping in front of her. She opened her eyes to see a holographic arrow pointing to their left. "Penny! It's working!"

"Atta girl. Where to?"

"Umm… that way!" Nita jumped up to the front and pointed off into the distance.

"Alright! Dasher, show me what you got!"

Sammy: *crying softly*

Queen: What now?

Sammy: You wrote most of this chapter all by yourself… and it was so descriptive. *snatches her up in a hug* I'm so proud of you!

Queen: I try. I really do. So, ready for the grand finale tomorrow?

Sammy: Hahaa… yeah… about that.

Queen: Sammy, what did you do?

Sammy: So ya know how I love writing long, detailed stories.

Queen: I feel like I know where this is going and I don't know how I feel about it.

Sammy: Well I just checked the word count of what was supposed to be our next line break and well. I hit 2181 words in that section.

Queen: You passed two thousand words in that one scene?

Sammy: Okay in my defense… they did change locations in that scene.

Queen: *head in her hands* So are we extending this by a day? You know what, no. Three chapters tomorrow. We'll be fine. Right?

Sammy: Three chapters? Oh yeah sure. *mumbles* or four…

Queen: Oh dear God I'm going to die. Wave 'em out Sam I need to go take a nap.

Sammy: Queen? Queen?!

Queen: *disappearing into the distance*

Sammy: Oh okay she left me. Umm… thanks again for joining us for another one of our silly scripts, please keep reading, and goodnight! Queen?! Don't leave me here alone, it's dark...