//------------------------------// // The Doughnut Incident | Parts 167B - 178A // Story: BuggyCYOA // by Equidaeon //------------------------------// The walk back is nothing special, but as your home comes within sight, the thin trail of smoke coming up from the chimney fills you with a sense of comfort, since you know that the house will be warm thanks to Notaulix's efforts. Making a quick stop at the mailbox, you find nothing inside before walking up to the front door and letting yourself inside. Stepping into the house, the delightful feeling of warm air immediately hits you. Yes, Notaulix has done a good job indeed. "I'm back!" You call out while locking up the front door. Moments later, you hear the sound of hooves scampering across the wooden floor. "Welcome back, Anon!" Notaulix happily greets you as he trots up next to you. Looking over at him, you find Notaulix to be looking up at you with a warm smile and perhaps a hint of pride. He looks genuinely happy to see you return today. "How have things been going around here? Everything okay?" You ask Notaulix while walking into the living room on your way to the kitchen area. "Everything has been fine while you were gone, Anon!" Notaulix cheerfully reports. "Did you get to speak with the griffon? You were gone for a long time!" He asks while following at your side. "Glad to hear it. And yes, I did. We actually had a nice time together; lost track of time because of that. Sorry." You answer Notaulix, giving him an apologetic smile at the end. "There's no need to apologize, Anon. I was confident that you were safe." Notaulix says to you. At the kitchen, you remove your backpack and begin unloading everything from it onto the counters. Meanwhile, Notaulix watches with interest as you remove each item. "By the way Notaulix, you did a nice job keeping the fire going today. It feels great in here!" You say to Notaulix while unpacking things. "T-Thank you, Anon! I'm happy I was useful to you!" Notaulix says as his wings briefly buzz, unable to contain his joy at your praise. "You're in good spirits today, aren't you?" You comment while glancing at the changeling with a grin. "Yes, I am!" Notaulix replies. "That's great, though I think it's going to get even better for you..." You pause for effect. "I got both of the things you wanted; the cheese needed for dinner, and something simple for dessert." You continue. "Really? Thank you, Anon! What did you get us for dessert?" Notaulix asks, still following you around as you bring your now-empty backpack over to the front door to hang up. "Well... It'll be a surprise." You reply while hanging up your backpack, coat and bit bag. Before you remove your boots, you glance over into the living room and see that the wood box is almost empty. "Okay Anon, I will look forward to the surprise." Notaulix says as he follows you back into the living room. You walk across the room towards the side door, which you proceed to unlock. "What are you doing, Anon?" Notaulix asks while watching you perform the task. "I'm just going to take a moment and fill the wood box back up. That way we can keep burning for another hour or two, let the fire go out, and still have plenty to start with tomorrow morning" You explain before slipping outside. Bringing in the first armload of wood, you see Notaulix sitting in front of the fireplace, looking very content. After filling up the wood box with two more trips, you lock the side door once more. After doing that, you determine that you've done everything that you need to do outside today, and can finally take off your boots and relax for the rest of the day. Returning to the front door, you free your feet from the confines of your boots before taking a moment to stop in the bathroom and relieve yourself. While doing so, you take a glance over at the woven basket containing your remaining laundry, or rather, your underwear. You consider taking the time to wash them now, though you quickly decide against it. You don't want to use the remaining hours of the day being constantly busy at home, you think to yourself. Today you just feel like doing a little less and relaxing instead. Besides, it can wait until tomorrow. Concluding that train of thought, you wash your hands and exit the bathroom. Upon returning to the living room, you see that Notaulix is still sitting in front of the warm fireplace, looking at nothing in particular. "Hey, did you see what I got for you?" You ask Notaulix while walking over to the kitchen counters where you unloaded everything. "What do you mean, Anon?" Notaulix asks with a slightly confused expression. "I saw the cheese for dinner and dessert, yes." He says. "Those too. I was referring to this." You say as you hold up the new grey handled toothbrush for Notaulix to see. "Oh! Is that my new toothbrush? Thank you, Anon!" Notaulix says before trotting up to you. "Yep. I even got it in your color, see? Or... At least as close as I could get it." You say to Notaulix while holding out the toothbrush to him, which he quickly takes hold of with his magic. "Hehe, I can see that. These brushes are different from how we cleaned our teeth in the hive, but I like them!" Notaulix says as he inspects the toothbrush for a moment before holding it up against his body to compare the colors. "Really now? Well, that's good then, right? You may as well go take that to the bathroom real quick; just toss the old one into the garbage bin." You suggest to Notaulix. "Okay Anon. I will go do that now." Notaulix says before walking away and out of sight into the hallway. Since you're already right there, you decide to get a start on dinner, beginning with hauling out a pan that you place onto the stove top. Moments later, Notaulix rejoins you and the two of you begin working together on your dinner. Using the last of the eggs that you have on hand, you prepare Notaulix's requested dinner in no time at all: A delicious scramble with vegetables, fried potatoes, a few simple seasonings and plenty of melted cheese. After dishing up and sitting down to eat, Notaulix is thrilled with the result, and thanks you earnestly for buying the necessary ingredients for him despite the terrible weather. Following that, you have a brief conversation about cheese, which turns into you simply taking turns talking about the days activities. Notaulix tells you of the things he learned in his books today, while you share some of your interaction with Gilda earlier in the day. Eventually, you both decide to get up and take a moment to do the dishes. While doing so, you realize just how much you're growing to appreciate having Notaulix around. Besides having someone around to keep you company; something you didn't even realize you wanted, having his help available makes all these little daily tasks go by twice as fast. Soon enough, the dish washing is complete. Everything is put away, and the countertops receive a final wipe down. Satisfied with a job well done, you walk over to the fireplace and put another piece of wood on the fire. While you're there, you look at the clock and see that there's a little over an hour and a half left in the day before the night arrives. "Hey, Notaulix? How about we move on to dessert?" You suggest to the changeling. "Yes please! I would love to see what you got for us, Anon!" Notaulix happily replies. "Let's get to it then. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, I'll bring them over." You say before walking over to where you left the paper box full of doughnuts on the counter. Notaulix, in turn, trots over to the sofa and settles into his favorite spot. Once there, he watches in eager anticipation as you walk towards him with box in hand. Instead of sitting on the other side of the small table, you opt instead to sit next to Notaulix on the sofa. As you do so, Notaulix turns himself to face you directly. Setting the box of doughnuts down in the space between you on the sofa, you finally remove the lid from the container, revealing the contents within. Placing the lid aside, you watch Notaulix to see how he reacts. However, Notaulix soon appears confused as he alternates between staring at the doughnuts and looking up at you. "What are these, Anon?" Notaulix eventually asks while looking at you with his head slightly tilted. "These are called doughnuts; most have a sweet glaze that comes in different flavors. You just pick 'em up and eat." You answer Notaulix. Several more seconds go by as Notaulix returns to staring at the doughnuts before returning his attention to you. "Dough... Nut? But Anon, these don't look like they grow on trees! Why are they called nuts?" Notaulix asks you. You can't help but laugh at Notaulix's question, much to his continued confusion and slight annoyance. "That's... heh... Look, it's just a name. They're just made from fried dough, they don't grow on a tree." You explain to Notaulix. "Go ahead and try one. Pick whatever you want." You add. "Oh, I see! That makes more sense..." Notaulix says in a happy tone. After a moment of consideration, his horn glows, and he picks a plain white vanilla glazed doughnut from the box. You watch and wait for Notaulix's reaction as he brings the doughnut close to his muzzle, where he sniffs it before giving the icing a tentative lick. "It's delicious, Anon!" Notaulix immediately proclaims with a big smile. "But... Why is this here?" Notaulix questions as he looks through the hole of the doughnut with one of his eyes. Before you can form your response, you find yourself dumbfounded by the sudden spectacle before you... For reasons unknown to you, after looking through the doughnut hole, Notaulix brought the bottom of the doughnut up against his lips, where he proceeded to poke his tongue through the doughnut hole. And not just any tongue, to your surprise. Right in front of you, Notaulix's tongue is, without any doubt, long, slightly forked at the tip, and most surprisingly to you: Green. You become transfixed on the changelings tongue as it swirls to and fro around the vanilla glaze on the other side of the doughnut, periodically disappearing back into Notaulix's mouth before reappearing again. However, this strange behavior quickly becomes messy, as you notice some glaze begin to flow around the bottom of the doughnut and onto Notaulix's face. After what felt like a long time to you, though was only a minute at most in reality, Notaulix finally notices you staring at him with a peculiar expression. Notaulix removes the doughnut from his now messy face, complete with lines of white glaze plastered along his muzzle. "Is something wrong, Anon?" Notaulix asks you with all sincerity and his ears perked up. "Uh..." You pause for a moment before chuckling in amusement. "Nothing's wrong, it's just, well... I wasn't expecting all of THAT." You answer Notaulix, gesturing both of your hands towards him in a vague fashion. "Why were you licking the glazing off the doughnut like that? You're supposed to just take a bite out of the entire thing." You ask Notaulix. "I thought it would be fun to try and lick up as much of that delicious stuff that way as I could, Anon. Like a challenge!" Notaulix cheerfully answers. "And was it fun?" You question him. "Yes, it was." Notaulix responds while looking very proud of himself. You can't help but grin at Notaulix's silly antics for a moment before continuing. "Alright then. Another thing that surprised me was your tongue." You say to him. "My tongue?" Notaulix repeats as he tilts his head in confusion. "Why did my tongue surprise you, Anon?" He asks you. "I mean... It's long and green! I guess I just wasn't expecting that... How long is your tongue, anyway? If you don't mind me asking, of course." You ask Notaulix in response. "Oh, I see! I don't mind at all, Anon. Here, I will show you." Notaulix says before sticking his green forked tongue straight out past his lips. At its full length, you would guess that it sticks out about five inches. Beyond the aforementioned qualities of it, you don't notice anything else unusual about the changelings tongue. After examining it for a moment and thanking Notaulix for showing you, he promptly withdraws his tongue back into his mouth. "Still... Green? Is that normal for your kind?" You ask Notaulix. "Yes Anon, all changelings have green tongues." Notaulix answers you in a matter-of-fact way. "Really? Huh." You say as you begin to ponder what you've just learned about Notaulix and his kind. However, it only takes a moment before another question rises to the forefront of your mind. "Now I'm curious; if your tongue is green, does that mean the rest of your body is green too? Your internals, I mean." You ask Notaulix. "Yes Anon, that's right." Notaulix responds with a few nods of his head. "Do you want to see for yourself?" He asks you. At first you think that Notaulix may be joking with you, but you soon realize that his question was entirely genuine as he stares at you expectantly, waiting for your answer with a happy look on his face. While you feel more than a bit awkward with the situation, your curiosity gets the better of you. "...Sure?" You hesitantly reply. "Okay Anon. I will finish eating this first." Notaulix says before taking a normal bite out of the doughnut. After a moment of chewing, his expression lights up in joy. "Oh! The rest of it is delicious too! It's chewy!" Notaulix comments as he enjoys the rest of his doughnut. "I'm glad you liked it. You were sure messy with that one though, you're going to need to take a moment and clean yourself up after we're done eating." You tease Notaulix. Notaulix considers your words for a moment, before his long tongue reemerges from his mouth, lapping up much of the vanilla glazing as it circles around his muzzle. "Is that better, Anon?" Notaulix asks you after finishing his makeshift cleanup work. "Yeah, that's better. You still need a good wet rag, but it's better." You tell Notaulix with a smile, unable to suppress the amusement you're feeling from witnessing all these bizarre things over a simple box of doughnuts. "I understand, Anon. Now I will show you..." Notaulix says, his horn glowing as he moves the box of doughnuts off the sofa and onto the small table in front of you. With the box out of the way, Notaulix scoots closer until he sits right next to you. Once there, you watch as he opens his mouth wide in front of you, presenting a clear view of the inside. Looking inside, the first thing you notice is that Notaulix's internals do indeed appear to be a few different shades of green. The second thing you notice is that besides Notaulix's prominent fangs, his teeth are very similar in structure and appearance to that of a pony. Finally, the third thing you notice are all the little bits stuck to his teeth from the doughnut Notaulix ate moments ago. "You really are green on the inside, huh? Thanks for showing me." You thank Notaulix, who quickly closes his mouth and nods his head before returning to looking at you with his usual happy expression. "Soooo..." You trail off momentarily to collect your thoughts. "If your internals are green, that must mean that your blood is green, right?" You say to Notaulix. "That's right, Anon. The blood of my kind is green." Notaulix says. "Wow. You know, that's really interesting to me. I've only ever known of things having red blood, like myself. Well, besides a few things like some insects and specific things in the ocean. I think those had blue blood, if I recall." You muse to yourself. "Do you know if any of the other races in this world have green blood like you do, Notaulix?" You ask the changeling. After a moment of bringing a forehoof up to his chin in thought, Notaulix shakes his head. "I don't think so, Anon. There might be, but I never heard of such a race from my hive brothers and sisters." He answers you. "Interesting. Well, thanks again. I feel kind of bad though... It's a bit weird to open up your mouth to someone just so their curiosity can be satisfied, isn't it? Sorry for that." You admit to Notaulix. "I don't mind, Anon. There are many things we don't know about each other; the more we know about each other, the more our bond is strengthened, right?" Notaulix reassures you. A moment of silence passes between the two of you as you think about what Notaulix just said. "Yeah, I suppose it is, isn't it?" You answer Notaulix. "Anyway, how about we get back to enjoying our dessert?" You suggest. "Okay!" Notaulix quickly agrees before scooting back to his original spot, before levitating the box of doughnuts onto the sofa once more. After that, the two of you enjoyed your dessert without further incident. Notaulix ate the rest of his share of the doughnuts like a normal person, his favorite one being maple flavored. Once finished with your dessert, you went and brought Notaulix a damp cloth, which he used to clean up his sticky muzzle from his prior antics. Afterwards, you find yourself standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in hand to wash down the sweetness of the doughnuts. From there, one look at the clock tells you there is about an hour and ten minutes left in the day. Looking out across the living room, you eventually focus on Notaulix's saddlebag, which is still draped across the back of the other chair from yesterday. More specifically, you look at the pile of extra straps resting on the seat of the chair; the extra straps that you discovered inside the saddlebag after you purchased it. Downing the rest of your water, you set the glass down on the counter and walk over to the chair, where you pick up a couple of the straps and try to make sense of them. Notaulix, who was relaxing on the sofa, perks up and watches with interest as you mess around with the saddlebag and its components. "What are you doing, Anon?" Notaulix asks you. "Just taking a moment to try and figure out what these are for." You answer him. Unfortunately, after spending several minutes experimenting with attaching different straps to different attachment points on the saddlebag, you haven't been able to discern any functional purpose. Setting the straps back down, you turn your full attention back to the saddlebag itself. You begin to carefully look through the compartments built into the saddlebag. After all, if all those extra straps were included, there stands a chance that there are other things you didn't know about too. The first place you check are the two main bag compartments where most things are to be stored. You check and double check to see if there were any pockets within that you may have missed to store things in, but you find none. Next, you begin to examine the two tubes fashioned from Glyph Skin that rest under each bag. Up until this point, you've neglected to take a look at them. Knowing that this saddlebag was designed for a courier, you assume that these would be used to transport scrolls and other important documents. At first you struggle to figure out how to open these tubes, but after some experimentation you find that they are simply sealed with a tight fitting Glyph Skin cap, one that is meant to be pushed on and pulled off. The evidence of this design becomes more obvious when you consider the fact that the caps have an oversized handle sewn into them, likely to allow earth ponies and pegasi to open them by grabbing hold with their teeth. Moving forward in your search, you find the left tube to be empty. However, when you pop off the cap on the right tube, you discover something rolled up inside. "What's that thing, Anon?" Notaulix asks you with interest as his ears perk up to attention. "Let's see..." You say as you slide the contents of the tube out. After doing so and unrolling your discovery, you see that you are holding none other than a manual of sorts for the saddlebag. "Hey! It's a little instruction booklet!" You proclaim while quickly flipping through a few pages before settling on looking at the back. "That's great, Anon! Will it tell you how to use all those strange pieces?" Notaulix asks. "Yeah, I think it will." You say to Notaulix while flipping the document back over to the front. "Hey, Notaulix? I'm going to spend some time looking this over, but it's getting late. Do you want to hop into the bathroom before me and get cleaned up before bed?" You ask Notaulix. "I would like that, Anon. You don't mind if I go in ahead of you?" Notaulix questions you in return. "Not at all. Besides, it'll give you a chance to use that new toothbrush of yours." You say to Notaulix with a smile. "Okay Anon, I will go do that now." Notaulix says as he begins to climb off of the sofa. Before he has a chance to get very far, you remember something that was said earlier. "Wait a moment, got a quick question before you go." You say to Notaulix, who immediately stops moving. "What is it, Anon?" He asks you. "How did you clean your teeth, anyway? Back at your home, I mean. Your hive." You ask Notaulix. "Oh, that's simple, Anon! We make a paste from specific crushed rocks, tree resins and herbs. Using the useful parts of certain dried plants, we scrub that paste on our teeth." Notaulix explains. "Really now? Guess it isn't too different from how things are done here, are they? Thanks for explaining that one; that's all I wanted to know." You say to Notaulix. "You're welcome, Anon." Notaulix says before continuing on his way, soon disappearing out of sight around the corner leading into the hallway. Taking a seat in the other chair, you turn open the first page of the manual and begin carefully reading the instructions. The first things that you see are the emblem of the Night Guard stamped onto the page, along with #13/15 written below it, signifying the production number. After taking a look through a small table of contents, you start reading through each accessory and its intended purpose. Each page also includes a simple illustration to help better visualize things. Most of the straps turn out to simply be for securing larger items to the outside of the saddlebag, with different configurations best suited for different purposes. One strap in particular strikes you as being especially useful for Notaulix, a so-called quick release strap, designed in a way so that the wearer can release the saddlebag from their body by simply biting onto it and pulling. However, there are a few pieces that provide extra support for the saddlebag itself, preventing it from sliding around on its wearer under certain circumstances. In total, there are the following three pieces designed for this purpose: The breastplate, the crupper, and a second belly band meant to be secured behind the forelegs. The breastplate fits around the front of the wearer, preventing the saddlebag from sliding backwards. On the other end, the crupper is designed to loosely fit around the tail dock and prevent it from sliding forwards. With everything combined, the saddlebag can be anchored to its wearer with four points of contact. In the back of your mind, you wonder what sort of situations would need such a setup. While you may have raised an eyebrow at the crupper, upon turning to the final two pages, you find something that sounds even more uncomfortable. The Acrobatic Crupper, designed for intense flight. This piece of equipment is the only one with two pages of instruction, and for good reason. At the very beginning, it is plainly stated that it should only be used by fliers in situations where absolute flight control is important. Instead of a simple loop going around the dock, this is a substantial set of straps that goes around the dock, joins underneath the tail, and loops down between the hind legs where it splits into two once more and attaches to the main belly strap. It doesn't take much imagination to think of a particular problem with this setup. Sure enough, much of the instructions are simply recommendations on how to adjust and pad things out to avoid chafing or squeezing of the genitals. As you finish reading through the final pages, the very thought of such things makes you want to cringe and cover your manhood out of reflex. You find it hard to believe anyone would want to use either of these cruppers. Although, you understand that they must be used in one capacity or another, as ponies don't have very many alternatives due to their anatomy. Tossing the instruction booklet onto the small table, you simply hope that they aren't as uncomfortable to use as they sound. Regardless of all that, you feel quite pleased after discovering the instructions, and after a quick check, you confirm that everything came with the saddlebag, including the dubious acrobatic crupper. With nothing else of importance to do, you relax and wait for Notaulix to exit the bathroom. When the changeling eventually does, he comes trotting up to you after rounding the corner into the living room. "Did you learn anything, Anon?" Notaulix asks you. "I did. There's a purpose for every one of those extra pieces, some of which might even be useful for you in the Everfree." You respond. "Really? That's great! Can you show me everything, Anon?" Notaulix eagerly requests. "Well..." You pause. "I really need to get in and do my thing in the bathroom before it gets much later, unless I want to be showering in the dark. How about we save it for tomorrow?" You suggest. Notaulix's ears droop down ever so slightly at your response. "I understand, Anon. It can wait." He says while gently nodding his head for emphasis. "We can go over this first thing tomorrow after breakfast, okay? Until then, you could take a look at the instructions yourself, if you want." You say to Notaulix while pointing at the object in question. "Okay, I will!" Notaulix happily announces before taking hold of the instructions with his magic and hopping up onto the sofa. With that, you leave Notaulix to his reading and proceed to take your turn in the bathroom. Once there, you enjoy a nice warm shower and take care of some personal grooming. Inspecting yourself in the mirror, you take note that besides needing to shave soon, you could stand to have a haircut. After finishing your business there, you exit the bathroom and begin walking down the hallway. Taking a quick detour to the living room, you and Notaulix wish each other a good night before you retire to your room for the evening. At your bedroom, you immediately sit down at your desk to record the days events in your journal. Though before you do so, you take a moment to thumb through some of the prior pages, just to remind yourself of some of the things you were doing in the previous months. Something that immediately stands out to you is how ordinary they seem compared to your recent ones. Routine, even. It has only been five days since you discovered Notaulix by chance in the Everfree Forest, but you've begun to really realize just how lively your life has become since then. Granted, you didn't consider your prior life to be dull, but you value the companionship, you enjoy interacting with and learning about a mysterious race, and you appreciate the practical safety of having another with you in the Everfree. You didn't think that you needed any of those things. You've been proven wrong, and you're grateful for it. Having those happy thoughts in mind, you begin writing out your latest journal entry. You write at length for roughly half an hour until you decide to give it a rest, knowing that the night draws near. Rising up from your desk, you walk over to your usual side of the bed, remove your shirt and pants, and finally make yourself comfortable under the covers. The night soon arrives, and so does your restful sleep.