//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Of Bubbles and Books // by Bunnybooze79 //------------------------------// Twilight’s hunt for the teacher was momentarily halted when she reached Rarity. The sight of the white unicorn talking to a potted plant was enough to snap her out of her increasingly frantic and obsessed search. “Rarity? What are you doing talking to my plant?” she asked with concern for her friend’s mental stability, which was ironic as her own mental state left much to be desired at the present time and moment. “I might have voiced my opinions on the upcoming festivities in Canterlot in perhaps too much detail. Especially on security and possible changeling attacks.” Embarrassed the fashionista scraped a hoof over the floor and gave Twilight an apologetic smile. “To my plant? And why is it shivering?” Twilight was thoroughly confused. “Not to the plant directly. My words were directed at its current occupant.” Rarity explained and pointed a hoof towards the bit of pink tail sticking out from underneath the plant. “I’m not coming out.” An almost inaudible protest came from within the pot. “Fluttershy?” Twilight’s ear twitched. Rarity saw the sign and decided to calm down the lavender unicorn before she might have another episode. “Don’t worry, darling. I am sure I can persuade Fluttershy to come out and join us for this party and the next one in Canterlot. It’s nothing you have to worry about.” Rarity put on her most charming smile. “Relax, my dear and enjoy the party. You seem a little stressed if I might so bold to say.” “Can’t relax right now. Have to find teacher.” Twilight turned away from Rarity and the potted Fluttershy. It was not her topmost concern right now and would eventually deal with it later if the need be. _____________________________________________________________________ She had just begun her third circle around the room when she was approached by Applebloom. The filly carefully tapped Twilight’s foreleg to get her attention and shrunk away at the manic facial expression that the unicorn wore. “Uh, Twilight are ya ok?” the filly asked unsure whether she really wanted to know. “Of course, little one. And I’ll be much better once I find your teacher.” Twilight suddenly shifted her gaze over to the table with the punch bowl on top. She swore she had just seen the tablecloth move a bit. “Ah just wanted to tell ya that we’re takin Applejack home. She just fell asleep again an’ ya’ll remember what happened the last time she was so tired.” Applebloom explained and saw in the corner of her eye Sweetie Belle do the same with Rarity. “Yes, yes. You do that, Scootaloo.” Twilight was not paying any attention. “Ah’m Applebloom.” The filly tried to correct her. “Yes, that’s nice.” Twilight left the confused filly standing where she was and decided to sneak up on the moving tablecloth. Applebloom shrugged and trotted over to Applejack. Together with Sweetie Belle she carefully guided the half asleep farmpony out of the library. They just passed the table Derpy was sitting at, when Applejack briefly woke up a bit more. “Heya Derpy. Sorry Ah can’t stay for yer party.” She apologized to the now perplexed looking mare. The fillies pushed Applejack along and towards the front door. “Did you know that Twilight has a talking plant here?” Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom. “Really? Ah have ta have a look at that sometime. What did it say?” “It said it doesn’t want to go outside.” “Must be an indoor plant then.” Applebloom mused and shut the door behind them once they were through. Derpy had followed them with her gaze and now kept looking at the closed door. “My party? Why is this my party?” she asked herself aloud. “Sho itsh you.” Came a slurred reply from the left of her, which made her jump a bit and flare her wings out in surprise. Berry Punch had rolled her head on the side and was now looking at her with glazed over eyes. “Yooouuuuu are the shpeshial pony that Twilly Shpargl wash talking about.” She let out a small giggle. Derpy leaned in closer to the drunken mare. “What do you mean?” she asked slowly to get through the drunken haze that the mare beside her was obviously in. “I’m not special.” “Yesh you are. Theresh four of you right now. Thatsh really shpeshial, normally theresh only three or two of the other poniesh.” Derpy blinked, trying to make sense of what the pony had slurred. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Twilight Sparkle had been there when Flithy Rich had said those mean things for her, was this her way of trying to make her feel better. By throwing a party for the “special” pony? “Are you sure she meant me?” Derpy asked hoping that Berry Punch was merely rambling nonsense. “Yesh. She shaid that thish wash a shurprishe party for a very shpeshial pony and that we shouldn’t shay anything to her.” She opened both eyes and looked at the stunned pegasus. “Pleashe don’t tell yourshelf that, otherwishe it’sh not a shurprishe anymore.” Derpy suddenly felt very uncomfortable amongst the partying ponies. She jerked back as Berry Punch suddenly sat upright. “I needsh more shider! Half a barrel washn’t nearly enough!” she proclaimed, flopped over onto her side and made clear that she would not partake in any more drinking with a loud snore. Derpy looked at the sleeping mare with one eye, while the other seemed drawn to the ponies not too far from her enjoying the party. She suddenly felt the need to leave. ____________________________________________________________________ Rainbow Dash had arrived at her home with Scootaloo only a few moments ago. After a quick search through her wardrobe she had hoofed the filly a black suit, very similar to the one she had used during a break in at the hospital a while back, and told her to put it on. She had just finished slipping into her second black suit as Scootaloo spoke up. “It’s too big.” The filly stated and Rainbow Dash turned around to see if anything could be done to make it fit better. The sight that greeted her must have been the most adorable thing she had seen in a very long time. Scootaloo had not been lying when she said it was too big for her. In fact she only needed to wear the top half of Rainbow Dash's black stealth suit to cover her entire body while sitting. The fillies head was too small to fill out the suit and making it look more like a hoodie. Her ears barely managed to fill out half of the available space, causing the fabric to flop down over her ears. The rest of the hoodie covered her eyes completely and reached down onto the top of her nose. The visible orange muzzle was not looking too thrilled at her current outfit. Rainbow Dash almost managed to stifle a giggle, the noise making Scootaloo tilt her head back until she was able to peek out from underneath the hood and give the now giggling mare an angry glare. The effect was the total opposite however as the larger pegasus could not stop herself from smiling. “I think you may be right about the size.” She said while walking over to the sitting filly. “I think we’ll just forget about the bottom half and leave the hood down.” After a brief moment of thought, Rainbow Dash went over to her dresser and rummaged through the bottom drawer. It only took a couple of seconds until she had found what she was looking for, a purple scarf. She then used it as a belt for Scootaloo, tying down the top around her belly. “Now you can run without getting tangled up in the fabric.” Rainbow Dash pulled down the hoodie and ruffled Scootaloo’s mane. “We’ll have to ask Rarity to make you one of these sometime.” “What about the sleeves?” Scootaloo held up a foreleg, the far too long sleeves had been pulled up as far as possible and gave her a rather poofy appearance. “Leave ‘em like that. Unless you can’t move properly.” Scootaloo decided to test her maneuverability and ran a few laps around the room, ducking, jumping and weaving around the furniture. With a big grin on her face she stopped in front of Rainbow Dash. “It works.” She happily said. “So I saw. Shall we begin with our plan?” Rainbow Dash asked and put on her saddlebags once more. “Yeah!” the filly’s enthusiasm was infectious and Rainbow Dash could not wipe the mad grin from her own face as they flew towards the Rich’s mansion. _________________________________________________________________ Cheerilee was currently hiding under a table from Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn had hinted at her knowing things that Cheerilee rather wanted to keep to herself. She also had successfully managed to block any attempts by the teacher to leave the party. Either she had blocked the way out by standing in the way or by monitoring the doors and windows, so Cheerilee had decided to wait it out under the table. The large tablecloth reached all the way to the floor and hid her well or so she had hoped. “Hello Cheerilee!” Twilight whispered into the teacher’s ear. Startled the magenta mare tried to stand up and as a result banged her head hard against the underside of the table. The punchbowl on top made a little jump. Cheerilee briefly contemplated her chances if she just ran out from under the table and out the front door. Something told her she would never make, so she resigned herself to her fate. She faced the unicorn beside her and sighed. “Hello Twilight.” She said solemnly. “Enjoying the party? Good! Could I maybe ask you something?” Twilight did not wait for a response and slid a bit closer to the teacher. “I just remembered you telling me earlier that you took writing classes when you were younger. Something like that stays with you for quite some time am I right?” “What do you want?” Cheerliee was tired of guessing what the unicorn was playing at. Better to get this entire business over and done with. “Written any books lately?” Twilight asked and had that forced smile on her face that made clear that she would not be letting it go anytime soon. “Please don’t tell anypony.” Cheerilee asked and let her head hang low in defeat. “Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.” Twilight promised and bent her head closer to Cheerilee’s. “I write books under the pseudonym of Cherry Popper.” Cheerilee quietly whispered. “Cherry Popper…..wait what? Those romance novels?” Twilight’s manic grin was now replaced by a surprised expression. “Those….rather detailed romance novels?” A blush crept into her cheeks. “You know them?” it now was Cheerilee’s turn to ask a question. “I…errr… might have read one or two of them.” The blush intensified. “Then you understand why I don’t want anypony to know that I write those during the summer break. If the parents of my students would find out that their teacher writes such risqué things I might lose my job.” Cheerliee explained and gave Twilight a pleading look. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony about this, but…you haven’t written anything else lately?” Twilight asked trying to ignore her burning cheeks. “Like what?” Cheerilee asked in turn. “Like a Daring Do novel?” Twilight’s question caused the teacher to give a small snort of amusement. “If I were the author of those books you can be assured that I wouldn’t hide that fact away. Those are bestsellers and something to be proud of. I bet I would get invited to all kinds of V.I.P. parties….” Cheerilee drifted off into a fantasy world of her own. Twilight reluctantly had to bring her back into the real world. “Well thanks for telling me. Sorry if I might have been a little nosy.” Twilight shuffled out from underneath the table. “A little nosy….” Cheerilee murmured and also left her former hiding place. Since the threat of the unicorn had been averted, she now maybe could enjoy the rest of this party. Twilight brushed a bit of dust from her coat, trying at the same time to hide the last remnants of her blush. The blush was however what drew the attention of two mares that had watched with some speculation on their part why Twilight and Cheerilee had been under the table. They both drew the same conclusion, albeit the false one. So it was a bit of a surprise when Twilight looked around and glanced over to where Bon Bon and Lyra were standing by a shelf. Both of them flashed Twilight a smile that seemed to imply something the librarian failed to understand. Then Lyra winked once before turning away with Bon Bon and casually trott over to a snack table. Twilight misunderstood the wink and came to a very different conclusion about its meaning. I bet she knows that I am looking for the author. Judging by that wink she might know something and I have to find out what it is. Before Twilight could act on her suspicions a pink pony beside her suddenly pulled her away towards the kitchen. Any protest she tried to voice was cut off as a muffin was jammed into her mouth. The pastry was still very warm, fluffy and incredibly tasty. “Weeeeeelllll? Whadd’ya think Twilight?” Pinkie chirped and for once was not hopping or bouncing in place due to a large tray on her back. “Wow, Pinkie these are fantastic.” Any thoughts about authors, romance novels, mint green unicorns or anything else were obliterated by the culinary delight that Pinkie Pie had created. It also brought Twilight back to the original task and meaning of this party. “Did you make some more of these?” she asked Pinkie, who in return smiled and pointed to a large muffin about the size of a pony’s head on the kitchen table and to the tray on her back. “That one over there is made for Ditzy and only Ditzy!” Pinkie underlined the sentence with a wild look that made her almost as frightening as Twilight had been all evening. The unicorn shrunk back from the party pony. “That one is just for her, got it.” Twilight replied and sighed with relief as an instant later the old smiling Pinkie was back. “Aaaaaand here are samples for everypony.” She said and set down the tray on to the floor. Twilight resisted the temptation to eat another. She could eat another one later after they had given their guest her surprise. “Then let’s get this show on the road. Will you bring the muffin?” Pinkie was already standing beside her with the muffin wrapped in a bow and ready to be given away. Twilight wisely decided not to ask how the earthpony had done that so fast. With Pinkie following close behind she made her way to the center of the room. Using a burst of magic she quickly shut down the music. “May I have your attention everypony!” Twilight said and thanks to a quick spell could briefly overpower the discussions happening all around the room. When she was sure to have everypony’s attention she let the magic from her spell dissipate and cleared her throat. “I would like this moment to welcome our special guest of honor for this evening.” Twilight beamed at the assembled ponies. “Just think of this as a way of us saying thank you for all your hard work in Ponyville. Please stomp your hooves for Ditzy….errr I mean Derpy!” The assembled ponies did as requested and stomped on the floor. They were still stomping a minute later. By the ninety second mark the stomping lost some of its participants. And finally at the two minute mark nopony was stomping anymore as it became apparent that Derpy would not be making an appearance. Twilight looked over the crowd of ponies to see for herself. Then she briefly checked the other rooms of the library including the bathroom, but there was no trace of a grey Pegasus mare with bubbles for her cutie mark. “She’s gone.” Twilight told the waiting ponies. “Didn’t anypony see her leave?” The attendees looked at each other and shrugged. None of them had seen Derpy leave and in some cases did not even remember her being there in the first place. Twilight let her head hang. “Well….enjoy the rest of the party I guess.” She said and made her way past a very sheepish looking Lyra and Bon Bon. Her idea of interviewing Lyra briefly surfaced, but she pulled that thought back down for now. Twilight joined her friends in the corner of the room. “Where’s Rainbow Dash and Applejack?” she asked when noticing her absent friends. “I was under the impression that you knew. Applejack left because she kept falling asleep and Rainbow Dash left with Scootaloo to do something. At least that’s all that Sweetie Belle told me.” Rarity informed her friend. “Well did any of you notice Ditzy leave?” “Sorry, Darling. I was busy talking with Fluttershy and that got out of hoof….slightly.” Rarity admitted and looked embarrassed. “I..uhm..sorry I overreacted and used your plant as a hiding spot.” Fluttershy quietly added and looked equally embarrassed. “I was out baking the muffins. I told you to keep an eye out for her to make sure she was in the room when we would give her the surprise.” Pinkie had indeed asked that of Twilight, but the unicorn had been preoccupied by her search. “Sorry. I was wrapped up in my own thing for too long this evening.” Twilight let her head hang low with the ears folded back. It had been a very easy task that Pinkie had given her, but she hadn’t even heard her ask her. “Well, I guess she went home. We could relocate the party to her place I guess.” Pinkie suggested and would have begun packing up the decorations, food and guests at the same time if not for Twilight, who held her in place with her magic. “No. Rainbow Dash said something about her not liking things like that. Maybe this crowd was too much for her and that’s why she left. I’ll go over to her place with her gift and see if she won’t join us.” Twilight released Pinkie and grabbed the muffin instead. After giving her friends the instruction to try and keep the party going for a bit longer she headed out. ________________________________________________________________ Two pegasi were perched high up on a cloud above the Rich family’s mansion planning their assault. After an initial flyby they had seen that the family seemed to be in a living room of sorts that faced out of the back of the house. None of the staff could be seen however and that made things complicated. “Do you want to go back?” Scootaloo whispered to Rainbow Dash beside her. The mare shook her head and carefully watched the windows below. “Nah, I think they may be asleep or out. If we are quiet and fast we can still pull this off.” She turned to the filly. “You ready?” A mad grin and a quick buzz of her wings was all the answer she needed. Rainbow Dash grabbed the small pegasus around the waist and dropped off the cloud. Only a bit more than a pony’s height from the ground away did she open her wings and stop their freefall. Scootaloo had to fight the urge to yell with excitement at the stunt they had just performed. Had she been alone or with another pegasus she would have been terrified, but when Rainbow Dash did stunts like that she always felt perfectly safe and enjoyed the thrill and rush of adrenalin. They glided behind a statue of a large bit on a pedestal and touched down on the ground. Rainbow Dash peeked around the side of the statue and checked to see if they had been spotted. The house remained dark and quiet. “Ok, Squirt. You take care of the….things here in the garden and I’ll take care of the house. If you think you have been spotted run hide here and I’ll come and pick you up.” She divided the rolls of toilet paper amongst them. Scootaloo casually toyed with one roll by tossing it from one hoof to the other. She was eager to get started. “Shall we begin?” Rainbow Dash asked and gave her partner in pranking a big smile. The filly nodded in return and flashed her own smile at the larger mare. “Then let’s go!” the pegasi darted off in different directions. One flew up above the house, while the smaller one began launching the roll of toilet paper over the nearest ornament. Fifteen minutes later it was over. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were back up on the cloud trying not to laugh out loud at the sight below them. Scootaloo had done a good job mummifying as many lawn ornaments and statues as possible, while Rainbow Dash had covered most of the front of the house in streams of toilet paper. She briefly considered bringing a raincloud here to soak the paper, but decided against it in the end. Messing around with clouds would point in the direction of a pegasus and that could eventually lead to her and Scootaloo. Leaving it the way it was increased the number of potential pranksters to basically the entire town. “Kinda annoying that I can’t be here tomorrow to see their reaction.” Rainbow Dash moaned. “Oh right, you’re in Cloudsdale for a few days. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out and tell you what happened when you get back.” Scootaloo gave her big sister a salute. “Just don’t be too nosy otherwise they might get suspicious.” Rainbow Dash ruffled the filly’s mane with a hoof and stood up. “Come on. It’s getting late and I have to be up early in the morning. I’ll fly you home.” Scootaloo did not have to be told twice and hopped on Rainbow Dash’s back. Little orange forelegs wrapped themselves around the cyan neck. A flap of the powerful wings later and they were airborne. Too soon did they arrive at Ponyville’s orphanage, then again it was always too soon for Scootaloo when they stopped flying together. “Well…here we are, Squirt.” Rainbow Dash lowered herself a bit to enable the filly to hop off her back easier. “Thanks. I really had fun this weekend. Too bad we had to miss some of the party though.” “There will be plenty more Pinkie Pie parties in the future, don’t worry. I doubt they even noticed we had left.” Rainbow Dash watched as Scootaloo began to take off the outfit that she had given her. She stopped the filly’s efforts with a hoof on her shoulder. “Keep it, Scoots. It suits you.” She said and earned a smile in return. They said their goodbyes and Rainbow Dash waited for Scootaloo to enter the orphanage before departing to her own home. Tired and happy the pegasus flopped down on her bed and fell asleep very fast. ___________________________________________________________________ Twilight knocked three times on the front door of Derpy’s home. She had thought about how to get the pegasus back to the party. The best course of action seemed to be to ask her why she had left in the first place, maybe learning a bit more about the mare in the process. She shifted the large wrapped up muffin on her back around nervously and tried to remember when it would be polite to knock again. She was certain to have read a book about that at some point. Before she could knock again the door opened and Twilight found herself face to face with a surprised looking Derpy. “May I come in?” Twilight asked and gave the other mare a small smile. For a moment the pegasus hesitated, but then seemed to relent and opened the door fully. “Please, come in.” Twilight stepped inside past the grey mare. Derpy closed the door behind them and trotted past the unicorn. “I am just in the middle of doing the dishes. Hope you don’t mind.” She said and continued on into the kitchen. Twilight followed her moments later, on the way there taking note of her surroundings. The lack of furniture confused her for a moment, but as she spotted the large bookshelves in the living room her she forgot about the lack of seating opportunities apart from the couch. “You like to read?” she asked Derpy. “No, I don’t read all that much.” The answer confused Twilight even more. Why would she then have so many books if she doesn’t read? Derpy continued washing the dishes, they were the same dishes that she was washing when Rainbow Dash had visited her. She briefly wondered if she would ever manage to clean them without being interrupted. The soapy water produced plenty of bubbles, one large specimen floated upwards and hovered briefly in front of her face. Reflexively she blew it upwards a bit more and made it dance towards the ceiling. Twilight carefully put the large muffin on the kitchen table and watched the bubble’s journey to the ceiling with fascination. “Is that why you have bubbles as a cutie mark?” Twilight asked carefully hoping not to offend the mare by her direct question. Derpy watched the bubble burst upon contact with the ceiling, a little smile had crept onto her lips during the ascent. “No, my cutie mark has nothing to do with bubbles like that one.” Derpy glanced over to Twilight for a moment before turning her attention back to the soapy water. “My dad once said I had bubbles in my head and shortly thereafter I got my mark.” “Oh, I’m sorry.” Twilight’s ears had folded back and she was uneasy having asked the question in the first place. It did not sound like something nice being said to her, coupled with the fact that she was clumsy left Twilight wondering if she had a nice childhood when growing up. Derpy guessed correctly what Twilight had been thinking. She did not know why she didn’t just leave it at that. Perhaps her need to talk with somepony or anypony after the disappointing party played a role in it. She always kept information about herself or her family close and did not share it easily. “It’s not like that. I always had my head someplace else, always thinking and daydreaming about all kinds of things. More often than not I would get into trouble because of that. Bumping into other ponies or walls and signs. Once I wasn’t paying attention and walked out into the road in….a big city.” Derpy did not want to share where she had grown up at the time and moment. “I caused a lot of damage and was scared and ashamed of what I had done. That evening my dad came into my room after he had heard me cry. He asked me why I was crying and I asked him what was wrong with me. He smiled at me and told me my head is full of bubbles. Each one containing a story for me alone to see.” Derpy smiled at the memory. “He suggested I should burst a bubble, releasing what was inside for the rest of the world to see. My mom soon insisted that I told them what was inside them and I soon was the one telling my parents bedtime stories.” “They sound like nice ponies.” Twilight said and was somewhat relieved to see the Pegasus smile. “They were.” Derpy agreed and seemed lost in memories for a moment. It took Twilight a moment to realize what she had said. “Were? Oh, I am sorry.” The unicorn let her head hang again. She actually wanted to avoid subjects that might make the grey mare uncomfortable. “It’s ok. They had a long and good life, but time catches up with everypony at some point.” Derpy explained with a small sigh. “You look so young.” Twilight commented and was indeed surprised to learn that Derpy’s parents had apparently passed on due to old age. “They were told that they were too old to have any foals. To everyponies surprise they then had me. The pregnancy was not without….problems, but in the end it all turned out well.” Derpy turned her attention away from the dishes in front of her and looked over her shoulder at the patiently waiting unicorn sitting beside her table. “Why are you here, Twilight?” she asked and veered the topic of discussion away from her parents. Talking or thinking about her parents always ended up with her remembering things that she rather wanted to forget like the things that had forced her to move to other cities with her parents. “Well, you left the party early and we didn’t get the chance to give you our gift.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the large muffin on the table. “A gift? It isn’t my birthday.” Derpy glanced over to the muffin with one eye, while the other remained focused on Twilight. “We know. I just thought you could do with a party after being treated so meanly by that stallion. We wanted to show our support for you.” Derpy felt a smile creep onto her face, mirroring that of the unicorn in front of her. “You are a very special pony and we are there for you.” Twilight continued, her smile turning forced as she saw the mood of Derpy suddenly sour considerably. “Special?” Unwillingly memories of other cities and other ponies came flooding back into Derpy’s mind. She had been down this road many times before and her emotions came bubbling to the surface. “Is that where this is going? You telling me that I am a very special pony and start treating me like a raw egg? Treating me as if there is something wrong with me?” Derpy did not hide her anger and stomped towards the now very uneasy unicorn, who cautiously took a few steps back. “No, no, you don’t understand….” Twilight tried to calm her down, but was interrupted by the grey mare. “I’m not stupid if that’s what you are implying. I have been in this situation before, you know. And I know how this always ends. One pony calls me out on my differences and soon others do the same. You even threw a party to draw attention to it, something that I have always been trying to avoid. Thanks a lot!” Derpy flared her wings open in anger. Twilight kept walking backwards down the hallway, every word she tried to say was cut off before she could voice it. “All I wanted was to have a home where ponies left me in peace or maybe even treat me like everypony else. From Fillydelphia to Mareami and Detrot it has always been the same. Ponies avoiding me or even being hostile towards me thinking I have some kind of infectious disease. Here they didn’t do those things and for the most part just ignored me. Thanks to you that will change now won’t it?” Twilight found herself pressed up against the front door. “Now you have drawn attention to the clumsy freak with the defective eyes!” Derpy shoved Twilight to the side of the door. With a quick yank on the doorknob she opened it and again roughly shoved Twilight through the open door. “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” Derpy slammed the door in the lavender unicorns face, narrowly avoiding hitting her. Twilight remained sitting there for a few minutes, unable to speak or move at the words she had just received. “It was a misunderstanding.” She quietly said to the door and felt tears trying to break free. Twilight had never been the cause of upsetting a pony that much and it gnawed at her. With a heavy sigh she turned to slowly head back to her library. There was nothing she could say or do now to clarify the situation and she needed the advice of her friends on this matter. Derpy sat in the hallway breathing heavily. With considerable effort she folded her wings back and took a few deep breaths. After a while all that was left was a feeling of numbness. She had been through this thing countless times before and at times had cried bitter tears. The tears had dried up long ago, she had no more to shed on this matter that seemed to follow her everywhere she went. After walking back into the kitchen she briefly considered finishing the dishes, but she saw no point anymore in doing so. The path she was on now she knew by heart and knew what would happen next. She gave the muffin a quick look before heading off towards the bedroom. For the first time a muffin was left uneaten in the Hooves’ household.