//------------------------------// // Chapter 74 // Story: Welcome to the jungle // by Hiver //------------------------------// I woke up the next morning, light filtering in through the window. Not that I could see much, most of my face was filled with dark purple mane. Scooting back, I gaahhed quietly, picking strands of Sparks’ mane out of my mouth. She was adorable, drooling onto the mattress, her wings completely relaxed against the bed. Ugh. Maybe it had been a bit much yesterday. Not in terms of drinking, but we didn’t get to bed until like three in the morning. Which is good, it will make it easier to turn our sleeping pattern back to normal, but right now I am tired. Yawning largely, I looked around. The guestroom wasn't that big, but big enough for both a bed and a pull out couch to fit, if barely. Twilight was still snoozing happily. Cloud and Ocean were still completely out of it on the pull out couch, Ocean funnily enough in about the same pose as Twilight. Wings relaxed, head resting between her forehooves. I yawned again and slowly and carefully stretched before I looked around. Humh. Sunset was missing. Which wasn’t unexpected, she was usually the first one up nowadays. At least I managed to spend some time with Luna tonight in the dream realm. Wasn’t the same as in reality, but was better than not at all. Stretching my wings, I then carefully moved off the bed, trying not to wake Sparks. Better to let her sleep, the longer she sleeps the easier things will be for her when we turn things around to normal. Which we should likely do soon. I left her to her sleep and silently closed the door behind me as I slipped outside. The house was silent, most everypony else was still clearly asleep. I glanced out the window on my way down the stairs. Heavy snow on the ground but the sun was shining and the weather looked clear with blue skies. Did not look forward to going outside, it will be so bright. “Good morning,” Minuette said, a frying iron floating in her magic as she flipped a pancake, “Breakfast?” she asked. I nodded, “Good morning. And yes, thank you,” and crossed to the table to kiss Sunset on the cheek, “Morning.” Sunset licked some jam off her lips, “Morning. Twi still asleep?” “Out like a light,” I agreed, “Thought it better to let her sleep for a bit longer,” I said before I looked at Minuette, “Want some help?” “Not on your life, your highness,” she said with a smile, “My kitchen.” “Fair enough,” I agreed and sat down next to Sunny, “You wouldn’t happen to have some tea as well, would you?” “Coming right up!” Minuette said cheerfully, floating a kettle from a cupboard and filling it while flipping a pancake onto a plate, floating it over towards me, setting it on the table before me. She was actually really good at that. Seriously, most unicorns didn’t really have the control to do anywhere near as much, most just lifted one thing at a time, maybe two. Minuette was managing four at once on multiple vectors and actions. Serious multitasking. Then again, she had been a student with Sparks at the school for gifted unicorns, so I suppose it shouldn’t be that surprising that she had a better grasp on her magic than most. But I sure as hell could not do what she was doing right now. She was making tea, cooking pancakes and serving them at once. Okay, maybe I could, but I sure as hell couldn’t do it as effortlessly as she did. “Cloud and Ocean looking like they’ll wake up anytime soon?” Minuette asked, pouring some more batter into the pan. I shook my head, “Not really,” I said with a small shrug as I had some jam onto my pancake, “Think Sparks will be a while too.” “Surprised to see you awake already, lazy bat,” Sunset teased with a smile. “Mmm, just woke up,” I agreed and stuck my tongue out at her, before digging into my breakfast. Mm, these are good, “...Minuette, what do you have in these? Because I think you may have a few things to teach my chef.” “Just the normal stuff,” Minuette said with a grin, “What you taste is texture. You need to get air into them.” “Huh.” “Green tea okay?” she asked as she took the water of the burner, “What about you, Sunset?” “None for me,” Sunset said. I nodded, “Green is fine. Think it will take a while for everypony else to wake up?” Minuette shrugged and flipped a pancake onto a plate for herself before starting another one, “Swift should be up in an hour or so. Rise won’t be up this side of noon unless somepony wakes her, she never is unless she’s off working.” “Speaking of which, I should go make sure Twi wakes up,” Sunset said and started to slip off her chair. I shook my head, “No, let her sleep. We need to turn things back to normal soon, better just let her get as much as possible.” “...Good point,” Sunset admitted and settled down again, “We might as well start early.” “What’s that like, anyway?” Minuette asked, dropping another pancake off at my plate, “Being awake during the night, I mean?” “Takes a bit getting used to,” Sunset admitted and stole half of my pancake, rolling it up to snack on, “But once you’re used to it, it’s not really any stranger than being awake during the day. Only problem is that bats don’t like as much light as everypony else so you have to either get good at light spells quickly or do like pegasi and earth ponies and carry a glow crystal necklace. At least in public spaces like the market there are some lights set up to make sure everypony can see well enough.” “And along the bridges,” I injected. Sunset nodded, “Yes, but not really enough,” she said and smiled at me, “Which is why everypony not casting light spells carries the crystals.” “...We should fix that, everypony should be able to go from A to B without needing one of those,” I said and poked at my pancake with my fork. “If nothing else, that was a safety hazard.” One more thing we have missed. Why didn’t anypony say anything? “Not saying it’s really a bad thing,” Sunset said, “It can actually be really cozy, especially looking out over the village, lights shining in the night. You can see the stars really well too.” “We should still fix that.”