The light of the sun woke me up. Wow, dude… the hell did I just eat yesterday, what a wild ride of a dream, man… Yeah, I just need to get up, pack everything, go back to my trusty car and… Uh… my leg still hurts.
I was in a slightly shorter than usual bed, but I was cozy and warm. Looking around I could see the wooden beams, the light-yellow walls and the stone hearth with the remains of an extinguished fire... Ok. Sleeping inside a dream is illegal in my book, I thought, that would be a dream-ception...
It was still cold outside, it made me want to stay in the warm blankets and it was really cozy here. The blankets were warm and the pillows and, and... Did that fuzzy warm pillow just move? Turning around I found a pair of big blue sleepy half opened eyes a few inches away from my face. She greeted me good morning in her language. Or at least that's what I thought she said.
The source of that additional warmth was actually her. She had draped a wing across my back, serving as some kind of feather blanket. Oh dear... like a bird mom... I was actually too big for her little wing to be able to cover me properly, but it provided that little more warmth that I needed. I needed to find warmer clothes or something, or this was going to become awkward very quickly...
She got up and went downstairs. I tried to get up too, but I wasn't feeling like it. My head still hurt and I had a little nausea, not to mention the cold. Even though the bed covers weren't enough protection, they helped a lot and I didn't start to shiver again. Ok, bed is it then.
Tweets and chirps could be heard outside, and some birds came and landed on the window sill. They looked at me with curiosity and then flew away. I could also hear the clip-clop of the little equine’s hooves downstairs, and her soft horsy words, mixed with a few more sounds. Were those animal sounds? My nose wasn't as stuffy as before, and I realized that there was a faint smell, it smelled a little like a pet shop.
Looking around, there were birdhouses and nests on the beams, and probably those sounds were other animals. It made sense that this place would smell like that. Was she the crazy cat lady, tiny horse edition?
After an hour or so, Yellowings appeared again carrying a tray on her back. Hmmm... Yellowings, it was better than nothing. She put the tray on the bedside table. There was a plate of pancakes.
Pancakes...
Pancakes?
Yep, pancakes...
There were also other things. A little bowl of what looked like the same soup from yesterday, two sandwiches, a glass of milk, a glass of water and a glass of what looked like orange juice and an apple. That was way too much for just breakfast!
I sat on the bed, Yellowings was just looking at me and then she motioned to the tray and invited me to start eating. Out of curiosity I took one of the sandwiches and opened it... flowers. A flower sandwich... what the... Oh, yeah, she is a horse, she probably can eat that. The other sandwich had a slice of cheese. Ok, that's an edible one.
Orange juice or milk? I was in the mood for milk, just not plain milk, I wanted coffee with milk, chocolate or tea with milk... Orange juice then was the better option.
Pancakes, of course. Without silverware, I just had my hands to help me. Ok, it was better than nothing. I ate those and the apple in the end, and the little bowl of soup, that stuff was good. Then, Yellowings offered me a little white square pill that I recognized as the medicine she had given to me the day before.
Yellowings ate the things that I didn't want, starting with the flower sandwich, then some pancakes that I left for her and the milk. She was finishing when the doorbell rang. She perked her ears and went downstairs.
I could hear the door opening and another horsy sing song voice. This one was a little bit louder than Yellowings and had quite an exaggeratedly dramatic intonation in that musical way. They talked for a few minutes until they came upstairs. Yellowings was followed by the other equine.
The new horse was white with deep blue curled hair that bounced up and down with each step she took. I could also say that it was a she because she was similar in complexion to Yellowings and... She had make-up on her face, that was a big giveaway, I hope, the last thing I wanted is someone getting offended because of me assuming their gender. Eye shadow and I would say that those eyelashes weren't completely natural. And she had a horn. A unicorn?
The unicorn scrunched her face for a moment and then asked something to Yellowings, she answered and then the unicorn came closer. She looked at me with curiosity, especially my clothes. She poked my tee and my shorts, all the time murmuring horse words.
“Neigh whinny whinny snort.” Yellowings told me.
“Yeah, I know I said I would need clothes, but what does this have to do with… her?” I pointed at the unicorn.
“Neigh snort.” She responded.
“How on earth is she going to give me clothes?”
“Snort rumble whinny.” She clarified.
“Ah, of course, that makes sense…” For this place, after all. A unicorn fashionista, why not. Add it to the pile of what the fucks I already have.
Wait, what? How could I maintain a conversation with her? If I stopped and thought about her sounds, I couldn’t understand anything!
Yellowings left the bedroom for a moment, returning with my shoes in her mouth. The unicorn just stared in awe at them. They were just made out of synthetic material, they were resistant and had some grids that would maintain the feet cool in the heat of the summer, different shades of brown with little orange details, but nothing too flashy.
The unicorn's horn began to glow with a pale blue aura, and one of the shoes did too, and it started to float in the air. I stared in awe at it. The unicorn was manipulating one of my shoes using mystical powers.
Okay.
Roll with it.
The unicorn could make things levitate. But after all the crazy stuff I had already seen, I didn't panic or anything. It was just another weird thing to add to the pile.
Yellowings talked with the unicorn for a few minutes while she analyzed my clothes. The unicorn answered in the same language. Of course, I couldn’t understand anything no matter how much attention I paid to the conversation.
But wait… How did I even talk to the yellow one? Did I understand her? Of course not… but… yes at the same time? How did that work?
The more I analyzed how Yellowings told me the unicorn was a fashionista the less sense it made. There were no words, no meaning, only sing-song horsey noises!
Finally, the unicorn asked something, and Yellowings shook her head looking at the floor, and answered something pointing at me. The unicorn answered in a comforting tone. Then they exchanged a few more questions and answers and Yellowings escorted the unicorn outside, then waved her goodbye and closed the door.
Looking downstairs I could spot a few, almost empty, food bowls on the floor, and a few little animals here and there, some of them already leaving, others still eating the remaining food. Yep, it smelled definitely like a pet shop trough my stuffy nose.
It was still cold, but curiosity took the best part of me and I started to walk downstairs. Immediately, Yellowings looked back at me, flew to my position and pushed me upstairs again.
Wait...
She just... FLEW!
But those wings were TINY!
It shouldn't be possible for her to... Physics didn't work that way... Ok, probably that was just a big leap and not a normal flight. She just used her wings to help her. Just like a chicken would jump and flap the wings... like the snaken...
I shook my head. I had already seen that unicorn using some wingardium leviosa trick, and I just accepted it. But for some reason, Yellowings just flying with those vestigial wings was an uncanny idea. She should have been full of helium, or she should have had to flap those wings extremely fast like a fly or a hummingbird... Ok, no more thinking.
It was funny how I could really cope with very weird stuff, but something that was just slightly off just got to my nerves, like if this place was mocking my understanding of how physics worked.
All the way back to the bed, Yellowings said soothing things, maybe she had perceived my distress, but I bet she didn't have any idea about from where it really came from, her little innocent looking, adorable wings of doom.
I was still a little bit sleepy, and that medicine probably added to that feeling. Even though the sun was up and the room was really illuminated, I drifted back to sleep. The sun somehow warmed me up a little bit, so the temperature became more comfortable.
***
Get up, go to the bathroom, eat, back to bed. I suppose that that was going to be my routine while I was sick. And probably some visits from other little equines, if the unicorn visit was something to go by.
This time, on the tray, there was a single pancake, an apple and an orange juice glass. Actually, that was what I ate minus the bowl of soup. Neither sandwiches nor milk were present this time.
Interesting...
Was she trying to guess my diet just throwing random stuff and noting what things did I actually ate?
There were of course a few more items. A piece of toast with some jam on it, oranges, salad and a fish.
Yes, a fish... a little slimy raw fish.
And the square white pill with a glass of water.
I ate the piece of toast. I think it was strawberry jam. Not the best for lunch, but it was good.
I tasted the salad, but found out that some of the stuff it was made of was a little off. Like hay. I ate a little portion of the salad, carefully taking out of it the bits of hay and other plants and flowers that didn't look really edible for me. Yellowings paid a lot of attention to that act. I bet she noticed the stuff I wasn't able to eat. It was more like a way to inform her than really eating something out of hunger.
I drank the orange juice again. Then I ate the apple. Really not the best lunch, but it was something. It was a shame the fish was raw.
Yellowings ate the rest of the salad, the orange (biting it whole, peel and all) and the pancake, looking deep in thought as she did so.
Staring at the fish and back to me, she looked kind of relieved that I didn't choose it for some reason. But I wouldn't let it go to waste and specially not in this place where I would have problems finding meat, taking into account that except for the evil creatures, those equines looked like herbivores.
Just after we finished our lunch but just before Yellowings could take away the tray, I carefully took the fish and got up from bed. The yellow equine motioned me to go back, but didn't push me really hard. She was more interested in why I had picked up the fish.
I went downstairs and into the kitchen. It had a similar decoration than the rest of her home. Green walls with the wooden color trim from the wooden support structure. Interesting enough, there was the same ceiling decoration, with bird houses and bird nests perched on the beams, that wasn't very hygienic for a kitchen. And some sparse vines from the climbing plants that covered the roof were crawling inside.
There was a pale red carpet on the wooden tiled floor, very similar to the one in her bedroom, and the curtains covering the two standard square windows were a reddish pink with something like a floral pattern but with hearts instead of actual leaves or flowers.
The furniture was a cream-colored set of a kitchen cabinet, a stove and a plain wooden table. The stove had a handmade (hoofmade?) iron chimney, its irregular design suggesting that the stove was originally another piece of furniture repurposed. Not very safe or fireproof I would say, especially with almost everything here made out of wood.
Inside the stove was an almost extinguished fire, it was just ashes and some embers, signs of recent cooking. Thinking about it, the stove looked like some kind of barbeque, with a grill on each side, with two metal plates that could be used to cover them, so the smoke wouldn't come out when it wasn't being used to cook, or when the heat conducted through the metal plate was enough.
Yellowings got a little nervous about me getting close to the stove, and watched me closely, saying worried horse words and putting her front hooves on me now and then but not really pushing me.
"Shhh... don't worry, I know what I'm doing." I answered her while taking one of those little flammable liquid bottles. It was similar to the one that she had in her bathroom to light up the water heater.
Neighing slightly louder than usual, she pushed me backwards and with a little jump with the help of her wings, she took from me the little bottle with her hooves and stepped back from.
"Hey, I know how it works! I just want to cook this fish." I scowled at her.
Flapping her wings a little for balance, she stood on her hind legs while shaking her head. She pointed at herself with one of her forelegs while holding the little bottle with the other one.
"But I want to eat that fish, and I need to cook it first." I told her, holding it with one hand and pointing to the stove with the other.
She pointed at herself, dropped to all fours (except for the hoof that was holding the flammable liquid bottle) and came closer limping on three hooves. She nudged me a little out of the way.
A few drops of the flammable liquid made the fire come to life again. She looked back at me with a questioning look, so I put carefully the fish on the grill. That got me a frown from Yellowings, who of course felt uneasy with me near the fire.
I spotted the dishes and silverware and tried to get them, but the little horse denied me again, so I got upstairs instead. The little horse stayed behind, guarding the fire, but looking at me with a puzzled look.
"I'll be right back..."
I came back with the tray she had used a little earlier to bring me breakfast. The dishes were a little dirty, but the one that had the pancake on it was almost perfectly clean. I tried to get closer to the stove, but Yellowings cut the way.
"Okay, okay... You do it, but don't burn it." I told her. She nodded while saying something in those soft neighs.
I was surprised that not only she was able to cook the fish, but she seasoned it right and added some salad on the side, creating a really omnivore nice dish. By the way, the salad had only things I could eat.
Clever girl.
I felt a little bit spoiled by her antics. While she was adding the final touches to her culinary creation, I checked my phone again in the hopes that I could catch anything, but still no signal.