//------------------------------//
// Gathering Information 
// Story: Misty, Sprout, and the monsters of Knottshurr Island 
// by RiffRaff7942_YT 
//------------------------------//

Misty and Sprout walked through Maretime Bay, with Hitch in the middle.
“So, the Auroricorns have been hearing strange music every midday and midnight for the past three nights.”
“Yep, right so far.” Sprout replied.
“And it turns out to be a collection of nightmarish creatures-
“I wouldn’t use the term nightmarish.” Misty commented.
“Well what would you call them?” Hitch asked.
“…Something else.” Misty said.
“Fair enough,” Hitch replied, “So a collection of something else creatures, are gathered in a cavern in a mountain, claiming they’ve been there for 3 days, with no knowledge of how they got there, or how to get home.”
“Yeah that’s seems about right,” Sprout said, “And we want you to use your animal translation skills to get to the bottom of this.”
“Sure, I’ll give it a go.” Hitch said, smiling.
“Alright then,” Misty said, preparing the teleportation device she borrowed from Izzy.

Then, Hitch had a thought.
“I’ve actually just thought,” Hitch said, “What if we need to transport them somewhere more comfy?”
“Hmm?” Sprout said, inquisitivley.
“They’ve been there for 3 days, maybe they’d like a change of scenery. And to some extend, acoustics.”
“He’s got a point,” Misty said, “Sprout, why don’t you go and get some transport for them? A couple of carts would probably be enough. Have them ready around hereish, and we’ll transport the creatures to here.”
“Okay then,” Sprout replied, “Though I would’ve liked to go back to the ridge. But, you know that place better than I do. I’ll get to work.”

Sprout trotted off, whilst Misty and Hitch stepped through the portal after it had formed. Misty and Hitch bolted it towards the mountain where the creatures were resting. The Auroricorns gave the two a wide path as they ran through the town, and up the mountain. After they reached the top, they rested as Misty had before with Sprout. After a little while, they trotted in.

*MYM*

Sure enough, the creatures were there, not set up in a formation this time, but just laying around in the cave. Some of them looked sad, whilst others looked more okay with the current situation.
“I’m back guys!” Misty called. All the creatures looked at her. “And this is Hitch, he can talk to you, or rather he can understand you.”
“Alright Misty, if you set up the portal, I’ll get to work.” Hitch remarked.
“You got it Hitch,” Misty responded, and both got to work.

“Okay,” Hitch began, brandishing a pen and paper, “Let’s start with names. Who are you guys?”
The small furry creature with a log for a lower jaw spoke first; “We are the monsters of Knottshurr Island. That’s spelt K, N, O, T, T, S, H, U, R, R, and then just ‘island.’”
“So you refer to yourselves as ‘monsters’?” Hitch asked.
The purple mountain’s biggest face spoke next. “Yes, we come from a land of monsters.” The top smaller face spoke too. “Clue’s in the name, ‘my singing monsters’.”
“‘My singing monsters?’” Hitch asked.
Now it was the small tree’s turn to speak; “Yes, or MSM for short. We specialise in musical performances.”
“Yeah, the town knows all about that,” Hitch remarked, “I’m afraid you’ve all been disturbing the peace. Quite severely, performing ever 12 hours.”

The babushka rock then spoke, “Oh my, we’re all very sorry dear. It’s just What we do in our home dimension.”
(A friendly reminder, to Misty, they were all making random sounds.)
“Your home dimension, you say?” Hitch asked. “So you were transported here somehow.”
Now the four legged horned monster chipped in, “Ayup, no idea how, just ended up here one afternoon. Happened when we were sleeping.”
“Hmm, I see…” Hitch said, as he wrote this all down. “Well gentlemen, and lady, I have good news and bad news. Bad news is I have no idea how to send you home. Good news is, we’re going to escort you to more luxurious accommodations while we figure this out.”

Just then, Hitch’s phone began ringing.
“Umm, just a second.” Hitch reached for his phone. It was Sprout. Perhaps something went wrong.
“Hey Sprout. Something gone wrong?” Hitch asked.
“No no, everything’s fine,” Sprout began, “I was just thinking Maretime Bay is a very hot place, and some of the monsters, like that giant ice pick for example, seemed better adapted to more chilled places, like tundras. I think we should take them to Zephyr Heights instead of Maretime Bay.”
“Hmm…” Hitch had a think for a moment, “Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Good thinking there Sprout.”
“Thanks Hitch,” Sprout responded, “I’ll get the teleporter to Zephyr heights… somehow.”
“Okay, I’ll see ya in a bit.” Hitch said.
“Alright, bye.”
“Bye.”

“Okay fellas,” Hitch said to the monsters, “You’ll be transported via portal and otherwise to Zephyr Heights. They have top notch air conditioning for you if you need it at all.”
All the monsters agreed, eager to have a change of scenery, and Hitch looked over to Misty, who had the teleported ready to go.
“Just say the word and it’ll fire up,” Misty said to him.
“We’ll have to wait a while,” Hitch replied, “Sprout is taking the other end to Zephyr Heights. He thought it would be better than Maretime Bay, for guys like him.” Hitch pointed to the ice stalagmite. “While we’re waiting, let’s get your names. Do you prefer to be referred to by your actual name or your species name?”
The monsters all said different things, but they mostly agreed it would be easier to be referred to by their species.
“Okay then. Everybody line up!”
“Uhh, Hitch,” Misty said, “Did you just say ‘everybody’?”
“Well they’re not ponies, sooo… yeah.” Hitch replied.
“Huh, fair enough,” Misty said. And with that, Hitch got to work.

*MYM*

Meanwhile, Sprout was hitching a ride on the Mare Stream, curtesy of Zipp.
“Thanks for this at such short notice,” Sprout said.
“No problem Sprout,” Zipp replied, “I was just a little worried the girl couldn’t hold all your wagons.”
The plane was towing a lot of wagons. There were at least four in a big net, dangling underneath the airbus.
“It’ll probably be fine. It’s not too far to Zephyr Heights, isn’t it?” Sprout asked.
“Probably not as far as you think,” Zipp replied, “We’re probably over halfway there. You know, I’ll never forget the day me and Izzy made this baby. My pride and joy, though it’s probably Izzy’s pride and my joy, logistically speaking. It used to be an old tram just lying around, but me and Iz saved it from scrap. Kinda proud of myself, using her ‘uni cycling’ to repurpose something long thrown on the scrap heap.”
“Woah, you got a stove in here?” Sprout said, his voice slightly quieter. He had ventured into the back of the bus while Zipp was talking.
“Tell me before you eat something!” Zipp said loudly so Sprout could hear.
“Oh, umm.. I kinda already started eating this flapjack…” Sprout called back.
“That’s okay, you can have that.” Zipp said.
“Thank you!” Sprout replied.