//------------------------------// // 12: Night // Story: Scotch Muffin // by TheFoxern //------------------------------// The party seemed to have died down quite a lot, with the creatures of this world returning to their daily tasks. But there was still music playing and everyone still appeared to be in good spirits. “Wonder how long it'll take before they find out we're not wizards...” Scotch muttered. “What are you talking about?” Cookie said with a smile at her. He seemed to have shaken off whatever cloud had been hanging over his head. “He said we're whatever we call ourselves. So we're wizards if we want to be.” “I...suppose that is what he said...” She gave him a bit of a smile. “How did it go, my lady?” Sir Antwan said, he and the rest of their group were standing not far away. “Great!” Cookie said with a large grin. Scotch looked at him and then turned to Sir Antwan. “It could have gone better. Unfortunately we are not...not the wizards the Wizard thought we'd be.” “Yup! And Scotch isn't just a wizard.” Everyone looked at Cookie. “According to the wizard, she's a warrior.” Everyone then looked at Scotch, who shifted uncomfortably. “Well...technically he said I was no great warrior...” “But you could be a great one.” Tacky said with a large smile on her face. “The wizard is wise, he knows what to say.” She wanted to retort that she didn't believe that, but it would be quite rude. “Right...so I'm a not so great warrior and-” “And we're both not so great wizards. But Scotch is a wizard, too. She's a warrior wizard!” Cookie seemed very proud of himself for coming up with that. “The Wizard has given you both both quite the impressive titles,” Arthur said with a small smile. “I feel like times will be changing soon.” “Of course they are,” Tacky said with a large smile. “Now, let's go and see the city. I've not been here many times and there's a little shop that I used to love going to.” Scotch was immediately worried about any sort of shop Tacky would enjoy going to. “Actually I think...I think I'd like to sleep,” she said as she looked up at the large black buildings. “It's been a long day...” “Oh! I'm sorry, dear. You've probably had a very long day.” She gave Scotch a smile. “I know just the place.” It wasn't the type of place that Scotch had thought it would be and it actually looked like a very nice building. Scotch was starting to get bothered at the lack of color to the buildings, but the things that lived here dressed everything in bright colors. Banners and flags of all sorts hung from everything. The sign was quite simple and a bit odd. “Sleep Here,” Cookie read aloud, his brow scrunched as he stared at the sign. “Odd name...but I suppose it makes sense.” Scotch looked around before they headed inside. There was quite a crowd following them. “I will see you tomorrow,” Sir Antwan said as he moved to a sewer drain. “I have to make a report.” “Good night, Sir Antwan,” Scotch said as he disappeared into the drain. She wondered if it flooded down there when it rained. Then she wondered if it even rained at all. The sky had been clear the entire time they had been here and it was lit with beautiful colors of red and violet as the sun set. The inside of Sleep Here was a clean white, quite a contrast to the black of the outside. “Good evening.” There was a rather fat rabbit standing in front of them. “Rooms have already been made up for you and your companions, please follow me.” “Did you know we were coming?” Cookie said as they followed the rabbit to an odd door. “Of course. Everyone who does not live here stays at Sleep Here.” The door opened to a small room and everyone went inside. Scotch had heard of things like this, a sort of lift. Cookie however had a confused look on his face, especially when the door shut and the room shook slightly. When the door opened again to show a hallway, he was even more confused. “Did that room move, or did everything else?” “We went up. Or down,” Scotch said as they walked down the hallway. They were showed into a very nice room with two large beds. Cookie immediately dove at the nearest bed and burrowed under the blankets. “What is this soft thing?!” he shouted from somewhere in the mass of blankets. “Thank you,” Scotch said to the rabbit as he made his way back down the hall, followed by Tacky and Arthur. “Goodnight.” “Goodnight dearies,” Tacky said with a smile. Scotch smiled before she entered the room. “It's a bed, Cookie.” “Oh gosh...and we get to sleep here?” His head popped out from under the blankets, a large grin on his face. “Yes.” She hopped up onto the other bed. It was far larger than any bed she had seen, it was built for something bigger than ponies that was for sure. “It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again...not that you weren't comfortable, but there's something about blankets that are nice.” She put her bag down before she nuzzled her way under the blankets and got comfortable. There was the shifting of the bed and the pull of the blanket as Cookie crawled into her bed. “It's so warm...” He sounded like he was falling asleep already. Her brow furrowed as he invaded her bed. She had to shift a bit in order to look at him, and though she was going to protest, when she saw how comfortable he looked she didn't have the heart. She sighed softly as she shifted a bit to get comfortable once again, letting sleep slowly seep in. ~ Her eyes snapped open and she flailed around a moment before she escaped the blankets. The room was dark and outside the window was dark as well. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She could remember nothing about the nightmare she had just had and that frustrated her. It was an annoying feeling to be scared at something that not only wasn't real, but couldn't even be remembered. What was worse is that, she was thirsty. She shifted and crawled off the bed, finding that the floor was ridiculously cold on her hooves. She grumbled as she made her way over to a little sink that was in the room. It was an odd place for a sink, but she wasn't going to complain at this point. The water was cold and refreshing, and she felt a lot better. When she had had nightmares in the past, it had been easy to ignore them, because they were so ridiculous. A nightmare seemed so farfetched that it was easy to dismiss it, but she had seen so many impossible things in one day that they seemed more real than her old life. From the porcelain little pony to the boa wearing flamingo, her life seemed to have gone from bad to just plain weird. She stopped as she stared out the window. It looked like there was nothing outside it. Nothing at all. Her brow furrowed as she walked towards it slowly, it almost looked like the darkness was...rubbing against the glass; pushing on it. She walked over to her bag and retrieved one of her candles. She took it towards the window before she focused. The candle lit without too much difficulty. She started to feel like she was really getting the hang of it. But that thought was pushed from her head as she saw the darkness retreat. Not just disappear in the light, but actually retreat, as though the light actually hurt it. What it revealed was a sort of deck, or the roof of some other building. She realized that what she had thought was a window was actually a door made of glass. Her curiosity was getting the better of her as she could swear the darkness was actually pushing on the light, as if trying to find a weak point. It shifted and crawled over and around the small area of light as though it were alive. “Cookie?” she whispered, looking back at the bed. There was just a lump that was Cookie. “Cookie,” she hissed. But there was no reaction from Cookie, just the soft rise and fall as he breathed. She frowned slightly as she looked back out the glass door. Part of her wanted to go back to bed. Part of her wanted to just blow out the candle and pretend that she had not seen anything. Then there was the intense feeling of curiosity. The feeling that she wanted to figure out what was going on. She quickly went to her bag and got a second candle, leaving the other inside. She wanted to be able to find her room again easily, and leaving a lit candle seemed the best idea. The second candle proved a little more difficult to light but she managed. She looked outside once again, trying to figure out what was going through her head before she pulled the glass door open. It slid slowly to the side in an odd way that she had not expected at first. She lead with the candle, keeping it in front of her as she went outside. Her heart was racing as she watched the darkness retreat once again. She closed the door carefully before taking a few steps away from it. It was then she realized something a tad disturbing as she looked around; there was no moon, no stars, not a single light. Just darkness.