Wanderlust: Equestrian Nights, Part II

"Fine by me, I just wanted to know what I'd missed." Spring pauses for a moment, seeming to inspect a grain in the wood, then asks, "Where's Taffy's room, anyways?"

The twins both point across the hall at Taffy's room. "If she's not awake, though, I don't think she'll be too thrilled to be woken up again."

Scorch, not really knowing Taffy or the full story of what is going on (he's only gotten the footnotes), says "You guys do that, I'm gonna go get ready." He closes his room's door and goes about his morning routine...

A door near the stairs opens, and a groggy looking Taffy Stretch steps out, rubbing her eyes as she looks down the hall at you.

"Morning..." she says around a yawn.

"Oh there she is." "Did you sleep well? You know, after all that last night?" "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It was..." "We heard a scary voice, the same one we heard under your house." "We thought it had something to do with you and/or the murder, so we panicked and grabbed you, you know, to try and save you." "Water had been drinking heavily." "And yet?" "But anyway, then we saw a vision of a mysterious alicorn." "And someone said something about mother, and you said you were adopted and now everything is really confusing and I'm glad you slept well, because this hangover is killing me."

"... Are you guys... Okay?" Taffy says, a mix of concern and suspicion in her tone.

"Hangover." Water just points at her head. Soft glances back to their room. "I'm... concerned. A lot about what happened last night, but also because Wandering hasn't woken up yet after Nightmare... left?"

"Why am I not surprised," Bubbling Spring says from down the hall, fiddling with a piece of paper.

"I'm trying to figure out how not to burn it," he says after a moment's contemplation. "It's just not the same when he's expecting me to."

The twins share a look at Bubbling, then go back to Taffy. "So, if you didn't hear any of that, or have any nightmares..." "I guess its nothing we can worry about now. Bubbling was saying something about a Well we need to go visit."

Scorch leaves his room with a yawn when he is ready: scales washed, teeth brushed, chains dangling...

"... Okay. I guess. I'm going to go find coffee," Taffy says, turning and going down the stairs.

As Taffy leaves, several interesting things happen. It begins with Scorch opening the door...

The door bumps into Bubbling Spring...

Bubbling Spring jumps in the air with a "Gah!" followed by a burst of flame.

The flame happens to lick the piece of paper.

The piece of paper catches, and begins to burn.

Bubbling Spring rubs his rump a little, glaring at Scorch a moment before he notices. His eyes widen as panic sets in. "No! I wasn't ready yet!" he says, trying desperately to put it out through stomping. It is too little, too late.

The flame begins to grow, forming a shadow, and then a silhouette. The silhouette grows long and slender, forming first a pony-like head, and then a reptilian claw on one side followed by a lion's paw on the other as it abruptly stops being a silhouette. The two arms stretch over Discord's head as legs and finally the long, swishy tail take form.

"Good morning, everypony!" he says cheerfully.

The twins, while turning to follow Taffy downstairs, end up watching the sequence of events, and end staring at Discord. "Oh, we're starting kinda early today, huh?" Water yawns and Soft sighs, glancing back at their room, still concerned about Wandering.

At first Scorch is taken back by the sudden appearance in front of him, but then takes a step forward. "Discord?!"

"In the flesh," Discord responds, tipping a tall top hat that Scorch is sure wasn't there before. "I don't believe we've met. You obviously know who I am, may I ask who might you be?"

"I'm the dragon you trapped in a maze of doors two months ago!" Scorch snaps back...

Discord's expression darkens. "Yes, because I never get tired of hearing about two months ago," he says in an exasperated tone, leaning in just slightly towards Scorch. "Believe me when I tell you I have paid dearly for it. But this is a little more urgent than that, I'm afraid. So, can we be reasonable, grown-up ponies, or shall we pull out the more desperate measures?" Discord says in a level, controlled tone, holding out an open claw as he finishes.

Scorch also slightly leans in as he takes a couple of breathes through his nostrils as he calms down and considers Discord's offer, eyes unflinching. "Fine," is the response, as Scorch gives the draconequus a firm clawshake, "I'm Scorch, Wandering's assistant". He leans out and breaks his heavy stare...

Discord breaks into a smile as he takes Scorch's claw. "Wonderful! I'm so glad we got that out of the way," he says in a more pleasant, almost excited tone. "Is everyone here, then?"

Scorch turns his head. "Wandering! You awake yet?!"

"Doubtful. He's suffering from what seems to be a severe case of nightmare posession and some really expensive green stuff." "Yeah, he's still out. Also, once Taffy has her coffee, we were going to head out to look at a well." "Yeah, let's try to make it quick."

"That might have to wait," Discord says. "Thanks to Bubbling Spring here, we have some valuable new information. I spoke with Princess Twily this morning, and I need to take you all there to discuss her shiny new plan."