Chapters “Are we there yet?”
Stan chuckled. “You’ve said that ten times already Carl, I doubt we’re any closer.”
Carl groaned and fell back on his seat. “But it feels like we’ve been on this train forever.”
“We’ve only been here for, like, ten minutes Carl.” Stan stretched in his own seat and laid down. “How could you be this bored already?”
Carl sat back up and looked out the window of the train cart, roughly ten minutes ago, he and Stan left to go see their queen, along with the princess herself to help organize the treaty. “How do you know this will work?”
Stan craned his neck toward him while still laying down. “How will what work?”
“I mean, this whole ‘peace’ thing.” Carl started fidgeting. “You don’t think that the ponies will just forgive us in one day, right?”
Stan rolled his eyes. “Of course I don’t, in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole town of Canberlot started an angry mob once we get back.”
“You mean Canterlot, and come on Stan, I know there mad at us, but I don’t think the’ll-”
Stan stood up. “If a bunch of creatures destroyed your town, would you forgive them in a day?”
Carl crossed his hooves. “Hey. Ponies are very forgiving.”
Stan glared at him and laid back down, this time facing away from him. “You should know, since you’re like them.”
“Here we go.” Carl thought, he knew this was the part where Stan would talk about how he left the hive. “Listen, Stan, I had a very good reason why I left.”
“Oh yeah, what? You thought life was too hard,” Stan mocked. “or that you couldn’t handle the responsibilities of a caretaker?”
Carl narrowed his eyes. “It wasn’t just that. It was the way you guys treated each other.” Carl walked up to Stan’s bed and looked down at him. “You guys are real jerks to your siblings.”
“That’s how we act Carl.” Stan closed his eyes. “Maybe you shouldn’t be such a sissy.”
“I’m not a sissy!” Carl yelled.
“Says the bug that can't even handle being punched in the arm,” Stan smiled. “or the one that cried to the queen when he get hur-”
*SLAM*
Stan turned over to see that Carl left, and that the train cart door that led to another room was closed. Stan could only chuckle and lay back down. “Or the one that storms off like a hatchling when he knows I’m right.”
“Are you right?”
Stan jumped and looked to his left to see his now cured fear in front of him. Though she wasn’t paying much attention to him “Celestia? Shouldn’t you be-”
“I’m actually here for Luna.” Celestia continued looking away from Stan and walked toward the door that Carl walked through.
“Luna?” Stan tapped his chin. “That blue alicorn, isn’t she the one who...Princess?” Stan was answered with a door slam. He grunted. “Well then.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Stupid Stan, doesn’t even know what it’s like.” Carl grumbled to himself as he made his way to the restroom. “‘Maybe you shouldn’t be such a sissy Carl’” He said in a mocking tone. “Like he’s not one either, he can’t even handle confronting a princess, it’s not even that hard. Sure, their far more powerful and far more important, but it’s not like you’re asking them out or something.”
Carl looked up to see he was at the door of the bathroom, he sighed and put his hoof on the door. “If only he knew just why I left, it wasn’t just the hive or the way they acted. All I wanted was to eat,” He then threw his hooves in the air, opening the bathroom door doing so, and looked at a nearby window. “but miss chrysie over there couldn’t even feed us, so why would anyling even want to stay, when you can just find a mare of your own.”
He dropped his hooves and sat down just as a pair of eyes looked at him through the darkness of the bathroom door. “Oh who am I kidding, like any mare would want this.” He looked down at himself. “I don’t even think a changeling is supposed to have this many holes.”
“That only makes it better~”
This time, Carl’s ear stems went into the air. “W-what?” Seconds later, he felt, and saw, a strange aura surround him, and before he knew it, he was dragged into the bathroom with the door shutting in front of him.
Before Carl could get another word out, his felt body turn around and look into a bright blue light. “Gah! What the-”
“Shhh. No talking.”
Carl’s eyes finally adjusted to the bright light and, and with a yelp and wide eyes, he said. “P-p-p-p-princess?”
He felt a hoof touch his lips. “I said no talking, little bug.”
Carl felt the hoof travel down his mouth to his neck, he could only guess where it was going. “Uh...C-c-can I just say that, y-y-you need to noAAAAAAAAHH!”
Carl gasped once the hoof reached it destination. “Just relax now, I’ll take care of you~”
Carl's ear stems went up, as did his wings, once he heard that. He heard those exact words before, just like the last time. It was at that moment that he knew what was going on. “I-I-I’m in a dream.” He thought. He looked down, trying to see past the blue light, but with it shining in his face, he couldn’t get a good look.
“Sweet sensations~”
Carl yelped again. “L-l-look, I know what you’re doing, a-a-and it needs to stop, alright!” Carl was trying to get the upper-hoof in this situation, but in the position he was in, he knew what would happen next. He looked up to see that the light was traveling down to his waist. His eyes went wider than ever at that point. “D-donAAAAHHEEN’T.”
He blushed and went cross eyed once he felt it, the same thing he had felt yesterday, and the day before, and before that. This pure pleasure that had flow through him was now happening to him again, and just like before, he couldn’t control himself for two seconds. So, like a hatchling, he screamed out the name of the mare he knew was doing this, the same mare that was creating this unforgettable feeling for days on end, the one, who he knew, was the cause of all of this.
“L-L-L-LUUUUUUUNNNAAAAAAAA!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carl arched his back and screamed, unable to comprehend the feeling that had claimed his body, he let all of the air out of his body and flopped back down, catching as much breath as possible. He then opened his eyes and raised his head in the air, panting and looking around the room in a daze. “heah, hugh, blehgu...ugh...neah...Uhg….nrrrgg….WHY!”
Carl laid his head back down on the arm of his couch. “Every morning…Why does this happe- oh for chrysie’s sake…” He lifted his blanket to see that it happened again. “That’s the third time this week.” He put his hooves to his eyes and pretended that it would go away, but after a few minutes he knew waiting would just make it worse.
He went through this same cycle for the past three days, and each time he would wake up drenched in sweat and heavily breathing, and his stomach would, yet again, be filled with more food than before. “At this rate, I’m gonna be overweight from all of this.”
He sat up and got off his couch, doing so made the blanket fall off him and land on the floor. He quickly rolled it up in a ball and inspected it. “Welp...Back to the wash. AGAIN!”
He sat down on the floor and pounded it with his hoof.. “Why does this keep happening! It wasn’t even consensual for queens sake! Why does my mind keep thinking that I would even have a chance with her!”
He pounded the floor again and stood back up. “I mean, it’s not like I actually want to...do that…” He closed his eyes and shivered. “No, I don’t...There has to be a reason, it’s not just because she fed me...no…there has to be something else that is causing this.” He glanced over at his blanket again. “This is gonna be hard to explain when I go to the laundromats again.”
Carl picked the blanket back up again. “Bleh...dish soap.” He looked toward the door and grimaced. “What if they-” He scratched his chin. “Nah...T-they won’t notice, they just clean the clothes without question.” He took hold of his blanket and walked toward the door. “Nope, no one will notice.” He pushed the door open, closed his eyes, and smiled, knowing that this will all be over soo-
“HI CARL!”
Carl then yelled at the top of his lungs and threw the blanket in the air, spinning around multiple times before coming to a stop in front of one of his brothers. Carl then gasped once he saw the blanket covering his friends face.
“Uh...um…” Carl awkwardly lifted the blanket off his brother and rolled it in a ball again, he put on a nervous smile while his brother put on an angry one. “Um...Hi brother, uh...looks like the...uh...paint from the...uh...blanket rubbed off on ya...heh..heh..yeah...Sorry bout that.”
Carl continued to smile at the changeling in front of him, unfortunately, he wasn’t smiling back. With a look of disgust, and a wipe of his face, the changeling in front of him said. “Carl, did you have that dream again?”
“M-Maybe…”
“So what’s this, like the third time or something?”
“Yeah, didn’t know you were keeping track too.”
Carl felt a hoof smack him in the back of the head, and he knew just who’s hoof it was. “Do you have to be so hard, Stan?”
The changeling next to Carl, known to him as Stan, rolled his blue eyes and continued walking next to him on the street. “Listen Carl, you need to understand that something like this is, not only rare, but very concerning.”
Carl held his blanket tighter. “I know it is, but how am I supposed to deal with it?”
Stan shrugged. “I dunno, wear a condom before you go to sleep?”
Now Carl smacked him in the back of the head. “I’m not having sex Stan, it’s just a dream.”
Stan rubbed his head and chuckled. “It was just a suggestion Carl, and, in a way, it is sex, just...in a dream.”
Carl groaned and looked down at his blanket. “Um...sorry about me throwing the cu-”
“I’d...rather not talk about it Carl, as far as I’m concerned...it never happened.” Stan shivered, not even wanting to think about what was in the blanket.
Carl would've laughed, but the whole situation was becoming too much for him, he never even knew what a ‘wet dream’ was until Stan told him the first night this happened.
Stan shivered again and looked at Carl. “Maybe this time you’ll tell me who it was that was doin’ it with you?”
Carl blushed. “Um...n-not really sure..it..uh….the light was, um, really bright and…”
Stan rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me, keep living the rest of your days like this, I don’t really see such a problem though.”
“How do you not see the problem.” Carl lifted his balled up blanket. “This is a pretty big problem Stan, I don’t want to constantly wake up to me having to clean this.”
“But you’re practically having something that most changelings are lucky enough to get. I haven’t even heard of anyling who had three in a row.”
“That’s what’s scaring me, Stan. What if this keeps going, what if it never stops.”
Stan laughed. “Then you’d be a very lucky changeling.” He wrapped an arm around Carl’s neck. “Come on now Carl, this is a great gift that the mothers and fathers of the queen gave to you. You should be happy.”
Carl groaned. “Feels more like a curse than a gift.”
Stan let go of him and looked up. “We’re here.”
Carl looked up as well and sighed, seeing the big sign that said LAUNDROMAT. “Do you think that they’ll...know.”
Stan patted his friends back. “Come on now, Carl. I’m sure they it’s not that big of a-”
Carl stopped Stan by unraveling the blanket and staring at him. “What kind of stain do you think they’ll believe this is…”
Stan jokingly expected the blanket. He had no problem talking and dealing with these kinds of things, he did go through love training after all, where they teach changelings how they can get the most food out of a pony, and just like his other siblings, he snickered throughout the entire class, but Stan knew this was a very serious case of it. “Yup, I don’t think they’ll believe that you split blue juice all over it again.”
Carl groaned again and walked into the laundromat, with Stan close behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Welcome to the lawn dry mats, how may the manager assist the consumer this morning.”
Stan and Carl froze in their tracks once they saw who was working the front desk, one of the many creatures they couldn’t believe would work here, and actually be a manager.
“Twig?”
The changeling at the counter chuckled. “Yup. It’s me alright.”
Stan walked up to the counter while Carl hung his head and made his way to a washer. “Twig, what are you doing here?” Stan asked. He knew all too well that this changeling was only qualified as a shield, since he was one of the biggest bugs in the swarm, but of course that meant he wasn’t the brightest.
“I work here now, I am manager number two thirty two.” Twig ended with a smile.
Stan facehoofed. “Twig, that’s your ranking number, not your ‘managing’ number.”
“It’s not?” Twig fidgeted. “Well, that fine, as long as I get to wear this tag.” He pointed at his name tag that was pinned to his chest.
Stan chringed. “Um...Twig, you know that pin is in your carapass...right?”
“My what?” Twig tilted his big head, almost making him lean.
“Your skin, Twig, the pin is in your skin, how are you not in pain right now.”
“Pain?” Twig scratched his head, unsure as to what Stan was talking about. “I just put it on me, just like the boss said.
Stan was starting to realize, not only how strong Twig was, but how thick headed he was as well. “What, that you need to stick it in your body?”
Twig snickered. “No, silly bug, he said that lying bugs like me need to make other ponies know who I am at all times, and to never disguise as anyone or I’m fired.”
“Really?” Stan said with glaring eyes.
“Yup, and that the only reason that I got the job was because he felt sorry for a backstabbing bug like me, and because he couldn’t stand me living over there.”
Stan turned to where Twig was pointing to see Twig’s home, which was just a dark alley with trash all over it. “Right…” Stan looked back at Twig. “Twig, are you sure this is the right job for you?”
“Um…” Twig went crossed eyed for a second and looked down at his nametag. “Guess so.” He said with a smile.
Stan rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter. “Hey Carl! Is it done yet?”
“It’s still washing Stan, laundry takes time to clean when it comes to these machines.”
Twig chuckled. “Nice rhymes. Wait, what is he washing?”
“His blue stained blanket.” Stan said nonchalantly.
“Oh...why is it stained?” Twig asked, causing Stan to smile and Carl groan.
“Um...Twig, do you know what can causes blue stains?”
Twig went crossed eyed again. “Um...blueberry juice?”
Carl ran up to the counter, nudging Stan out of the way. “Yes, it was blueberry that cause my blanket to-”
*BBBZZZZ*
Carl turned around to see the was was done. “Laundry’s ready sir.” Twig said.
Stan smiled. “Better go switch it over, Carl.”
Carl grabbed Stan by the neck. “If you so much as hint Twig about me staining my blanket, so help me I’ll-”
“How’d you stain your blanket Carl?”
Carl turned to Twig, who had his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. “Um...with...the blueberries…”
“Blueberries?” Twig raised his big eye. “But don’t we just eat love?”
Stan pushed Carl off of him and rested his arm on the counter. “We can eat other things besides love, Twig, but it seems that Carl here doesn’t need to eat anything at this rate.”
Carl blushed. “Uh...I...I do too need to ea-”
“Why doesn’t he need to eat” Twig asked. “OH! Is it because of the blueberries?”
Carl covered his face to hide the red that was coming off it while Stan started laughing. “Listen, Twig, you know how we get love, right?”
Twig nodded.
“And you know what happens when we get love, right?”
Twig nodded.
“And you know ways that it can happen, right?”
Twig thought about that for a minute, then he nodded again. “I think so.”
“Well, let’s just say that Carl here-”
Carl dragged his hooves across his face and ran up to Twig’s face. “I had a wet dream! OKAY!”
Silence filled the room, Carl was lucky that no one else was in the building but them, naturally he looked left and right and backed away from his big brother. Twig scratched his ear. “So, you were dreaming that you were in an ocean surrounded by berries?”
*BBBBZZZZ*
Carl slowly turned around and walked toward the dryer. “Just tell him, everyling will know anyway.”
Stan waved a hoof in the air. “Aw, don’t be so sad Carl, it’s not something to be embarrassed about.”
“Yeah Carl,” Twig climbed over the counter, making the ground shake when he landed. “I usually have dreams where I’m swimming in cheese, pretty calming to.”
Carl took his blanket out of the dryer and glared at his brothers. “Yeah, well at least you wake up with dry blankets while I need to deal with this.” He unfolded his blanket and breathed a sigh of relief. “At least the stains gone.”
“Why are you so mad about berry dreams, Carl?” Twig asked.
Stan chuckled. “Um...Twig, he said he’s having wet dreams, you know what the means, right?”
Twig nodded. “Yup, he dreams about swimming in the ocean and waking up with water in his bed...right?”
Carl and Stan gave Twig weird looks while Twig smiled. “Um...where did you hear this?” Carl asked.
“I read books Carl.” Twig said with his head held high.
Carl came within inches to Twigs face while Stan tapped his chin. “Twig, i’m not wetting my bed, I’m doing something that is probably even more embarrassing than that.”
“What? going number two on it?”
Before Carl could smack Twig across the face, Stan came in between them and said, “Carl, if you really want to know how to fix this, then why don’t you do what Twig here said.”
“What’d I say?” Twig asked.
Stan placed his hooves on Twigs shoulders. “You said you read books about...that, so maybe Carl here can know about what’s causing all of this.”
“Reading books?” Carl tilted his head, as did Twig. “I don’t think they’ll have a book about this kind of thing, Stan.”
“What kind of thing?” Twig asked.
Stan shook his head and grabbed Carl. “Come on now Carl, this is probably one of the only ways to fix this, normally I would just go with it, but if it’s really bothering you that much, then maybe we should look into this.”
Carl thought about this, he has been the the library before, but never in a section where it talked about things like this. He looked back down at his blanket, seeing that it was indeed starting to stain a bit, he could only imagine how many times it would take untill the blanket was completely...stained. He grimaced and looked up at Stan. “Alright, fine, let’s see if they have something about this.”
Stan smiled and made his way to the door with Carl by his side. “Wanna come Twig.”
“Sorry guys but my shift doesn’t end till midnight.” Twig hung his head and made his way to the desk.
“Sheesh, working till midnight…” Stan opened the door. “But you can still go on breaks, right?” Stan asked.
Twig raised his head. "You beat your sweet bippy I can!" Seconds later, Twig ran out the door and into the street. “Break time!” He then ran in a random direction with his tongue in the wind.
Stan sighed. “Welp, let’s go get him before he hurts himself.”
Carl rolled his eyes while Stan ran after the big changeling. “And by that you mean hurt others.” Carl looked back down at the blanket and groaned. "Great, now there's another blue mark, and it's even darker too."
“Well, I was walking along the sidewalk when I saw a bug, hello bug. I followed the little dickens to this building see, then I hit my head on that wall,
*SMACK*
“Oops, sorry. It was this one.
*SMACK*
“Then I gazed at the stars.”
“Um...Twig?”
Twig shook his head and turned around to see two changelings with crossed arms and annoyed faces. “Yes Stan?”
“Twig, that doesn’t answer our question.” Stan said.
“You had a question?” Twig tilted his head and walked back out onto the sidewalk.
Carl facehoofed. “Yeah, Twig. You didn’t answer how you-”
Twig interrupted Carl by pulling him in for a side hug. “But I already told you how I got the job, silly.” He gave him a quick noogie and pushed him away.
Carl rubbed his head while Stan punched Twig in the arm, not causing any pain whatsoever. “Twig, we asked why that job, why not something better.”
“Don’t you know Stan,” Carl walked in between them and adjusted his blanket on his back. “changelings like us can’t get ‘better jobs’ the only way we can is if we-”
“Get engaged?” Twig interrupted.
Both Stan and Carl looked at him in astonishment, it wasn’t every day Twig answered a question right. “Um...yes, Twig. How did you-”
“Because Scarlet was able to get a job in accounting by going out with a pony, and she didn’t even need to hypnotize him.” Twig started walking again, with Stan and Carl close by.
“How do you know about this?” Stan asked. “I know for a fact that not a whole lot of changeling keep up with the latest news when it comes to relationships.” He eyed him suspiciously.
“I read the paper, Stanley.” Twig answered with a smile.
Carl sighed and looked back at his blanket, knowing full well that this will not be the last time he’ll clean it. Truthfully, he didn’t mind having the dreams, they were nice, but the ‘aftereffect’ was what bothered him. He shook that thought away and went back to the conversation. “So, you read the news then?”
Twig craned his head to Carl and nodded. “Yup, that’s where I tried to find a job.”
“Really?” Stan tilted his head. “You looked in the listings?”
“Yeah, there were tons of things I could've done, there was this one place in the clouds that helped make colors, but I thought it would be too far away from home.”
“Twig, you don’t have a-”
“And then,” Twig continued. “There was this other job that dealt with pizza.”
“Pizza? I didn’t know you could cook Twig.” Carl was surprised that Twig could do anything actually.
“Oh no, The ad said that I didn’t need to do anything but sit in an office and look at screens.”
“Screens?” Stan had no idea what those were. “Probably another name for a window.” He thought.
Twig nodded again. “I was gonna take it, but then brother Mikey took it instead.”
“Mike?” Stan asked. “That jerk took it?”
“Oh, he’s not a jerk, Stan. Just because he yells a lot and gets in fights doesn’t make him a jerk.”
Stan rolled his eyes and decided to skim the street. “So what else did you look for.”
“Hu? Oh! I was gonna help this one stallion at a farm.” Twig said with his still present smile.
“Farming now?” Stan was starting to not believe any of this.
“Yup, the ad said he needed someone with the backbone of a yak, get used to being called nincompoop, and know how to peel potatoes.”
“So he lives in Idahoof?” Stan asked, knowing full well that that city was very far from here, and that it grew potatoes. “Is that why you couldn’t take the job.”
“He doesn’t live there, silly, he lives on a colt-de-sac, and before that he lived in the neightherlands.”
“Weird pony.” Stan was half listening and half looking for a library while Carl was still confused on Twigs story.
“How do you know this?” Carl asked.
“I worked for him, untill he said that I had brought shamed to the son of a shepherd and kicked me out. It was fun while it lasted though.”
“What a strange world you live in, Twig.” Carl looked down, unable to comprehend what Twig has been going through.
“I come in peace, Carl.” Twig pulled Carl in for another hug, but before he could rub his brothers head again, Stan stopped him and pointed forward.
“There.” Stan said. “That’s the place, right Twig?”
Twig dropped Carl and squinted his eyes at the building. “I think so, it has those letters that spell out liberty and justice for everyling.”
Carl got up and dusted himself off. “You mean library.”
“That too.” Twig started walking. “Let’s go see if it has those books about mind reading!”
Stan and Carl could only stand back and look at Twig running down the street, knocking ponies out of the way and having his tongue flap in the wind.
Carl sighed. “Are you sure this place will help.”
Stan shrugged. “I’m sure it does, If there’s one thing I know about knowledge, is that it’s always written down somewhere, that’s how you get information about things.”
“But who would make a book about this.” Carl craned his head at his blanket.
Stan shrugged again. “A pony who had a lot of time on their hooves? And was very perverted?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“No, it would be under the science section.”
“But if dreams are magical, why would you need science to know about them?”
The red pony at the front desk rubbed her temples. This would be the hundredth time someone asked her a question today. “Sir, dreams are involved within ones self conscience, ergo, books about the science of the mind will better help you learn more about nighttime visions, rather than books of magic and sorcery.”
Twig went cross eyed. “What's an ergo?” He asked, causing the mare at the front desk to groan in annoyance.
The sound of front doors opening made the pony look up and put on a smile. “Good day gentlecol- or uh...lings, how can I-”
“Do you have books about dreams?” Carl asked, standing next to Twig with Stan close by.
The mare answered with her head hitting the desk. “You’ll find all your information over in the science section of the library.” She answered with her head still stuck to the desk.
Stan raised an eye. “But dreams are magical, right?”
The mare raised her head in the air and yelled, “Fine! You know what,” She pointed at a door behind her. “All your fantacy dreams are over there in that room. Happy?!” She fell on his desk again and sighed.
The changelings looked at one another before shrugging and walking to the door. “Thanks for the help.” Twig said before whispering to Stan, “Why’s she so angry?”
“Does it look like I know, Twig?” Stan said.
“Maybe.” Twig said stupidly.
Carl turned around and put his hoof on the door. “Listen, can we just find this book already. I really want this...to...be…...over…”
As Carl opened the door, he and his friends couldn’t help but gaze at how long the room was, and how tall every shelf was as well, and each one of them was filled to the brim of books.
“Whoa…” Was all they could say to such a sight. After a few minutes of staring, the mare came behind them with a cart full of books and said. “I’d suggest you not go in,” She turned around and grabbed a book. “With that many books, it might just take a-”
*SLAM*
“...While.” The pony sighed again and picked up another book, placing both books on a shelf. “I will never understand those insects.”
“No...no...nope...nah...not that...not this...nope...nuh uh...negative...where is it?”
Carl popped his head out of the pile of books Stan had thrown at him at said, “What are you looking for, exactly?”
Stan shifted his body and made the ladder roll over to another shelf with more books. “Duh, something that deals with dreams. It can’t be that hard to find.”
“Dreams?” Carl said. “Stan, I don’t think that-”
“Found it!”
Stan and Carl looked down the hall to see Twig carrying a stack of books on his back. “Found what?” Stan asked. “Books on how to be better at cleaning laundry?” He chuckled, hoping others would do the same.
Carl rolled his eyes and Twig set his books down. “No, silly Stan." Twig smiled and stuck his tongue out. "I found books that will keep me up at night.”
Stan decided to ignore this and turned back to book searching. “Keep you up at night?” Carl was starting to question Twig's vocabulary. “Why would you wanna stay up?”
Twig picked up a book and smiled. “So I can stay awake during the night shift. Just look at this one.” Twig ran up to Carl and held the book in his face. “The Back-Breaking-Baker. A story of a fellow pony pastry maker who sides with the Mafia to pound ponies into delicious pastries for bits.”
Carl stuck his tongue out and shook his head. “Gross.”
Twig gave the book to Carl and reached for another one. “And this one. The Garden of Weeds. A story about a mare teacher whose body was fused with a weed, now giving her super weeding strength to teach her class.”
“Super weeding...what?” Carl was having a tough time trying to understand all of these books Twig was showing him.
“And this!” Twig reached for another one and held it high.
“The Haunting on Apple Street ?” Carl tilted his head, making sure he read the title right.
Twig dramatically held the book down and stared straight into Carl’s eyes. “The story of three ponies whose souls were taken away by the Burger Slicer, and now they must get their revenge by possessing their relatives body’s, and forcing them to-”
Carl put a hoof in Twig’s mouth. “Twig! What kind of book are you reading, this stuff is really weird.”
Twig spit the hoof out of his mouth and reached for another book. “Not as weird as the Insane Tree Pony From Down the Lane. A story of a mass murdering scientist, and her lizard test subject, who experimented on different emotions to create!” He flipped through the pages of the book until an image popped up. “The Loylauhongenkinmaginarium .”
“T-the what?” Carl looked at the picture and tried to see if such a word even existed.
Twig pulled Carl close to him and held the book in eye level. “The Loylauhongenkinmaginarium! A creature with five different emotions, each one more powerful than the last, and with all of them combined, the creature will help the scientist rule the ninth dimension!”
“Um…” Carl was figuring out what to say in response to all of this. “Shouldn’t the pony start smaller?”
Twig close the book and sighed. “She tried that in the eighth dimension, didn’t work.”
“How do you know that if you didn’t even read the book yet?”
Twig tossed the book in with the others. “Oh, I read all of them, very nice reads Carl, they’ll keep you up at night.”
“How?” Carl asked, now thinking that this was just a waste of time. "And why would you even wan't to read things like that."
“Because they leave really cool images in your mind. Especially this...really...big….ONE!” Twig pulled a heavy book from the pile and slammed it right in front of Carl's hooves.
“Future Deeds?” Carl said.
Twig flipped to the middle of the book. “I only read half of it, but it’s about this pony who found this hideous creature with fully blue eyes, and transparent wings, and holes for hooves, and a body as dark as the night!” Twig shivered while Carl was starting to get a picture of what this creature was.
“Uh...Twig.”
“And as the pony took the poor monster in,” Twig continued. “he realized the monster was the offspring of a great ruler, one who almost destroyed the whole land of Equestria!”
“Twig…”
Twig let go of Carl. “And to make matters worse, the creature betrays her caretaker and vows to continue her true father’s work.”
Carl rubbed his neck. “Twig, we don’t have a Dad, remember how he-”
“What?” Twig looked back and forth from the book to Carl, then laughed. “Oh, silly Carl, the monster isn’t one of us, she’s a Gnilegnahc. A creature who has morphing abilities, and can consume emotions rather than food.”
Carl groaned “Twig, you do realized that Gni-whatever, is spelled backward for Changeling, right?”
“It is?” Twig flipped through the book more until he reached the back. “Hu...guess so, and I thought Pencil Licker was more clever than that.” He scratched his head and looked at Carl. “How’d you figure that out?”
Carl sighed and sat down. His blanket still on his back. “Twig, let me explain something to you...”
While Carl went into a rant, Stan reached into the last book of the shelf and pulled it out. He silently gasped at the sight of it. “No way, a book on...on...The Moon's Guide to Dream walking... Hu?” He said. “Guess it makes sense that it has a moon on the cover, not sure why it has a pony’s face on it though.”
After silently reading for a bit, he smiled and looked at his brothers. “Hey guys! I found it!”
“...and that’s why I hate plagiarism...What’d ya say Stan?” Carl said, now ending his rant.
Carl and Twig turned to their right to see Stan holding a book in with his magic. “I said I finally got it guys, now we can...uh…” Stan scratched his head while his friends walked up to him.
“What’d ya find Stan?” Twig asked. “Is it a book on grimey darks?”
“Grimey da...No Twig. It’s about dreams, specifically...’your’ dreams Carl.”
“R-really?” Carl stood back, not even knowing someone would take time and write a book about situations like this.
“Well, sorta, you see, this book explains a lot about stuff and...stuff...but it kinda has some rules in it.” Stan motioned Twig to come closer. Carl was about to do the same but Stan said, “Ah ah ah, not for the dreamer.” He pulled Twig away while Carl dropped his way.
“Really?” Carl said. “You won’t even tell me how it’ll help me?”
“It’s for your own good Carl.” Stan went into a small huddle with Twig while Carl rolled his eyes and looked away.
“I will never understand Stan,” Carl muttered to himself. “him and his idiotic ways. Why does he always have to act like this, like he’s the guy in charge, I’m just as important, and I’d be hung on a web before I let him try and-”
*WHAM*
Carl fell to the floor as a huge about of pain came to his head. He groaned and tried to stand up, but what he heard next stopped him.
“Did I get it, Stanley?”
“One more time, Twig.”
Carl weakly held his head up, now starting to see stars, and two pairs of blue eyes. “O...One more time what?” was the last thing he said before being knocked out by Twig with a book titled, How to Think Consciously.