Back in the town, Cloudy shifted a little in her sleep.

She mumbled something like 'zrxwy' and rolled over, the impact of her head producing a faint pffffft from the pillow.

That sounded odd, to her, and she lifted herself a bit – then groped for the bedside lamp to see what was going on.

Cloudy’s hoof swiped through the air for a moment before she found the switch for the lamp. Twisting it, a flame appeared in the oil as the lamp lit up the room. Cloudy blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. Rubbing her eyes, the mare pushed herself up in bed, the pillow making another soft ‘fweeeee’ as she shifter on top of it. In the bed beside her, Clef shifted in his sleep, grumbling a little as the light awoke him. “Mmmfff, wah? Whas gon on?” He mumbled, eyes watering a bit as he rubbed them. Cloudy sat up in bed, looking over the covers.

“Mmmff? Oh, s-sorry. Just thought I heard something.” She said. As she shifted again, her pillow made another soft ‘ppaaarp’, making her eyes grow a big wider. “What the?” She looked around, picking up one of the pillows. She squeezed it gently in her hooves, making it parp once again. “The heck is up with these pillows? And…” She looked down at her bed, suddenly noticing the colors of the blankets. “Wait… these blankets weren’t always plaid… were they?” She asked. Clef shifted about, not wanting to leave the warmth of his covers as he rested his head on his pillow. His let out puff of air similar to Cloudy’s, making him roll over onto his stomach and look at it.

“Huh… I don’t… think so? Maybe we just didn’t notice?” He wriggled under the blankets, sitting up in bed and resting on the headboard with the pillow supporting him. “I dunno, is this really that big of a deal? I’m tired, let’s just go back to bed.” He said. Cloudy was instead scanning the room, noticing that the coat rack looked a bit more like a pipe than she was sure it had when they entered. Clef shook his head, staring forward into the mirror opposite his bed. Maybe the blankets were a bit more plaid than he remembered. He wasn’t sure he minded though, it did look cute, and he was rather comfy. “Yeesh, does plaid always make ponies look fat?” He asked, noticing a bit of a bulge under the covers in his reflection.

“No, you're thinking of horizontal stripes,” Cloudy replied. “Look, I'm kind of confused...”

She looked over at Clef. “Are you sure-” she began, then saw Clef's expression and stopped.

“Clef?”

Clef looked from the mirror, to himself, then back to the mirror. His reflection was swelling up, getting visibly larger every second under the covers, until the blanket began to be lifted away from the sides of the bed.

Clef's wings spread and he jumped out of the bed as if it was full of snakes, landing on the plaid rug in the middle of the room. “Something's really weird here!”

“Yeah, I know,” Cloudy agreed, then paused. “What was in the mirror?”

“I saw myself... growing,” Clef replied. “But it definitely wasn't me doing it...”

He looked himself over, sighing in relief at his still being the same size as normal, then glanced nervously at the mirror. “I think we should go and ask why there's an enchanted mirror in the room, down at the front desk.”

“Are you sure it's okay to wake them up?” Cloudy said, getting out of bed herself. “...but you're right, this is definitely not okay. Let's go.”

“Did you see it?” Clef asked.

“No, but I want to ask about the bedclothes and stuff. I must have been really tired to not notice, but that pillow's hard to sleep with...”

Clef nodded, trotting towards their hotel door. They opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, closing it behind them. “Alright, this way to the lobby.” Clef said, turning and trotting down the passage. The ponies’ hooves clopped softly on the carpet, the ponies trotting further down. No matter how far they trotted, though, the hallway continued to stretch in front of them. “What the heck’s going on? This inn isn’t that big!” Cloudy said, becoming more confused by the minute. Clef stopped partway down, scratching his head.

“I have absolutely no idea… maybe we should just head back to our room? I… um… maybe it’s just a weird dream. I didn’t get a lot of sleep, maybe I’m seeing things?” He suggested. Cloudy didn’t like the idea of returning to their room, but she didn’t think that wandering aimlessly through the hallway was a good idea either.

“I suppose so. Do you remember which room we were?” She asked. Clef nodded, turning to look for the door numbers… only to realize that there weren’t any. His voice died in his throat as he was about to say something. Clef was starting to become more and more worried, something was clearly not right here. The two ponies began to trot back down the hallway, trying to guess where their room was in the mass of doors. “I… think this was it?” Cloudy said, stopping in front of one. She tried the handle, the door swinging open easily.

Instead of their room, however, the door opened to reveal a stairway heading down, very far down. “Uh… well, it’s not our room, but maybe this will take us back to the first floor lobby?” She said, looking back to Clef. He bit his lip, pointing a hoof forward.

“You first.”

“Okay,” Cloudy agreed, a little nervous, and began to trot down the stairs.

It was dark in the stairwell, dark enough that she could see only a couple of dozen steps, and she twitched her ears trying to hear anything. Other than the normal slight background sound any building had, however, the only sound was the soft thump of hooves on carpet.

The two pegasi descended, step by step, and Cloudy frowned. It seemed to be getting a bit darker ahead – and she was sure they'd gone past where the ground floor should be by now.

“How far does this go?” she asked over her shoulder, getting a shrug.

Then she stopped, and Clef ran into the back of her.

“Oof!”

“Ssh!” Cloudy insisted. “Back up – quietly.”

“What's wrong?” Clef asked, then looked over her shoulder – and saw it.

The stairs kept going, into the darkness... but there was an odd structure on the ceiling, a set of jagged points in a row. And the sides of the stairway narrowed in, and the carpet seemed to have a different texture.

The only word he could think, looking at it, was 'mouth'.

Turning, Clef began to trot up the stairs again, as quietly as he could. Cloudy followed, and a few seconds later – far too short a time for all the stairs they'd descended – they were right back in the corridor again.

“Not using those stairs,” Cloudy said firmly.

Cloudy shuddered, not wanting to imagine what might have been waiting on the other side of those jaws. The two ponies looked around, trying to find the door to their room. “Um… maybe, this one?” Clef said, trotting up to another. Just like the other, the knob on the door turned easily and the door swung open. Again, instead of their cozy hotel room, though, they were met by something completely unexpected. What looked like a jungle lay beyond the door, full of lush vegetation and a wave of muggy air flowing over them. Cloudy leaned in, looking around the room. It was as if the door to the hotel was sitting in the middle of nowhere, the canopy blocked any hint of the sky, though plenty of light was streaming down from above.

Clef dared to press a hoof into the ground, taking a step in to get another look. “Maybe we better just turn around,” Cloudy suggested. Clef nodded, not wanting to venture too far into the room. Suddenly a roar echoed through the jungle, causing both ponies to freeze in fear. The sound of something big jumping through the brush could be heard, and there was a large creature jumping out into the clearing the door sat in. It was big, ferocious, and, oddly, plaid. The creature that stood in front of them looked like a tiger, but rather than orange and black stripes, the tiger was striped two shades of red, with additional stripes criss-crossing here and there to create a plaid pattern. The tiger looked almost smug as it approached, letting out another growl. The growl reverberated around them, echoing around. “Clef, shut the door!” Cloudy shouted. Clef snapped back to his senses, jumping back and slamming the door shut as the tiger pounced. There was a puff paaarp sound as the tiger hit the door, the two ponies shaken by the encounter.

“Aaaahaahaha, where’s our rooooom?” Cloudy whined, looking around. She hurried over to a room, placing her hoof on the door. She twisted the knob slooooooowly, pushing the door open and jumping back. To her slight relief, however, it simply opened into what looked like a large shower room, red and purple tiles covering the floors and walls, several shower heads placed around and a large drain in the center.

“This is actually normal,” Cloudy said, taking an automatic step into the room. Then another, as she looked around at it all. “And that's making me kind of wary...”

“I know what you mean,” Clef noted, following her in. “But maybe it's just-”

The door shut behind them with a CLAK sound, and Clef whirled.

“Did the door just lock?” he groaned, trying it, and found no sign of the door being able to swing open at all.

Then the shower heads activated, all at once, producing a rush of water which splashed both of them as it drummed on the tiles.

“I take it back, this isn't normal at all,” Cloudy winced, looking around. “Is there... there!”

Her wings flared, and she flew across the room to grip the water control knob with her hooves. She wrenched it around, only for the amount of water flowing out of the shower heads to increase.

“Turn it back!” Clef called over the sound of the drumming water, and Cloudy did so – only for it to get even stronger, so strong the drain couldn't take it all and the water level began to rise. “Now what?”

“I don't know!” Cloudy replied. She tried flying up to block one of the pipes, but the water coming out was too strong for her to stop up – and already it was reaching the level of Clef's knees.

“How good are you at swimming?” she asked.

“I’m not exactly a duck!” He responded, sloshing through the water towards Cloudy. He tried to tug on the controls to one of the showerheads, but it did nothing to slow the rush of water. “What’re we going to do?!” He said in a panic, looking around for something, anything to help. His wings began to beat as he tried to fly up above the rising water, hovering over to Cloudy. As he took to the air, however, water began to drip from the ceiling above them, as if it was starting to rain in the room. The two pegasi wobbled in the rain, trying to keep their balance as the droplets pelted them. They were soon sent into the water below, forced to paddle weakly to stay afloat.

As they struggled, Clef spotted a couple inner-tubes floating towards them that had certainly not been there before. Just like the tiger and their bedsheets, the tubes sported a plaid pattern, and looked much puffier than any innertube would ever need to be. Clef looked back over to Cloudy, who gazed over at the tubes in confusion. “I don’t think we have much choice!” She cried, paddling over to one of the tubes. She lifted herself up through the center, relaxing on the puffy material as Clef did the same. The innertubes let out a soft hiss of air as they leaned into them, the water buffeting them this way and that.

“This isn’t going to work forever, what do we do?” Clef shouted, looking up at the ceiling as they approached it. Cloudy looked down as she kicked her legs to help herself stay afloat. As she looked down in the water, she spotted the drain, noticing a large plaid plug that was blocking it.

“Hold on, I think we can pull the plug!” She shouted, about to drop out of her innertube to swim down to the drain. Before she could, though, the innertubes suddenly puffed up, inflating big enough they become stuck on the ponies. Cloudy continued to struggle, her hind legs kicking wildly as she tried to swim down to the drain, her tube attempting to pull her back up to the surface.

Seeing what she was doing, Clef paddled over and kicked down at the innertube around Cloudy's waist. The blow produced an odd, water-filtered squeak sound, and pushed Cloudy just a bit deeper into the water.

Her hooves closed around the plug cord, and she let the inner-tube haul her back up to the surface – easily dislodging the big plaid plug itself.

Unfortunately, however, the plug was promptly sucked down the drain as water flooded out of the room. Cloudy had just enough time to see the plug vanish through a hole that had grown larger since just a moment ago, then the tug of the vortex whirled her right-side-up again and carried both her and Clef down through the overly large drain.

“Whaa-ooo-aaah!” Clef cried, as the drain's path twisted and turned – widening out again, so the water flowing down it didn't fill it up, and producing what was effectively a waterslide. “This doesn't – whaaagh!”

“This place is getting worse every minute!” Cloudy moaned, a little way ahead of Clef as they both slipped and slid down the tube. Every so often they went over a little jump, which made the inner-tube parp and puff up slightly as they bounced against the bottom of the waterslide tube, and once the water inexplicably rose back up to being too deep for them to feel the sides before becoming shallow again.

“I think I can see the bottom!” Clef called down. “Uh – the pipe's getting narrower!”

“Ah, grea-oof!” Cloudy said as she suddenly became stuck in the pipe. Her swollen innertube was too puffy to fit, squeezing in surprisingly comfortably. Despite the puffy embrace, Cloudy wriggled about as Clef suddenly smacked into her somewhat painfully, becoming stuck behind her. They both wriggled about as the pipe kept them held in place, water continuing to flow in around them. The water flowed in more, the pressure mounting as the two ponies continued to struggle. It was almost as if their innertubes continued to swell up and up and up, the pressure growing higher and higher. The sound of straining material met their ears, making them kick harder. Suddenly, with a bang!, the ponies shot out of the pipe like a gun, shooting out into another, larger pool as their innertubes burst. They swam up to the surface, using their wings to help push them to the edge of the pool and climb out.

Clef panted, shaking himself dry as he turned to Cloudy. “Holy Celestia, what’s going on here? Are you alright?” He asked. Cloudy wasn’t paying attention, instead looking down in the pool. Clef’s gaze followed hers, his eyes growing wide as he saw what she was looking at. A large, puffy, plaid creature was breaching the water. It blew out a burst of water, joined by an almost musical parp. The two stared, watching as what became clear to be a whale’s tail lifting up into the air. With another ppaaaarp!, the tail slapped down on the water, splashing the two ponies and washing them away with a wave. They flowed back out into the hallway through another door, only for it to close behind them, no closer to the lobby, but much wetter.

“This place is the stupidest,” Cloudy groaned. “At least we got those stupid inner-tubes off.”

“Yeah,” Clef agreed, trying to shake the water off him. “What now?”

“I guess... well, we should keep looking for some stairs,” Cloudy decided. “Or a towel... but mostly stairs. I know we went a long way down, but... the inn can't be underground, can it?”

They considered that for a long moment.

“I don't think the inn makes much sense at all,” Clef suggested. “But down can't be worse than any other option, so we should at least try down if we can find it.”

“Do we think we're going to get out at all?” Cloudy asked.

“Of course!” Clef replied quickly – a little too quickly. “We'll be fine...”

He tried one door, then shut it very quickly. “Not that one.”

“What was in it?” Cloudy asked.

“Not. That. One.”

Gulping, Cloudy tried another door – opening it just a crack, then pulling it open more. “This one does go down,” she reported. “And it's more brightly lit than the other stairs, at least...”

Clef took a few tentative steps down, remembering what had lay at the bottom of the last stairway they had tried. Cloudy followed after, just as warily as the stallion in front of her. The stairway seemed to go on and on, each step making the ponies more nervous. “We have to be half way to the other side of the world by now!” Cloudy cried out as they continued to descend. “Maybe we should head back.”

“Hold on… I think I see the bottom.” Clef said, peering down into the stairway below. As they had trotted down the steps, the air had grown steadily warmer, becoming rather stuffy as they trekked further onwards. Clef’s ear flicked, thinking he had heard something. He looked around to ask Cloudy if she had said anything, but the mare looked as if she had been about to ask him the same thing.

Gulping, they simply continued down, finally arriving at the bottom of the stairs. The room was very warm, both ponies a little thankful after the dampness of the previous room. It was also brightly lit, but what truly stood out in the room was sitting at the other end.

A large dragon sat in the middle, rocking back and forth upon his large rear. A round door on his belly allowed the ponies to see through his silvery hide, where a warm orange glow illuminated the room. The dragon squeezed at his belly, humming and singing a strange tune to himself as a few pipes lead out of his back and into the walls. Upon closer inspection, seams and rivets were embedded in the dragon, revealing the creature to be made of some sort of metal, and yet his claws sank into his gut as if it was cloth. The dragon leaned over to an open pipe dangling out of the ceiling, singing a short bit of a tune before rolling back onto his rump.

With a hum, the dragon used an iron shovel to scoop up some black rocks from what looked like a pile of coal, then ate them down in a single gulp. There was a hiss, and the orange flow got a little stronger.

“What the....” Clef whispered, as the dragon patted his belly – making it ripple, and showing off the cross-hatched embossed seams in the metal.

Almost a plaid pattern, in fact.

Tail twitching and pipes rattling with the faint hissing of steam, the dragon began to sing to himself again. It was an odd tune, one it was hard to hear the words to, but Clef frowned – sure it was one he'd heard before.

He was having trouble remembering when, though...

Then he suddenly realized – he'd been hearing it here, in the inn.

All the time – all since they'd woken up – there'd been a continual little refrain of music, resonating in the walls and making the pipes creak and sing.

“Do you hear it too?” Cloudy asked, and Clef nodded – slightly, trying not to draw attention.

But now that he'd heard the music, he couldn't seem to unhear it. It was everywhere, quiet but insistent, and he had a feeling it was going to be in his ears for a very long time...

“We should go,” he said, backing up a little. “Try not to make a noise. We'll have to try another route.”

Cloudy nodded worriedly, backing up slowly. As the two prepared to head back up the stairs, the dragon scooped up another gulp of coal, his belly bulging outwards as he swallowed them down. With another hiss and a creeeeaaaaak, the seams on the dragon strained to contain the fire within. He simply continued to hum, seemingly thrilled by his even bigger belly as he rubbed his claws over himself. Clef watched as the dragon’s gut swelled, blushing a little bit. He found himself finding the dragon’s expanded belly… cute. His stomach clenched as the dragon suddenly looked over to him, his grin widening before he gave a wink and pat his belly again.

He turned around, climbing up after Cloudy and trying to push the song out of his mind. While it did grow slightly quieter as the ponies climbed upstairs, the song didn’t quite leave either pony’s mind. Thankfully, the time it took to climb back up to the hallway was much shorter than it had taken to descend to the dragon, and the pair soon found themselves standing back in the hallway.

“Ok… one more door… I guess…” Cloudy said, starting to become fatigued as she flicked her ear in hopes it would somehow remove the song. They trotted up to another door, opening in slowly to see what lay inside.

Cloudy opened the door, then nearly pulled it closed again – stopping before making a loud bang from the door hitting the frame.

Clef was about to ask why, but he suddenly realized – he could hear the reason. There was music coming from the inside of the room, parpy oom-pa-pa music which sounded a lot like a louder, more involved version of the tune coming out of the walls.

They stood frozen, not knowing whether to run or not – and waiting to hear the music stop, and whatever was making it come up to the door and find out that they were there.

After several seconds, however, it seemed like they'd gotten away with it.

Nervously, Cloudy pushed the door open as slowly and carefully as she could, and saw what was inside.

There were at least four puffy creatures, like overweight dragons with plaid bodies, sitting in a semicircle and puffing into their own tails. Notes played from ridges of pipes along their backs – which, like the similar pipe at the tail, looked like wooden instruments with rows of holes along them to make tunes from the air coming out of them.

Then they all stopped at once, and Cloudy tensed – until a voice spoke, one she could see did not belong to any of the monsters in her view.

“Very good!” the voice said, a chuckle in the tone. “Now, let's try it again from the top – I need even the newest members of my band to be all puffy and tuneful!”

Cloudy peered into the room, Clef attempting to get a look around her. Clef’s jaw dropped when he saw the dragons. The quartet bounced happily on their rears, taking a hold of their puffy tails once again. There was a tap, counting off the song before the dragons took a collective huff before blowing into their tails. The steady oom-pa-pa music began once again, Cloudy wobbling a little on her hooves as the oddly enticing tune wriggled its way into her head. She leaned back, swishing her tail in time with the music absentmindedly. Clef tried to look around Cloudy, watching as the dragons continued to bounce and play their tune. One of them rolled backwards as they played, closing their eyes and blowing especially loud as their belly swelled outwards a bit. The voice returned, still chuckling a little.

“Compress Rose, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you can’t drown out the others!” The dragon blushed, opening their eyes and rolled back to an upright position, grinning a bit. “And, tempo! Soprano’s supposed to be light and bouncy, you know!” Another dragon nodded, bouncing a bit faster as their claws flew across their tail. The dragons swelled a bit as they played, the music growing louder and louder. Cloudy took a small step forward, trying to get a better look at the wonderfully bouncy dragons. One of them glanced over, stopping huffing as they spotted her. The other dragons stopped their playing, all looking back to the mare. “Ooh? Do we have a new member?” The voice said again.

With the music gone, Cloudy’s mind slowly drifted back to reality as she looked at the dragons once again. There was a thud as something large took a step, along with a paaarp of music. With a slight yelp, Cloudy leapt back, almost falling on top of Clef as she slammed the door shut again.

“Did that monster just say Compass Rose?” Clef asked.

“Uh... y-yeah!” Cloudy said, shaking her head and clearing most of the cobwebs. “Yeah, it did...”

She looked back and met Clef's eyes. “Do you think-”

There was a moment of silence, then Clef began to trot quickly along the corridor. “Come with me,” he said, and she rocked into a trot behind him – then they both accelerated to a canter.

“This is in case they're following, right?” Cloudy asked. “I wish I had a cloud here to ride or something...”

She shook her head again, as they skidded round a corner. “What do we do now?”

“Hide?” Clef suggested. “Find another door? I don't know.”

He slowed down, panting from the sudden sprint. “I know it feels like we're going around in circles, but there's no way I'm getting stuck like that if I have anything whatsoever to say about it. What about you?”

“Well, assuming we're right – yeah,” Cloudy agreed.

They slowed back down to a walk, and Cloudy gave Clef a confused look.

“Why are you dancing?” she asked.

Clef blinked, then concentrated on how he was moving – noticing his rump swaying from side to side, in time with the music.

He stopped with an effort of will, and shook his head. “Sorry,” he told her. “I... let's try this one.”

The door opened easily enough, but the first glimpse they got of the walls was a surprise – thickly quilted, on all four walls, as well as the floor and the ceiling.

They also spotted a pony by one corner, wearing an odd plaid outfit.

They took a few steps into the room, their hooves sinking into the quilted floor. “Uh… hello?” Clef asked, looking at the pony warily. The stallion looked over, a small smile on his face as he spotted the two approaching. As they moved in closer, they noticed the pony was wearing a straitjacket, his front hooves tied across his chest in a snug self-hug. Just like almost everything else they had seen, it was plaid, and looked just a bit puffier than it needed to be. "Are you… alright? Sorry, we haven’t seen anypony else in here, and this hotel has been… well, I think you can see.” He gestured to the pony’s predicament.

The pony glanced down at his plaid straitjacket, only to giggle and shake his head. “What, this? Oh, no, it’s very comfy, I don’t mind it at all! And the pattern is wonderfully cute, I’d say!” He wriggled a bit, settling himself into the corner of the room as the puffy walls squished under him. “And the room is so cozy too! Just puffy… bouncy… I don’t have to do a thing but relax and listen to that wonderful tune! I do wish I had a bit more company, though. It’s been a while since the dragon’s stopped by.”

“Dragon?” Cloudy asked, looking confused. She shook her head, moving in a bit closer. “Look, we can help you out of this, come with us. Maybe we’ll be able to find the exit together.” The pony just looked up at her, frowning a bit.

“No, really, it’s not that bad. You two ought to stay a little while, why not pull up some chairs?” He suggested. Cloudy and Clef looked to each other, thoroughly dumbfounded, but before they knew it two puffy, cushy chairs seemed to appear beneath them, leaving them stuck sitting on the creaky material. Cloudy shifted in her chair, noticing it seemed to be made of the same quilty fabric as the rest of the room, and gave a soft wheeze of air with each movement.

“What just...” Cloudy asked, leaning forwards and producing another wheeze of sound. “How did you do that?”

“Do it?” the other pony asked, bouncing a little in place. “Oh, the chairs!”

He giggled. “Well, it's a bit of a secret... but that's okay! It's part of the way they keep us here, you know~”

“Keep... us?” Clef said. “Who's us? Is there somepony else here with you?”

“Not just me,” the stallion corrected. “You as well! We're all in here with the dragon, and he's having fun with us – but you can have fun with him, too, and that's how he encourages you to stay~”

“Wait, wait, hold on,” Clef asked, one hoof tapping unconsciously on the floor in time with the beat of the music. “Are you saying there's some kind of... dragon monster running this whole building?”

Another giggle. “Give the stallion a prize!”

The unknown prisoner bounced on his rump. “It's all good, you see – I don't get to leave because I don't want to leave! And I bet you wouldn't want to leave either if you tried it – go on, give it a bounce!”

Cloudy stood up, then the floor rippled under her and knocked her back into the chair again – producing a wheezing wail from the cushion.

“Clef...” she said, warningly. “I think we need to get out of here...”

“Oh, you can check out any time you want,” the stallion giggled. “But you can never leave – not that you'd want to!”

He perked his ear, listening to the music, then gasped. “He's coming back!” he announced, sounding excited, and bounced up and down on the padded floor. “I bet he'll love to meet you!”

Neither Clef nor Cloudy were in any mood to meet this dragon, but every time they attempted to stand up out of their chairs, the floor would ripple and wobble and cause them to fall back into the puffy armchair and create more soft parpy sounds. The prisoner pony simply continued to giggle, bouncing on the floor himself. “See, isn’t it fun? You’re already making some music!” Clef attempted to stand up and jump over the back of his chair, but when he landed on the floor, the fabric simply distended beneath him before launching him back up and into the chair once again. He shook his head, looking around for any signs that this dragon was about to appear. He spotted the ceiling beginning to slowly distend, the middle sinking lower and lower as the song grew a bit louder.

The fabric began to collect near the center, forming a large droplet much like water dripping from a cloud. The drop wiggled about, two legs forming as a tail soon followed. The drop was clearly a plaid rump, which grew and grew as it sank lower. Suddenly, the drop fell, and with a loud paaarp!, the rest of the dragon formed as he fell onto the floor. The fabric rippled under him, sending a wave that buffeted the chairs and the ponies around. Just like the ones Cloudy and Clef had seen in the last room, the dragon had pipes protruding from his back and tail, and looked rather portly. The only difference was how this one was nearly tall enough for his ears to brush against the ceiling as he sat.

“Oh, hello again Bagpiperix! It’s so nice to see you again, and I have more visitors!” The pony said happily. The dragon beamed as he spotted the two ponies looking over the back of their chairs. He stood up, walking across the puffy floor, each step creating more paarps in time with the music.

“Hello there! As Silk has already introduced, I’m Bagpiperix! It’s lovely to meet you, would you mind telling me your names?” The dragon said, acting very politely.

Clef shook his head, trying to concentrate. “Don't tell him, Cloudy!” he said urgently, before realizing how silly that was to say.

Bagpiperix seemed to find it hilarious, laughing and making his belly bounce up and down as he did. “Whoops!” he said, the ripples of his laughter making a whole new symphony of notes play out of the pipes of his back and the tip of his tail. “That's a bit of a silly mistake!”

His chuckles subsided a little. “Well, it's nice to meet you Cloudy! And who's your friend there?”

“Run!” Cloudy said, and bolted for the door – wings flaring as she did, trying to avoid the bouncy chairs by the simple tactic of flying.

It worked up to a point, and the point was when a blanket of puffy plaid material like a duvet fell off the ceiling and landed on her. She was knocked to the ground with a whap, and struggled to get free.

“Cloudy and Run, oh?” Bagpiperix said, his musical notes filling the air. “I'm sure you'll be fine new backing bagpipes!”

He leaned in to Clef, and gave the musical pony a blast of music straight from his snout. The force of it knocked Clef backwards, but he managed to snag the blanket as he went – pulling it off Cloudy's recumbent form.

Cloudy launched into action, grabbing Clef by the tail and zooming for the door.

As they attempted to flee, they began to sink into the floor. Slowly, the puffy material rose up around them as they struggled towards their freedom. Bagpiperix simply watched, grinning as the ponies tried to swim through the material. They sank slowly deeper, the warm, puffy material squeezing in all around them as Bagpiperix happily tootled away on his pipes. Above the ponies another bubble appeared, swelling and contracting to the beat, Clef feeling the squeezings on his lower half. The two suddenly slipped beneath the surface as the bubble dropped down, both ponies stuck in the cushy ball of fluff. Bagpiperix waddled over to the bubble, picking it up and balancing it on his tail. “Oh my, I was hoping you would have been a bit more fun! Nopony like’s a spoil-song, you know!” He bounced the ball up and down, bapping it playfully. Bagpiperix shrugged, letting out one more puff of air. “Well, I suppose we can do things your way. But I think you’ll find a place in my band sooner or later.” He chuckled, squeezing the bubble before tossing it towards the door.

The bubble squeezed through the door and burst, leaving the two ponies laying in the middle of the hallway. Bagpiperix winked at them, flopping down in the cushy cell, not noticing he had squished the other pony under his plaid butt as the door shut behind them. The two ponies lay still for a moment, stunned by what had just happened. “Oooookay, ok, so there’s a giant, evil, puffy dragon controlling this place. We need to get out of here now.” Clef said, standing up. Cloudy got to her hooves as well, gulping as she looked around. They began to trot down the hallway once again, glancing over their backs every now and then, expecting the dragon to be right behind them. Cloudy stopped in her tracks a moment later as she spotted a door that was slightly ajar. Approaching it, she peered through the gap, only to let out a long sigh.

“Oh thank goodness, I think we found our room again!”

“Well, that's a mixed blessing,” Clef noted. “I mean, even if this is the same room, all that means is that things move around in here.”

He sighed. “Well, I guess we can spend some time in here trying to think about what to do – just, you know, don't get too near the bed?”

“Sounds good,” Cloudy agreed. “I – wagh!”

She jumped several feet in the air, looking wildly around the room.

“What?” Clef asked, following her gaze and seeing nothing. “What is it? Did you see something?”

Cloudy slowly dropped back to the floor, wings furling, and blushed. “I... thought I saw that monster,” she said. “The dragon – Bagpiperix.”

“Well, I don't see him,” Clef said, then looked under the bed – keeping a careful eye on the sheets as he did so. “Nope, no sign.”

He looked back at her, then paled and dove under the bed.

“...Clef?” Cloudy asked.

“I saw him!” Clef mumbled.

“Where?”

“On the ceiling!” Clef replied. “Did you not see him?”

“No...” Cloudy said, slowly. “Now – come out before the bed eats you or something.”

Clef crawled out from under the bed, and Cloudy checked the walls one by one.

Entry wall – nothing.

The other side of the room – no.

Opposite the door – nothing.

The mirror...

“Eeeek!” Cloudy jumped back and dove under the bed from which Clef had just left. “There he was again! He was on the bed!” She said.

“What? No one’s here, the beds are empty… wait…” Clef slowly turned around, looking at the mirror, only to jump in surprise as he spotted Bagpiperix leaning back into the pillows on the bed, his tail flicking left and right happily. He turned back around, gasping, only to see the empty beds waiting for him. “He’s in the mirror! I think… I think we’re ok, as long as we don’t, well, look in the mirror.” He bent down, helping Cloudy back onto her hooves.

“Well… I suppose we’ll be ok…” She said, her hooves shaking a bit. She looking backed to the mirror, only to squeak with fright as she spotted Bagpiperix standing behind them again. She looked back again, only to see nothing once more. She looked back at the mirror, slowly calming down as the two looked in their reflection. Bagpiperix grinned, his hands on his puffy hips as he looked down at the ponies. Cloudy lifted up a hoof, reaching back and waving it about in the air. She felt nothing, and her breathing slowed again. “Oh… ok, I guess we’re… ok…” She let out another sigh, watching as Bagpiperix giggled, waggling his eyebrows.

“What?” Clef asked, looking at the reflection as well. The dragon took a step forward, and the two ponies felt something puffy press into their rumps. They both let out a scream, and ran for the door.

Author's Note

This is designed to have the feel of a horror story, but to be very silly at the same time.
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