Shimmer blinked at everyone staring at her. Her eyes shifted around before she scooted behind a big leafy plant. She nodded before draping her head across the dirt.
“I’m
amazing.” Shimmer muttered, shoving her face deeper into the dirt. She sighed, before staring intensely at all of them. She squinted at Olive who stared back with a frown.
“RICH.” She said, loudly. Olive raised her eyebrows, before sighing.
“Grumpy.” Shimmer looked at Crimson and Silversteel both. She pouted.
“Poor.” She looked at Max pityingly. Max’s eyebrows twitched uncontrollably.
“What is that supposed to mean?” He muttered in a low tone.
Shimmer started snickering and sneaking glances at Olive. But then she looked at Olive and Silversteel which made her deflate and she pulled herself out of the pot to fall onto her back. She rolled three times thoughtfully, before stopping and gasping.
“CURSE!? CURSE.
CURSE!!!” Her eyes wide, she started rolling herself into the hallway.
“ … PANCAKE CURSE?! FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!?!!” Shimmer started rolling even faster. She shouted in glee. “FLUFFY VIRIDIAN PANCAKE DETECTIVE CURSE BOTTOM END!!”
“I think I learned more about what she thought about us than I ever wanted to know,” Max said, rubbing his face.
“That made sense?” Olive asked, in honest confusion. Silversteel shrugged and Crimson grinned at her.
“You eventually get the lingo, dinkleworm.” Olive made a face.
“Uh, no thank you.” Olive muttered, causing Crimson to laugh loudly.
They followed her up two flight of stairs, where Shimmer was rubbing her head.
“Ow.” Shimmer whined. The nervous pony handed Max the keys, before looking down at the ground.
“Um, g-good luck,” He said. “I’ve been told that it starts when you sleep.”
Max sighed as the pony skittered away.
“Right, let’s see how it looks.” Max opened the door slowly.
The room was large, with two enormous beds that looked to be of fine soft blue material. There was a plush couch with a mahogany table in one corner and the bathroom revealed a large marble pool that could easily fit twenty grown up ponies. The kitchen was sparkling clean, fully stocked with pots and herbs. Magical fire lamps on the walls casted the entire room in a soft, warm, inviting light.
Max yawned. “Well, I don’t know about you punks, but I am dying for some nightmarish sleep. Sort out the sleeping arrangements yourselves without killing each other, alright?”
He walked to the couch, collapsed onto it, and began snoring. Olive frowned as she quickly trotted over to the kitchen and began throwing cabinet doors open. Crimson fluttered over to the pool in interest, while Silversteel looked … pretty tired. She was eyeing the beds with interest.
Shimmer realized she was kind of tired too.
Once upon a time, there was one little child in a cold land who was very happy.