Horsing Around

It had been a long, arduous day. Typically Clue only attended the Life Carnival with Tip, but this year had seemingly added two whole people to their little group- and neither of them were very calm individuals. Barracuda had never been to the Life Carnival before and wanted to ride everything they passed by, while Nya was... Well, Nya. Clue and Tip quickly found that they were a handful; it wasn't unlike trying to keep an eye on two toddlers in the grocery store. Fortunately, however, the day was nearing its end and with it, the Life Carnival would soon be closing for the night. After such a full day, even the most energetic members of the group were as calm as a gentle river. Nya was so tired her head almost lolled right into the cotton candy she had been eating minutes prior, and Barracuda eventually had to give her a piggyback ride to make sure she didn't fall asleep in the dirt. Meanwhile, Tip made themselves perfectly at home nestled into the hood of Clue's hoodie.

"Are we near the exit yet, buddy? I love her, but Firecracker here really isn't light as a feather." Barracuda carefully adjusted their arms to get more comfortable while making sure Nya wouldn't wake up from the movement, then let out a dramatic sigh and swerved closer to Clue, gently bumping his shoulder.

Though it was rather impossible to tell, Clue rolled his eyes and whipped a map out of his hoodie pocket, unfolding it and holding it in front of Barracuda.

"It's right up ahead; literally can't miss it. You can last 3 more minutes, Cuda." He playfully shot at them, snickering when they let out a purposefully dramatized groan. He knew they were happy to help Nya, otherwise they would have just dropped her on the ground and gone back home on their own. It's not like anyone was actually stopping them.

"I just can't wait to hop into my nice comfy... Bed..." Barracuda trailed off suddenly, and Clue was half convinced that they were about to fall asleep and hit the ground themselves. He looked up from the map in his hands and saw that Barracuda had slowed to a halt, staring off into the distance. Upon following their gaze, there appeared to be a little stall and pen that was out of the way of all the hustle and bustle of the main attractions. Inside the pen, Clue could just barely make out some very little moving shapes, but his vision wouldn't allow him to get a clearer view of what was so mesmerizing.

Just as he was about to ask Barracuda about it...

"BABY HORSES!"

Nya's sudden return to the land of living nearly scared Barracuda, Clue and Tip out of it. Before anyone knew what hit them, she practically leapt from Barracuda's shoulders and went straight for the pen, leaving everyone else scrambling to catch up.

Upon reaching the pen, Clue could see what immediately grabbed everyone's attention. It was full of the smallest horses he had ever seen in his life. Was this here every year, and he just hadn't seen it since it was further out of the way? While he was lost in his thoughts, Barracuda spoke to the person managing the pen and was able to get all four of them in.

"These are the CUTEST THINGS EVER! LOOK!" Nya squealed and immediately got on the ground inside the pen. The small horses were initially startled by her excitement, but quickly warmed up and began swarming her like a very gentle and non-bloodthirsty pack of wolves. Barracuda followed and got on the ground next to her, with some of the small creatures flocking to lay down next to their flaming legs for warmth against the chill of night. Even Tip hopped out of Clue's hood and got down next to everyone, letting out a quiet laugh as the horses appeared confused upon seeing someone closer to their height.

Clue stood next to the pile and watched them all play with the horses, holding in a laugh when Nya practically disappeared under the army she had amassed. He hadn't planned on joining in, but the sudden knock of something hitting his leg garnered his attention, and it seemed that one of the horses shared his lack of interest in the frenzy. It headbutted him a few more times then looked up at him expectedly, and... Clue wasn't quite sure what it wanted from him. He knelt down and pat it on the head, then held his hand out so it could hop on. It was a dark brown horse with black hair, and it had a little leaf on its head that looked almost like a funny little hat. Clue continued to pet the horse as he and it both watched the chaos unfold in front of them, with Nya training the horses to commit various atrocities while Tip and Barracuda egged her on. Suddenly, everyone seemed pretty content to hang out at the Life Carnival just a little bit longer.