A Long After Morning Start

"Good afternoon, my prince." The cheery voice on one of Strong Mad's many female maids broke Strong Bad from his dreamy haze. She quietly sung to herself as she wandered through the darkenened room, picking up a few toppled things as she made her way to the windows. Pulling back the grand curtains of the massive windows, a stream of midday sun flushed into to room, getting grumbles from both prince and dragon chaser alike.

Strong Bad muttered something as he reached up and grabbed some of The Cheat's fur, trying to pull it over himself like a blanket. The beast growled and swiftly kicked him away, sending the fire prince flying off the bed and to the maid's feet. The poor maid looked down to the blue haired humanoid with a bewildered look.

"Oh man, little buddy. You don't know your own strength." Strong Bad grumbled, stiffly sitting up. He hadn't even noticed the peasent girl who stood behind him. "That hurt, Da' Cheat! Hey, are you even listening to me?"

He was answered with a simple 'meh'.

"You should be called Da' Jerk..." The prince muttered before he looked up. His emerald eyes were met with the maid's, startling him. "Aah! How long have you been there?"

"Uh, your princeliness, I said 'good afternoon' when I came in." The maid explained, looking away.

"Wait, what?" Strong Bad was quick to his feet.

The maid looked back, shrinking. "Good Afternoon?"

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, oh crap!" With wide eyes Strong Bad began to search his messy room frantically. First he looked for his boots and cape, which he quickly realized he hadn't taken off when he fell asleep. Then he looked for his mask. "Da' Cheat! You were suppose to wake me up! Now get off your lazy butt and help me find my mask!"

The Cheat just laughed as his tail was lifted in Strong Bad's search. Finally the maid shook her head and walked in front of the youthful man. She just quickly pointed up at his face. Having worked there as long as she had it seemed she still hadn't gotten use to the wicked prince's antics.

"My prince..." She finally said before he could run into her finger.

He glared down at her for wasting his time. "WHAT?!" She shifted her finger slightly, but remained silent. Finally he reached up to his face, excepting to whipe some dirt off, or something. Instead he felt the fabric of his mask. Quickly he calmed. "Oh, thanks maidy-cakes. Come on Da' Cheat. You've wasted enough of our time. Let's go."

The Cheat stood, complaining to Strong Bad just as he reached to door. He stopped. "Huh? Well you have a point, man... How am I going to get you out of here..."

The Cheat had a simple idea.

"Besides that, man." A different idea struck, making Strong Bad grin and turn to the windows. He walked over, eyeballing measurments and loosely planning trejectory as he opened one. Then he ran over and took the reins, jumping onto the dragon chaser's back. "There's no way I'm getting you out that door. Looks like we're going to have to jump!"

The Cheat rushed for the open window he was being led to. As soon as he jumped out he spread his wings and glided down. Strong Bad let go of the reigns for a moment and took a deep breath, holding out his hands as though he too could fly himself. The wind held back hair and fur alike as they soared slowly to the ground. When they landed on the other side of the moat Strong Bad looked back to the open window and grinned.

"Too bad we can't do that again, huh, Da' Cheat?" He retook the reigns and motioned for the dragon chaser to go. "Let's hurry, to the Forest of Dreams!"

The Cheat nodded, grumbling something before he began to jog towards the wooded area. It didn't take long at that pace to quickly be surrounded by the tall trees and thick bushes. Stong Bad kept himself low against his back, keeping his eyes open for fairies and for low branches.

The forest was pretty silent, with the exception of the slight wind blowing and the occasional sound of birds. It quickly went from exciting to boring. As the day went on Strong Bad eventually laid back to back with The Cheat, letting his mount lead himself.

Eventually it began to darken and the two became not just bored with the forest, but tired and hungry as well. Finally, in a clearing of the woods, the fire prince took the reigns and pulls them.

"Hey, little buddy, you must be tired by now. How about we rest here." He jumped off and looked around. "Its as good a place as any."
The Cheat nodded in agreement, watching as Strong Bad quickly broke off some sticks from the trees and bushes around them, piling them in the center. He grumbled to his human shaped friend, trying to point out the harness.

This made Strong Bad frown. "But man I..." He sighed, having hoped that he could have something giant soft and warm to sleep against. The Cheat apparently had other plans.

With a roll of his beady eyes The Cheat pointed out something he hoped would cheer the prince up.

"--Well I am hungry. Ok, Da' Cheat. You have yourself a deal." Strong Bad reluctantly removed the reigns and watched as the glowing process went in reverse, returning The Cheat to his small, true form.

The Cheat wasted no time running off, free from being big and awkward. For a moment Strong Bad was alone in the silence of the night. With a sigh he sat infront of the pile of wood he made and burst it into flames.

***

Unbeknown to the fire prince he wasn't actually alone. Three small glowing figures sat behind the leaves of a bush and watched him.

In all actuality, though, only two of these figures were watching the man and the creature. The third was busy running quietly in place. Finally one of the little glowing forms turned to his companion and glared, flittering his white, blue tipped wings.

"Would you quit that Homestar!" The young fairy hissed to his distracted companion. He got no response for a moment from the one called Homestar. Finally he gave up and rolled his eyes, looking to thier last companion, a fairy with long golden hair in pigtails, and whispered. "Why did we have to bring him along again?"

The blonde fairy giggled low, whispering back. "Homeschool, he's your family, and sometimes he's colonel..." She looked over to the fairy they were talking about. "Homestar, come here and see the man."

Homestar finally stopped, perking his wings and scuttling over. "A man? Wow!" He chirped as he looked at now dozing Strong Bad. Both his companions quickly covered his mouth.

"Shh." They both whispered before Homeschool looked back to the girl. "He looks dangerous, Champeen. I think we should report the man to the General."

"I'm goin' to go tell him he's twesspassin." Homestar quickly slipped out of thier grips, much to the other fairies' horror. They tried to grab him and stop him again, but he was one of the fastest Runner fairies.

"We're doomed." Champeen whimpered as she looked up. Homeschool turned away, not wanting to see what was about the happen when thier companion reached the man. Then he heard a noise and slowly looked up, tapping his fellow fairy's shoulder as he otherwise stood shocked.

Behind them loomed the monsterous; at least to them; yellow creature known simply as The Cheat. His grin was the last thing either of them saw.