Gobo and Lou nervously wandered to the Fraggles' source of wisdom and advice, Marjory the Trash Heap. She wasn't up at this time, but at least her two rat-like shills, Philo and Gunge, were.
"Look alive, Marjory!" Philo shouted.
"Yeah, we've got Fraggles here," Gunge said
"You are in the presence of!" both Philo and Gunge shouted at the same time.
"The all seeing . . . ." Philo said.
"All knowing . . . ." Gunge said.
"Trash Heap! Nyeah!" they both shouted in unison.
After that, Marjory rose out of her pile of trash, held up her lorgnette, and looked at Gobo and Lou.
"Hello there, little Fraggles," she said. "Oh, I see we have a royal guest with us today."
"We do?" Philo asked.
"Really? Where?" Gunge asked.
"Right here, boys," Marjory said. "Lou Fraggle, the princess of Fraggledonia of course!"
"Wait a minute!" Lou shouted. "How did you know that?"
"I'm not an oracle for nothing, you know," Marjory said. "Now then, princess, what can I do for you and your friend there?"
"We've got a big problem, Madam Heap!" Gobo shouted. "It's our friend, Wembley. He's fallen asleep, and we can't wake him up!"
"Did you try shaking him?" Marjory asked.
"Yes," Gobo said.
"How about screaming in his ear?" Gunge asked.
"Yes," Lou said.
"How about throwing cold water on him?" Philo asked.
"Well, we threw him in the pond," Gobo said. "Kinda the same thing, though."
"We even tried throwing a Bleach Nut at him," Lou said.
"Eeewww, Bleach Nuts!" Gunge grimaced.
"That'll wake up anybody!" Philo shouted.
"Yeah we know," Gobo said. "But not even the Bleach Nut woke him up!"
"Boy, this must be serious!" Gunge shouted.
"Hmmm . . . ." Marjory said, thoughtfully. "Very strange. Usually, the Bleach Nut method of waking someone up never fails. Unless . . . ."
"Unless what?" Lou asked.
"Have either of you been having strange dreams lately?" Marjory asked.
"Yeah, now that you mention it," Gobo said. "Both of us have. And the strange thing is, both of our dreams were similar."
"Tell me about these dreams," Marjory said.
"Okay," Gobo said. "See, in my dream, Wembley and I are exploring the Fraggledonian castle, looking for secret passages, and this Silly Creature shows up, and she's carrying this crystal ball. Suddenly, we hear this strange music, and Wembley falls asleep, and I can't get him to wake up. Then the Silly Creature laughs, and waves her hand over her crystal ball, and there's a flash of light, and Wembley's gone. I see him in the Silly Creature's crystal ball, and then she vanishes."
"I see," Marjory said. Then she turned to Lou. "And in your dream?"
"Pretty much the same thing," Lou said. "Except in mine, she didn't send Wembley inside her crystal ball. She just picked him up, and disappeared. We even shared the dream, and the same thing happened."
"Have any other Fraggles had a dream with this Silly Creature in it?" Marjory asked.
"Not that I know of," Gobo said.
"Yeah, we never asked," Lou said.
"Mm hmmm," Marjory said, nodding. "Describe this Silly Creature for me."
"Well, she's taller than the both of us," Gobo said. "And she had short dark hair, and she was wearing all red. And like I said, she was carrying a crystal ball."
"That's what I thought," Marjory said. "I know who you Fraggles are talking about. This Silly Creature is not a Silly Creature. She's a Fairy. Her name is Lilith, and she is the Fairy Queen of Dreams. She has the power to control the dreams of anyone she wishes, and she can make anyone's most fondest dream into a reality, though it comes at a very high price. She also knows a thing or two about sleeping spells. And this sleep your little friend is in is obviously one of her sleeping spells."
"But how did she even get to Fraggle Rock?" Lou asked.
"Especially without someone seeing her?" Gobo asked. "Silly Creatures can't fit in those tunnels! Well, not to get inside, anyway."
"She doesn't need to," Marjory said. "She can cast her spells on anyone she pleases from the Fairy Realm without having to leave it."
"Sounds serious!" Gunge shouted.
"Yeah, really serious!" Philo agreed.
"What can we do about it, Madam Heap?" Lou asked.
"You must go to the Fairy Realm," Marjory said. "You should be able to find the answers there."
"But where is the Fairy Realm, and how do we get there?" Gobo asked.
"You must travel to Fraggledonia," Marjory said. "There's a path there that leads right to it, behind a set of gates."
"Right!" Gobo shouted. "Come on, Lou! We'd better get Red and Mokey and Boober and head to Fraggledonia right away!"
"I'm afraid you can't do that, little Fraggle," Marjory said. "Not unless they had the dream, too. Only those who have had the dream can venture into the Fairy Realm. You two have been chosen by an unknown force. I can't really explain why, because I'm not sure what it is."
"Red's not going to like that one bit," Gobo said.
"I'm sorry, little Fraggles, but that's the way it is," Marjory said, shrugging. "Only the two of you may go on this trip. And you had best hurry. I don't know why Lilith would put that sleeping spell on your friend, but no good can come from it, believe me! She's very, very tricky! I will have your boat waiting at the docks for you, if you don't mind steering it yourself. And don't worry, I'll try to help you whenever, and however I can. Now go! Get out of here! Hurry and get to Fraggledonia before it's too late!"
"The Trash Heap has spoken!" Philo and Gunge shouted. "Nyeah!"
Immediately, Gobo and Lou ran back to Fraggle Rock. They had to pack some supplies for the trip, and let Mokey, Red, and Boober know they had to go to Fraggledonia, except they didn't necessarily want to tell them why, and what was going on.
"Did the Trash Heap have any advice?" Mokey asked, when they returned to Gobo's cave.
"Yeah, but we have to go to Fraggledonia," Gobo said.
"Oh no," Boober groaned. "I always get seasick when we go there! Couldn't I stay here, just this once?"
"Yes," Gobo said. "Only Lou and I are going to make the trip. The rest of you stay here and take care of Wembley. Make sure he's okay."
"Wait a minute!" Red shouted. "How come you're going all the way to Fraggledonia with Lou and leaving the rest of us here?!"
"We can't really explain all of the details, Red," Lou said. "Not right now, anyway. All we can tell you is that Wembley's under a sleeping spell, and only Gobo and I can break it."
"Can't you just climb up there and kiss him?" Red asked. "That always works in the Storyteller's stories."
"That's not gonna work," Gobo said. "Lou and I have to go to Fraggledonia to break this spell, and the rest of you can't come."
"That doesn't seem fair," Red said. "Why can't the rest of us go?!"
"You have any weird dreams about Wembley being placed under a sleeping spell by a Silly Creature wearing red?" Gobo asked.
"No," Red said, a little confused.
"That's why!" Gobo shouted. "Come on, Lou! We've got to hurry!"
With that, Gobo and Lou left Fraggle Rock, though Red wasn't happy about it at all.
"I don't get why he's getting so chummy with Lou all of a sudden," she grumbled.
"Don't worry about it, Red," Mokey said. "They probably can't tell us any more because they're in a hurry."
"Yeah, it's not as if they've got some kind of steamy affair going that they don't want us to know about," Boober said. "And they're running away to Fraggledonia to get secretly married and they won't come back because they won't have the guts to face you or Wembley again, Red."
Mokey glared at Boober, and Red not only glared at him, she growled at him.
"What?" Boober asked, obliviously. Red grabbed the pillow off Gobo's bed, and began pounding the blue Fraggle with it as hard as he could.
"What'd I say?! What'd I say?!" Boober shouted.
Mokey sighed, and took the pillow away from Red. She had a feeling she was going to have her hands full keeping Red under control.
"Wonder how she'd like it if I tried to steal her boyfriend?" Red said.
"Oh, Red, really!" Mokey shouted. "I'm ashamed of you for even thinking about something like that!"
Red just grumbled. Mokey and Boober had a feeling she'd be in a mood like this all day, so they decided to leave her to sulk while they watched over Wembley.
Meanwhile, Gobo and Lou ran past the Gorgs' castle and down to the docks. As promised, there was a boat there. The two Fraggles boarded, and cast off.
"I'll do the steering," Lou said. "After all, I've been to Fraggledonia more than you have."
"Right," Gobo said. "Incidentally, how long is this trip going to take?"
"If we get lucky, we'll be docking in Fraggledonia right before sunset. Provided we don't have any trouble from the bananacudas, but according to the goblins, the bananacudas have all migrated out of here for the time being."
Gobo nodded. Bananacudas were were the last thing on his mind right now. He kept wondering what this Lilith fairy, or whatever she was, wanted with Wembley in the first place. He was also afraid Lilith would somehow show up in Fraggle Rock to take Wembley, and then put Red, Mokey, and Boober under the same spell so they wouldn't stop her.
Gobo was so lost in thought over the whole thing, he didn't even notice when Lou stopped the boat.
"We're here," she said, dropping the anchor. "Come on."
"Where is everybody?" Gobo asked.
"Probably in the village. They don't know we're coming. Usually, when they know I'm coming, there's a reception committee here. Come on, let's get to the castle first, and let the goblins know I'm back."
"They're sure gonna be surprised to see you back so soon! You only left here two days ago!"
Lou nodded, and laughed at that. She and Gobo then immediately went to the castle, but on their way, they noticed something very strange. Fraggledonia was a little too quiet. The streets of the village were empty.
"This is weird," Lou said. "There are usually Fraggles all over the place at this time of day!"
"Maybe they decided to take the day off or something," Gobo said.
Lou shrugged, and continued on to the castle. When they got there, they found the drawbridge was open, which was definitely not normal. The two Fraggles ran across it, and found a goblin standing by the mechanism that opened and closed the drawbridge, but he was fast asleep.
"Hey, buddy, wake up!" Lou shouted. "How come the drawbridge is opened?"
"What's the matter, big fella?" Gobo asked. Then he began shouting right into the goblin's ear. "Can't you hear us?!"
The goblin responded by falling flat on his face to the floor.
THUD!
Gobo and Lou just stared at him. Then they looked at each other and realized that the goblin was under the same sleeping spell as Wembley was. Immediately, they ran inside the castle, and checked all of the rooms for the rest of the goblins. All of them were fast asleep.
"I wonder if Lilith has been here?" Gobo asked. "And if she has, why would she bother putting an entire castle to sleep? You think she was testing out the spell before casting it on Wembley?"
"I doubt it," Lou said. "You had that weird dream the night before I came home. But that doesn't mean anything, either."
"I'm also worrying about the rest of the dream. The part where Lilith kidnaps Wembley. What could she want him for?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to think about that!"
Gobo happened to agree with Lou, and they continued to search the castle for signs of life, but everyone inside of the castle was asleep. By the time night fell, both Fraggles were exhausted.
"Maybe we should look for answers tomorrow morning," Gobo said. "I'm beat."
"Me too," Lou said. "Would you mind if I spent the night in your room, Gobo? I'm kind of afraid to be alone."
"Sure," Gobo said, as he and Lou walked into the bedroom Gobo usually used when visited Fraggledonia and stayed overnight. "You take the bed, and I'll take the floor. After all, it wouldn't do for a princess to sleep on the floor. That's the job of the royal herald. Or in my case, the royal Gobo, since Harold's somewhere getting some sleep."
Lou grabbed a pillow off the bed, and hurled it at Gobo for the "Herald/Harold" joke. She also threw him an extra blanket, and crawled into the bed. Gobo yawned, made himself comfortable on the rug on the floor. Then the two of them went to sleep.