Chapter 24 – Bodega Bay

"You sure we're heading in the right direction?"

That was the question that had been ringing in G's ear for the past four hours, at this point it must have been at least 10 in the evening and by now almost everyone had asked the same irritating question except for Nyx, who at this point still trusted G's judgement since she was sticking close to him as they walked. After being forced to abandon the van on the cliff, the group had no choice but to continue their way on foot, following G's sense of smell, which wasn't easy for the Living Genre due to certain changes in the form of a trickle of blood that ran out of his nostril every few hours, and the darkness of the night and the woods wasn't making things any better. After a while of simply ignoring the question, G finally gritted his teeth and gave Adagio's question a direct answer.

"Honestly!?" he snapped angrily, clearly annoyed with the constant nagging. "No, I'm not sure! To tell you the truth these bloody nosebleeds are messing up my sense of smell, I can tell someone is in this general direction but now I can't tell who they are or how far! Hell, I don't even know what realm we're in right now!"

Needless to say, this revelation gave most of the group members a terrible shock, especially the newcomers.

"But wouldn't you recognise it regardless?" Goggles asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you were I dimensional jumper."

"Yeah, but it's not like I've been to all of them!" G retorted. "That's impossible, even for me!

"Well this is just PEACHY!" Adagio snapped in response, her anger clearly rising above G's at this point. "Not only have you dragged us all on some danger-filled disaster of a road trip, which is now a hike thanks to certain arrangements, but now thanks to you we're all LOST!?"

For a moment, it looked as though G and Adagio were about to butt heads to let out their fury, however Laura and Lug managed to step in front of the two before anything drastic happened.

"Oh give it a rest will you!" Lug snapped. "Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to help anything!"

"He's right," Laura added, though clearly not feeling very confident with this confrontation. "Look, we're all tired and hungry, how about we find somewhere to stay the night and continue the search in the morning?"

As much as G hated to admit it, he certainly WAS tired, and as far as he could tell everyone else was too, especially Nyx judging from how much she had been yawning for the last hour alone. Giving a nod of approval, G instantly agreed with Laura's proposal.

"Sounds good to me," he said with conformity. "What say you guys?"

"Aye, that's the best idea I've heard all evening," Mossy answered, Spud nodding in agreement.

"I'm happy with that idea," Edward added.

Soon enough, everyone else gave a similar reply in the form of a nod or a vocal answer.

"Well the mass has spoken then," G declared with a small smile.

However the only one who didn't give her answer suddenly became vocal again, her anger clearly not dwindled by much since the last time she spoke.

"Just one problem genius," Adagio pointed out sceptically. "We haven't seen any sign of civilisation for hours, how are we gonna find…?"

"Guys!" Goggles called out, cutting Adagio off mid-sentence. "Over here!"

As it turned out, the Gizmonk took a moment to make some distance between himself and the group in order to scout ahead, thus allowing him to find a break in the treeline that lead to a dirt road leading uphill, atop of the hill was what cause Goggles to call for the others.

"Is that… a hotel?" Aria gasped, seeing the large building that caught Goggles' attention.

"Looks like it," Goggles replied.

It may have been difficult to tell in full specifics what the hotel looked like given what time of day it was, but with the added moonlight the group could make out some details about it, like that fact that it stood at least 10 floors and quite spacious on each one to boot, and had an outside of what bright orange brick from what everyone could tell, though not clearly because of the dark. However the strange thing was that there didn't seem to be any lights on inside, perhaps it was closed for the night? Either way, the group needed a place to stay for the night and that hotel seemed to be the only option.

"Do we risk it?" Goggles asked, clearly not liking the way the hotel seemed to be lacking any life.

"Unless you want to spend the night out here then we have no choice," G replied, once again taking the lead. "Come on."

Following his instruction, the group then followed G up the hill towards the hotel, though not without concern, after all none of them were in disguise at this point, even G was now in his normal attire. If someone were to spot them then there would surely be a commotion caused by their appearance, thankfully the road towards the hotel seemed to be just as uneventful as the trek through the woods. After a while, the group finally managed to pass by an old sign a few yards away from the building itself, a sign that displayed the hotel's name.

"The Bodega Bay Inn?" Goggles said, reading the sign aloud thanks to the light from his tail.

"Sounds cheerful," Aria commented sarcastically.

"Doesn't LOOK cheerful," Sonata added, clearly not catching onto her sister's sarcasm.

At any other point, Aria would have rolled her eyes and given Sonata another one of her snide comments, however in this case she simply had to agree with her, much to her own annoyance. Now that they were closer to the hotel, the group could see that it had succumb to the ravages of time, pieces of brickworks were chipped away, cracks adorned with concrete walkways around it, even sound of the windows were boarded up as though the place had been condemned. However despite this, the group simply kept going, even if it was nothing more than a cave, the group needed some form of shelter for the night and this was it. Upon reaching the front door of the hotel, the group saw that there was still no light, nor any other sign of life, from what they could tell the entire building was empty. Just to be on the safe side, G tried his best to sniff around the door to check if anyone was inside, but once again the scent of his own blood was blocking his sense of smell.

"Can you smell anything G?" Nyx asked, curious as what G was able to pick up.

"Hard to tell," G admitted. "The scent of my nosebleeds aren't making things easy, plus the entire building smells all musty. Looks like the place is abandoned though."

It wasn't much of an answer but given what G had said earlier it was understandable, even G himself was disappointed with the answer he gave, while it was true that the smell of lost characters came from this general direction, but as far as distance, he couldn't tell whether they were inside or a few miles away, and the fact that he had never been to this particular realm only made things worse since it made it more difficult for him to tell which was supposed to be here and what wasn't. Seeing that his friend was in some form of distress based of the face he was pulling, Edward then stepped forward from the group and stood by G's side in front of the door.

"It's better than nothing," he said, giving the Living Genre a reassuring nod.

Seeing what Edward was trying to do, G looked up and him and gave him a gentle smile, completely appreciative of his friends attempt to support him.

"Agreed," he said, keeping his smile. "Would you mind?"

Understanding completely what G was referring to, Edward gave a positive nod and proceeded to place one of his bladed fingers into the door's keyhole, after a few jingling with his hand, Edward then finally managed to pick the lock and the front door swung open. Witnessing this, the rest of the group couldn't help but feel impressed at Edward's skill.

"You can pick locks?" Aria asked, earning a nod from the scissor-handed man. "…Cool."

At those words Adagio couldn't help but roll her eyes, of course Aria would be the most impressed out of everyone, after all she liked breaking rules as much as Sonata liked tacos. Once everyone was inside, Chef then closed the door behind them, leaving the group to stare in awe at the true state of the building they had just broken into. As expected, the inside was just as bad, if not worse than the outside was, cobwebs decorated every other corner of the ceiling, mould and mildew shrouded the walls, though it was a little difficult to tell by how much given how dark it was, and worse still, the entire place felt a little drafty, as though somewhere there was a hole that the group wasn't seeing. At first the everyone was just relieved to be inside a place they could spend the night, however before they could relax, G then pulled out a few flashlights out of his vest and handed them to a few members of the group.

"Alright, spread out in teams of three," he instructed. "That way we can make sure this entire floor is secure, we don't want any more surprises, do we?"

As much as they just wanted to collapse on the floor right then and there, everyone eventually agreed that what G was suggesting did take priority above everything else. However before they could go anywhere, Sonata couldn't help but ask something.

"What about the upper floors?" she queried. "Isn't that where all the bedrooms are?"

"Yeah, but in a hotel this old we don't know how badly this place is in need of repairs," G pointed out. "The floor could collapse under our weight for all we know. Personally, I think we should sleep in the lounge for tonight. Unless any of you guys have any objections with that."

Of course Adagio had objections with that, however she was so tired by this point that she couldn't even be bothered to make an argument, worse still, Aria seemed to feel the need to speak for her.

"Hey as long as we're inside I don't care," she said.

"I've slept on worse things," Chef said in agreement.

"Me too," Goggles added.

"Pft, whatever," Aria commented, still trying to remain as moody as ever.

With everyone, somewhat in agreement with the plan, G then nodded and said one last thing before he took Goggles and Nyx into his faction.

"Alright, we all meet back here in twenty minutes," he said, turning on one of the flashlights and making his way down the halls with Nyx and Goggles in tow.

Nodding at each other with understanding, everyone then began making their own way, at first it looked as though the Dazzlings were gonna be a group by themselves, however there were still a few trust issues amongst the group concerning them and Chef was all too happy to enforce some changes to the group factions.

"Nuh uh girly," he said, grabbing Sonata by the back of her shirt and pulling her towards him. "You three are gonna be spread out for this one."

With their fear of Chef being too great, the Dazzlings found themselves unable to argue with him and they all began to spread out amongst other factions, with Chef, Sonata and Mossy forming one, Aria, Edward and Spud forming the second, and Adagio, Lug and Laura forming the third. Once this was all sorted out, everyone then split into their groups, each going into a different direction into the hotel.

#

With G's group, a source of light was no issue, with G holding his flashlight, Goggles using his tail and Nyx lighting up her horn, each of them could get a clear view of the corridor they were following, from what they could tell, they seem to be passing by the lounge judging from the assortment of sofas. Suddenly G's attention drew away from the lounge towards the sight of Nyx's nervous shivering.

"You okay Nyx?" G asked, clearly concerned for the filly.

"It's spooky in here," Nyx replied bluntly.

Hearing this G couldn't help but sigh, not out of irritation but in agreement, even with the light the three were giving, the hotel inside seemed to still have a creepy vibe about it that no one could seem to shake.

"Yeah, it kinda creeps me out too," Goggles commented, agreeing with Nyx's previous statement.

"You guys don't think this place is haunted, do you?" Nyx asked nervously, resulting in a light chuckle from G.

"Doubtful," he said. "I never knew you believed in ghosts, Nyx."

At those words, Nyx couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"After everything we've seen these past couple of weeks, I'll believe in anything," she replied, causing G to chuckle again.

"Fair enough," he replied, this time with both Nyx and Goggles joining him in his light laughter.

However the laughter was quickly cut short once Goggles noticed yet another trickle of blood oozing out of G's right nostril.

"Are you sure you okay G?" he asked. "You seem to be bleeding again."

"Dammit!" G snapped in response, quickly wiping away the blood and regaining his composure. "Uh… I mean yeah, I'm fine."

However neither Goggles nor Nyx were convinced of that.

"Really?" Goggles asked sceptically. "Cause you've been getting nosebleeds ever since Bree, is there something you're not telling us?"

"Of course not," G replied defensively. "I'm sure it's probably nothing. Really guys, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Nyx asked concernedly. "Because if it isn't you really should see a doctor."

It was at this point that G really started to get annoyed, as much as he appreciated Nyx and Goggles' concern, he still liked to keep things to himself, and this situation was a secret he was NOT willing to share so easily.

"For the final time, I'm fine," he said sternly. "Now can we PLEASE just let this go?"

As much as they hated to admit defeat, both Nyx and Goggles knew that they weren't going to get anything out of G at this point in time so they both just gave him a nod, thus ending the discussion. However as they looked each other with the same solemn expression on their faces, they both knew they were thinking the same thing, one way or another they were going to get the truth out of G eventually.

#

With Chef's group, both he and Mossy were the ones holding flashlights while Sonata tried to stay behind them, using them as some form of shield in case something jumped out at them. At this point in time, all three of them were searching the large kitchen of the hotel, though as big as it was, it was no less old and filthy than the rest of the hotel, mainly due to a few rusty pans and dusty plates that were spread out all over the worktops.

"Man, and I thought MY kitchen was bad," Chef commented as he shone the flashlight all over the area. "The place looks like it hasn't been used in years."

"I wonder why they closed this hotel down," Mossy added, carefully looking over each and every corner with his own light.

"Hell if I know," Chef replied, not really caring in the slightest.

Suddenly a small clang erupted from the far end of the kitchen, more than likely due to a draft or a pan falling off its hook, however Sonata wasn't too sure.

"What was that!?" she squealed, obviously terrified out of her wits.

But while Mossy shared in Sonata's concern, Chef merely rolled his eyes with annoyance.

"Relax, will ya!" he snapped, causing Sonata to squeal again. "Geez, it's like taking care of a kindergartener!"

However Mossy wasn't too happy with Chef's reaction, he may have known that Sonata was a villain, but still no person deserved to be spoken to so harshly.

"You know, it couldn't hurt just to be nice once in a while chef," he grumbled.

This turned out to be a mistake on Mossy's part since now, Chef's aggravation was now aiming towards HIM instead.

"What was that!?" Chef snarled, a vein throbbing in his neck to indicate how irritated he truly was.

Not wanting any more conflict, especially at the hands of this behemoth of a human, all Mossy could do now was let out a squeal of his own.

"Nothing!" he whimpered.

It was then that Mossy and Sonata came to an agreement, without a doubt, as scary as any bump in the night was, the scariest thing in this hotel at this point was none other than Chef.

#

After twenty minutes have passed, everyone once again met up in the lobby of the hotel, and judging from the looks on their faces, it was easy to tell that everyone couldn't be more relieved.

"Well?" G asked curiously.

"Everything seems hunky dory where we checked," Aria replied casually.

"Dining room's clear too," Laura said in a similar fashion.

"Likewise on the kitchen," Chef added, though not without his usual glare. "There were a few noises, but that's probably just the rats or something."

However that last statement only made Nyx's eyes widen with terror.

"Wait… RATS!?" she yelled, instantly jumping up into the air.

In less than a second, G soon found Nyx clinging to the side of his face, shivering with terror, clearly she did not like the idea of having rodents scurrying about when she was planning on going to sleep.

"Oh great, thanks a lot Chef!" G scolded, clearly annoyed that Chef felt the need to scare a child out her wits.

However as usual, Cef only responded with an unamused growl and a roll of his eyes.

#

Once everyone was able to calm Nyx down and reassure her that there were no rats in the hotel as far as they could tell, the group finally was able to settle down for the night. After setting up a makeshift camp in the hotel lounge, which was all the more easier thanks to the assortment of sofas, and the vast amount of sleeping bags G somehow managed to pull out of his vest, the group each began to make themselves comfortable so they could try to get some sleep. With the only light being emanated from the fire place, also compliments to G's talents AKA his fire breath, the room was lit up with a gentle glow that was enough to keep the group warm and provide a small amount of luminance, but was also dim enough that the group wasn't struggling to drift off. Belong long everyone had managed to settle down and fall asleep, well… ALMOST everyone.

"Um… G?" Nyx said nervously, poking the Living Genre with her hoof.

Though her efforts to try to wake G up wasn't really necessary since he wasn't catching any Zs either.

"Hey kid," he said, sitting up from his sleeping bag and seeing the frightened look upon the filly's face. "You okay?"

However it was clear that she was NOT okay, still Nyx appreciated the concern.

"I… I couldn't sleep," she admitted.

Obviously G couldn't blame the little Alicorn for that, after all with everything that has happened in the last couple of days alone would be enough to be put over the edge, narrowly escaping the villains AGAIN, and now being forced to spend the night in a spooky hotel? He was actually surprised that she had managed to hold up this long.

"Yeah me neither," G admitted. "I guess things have been pretty hectic lately huh?"

Nyx nodded at that, however before she could say anything else, another voice joined in the conversation.

"That may be putting it mildly," she said with a slight stutter. "If... if you don't mind me saying."

It was then that G turned his head to see Laura sitting up on the sofa he had been leaning against, clearly she had been awake just as long as he or Nys had.

"Hey Laura," G greeted her with a light smile. "Couldn't sleep either huh?"

Laura shook her head at that with a small frown.

"No," she replied. "The images of what almost happened to Goggles today just won't go away."

It was then that she, along with G and Nyx looked towards said Gizmonk, who at this point was fast asleep, a sliver of drool soaking the sofa he was laying on while he snored like an elephant. This was of course something that both Nyx and Laura couldn't help but feel concerned about.

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised that he got over it so quickly," Nyx commented. "I mean look at him, sleeping like a log like nothing's happened."

G couldn't help but sigh at that, he knew Goggles would kill him if he said this but Nyx and Laura deserved to know WHY Goggles seemed unphased by the recent events.

"Well, being in that situation isn't exactly new to him," he explained. "Before he settled down in his version of Equestria, he was a fugitive from his home country of Kappan. I guess after everything that's happened he just learnt to cope with something like that."

Hearing this, both Nyx and Laura gasped, not truly believing what they had just heard.

"He… he said that he escaped his home country before, but he never said he was a fugitive," Laura muttered. "What did he do?"

"Nothing," G replied bluntly, much to both girls' confusion. "He was just a poor victim of racism and was framed for a crime he didn't commit."

At those words Laura felt like bursting into tears, though thankfully managed to stay strong enough to absorb this new information. She never could have imagined that Goggles had suffered a similar situation to what she did on a daily basis back in her home realm, in many ways she couldn't help but feel sorry for Goggles.

"Poor guy," Nyx added, feeling no less sympathy for her Gizmonk friend.

It was then that while Laura tried to force back her tears, Nyx felt the need to let it all out, no so much so that she was wailing but enough for crying to be noticed by the other two.

"Nyx?" Laura gasped, sensing Nyx's distress.

"Oh sorry," Nyx quickly replied, trying to wipe away some of her tears. "It's just that… well it just seems too overwhelming, you know?"

Of course G and Laura knew in an instant that Nyx wasn't just talking about Goggles' story, which was just some new info that seemed to just push her over the edge after everything else that had just happened. Feeling the need to comfort the poor filly, G then took his bony arm and pulled her close, giving her comforting embrace.

"I know kid," he said, not really having anything else to say. "I know."

"I just… I just want to be back home," Nyx wept. "I want to hug my mom again, I just want to…"

However Nyx soon found herself unable to finish her sentence, instead she simply cried into G's vest and continued to do so for several minutes, what's more G felt no need to stop her from doing so, because sometimes one needs to have a good cry before feeling better in any situation. After a while, Nyx finally managed to calm down long enough for G to pull out a handkerchief from under his hat and start wiping the tears away from the filly's cheeks.

"Hey now, come on, dry those tears eh?" he said comfortingly. "Look Nyx, I promised that I will get you home okay? And I NEVER break a promise. So trust try to have a little faith, can you do that for me?"

At those words, Nyx gave a small appreciative nod, she may have been just a child but she was still mature enough to understand what G was trying to do for her.

"Okay," she whispered, allowing G to give her a small smile.

"Atta girl," he replied. "Now let's just try to get some sleep, okay?"

However before Nyx could walk back to her sleeping bag, she quickly found herself unable to move from G's side.

"Can I… stay with you tonight?" she asked nervously. "I… I don't want to be on my own."

Normally G would have denied such a request, after all before all this happened he had never stayed around anywhere long enough for anyone to form any real bonds with him, true people like Edward and Chi were his friends but even they knew how much G liked his space. However in this particular situation, G couldn't say no to the scared little filly, she was scared, she was homesick… she needed a friend.

"Of course you can," G finally said. "Come on and curl up next to Uncle G."

Then with a heavy smile, Nyx then made herself more comfortable and laid down next to G. Seeing this Laura couldn't help but smile, it was just like how she witnessed these two back on the first night in Middle-earth, like a child being comforted by an older family member, it was nice. Suddenly an idea popped into her head and she leaned over so that only G could hear her.

"Um… if it helps, do you mind if I…?" she said, lowering her voice enough that she was able to whisper in G's ear.

Upon hearing what Laura was proposing G couldn't help but smile, it wasn't his usual smirk but rather one that was filled with appreciation.

"Sure," he whispered back. "Just try to keep it down, alright? We don't want to wake the others."

Satisfied with the answer, Laura then smiled as she allowed G to flick her head like he did Lug, Mossy and Spud, much like them as soon as G's finger made contact with her forehead, a series of images and words began flashing in front of her eyes, meaning that she too had received the knowledge of new music and songs. Choosing one that she felt was appropriate, Laura then whispered into G's ear again and in response he then pressed a note on his musical themed vest as if he were turning on a speaker, with that the note he press gave a gentle glow and began emanating gentle music. In most circumstances, Laura never would have taken the chance to sing in front of a crowd, however in this case it was only her friends listening to her, friends that truly needed to hear what she had to sing:

Sunny days and starry nights

And lazy afternoons

You're counting castles in the clouds

And humming little tunes

But somehow right before your eyes

The sun light fades away

Everything is different

And everything has changed

If you feel lost and on your own

And far from home

You're never alone, you know

Just think of your friends

The ones who care

They all will be waiting there

With love to share

And your heart will lead you home

She may not have realised it herself but Laura had an amazing voice, so much so that both Nyx and G's hearts began to melt upon hearing it. As Laura sang, Nyx's mind couldn't help but think back to all the happy times that she had spent with her family back home, reading stories with her mother, playing with her friends at their clubhouse, all those wonderful memories that she would never let go of. However little did she, G or even Laura realised at the time, they weren't the only ones listening to the beautiful melody since a few members of the group now seemed to be awake, either from Nyx's crying or from the song itself. Either way they didn't want to interrupt the sweet moment the three were having and decided to remain as though they were still asleep while Laura continued to sing.

Funny how a photograph can take you back in time

To places and embraces

That you thought you'd left behind

They're trying to remind you

That you're not the only one

That no one is an island

When all is said and done

If you feel lost and on your own

And far from home

You're never alone, you know

Just think of your friends

The ones who care

They all will be waiting there

With love to share

And your heart will lead you home

At this point, everyone listening to the beautiful melody began to reminisce about their lives before the cracks. For Goggles, he began thinking back to his own version of Equestria, building gizmos with Trixie in his lab, helping out the Cutie Mark Crusaders in their adventures, even the teas he shared with Zecora got him all teary eyed. In Edward's case, he thought back to the time he spent away from his mansion, before he even met G, back to when he first met the first girl he ever said that she loved him before leaving forever. Even Chef's lip couldn't help but quiver as he listened to the Keidran's song, granted all he really had going for him was a job cooking for teenagers for Reality TV, but at least his boss was the closest thing to a friend he ever had. As for the Dazzlings, even they found themselves moved by Laura's velvety voice as it rang in their ears, though of course they would never truly show it.

There'll come a day when you're losing your way

And you won't know where you belong

They say that home is where your heart is

So follow your heart know that you can't go wrong

If you feel lost and on your own

And far from home

You're never alone, you know

Just think of your friends

The ones who care

They all will be waiting there

With love to share

And your heart will lead you home

It was then that Nyx finally managed to find herself closing her eyes as he drifted off into a comfortable sleep, an act that she seemed to be sharing with everyone else as they all felt their eyes feeling more heavy as they heard Laura sing the last chorus of her chosen song.

If you feel lost and on your own

And far from home

You're never alone, you know

Just think of your friends

The ones who care

They all will be waiting there

With love to share

And your heart will lead you where you belong

I know your heart will lead you home

With that final note sung and the music fading into silence, Laura then looked around her to see not only the rest of the group in a peaceful snooze, but also two specific members sharing what she considered a comforting slumber as she looked upon Nyx and G, both of whom had a smile upon their face as they slept. As much as she wasn't much of a socially open vixen, Laura was still glad that she was able to see such a gracious situation amongst all the madness that had occurred these last two weeks, so much so that she only said three more words before turning in herself.

"Goodnight, my friends,"

With that she then leant back into the sofa and went to sleep to, completely happy with what she had done. However what nobody knew then, was what they would soon come to regret later, had the group bothered to check upstairs during their search of the hotel, they might have noticed something out of the ordinary. But now, lurking from the shadows at the top of the main staircase, watching the group through the doorway as they slept, was a pair of shiny… red… eyes.

#

Author's Notes:

The Featured Song was inspired by "Your heart will lead you home" All credit goes to the Original Composer

watch?v=ifFEJOgp5GE&spfreload=10

The Character Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke / :iconPenstrokepony:

The Character Laura belongs to :icontwokinds:

The Characters Chi and Mimi belong to :iconbleedman: