The Smiling Critters: A Day With Catnap

Standing outside the treehouse, Craftycorn paces around and glances up at the cat's house debating whether or not she should check on the critter. It's okay... Everything will be fine. Catnap's not actually sick, so there's no need to worry! She tries to reassure herself as she wills herself to go back to her garden to start her project. She promised the teacher that she would create a beautiful banner for an upcoming Halloween festival that the Nightmare critters are hosting for the Playtime Creek's new Nightmare Park. According to DogDay, Catnap is feigning sickness because he promised Miss Delight that he would stay awake the next time he came to class.

Crafty shakes her head and heads for the garden. Upon entering, she notices a purple ball that sticks out like a sore thumb between the yellow and white daisies. She almost laughs aloud seeing the supposedly sick cat lounging about in the pollen. She sneaks over and gives the sleeping cat a couple of pats eliciting a soft purr from him. The cat flips over and yawns before sneezing. The unicorn reaches to give him a handkerchief, but pauses as the cat begins to groom his own face. 

She smiles and gets up, leaving the cat in his repose. She enters the center of the garden where her materials lie and immediately gets to work, setting up her easel. 

About three hours into her work, Crafty lifts her brush from her painting. It is still unfinished, but it's coming together perfectly. The main theme is going to be horror, but the gentle horse decided to make the banner more welcoming than scary. She knows Poppy, Kissy, Bubba, and Kickin are not fans of horror and three of them would definitely skip the festival if even the welcome banner screamed 'run away'. She needs to add some more to spice it up, but the paint needs to dry before she can continue, so she decides to check on Catnap in the meantime.

"Catnap? Are you still there?"

She calls, but receives no response. She approaches the spot that she last saw the cat, but only the daisies remained. Maybe the pollen irritated his nose too much? 

Craftycorn frowns and glances around the garden. The soft breeze rustles the daisies, but there's no sign of the lavender-scented cat. She doesn't panic yet. Knowing Catnap, he probably just moved somewhere else for a more comfortable napping spot.

She walks further into the garden, checking beneath the broad leaves of sunflowers and behind the tall hedges. Nothing.

"Maybe he went back to his treehouse?" she murmurs to herself.

Just as she turns to leave, a faint rustling sound comes from the hedge to her left. Her ears perk up, and she cautiously steps toward it.

"Catnap? Are you in there?" she calls, but there's still no answer.

She sighs, bending down to part the branches and yelps when something jumps out at her.

A blur of dark fur and a mischievous grin darts past her, vanishing into the flower beds. Crafty's heart hammers in her chest as she scrambles to her hooves.

"C-Catnap, was that you?"

Silence. Then—another rustle. This time to the direction of the treehouse. Squinting, she spots a familiarly long, purple tail disappearing up the ladder. A small smile tugs at her lips. He wants to play hide and seek? Fine.

Taking a deep breath, she marches toward the treehouse. "I know you're up there, Catnap. You can't hide forever!"

She climbs up the ladder, expecting to find him lazily sprawled under a blanket, but the treehouse is empty. She notices an old book lying on the rug by the feline's bed, its pages slightly worn. Curiosity piqued, she picks it up. The cover reads Nightmare Park: Legends and Folklore.

Her brow furrows. Catnap was reading this?

Before she can flip through the pages, a creak sounds behind her. She gasps and whirls around just in time to see Catnap drop down from the ceiling beams, landing gracefully on his feet with his usual grin, in his left hand is a dead rat.

"Still following me, Crafty?" he teases.

Craftycorn eyes the rat, sympathetically, and places her hooves to her chest. "Y... You seem pretty energetic for someone who just feigned sick so he can sleep."

He turns his eyes away from her, bringing the rat to his mouth. "I would never." He bites into it and darts to the open window, letting the blood drip outside to avoid blood on his wooden floor.

She frowns, looking away. "D-DogDay said... you were faking it."

Catnap rolls his eyes, but doesn't deny it. Instead, he lets his meal fall from his jaw, turns, and sits on one of the ledge of the window. "Sometimes it's easier to say something than to do it." he shrugs and licks the blood from his lips.

Craftycorn sighs and glances at the cat for a moment. "You're even more unreasonable awake than asleep..." She lifts the book. "Why do you have this?"

Catnap's ears flick, and for a moment, something similar to amusement crosses his face. "Have what?" he replies, feigning confusion.

Craftycorn isn't fooled. "You know what I'm referring to, Catnap. You have something to hide, don't you?"

He tilts his head, innocently. "Don't I always?"

She narrows her eyes. "A bit too much, I'm afraid."

He smiles but doesn't answer immediately. Instead, he gestures for her to come and sit. She slowly makes her way toward him and sits on the opposite end of the window's ledge, at a distance.

His eyes never leave her, his colorless orbs glimmering with something unreadable. "Nightmare Park wasn't always some attraction," he finally says. "Legend has it, the park was originally a testing ground for... things. Things Playtime Creek wants no one to know about."

Craftycorn shivers at his ominous tone. "Like what?"

Catnap taps the book. "Things that go beyond simple pranks and funhouse frights, of course." He glances out of the window toward the direction of the park. "I wonder if any of those stories are true." he mutters more so to himself.

Craftycorn begins to ponder the cat's words. She's never been one for horror, but Catnap's strangely playful tone makes her uneasy. "So... do you think something weird is going to happen at the festival?"

Catnap smirks. "Weird things always happen when the Nightmare critters are involved."

She bites her lip, her chest tightening. "Do you think we should be worried?"

He eyes her for a long moment before shrugging. "I don't know. But I do know one thing."

"What?"

His eyes glint with amusement. "When something does happen, you'd better be ready to run."

Craftycorn gulps. "W-When--?!"

Outside, the wind picks up, forcing the old book in Crafty's hands open and rustling its pages. Crafty flinches as her hair blows across her face, but when she opens her eyes, the cat is gone.

Hopping off the ledge, the unicorn makes her way out of the cat's home and back to her work space. Perhaps a scarier banner will be for the best.