private That Shrinking Feeling

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

By the time they reached the top, they were about two pony-heights high. Such height afforded a better view and a better reach for an average pony, but for the little group the panorama of the town square was truly epic. Just as Blaze had hoped, the spiral curve of the bannister slotted straight into a hole drilled through the ceiling. He had feared that the bannister simply squared-off and met a joist. At this height, it would've been a terrible thing to be forced to turn around and head back down.

 

Blaze walked up through the hole and hopped off to a rafter on the inside of Sugarcube Corner. He surmised the space as the others followed, but he couldn't see very much. The space felt warm and dry, and eerily quiet. His eyes adjusted, and he could see more clearly that he had to be careful to remain walking on a narrow place, for the rafter on which he stood was only maybe his width-and-a-half. Down below on either side was cherry-colored insulation foam. "Sheesh this place looks like candy inside and out..." Blaze thought, looking at the foam in contrast to the chocolate-brown color of the wood rafters. Smells of baking, boiled sugar and the odd burnt singe filled the air like trapped memories. Light was dim, coming from lamps or sunshine in rooms above and below, filtering through the occasional crack in the floor or gap between heat vents. The rafter on which he stood seemed to be uninterrupted, and he knew not the layout of the building other than the Kitchen and where Customers belonged, so he simply assumed it was probably best just to walk in a straight line along the joist.

 

As he traversed, muffled chatter, laughs and clinking of glasses came through the foam that covered the first floor ceiling below them. Some spots in the floor were louder than others but in general it was clear that on their left was the main dining and store area. On Blaze's right he could occasionally hear the ding of a cash register, and something like a dampened Mr. Cake's voice. Then ahead on the right came a suddenly completely new sound on the right. Ahead was a much brighter light, from an open vent. The sound was mechanical if anything. It was rhythmic and metallic but it also seemed to come from a variety of materials, like teaspoons, mugs, rubbing corrugated cardboard, a fire bellows, and then whatever it was suddenly stopped with the sound of a bowling ball or something of the like, landing on something else with a rather discourteous and abrupt "thud".

 

"Oh, picklebutter! What now?" exclaimed a very pink-sounding voice.