This is a story with Patches in it: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/54485376/

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You find a little pink snake resembling an earthworm 🪱 on the ground, that excitedly tells you that it wants to visit this incredible touristic attraction.

You look forward and see a castle in the distance.
You ask if it wants to hitch a ride with you, but it says it's too tired, and ready to camp.

You look around and notice its little tent and little objects all scattered around.

So you decide to leave the snake alone for the night.

You both agree to visit the castle together, tomorrow .


The next day, you grab some extra snacks to surprise your new snake friend.

You reach its camping site, remembering the arrangement of the rocks and sticks in the field.
To your horror, the camp has been stomped.
There is no sign of the snake, and no evidence of any snake trail.

Anger welling up, you grab the little messed up tent, and wrap it around your wrist like the bracelet of the day.

Looking ahead of you, you figure you were still going to the castle anyways


The area is weirdly empty, for a 'touristic attraction".

Or maybe the snake had said "historical site"?

It is a mix of horror movie tropes, this dusty old yet alluring castle. It is kind of spooky, and this is all you need to know to close this side-quest and honor the final wishes of the snake friend.

Standing in front of the door, you untie the rag from your arm, and just as you're about to leave it on the floor...


The door opens, and an unmentioned host looks directly at you, impatient at your lack of engagement with the bell.

It's a disturbing thing to look at, but your thoughts are interrupted by a warm welcome speech coming from this... horned... creature?

He speaks as if you already know about him, as if you came to see him.
He talks a lot about himself, as he leads you through dimly lit dark corridors.

You understand his name is Patches, and this word alone invites you to notice the sewed up differences all over his barely visible parts, the rest hidden behind his robe.
He compliments your good taste, as not too many would venture closer these days



You reach his study room, and before the tour begins you are given complimentary tea.
You don't drink it as he starts showing off his inventions.
You look around: it's a beautiful office with comfortable couches, stained glass window, and an extensive collection of books and papers.
As he notices you are not recognizing his work, his expression changes. "Unimpressed with these? Or perhaps you know me for something... else?"

You want to leave the teacup somewhere.

The unicorn thinks you're here for his "other work".
You have no clue who this guy is.

Before you know it, you're following him to his secret lab.


You arrive at the laboratory.
There are a lot of active experiments.

As you hear the unicorn talk about the sacrifice behind revolutionary discoveries, your eyes are drawn to a bright pink experiment on a petri dish type of container.

"Oh"

Patches gets a little shy, and confesses not all his experiments serve a big purpose.

Just now he is working on a treatment for his hair.
And part of the ingredients are ground up earthworms, for the shine. Just today, he found a big worm 🪱


You feel... Sad. In the end, your friend did enter the castle.
You're done with the tour.
This guy sucks, and you want to leave.

As you request to exit, you notice the unicorn reacts defensively by flaring up his magic... And your first instinct is to run.

You try to find an exit, and find yourself in the taxidermy room instead. All these stuffed bodies are missing a patch of their skin