It was the next morning. Starry and I were preparing to head out to continue her search for her son. I left most of the rations Chrysanthemum had given me in Starry's room to lighten the load I was to carry.
Starry took down one of her maps, spread it out on the table we sat at. She explained where we would be going while Chrysanthemum busied herself with organizing her stockpiles of trade goods behind the counter.
"The only place around here I haven't looked yet is this forest. It's not far from here, and based on a couple flybys I've made, it looks like there's some kind of abandoned village in there."
"That's a dangerous place. You shouldn't go there," Chrysanthemum spoke up.
Starry looked from Chrysanthemum to me and frowned. "I'm sure we can handle whatever's in the forest."
Chrysanthemum shuffled around on her hooves. "Then . . . then at least let me help guide you."
"You know your way around there?" Starry furrowed her brow.
"Y—yes . . ." Chrys stammered. "I used to date one of the merchants who came here to trade with Mum. Sometimes I traveled with him, and he made his route through the forest." She bit her lip. "It's been a while, but I'm sure I can help y'all avoid the dangers in there. And 'sides: the townsfolk won't be back for another couple days yet. I could stand to get out for a while."
"How much does your guidance cost?" Starry asked.
"Oh, don't worry about it, hun," Chrys smiled. "Consider it a favor since y'all have been such nice company."
"Alright." Starry nodded. "Thank you, Chrys. We'll be happy to have you along." She brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. "Alright, let's get ready and head out, then. We've got a long way to go."
***
The forest appeared as a dense wall of trees that somehow always seemed to be just ahead of us but never got any closer. The wall only grew in height until the towering trees loomed over us while still never seeming to draw any closer. Even as we'd pass one tree, then another, then a few more, the forest always seemed to be out on the horizon.
And yet, when I glanced behind us, I realized that it ran across every horizon, and suddenly we were deep in the forest, having entered it at some point along the way, but where exactly that point had been, I couldn't remember. It had simply crept up and surrounded us without our knowing.
There were no birds, no small animals—or large ones for that matter. Just trees as far as I could see. The sky above was just barely visible through the high boughs, where most of the leaves still clung to their parent branches. Underfoot were dry, decomposing leaves and scattered branches. The sound of those leaves and branches crackling and snapping under our steps was broken up every so often when a gust of wind would roll through the forest, and the tired old trees would sway and creak, as if threatening to crash down on us.
"Keep your eyes out for movement among the trees," Chrysanthemum cautioned us as she led the way. "The best thing we can do is try to . . . to avoid . . ." She stopped for a moment and put a hoof to her forehead as she cringed.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
Chrysanthemum gave a vigorous shake of her head and took a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Um." She looked around, her ears twitching. "Do you hear that?"
Starry and I both stood still, craning our ears around. But all I heard was the slow creaking of the trees.
"Hear what?" Starry asked.
Chrysanthemum shook her head again. "Nothing. Just a . . . ringing—ringing in my ears. It's Nothing. Come on. Let's not waste time." She set off again, a slight hurry in her step
I exchanged a glance with Starry, concerned that something might be wrong with Chrys, but not knowing any way to help. Starry shrugged a little. "Come on," she said. And we pressed on deeper into the foreboding wilderness.
"Are y'all sure you don't hear that?" Chrysanthemum asked again after a short while.
Starry and I both shook our heads.
"Do you wanna stop for a rest?" I suggested. "We've been walking all morning. Maybe—"
"No," Chrysanthemum answered curtly. "Thank you. No. I . . . I think we should keep going. We don't want to stay here any longer than we need to."
Starry glanced over her shoulder, her ears perked up. We all stood silently until Starry moved in closer to us, whispering, "I think we're being followed. We should definitely keep moving. Stay on your guard. Day, where's the pistol I gave you?"
"It's in my saddlebag."
"Well, get it out."
"But I—"
"Don't argue with me. Do it," she said sternly.
I closed my mouth and nodded quietly as I reached back into my saddlebag and dug out the pistol which Starry had given me the night before. I tucked it into the front pocket of my stable uniform, within easy reach, and Starry nodded in approval.
Chrys floated out a pair of small pistols from her own bags. They wavered slightly as she held them in her chartreuse aura. She winced briefly and shook her head again. "Let's keep moving."
Every dry leaf and every snapping twig seemed to get louder, letting the entire forest know where we were with every step we took. If there were monsters lurking among the trees, they surely knew that we had intruded. The forest felt somehow alive and as if it were very much aware of us. But for all I could see, and for all I could hear, we were alone. There was an aching feeling in my stomach, a gnawing little doubt that ran up my spine to scream in my ear: "There is something out there!" It was like being stalked by Grift all over again, except this time I felt as though she were not the only one.
As we continued further, Chrysanthemum began to stumble and waver from side to side. Her magic imploded, dropping her pistols to the ground, and she stopped to lean against a tree. She gave a dry heave and let out an agonized gasp.
"Chrys, what's wrong?" Starry asked, moving toward Chrysanthemum's side, but keeping her eyes and ears scanning around us.
"Dizzy," Chrysanthemum groaned. "Like knives in my ears." She gave another dry heave.
"Day, help her up. We're going back to the diner," Starry commanded.
As I approached Chrysanthemum, I suddenly found myself lying on the ground. It all happened so quickly that it took me a moment to process what had happened: Somepony had thrust me aside after dropping out of the trees and landing between me and Chrys.
With a flick of his hoof out from under his cloak, he threw some kind of green, glowing powder into Chrysanthemum's face while I was just getting back on my hooves. Chrys instantly fell back, choking and gasping for air, and I . . . I just stood there. I watched her writhing on the ground.
Starry was quick to act, however, and rushed toward the cloaked figure. She took a swing at his head, but he ducked under her hoof.
"Stay your aggression," came his voice from under his cowl. He hopped to the side nimbly as Starry rounded to kick at him with her back hooves but she missed again. "Your friend is gone; fiend unmasked. Look, see for yourself." Again he dodged Starry as she tried for a flying tackle, but she caught only a pile of dry leaves and twigs. The cloaked figure stood over Starry and pointed his hoof.
I looked where he pointed, back at Chrysanthemum. What I saw . . .
Chrys looked completely alien. She had a black, leathery hide; solid, opalescent blue eyes; and long, sharp fangs that stuck out from the corners of her mouth. Her horn had a similarly dangerous-looking hooked shape, and in place of the long, bouncy curls of her mane, there was instead a short, straight, silky gray mane. Delicate, gossamer wings protruded from her back, buzzing and twitching erratically.
Starry had stopped trying to fight the cloaked figure as she too looked back at Chrysanthemum to see what she had turned into. We were silent as we watched her. She stopped choking and slowly sat up. And that's when she looked down at herself and saw what we saw.
"No . . ." she gasped. "No . . . no!" She looked up at us. "I—I can't—I'm not—" She faced the cloaked figure. "You! What did you do to me?" Chrysanthemum cringed, and her horn flared chartreuse, but only for a moment before the aura imploded. "What did you do to me!" she screamed.
"Your true face revealed; your masquerade uncovered," he answered, stepping forward slowly. "Prey on us no more." He pulled back his hood to reveal his striped visage and eyes that boiled with an intent . . . an intent I'd seen before. I'd seen it in the eyes of security ponies inside the stable.
Never interfere with security; just keep your head down and get along.
Everything I'd ever known told me to stay out of it—to just let it happen and move on, forget about it. But as I looked down at Chrys, as she lay there cowering helplessly, with tears rolling down her cheeks . . .
"Wait! She's our friend. She's done nothing wrong!" I pleaded with the cloaked zebra.
He stopped and turned to face me, his head tilted to one side. "I didn't think ponies spoke our language. But that changes nothing." He pointed a hoof at Chrysanthemum. "Do you see what she is?"
"I see that she's afraid!"
"What are you?" Starry demanded, looming over Chrysanthemum.
"I'm Chrys! The same Chrys you've always known!" she pleaded. "Starry, please! I'm me—I'm still me . . . I've always been me . . ."
"She is a monster. I must keep her, however. There are more to find," the zebra said.
"I'm not a monster!" Chrysanthemum cried, burying her face in her hooves. "Not a monster . . . not a monster . . ."
"Stop! Both of you!" I shoved past the zebra and Starry to stand between them and Chrysanthemum, my wings flared out. My temples pounded with every beat of my heart. Each thundering pulse was like a loudspeaker inside my ears: "You have to get along. . . . It's important to get along," it rang, commanding me to mind my place, not stand in the way, and to let Security do its job. Inside the stable I would never have dreamed to stand between Security and somepony I barely knew. But seeing Chrys like that—like a small, innocent, helpless little foal . . . I fought against the pounding in my head, the pounding which told me to stand by and just let them do what they wanted. I had to protect her.
"I won't let you hurt her," I said. With the way my heart was racing, I felt as though I might pass out. It took all the effort I had just to keep my knees from buckling.
Starry, to my surprise, backed up a step. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me. The zebra didn't back off, though. "She feeds on my tribe!" he shouted. "She—her kind, feast; we suffer. I will see it end!"
"No! I don't! It's not me!" Chrysanthemum yelled back. "I . . . I'm not part of . . . that . . ."
I glanced back at her over my shoulder and watched as she shakily got back on her hooves. "Part of what?" I asked. "Chrys, what's he talking about?"
She looked around cautiously and trembled. "We're not safe here. Please, I'll . . . I'll tell you everything, just . . . we can't stay here." She cringed as her horn flared impotently again. "And I need my magic! I can't . . . I can't be like this. I feel . . . wrong."
The zebra hesitated. He lowered his eyes for a moment before he reached under his cloak and brought out a small cloth rag. "Wipe away the dust; magic will come back to you. But betray us not."
I took the rag and turned to face Chrysanthemum. She tried to reach for the rag with her magic, but it again imploded on her. "Here, let me," I said, reaching toward her, but I hesitated when she ducked away from me. "It's alright, I won't hurt you," I reassured her.
She took a shaky breath and nodded, closing her eyes. I sat down in front of her and got a closer look. I could see the green powder that the zebra had hit her with. It sparkled like glitter in the dim light that trickled through the forest canopy. Gently, I started wiping it off her face. She grimaced, and I wasn't sure if it was because of my touch or if maybe the powder was hurting her, but as I got to her horn and cleaned the little green flecks off of it, her face relaxed.
I sat back and smiled at her. "I think that's all of it. Can you use your magic now?" I asked.
Chrysanthemum opened her eyes and looked at me. She blinked a couple times before her horn shimmered with her bright chartreuse aura. Her magic flashed around her, and she stood there, looking as she always had, with her vibrant green coat and her blue and white mane styled in long, bouncy curls. She looked down at herself and let out a sigh. "Thank you, Day," she said, smiling back at me.
She winced suddenly, putting her hooves to her ears. "That noise! Make it stop!"
"What noise? What are you doing to her?" I turned around to face the zebra.
From under his cloak, he brought out a small polished stone, set with a yellow gem and with arcane runes etched into it. "It must be the effect of the repellant talisman I made. She's the first I've seen react to it."
"So turn it off!"
"It can't be turned off. Not without destroying it."
"Do it!"
"It's the only one I have. It took months to make. We'll need it to find others like her: the ones who have been tormenting my tribe."
Behind me, Chrysanthemum let out an agonized groan.
"It bothers her only when she wears her mask. She can go without it."
"Chrys?" I turned back to her. She was doubled over, clutching at her ears as she writhed on the ground. "Chrys, if you change back, it'll go away."
"No!" she yelled through gritted teeth. "You don't . . . understand." She spat out her words between pained gasps for breath. "This hurts . . . but that other . . . body feels . . . wrong! I can't!"
"Suffering like this, you can end it any time. Yet you endure—why?" The zebra looked Chrys over with a skeptical gaze.
Chrys forced herself to stand so she could look the zebra in the eye. "If you had to spend your whole life trying to escape what you were born as . . ." She grimaced, and for a moment she looked ready to pass out. Her normally vibrant color had turned pale, and beads of sweat ran down her face and neck. "What would you suffer just so you could be yourself?"
The zebra was silent for a moment, and then furrowed his brow. "Whispers in my ear. You who could be anything, how can I trust you?"
"Please, sir," I said, my head bowed and my ears splayed. "Chrys has been kind to me since I met her. She's helped others, and she's helped me. Please, don't make her suffer."
Behind me, Chrys lay back down. She clutched at her stomach as convulsive dry-heaves wracked her body.
The zebra looked at me, his eyes wide in shock. After a moment, he glanced down at the talisman in his hoof. He sighed and dropped it on the ground, then stomped it under his hoof. The gemstone cracked with a small flash of light.
Almost instantly, Chrys's pained groans stopped, and I watched as she shakily got back to her feet. Her color returned slowly as she wiped the sweat and tears from her face. After a few slow breaths to steady herself, she looked up at me and smiled. And then she hugged me.
I winced slightly as she threw her forelegs around my neck and nuzzled my cheek. "Thank you," she whispered then looked over at the zebra. "I'm so sorry for what they're doing to y'all." She took a deep breath, and I felt her embrace tighten around me briefly before she let go. "I said I'd tell you everything, and I will. But we have to go somewhere safe first."
"Somewhere safe indeed," he replied. "Follow me and do not stray. We'll go to my home."
"Hold on, now," Starry said as she pulled me aside. "Day, you know we can't go around solving everyone else's problems; we have our own to deal with."
I looked up at her. "But, ma'am . . . Starry . . . this is our problem, isn't it? Chance was here, wasn't he? There's something out there, and Chrys is the only one of us who knows anything about it."
"So let her stay and deal with it. We'll go back the way we came and . . . and we'll try to find where he went next." Starry sighed and pulled out her canteen for a drink. "It'll be a setback, but it's not like it'd be the first time."
I fell back a half-step. "Just . . . leave?" I glanced back over my shoulder at Chrys. She stood cautiously away from everypony else, with her back against a tree. I felt a tightness grip my chest like a claw pulling on my breastbone. "We can't just abandon her! She's our friend!"
Starry took another sip. "I don't even know what she is anymore. And we certainly don't owe this zebra anything."
I backed up another half-step. I felt as if I were going to be sick. No matter what I did, it would mean losing somepony: If I went with Starry, we'd leave Chrys behind. If I stayed with Chrys, Starry would leave me. I'd already lost everything from the stable, I had just started rebuilding my life outside, and now I was about to start losing it again.
My legs tingled with hundreds of little pinpricks, and I struggled to keep my breathing steady. After a glance over my shoulder at Chrys, I gave Starry my decision. "I can't leave," I told her. "I won't leave." I sighed and hung my head, knowing that I'd be moving on without Starry.
"Day . . ."
I looked up at Starry. The shield on her uniform glinted in the cold, sparse light that filtered down through the trees.
She took another drink from her canteen. "Alright, Day." She sighed and approached the zebra. "I'm looking for a pony who might have come through here recently. If we help you, can you help us?"
"This, I do not know," he answered with a shake of his head. "Masked hunters live in shadows. Your friend will explain." He nodded toward Chrys, and then continued, "Make hunters hunted; make free my tribe, only that—" He stomped his hoof. "Will make clear your way."
Starry gave a slow nod. "Okay . . . that sounded enough like a 'yes' to me. Lead the way. Come on, Day; let's get moving. Chrys, or whoever you are—"
"Starry, please! I'm still me. I'm the same Chrys you've always known."
"You'll go ahead of me where I can keep an eye on you," Starry said with a note of finality in her voice. Chrys didn't argue. She hung her head and took her place behind the zebra while Starry and I followed behind her, and we started walking through the forest again.
During the walk, the silence was broken only by a few brief moments of conversation. The zebra introduced himself as Kijiba. And Starry remarked how strange it was that I could speak the zebras' language. Zebras made up a large portion of the stable's population, I explained; everypony there spoke both languages fluently. Perhaps it was the just the mood we were all in, or maybe Starry thought better of asking more about the stable, but whatever it was, the conversation ended there.