Slowly, I opened my eyes; I was alone.
I looked down and saw that under my hooves was the steel plating of a corridor. I looked up: The trees were gone, replaced by matte gray walls. I instantly recognized the corridor.
I had to run, had to get out. I turned around and started to run, but skidded to a halt as I almost immediately ran into a door, a door that couldn't have been there, and yet there it was. I wasn't in the corridor anymore; I was in one of the living quarters. And I knew the door in front of me. It was her door.
I turned around again to flee, but I found myself inside her room. Everything was exactly as I had left it: her lifeless body on the bed, the sheets soaked in blood. Streaks of blood were splattered all across the wall and even dripped from the ceiling.
Again, I turned in a desperate attempt to escape, but this time I was stopped by Starry as she stepped through the open doorway.
"So this is what you're hiding," she said in a casual, almost disinterested tone.
Words caught in my throat as I backed away from her. Her eyes shone with a baleful green light, and she slowly advanced toward me, backing me up against the bed.
"What's the matter? Afraid to defend yourself?" She snarled and raised a hoof back to strike me. I couldn't even flinch away, her glowing green eyes held me paralyzed.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" a voice called out. It sounded far away, muffled, as though I were listening to it through a tank of water.
Those bright green eyes looked away from me briefly, then back again. The room around me faded into darkness and so did the glow of those eyes. Once again, I was alone in the dark.
"Day!" that voice called again. It was closer. "Day! Open your eyes, Day!" I felt a hoof on my cheek.
***
I was dizzy. My ear was still ringing from when I'd been hit. A stabbing pain shot through my neck as I tried to move, and my eyes snapped open as I let out a pained gasp.
"Chr . . . Chrys?" I groaned, seeing her there in front of me. It had been her voice that I'd heard.
"Shh. Don't try to move. Just hang on. I'll get you out of this. I promise," she whispered through a forced smile to reassure me, but as I moved my eyes to look around, my heart sank like a lead weight inside my chest.
All around us were changelings. Their eyes gleamed in the shadows between the trees and in the boughs. The air hummed with their shrill chittering and hisses. And I was helpless before them; my legs were wrapped up in a sticky green slime, trapping me as much as their stares had.
I looked around and saw Kijiba there with me. His eyes were tinted green and he was just staring off into space. Two changelings stalked around him in slow circles, hissing and baring their fangs at him between fits of what I could only assume was laughter—a high-pitched warble that made my skin crawl. Kijiba seemed oblivious to their threats and cackles. He only swayed unsteadily on his hooves with that vacant stare on his face. They hadn't even bothered to restrain him as they had with me.
"Please! They're my friends!" I heard Chrys plead. She was kneeling, begging to a dark form in the shadows.
Two bright green eyes hovered over Chrys in the darkness. "What do you need friends for, little one? You have us now. You know we missed you dearly ever since you left us. But that's alright. We won't punish you for it. You were just confused. Isn't that right?"
Chrys glanced at me over her shoulder, then back into the shadows. "Y—yes . . . I . . . I'm sorry. I promise I won't run away again. Just, please, let my friends go. They won't cause any trouble. I swear."
"You know we can't do that, sweetheart. We have to think of the swarm first, you know. The swarm is what keeps you safe, keeps you fed. You know that, don't you?"
"Please! I beg y—ahh!" Chrys tumbled over with a loud cry of pain when a hoof came out from the shadows and struck her.
"Now look at what you made me do." The figure stepped closer, out of the darker shadows to where I could barely make out her shape in the darkness. Twice as tall as any pony I'd ever seen, her dark hide, like the other changelings, made her almost invisible in the shadows. Her mane and tail shimmered ever so faintly in the sparse light that filtered down on her.
"Why do you have to be so selfish? Haven't we done enough for you? We found you, woke you up from your slumber, gave you a home, a family, and let you join in our feast. Is this how you repay our kindness?"
Chrys climbed to her feet and stood tall as she faced the queen. "I'll never stay with you!" she screamed defiantly. The buzzing and chittering around us quieted, and all the glowing eyes in the dark were on Chrys. She glanced in my direction, and her expression hardened. "Only if you let my friends go. Only when they're safe will I let you keep me."
The queen laughed. It wasn't the chilling warble I'd heard from the others, but more like a warm belly laugh. "Oh, little lost daughter, we don't need your permission to keep you." The queen's horn, long and wickedly jagged, glowed with a bright green aura. "Now, let's get you out of that unnatural pony disguise."
A ring of green flames rose up around Chrys, and I heard her scream as it closed in around her. It flashed brightly, and then it was gone. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, I saw Chrys on her knees again, shivering in her naked black hide.
"Look at you," the queen sneered. "How could you have tolerated that oppressive costume for so long? We've let you have your fun little rebellion, and now it's time to come back to us and be a good girl."
Chrys struggled to stand, but the queen pushed her down again.
"Tsk. So weak, child. You must be starving. Here: we'll let you be the first to feast on this . . . creature." The queen turned toward Kijiba. Her eyes glowed, and his shone in response. Slowly, he walked over to her.
"This thing has been a nuisance for us for quite some time now. Those damned books it found; it thinks it can fight us. We saw what it did to you, poor child—that powder that stole your magic, and that infernal noisemaker. We're ever so grateful that you convinced it to destroy that thing for us."
"It wasn't for you!"
"Silence, child. Remember what this creature did to you. It humiliated you, had you at its mercy. It would have held you captive and done unspeakable things to our precious little daughter."
"He was only trying to protect—"
"He?" The queen laughed again. This time her pitch ascended into a shrill warble. The entire forest echoed her laugh in waves. "Sweet little child. This creature doesn't deserve such recognition." Her eyes glowed brightly as she stared down into Kijiba's. "See how simple it is to control? Such a beast isn't fit for more than being food for the swarm.
"What a pitiful little creature, isn't it, child?" The queen turned her gaze back to Chrys. "We've been waiting for the day we could get rid of this. We're glad you could be here for it. Don't you see, child? This game you've played of pretending to be a pony; it's over. It's time to come home, dear."
"Chrys!" I managed to call out to her, though it felt as if my chest were about to implode from the effort it took. I could barely breathe.
"It looks as though your little pet found his voice," the queen said. "We thought you might like a chance to get back at this creature which exposed you, but we've seen the way you look at your pet. Go on, child, indulge yourself: feed on him if it makes you happy. He's hiding a lot. See what you can tease out of him." The queen helped Chrys back to her feet and pushed her toward me.
Chrys looked at me, holding my eyes in her gaze. Her face had gone completely blank, as if she'd given up, given in.
"Chrys, please!" I begged as I struggled against the sticky green slime that held me.
She blinked slowly as her horn began to glow. "Trust me," she whispered. Chartreuse magic flashed around her, and she opened her eyes, staring into mine as she stood before me as Starry. She reached a hoof toward me, and I flinched back, but the sticky green muck around my legs and torso gave me nowhere to run. I opened my mouth to say something or maybe to scream, but my voice was lost as she held me captive in her glowing eyes and . . .
She kissed me.
Her forelegs wrapped around my shoulders, and she pulled herself close against me. I felt my whole body shiver, and then suddenly everything felt quiet, still. The forest and changelings around me faded away. I was weightless, floating in warm, white light. I felt somepony holding me, but it wasn't Starry anymore. I saw . . .
I saw my mother.
"Shh. It's okay. Mommy's here. I love you, my Lucky Day."
Choking back a sob, I gasped and clung to her tightly, burying my face in her neck. "I'm sorry, mommy," was all I could say.
And then she was gone. I was cold and alone again, and Chrys was there in front of me, in her pony form again. She was crying. I stared at her breathlessly. Blinking, I felt tears roll down my cheeks.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, her voice trembling.
"What are you doing?" the queen demanded.
Chrys turned away from me, and her horn shone brightly with her chartreuse aura. The whole forest was aglow with her light.
"You do not hurt my friends!" she yelled.
Her magic grew brighter and brighter, and then a blinding flash burst forth from her horn in all directions. I felt a warm tingle as it washed over me, and then my legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the ground as the green muck that had been holding me disintegrated. I was too weak to stand on my own. All I could do was stare out into the darkness, trembling in shock from what had happened.
There was yelling, buzzing, stomping of hooves, all swarming around me. I couldn't move. I wasn't even sure I was breathing. Even the gunfire sounded distant and muted as though my ears had been stuffed with cotton.
All I could see or hear was the lingering vision of my mother saying she loved me. She was my whole world.
***
"Day!" someone called out to me. "Day!"
I felt something around my shoulders, and then the whole forest began moving around me. The ground dragged under my hooves. Somepony sat me down. Her face was in front of me, but I could only look through it. My whole body was completely numb. More than just that: I felt completely disconnected from all my senses.
"Day!" the face was calling out to me.
Her forelegs wrapped around me tightly, and my head rested on her shoulder. Somehow, I became vaguely aware that it was Starry holding me. When did she get there? I wondered somewhere in the back of my mind.
"St—Starry?" my voice mumbled.
Slowly, I felt my body coming back to me. Then, in a rush, I gasped in sharply. My heart was pounding inside my chest, and I quickly scrambled away from Starry.
"Don't touch me!" I cried.
"Day, Day, it's okay!" Starry said as she backed up from me. "You're okay. It's safe now. Look. See? They're gone."
I looked around. The eyes that had watched us from the shadows were gone. Their shrills and chitters were gone too. The air reeked of blood and burnt flesh. Starry was sitting in front of me. Her braid had come completely undone, and stray hairs clung to her sweat-soaked face and neck. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, but she was smiling at me.
"What . . ."
"What happened? We got separated. It was hard, but I managed to stay a step ahead of their mind games. Heh. Lucky for you." She spoke at a frantic pace. I could barely keep up with what she was saying. "You're safe now. She's dead. I killed her. I killed the queen. Chrys was right; without her, the rest all scattered. I'm so sorry. I never should have brought you here. This was all my fault. It's okay now, though. You're safe. I saved you."
Starry paused to take out her flask and aspirin bottle; she quickly downed a couple tablets and stood up, fanning her wings at her sides. "Don't worry: I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I told you, didn't I? I promised, and I wouldn't lie to you, Chance." She winced, and immediately corrected herself, "Day. I wouldn't lie to you, Day."
"Starry—"
"What is it, Day? Are you hurt? What's wrong? You're safe now. Don't worry."
"Starry, I just . . . I need a minute," I said quietly.
"Oh. Of course. I'll just be over here, securing the area. Okay? Okay. Just yell if you need me. Okay? Oh, and here: they took your pistol away, but I got it back for you." She held it out to me.
"Okay," I answered, nodding to her as I reluctantly took the pistol and tucked it into my pocket again (not that it had done me any good so far).
My legs were still shaky, but I managed to stand up on my own. As I walked, I glanced over to see Kijiba slipping away into the forest; back toward his village, I assumed.
I turned away from everypony to look out into the dark forest, away from what I was sure was a bloody and gruesome battlefield. I didn't need to see any of it. I'd seen too much already.
Part of me fought to hold on to the memory of that strange vision I'd had when Star—when Chrys kissed me. Another part wanted to just let it fade and forget about the whole thing. All I could do was sit there, alone, away from the others, biting my lip as I struggled to keep from breaking down and crying like a little foal.
The sound of hoofsteps let me know somepony was approaching. Sucking in a deep breath and wiping the stray tears out of my eyes, I did my best to hide the turmoil I was going through. I didn't want to drag anypony down with me.
"Are you alright?" Chrys asked as she sat down next to me. I kept my head down and shuffled over a little bit to make room for her.
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" She reached a hoof toward me. "You don't seem—"
"Don't touch me!" I screamed and recoiled as she put her hoof on my shoulder. Even I was shocked by my reaction, but at least Chrys backed off. "What . . . what did you do to me?" I asked, breathing raggedly. My chest felt heavy.
Chrys was silent for a moment before answering. "I fed off of you," she said. "I'm sorry. It was the only way I could challenge her. It's . . . not supposed to hurt . . ."
"I saw . . ." The words caught in my throat.
"You saw what you wanted to see. Or . . . what you needed to see."
My chest burned as I fought to keep from hyperventilating. "D—did you . . . s-see . . . ?" I asked, turning my head to look over at her, though I couldn't bring my eyes up to meet hers.
She sighed quietly and shook her head. "No. I can only taste emotions. I don't read minds. Whatever you saw, it was for you alone." She paused. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Clenching my eyes shut, I shook my head vigorously. It was a lie, and I knew it. But what else could I do? There was nothing to talk about. My life in the stable was over. All I wanted to do was just accept it and move on with my new life.
"Just . . . just leave me alone."
"Day . . ."
"I said leave me alone!"
Quietly, she left. And I was alone.
I keep trying to just put it all behind me. But it keeps getting dug up.
What Chrys had said earlier, about needing a mother to love her . . . she has no idea just how lucky she really was. And then to go and—and . . . plant that dream in my head . . .
I'm falling, falling with no end in sight. I wonder if I'll ever hit bottom. I almost wish for it, just so I can stop falling already.
Nopony understands. I could explain it . . . but they wouldn't be able to fix anything. At best, they'd just fill my ears with sweet nothings because that's all you can do when you can't actually help someone—tell him that everything will be alright; lie to him and tell him it's not his fault.
Starry's over there, taking more aspirin. It doesn't look as if it's helping much, but at least the changelings never got her like they got me. If she survived even half the things they'd put me through, she still wouldn't understand. And not Chrys either, not after what she did to me. Even Kijiba . . . whatever they put him through, he still hasn't had to do what I've—
"Starry? Starry! Day, I need help!"
"Wha . . . Starry! What's happening?"
"She's seizing! Dammit! I wasn't watching. How many did she take?"
"How many what? Aspirin?"
"Aspirin? Day, those are amphetamines!"