Sweet Nothings

by Golden Tassel

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

"Day, are you alright?" Starry asked quietly as she sat down next to me.

"Y—yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure? You look like you're about to be sick." She reached toward me, but I flinched away.

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

Starry sighed as she took out her aspirin bottle and shook out a tablet into her hoof. She paused, looking down at it; she was trembling. She shook out a second tablet and then swallowed them both with a long sip from her flask.

"It's alright to be scared, Day," Starry said after a moment. She wasn't shaking anymore. "I know this isn't easy for you, but we're in enemy territory right now. And we're only going deeper from here—right into the heart of it. From what I got out of Chrys, we can expect them to try to mess with our heads. We won't be able to trust what we see or maybe even what we think or feel. So I need to know I can count on you to follow my instructions."

My eyes stayed fixed on the pistol she'd given me. I knew what she was getting at: she wanted me to be a killer.

"I won't lie to you," she said. "If I had the whole town of Precinct with me, I still wouldn't want to go up against these . . . creatures. But we're here, and we don't have any other options, so when things get hairy, I need you to be brave for me, okay?"

What a sweet nothing. Hadn't I "been brave" enough already? But I didn't have a choice, did I? I had a mask to wear: the mask of a soldier. I had to fight against others—others who would have just gone on living as they always had if not for me. This forest wasn't my home—I'd felt it almost since the moment we'd arrived: I didn't belong there; it wasn't my place. But here I was, drafted into a war against monsters in their very home among the shadows, and who grew stronger by feeding off those who didn't get along—those like me.

I'd always been a good pony. I got along. I never wanted to hurt anyone, only to keep my head down and live my life quietly as I always had. I had to be exiled for murder to become a killer.

I felt sick. But as I looked over at Chrys, I remembered that my exile had shown me what I was capable of—that I could wear any mask I needed to, if it meant protecting someone I cared about.

I looked down at my gun, then back up at Starry. "I'll do what I have to do," I said.

With my assurance that she could count on me, Starry went to watch the outside through a small window cut into the door. Kijiba was still busy mixing and grinding various dried plants. And Chrys was huddled against the back wall all by herself. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were wet from crying. She glanced up and saw me looking at her.

My first instinct was to turn away, pretend I hadn't seen her like that so she could pretend she hadn't been seen. But when I looked away from her, I felt something . . . a knot in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't just leave her like that.

"It's alright," I said softly as I moved over to sit near her. "Nopony's going to hurt you."

"Thank you." Chrys sniffled as she wiped a fetlock across her cheeks. "That's sweet of you, but that's not really what worries me."

"Well . . . what, then?"

"You wouldn't understand." She looked up at me, then glanced over at Starry briefly. "Well, maybe . . ." She sighed. "Everything I knew as a child . . . everyone I loved . . . it all just vanished in the blink of an eye. I lost my whole world and—" She choked. "I never got to say goodbye. It was just so sudden. Everything was fine when I went to sleep, but when I woke up, it was the worst day of my life. Maybe I should have known it was possible—even expected it just a little, but I just wanted to believe everything would work out okay."

Chrys was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Ever since then, I've just been doing whatever I could to replace what I lost." She smiled a little. "I was lucky to find Mum. She took care of me as her own. If it hadn't been for her, if I'd stayed with the queen here . . . maybe I could have survived, but I needed a mother to love me so I could thrive."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "I . . . I remember my mother singing to me, but no matter how hard I try, I can't remember the song." She closed her eyes tightly, blinking the tears out. "I've never felt this alone before. It's like . . . like . . ."

"Like falling?" I offered. She tilted her head as she looked at me. "It's like you're falling, and everypony around you has no idea because the wind is choking you so you can't scream. And you're afraid to grab onto anyone for help because you'll just drag them down with you. And if you did, they'd just fight you and kick you away to save themselves. You're falling, but the ground never gets any closer. Just . . . falling forever . . . with nobody to hold you . . ."

"Hun . . ." Chrys stared at me, her mouth open, and her eyes wide. She looked as though she were about to start crying again when Starry called our attention.

"We've got movement outside."

Kijiba moved to the door and looked outside. Almost immediately, he turned pale. Quickly, he returned to his workbench and poured what little powder he had made into two small cloth satchels. "My tribe is coming," he said gravely as he turned to face us. "Our time to prepare is done. We cannot stay here." He gave one satchel to Starry and kept the other for himself.

Starry motioned for us to leave, and Chrys and I got up. Chrys stopped me on the way to the door, though. She looked into my eyes. "Day, I . . . whatever happens out there, please try to remember: Starry and I are your friends. We'll never do anything to hurt you."

It seemed like a strange time to say something like that. But I gave a nod anyway, and, after holding my gaze for a moment, Chrys went ahead of me, and I followed her out of the hut.

Outside, I saw the rest of Kijiba's tribe—all of them. Every single zebra in the whole village: young, old, even those who looked deathly ill. Their tired, emaciated forms shuffled toward us, ponderous and unceasing. And with beady, vacant eyes tinted pale green, they glared at us, through us. They trampled their own gardens without a single faltered step, all in a mindless march against us who had intruded on their collective. No, not mindless, for they were possessed of a single mind, intent on violently stamping out the unwelcome disruption of the status quo.

Chrys gasped. "They're here already. They have everyone entranced."

"Let's get moving before we end up like them," Starry said.

I was grateful to not have to fight them. It would be one thing to kill to protect myself from somepony who was going to kill me, but those villagers weren't themselves—they didn't really want to hurt us. It was just whatever mind control the changelings had forced on them.

Chrys lead the way into the forest, and the rest of us followed quickly. Into the dark shadows we galloped as fast as the dense trees would allow, which wasn't very fast, but we were able to lose sight of the villagers soon enough.

***

The trees swallowed up nearly all of the day's light. It may as well have been an eternal night in the forest. Starry had her headlamp, but she said using it would give away our position more than it would help us see. We had to rely on letting our eyes adjust to the dark woods.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Starry whispered.

"I can hear them," Chrys answered quietly. "They're all around us. Just stay quiet."

"We're walking into a trap."

"They had us trapped as soon as they knew I was here. All we can do is try to catch them off guard and—"

We all stopped abruptly, and I began looking all around for signs of anything moving among the shadows. But all I saw were the shadows themselves.

I felt a chill run down my spine. Something had changed about the forest, but I couldn't tell what it was. The trees were the same stoic, looming pillars. The canopy was the same dark blanket, keeping the forest shrouded away from the sky above. The air was as still as ever.

My wings bristled as I felt a sudden realization stand up and scream at me from the back of my mind. I tried to ignore it, deny it at first. It wasn't possible! It couldn't be. If it were true—what that would imply . . .

I looked down at my hooves as I took a shaky step forward, and I watched as my hoof came down on a small, dry twig. I felt it snap under me, but that was all—I only felt it. I didn't hear it. The air was perfectly calm; not even the slightest sound carried through it.

"S—Starry . . ." I whispered. No answer. "Starry?" I turned my head to look at her, but she wasn't there. Frantically, I wheeled around. Kijiba and Chrys were gone as well. I'd gotten separated, but when? How?

"Starry!" I called out. "Starry! Chrys! Kijiba!" My chest heaved with each shout, but even with all the air in my lungs, my voice felt small and pitifully insignificant among the stony trees. I could barely hear myself.

The air itself was choking me so I couldn't scream. I turned around and around in a dizzying panic, desperately searching for any sign of life in the dark woods. My screams for help were swallowed up in silence before they could even reach my own ears, and I nearly passed out from a lack of breath.

Then I heard something, like a crinkle of leaves underfoot, and I thought I saw a shadow moving through the trees out of the corner of my eye. It could have been anything, but in that moment I couldn't imagine anything worse than the choking silence and the dark emptiness of being all alone. So I ran toward it.

Leaves and twigs crushed silently under my hooves as I bounded through the forest, weaving around trees which grew closer together the further I went. The trees became a dark, towering wall of bark and silent contempt, but still I could see something moving just beyond them. I pressed on, taking any path I could find through the trees until I found a gap in the wall that I could squeeze through.

I emerged on the other side in a small area where the trees were much less dense, and I found myself with whom I'd been chasing.

"Starry!" I gasped. "I was all alone and—"

"Shut up, you sniveling little worm!"

I blinked, my ears drooping. "S—Starry? Wha—"

"I said be quiet!" Her hoof hit my cheek like a bolt of lightning, and I fell to the ground. Dark spots floated across my blurred vision, and for a moment my whole world was reduced to a ringing in my ear and the taste of copper in my mouth. As focus returned to my eyes, and I staggered to pick myself up, my eyes turned up to see Starry looming over me. I nearly froze at the sight of her hoof drawing back for another strike. Reflex took over, and I collapsed back onto the ground, throwing my forelegs over my face for protection.

"Starry, please! I'm sorry!" I whimpered.

"You're a pathetic, useless excuse for a pony. What good are you?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry!" I cringed and tightened my forelegs over my face while the rest of my body curled up and tensed, waiting for her to hit me again.

"'I'm sorry!'" she mocked. "All you do is whine. You can't do anything for yourself. I should just leave you to die on your own."

"No! Please! I don't want to be alone!" I uncovered my face to reach out and grasp at her forelegs. She took the opportunity to hit me again, this time catching me in the ear. I rolled over with a loud yelp, clutching at the side of my head. It felt like an ice cold knife had been jammed in my ear.

"You're worthless!" She hooked her hoof under the collar of my uniform and lifted me up to face her. "I don't have time to care for a little foal like you." As she sneered, her eyes flashed a bright green and I felt my hind legs grow weak.

I wanted to kick and scream and run away, but those eyes held me still. Her eyes glowed brightly, and all I could hear were those words: "pathetic," "useless," "worthless" echoing in my head. I couldn't even feel the stabbing pain in my ear anymore. I was trapped in the back of my own mind where those words drowned out my screams to myself to get away. Those words pressed in, suffocating me.

Dark shadows rolled in all around me, seeping out from between the trees like a black fog. All I could see were those glowing green eyes. Even as I felt my body crumple under me as I was dropped onto the ground, the image of those eyes stayed fixed in my mind. Get up! Run away! Escape! I screamed at myself, but my body was completely numb, paralyzed. I had the sensation of moving, as if being carried, and slowly, those eyes that had burned themselves into my mind began to dim until I was left completely alone in the dark.