As the last remaining ravens circled him, Kevin stood still in his empty patch of the mulch. They paused before attacking him again. The sea of the birds had thinned, with many having flown away or been knocked motionless to the ground. Most of those were unconscious; a few, regretfully, were dead. Kevin didn't want to kill them, but he was doing what he had to in order to make sure they didn't hurt him any more.

It had taken Kevin a while—fifteen minutes? thirty?—to decimate most of the ravens' numbers, leaving only about two dozen in the air around him, plus that gold-starred leader who refused to get any closer than it had to. But, despite Kevin's success in fighting against the birds, he still was not done.

"Why are you just hovering there?" Kevin yelled at the birds. "I'm ready for you!"

At first, there was no response. The star-stickered leader stared him down, expression difficult to read. Then, the bird opened its beak. "Just thinking, Kay. Just thinking..." It adjusted one of it claws, flicking forward a few talons.

The birds, previously just spiralling around, shot forward. And it should have been like any of the other times.

But this time, Kevin suddenly couldn't feel his hooves and his body wouldn't move so he was a sitting duck. He could almost feel the sharp edges of keratin that lined their beaks slicing into his soft, vulnerable pony flesh, leaving him on the ground bleeding and in the throes of death—

And then, just as the birds were about to reach him, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey!"

No longer immobile, Kevin turned away from the birds towards the source of the voice. With an unblocked view, he was able to see a slender pegasus stallion with a lime green coat that stood out in sharp contrast to the muted, earthy tones of the forest around them. He was still over a dozen metres down the path. "Um... hi," Kevin responded, heart still racing.

"What're you doin' out here, boy?" the pony asked, walking closer. Kevin involuntarily flinched. "I haven't seen another pony out here in a long time, and especially not somepony as young as you all by yourself. Though I thought I heard somepony else..."

"I'm... um... I'm on my way to Dienna," Kevin stammered. He then wondered what the stallion had meant by his last comment. "What do you mean, somepony else?"

"Well, I heard another voice. High and squeaky, like somepony was makin' fun of a whiner or something. Say, are those birds from these parts? I'm new to the surface so I've never really seen anything like 'em."

Kevin had momentarily forgotten the ravens that were about to slice his face off; as soon as he remembered, he whipped his head around to see why they hadn't done so already.

All he saw, though, were three or four of the black birds, high in the sky, nowhere near the path. As he watched them, the birds seemed to pick up their pace and flap faster, soaring across the patch of the sky visible from beneath the trees.

"You alright?"

"Yes, sir," Kevin said, turning around slowly to face the pegasus who now stood only about a metre away. "Just... had a thought."

"Thoughts are good, my boy," the stallion said, smiling warmly. Kevin's eye twitched. "My name's Gloss and I come from Umberlight. What's your story?"

"My name is... Kevin," he said in a low voice. "I'm from Dienna but I was out of town visiting relatives to the west, so I'm going back home now."

"Fair 'nough. Say, why don't I escort ya home?"

Kevin grimaced. "That's fine, really, you don't have to—"

Gloss didn't seem to take the hint. "No, no, I insist. I've always wanted to see Dienna! Sure, maybe I'll be backtracking a little bit, but that's all good to me. It's just great to finally be up here on the surface, y'know? Well, maybe you don't really 'preciate it the same way I do, since—"

Gloss's words seemed to... well, gloss together as he went on and on about his life and what he thought of the surface and how lucky Kevin was and whatnot. Kevin had no choice but to walk alongside this pony and listen to his stories as they walked down the path, through the forest.

But every so often, in the corner of his vision, Kevin would see the glint of light reflecting off what looked to be a golden star sticker. Each time he would turn his head, just to be greeted with the same tree trunks and bushes that lined both sides of the path. Something had happened there, and Kevin knew it—he just wasn't sure of what.