“This is stupid.”

“What is, Threnody?”

“This. Us. Talking about it. I don’t need to talk about it.”

“I very much think you do, Threnody. I think after going–”

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Maybe I think this entire exercise is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life! Which is saying something, considering all the dumb shit I’ve done with Blackjack.”

“You know... it doesn’t sound like you’ve got nothing to say on what happened.”

“You know what, I do have a lot to say. I am so tired of this fucking game. Of all the bullshit I’ve been through because of the Heartmenders. In the end, what have you all done for me? Given me? Jack fucking shit! Yeah, let’s take the kid away from where she grew up, make her work, and send all her money. Give it to her worthless piece of crap mother. Then what? Send her, solo, and still a fucking kid, mind you, to help one of the most fucked-up mares the wasteland has ever seen? So I have this to say: fuck you.”

“I... likely deserved that.”

“Damn fucking straight you do. I… Do you even know how much I’ve lost because of this fucking job? This fucking special talent? The one that I can’t even use anymore, by the way? Everything! So yeah, fuck you. Fuck the Followers. Fuck everything.”

“It sounds like the loss of your heartmending senses is bothering you a lot more than you admitted earlier.”

“I’m... terrified? I– I don’t know how to live without those senses. That was what kept me out of danger. It was my shield! Without being able to feel other ponies, all the dumb crap that’s happened to me will happen again… just because I can’t tell what some asshole out there has planned for me behind their fake smiles and sweet lies.”

“Well, as I hear it, there’s nothing medically wrong with you. Do you know what I think?”

“No... And I’m struggling to find a reason to care, too.”

“Again, fair. Still... I think the loss of your abilities comes from all the unprocessed trauma you've accrued in the past month. The weight of several ponies' lives fell on you, Threnody. For somepony so young, it isn’t fair.”

“Oh, it isn't fair? Well, thanks for letting me know, because that little detail completely slipped my notice!”

“Well, since we’re clearly in agreement on that, I think we should talk about it.”

“I don’t like this plan.”

“Let’s be honest, Threnody. Nopony likes therapy. But… without letting you process your own fears and feelings, this is going to fester. You’ve worked with Blackjack long enough to know that to be true.”

“It hurts.”

“I know. And it’s going to continue hurting. And that’s what I’m here for, Threnody. To let you be stormy, to bluster and shout and thunder at the injustices of the world. Because otherwise you’ll be turning that storm inward, and you’ve done that too much already.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“How about when you first realised you couldn’t feel your friends?”

Puddle and I froze in terror as loud crunching sounds seeped down from above us. The horrible cacophony of teeth tearing at what sounded like leather joined the miasma of old decay, recent death, and hot ammonia in our small hiding place beneath the bushes. An acrid smell wafted off Puddle’s hindlegs. Her fear threatened to deluge me as the creature stood just outside of our hiding space.

What was it doing? Why had it stopped there? For that matter, what was it eating?

I prayed it wasn’t one of our friends.

The sounds continued for far too long, until a loud crashing of leaves startled the pair of us. My wings splayed out, my body screaming for me to run. I glanced down at the single, sopping blinkgrape that’d just landed squarely in front of us. Frothy white monster slobber slowly dripped off of the rapidly blinking fruit.

I let out a small strangled sound. I wanted to scream but a part of me — the one cracking under the stress — wanted to laugh. Here we were, scared out of our minds by this gigantic creature, and all it was after was these stupid grapes.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced out of our hiding space. The creature took a step forward, and where its massive hoof landed, the forest floor erupted with life. Plants and saplings blossomed in a heartbeat around it. Lively, healthy, they appeared untainted by the Red Forest. Then it lifted its hoof again, and the only patch of healthy colour I’d seen in the forest until now withered into a wilted, red morass. The Proxigian spring tides of life and death, all in a single step.

My curiosity got the better of me. I had to get a closer look. Had to better understand what in the name of the Princesses was going on. Puddle tugged at my tail, her eyes desperately pleading with me not to leave the safety of our alcove. But I needed to know what was up with this creature. And it was only after the blinkgrapes. Wasn’t it?

Swallowing my fear, I stepped out. High above me, the creature stretched out, almost like it was part of the canopy of ruddy trees towering above. I blinked several times as I struggled to process what I was looking at.

The creature appeared to be a tall quadruped and its hooves, as large as trunks, were cloven. Beautiful wildflowers bloomed between their cleft; vibrant blooms of yellow, orange, and white along with a seductively sweet-smelling grass. They grew separately, like plants were supposed to. Not like the forest's mangled wildflower clusters.

The effect was strong, but limited in radius. The wildflowers and sweetgrass stopped blooming about two meters away from the creature’s hoof. Beyond, everything remained stunted, sick, or dead. I dreaded to think what would happen if a pony was inside of that ring of life when the creature decided to lift its limb.

I turned back and motioned for Puddle to come and leave the relative safety of our soiled little nook. She shook her head, eyes wide with fear.

“It just wants the grapes, come on!” I hissed in a whisper, hoping the creature paid as little attention to sounds as it did to what its hooves were doing.

Another blinkgrape dropped down from the canopy and bounced into Puddle’s hole, smacking her wetly square between the eyes. In spite of my terror at the moment, a part of me had to cover my muzzle with my hooves to stop from laughing as the mangled eye-fruit hastened my friend’s retreat from her hiding place.

“What do we do?” Puddle whispered, her legs shaking at the sight of the monstrosity.

“We keep our cool, let it eat, and we go find the others,” I replied. “Just... stay away from the grass and flowers around its legs.”

Puddle nodded and we started to creep our way through the underbrush, away from the creature. Seconds later, she put a hoof on my flank.

“Does the forest seem brighter to you?” she asked.

I looked around. Nothing had changed to me. The perpetual eventide of the forest was as gloomy as it was when we entered. If anything, it felt like it was getting darker! Which, checking my pipbuck, made no sense. It was only mid-afternoon, and there was no way the sun was setting yet at this time of year.

“No!” I whispered back. “It’s getting darker! This place is getting creepier the longer we’re here!”

Puddle shook her head.

“I don’t think so, Threnody. It feels brighter. Like… like, look!” she pointed at a flower cluster growing nearby. Some bizarre amalgamation of lilies and roses. “Look how shiny it is!”

Great. I was lost in a dark forest with a hallucinating pony!

“It’s just a creepy flower, Puddle,” I snapped. “We need to go. I was going to find the next nearest tag. I think that’s…”

As I trailed off, I realised Puddle was slowly crawling away from me. Back towards the creature.

I darted after her, ducking beneath the half-a-foreleg long thorns in the – wait when did the underbrush have thorns? Had I missed them in my desperate flight to find Puddle? Or was the forest starting to mold itself…

For me. Luna save me! The forest was psychoactive! Or something in it was, and Puddle was so stuck on finding something safe that she was dashing back toward the creature! Towards the green between its legs!

“Puddle!” I cried out, discarding all pretense of stealth. This forest was a deathtrap for even the most careful ponies, and this one was acting like she'd done a few too many lines of Moondust!

I fought my way through the underbrush, the thorns grazing my coat, and got back to the small path that led to our hiding spot. Puddle sat by the blossoming and bustling plant life that radiated outwards from the creature's hooves. She giggled and reached in the radius to touch something only she could see.

“Puddle, hey. I need you to come over here,” I called out gently, trying to shove aside the visions of thorny vines coming to rip my hide to pieces from just beyond my sight. “Can you do that?”

“You don’t want to pet the bunny?” Puddle asked, pouting as she leaned back from the mesmerising plants.

The creature shuffled its hooves, and the flowers before Puddle withered and died, only to spring up anew, scant centimeters from her.

“I do!” I said, grimacing. I wished I could also see rabbits but I only saw a monster in front of me. “Can you bring her over here?”

Puddle pouted again, but nodded. She pantomimed picking up a small creature in her right foreleg and hobbled over to me. I let out a breath of relief.

"They just wanted to show me their burrows so I can hide with them," Puddle said.

“Puddle, I’m really happy you found your bunny! But we really need to find our friends.” I placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Can you come with me back into the forest?”

“But… but…” tears welled up in her eyes. “Threnody, why are you being so mean? The bunnies care about me. This is the first nice thing I've had since my parents died!”

The surge of grief slammed into me. I wilted as the thick, leaden pain twisted the stab wound her words left in my chest. I cursed myself for not paying close enough attention to my friends. I had to do better! Some heartmender I was…

“Puddle, I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but… this forest is dangerous. If you bring the bunny with you, we’ll be able to keep her safe. Okay?”

It took a long moment before she finally nodded, and got back up onto all fours. Puddle pantomimed placing the bunny on her back.

“You stay there, okay, bunny?” she said gently. She stretched her ear behind, as if to listen. "Mhm, What do you say? I can come and see your burrow anytime? But where is it? Below my hooves you... say?"

She froze as flowers bloomed under her hooves. She looked down, confused, then all too quickly, they withered as the creature lifted its hoof.

Her EFS marker winked out.

“Puddle!” I screamed, wrapping my forelegs around her collapsed body.

I tried to heave her to where the next circle of life and death would spring up. If I could just get her into that circle of life and pull her out in time!

She was too heavy. I was too weak. The creature, indifferent to the life it had just snuffed out, began to slowly step further away, toward another tree. Toward more lives it would ruin.

Tears ran down my face as I held Puddle’s lifeless body in my hooves.

“Why?” Why the fuck was this happening!? If something like that could bring life, and so quickly take it away, why!? What the fuck was wrong with this place!? Why, who, what was that thing!?

“You bastard!” I screamed, letting all of my sorrow and all of my hate swell into my voice. “You fucking bastard! Bring her back! Bring Puddle back!”

The creature didn’t hear me or didn’t care. I was just a small brown blotch of equinity.

So I did what seemed like the best idea at the time: I flew up through the winding red trunks, up, up till I’d nearly reached the canopy. With all my might, I barreled down and punched the creature in between its glowing eyes. My hoof made contact with surprisingly supple flesh, and the world twisted away.

I found myself fluttering far above a great green forest, with all manner of creatures running through it — living, loving, dying, and being born anew. And I was aware of it all. Beside me stood a creature that I couldn’t describe. Grace of form inaccessible to ponies radiated from it. It stood tall and beautiful like a deer, but held an energy that Zebra only possessed in dance and laughter. A racked pair of antlers sprung from its brow, and lilacs bloomed from them.

“This was my world,” the creature said with the weighted tone of a mother bereft of her beloved child. “I treasured it. Guarded it. Watched over all the little ones within it.”

The bunnies that had so fascinated Puddle raced through small trails in the forest. Small birds I had only ever seen in books flew around us in a dizzying flurry of colour.

“Who are you?” the creature asked. “Why have you brought me back here?” Grief dripped from each and every one of her words, threatening to overwhelm my senses. Her pain contaminated my soul, filled it with sorrow and profound, fathomless loss.

“I… I didn’t bring you back here! I don’t know what happened!” I cried out before the tidal waves of anguish sheeting off her swamped my senses and sent me plummeting. A massive foreleg caught me before I could fall the long thirty metres to the forest floor below. Calm and understanding radiated from her as the creature held me close.

“My name is Threnody,” I replied after collecting myself. “I… I need you to save my friend.”

“Your friend?” the creature asked.

“You. Your hooves. They bring life, and then death wherever they tread. Sh– she was standing in the middle of that circle of life and death, and when you moved she… she…” I broke down, heavy sobs wracking my pathetically small body. “She wasn’t meant to die! She didn’t have to die!”

The creature’s features fell and she looked out to the horizon. There was a flash, and green fire engulfed the forest and all its screaming creatures. The fires cooled, the embers died and the forest’s signature, morose dimness pressed down on me. It coated my soul like a great ethereal pall. I watched the Red Forest moulder in the cold ashes of a fallen paradise.

Lifeless. Still. Dead.

“I am the Guardian, the watcher of the line between life and death. I know of your loss. I simply do not understand why it would trouble you. Is not life the beautiful lie, and death the painful truth? And even if you do indulge in pleasant fictions, why should I? My world is dead, and I am its ghost.”

As she spoke, the Guardian’s once beautiful form twisted into the terrible creature she’d become. Her glowing eyes stared at me, and their calmness swallowed up by a stagnant apathy that threatened to drown me. But I pushed back.

“Don’t you hate what’s become of you? Your forest? Why did you stop caring?” I shouted at her. “Guardian, why!? If you have the power of life and death, why did you stop caring?”

“Because the lie of life and light was laid bare to me.” A part of me wished that she had bellowed those words at me, shouted with a voice louder than thunder. But instead, her words were spoken in a desolate whisper as still as the dead forest around us. “And I can never again see the purpose in it.”

“You lost your way?” I asked gently, trying to figure out how something as… powerful as this creature could do that.

Guardian tilted her head, and the glow in her eyes dimmed.

“You seek to understand?” she asked.

“I am a heartmender, it’s what we do!”

I felt her lowering herself to the ground, and she contemplated me for what felt like an eternity.

“I remember your kind. Not pony heartmenders. Your kind was rarely aware of my presence. But the Cervyderian's often spoke to me. Their perceptive shamans walked with me. While I did not understand them, nor they me, I found their presence... pleasing.” As she spoke, The horrible bones that jutted from her cruelly warped back slowly sunk back beneath her mangled hide. “I did not think ponies could see Spirits. What makes you different?”

“Wait… we can’t?” I asked, so very confused. “I’ve… been seeing Dealer for some time.”

“Ah, that would explain it. Possibility touched you, and now you can glimpse into the World That Was Hidden,” she said as if that was supposed to explain anything.

Possibility? I thought. Who the hell is Possibility? Then it struck me that she could be referring to Dealer. Was Dealer’s true name Possibility?

“Guardian, I don’t know what that means,” I said, frowning. “What is the world that was hidden? Is… that where you live?”

Guardian’s face shifted a bit, and while it was terrifying to behold, the more… alive she looked, the more comforted I felt by her presence.

“There is much of the world you never see, little one. And I am not the one to answer your questions. Possibility felt you needed to see us for a reason. To peer through the Invisible Veil.” A very mortal smirk crossed her muzzle. “I wonder if this has to do with the Great Wager.”

“Is that the bet that Dealer made about the nature of good and evil?”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps not. I do not know. It… has been quite some time since I had any concern for such tiresome schemes. Or for anything at all, come to that.”

“If you’ve no concern, could I give you some of mine?” I asked. “I… I don’t think the world can heal without… um… Spirits like you. I know that we — ponies and zebras, I mean — bled Equus dry, leaving her nothing but a husk of herself. But… as Dealer, or this Possibility said, and as you’ve alluded to, the world was broken at its core, something deeper than just ruined towns and blistering radiation.” I sighed, then threw myself across her great foreleg. “But I can’t do this alone. Not without my friends. Please, Guardian. I need her back!”

I placed a hoof on the foreleg that Guardian held me with, and focussed with all my might. I didn’t have much, just a little spark of love and care for the world. It was still something that I had protected from the Wasteland. With as much gentleness as possible, I tried to pass that spark on to Guardian.

I felt something rest on the back of my head, and opened my eyes again. Guardian looked a little more like her Pre-war self. It was a subtle change, but she peered at me with very intense green eyes.

“You would give up what you are to make me care?” she asked.

“I have done stupider things in the past,” I admitted with a sombre chuckle. “I… selfishly, I need you to care. I need you to save Puddle. She… she can’t die because of me.”

“I cannot take your spark, Threnody,” Guardian said. “That would violate the deep magic of the Hidden World. I’ve seen so many things, so many things that have kept me in this waking gray sleep. But, your willingness to burn for the world despite what it has done to you… I’ve… not sensed that in some time. Perhaps Possibility does see something in you that I do not. You have given me much to think about, little phoenix.”

“I… phoenix?” I asked.

“You will understand in time…” Guardian said, before the world faded again.

When I came to, Guardian was gone. I couldn’t see where she went, but a trail of life stretched off into the forest, presumably in her wake. Trees that had once been red were now blessed with green. Blooming wildflowers kissed her trail. And in front of me, Puddle stirred.

“Puddle!” I cried out, squeezing my friend tightly.

“Wh– wha?” she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her hooves. “I had the weirdest dream. I was in a field! There were glowing lights that floated upwards, and there was a–” she stopped, and looked down between us. “A bunny!”

I looked down, and teared up. A small bundle, no, pair of bundles of fluff — one brown and white, the other black — lay nestled in Puddle’s forelegs. Two small rabbits slept there, their sides slowly heaving up and down in sleep.

“Threnody, what happened?” Puddle asked. “Why are you crying?”

I swallowed hard, trying desperately to hold back tears.

“Puddle, you… wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But that can wait. Let’s get your furry friends into your saddlebags. We need to find the others…”

“It wasn’t long after that I realised that I couldn’t feel Puddle.”

“Do you think Guardian took your spark?”

“She… said she couldn’t. I believe her.”

“That’s a pretty... bold assumption, Threnody.”

“Well, why would I believe different? I mean really? I met with something that was so much bigger and older and stronger than me. She didn’t have to do anything. It could have easily left Puddle dead, and carry on as it was before. But… she changed. There was life in that forest again. Not much, but it was there! I really don’t think she was lying when she said she wouldn’t take my spark. But… maybe you were right about me overtaxing myself a little.”

“A little?”

“Okay, maybe more than a little...”

“Threnody, you tend to take the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. I know we tend to do that, heartmenders in particular. Still, ancient forest spirit or no, you’re not a phoenix. If you die, you won’t be reborn. Could this be your body’s way of saying you need to slow down? Take it easy?”

“But… all of my friends, they–”

“Have each other. They can take care of themselves without you for the time being. Being a heartmender gives you a great sense of responsibility to them, but you don’t need to make it your everything. You don’t need to set yourself on fire to make sure they are warm.”

“Am I... doing that?”

“With alarming frequency, Threnody.”

“I don’t know how to not do that. I don’t know what it is like. I get so worried about what they think, what they all must be going through…”

“Well, let’s talk about that, then. What happened when you found Bubblegum and Glitter?”

Puddle and I followed the tags to track down Bubblegum and Glitter Bomb. Their tags were close together, and with the hit he’d taken when I last saw him. No, I couldn’t think about that now! I just had to focus on getting my medical supplies to Bubblegum as soon as we could.

Puddle and I trudged as quickly as possible through the forest. The forest didn't seem as dark as it was, despite the darkening blue of the evening sky I could see through the canopy above. My physical senses hadn’t gone haywire since my encounter with Guardian. If anything, my senses were too unperturbed.

I couldn’t feel Bubblegum or Glitter as we approached. I’d actually been struggling to get any emotional reading on Puddle during our search. I added it to the steadily growing hillock of ‘things to worry about later’.

We found a densely grown copse of trees and we struggled through. The maquis offered no spot where we could easily wiggle Puddle’s plush flanks through. As soon as we pushed through, and finally laid eyes on our friends again, it didn’t take my heartmending senses to realise something was wrong.

Bubblegum stared at me from the middle of the small clearing, his eyes wide enough that I could see white entirely around his irises. His nostrils flared as he stared at me and Puddle. I put a hoof on Puddle, holding her back.

“Bubblegum? It’s me, Threnody. I’ve got Puddle with me,” I called out as gently as possible.

“Threnody?” Glitter called out, trying to get out from behind Bubblegum. Even from where I stood, I could see that her horn was blackened and dried blood matted her cheek. Whether or not it was hers or Bubblegum’s, I couldn’t tell.

Bubblegum turned, grunted, and pushed Glitter back down, before levelling his shotgun at Puddle and I. His eyes were bloodshot, his pupils like pinpricks. His breathing was unsteady and labored. The gashes that sliced his side oozed with pus.

“Bubblegum, I am a friend. I’m here to help,” I said quietly. “I have several healing potions for you. If you’d let me help you.” I moved my hoof toward my saddlebags.

Bubblegum’s jaw tightened in response, so I moved my leg back to the ground.

Glitter sniffled.

“Bubblegum, I’m scared. Please stop being scary!” she begged, placing a hoof on his flank. “Bubblegum?”

“Glitter, can you levitate a potion out of my saddlebags?” I asked, taking the opportunity to flip the flap open while Bubblegum was momentarily distracted.

Glitter moaned softly, but lit her badly charred horn. Slowly, painfully, a single healing potion drifted in front of Bubblegum. He stared at it for a long moment, before reaching up to grab it. Pulling the stopper out with his teeth, he chugged the potion. Worryingly, it seemed to be doing very little for the injuries to his side. I feared he would need surgery, and that was far beyond what I could do in the middle of a deadly forest. I wasn’t even sure I could give him stitches at this point.

Logging my concern away from the moment, I lay down on my belly and tried to look as small as possible.

“Puddle, why don’t we take a rest here for a moment,” I said gently.

“Oh, sure! That sounds good. Um, Bubbles, Glitter? Do you need anything to eat?” the little earth pony asked as she shrugged off her saddlebags and sat down next to me.

Her left flank pressed against my right, and again I saw a flash of… something. Puddle crying out in anguish over a bloodied pegasus. Argh, why was this happening now!?

“I had a snack cake earlier. Thank you, Puddle,” Glitter called back in reply. “Did that hearthing potion help, Bubblegum?”

Puddle and I sat together in silence as Bubblegum stared us down for what felt like an eternity. But slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he seemed to be calming down, though he didn’t seem to be in much mood to talk.

“Glitter,” I started gently, wincing as his eyes bored into me with renewed ferocity. “What did Bubblegum take?”

Glitter frowned and ducked her head down behind Bubblegum, coming up with a pair of syringes and a bottle.

“He used two shots of meringue-X and something he called stamping meat. And took a pill,” she replied after setting the spent syringes down. “Then he got kinda quiet and scary. We didn’t have any purple feel-better juice.”

It took all of my reserve efforts of self-control to not start yelling at Bubblegum for his recklessness as Glitter listed off the drugs. Though I cringed, it had more than likely been a good call on Bubblegum’s part. The Buck alone was likely keeping him alive, especially since the healing potions were with my stupid self and not available after he’d been hit by that monster.

“Bubblegum, would you like another healing potion?” I asked, trying to meet his eyes.

He stared back at me with a searing intensity that only ponies very much under the influence could muster. After a pregnant pause, he nodded.

Very slowly, very carefully, I lifted a pair of healing potions out of my pack, and tossed them toward him. With preternatural reflexes, Bubblegum caught the bottles and chugged them down. I still had four left, according to my pipbuck but I wanted to make sure that Bubblegum healed enough to not die, but not so much that his body started healing wrong. Healing potions could be life-saving, but I also knew from my medical training with the Followers that the potions could cause bones to heal incorrectly. Later surgeries would be needed to break them back into shape. I didn’t want to think about what it would take to sedate somepony the size of Bubbles for major surgery.

“Water,” he croaked, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Do you have water?”

His voice was as dry and dusty as Dealer’s but I still relaxed when he spoke. He wasn’t too far gone into shock… or worse, into the frightening cocktail of chems he was swimming in. I snagged a bottle of water and tossed it over to him. After he chugged that down, Puddle startled me by poking my side.

“Can I have some water, too?” she asked. “I forgot to fill my bottles before we escaped from Maredras…”

I reached out and ruffled the top of her mane before passing her a bottle as well.

“We should probably conserve what we have. Start to pool our resources,” I suggested.

“I have more snack cakes,” Glitter offered.

“I have some cans of Cram and some other food as well,” Puddle added, rummaging around in her saddlebags. “I think I might have some Sparkle~Cola.”

“How about you, Bubblegum?”

Bubblegum very slowly raised his pipbuck and began poking at the buttons.

“Several cans of beans, Instamash, lots of bullets, grenades, drugs, bubblegum, more drugs, a few components to make grenades…” he rattled off quickly, his voice somewhat hollow. “I don’t know why I don’t have any water.”

“Do you have anything for my horn, Threnody?” Glitter asked. “It really hurts!”

Watching Bubblegum reminded me that pipbucks had sorting spells. Picking through my inventory, I found a trio of healing bandages. Callie had explained to me that they were mildly enchanted, and at least provided some minor pain relief when used. I looked up at Bubblegum.

“Can I come over and wrap your barrel with these bandages? I also have one for Glitter’s horn,” I explained.

He fixed me with that intense look again before nodding. “Just… move slowly. I think I might have overdone it with the Stampede,” he said, a shudder jostling his withers. “Anything that moves too fast freaks me out and I’m feelin’ kinda twitchy if you get my meaning.”

I nodded, keeping that in mind as I got up and left Puddle’s side. I made my way slowly over to him and Glitter, careful to not make any sudden movements. Bubblegum watched me out of the corner of his eye as I unrolled a pair of bandages.

Looking over his wounds, I could see why the healing potions weren’t working. A thick, fibrous slime covered the deep gashes that gouged his sides. It didn’t look like a bacterial infection, but rather a fungal mycelium. I gulped; Bubblegum required major surgery.

“I’m going to pass the bandages to Glitter, okay, Bubblegum?” I asked, pressing the treated gauze into his side.

“Oh. Yep. Nnggh. Hurts so good!” He hissed. He lifted himself as Glitter and I passed the bandages over his wounds. “Fuck, I’m two doses of Med-X in and it still hurts like a mothefucker. Is i– it s– supposed to be c– cold?” he chattered, glancing back at the bandages.

I nodded.

“Callie said these were treated with some healing spells and herbs to ease the pain. They’re also supposed to have mild antibiotic properties. So the cool sensation is probably the herbs,” I explained. “How does that feel?”

Bubblegum swallowed. “Hhhh. Better. Gonna feel like hell when I come down,” he admitted. “That… fucking thing went right through my armour like it wasn’t there. Probably would have gone deeper if it hadn’t hit mom’s old launcher,” he said, patting the battered weapon. “She’s earned a lot of care and attention once I find a workbench…”

I frowned, then motioned for Glitter to rest her head on Bubblegum’s back. “I’m going to wrap Glitter’s horn, but she shouldn’t do magic for a few days,” I cautioned, wincing at the horrid char on my friend’s purple, spiraled horn.

Fatigue left me hollow, terribly unaware or unperceptive to my friend's pain as I wrapped her horn. Glitter gave me an appreciative, tired smile as the bandages worked their magic.

“That feels a lot gooder, Threnody,” Glitter said quietly. “But no more magic for today, right?”

“Right,” I said, carefully tying off the bandage. “Now that you’re both patched up a bit, can I call Puddle over here? Bubbles?” I asked once I’d got Glitter wrapped up.

He nodded, dropping down onto his barrel. “Yeah. Just… again, move slowly.”

I motioned for Puddle to join us, then turned back to Bubblegum.

“How much more Buck do you have?” I asked.

Bubblegum frowned. “Uh… look, that… I mean…”

I glared at him. “Bubblegum, I don’t care why you have any of the drugs, I need to know how much Buck you have left.” I gulped, then slowly reached out my hoof to pat his shoulder. “Glitter said you already took one. How long has it been?”

Bubblegum gave me a helpless look, then shook his head. I sighed.

“Glitter, do you know when he took the pill?”

Glitter sucked air and shook her head. “I didn’t really look at my pimp buck. I was worried about Bubblegum being all broken on his side,” she admitted.

“Fine, then I want you to take another dose now, Bubblegum. I know that stuff can be addictive, but it may be the only thing keeping you alive right now.” I contemplated giving him one more healing potion but was afraid of what would happen if I did. “I can’t imagine how those wounds feel, probably hurt like–”

“Honestly, the two doses of Med-X were keeping the pain to an ignorable minimum,” he interjected, earning a frown from me.

“Regardless, you’re gonna need some serious medical attention when we get to Puddle’s Stable. Now, I’d like to see if we can find Blackjack.” If she’s still alive. “And Hyacinth and Solidarity. But first, I want to make sure that you’re not going to freak out when we start moving out. The monster that attacked us must still be around.”

“What about the big creature? The… the tall, silent one?” Puddle asked, her voice quavering a moment.

I shuddered, but shook my head. “Guardian isn’t going to be a problem.”

Bubblegum raised an eyebrow. “Guardian?”

“I… look, it’s a long story, but I connected with her on an empathic level. She gave me her name and really we should be thinking of finding the rest of the group,” I said rapidly, hoping to quell any further questioning.

Bubblegum snorted. “Of course you’ve been making friends with the monsters. And I thought I was high.”

I chuckled, and lightly nudged his shoulder. “You are high, fucker. That’s why we’re trying to make sure you stay chilled the fuck out for the next little bit. At least until that Stampede wears off.”

Puddle and Glitter chuckled appreciatively at us as Bubblegum patted my head.

“You’re a good pony, Threnody. At least when you’re not actively trying to pretend to be the emotional equivalent of a phoenix,” he muttered, smirking at me.

His use of the word phoenix gave me pause, and I started choking on my own spit as I inhaled sharply mid reply. He gently patted me on the back as I tried to recover.

“Okay, now I know you’re on drugs, cause you’re being super nice to me,” I chided gently.

“No, you’re on drugs!” Bubbles replied, his voice taking on a silly tone.

The mirth came to a screeching halt as something crashed through the edge of the clearing. The only nice interaction I’d had with Bubbles of late abruptly ended, twinging my heart. Dosed, he wasn’t yelling at me and hadn’t left me thinking him to be a complete buttmunch.

Bubbles rose up on all fours, his massive hoof pressing my head down as I tried to rise to identify what had just tumbled into the copse, but there was no mistaking her. Blackjack had found her way back to us! Her mane was messy and full of leaves and burrs, and despite the high-velocity slam of a monster’s paw she took last time I saw her, she was walking just fine.

“Oh, good! There you all are!” she said, stumbling over a fallen branch. “I was beginning to think you all were monster food or something and I was gonna have to burn down this forest!”

I frowned. I still couldn’t feel anything, but even without it… I could tell that something in Blackjack’s behaviour seemed off.

“Blackjack, are you–” my muzzle hit the dirt as Bubblegum pressed me down again. I looked up at him, and realised he was taking on that same protective stance that he’d had when Puddle and I first entered the grove. Shit.

Blackjack’s eyes narrowed down, glaring at the hoof that pinned me down. Her eyes crawled back up, at Bubblegum.

“Hey Bubs, what’cha doing?” she asked lazily, relaxing her body as she stared him down. Though it was hard to tell from my position on the ground, I could hear a bit of her shooty persona in her voice.

Oh, Goddesses! The forest was messing with her head too!

“Don’t come any closer,” Bubblegum replied evenly, lifting his hoof off of the back of my head to help him square up his shoulders. “I know what you do in situations like this, and I’m not gonna let it happen. Not again.”

I took the opportunity to raise my head up.

“Look, if we can all just calm down and–”

“What do I do in these situations, Bubblegum? Tell me. I’d love to know,” Blackjack said, her words leaving her mouth at almost a purr. But the look in her eyes was anything but sensual.

Bubblegum tilted his head to the side, still tracking Blackjack as she slowly stalked toward his side, inconveniently placing me in the middle of them.

“Most of the time, you get my friends killed. I would really rather you not do that. So why don’t you stay over there, hmm?” he growled. I watched the muscles on his withers ripple as he countered her with a threat.

I was suddenly glad that I couldn’t detect exactly what they were feeling. I had a hunch, but being caught in the clashing tumult of their seething emotions for each other would probably make me do something extremely stupid. As it was, I opted for something merely ineffectual.

“Blackjack, if you would ju–”

“Not now, Threnody. Big ponies’re talking,” she said, giving Bubblegum a shooty look. Oh, fuck! That was the shooty look?! She had given me that one before in Star House! Bubbles was going to die!

“Will you both–” I started, only to have my mouth clamped closed with white magic. I looked up straight at Blackjack’s flaring horn and snorted in rage. How dare she!?

As soon as Blackjack’s horn lit up, Bubblegum moved, far faster than I thought he could manage in his current state. With Stampede rushing his veins, and likely clogging his liver, Bubbles delivered a crushing uppercut to Blackjack's cheek with fire and fury in his pink eyes.

Blackjack staggered to the side, reeling from the impact, then backflipped away from him, firing off a magical bolt at Bubblegum mid-flip. How the hell did she do that?! The bullet bit into his chest armour, and he let out a loud wuff at the impact.

“Kid, I will kill you if I must. I really don’t like being the executioner,” she cautioned as she levitated her shotgun out of her saddlebags.

“You say that far too often and kill far too many for that to be remotely true,” he countered, squaring back up to her.

“Stop it! Both of you!” Puddle, Glitter, and I cried almost as one, only for our pleas to fall on deaf ears.

Bubblegum swung at Blackjack again, this time catching only air as she bobbed and hopped out of the way. Her horn flared, followed by the familiar pop of teleportation. I winced as I waited for her to appear behind Bubblegum. She was going to cripple his hind legs!

Blackjack flashed back into existence. Bubblegum bucked. Blackjack’s shotgun roared as Bubblegum’s hind hooves connected with it, causing it to fire off a cluster of buckshot over his head. The weapon hurled backward into Blackjack’s snout. She let loose a grunt of pain as Bubblegum whirled on her, ready to lay into her with his hooves.

Eschewing shooting, Blackjack swung her shotgun about with her magic. The steel drum magazine smashed into Bubble’s cheek, just below his eye. He paused and shook himself, momentarily stunned by the impact. Blackjack teleported again. She appeared on the far side of the copse and fired a burst of telekinetic bullets.

Blood sprayed from Bubblegum’s injured side. The one I had just started healing!

The big earth pony roared in... pain? Anger? Ecstasy? I couldn’t tell, but it couldn’t be too far from the first two, judging by the dribbles of blood and bile he was coughing up. Faster than I could blink, he took out and sucked down a huge puff of some sort of inhaler that I’d never seen before. Bubblegum’s pupils disappeared into pinpricks and he sprung. Moving at an alarmingly quick pace, he charged across the small clearing. Blackjack pointed her shotgun up and fired at point-blank range. The buckshot scattering off of Bubblegum’s armour.

Her eyes widened as he shrugged off the hit and struck her hard across the muzzle. Blackjack’s horn flared again and she disappeared. I blinked, and a spent syringe of Med-X fell at Bubblegum’s hooves. How was he doing that?

Then it hit me.

S.A.T.S. The bastard was using S.A.T.S. to take drugs!

I dropped into S.A.T.S. myself as I watched Blackjack start to swap ammo drums. She moved at normal speed, even with my pipbuck’s assistance. To my dismay, so did Bubblegum!

“Both of you stop!” I shouted.

Blackjack turned, a look of confusion on her face. Bubblegum ignored me and barrelled into her, knocking the shotgun out of her magic. I dropped out of S.A.T.S, praying that my distraction hadn’t killed one or both of my friends.

Blackjack rolled away from Bubblegum, but still caught a bone-crunching blow to her side from one of his massive forehooves which sent her tumbling. Her horn flared, and she teleported again.

“I’m so happy we finally get to do this!” she shouted from across the clearing before a fit of giggles wracked her body. “Do you remember when you tried to swing by yourself, alone in that basement a lifetime ago? I tried to show you! You can’t dance on your own, you need a partner! But now, can’t you see how much fun we can have together? We’ve always been perfect partners, right from the start! Now dance with me, P-21!”

Blackjack’s horn shone brightly as she shifted her magic into a blade. Sweat mingled with blood as it ran down her forehead.

“P… 21?” I mumbled. Was the forest making her see her dead love?

Bubblegum charged across the clearing again, this time opening up with his shotgun on the way in. Blackjack howled in pain as the buckshot dug into her hide, then slashed out with her magic blade. Bubblegum tried to dodge, but the blade sliced a deep gash in his injured side, carving off enough flesh to reveal ribs.

Bubblegum should have gone down. Any reasonable pony would have stopped then and begged for healing. But Bubblegum was halfway to the moon on drugs, and just kept coming. Blackjack’s eyes widened.

“I am not your piece of flesh to toy with!” Bubblegum roared, his massive hoof slamming down on the top of her head with a horrifying CRUNCH. He followed through, pummeling Blackjack to the ground, where she lay still.

A deathly silence ensnared the clearing.

“Have you ever wondered about the mathematics of tears? Why we cry? Which variables cause us to cry? The functions and coefficients?”

“I cannot say that I have, Threnody. Why do you ask?”

“I’m sure if I knew the numbers, I could figure them out from a physics standpoint. Simple surface tension, elementary fluid microdynamics, caused by hormonal shifts within the body to make it so that we cry. And we cry for oh, so many reasons. For sadness. For happiness. In laughter. In pain. Through the heights of joy and through the depths of sorrow. So many seemingly paradoxical reasons. So what then, Sandalwood, are the true mathematics of tears?”

I stared at Bubblegum in shock as Blackjack lay motionless in front of him. Dawning realisation alighted on his features as he took in what he’d just done.

“You fucking moron!” I screamed, charging across the clearing at him, bandages trailing behind me like white streamers. “What have you done?!”

All sense of calm had thoroughly left me as I reached them and took in the damage Bubblegum had done. Her horn had cracked all the way down to her skull under the force of his titanic hoofblow, blood flowing easily from the shattered mess of bone and connective tissue. She was breathing, but her left foreleg was extended oddly in front of her. Her entire body looked like it was tensed up.

Bubblegum didn’t move. He just turned over his hoof and stared at the blood welling up from the hole in his frog. Blackjack’s horn had likely penetrated his hoof all the way in to his coffin bone, but I was having a hell of a time caring about him at that moment!

“Bubblegum! What happened to Blackjack? Why did you get all hurted?” Glitter cried out, racing over to him and looking over his hoof.

“No magic!” I snapped at her for fear she’d try to use her horn, before turning my attention to Blackjack’s still form.

I could feel how unusually tense her body was. She lay in an awkward sprawl with blood gushing down her forehead. Oh, my goddesses, I could see pink marrow in between the larger cracks in her horn. I thanked Celestia and Luna and even Cadance for small miracles that her horn had simply failed instead of penetrating her skull, but I remembered enough from the medical texts I’d read to know the odd way Blackjack was lying indicated a serious problem with her brain, and any brain damage was bad. And I knew for certain that my medical expertise was not remotely up to the task of trying to fix… this. A vial of flux would fix this right up, but where the hell would somepony find that stuff in this hellhole? It’s not like it was common in the wasteland at large.

“FUCK!” I screamed, lifting her head so I could pour a healing potion on it. I knew it didn’t work as well on her as flux, but it was what I had. Hoping that did the trick, I bandaged her head as best I could.

“You fucking idiot!” I shouted at her unconscious body, before jerking my head to stare Bubblegum down. “Both of you are fucking idiots! I know you are on drugs, Bubblegum, but look at what happened!”

Anger blazed within me as I finished wrapping Blackjack’s head. A million things could go wrong with this bad patch job. She probably had a brain hemorrhage, which could lead to a stroke. She could develop clots that would later cause an aneurysm. Hell, I could have just killed her by sealing goddesses only knew what kind of fucked-up fungi and bacteria in her bandages on an open head wound! All because some dumbass took a number of drugs that defied the very concept of sense. Some useless therapist filly I was; forced to do back-alley surgery with a log for an operating table!

I pulled out another roll of bandages, and turned to Bubblegum.

“Hoof. Now. Then lay on your side. I need to figure out how much damage she did to you,” I snapped.

Glitter moved over and fretted over Bubblegum as he got down to my level.

“Bubbles, are you gonna be okay?” she asked, her voice taking on a frightened tone.

“Threnody, anything I can do to help?” Puddle asked, interjecting herself into this fiasco.

Bubblegum said nothing, but gave me his hoof. I used my plain bandage to slow the bleeding from his wounded forehoof, and moved on to his side. Bile crawled up my throat as I realised I could count ribs ten through eighteen between an open flap of flesh and skin… when there wasn’t concerning amounts of blood flowing over everything. At the very least, Blackjack’s energy blade seemed to have removed all of the remaining mycelium from Bubblegum’s side. I quietly thanked Luna for small blessings.

“Puddle, Glitter: I need your help to wrap these bandages around Bubblegum. Again,” I sighed, allowing anger to add bite to my words. “As for you, captain dumbass, I need you to drink two of these,” I said, pulling out two of my remaining precious healing potions.

Bubblegum nodded, a hollow look in his eyes as he did as instructed. The girls helped me rewrap his barrel, the strung-out stallion emitting an odd gurgling noise when the healing bandages contacted raw flesh.

I dove into Bubblegum’s saddlebags, and came up with a concerning amount of drugs. Some of which I had never seen before! Rainboom. Stampede. Turbo? What the heck was Turbo? Finding ampules of Med-X, I hit Bubblegum with two doses. I didn’t know his exact weight, but I somehow felt that he did fit the ‘unusually large ponies’ category on the label.

“Can you talk?” I asked, tossing away the empty Med-X syringes.

“Yeah, kinda,” Bubblegum admitted slowly. “I–”

“Did a fucking stupid, is what you did!” I snapped, pulling out a bottle of Buck and shaking it. Half full. “I want you to take another Buck. I’m going to set a timer, and we’re gonna have you take this every two hours from now until we get to someplace where somepony can actually do surgery on you,” I explained, quite unconcerned with keeping my anger from soaking into my words. “We’re going to take five, then we’re moving to try to find Hyacinth and Solidarity. From there, we try to get out of here. No more foolishness. No more drama. Is that clear?”

Bubblegum nodded, and when I glared at Glitter and Puddle, they nodded as well.

“Puddle, I want you to help keep Bubblegum on his hooves. Glitter, I need you to carry Blackjack. You don’t have to use your magic; we’ll help you get her onto your back,” I ordered, then let out a sigh. “But for now, let’s… break out some emergency snack cakes and Sparkle Cola.”

“Maybe some emergency bunny pets?” Puddle asked, lifting a pair of rabbits from her saddlebags.

I stared at her in confusion. Wait, she’d actually gotten rabbits? Wait, I’d watched her put them into her saddlebags after our encounter with Guardian. It made sense we still had them, but at the same time I’d written that off as us just tripping balls in the woods. I didn’t think she’d actually found a pair of real-life bunnies!

“Bunny!” Glitter cried, before very slowly crawling over to lightly pet the brown and white bunny that hopped over to sniff at her.

“I… Bunnies?” Bubblegum asked as the black bunny raced up and over his uninjured side. “Where bunny?”

I opened my mouth to reply, then realised I didn’t have a good answer.

“Honestly I thought that was the forest playing tricks with my mind,” I said as the pair frolicked about the clearing. “I… didn’t think Puddle actually had those bunnies!”

“Yep! I did!” Puddle replied happily, taking some dried carrots out of her saddlebags and offering it to the bunnies. The pair greedily consumed the sugary vegetables, then hopped up onto Puddle’s back. She gave each a nuzzle with her cheek. “They’re really well behaved! I thought they’d have just run away.”

I frowned.

“Well, from what I remember, ponies before the war always had close connections with their pets. They tend to behave better for their owners, and I guess these two rabbits picked you, Puddle,” I offered. “Or these bunnies are rational and see you as a giant food source.”

“You do kinda look like a seaweed roll, Puddle,” Glitter added, making Puddle pout.

“Anyways,” I announced. “Gather up the rabbits. We need to find Solidarity and Hyacinth.” I shot a glare at Bubblegum. “You better pray to whatever goddess you believe in that they’ve found a way out of here, because so help me if you’ve just killed her…”

To his credit, Bubblegum stared me down. “What? What will you do, Threnody? Thank me for fixing your problems? Turn me into Minister Boing? I bet she’d pay a healthy reward for–”

I slapped him as hard as I could. And then I slapped him again. Glitter and Puddle stared at me in horror as I glared up at the big, stupid oaf.

“Right now you’re on drugs and reacting like an idiot,” I hissed at Bubblegum as he kept staring down at me, now semi-sensate. “But if you think that I’m doing okay right now, you’d be dead wrong. Right now we all need to survive. So you are going to take your strong, muscled ass, and help Glitter carry Blackjack. Do you understand me?”

Bubblegum blinked at me a moment, then slowly nodded.

“You shat in our bed, now you’re going to lay in it with us, Bubbles,” I said, gathering up what supplies I could into my saddlebags. I then checked my pipbuck; it didn’t seem like Hyacinth and Solidarity were too far off. It didn’t mean much in the winding undergrowth of the forest, anyway. “All right everypony, let’s move out.”

I don’t know when I became so bossy. I didn’t mean to be, but with Blackjack out of action and badly injured, I knew I had to step up. And I hated stepping up. It meant I didn’t have time to think. Didn’t have time to process what in Equestria was going on. I just had to act and hope that I didn’t get my three upright friends killed, nor the pair of bunnies that rode on Puddle’s back.

I kept having to bite back panic as the forest twisted around me. Occasionally it felt like it was getting darker, and more thorny. Still, I would close my eyes each time, count to ten, then open them to find that the thorns were gone. Trying to explain that to Puddle and Glitter was hell, and I’d given up on Bubblegum for the moment.

I was pissed off at him. A part of me wanted to shoot him. Another wanted to tell him it was going to be okay, and that I wasn’t that mad. The cynical side of me noted that if Blackjack died, at least Bubblegum had actually solved the problem of having to rehabilitate her crazy ass. Yet another piece of me wanted my disparate parts to get along and focus on not dying to weird fungus bear monsters.

When we finally caught up to Hyacinth and Solidarity, I breathed a little easier. Solidarity took one look at Blackjack and Bubblegum, and started barking orders. While I didn’t like being told what to do and where to go, having somepony else take responsibility for our safety felt… relieving. My shoulders were far too small to carry the weight of the four lives they’d been slowly buckling under.

“Threnody? Are you listenin’ to me?” Solidarity’s voice pulled me out from my thoughts.

I looked up at him.

“Oh, sorry,” I stammered. “What were you saying?”

Solidarity frowned, then tugged at my left leg with his magic.

“I was trying to tell you where we’re going. Hyacinth got through to one of the Wolves’ patrols. They’re trying to direct us here,” he said, poking at the map on my pipbuck, and setting a marker. “Hyacinth and I are going to take point. I want you to take up the rear.”

I paled as I realised that would put me, the smallest, most edible member of the party, in a really dangerous position.

“Are you–”

Solidarity glared, silencing my protest.

“Look, tail end charlie is where nopony likes to be, but Puddle can’t shoot for shit, and with Glitter’s magic out of commission and Bubblegum...” He glanced to the injured, dribbling and utterly vacant earth pony, “presently indisposed, you’re the only one I’ve got left.” He put a hoof on my shoulder. “I need Hyacinth up front to direct me and to keep the Wolves on track to us as we try to get to them. I’m askin’ a lot, but if you just keep your ears open and your eyes wide, we’ll all make it out. Just a long walk in the park, right?”

Sure, if every park was full of mutated plants and twisted crimes against nature. Totally a walk in the park.

I drew my plasma defender and flicked the safety off with my tongue. Solidarity nodded to everypony, and we trudged off into the underbrush.

Just when I was convinced the forest couldn’t get any more thick with ferns, mutated plants, blinkgrapes, and every hateful, horrible plant that grew thorns, the path widened into nothingness. My ears swivelled forward as I heard the out-of-place clip-cop of hooves on tarmac. I followed Puddle underneath a set of gnarled branches, and emerged onto what I could only assume was the Long 26.

“Alright y’all, it’s west from here,” Solidarity shouted. “A couple dozen kilometers, and we’re safe. If we can just–”

A loud gunshot echoed down the road from behind us. Everypony spun around to face whoever had fired off that shot.

Fifty meters down the road, arrayed in overlapping groups, stood at least twenty ponies. They all wore similar barding. My heart sank as a familiar top hat bobbled out from behind a tall, slender earth pony mare with a white coat and a long jet black mane standing at the front.

“You didn’t think you’d get away, did you?” Peculiar sing-songed, a sneer on his muzzle. “Oh, you did some very, very, very naughty things to give us the slippy-slip! It was so hard to find you, but find you we did! Yes, yes, yes, we did!”

Without warning, faint blue beams shot from the earth pony mare's forehead exactly where a horn would have been if she had one. I barely had time to register how impossible that was as I dived out of the way.

Is she a unicorn? Without a horn? What in the…?

Solidarity gasped as he dropped his pistols, the magic around his horn fizzling out.

I glanced back to Peculiar, who merely smirked at me.

“Silvia is a fascinating specimen, isn’t she?” an unfamiliar stallion asked as he took up a place by Peculiar’s side. They were mirror opposites. Where Peculiar was short and fat, this stallion was tall and thin. While Peculiar had a crazed air about him, this stallion regarded all of us like a cold, emotionally diseased child. Even their heterochromia was reversed.

“Are you going to use that weapon?” the tall stallion asked, chilling me with the ice in his voice. I realised that I was still carrying my plasma defender. With so many enemies pointing guns at us, and… that mysterious white mare’s freaky hornless magic thing, holding a gun probably wasn’t the best idea. He smirked approvingly at me as I holstered it.

A tense silence rippled down the road. We could try to bolt for the forest but the vegetation would make any run impossible. And… with so many ponies injured…

“By now I’m sure you’ve realised that you are trapped. Or should I have Silvia start tearing your friends to pieces one by one?” the tall stallion asked, placing a hoof on the pale mare’s dark mane. I realised with some alarm that her eyes were red like Blackjack’s, but looked… wrong somehow. How could this be? Another mare that looked so much like Blackjack? Here? Now? Was the forest still screwing with my head? All she needed was some red in her mane and they could be twins!

“Ready, master,” the mare said in a soft, oddly neutral soprano. “They will die at your command.”

“That won’t be necessary, Silvia. I do believe our friends will behave themselves. Goodness knows the alicorn doesn’t look like she’s in any shape to fight,” the stallion continued, surveying our sorry band over, his eyes glinting like fresh razors when they landed on Blackjack draped unconscious across Glitter’s back. “And with that ugly little anomaly out of the way, I believe we can finally talk,” he said, fixing his unnerving gaze upon me. “Do you know who I am, Threnody?”

I shuddered at my name.

“Peculiar’s brother?” I offered.

“Oh, she is so clever. So quick! So sharp! I told you she’d figure it out, brother! I told you! I told you!” Peculiar crowed, dancing around on his hooves. Another mare cut through the line of ponies to point her weapon at us. She sneered at him, and I realised she had a particularly nasty deformity on her — oh, crap was that Sweetness?! Peculiar’s wild, grotesque dance blocked my view before I could see if looks really could kill.

“As you surmised, I am Curiosity. The unfortunate sibling of Peculiar, but we all have our burdens to bear, don’t we?” Curiosity said as introduction, pointedly ignoring the sad look upon Peculiar’s face as he stopped mid-frolic. “You are not an easy pony to track down, Threnody. Quite frustrating, really.”

“Well, you’ve got me. Now, what do you want? Hopefully no more creepy dreamland fairgrounds,” I retorted, trying to sound brave. If I could stall them, maybe Hyacinth could get a message to the Wolves and–

“Oh, stalling for time? You think your friends will reach us soon?” Peculiar asked, tossing his head back to let out a hideous laugh. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! That’s not gonna happen! No running away for naughty fillies! You’re gonna come with us! Come home with us so we can play together. Forever!”

“What the hell do you want with the filly?” Solidarity shouted, holding his head high and rubbing his horn as if trying to massage it back into action.

Curiosity looked at Solidarity briefly, the expression on his muzzle one of utter contempt. Like Solidarity was somehow below his notice.

“Her empathic abilities are of great interest to us. She has become the object of my brother’s... fascination.” I didn’t like the way he said that word. It made my skin crawl. “As such, she has attracted the interest of the Family. She may be mildly tainted by a lesser breed but she comes from a unicorn bloodline. She would be a suitable addition to our pursuits for genetic purity.”

“Tainted? You mean because I’m a pegasus you think I’m tainted?” I laughed. “Don’t you idiots understand? I’m a stronger heartmender because I’m a pegasus, not because my mother was a unicorn that couldn’t keep her tail down!”

“So very rude, Threnody. Not nice at all. Not at all! Naughty, naughty filly!” Peculiar chastised me, taking a few steps closer to me and away from the Family’s goons. “We will have to teach you manners. Yes, manners. And then, we will break you. I mean, groom you. To be a good filly. The best! Yes. The best.”

I flared out my wings, trying to make myself look bigger. Bubblegum and Glitter Bomb each took a step forward, standing beside me. It was a futile gesture, even discounting that weird not-unicorn they had, but it still made me feel about a decimeter taller.

“I may be beat to hell, but I’d love to see you try to get at her, you pervy little freak.” Bubblegum growled. “You can’t have her.”

“Ah, is this charming specimen the one you spoke of, Sweetness?” Curiosity asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked Bubblegum up and down. “The one who may be a… well… you know.”

“A what?” Bubblegum shot back with such force that the pale mare, Silvia, stepped protectively in front of Curiosity.

Curiosity dismissively pushed her out of the way.

“Don’t worry about that, brother. What you are or aren’t may be of some consequence later. You just don’t know it yet,” Curiosity said sadly. “However, all of you are free to come with us. We do have a great many questions for all of you. And, oh, so many experiments to try. Don’t you just love science?” he asked, his voice taking on the unhinged edge that plagued his actual brother, the very one that made me pin my ears back.

“I’m not going with you!” I shouted. “Not now, not ever. I don’t want to– to play with Peculiar. I don’t want in on whatever twisted science you’re trying to do. Everything about you is telling me to run like hell. I don’t even know what you did to that poor mare in my dreams…”

“DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT!!!” Peculiar screamed. “You don’t know her! You don’t remember her! DO NOT SPEAK OF HER!!” he screeched.

I felt a frisson of fear run down my spine. Looking back at my friends, even Solidarity seemed spooked by the outburst.

“It might not be in your best interest to stir up dreams, filly,” he drawled sardonically.

Curiosity looked between Solidarity, Peculiar, and I.

“Now that we’ve settled that, I think it’s time that you all come with us. You see–”

An explosion of leaves and a loud roar cut Curiosity off. One of the Family’s goons turned and opened fire as the horrific bear monster that mauled Bubblegum reappeared, barrelling out of the underbrush and onto the road. The creature roared, then carved the unfortunate stallion into four distinct bloody chunks with a slap of its paw.

The Family goons split into groups and opened fire. Horrible pieces of fungus covered meat flew from its split hide but the monster seemed impervious to any lasting injury. Even the automatic rifles the Family had equipped on their battle saddles didn’t faze the beast as it shredded another goon.

Curiosity seemed torn between observing the creature and making sure that we didn’t leave.

“Silvia, if you would see that our guests don’t vanish on us?” he asked, turning to face the growing carnage with an air of disinterest. The pale mare hesitated, then turned her unyielding crimson gaze on us.

I couldn’t care less what weird tricks Curiosity’s pet had up her sleeve to keep us here. I wanted to be as far away from that creature as possible. Who knew what the hell it would do after its hunger was satiated.

“Silvia, that thing’s gonna kill us all, we need to leave!” I shouted at her.

The mare didn’t even blink. Even as another goon was carved to pieces right next to her. She just kept staring at us, not caring about the gore and entrails that splattered over her pale coat. I realised what looked off about her eyes. They were devoid of life. Cold. Alien. What was she? Was she even a pony?

“You will remain,” she stated simply.

“I’ll make you remains!” Bubblegum said, drawing himself up.

In rapid succession, those same faint blue beams shot forth from Silvia’s forehead and struck Bubblegum in each of his legs in turn. He grunted and crumpled to the ground.

“Well, that’s a tad unpleasant,” he said, sounding winded. “It’s like she’s got a ranged cattle prod!”

“Less worrying about freaky magic earth pony, more worrying about giant monster!” Puddle shouted, trying to hide beneath Solidarity.

The Family’s goons opened up the range, trying desperately to corral the creature. Peculiar hid behind his brother. Curiosity shouted orders. The maniac was actually trying to capture the creature! Three more ponies died to it.

I watched in horror as Sweetness teleported behind the creature. Her shotgun roared, scraping off chunks of flesh and fungus that sloughed over her back and sides. White gore-streaked bone shone briefly under the beast’s mangled hide before a black ichor flowed freely over its wound. The creature turned and roared, opening its jaws wide. Sweetness managed a brief scream before teeth snapped over her. The bear-thing flung her airborne and caught her as she fell down, swallowing her whole.

Its replete gurgle sickened far more ponies than just me. Then the beast shuffled to its side and looked straight at me.

“Threnody, help me!” The creature called out in Sweetness’ voice. “Help me!”

Something pulled at my heart and I faltered as I watched the creature stalked forward, its horrible mouth full of writhing fungi.

“Help me! Help! Help! You did this! You caused this! You bitch! Help me!” it called out with Sweetness’ tortured voice.

Solidarity grabbed me around the barrel and pulled me back toward the group. I had been walking toward the creature... What the hell was going on?

“Cover your ears,” he ordered. “She’s gone. Ain’t nopony can help her now.”

“That’s so horrible! How is it doing that!?” Puddle cried, shuddering as all of us, Silvia included, backed away from the slowly advancing creature.

I needed to go to it. To help her. I had to. I had to get to her. Help her! Sweetness couldn’t die because of me!

“Consarnit, kid, quit fightin’ me on this! It’s getting in your head! Yer a heartmender, put your abilities to good use and fight it!” Solidarity ordered.

I was so tired. So tired. Tired…

Puddle grabbed onto my tail and pulled me as well.

Then the monster’s head exploded. Or rather, something exploded on it.

A baleful howl echoed down the road as the sounds of steel-clad hooves thundered toward us. I turned away from the monster and saw a group of ponies in power armour racing down the road toward us. A tall pony in steel ranger armour, their faceplate painted in a horrifically toothy grin, paused and let loose another wailing rocket.

The missile flew true and exploded against the monster’s already gashed, smouldering maw. It reared up on its hind legs, letting out a savage roar. The Wolves howled back, one of the lead ponies opening up with a rapid-fire minigun. The small bullets ripped into the creature’s underbelly, causing it to gush more black ichor and foul-smelling blood.

The Family poured more fire into the monster, adding to the torrent. I drew my plasma defender and opened fire, and Hyacinth’s beam pistol joined the fray. Soon the monstrous creature began backing away slowly from us.

“You’re killing me!” it shouted in Sweetness’ voice. “You bastards! I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill you all for this!”

The creature spun on its hind legs and thundered off into the forest.

A silence settled over the clearing as the Wolves circled up around us.

Curiosity pouted slightly.

“A pity. Such a waste of good genetic material,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “Family, we’re leaving.” He addressed Silvia without even looking at her. “You are hereby surplus to requirements. If you wish to prove yourself otherwise, bring the brown one. Dispose of the rest.”

“No! I won’t go! I won’t leave bringing Threnody home to your stupid toy! I need her!” Peculiar protested. “I need, I need, I nee–” his protest was cut off as he and the rest of the surviving Family members teleported away.

But not Silvia.

She silently regarded the spot where he had disappeared from and went unnaturally still.

We all held our breath, waiting for the strange mare to turn and attack, but no attack came. She just… stood there. After a long, tense moment, the tallest Wolf approached us, their faceplate snapping open.

“Constable, seems you got yourself into a bit of trouble. The Wolves are here to escort you home. What’s the sitrep?” asked the palomino mare.

“One critically injured, one badly injured in need of surgery, Captain Rose. Strong and silent over there did something to my horn that’s making it harder than hell to cast spells. The purple missy’s about burned out her horn, and we could all use some water,” Solidarity drawled his report. “Not sure what to do with that one,” he said, jerking his head toward where Silvia still stood statuesque.

Captain Rose nodded, then turned to her wolves.

“Lettuce Leaf, deploy your stretcher,” she ordered. “Take the critically injured mare on your back. Russett, help this stallion not fall over,” she said.

“I’m fine!” Bubblegum protested, wobbling badly as the Wolves gently took Blackjack’s still form and laid her across Lettuce Leaf’s back.

“Kid, I’m pretty sure you’re not fine with those wobbles,” a stallion’s voice echoed from within the ranger’s armour. “Let me help you at least as far as the Stable, okay?”

“Bubblegum, you’re gonna have to take another Buck here in a few. Just as a precaution,” I added, having a hard time taking my eyes off Blackjack. Her chest rose and fell, but she did little else other than breathe. Somehow, that felt worse than the possibility that she had died.

Puddle pressed a hoof against my side.

“Threnody, what are we gonna do about her?” she asked, pointing to Silvia.

I looked at the motionless mare. She was helpless and alone, but I couldn’t tell why she wouldn’t move. Was she panicking? Was this some sort of anxiety-driven pseudoseizure? I couldn’t feel a thing from anypony, let alone her, and the stress of not feeling anypony’s emotions caused something inside of me to break.

“Why do I have to decide this!?” I shouted back, tears stinging my eyes as they began to run down my cheeks. “All of my decisions so far have been absolutely shitty! Why do I have to do this? What did I do wrong? I don’t want to!”

Puddle stumbled back away from me at my outburst. I felt terrible for yelling at her, but I couldn’t take it. It was too much! Too fucking much for me to handle right now. The monsters. The Family. This stupid forest! Guardian! I couldn’t fucking take it!

“That… wasn’t one of my prouder moments, I’ll admit.”

“Threnody, you’ve… been through a lot. To think that you couldn’t get overwhelmed is… well, quite honestly silly.”

“I still feel bad about it.”

“But you made it safe and sound back to Stable 9. And your friends are recovering, right?”

“Oh… I… I guess? I haven’t spoken to Puddle in two days. Bubblegum got pissed off about getting brought underground, and ended up throwing poor Lancer Russett against a wall before he passed out from his injuries. Though it was kinda funny to watch a Steel Ranger fly. But, Bubblegum, he… needed several hours of surgery. Blackjack is still waiting for hers. I just…

“Sandalwood, I don’t know what to do. I am so tired. I want to cry. I feel like I have lost everything, and nothing is going right! I don’t know what to do! I hate this! I hate everything!”

“Threnody, honey. That’s what these talks are for. To let you be upset. You’ve been through a lot. You all have. Not being able to cope with it is normal.”

“But I’m a heartmender!”

“To be blunt, Threnody, you’re a traumatised filly who happens to be a heartmender. And you’ve just been through a lot. No bullshit, sweetheart, you are handling this better than some adults I know, but this is still going to hurt. It is going to… suck, as I believe you’ve put it before.”

“S– something like th– that…”

“Threnody. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel sad and to feel bad about what has happened. But this? None of this was your fault. Things bigger than you are going on, and that is not your fault. I can’t emphasise that enough to you, honey. I wish Slate and I were there for you, and we’re working on finding a way to get to you. But until the threat of the Family has subsided, I think it’s best that you stay in Stable 9 and rest. Take care of yourself. You can worry about your friends when you are ready to handle their feelings as well. And not a moment before, okay?”

“I… I can try that, Sandalwood. That’s… really all I can do right now. Try.”

“And we won’t ask anything more of you. Though, when you’re feeling better, if you could make some recordings for us about the Stable, that would be lovely. But only when you’re ready.”

“Only when I’m ready. Got it.”

“Threnody, Slate sends his love. He’s very worried about you, and wants to talk to you tomorrow around this time. Is that okay?”

“Y– yeah. I’ll talk to him.”

“Take care, Threnody.”

“You too, Sandalwood.”

I miss you and Slate terribly. Please come save me...

Author's Notes:

I GOT THEM OUT OF THE STUPID FOREST! This was supposed to be out at the beginning of the month, but life decided that my life wasn't interesting enough, which had me make a trip home before Bronycon. But I am already working on 20 and a silly chapter that should go in between 19 and 20. Big thanks to RoMS, Bronode, and Offbeat, one of my patrons, for their patience and help editing this!