The tiny settlement by the lake was a strange one. The buildings here—if they could even be called that—were all shaped trees. This settlement reeked of strange magic, magic that was foreign, unknown, and unsettling to Dim. Walkways had been fashioned in the treetops, stretching from one tree to the next, connecting the canopies.

The welcoming committee was already on its way, and Dim hoped there wouldn’t be trouble. There were ponies here, but also a few other creatures, from what he had seen while looking the settlement over. The welcoming committee included a hunched over diamond dog that had been in his prime at least five decades ago.

“Greetings,” the pegasus leading the crowd said as he drew closer. “I am the druid known as Gesundheit and this is my little village. It is my sincere hope that you are not here for trouble. We have nothing of value, there is very little here to take, and we prefer peace to war.”

Druids? Suddenly, much about this settlement made sense. Dim knew of them and their magic, but only in passing. He glanced at the pegasus, and then at the shaped trees. It was possible that this pegasus was responsible, and this was fascinating. He glanced at the pegasus again, and Blackbird slipped past him so that she could say hello.

“My name is Blackbird, and we’re not here to cause trouble. We just want a safe place to rest. I need to make some repairs to my vardo. My companion is a wizard for hire, if any of you have need of his services.”

“You’re welcome to stay,” Gesundheit said with a guarded expression upon his face. “Avoid the lake at all costs when the sun goes down. Something horrible lives in the depths. Sunlight keeps it at bay. The surrounding woods are filled with wolves, some of them magical. At night, the strix come out—”

“I can deal with strix.” Dim’s interjection was so smooth and polite sounding that the pegasus did not seem to mind that he had been interrupted. Lifting his head a little higher, he adjusted his broad brimmed hat, and then smiled a fine, aristocratic smile. “Perhaps I can help you in exchange for our stay here. Tell me, what lurks in the lake?”

Gesundheit’s face relaxed a little, and something that was almost a smile could now be seen on his muzzle. He looked relieved, perhaps, or maybe hopeful. “Something truly terrible, wizard. My skills as a druid are powerful, but subtle. I am only gifted with plant shaping, which is an odd gift for a pegasus to have. I can do nothing to dissuade the monster in the lake from eating my townsfolk. I don’t know what it is, but it’s large, and has tentacles. It is only active at night, and it is completely dormant during the day.”

“I see.” Dim’s cigarette holder bobbed in the corner of his mouth, and blue smoke curled upwards, then clung to the brim of his hat. “Perhaps I shall go for a walk around the lake this evening.”

“I don’t know if that would be wise—”

“Vizards have no concern with what is wise,” Dim said, leaning forward a bit, and puffing smoke. “The wise do not become vizards. Only a fool meddles with powerful forces that he has no understanding of. The wise become druids, yes?”

Eyes narrowing, Gesundheit studied the eccentric wizard, and his ears angled forwards over his face. The pegasus was now smiling without reservation, a warm, pleasant smile indeed. “Welcome to Baumhaus. I hope you enjoy your stay, Vizard.”

See Dim, you can be charming, the pink voice said. I’m worried, something is blocking your dream from me. Other things have been inside of your mind, and I’m a little scared for you. So many are fighting right now to claim you. You seem calmer, Dim, and dare I say happier?

Ignoring the voice in between his ears, Dim continued to roll cigarettes with his own blend of herbs and alchemical reagents. He slipped them into the shining, gleaming, untarnished silver holder, and kept one eye focused on Blackbird, who was working on her wagon. She was sleek, beautiful, supple, and her ebony pelt shone like a coal-black sun. In the back of his mind, he thought about what it would be like to touch her right now, with her sooty-black hide left hot by the sun. There would be warmth there, life giving warmth, arousing warmth. It would be luxurious and grand to rub up against.

You fancy her, don’t you Dim?

When she smashed one of her talons with a hammer, a stream of the most vulgar profanity imaginable gushed from her mouth like a flood. Dim continued rolling his cigarettes, and beneath his hat, his ears perked at the rapid-fire hard-consonanted expletives. Even with her anger—or maybe because of her anger and her profanity—there was something alluring about her.

She’s not quite like the Pies we have back here at home, Dim. She’s quite a catch though, but I think if you catch her before she’s ready, she’ll claw your eyes out. I’d watch your balls, too.

The pink voice spoke truth, and Dim knew it. He smiled, and it was not a sarcastic smile, or a sardonic smile, or a cruel, jaded, hate-filled smile. No, this smile was just a basic, stock, run-of-the-mill smile of amused happiness. Another cigarette went into the silver case, and it was then that Dim realised that he would need more supplies soon. For that, they would have to go some place civilised with a well stocked alchemist’s shop.

The ponies and creatures of Baumhaus kept their distance, for now. After the welcoming committee had made he and Blackbird welcome, they had departed, retreating back to their shaped homes among the trees. Civilisation had taken root here, but had not purged the wilderness, or pushed it back. It existed with the wilderness in a marriage of harmony, and Dim found it quite fascinating.

Living in your tower, the pink voice began, you never really had a chance to experience life as an Equestrian. You lived a very different life, and then, when you fled, you saw the world. You saw the worst of it, I suppose, and you probably think the world is a bad place.

“Oh, I do,” Dim muttered to himself. “I have seen too much of life to be an optimist.”

There is good in the world, the pink voice continued, but there was something hesitant about it, something doubtful that Dim could not help but to notice. There is much good in the world, and not just in Equestria. We do not have a monopoly on goodness here in Equestria, but we do strive for a different set of ideals than most places. Come home, Dim, please, and let me show you. Let me love you, let me be kind to you, let me give you the nurturing that you starve for. I will love you, wholly and completely, and without reservation. Let me do this.

“Maybe?” Dim grunted the word, and for the first time, he gave serious thought to returning home. “I have to help Blackbird first. She needs to find her mother. Once that’s done, I’ll think about coming home.”

Dim, please, listen to me for a moment… try not to burn the world down along the way.

“I make no promises.”

Well then—the pink voice sounded quite worried and a bit put out—if you must set things on fire, try to only burn the really bad things, okay? I’m not saying that it makes it better, and I will not say that you are justified in doing so, I’m just suggesting that you save your fire for those most deserving.

“If I went solely after those most deserving and burned them to ashes, I would die of old age long before my task was finished. I could get started now, make a life of it, and only purge a small fraction of what needs to be burned away for the world to prosper. In the bigger scheme of things, I am a match and little more.”

Yes, Dim, but entire forests can be burned with but a single match.

Off in the distance, Blackbird was sucking on her smashed thumb, and her tail slashed from side to side. She looked sulky in a way that only feline creatures could, and her hammer lay on the ground a few feet away. For the first time, Dim noticed that there was something almost foalish about Blackbird. He dismissed it right away, as she was big enough, mature enough, and worldly enough. Every adult had foalish moments.

Still… there was something about her.

She was far too alluring to be considered anything but mature. With a feline screech of rage, she pounced upon the hammer, snatched it up, and held it in her clenched, uninjured talons. Her rage was adorable and Dim felt as though he could sit and watch this all day. After staring at the hammer for a time, Dim heard her say, “You dirty, no good, piece of shit finger flattener! I should throw you into the lake!”

She’s kinda cute when she’s angry, isn’t she?

“Indeed, she is,” he replied, not giving the fact that he was talking to himself a second thought.

Dim, love is a different thing entirely when you have to earn it. You’ve never experienced real love before. This is the great struggle, Dim, and maybe, the meaning of life itself. Figuring out how to get somepony else to feel the same way about you as you feel about them. For some, it’s simple. For others, well, there is a reason why I exist.

This pained Dim, and he thought of Darling. Had he loved her? Or was he conditioned to feel for her? Had anything been his own choice, his own will? Was Darling even capable of love, after what had been done to her? The pain grew worse when Dim didn’t have the means to answer. The empty spaces within him ached, longing to be filled with something.

All of that was the past… and right now, there was a crazed hippogriff creature cursing her hammer that he sort of wanted to be his future. She had her own future, and perhaps that is what made her alluring; her purpose, her determination, her desire and drive to find her mother. It was then, staring at her, talking to a voice inside of his head that he realised he admired another living, breathing soul. Her passion, her purpose, it awoke something within him, something great, something grand.

For Dim, this was quite a realisation.

Perhaps, by helping her to realise her future, she would be willing to share his.

You’re getting it, the pink voice whispered deep within the folds of his grey matter, like a mouthy pearl lodged deep in the recesses of his mind. I’m so proud of you. This is empathy, Dim, and it kind of sucks sometimes, but allowing yourself to feel it will make you a better pony.

“I have felt empathy before,” he grumbled, not liking this exchange.

No doubt you have, the pink voice replied. But has it ever moved you? Have you ever sat down and gave thought to your future because of it? Right now, you are contemplating the act of sacrificing a great deal of time and your own future plans to help her achieve her goals, her dreams. You have assigned a value to her feelings, and you have made them equal to, or perhaps greater than, your own. This might just be the most moral thing you have ever done in your entire life, Dim. This is what I am doing for you. I am sacrificing some of my own future, my own time, I am expending much energy with the hopes that you will be made better.

After a moment of thinking, Dim had no response for this, and was silent.

I grow exhausted, Dim. We shall talk again, but I must go silent for a time. It felt good to have finally made a connection with you. Give some thought to what has been said.

With that, the voice inside of his head went silent.

“Your friend, he suffers from sad sickness.”

Blackbird glanced over at the pegasus in the corner of her vision, but did not turn her head. He was, like most pegasus ponies she had met, observant, but this one seemed far more so. A cup of tea that smelled a bit like pine steamed in a cup, and a bit of precious honey had been drizzled in. It wasn’t yet cool enough to drink, and she was eager to have some.

“And next, I suppose, you’ll be telling me how dangerous he is,” she said in a reply that she hoped wasn’t too sarcastic or rude.

“Oh, I don’t know if he’s dangerous,” Gesundheit responded, and he shook his head from side to side. “You would know that better than I do. But he has the sad sickness. Happiness will be difficult for him, and joy will elude him. It will always be a struggle for him.”

“Is this some kind of druid thing?” she asked.

“I guess.” Gesundheit shrugged, and something that was almost a smile could be seen on his face. “Maybe it is. I was always good at reading ponies, but after my encounter in the Grove, ponies, other creatures, they became like books for me.”

Reaching out one talon, she dunked it into her tea, only to discover that it was still hot. She pulled it out, waved it around a bit, and then stuck it in her mouth. The sweetness made her ears perk, and the flavour of the tea was something she had never experienced. She liked it a great deal, and she only pulled her talon-finger from her mouth after the last of the sweetness was gone.

The sun was on its way out in the west, and in the east, the darkness lurked, waiting for light to retreat. Already, the moon was rising, and it was as if it was chasing after the sun, being playful, an eternal game of tag. Something about it made Blackbird wax poetic and she let out a satisfied sigh.

“Your friend, I never did get his name, I think he will go after the lake monster. The outcome concerns me.”

“I’d say the lake monster is in trouble,” Blackbird replied. “I’ve only known him for a short time, but I’ve known him long enough to know that he knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t go pick a fight with the lake monster unless he was absolutely certain of the outcome.”

Lifting her head a little, she looked down at Dim, who was doing something with an assortment of long wooden poles. Her talons flexed, a nervous reaction, and she shook her head, uncertain of what he was doing. Too much of her vision was obscured, and Dim was too far away. The blacksmith’s stone cottage was the only building on ground level, and everything else, including where she was currently sitting, was up in the trees, for safety.

“I think your friend… I think he is going to harpoon the monster,” Gesundheit said.

“Then I’d say the monster is in for a bad night.” Feeling worried, Blackbird thought about the reassuring heft of her sidearm. It was old—an antique from a bygone era—but still deadly, still functional. The massive black powder revolver, she called it The Foalsitter, and it was the guardian that had kept her safe. On the odd chance that Dim got into trouble, she hoped that she would be able to do something.

“I’ve met another like you,” Gesundheit said in an attempt to make conversation.

“Oh?” This took Blackbird’s attention away from Dim and she turned to look at her pegasus companion. Steam rose from his own teacup, and clung to his fuzzy face.

“The Heliophant, he has a daughter,” Gesundheit replied, and he leaned back in his somewhat crude wooden chair. “I only met her once, for a very brief time. She is part manticore and part pony.”

“Oh.” Blackbird sat there, blinking. “Why bring this up?”

“She is well loved by but a few, but feared by the many.” The druid turned his head and his eyes focused upon Blackbird. “She focuses upon the few, and ignores the many. You would be wise to do the same.”

“I see.” Blackbird’s eyes narrowed, and she studied the pegasus with feline intensity. “Is this what druids do? Say wise, mystical things to strangers?”

“We strive for an ideal.” Gesundheit grinned, and gave Blackbird a nod.

Lifting up her teacup, Blackbird pursed her lips and blew into her tea, preparing for that first brave sip. Down below, Dim was preparing, and the blacksmith was rolling barrels out to the front of his cottage. Cocking her head to one side, she couldn’t quite understand why Dim would need barrels, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing.

Killing was his business, and if anypony could kill something with a barrel, it would be Dim. She lifted her teacup to her delicate, fuzzy lips, sniffed, and then began to drool. She loved sweets, and this smelled sweet, but it also smelled like pine. Sweets, good sweets, were in short supply when one flew from place to place, looking for one’s mother.

The first sip, though hot, was bliss.

“I suspect that I understand what your friend is planning…”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter: Dim behaves like a thoroughly normal pony and goes fishing so he can do a little relaxing. Perfectly normal.