In a vast, black void, an earth pony stood on the indistinguishable ground. He was surrounded only by darkness, yet he could see as if there was light. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see besides his own muzzle and the massive stone orb hovering above him.

Awaken...

The pony's ears twitched. He sometimes forgot about the constant whispers of the void. Ever since they stopped bothering him, they became less menacing and more irritating.

Return...

With not much else to do, he observed the orb. It was made of limestone, or at least, that's what he thought it was. He could see what look like cracks and maybe some dents, but he could never confirm it. If he had the ability to move closer, or move at all, he could take a better look.

Release...

Oh, please do, the pony thought to himself. After only a few moments of staring at the floating rock above, he was already bored. He tried to groan even when he knew his voice would be silenced.

Consume...

The pony heard an ominous rumble and mentally cheered in response. He watched as the void slowly crept around the orb until it was no longer visible. A few seconds later and the void began crawling up his hooves. Finally, he thought as the darkness reached his neck.

---

Star opened his eyes only to see blinding light. He recoiled from the pain and covered his eyes with his foreleg. Morning had just set in. The desert sun was already above the horizon, but it was still low enough to pour in through Star's window and onto his face.

Star turned away and opened his eyes to a squint. He thought about getting up, but he wanted to enjoy the cool air from last night before it would soon be replaced by the scorching heat. After ten minutes of self-debating and relaxing, he kicked the covers off and sat up.

He rubbed his eyes a few times and looked around his room. There wasn't much to look at besides the door, window, and the small quantity of furniture. He focused on one piece of furniture in particular, a large mirror hanging on the wall.

Star sighed. Time for my daily self-exam, he thought as he got off his bed. Upon reaching the mirror, he carefully observed himself. He had the same dark yellow coat, although some would say it looked gold. His silver mane had a bad case of bed head, but it was otherwise normal. A brief check on both sides and he confirmed that he was still blank.

As Star continued his check-up, he barely noticed some lines on both sides of his face. He turned his head to get a better look and saw that the lines were actually deep indents that went along his cheeks. Please be normal, he thought to himself as he poked the indents with his hoof.

While he fiddled with what he hoped were several, long dimples, he decided to open his mouth in an attempt to stretch them back out. Unfortunately, when his mouth was halfway open, the indents opened up. When he saw the slightest hint of pink hidden underneath, he stopped.

Star held his breath in preparation for what he thought he was about to see. He opened his mouth again, slower this time. The indents turned into slits which then turned into wide tears, revealing the tissue beneath. That is so gross, he thought.

Without thinking, he poked the exposed flesh, but quickly retracted his hoof upon realizing what he just did. He expected to feel the pain of touching an open wound. Instead, all he felt was his hoof on his cheek. He tried it again, and once more he did not feel pain despite the fact his mouth was torn open and flesh was very much exposed.

Star stopped messing with the tears and closed his mouth. He rubbed his cheeks and looked at himself. After taking a deep breath, he thought, Another day, another deformity.

---

In the dining room below, a deep sky blue unicorn with an auburn tuft of a mane sat at the end of the table. His cutie mark of a green flax bundle hid behind the unopened roll of the day's paper.

On the table were two bowls of ful mudammas and a plate of flatbread. The two bowls were recently prepared, the oil and various garnishes still untouched, but the unicorn paid no attention to them. Instead, he stared at the clock with both forelegs crossed.

He would always watch the clock to see how long it would take for his brother to come down. Usually, it would only be ten to fifteen minutes before his brother shows up. Being late was the only thing he was always on time for. Yet today, the minutehand was able to make a 180 degree trip around the clock, a full thirty minutes.

The unicorn thought that something was up. His brother was only ever late for being late for two reasons. There was the small possibility of oversleeping, but his nightmares already do a good job of preventing that. The other, more plausible reason was that he discovered a new side-effect from his condition. Alright brother, let's see what's going, he thought.

Before he could push himself away from the table, hoofsteps came from the stairs. Looking through the doorway, he saw his brother, Star, entering the dining room. He walked in, head down and with a mane just tidy enough for it not to be considered messy. "Is everything alright?" the unicorn asked.

Star took the seat next to the unicorn and stared at his food. He already smelled the fava beans when he walked in, but upon sitting down, a hint of something else entered his nostrils. He lowered his head over the bowl and gave it a quick sniff.

From one small scent, a pungent mix of beans and flowers flooded his nose. He quickly pushed himself away from the bowl, almost falling backwards in his chair. When he regained his balance, he nudged the bowl away while covering his nose. Turning to his brother, Star asked, "Flax, did you mix the stalks into this?"

Flax's horn lit up and the bowl was gently pushed back towards Star. "I thought I could hide the unicorn horn's flavor with the fava beans this time," Flax said. "Also, what took you so long?"

"What do you mean? You know I'm always late for breakfast," Star said as he took one of the flatbreads. He broke it in two and dipped one into his bowl, making sure to scoop as much beans as it could hold. Covering his nose with a hoof, he opened his mouth.

Right before he could take a bite, Flax saw the tears along Star's cheek form. Flax quickly reached over and grabbed Star's hoof, causing some of the beans to fall off the bread. Luckily, they all fell back into the bowl. "What the hay, Flax!" Star said, irritated.

Flax let go of Stars hoof and pointed at his cheek. "What are those?" Flax said, keeping his voice level.

Star dropped his bread into the bowl and crossed his forelegs. "The hay do you mean?"

Flax turned his own head and pointed to his cheeks.

Star raised an eyebrow. What is this guy doing? Star thought. Then he realized how familiar his brother's movements looked and thought, Looks like myself in the mirror this morning...

He glared at Flax and raised his voice. "So you're telling you almost made me spill beans on myself--" Star pointed at his cheeks, "--because of these?"

"Easy Star. I was only asking since it looked like you didn't notice you mouth tearing open."

"No! I saw them this morning, they're harmless." Star turned to his food, giving himself time to calm down. "And if you're still wondering why I was SO late, that's why."

Flax watched him while Star returned to staring at his food. Flax let a few more seconds pass before asking, "Well, do they hurt?"

Star briefly looked at Flax with the same glare as before, and then rolled his eyes and turned his head. With one hoof, he stretched out one of the tears, and with the other, he poked it repeatedly. Flax winced each time Star's hoof made contact.

"Alright, that's enough." Flax said, eyes closed.

Star let go of his cheek and picked up the torn flatbread that was now soaked in his ful. He sighed and proceeded to rescoop some of the bean dish with the bread. As Star took a bite, Flax watched his cheeks. The indents healed, albeit very slowly.

"Well, at least the unicorn horns are working," Flax said as began to eat his own breakfast, "Glad to see it's just another side effect."

Star puffed air out of his nostrils. It's always another side-effect.

---

"Acacia, are you there?" Zecora called out. She waited for several seconds, but there was no response. "Where is that old mare?"

The zebra continued on the path of broken branches and damaged trees. Normally, she would ignore such trails of destruction to avoid whatever monstrosities the Everfree is known for. In this one, however, she found her friend's saddlebag, dirt-stained and hanging off the stub of a broken tree branch.

Zecora stopped when she heard an unusual growl beyond an opened wall of leaves and wood. She kept her body low and slowly made her way behind the side of the opening. With her back against the foliage, she poked her head out just enough to see beyond the mess of leaves.

She could barely make out the clearing, darkened from the overhead screen created by the trees. Only a few cracks allowed light to shine through. One of them revealed a small patch of flowers she and her companion were meant to collect. And lying right on top was the old unicorn she was looking for.

Acacia's fur and the flowers beneath her were lightly stained with blood. There were three gashes along her side which were, fortunately, no longer bleeding. Zecora could only assume that whatever caused the destruction also wounded Acacia. Before she could expose herself to help her friend, she heard the same growl from before.

Acacia flinched at first, but then glared right into the darkness. "So you think you're finally going to put me down?" she said, plucking a flower from the patch. "Then let this flower mark your grave."

Zecora followed the unicorn's gaze and barely noticed the silhouette of a creature approaching the flower patch. From what she could make out, the creature's form looked nothing like she had seen. The closest thing its shadow resembled was a manticore, except without a head or a tail.

Looking back at Acacia, the flower she pulled was stripped of its petals. She held the stalk with her hooves and waved it the creature. The creature paused and emitted another growl. Acacia gave it a coy smile. "Scared?"

Zecora realized the creature was no longer advancing on her friend. She had little idea why, but figured that she should probably try something while it was distracted.

She rummaged through Acacia's bag, hoping to find anything that could help. Luckily, her friend carried with her her own assortment of exotic plants, most of which Zecora recognized. She pulled a large leaf from the wall of foliage and set it flat on the ground. A pinch of some crushed petals here, a squeeze of plant extracts there and Zecora's mix was ready. It wasn't as potent as she would like, but it would have to do. She picked up the leaf and carefully funneled her concoction into an empty bottle from the bag.

Suddenly, there was a roar and the sound of loud sizzling. Zecora looked back through the opening and saw the shadow of the creature stumbling around. She also noticed that the stalk Acacia held was gone.

"Don't tell me that you've given up after one?" Acacia said while laughing. She pulled another flower from the patch and began plucking the petals off. "So, are you going to try that again?" She coughed blood onto her hoof, but she didn't pay it any mind and continued smiling at the creature. "I don't have all day."

When the sizzling died down, the shadow caught itself and turned to Acacia. It let out another, much harsher growl and new silhouettes seemed to grow out of its back. They looked like multi-jointed appendages with sharpened ends, all pointed towards Acacia. After one more roar, it charged.

Zecora eyes widened. She grabbed the bottle by her mouth and bolted for Acacia.

Acacia squinted and held the stalk up to her eye. She briefly glimpsed at the flowers around her and sighed.

Just as she began winding up, a bottle flew right at the creature. A large cloud of yellow mist erupted from the bottle and clung onto its body. Some of the gas reached what must have been the creature's face, causing it to roar in pain and swing around blindly.

"Acacia!"

The unicorn turned her head towards the voice and saw a zebra appear from the darkness. "Zecora, what are you doing here? It's dangerous," Acacia said.

"Exactly, that is why we must go. How long the mist will last, I do not know."

Zecora hoisted Acacia onto her back, ignoring the protests from the unicorn. She tried to run, but something pulled at her leg. Looking back, the large silhouette was no longer in its blind rampage and caught her with one of its appendages.

While Zecora tried to shake off the creature's grasp, Acacia steadied her hoof. Despite the zebra's struggling, she was able land a perfect shot.

The stalk sizzled as it melted into creature. Its roar shook the the forest. When it tried to claw the stalk off, it only managed to further lodge it into its face, causing it to flail and howl once more.

Meanwhile Zecora and Acacia have since left the scene. Zecora ran as fast as she could, carrying both an injured unicorn and her bag of precious goods. It was going to be a long trip to the hospital, but Acacia reassured her she was going to be alright.

"Just hang on a little longer, I will take you to a doctor," Zecora said. Acacia just smiled and rested her head against her neck, eyes closed.

Zecora could feel her friend's breathing slow down. Her body also started to drop in temperature. The Zebra's pace changed to a full on sprint. She strained her legs to the point where they felt numb.

"This would have been a great story to tell back home..." Acacia said.

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