Monster

“—some kind of psychosomatic feedback from a magical stimulus.”

My consciousness swam through a murky bog that grasped at my thoughts, dragging them into its depths. My eyes were barely open, a sliver of light coming through them. Dark blobs surged forward at the edge of my vision, babbling words that sounded Equestrian but seemed void of any meaning. They were moving towards me. Watching me. Hunting me.

Were they real? Were they timberwolves, here to eat me? But they could talk. Maybe they were talking timberwolves. Maybe I could ask them why they killed all those innocent animals. Maybe I could ask them to stop.

No, I decided. That was silly. I was dreaming. I should wake up. But sleep seemed so enticing. They wouldn’t hurt me if I just lay here for five more minutes, would they? They were getting awfully close, though. If they were timberwolves, this might be really, really bad.

My eyes burned a little, not in the fiery, painful sense, but like a muscle I had spent all day exercising. I tried to blink, but couldn’t even move my eyelids.

I groaned. I didn’t need this when I was being attacked by timberwolves. I tried to raise my hoof to rub at them, but couldn’t move my hooves either. A bead of sweat rolled down my back as the voices approached, their unseen eyes watching my motionless struggle, monstrous mouths curving into wicked smiles at my helplessness.

An excited voice echoed in the distance.

“—never seen anything like it before! The sheer amount of magical finesse involved—”

I couldn’t move anything. My body was completely paralyzed. I tried to shout for help, but couldn’t. All I could do was listen and wait. The voices were coming closer.

“—incredible precision! If we could learn even a fraction of the techniques used to create such an effect, we could make huge leaps in the field of mental magic. Think about it! The medical benefits alone would—”

A new voice interrupted. “Miss Sparkle! I’m sure she’ll be happy to let you probe and prod her when she wakes up, but right now she’s my patient and I brought you here to help identify the problem, not to exacerbate it.”

Miss Sparkle spoke up. “Of course I’ll help! If the effect is ongoing, we can analyze it to potentially reverse-engineer the spell that was used!”

A moment passed and then she shuffled a bit. “And help her too, of course,” she said, laughing sheepishly. Something shuffled behind me, and then I felt something pulling one of my eyes open.

“She seems to be coming out of REM.” A pony with a blood-stained white coat stared into my eyes, her own sapphire blue eyes unnervingly close to mine. I tried to turn my head and, to my surprise, actually succeeded. Wasting no time, I forced myself upright. Or rather, tried to.

“Hold her still!” the pony commanded, her hooves pressing down on my chest as I thrashed around. I felt hooves pushing down on my shoulder as well, but couldn’t turn my head far enough to see who they were attached to.

“What? Where am I? What’s going on?” I shouted, twisting my head around, gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings.

I was lying on a flat, hard bed with no mattress or blanket, wearing a hospital gown two sizes too large. Another pony wrapped in bandages lay in a similar bed next to me. The three of us were surrounded on three sides by curtains, and by a wall on the fourth side which was lined with various medical instruments. I turned back to the pony holding me down, who, as she leaned her head down with a syringe clutched in her teeth, revealed the nurse’s cap on her head. I was in a hospital.

I looked at the syringe in the nurse’s mouth. It was filled with some kind of reddish-orange liquid that seemed to roil hatefully in its container, dripping from the hypodermic needle. My head pounded as I stared at the cruelly sharp point of the needle. The hooves on my shoulders were the branches of a dead tree, twisting over me and holding me in place, and the nurse’s face leered hatefully down at me, her face twisting into Slammer’s cruel physiognomy.

Slammer stalked closer, the sharpened piece of wood held between his teeth. “Now, this will hurt,” he promised, mouth curving into a sadistic smile, “but I want you to be brave, okay?”

I whimpered and held still, eyes closed, waiting for the end.

It didn’t come. I opened my eyes, looking up at the nurse, who was staring at me suspiciously, syringe still in her mouth. I held still and put on my most affable, friendly smile. She put the syringe back down on the table next to me, eyes never moving away from me.

I sighed in relief. She wasn’t Slammer. And I was in a hospital.

Wait. Why was I in a hospital? Shouldn’t I be at Zecora’s? Was Zecora alright? They did background checks in hospitals, didn’t they? I couldn’t stay here!

I tried to get up, but the nurse had clearly been expecting it, because she immediately slammed me back down again, going for the syringe.

“No, wait! Please! I won’t do it again. I’ll be good! I promise!” I begged, eyes firmly fixed on the needle. The needle came closer, its sharp point gleaming wickedly in the dim light. A tear trailed down my face until it stopped on the bottom of my chin. I didn’t dare move to wipe it away. “I’ll be good,” I repeated, holding as still as I could. “Please. Please.”

The nurse stopped and frowned. Slowly, she put the syringe down and spoke. “You’re in the Ponyville Medical Center. Well… the temporary extension, at least. You were brought here after you were attacked this morning.”

“Zecora!” I shouted, remembering. “Pinkie Pie! Are they alright?”

For a split second I tensed my muscles to get up again, but, seeing the nurse frown and look to the syringe, immediately flattened myself against the bed. “I’ll be good,” I repeated, not sure whether I was talking to the nurse or to myself.

She put a hoof to my chest, holding me down. “They’re fine. Please don’t move,” she continued, “You were badly hurt.”

I nodded. Fiddling with my hooves, I asked, “What happened?”

The nurse frowned. “We were hoping you could tell us, actually. Those two you mentioned brought you over here. They said the three of you had been attacked by an unknown unicorn.”

I frowned. Right. That had happened. I took a deep breath, trying to collect my thoughts.

If I remembered correctly, there was a crazy unicorn on the loose trying to kill Princess Celestia’s students, one of whom may or may not have been a drug lord of a gang that was moving into Ponyville if said crazy unicorn hadn’t lied about that too. I had two days to find out just what was going on, and put a stop to it. But I had promised Pinkie that I would attend the Summer Sun Celebration, which meant that I really had one day to figure everything out, unless I skipped out on her which would hurt her feelings and make her hate me for the rest of her life. But I would probably be in the hospital for the rest of the day unless I escaped. And what would they think when I escaped from the hospital without paying the hospital fees? Were there hospital fees? Would I have to make a new identity and run away from Ponyville after this? I’d have to leave Pinkie behind. She’d definitely hate me for that. Unless I got caught during the Summer Sun Celebration, and she found out I was a murderer. Then she’d hate me more.

My head was starting to hurt. I closed my eyes. Maybe everything would start making sense if I just slept a bit more…

I forced my eyes open and bit my tongue to keep myself awake. I didn’t have the time to waste, lying here and moping around while ponies could be getting hurt!

I turned to the nurse, who was watching me with concern. “Well, I’m feeling fine now,” I told her, nodding and smiling as cheerfully as I could manage despite hearing the desperation crack through in my voice. “Can I leave? Please?”

She frowned. “We’ll have to run a few tests first. A spell caused your heart to stop for a few minutes—”

“Technically, it was a magically induced psychosomatic reaction that forced her body to temporarily react as if it were experiencing cardiogenic shock, amongst other things,” a voice piped up from behind me.

I flinched in recognition. Miss Sparkle. The nurse had called her Miss Sparkle.

I tried to turn around, but found myself forced down once more.

“Who-Who’s that?” I asked, trying my best to sound casual.

The nurse shook her head. “Oh, where are my manners? My name is Nurse Redheart, and this is Twilight Sparkle.” Nurse Redheart motioned her head to the other pony holding me down.

The hooves on my shoulder released me. Hoofsteps circled around my hospital bed, until the image of a familiar lavender unicorn appeared. Only this time she wasn’t just an image. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. She was still there. I gulped.

Twilight Sparkle smiled and leaned down to me. “Hi there! I’m Twilight Sparkle! From what Nurse Redheart tells me, your name is Butterfly.”

I smiled weakly at her, forcing my head to nod.

Twilight Sparkle’s smile brightened. “Great! I was wondering if I could—”

Nurse Redheart coughed.

Twilight Sparkle’s smile dimmed. “Maybe later, I guess. Well, I’m here to check out any residual magic that the unicorn might have left on you. If there’s nothing, then you should be free to go!”

Nurse Redheart shook her head. “I recommend that you spend a few days here, even if she doesn’t find anything. You just recovered from a condition that is most ponies wouldn’t survive.” She frowned and put her hoof to my head, eying me strangely. “Although you don’t seem to be suffering from adverse health effects, you were attacked by a unicorn who was using magic that even Twilight Sparkle here isn’t familiar with.” She shook her head. “I just don’t want to take any risks with your health.”

Twilight Sparkle smirked at her. “Wouldn’t it be better if we ran some experiments, just to make sure?”

Nurse Redheart sighed. “Just scan her,” she ordered. “Then we’ll see.”

Still smirking, Twilight Sparkle turned to me. “This’ll take just a minute,” she said, tilting her horn down at me. I tried not to flinch as her magic washed over me. It moved through my body like a cold, mechanical ray of truth, pulling apart my lies and exposing me to the world. I shivered.

I mentally slapped myself. I was being silly again. It was just going to detect magic. Nothing more. I took a deep breath and released it. In. Out. In. Out.

Finally, the magic pulled back and Twilight shook her head, a disappointed frown on her face.

“Well, Butterfly, you’re clean. There appears to be a negligible amount of residual foreign unicorn magic left in your system,” She said, kicking the floor, “It can’t hurt you, but we can’t use it to see what spells were cast on you.”

I sighed in relief. I didn’t want to have needles stuck into me or whatever this science-crazed mare was planning. Though, now that I thought about it, she seemed a bit too science-crazed to be a drug kingpin. But then again, what did a drug kingpin even act like? I had never met one.

A hoof pressed against my forehead.“ Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you, but I think it would be best if you stayed here for observation. I’ll call the sheriff over to take your statement,” Nurse Redheart explained.

I turned my head to Nurse Redheart so quickly that I felt something pop in my neck. I grimaced and rubbed at it with a hoof.

“How long will that take?” I asked, trying to maintain a semblance of calm.

“He’ll be here in a few hours. Normally, he’d just drop by but… you know how it is. With the Summer Sun Celebration and all the strange things going on around here lately, his schedule is a little booked.”

“Strange things?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“Oh, yes. With the Summer Sun Celebration, we always get a bunch of ponies from all over the place coming to spectate. This year has been… unusually rowdy,” the nurse explained, eying the bed to my side.

The stallion lying on the bed had a grayish amber coat and a cutie mark of three bags with money symbols. That was all I could see, however, because his entire face was covered in bandages. Ominous dark splotches dotted the bandages, centered around his mouth. I turned away, rubbing my eyes.

Nurse Redheart tsked and moved a curtain to block my view.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have let you see that.”

I said nothing. Nurse Redheart eyed the hospital booth on the other side of me. I didn’t look. “Now that you’re stable, I’m going to call the sheriff and take care of the other patients. Please just try to relax.” She shot a glare at Twilight Sparkle. “And stop bothering my patient!”

Twilight Sparkle raised her hooves in surrender, and Nurse Redheart walked away, huffing. A moment passed, in which Twilight Sparkle just stood by me. It was just the two of us. I turned my head to face her at almost exactly the same time she turned to face me. I blushed and looked away. I peeked over at her through my mane. She was staring down at me with a strange, almost sly consideration.

 “Did you happen to see the pony who attacked you?” she asked, her gaze burning a hole through me from the corner of my vision.

I leaned away from her. “N-No,” I stuttered.

She leaned in closer. “Nothing? Did you see what color she was? What color the spell was? Did she do anything special when she cast her spell? Was she holding anything, or wearing anything, or chanting anything when she cast her spell?”

 “She was—She was, um, wearing a cloak. I don’t know anything else. It was too fast. I couldn’t see anything,” I replied, my head turning further away so that she couldn't see my face. Twilight Sparkle sighed behind me. I turned back around. “Sorry,” I apologized, pressing my hooves together.

Twilight Sparkle’s ears had drooped. “Well, thanks anyway,” she said. Blushing, she apologized, “I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, it’s just… Whatever magic your attacker used… I’ve never seen anything like that before and well… It’s just so fascinating! I mean, if we could replicate the effect, it would open up a whole new field of magic for us to study!”

She clapped her hooves together, giggling maniacally. The hairs in her mane split, her voice cracked, and her eyes gleamed in an eerie fanaticism. As she spoke the word “magic” her horn glowed and a faint purple cloud of magic poured from it, electrifying the air with her sheer excitement. She didn’t seem to notice.

I should have been scared. I should have turned tail and run. But as I stood there, staring at this madpony, all I could think about was how happy she looked. Surrounded by an aura of magical energy, Twilight Sparkle looked like she had found peace. She had found something that she cherished, something to hold on to, even when the world took everything else away. There was so much wonder and excitement in her eyes that I couldn’t help but smile along with her.

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” I told her. As the magic that poured out of her horn and buzzed against my skin, I couldn’t help but think of the animals that waited for me back home, and how they made me feel.

I loved the carefree way the birds flew through the fields and trees. I loved the way the snakes and lizards lay peacefully on rocks in the sun, simply content to bask in its warm glow. I would do anything to be back there, just to be with them. But a niggling doubt wormed its way into my gut. If I would risk my life for the animals I loved, what would Twilight Sparkle do for magic? If I would kill to protect, what would Twilight do to learn?

Twilight Sparkle stepped back and looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “You think so?” she asked, eying me like I was a drop of water in a desert.

I nodded emphatically. “I’ve actually never seen anypony as passionate as you about magic. It must mean a lot to you.”

“Oh, you have no idea! I research, study scrolls, read books, run experiments, everything!” She grinned, clapping her hooves together again. “It’s so much fun!”

“Ooh. That sounds fun,” I told her. It didn’t sound very fun to me, but I supposed that was why we didn’t have the same cutie marks. “What did you come to Ponyville to study?”

“Actually, I’m not here to study magic. I was just sent to Ponyville to make sure everything goes smoothly during the Summer Sun Celebration,“ she said. She glanced around, before leaning in and whispering into my ear, “Don’t freak out or anything, but I’m actually the Princess’s protege.”

“Really?” I asked, plastering a surprised smile on my face. “That’s amazing!”

Twilight Sparkle beamed, hopping up and down a little. “I know! I couldn't believe it either! I mean, there I was being awarded the Starswirl Medal for the Advancement of Recondite Magical Studies, and I thought the day couldn’t get any better, when all of a sudden the Princess just walked up to me and asked me to be her protege!”

I smiled, not even needing to fake it this time. That actually did sound impressive. “Well, congratulations! You must be very smart.”

She blushed. “Oh, no. Not really. I just study a little more than most ponies. It helps that my special talent is magic.”

I smiled awkwardly, not sure what to say next. She just didn’t seem like the evil kind of pony I would expect from a drug kingpin, but she didn’t seem as wise and all-knowing as I would expect from a protege of the Princess herself. If we had met under different circumstances, I would have just pegged her for a normal pony, even if she was slightly nerdy. And powerful, judging from her previous display.

“What about you?” she asked, tilting her head and staring unabashedly at my flank. “What’s your special talent?” She gestured with her hoof at my flank.

I glanced back and glared at it, before turning back to face Twilight Sparkle. “Oh! I take care of animals.” Amongst other things.

A flash of something filled her eyes for a moment, before she smiled and said, “Oh, a zoologist! That’s exciting. Or at least it sounds like it would be. I mean, I don’t actually know how to take care of animals other than mice or—uh.”

She hesitated, a strange look on her face. I frowned, taking note of her sudden anxiety. What was that about?

“Er, I mean—” she stammered.

“Oh, you have a pet mouse?” I asked. Maybe this was some kind of lead? I didn’t know what kinds of things Twilight would tell a mouse, or if the mouse would even tell me anything incriminating, but maybe if I asked nicely enough and in the right way, she would slip up and reveal something.

She nodded jerkily, rubbing her neck. “Pet? Uh—Yes! Yes, I have a pet mouse.”

I smiled, clopping my hooves together and straightening my back. “Ooh! I’d love to meet her!” I said. “Is it a her? What kind mouse is it? I—”

“She’s dead,” Twilight Sparkle blurted. “I had a pet mouse, is what I meant.”

I flinched. “Oh.”

Me and my big mouth. She had lost her pet mouse and was sad about it. There was no conspiracy here. I was just being a big jerk to a pony who had lost a friend, and for what? The suspicions of some insane unicorn who had attacked and threatened me and Zecora and Pinkie Pie. Shade had probably just lied to me to hurt me more.

I turned my head away. Poor mouse. I hoped it had been painless, at least. I opened my mouth to ask how he died, but decided against it. I didn’t want to bring up even more painful memories. I stared at the floor in silence, searching for something to say.

“I’m sorry,” I finally apologized, looking up to her. “That must have been hard for you.”

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath, turning her head away. “Yeah,” she replied, “It was, uh, tragic. Painful memories and all. Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay?”

I nodded. I could respect that. I bit my lip. That was one downside to having animal friends. Having to attend so many funerals. I closed my eyes and sighed, lost in memories.

Twilight Sparkle shuffled away. “Well, I should probably go. I’m supposed to be overseeing things, after all. It was nice meeting you, though!”

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and waved at her. I needed to go too, after all.

She trotted away to the doorway, turned around, and said, “You should come visit me in the library sometime. It’s the big tree in the middle of the town. You can’t miss it!”

I nodded, waiting until she left the room before counting to ten and slipping off my gown. Satisfied that she wasn’t coming back, I slowly pushed myself off the bed and onto my hooves. Walking forward, I stretched my wings and tested my range of motion. Other than a little soreness and something in my eyes that just wouldn’t go away, my body seemed fine. Ditching my hospital gown, I slowly tiptoed to the edge of the curtain and peered out. Nurses and doctors bustled through the room, which seemed more like a converted warehouse than a hospital.

The floor was made of uneven plywood boards nailed together and shoved over a patch of grass. Some grass peeked out through the spaces between badly patched together board. There were no windows. Instead, lights hung from strings tied to hooks on the ceiling. The curtains hung on rows of moveable racks, the placement of which was skewed as if they had been hastily shoved together at the last minute. Through the spaces between each curtain, I could see ponies lying in rows of hospital beds, each of them covered in a combination of bandages, braces, and band-aids. It was as if I had stepped into a war zone.

I didn’t know what was normal for Ponyville, but I was pretty sure this was not it. I shook my head. One good thing about the chaos was that it was unlikely that anypony would notice if I just left. I strode purposefully towards the door, and reached it unaccosted. Pushing it open, I stepped outside and peered out.

My eyes exploded with fire. I hissed and shoved my head back inside, slamming my hooves into my eyes in a desperate attempt to alleviate the agony. My eyes felt like somepony had shoved pins and knives and other sharp objects into them and twisted. After a while, I wiped away the tears that had gathered on my face and looked back behind me. Nopony had noticed me yet, but my luck wouldn’t last. I needed to leave.

Slowly, I pushed the door open. Light spilled into the hospital, blinding me and forcing me to close my eyes. Why was it so bright? Keeping my eyes closed and holding my wings in front of my face, I stepped into the daylight. The light was so strong that, even through my closed eyelids and past the cracks in my wings, it burned my eyes a little. Ignoring the pain, I opened my eyes just a little so I could look through the crack between my eyelids.

All I saw was a burning, raging white. I shut my eyes and pushed forward. Ponies bustled around me, bumping into me and muttering vague apologies before busily continuing on their way. “Get your apples here! Fresh apples, straight from the apple orchard!” one mare shouted, stomping her hooves with every enunciation of the word, “apple”. I ignored the rumbling in my stomach and hurried forward, hoping that wherever I was headed, it was less crowded. After a few minutes of walking, bumping into ponies and buildings, apologizing, and walking some more, it became clear that I was probably just going in circles.

I bumped into another pony. I sighed.

“Oh, please excuse—”

“Hey! I’m walking here!” the mare I had bumped into shouted, her coarse voice grating on my ears. I flinched.

“I’m sorry. I—”

“Why don’t you shut up and watch where you’re going,” she snapped.

A new mare spoke up, “It helps when you have your eyes open, stupid.”

I stepped back and bumped into something hard. A tear trailed its way down my face. I wiped it away, and took a shuddering breath.

I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“Sorry? No, you’re not sorry. Not yet, anyway.”

A claw grabbed my throat, lifting me bodily off the ground. I slammed my hoof into it, but only succeeded at making my hoof hurt. The claw tightened, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore.

“Listen up, nerd—”

Why me?

I was being choked and about to beaten for the umpteenth time in just a few short days. It was actually starting to get old. That was a little upsetting. I didn’t want to get used to being beaten up. It would be like flight camp all over again! She was even calling me a nerd.

Something hard slammed into my face. I held a hoof to where it had cut into my skin. A little blood smeared against my hoof. My lip curled. Even Slammer had hit harder than that.

“You got that, chump?” the flight-camp-bully-wannabe shouted.

No. Wasn’t listening. Go away.

I wondered if there was something about me that made ponies just want to beat me up. Oh, and timberwolves too. And since I was being held up by claws, this probably wasn’t a pony either. Okay, scratch that. Everything wanted a piece of me. Maybe I just had the kind of face that attracted bullies. Maybe some kind of karmic force was punishing me for my crimes. Maybe I was the universe’s designated pinata. I giggled, and was punched again for my moment of levity.

I pushed at the claw holding me up. It didn’t budge. I was running out of air. I didn’t know if I could take on both them with my eyes closed, but at this rate I might die. Again. And, as I found out this morning, dying sucked. I moved my hoof along the claw, until my hoof met fur. I then raised my hoof and slammed it back down as hard as I could.

“Ow! You bitch!” The clawed beast shouted, stepping away from me. I landed with a crunch on the cobblestone floor. My hooves slipped under me, and my face slammed onto the floor. I picked myself up and and stepped back as she moved towards me, the rocks beneath her scraping her claws.

“You little shitstain,” she began, her voice a low growl filled with the promise of vengeance.

I tensed and flared my wings, sneering at the bully. I wasn’t a little filly anymore, and this wasn’t flight camp. I had been beaten, raped, and killed in the past few days. Enough was enough. If these bullies wanted a fight, then even if I lost, I’d make sure they wouldn’t want another.

The other pony spoke up. “Gilda, just leave her alone.”

My ear flopped up. What? This was new.

“Are you fucking serious?” Glida replied.

I flinched as something screeched against metal. I hoped they weren’t carrying weapons.

“Look, she’s just some stupid cripple or something. We’ve got better things to do. I’m not gonna be the one to tell the boss we were late just because you decided to beat up a cripple in the middle of the streets in broad daylight.”

Even through the crowded marketplace, I could hear Gilda’s teeth gnashing together like nails on a chalkboard. I frowned. What kind of teeth did Gilda have?

“Tch. Whatever. You’re such a fucking bleeding-heart, Dash,” she replied.

Dash? I frowned. As in, Rainbow Dash? The pony Shade told me to talk to? It could have been a coincidence, but I doubted it.

Gilda was talking.

“—got off lucky this time, punk. If I ever see you again, I’ll fucking break your spine,” she said. She stepped forward and brushed past me, almost knocking me over.

The other mare hesitated for a moment, before moving forward.

I pawed at the ground. Shade was untrustworthy, and by proxy, so was Rainbow Dash. Still, this was probably my only chance to get any answers. “Rainbow Dash?” I asked, turning my head in her general direction.

She stopped. “How do you know my name?” Rainbow Dash asked, stomping over to me. “Who in the hay are you? And seriously, open your eyes. You look like a creep.”

I took a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing. “Shade sent me,” I told her.

A moment passed. Then Rainbow Dash spoke. “You?” she asked, her voice dripping with scorn and disbelief. “You. Not like, a police pony, or an army, or even a pony who isn’t feathering blind! You?”

From somewhere in the distance behind me, heard Gilda call out, “Hey, Dash! What was that you were saying about not wasting time?”

Rainbow Dash sighed disgustedly. “Ugh, whatever. Meet me at the Green Mill at eleven tonight. I dunno how you’re going to find it being blind and all, but I gotta scram so good luck with that.”

“Can you turn me towards the Everfree Forest?” I asked, remembering that I was hopelessly lost.

A moment passed. “You’ve got to be—Seriously? You know what? Fine! Here.”

She lifted me up with her hooves and spun me around. Before I could thank her, her wings flapped and a rush of air blew into my face. She had flown off.

“Thank you!” I shouted after her. She didn’t reply.

I walked forward for what seemed like an hour, stumbling over rocks and bumps and even into a river, before my eyes finally stopped burning and I felt a cold wind rush over me. I opened my eyes. I was in the Everfree forest, where the sun couldn’t reach me. I glanced back and stared at a lonely ray of sunlight piercing through the canopy, eyes watering only partly from pain of staring into the sunlight.

What did Shade do to me?

I sighed. Well, I couldn’t go out there. I turned back to face the forest. It looked like I would be waiting for nightfall. I walked on.