Regret.

Really, I don't know what I was thinking when I invited Ysa to fuck me senseless a second time, especially knowing that I wouldn't have the time to recover from an exercise that I had literally no experience in before now. Well, I know what I was thinking, but that doesn't change the fact that letting my libido do the thinking and relishing in the near numbness of my legs was a terrible idea.

I stretched, feeling Ysa's smooth body nestled up against me as fresh gouts of white oozed out of me with each post-orgasmic spasm, and smiled a goofy, happy smile. Mostly terrible idea. There was a strange sense of liberty knowing that, even if it was just sexually, I was wanted around in some capacity. There was a worry deep down that I'd do anything just for them to keep me around, even if it meant becoming nothing more than a hunk of flesh for them to relieve their sexual frustrations with whenever they inevitably grew tired of my depressed clinginess, but I crushed and bottled that down with every other thought of its kind. I didn't need them bothering me now, and Ysa wouldn't want to put up with my self deprecation.

"Mmm… I could hump ya all day…" I covered my face, putting a little extra pressure on my temples as the first traces of a headache throbbed in time with a fresh round of chuckles. "Sure ya don't wanna go again?" My hands were pulled away just enough to give her a very pointed look, tinged only slightly with my desire to just say 'fuck it' and let her have her way with me again, but I knew that she was mostly kidding, even if her innocent smile practically screamed to the world that she was completely serious. Besides, even if I had been prepared for another, I felt way too guilty about the implied promise I'd broken by indulging in that last round. "Ah well, s'pose we can't spend all night here. Lemme help ya get dressed."

Getting my clothes on was an endeavor in and of itself even considering the fact that I currently only owned two pieces of an outfit. First, we had to wipe me down again since our mingled fluids between my thighs were making a pungent cocktail that was having a very obvious effect on my kobold companion, and my titless chest was soaked in her saliva. Standing up to slide my skirt on was a chore with my legs feeling like gelatin and my knees knocking as they shook, and my hands were trembling too much to button my blouse, but, thankfully, Ysa's hands were still steady. I was dressed, eventually, and trying my best to ignore the trickle of warmth that left a sticky trail down my thigh while I prepared myself for another possible disaster while ignoring the growing pulse of pain trying to worm its way into my brain.

"Ready to go?" The little kobold's arms wrapped around my thigh, not so surreptitiously trailing her tongue up the inside of my leg and into the thickness of my bush and making me wonder if I'd opened a can of worms with her that I wasn't prepared for. I mean, I jilled several times a day back home, but she seemed insatiable.

Still, I very reluctantly coaxed her out of me and gave as much of a shaky smile and nod as I could. I'd thought I was ready when Twilight and Silk extended the offer to dine with everybody, but now that I was faced with actually going back and facing everybody, facing Zunira again, I was feeling a lot less confident than whatever meagre sense of it I'd had before. Regardless, Ysa's hand was in mine before I could change my mind and I was being guided towards the door on wobbly legs. I was tempted to just plant myself, try my best to explain away or find some excuse for my not wanting to go, but then I imagined the disappointment I'd see in Lulu, and Silk, and Daliah, and Twilight, and… I couldn't bring myself to go through with it. Most everybody had been so nice to me, so it just wouldn't feel right to keep avoiding them like I had been before. I'd just… sit and eat and… try not to open my mouth. If I didn't talk, I wouldn't say anything wrong and if I didn't say anything wrong then-

I flinched as the crashing sound of breaking glass sounded from somewhere beyond the door, an odd feat considering how thick the walls and doors were, but I assumed that it must've been pretty close, or a lot. I mean, it wasn't like the rooms were… soundproof. My face burned at the thought that, even as ragged and strangled as my moans would have been, anybody could have heard me cumming my brains out. God, I hope that nobody heard me or this little dinner will be awkward as-

"Don't move, 'kay?"

I stood stock still and looked down at the Kobold that had, until just a second ago, been right at my side and urging me on. Now, she was practically crawling on the floor, her horn-ish spines bristling up, and any previous desire to actually leave the room had been sufficiently quashed, buried under a growing feeling of unease that the crash hadn't aroused before Ysa reacted. I would have just chalked it up to one of the rambunctious gryphon twins, but her behaviour had shoved those thoughts aside.

She slithered toward the door, keeping low to the ground, and crawled over to the door while I watched from the middle of the room, my heart pounding in my chest. Just as she was about to pull open the wooden portal, Silk came crashing through, panting with her mane in disarray and a cluster of objects floating in her magical grasp. Three metal cages and a pair of elegant-looking steel sabres.

"Oh, thank goodness, you are both all right." I took a step back, panic welling quickly, as I wrung the hem of my skirt in my hands. I felt guilty knowing that we'd fucked when Ysa said she wouldn't, but that didn't warrant this kind of response, did it? We were only a few minutes late. I'm sure I looked as freaked out as I felt, because Silk immediately calmed down and took my hand with her hoof. "Mary, love, I am terribly sorry for causing you distress, and I know you have questions, but I need you to listen to me and follow my instructions, okay?" I nodded, my eyes flicking between her and Ysa who was watching the door, silent and still. "Perfect. Now, we are leaving, so I need you to follow Ysa. I will follow behind you, but you cannot, for any reason, stop moving, okay? It is important."

I swallowed, nodding again as a tightness formed in my chest. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and I had a growing suspicion I knew what, but that couldn't be it, because Twilight had said it was safe. It was safe, right?

Apparently, my thoughts were easy to read, or the growing fear that was threatening to stop my heart was as readily apparent to Silk as my smell when I was when I was horny, because she squeezed my hand with the brightest of smiles. "You will be perfectly fine, love, just stay behind Ysa and nothing will happen." Silk let my hand go and I tried to take it back again, but she was already on the move, stepping over to Ysa and offering her one of the swords in her aura. "I pray that you are capable with a sabre, Ysa, because it is all I have. It will not be too heavy, will it?"

"Nah, I can two-claw it." She took the sword in her tiny hands, the blade nearly as long as she was tall, and rested its dull side on her shoulder. "Ya ready, Mary?"

I wanted to say yes, to lie and be brave like they wanted me to be, but I couldn't feel my hands as I wrung them into my skirt. All I could see was the swords, two sharp, blatant reminders that I wasn't safe at home, far away from whatever dangers were pounding at the doors here. Ringing screamed in my ears, a sharp, monotonous tone that made my headache drive nails further into my brain.

"Mary!" I jumped and stared wide-eyed at the tiny hand trying to pry mine away from my skirt, feeling faint as my breathing came back under control. "Mary… We need to go." I looked at the sword, swallowed, and gave a short, jerky nod. "Just follow me, 'kay? I'll keep ya safe. Promise."

Tears burned at my eyes, but I nodded and let her guide me out the door. It was clear that she had a destination in mind as she practically dragged me by the hand through the hall, and I could hear Silk's hooves clopping noisily on the stone behind us, but wherever she had planned to take us was no longer an option.

I had thought, in my unplaced bravado at the brunch, that my years of horror movies and survival games would have me wholly prepared for situations like this, had left me completely desensitized to gruesome imagery, but, as those first set of stumbling, offbeat hoofsteps echoed down the hall, and the flesh-dripping, disfigured pony stepped into view, I learned otherwise. The sagging, loose flesh, maggot infested and blackened with rot, was torn as if it had been chewed off by teeth not meant for ripping apart meat. Whoever this pony had been, they had died a horrible, painful death.

I froze in my tracks, sucking in a breath and gagging at the rancid, sickly-sweet smell of a long-since decaying corpse. Ysa kept moving, nearly yanking me from my feet in her haste, and Silk bumped into my backside. I could hear Ysa's insistent urgings and felt her tugging on my hand, but the only thing my brain could focus on was the thick, fresh blood dripping from the broken teeth in the horse's mouth and its milky, dead eyes locked onto mine as it angled toward us and picked up its pace. Each clop of its hooves was like the death toll of a cathedral's bell, echoing in my brain with a steady, powerful dong. It felt like I was slipping, darkness encroaching on my vision and leaving nothing but the pony's cruel eyes of death to keep me from sinking into the abyss and it was so close, almost here to save me…

I gasped for breath as the reanimated pegasus slumped to the ground, pooling black blood from its severed neck with Ysa standing over it, sabre stained. "Mary!" I jumped, staring wide-eyed at the unicorn at my side with my hand in her hoof shaking it frantically. "Oh, thank Harmony. You had us terrified, Mary. We thought we had lost you."

I swallowed hard, looking between my friends and the rotten, motionless body of the pony, thankful that I could no longer see its cold, putrid eyes. My stomach churned, clenching painfully, as I stared at the horrid corpse.

"Mary?"

I gagged once, then retched this morning's stew all over the carpeted stone at my feet, thankfully missing all of us. It felt like I was puking up tar with how thick the bile was and Ysa and Silk were quickly at my side to hold me up when my legs gave out beneath me. My mind was screaming that we didn't have time for this, pleading with my stomach to quit before another one of those abominations found us, but my stomach churned and heaved, ignorant of my pleas, and, when I finally stumbled back onto my own weight to look at the result, I wished that I could force up more.

What should have been a mix of my gastric fluids and what hadn't digested from this morning was instead a thick, black sludge more akin to the tar pits in cartoons about dinosaurs than anything that should have been in my stomach.

"G-goodness, Mary… Are you all right?" I didn't respond, unable to both because of my fucked throat and the fact that I was doing my best to clear the disgusting, rancid taste of whatever that foul shit was from my tongue. Silk placed a hoof on my thigh, and this time I looked her way as she eyed the filth warily. "I do not know what that is, but we can ask Twilight when we regroup with everybody, but for now we must keep moving. Is that acceptable?" I glanced at the corpse, shuddering at the thought of more, but still offered a weak nod. "Ysa, are you ready?"

"Yup."

It was upsetting, hearing no cheer in the little kobold's voice, but I understood why. There was no cheer to be found in running from danger and the ease with which she had slain the zombie belied the terror that had gripped me in the moment.

Silk's hoofsteps and the pitter-patter of our feet sounded out through the hall like the beating of war drums while we ran, and it was all I could do to ignore the looming threat of death that could be waiting around any bend. I didn't recognize the hall we were in, not that I would have been able to for any other hall, and the unfamiliarity made my mind race with a myriad of scenarios. It took more effort than I wanted to admit to not just curl up into a ball and cry to myself, but it didn't stop the tears from stinging my eyes as they trailed down my cheeks. Even over our noisome retreat I could hear the horrible groans and cursed utterings of the undead outside.

I hadn't noticed it while I was talking with Ysa or in that first mad dash from the room, but now it was impossible to ignore, deafening over my pounding head and gasping breaths. I couldn't see anything through the darkness outside, but I could almost feel the horde surrounding us. They were everywhere, just out of sight but never out of mind, and I found myself glancing back over my shoulder just to make sure there wasn't anything hounding our heels.

That was all it took for things to go terribly wrong. The moment I took my eyes off the hall ahead of us, something crashed through the window. I might have been able to avoid it if I had been paying attention, but by the time I had spun back around it was too late. The thing knocked me off my feet, tearing me away from Ysa as we tumbled across the carpet. It snapped at me, the ratlike creature's needle teeth clicking sharply with each bite aimed my way, and it was only by the grace of my size compared to its that it couldn't get to my neck, but it was quickly becoming obvious that it would last much longer than I would in this struggle. My arms were already shaking as it leaned into its full weight, and its broken nails scratched at my arms and thighs while I screamed for help.

If I had been alone, this would have been the end of me, but thankfully Silk was right there at my side. It took only moments for Silk to glide her sword through the creature's head and tear it off of me, but that lapse in time was all that was needed. More of those rat beasts crawled in through the broken window, the putrid, pus-filled bodies crawling all over and rushing us.

Ysa leapt into action, sabre gripped in two tiny hands, and cleaved through the first three with ease, the razor sharp blade singing as it wheeled through the air, but the size of the sword was clearly a hindrance. The sweeping slash left her wide open and the next wave of rats would have overrun her had Silk not immediately been at her side, her own sabre glinting in the torchlight, and cut the nearest down with a flourish. They fought in near perfect sync, with one stepping in when the other needed, cleaning up each other's mistakes with nothing more than a glance.

It was a stark difference from the high class and perky pair I'd seen of them until now, once more showing off that skill in a fight that Ysa had shown in her duel with Lulabelle, and, if it hadn't been for the mortal danger we were in, I would have been incredibly turned on right now, but the paralyzing terror that was growing in my heart made it impossible to think of anything other than the fact that I was going to die tonight. Ysa and Silk were clearly experienced fighters, whether that was from a lifetime of training or recently learned wasn't obvious, but it did them little good with the sheer number of undead massed outside of the window and I was nothing but dead weight to them. I couldn't fight, could barely even hold off something not even half my size for more than a moment. I would only slow them down and I'm sure they knew it.

They would only be able to hold them off for so long and then they'd cut their losses and leave me to die. The rats were thinning, but in their place were larger creatures, ponies; gryphons; and what looked like disfigured deer; and I knew we wouldn't last long. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.

"Mary! Run!"

Silk was struggling to hold back the tide of undead, using the same magic she'd used to hold my hand to push against the tide crawling in the door, but it was clear from the sweat on her brow and the flickering blue aura spread thin across everything in her hold that she was nearing her last reserves.

"Mary, please. I cannot hold them forever and we cannot fight them all."

I swallowed, staring at the slavering horde held back only by the grace of Silk's waning magic and Ysa's trembling arms. If I left, they would die. They would die and then I'd be alone again. I didn't know where Lulabelle was, nor did I have any clue on how to find her, and if I took the time to search her out then it would only be a matter of when, not if, I would be found and ripped to shreds.

Tears blurred my vision as I shook my head. It was stupid. The last time I had grown attached to somebody it had ended with my life falling to shit. I'd thought that I would never let it happen again, but now I couldn't imagine leaving them to die. I'd gotten a taste of friendship again, and maybe something more, and my heart thundered at the thought of losing it once more.

"Mary, love… We cannot lose you. I do not wish to die, but I will gladly- hng!" She flinched as another rat pushed through the field only to be cleaved in two by the panting kobold. "If I could, I would lay my life down for yours over and over but- ah!" Her horn sparked and she lowered the sisters' cages to the ground, unlatching the doors when they were settled. "Could I ask you to watch over my girls for me?"

I shook my head, wishing I had the voice to tell her that we could all run and that we'd all be fine, but I couldn't even pretend the thought was anything other than a boldfaced lie. She frowned ever so slightly, winced again as another rat managed to get its head through just long enough to be cut clean through, then looked at the winded dragonling.

"Ysa, be a darling and take Mary to safety."

The trio of spiders climbed onto me, chittering softly, while Ysa pulled me to my feet, face grim. I tried to protest, but my voice died in my throat when Silk hissed in a breath and ran her sword through a pony's skull. "I can hold them for another few minutes, but if you do not leave now, then I cannot guarantee that the halls will be clear." She chuckled and shook her head. "Harmony, it feels like they are all trying to climb through this one window. There are other windows, you know!"

She turned to face us, her beautiful face twisted with strain and golden eyes glistening with tears while I stumbled on my feet, being pulled by the ever surprisingly strong Ysa. "I am so terribly sorry, Mary. I had hoped to spend the rest of your life together with you, but it seems that Harmony has chosen me to watch over you from Elysium. You will be well, will you not?"

Ysa tugged on my hand and I had to tear my eyes off Silk just to keep from breaking down. I couldn't do this. I didn't want to leave Silk to die. We could all make it out together, right? "Lulu and I will make sure she's okay, right Mary?"

She pulled me into action and my legs carried me along no matter how much my heart protested that I should do something, but what could I do? I was terrified of dying and the thought of fighting against these things made my heart seize. I was powerless to do anything for one of the first people I had cared about in years and she was prepared to throw her life away for mine without a moment's hesitation.

"I love you, Marilynne Rose! Never forget that!" I stopped, my heart clenching, and pulled myself away from Ysa, finally finding some strength of my own in my legs, and sprinted back to the mare. "Mary, what are you-?"

I pulled her face to mine, smashed my lips to hers, and kissed her hard and deep. The sensuality from before was gone, lost to fear and emotion, but the passion was still there. She leaned into me, and I her, for those few, wonderful seconds that we were connected, and for that brief moment nothing was wrong, but reality came crashing quickly back down upon us when she hissed and groaned against me, her horn flashing ominously.

"I-I…" I sucked in a shuddering breath, eyes clenched as the pain in my throat flared at even just that, but stared her right in her gorgeous, golden eyes. "I l-lo… y'too."

Her smile was so calm as she shoved me away with her magic, peaceful like the last breath of somebody passing in their sleep, but this time I couldn't fight back. Tears burned tracks down my cheeks like molten fire and Ysa was already at my side, urging me on. The screams that echoed through the hall made my stomach churn, but there was nothing that I could do. I couldn't stop, couldn't turn back, couldn't help. I could only continue fleeing on auto down an unknown hallway as the only thought in my mind kept clawing its way into my brain and through my heart.

I was the one that killed her.

The door that we stopped in front of was barely even that, just a few pieces of rotted wood hanging on rusted and half busted hinges, and had to be forced open with strength that Ysa and I barely had left between the pair of us. It opened to a tunnel that matched the door in terms of visible neglect with rotting, termite-bitten wooden supports sagging under the weight of the water-worn stone and multitudinous cobwebs spanning the length I could see. There were obvious signs of recent use, like the ripped and fluttering webs, but otherwise seemed like it had been forgotten by time for what had to have been centuries.

"This way, Mary."

I nodded, the knot in my stomach making anything more impossible and, even if my throat would let me, I didn't trust myself to speak without breaking down into a useless, blubbering mess. I envied Ysa in her ability to weather the loss of Silk, and wished that I could follow her example, but every time the sisters shifted to regain their grip on me, or whenever I let my thoughts slip from the monumental task of putting one foot in front of the other, I thought of her and the short time we had spent together and how much that time had meant to me. It made it almost impossible to not just give up and let the foul creatures that had taken her from me take me as well. The only things keeping me from it were her screams as she died and the sick feeling in my gut whenever I thought of letting her sacrifice be in vain.

The decrepit old tunnels opened up into a huge cave, brightly lit and significantly better kept. The walls were mostly smooth, lined with torches that flickered and wavered in salty wind coming in through one of the myriad other entryways connecting to more deceivingly disguised tunnels. Most important, however, was what stood in the center of the clearing.

"Miss Rose!" I sucked in a breath at the sight of the desert dog towering over all but the pair of minotaurs with her as she leaned on a hammer as tall as she was. My lip quivered and shoulders shook as she passed the weapon off to Rockhide, the bull, and closed the distance between us in a few long strides. I stared at the ground, trying to fight off the flood threatening to break down the dam of emotions I'd been barely keeping at bay, but when she wrapped me up in her arms and pulled me to her plush, comforting chest, I flung my arms around her as the walls cracked. "Lulabelle is so relieved that you are safe. We thought the worst when you and Miss Ysayle didn't join us in the dining hall, but it seems that Miss Strand reached you in time."

She smiled at me, eyes glistening, only for the joy to falter as she looked over me at the chittering spiders and to the kobold holding on to my skirt. I hiccuped, holding back a sob as realization dawned on her face. The question had been on her tongue, but she didn't need it asked as Twilight was right behind her. "Is Silk not with you?"

That was the final strike needed to shatter the dam as I slumped into Lulabelle's grasp and screamed into her fur, the horrible wail tearing through bloodied vocal chords. I had a brief thought that I would be heard back in the castle, but it was quickly drowned out by the pounding throb of the drums in my skull. Neither Ysa nor Lulu hesitated to envelop me completely, surrounding me in their soothing warmth, and for a moment I was safe from the demons in my brain as I cried out my anguish into Lulu's breast, but fate could never be so kind.

The sound of hooves clicking on stone behind me bristled the hairs on the back of my neck and I had to fight down the surge of pointless hope that rose in me as my treacherous brain tried to make me believe that Silk was there. Instead, I buried my face deeper into Lulu's chest and hoped that I wasn't hurting her with the death grip I had on her soft, black fur. "So dat's it? You finally undahstand now, but now you're goin' ta give up? All dat bravado was jus' dat? Pitiful." Never in my life, until this moment, had I ever felt the surge of emotion that coursed through my veins. It was a horrible feeling, the pure, unadulterated rage that pumped like molten fire through my body, but even as my vision tunneled on the zebra there was a small part of me, deep inside, that welcomed this fury. I could barely hear her over the sound of blood pounding in my ears as she kept talking, and I was vaguely aware of others around me, but I didn't have any care for them as I stood to my full height, still towering over the zebra by almost twice her size despite my own lacking in that department.

"I'm almost glad dat Silk died now so she didn't have ta see dis."

The sound of thunder echoed in my skull as I watched Zunira step back ever so slightly as my body moved. I barely even felt my arm lash out, only really noticing the motion because I saw my clenched, bleeding fist crack across the striped equine's skull. There was a split second where my rage-clouded brain had to pause to process what was going on while Zunira staggered back half a step then crumpled to the ground in a heap. I glared down at her, the body barely moving, as my breath heaved and the fog of green and red slowly faded before I noticed that the zebra wasn't the only one in front of me. Twilight had been standing just to Zunira's left, but now she was fretting over the zebra, her magic moving in waves across her prone form, while one of the gryphon twins rushed up from my right.

I looked down at my hands, at the blood seeping out of deep cuts in my palms, at the dark swelling of my right hand's knuckles, and at how they shook, before I realized that it wasn't just my hands that were trembling. My whole body was quaking, feeling icy cold, as my head throbbed and pulsed with the remnants of the adrenaline that was still coursing through my body. I looked down at Zunira's body, at the panic in Twilight's and the gryphon's actions, and then at the worry in Ysa's features as she stepped up to me while a growing pain radiated out from my knuckles. My thoughts finally caught up with the situation, replaying the past few seconds in slow motion back to me, and with it came the recognition of what I'd just done.

I just punched somebody. I got so angry that I lashed out and hit somebody and now they weren't moving and what if I had killed them? I've never hit anybody, let alone a horse, and my hand hurt so fucking bad. Please don't tell me I killed them. I hate her, but not that much, I didn't even want to punch her, I just… I'm just gonna…

I wavered on my feet, my vision spinning as motes of green crept in around me, then I bent forward, my stomach heaving, before everything went black.

My eyes fluttered open slowly, feeling like there were leaden weights trying to heavy-handedly convince me to stay asleep, but I didn't feel like I could sleep. My blood was pounding in my ears, filling me with a dreadful sense of urgency that I couldn't put reason to. The little garden circle I'd fallen asleep in was as serene and beautiful now as it was when I'd decided to lay my head for a few moments, but it didn't stop the warning bells sounding their cautionary toll.

Still, I crawled to my feet, disturbing the faint green mist that clung to my form like a blanket, and looked around. The little hedge clearing was quiet save for the sound of my breathing, but, despite that, I couldn't really relax. Not that I could tell that something was off, of course, but I had that feeling that you get when you're awake at night, alone in your dark house.

"Mary."

I jumped, my little blue sun dress bouncing with the movement, and spun around to look for who had spoken, but all I could see was the rose-lined opening in the hedge lit by the soft glow of the moon above. Even with the surprisingly ample, pale light, I couldn't see anybody in the pathway beyond, nor did it seem like the slightly overgrown grass had even been disturbed. I was about ready to shrug it off and try to calm the troubled feeling in my gut when the voice floated by me again.

"Mary, love…."

I gasped, a smile coming across my face, and stepped out of the clearing and into the neatly-trimmed pathway laid out by the bushes. "Silk? Where'd you go? I was expecting a kiss when I woke up." A small giggle slipped out as I found nothing but the fading echoes of her words, not a single strand of grey or egg white hair to be seen. "Si~lk! Come on, you know I don't know my way through this maze!"

"Ma~ry…"

The sing-song voice sent shivers down my spine and straight into my loins, igniting the waiting embers inside me. God, I loved the posh, flirty tone she always talked with, like she was one of those high-class courtesans from a medieval fantasy and I was the princess she'd been raised to serve. It hit a nerve in me that I didn't even know I had until I met her. "Fine. I suppose I could try and find you, but you better make it worth it!"

I laughed and started my walk through the towering foliage paths, listening for the unicorn's teasing calls to guide me to her. The soft grass crunched under my feet, tickling between my toes, and the rose-lined hedges continued on and on past every turn. There were more dead ends than I could count on this place, forcing me to double back more often than not. I tried to find some sort of hoofprints to guide me along Silk's path, but the hazy, green fog was too thick for me to even see my own feet this far into the hedge maze, so instead I had to rely on luck and the hope that I wasn't just walking in circles.

"You're getting close, love."

Another left and I was face to face with yet one more wall of leaves and thorny flowers. At this point my legs were getting tired, my feet growing sore from walking bare in lengths I hadn't done since I was a little girl, but I was almost there. She sounded close, too, like she was calling out from just a few rows further in, so I turned back around, ready to take the right I'd passed just before, and nearly ran head first into a wall of thorns and dead bramble. I took a deep breath, pushing down the surprise while I tried to piece together where I was.

"Mary? What's taking so long? I'm wait~ing!"

I stared at the impassable remains of the hedge, concern welling in my breast. That hadn't been there before… had it? I was pretty sure this path continued on for at least another couple yards and then branched off. I glanced around at the dead hedges, their sharp thorns practically gleaming like the surgeon's knife under the late night moon, but I didn't recognize where I was at all. The turns were all different, like the maze had shifted at that last dead end. I'd somehow gotten turned around and now I couldn't remember which way Silk was. Panic was starting to settle in as the silent night closed in around me, but I held it back as well as I could while the chilly, green fog clung around my ankles. It would be fine. I'd just have to wait a few more minutes until she called me again.

"Mary?" My breath caught in my throat, my chest squeezing, as the unicorn's call reached my ears. There was something strange about it, a tone to her voice that I'd never heard before. It seemed strained, like she was trying to force the words out through shortened breath, or maybe like she was exhausted and struggling to find the energy to get the words out. "Mary? Love? Where are you? Come back."

I turned to my left, towards where the voice was coming, and stared down the ugly, brown path laid out before me. The grass was dead and splotchy, leaving large patches of sodden mud where it had eroded away, and the overgrown hedges reached out with their jagged, gnarled fingers for the opportunity to grab and tear at whatever was in their reach. I swallowed, forcing my heart back down into my chest, and took the first step into the soggy, sucking muck. Something was wrong. Silk was worried about something and I wasn't going to let a spooky maze stop me from getting to her and doing what I could to help her.

I moved carefully through the mud and dead grass, stepping softly in case there were creeping brambles crawling their way through the underbrush. Inside the mansion, the worst I had to worry about was the cool stone chilling my feet, but out here is where I really lamented the fact that I hadn't been wearing my shoes when they summoned me to Equitra. I kept my movements measured, making sure I stayed as far from the overgrowth as I could, and gently pried my dress off the needles whenever they happened to catch. It was slow going, but not much more so than my earlier approach through the maze; the only real difference being that I was watching my footing instead of looking where I was going.

The further I got into the path, the closer the overgrowth encroached upon it. Even moving slowly, I couldn't avoid the thorns anymore and they tugged and tore at my dress, ripping tiny holes in it when they dug too deep, but it was a small price to pay. It was just a dress, and Silk's calls were getting more frequent, more worrisome, so much so that I almost didn't feel the nearly inch-long thorn that sank into the sole of my foot when her shriek pierced the night's eerie silence. I hissed, pausing just long enough to rip the needle from my foot and catch the faintest glimpse of red amongst the black mud caking it, then took off running. I recognized that shriek. I couldn't quite place where I'd heard her make it before, but even then I could tell that she was in trouble, and I couldn't just leave her like that, no matter how hard my heart was thumping from the mounting terror flooding through my veins. I couldn't just ignore it. I couldn't abandon somebody I lo-

"Mary!? Where are you!? Don't leave me! I'm scared!"

The raking grasp of the bushes tore into my skin, leaving intersecting, bloody roads across my arms and face, and my foot throbbed with each squelching step I took. My lungs burned with every heaving breath, my sides stitched, but no matter how hard I pushed myself down this long, winding hallway of brambles, Silk's voice seemed to be getting farther and farther away and I just didn't have it in me to keep going. I was grossly out of shape, just barely more than a walking twig, and hadn't done anything more vigorous than a short walk around the block to our local grocery in several years. I was flagging, struggling to breathe, and the burning from the multitudinous lacerations across my arms was seeping deep into my muscles.

"Mary!? Please! It hurts!"

I swiped at the curtain of thorns that blocked my path, preparing myself for the inevitable flash of pain, then screamed and pitched forward into it as a lance of fire blossomed from my foot and up my leg. I landed face first in the muck, hissing as a rock dug into my cheek, but could do nothing to pull myself out of it. Every movement I tried to make was slow coming, like my body was made of solid stone trying to tread through clinging tar, and what little I could move hurt. My whole body was aflame with pain, the lacerations almost indistinguishable from the throbbing ache of my overstrained muscles, and all I could do was listen as Silk's cries grew more frantic and panicked. She was in trouble, something terrible was happening, and I was powerless to help her. Like always, I was just the useless girl by the wayside. A letdown.

"Silk! Can you hear me!? I'm over here!" My throat burned from my extended run and tears stung my eyes as I clenched my fists, trying to pull myself up, but it wasn't happening. I didn't have it in me. I was actually fighting down the terror threatening to strangle my breath from my lungs, but I couldn't do anything more. Silk's screams were getting worse and worse, and just barely audible through them were the soft squeaks and chitters of what sounded like hundreds of rats. "Please! Can somebody help her? Anybody!? Lulabelle! Ysa! Please…"

I coughed into the emerald fog, trying to find some trace of anything that could help, and caught sight of the first sign that I wasn't alone in this maze. I caught the glint of moonlight off a pair of beady, black eyes staring at me from inside the brambles. Its form seemed to blend into the shadows of the hedge, the green haze clinging to its body as if it was oozing the fog, but even through that I could see the gleam of smooth scales. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared into its leering eyes, trying not to burst into tears when Silk's screams died down into barely audible, gurgling whimpers, and worked my mouth while I tried to find my voice.

"P-please… Help her…"

Oh, you poor, poor child, so weak and helpless… I flinched as the deep, raspy, yet still somehow feminine voice whispered straight into my skull. It sent shivers down my spine, but, even as terrifying as it was, it felt… familiar.

You can still save her. It's not too late. I stared into those beady eyes as its body shifted ever so slightly, but that slight twitch was enough to show just how truly massive this thing actually was. Now that I was made aware of it, its long, serpentine body wound its way through the branches of the hedge stretching far past where I could see before doubling back over and over, its bulk held up impossibly by the fragile twigs it was resting in. You do want to save her, right? Bring her back?

I swallowed, transfixed by the swirls of green and black in the massive serpent's eyes. It felt like I was floating in their grasp, being pulled into them with each passing moment. All you need to do is accept me, Mary, and I'll help you. I'll give you all the power you need to save her. Just accept me. I couldn't blink. Those enchanting eyes, big and green, were staring into me, bathing my entire being in their inviting warmth, and it felt like I should accept her. I needed to bring Silk back, right? That's all I'd need and everything would be fine again. I just have to-

I hissed as a sharp pain in the back of my neck shot fire through my veins, and I tensed as that fire was replaced by a freezing cold as all warmth was drawn out of me from the quickly numbed stabbing. The snake smiled at me, it's large, swirling eyes oozing emerald smoke as it and the world around me began to fade into unintelligible swirling masses. It seems our time is over now, but I'll be with you until the end. Reach out to me and I'll sa-

I watched as darkness encroached on the world around me, eating up the brambles with each pull of warmth from my extremities until, with one last draw, I was left cold and numb in the emptiness around me for the few short moments before my sight faded and...

Author's Note

Man, I'm terrible at remembering to post shit. Been done for a while.