So, I'm a fairy now? Derpy Hooves questioned, still not quite able to accept the term.

Why is that strange? Have you ever been anything else? Cross replied as he tied a string around a nearby tree branch, a strangely contorted crystal hanging from its length. He tapped the crystal, causing it to swing evenly like a metronome and issue forth a barely audible humming noise.

Night had fallen in the time since Derpy had begun her conversation with Cross, and Derpy had found it very difficult to wrap her head–if she even had a head of her own anymore–around the idea that she now shared a body with this pegasus stallion. According to Cross, a similar thing had happened to his grandmother. She would often speak to voices in her own head and told her grandson that she'd been blessed by the faeries with eternal companionship for a life well-lived. Ancient lore described the faeries as mystical creatures who drifted in and out of the minds of mortals and offered them wisdom in times of need, but Cross had always seen the legends as mythical until today.

Why didn't you answer me in the first place? Derpy had asked him upon hearing that. It sounds like you were surprised.

Either faeries are real, or I'm going crazy, Cross had replied. Whichever is the case, panicking surely wouldn't have helped matters.

Silver Cross and the unicorn mare, whose full name was Feather Quill, had set up camp in only a few minutes' time. The campfire crackled and snapped as it illuminated the clearing they'd found with a warm orange glow. An iron pot sat suspended over the flames, whatever was for dinner gurgling away inside. It couldn't have been too appetizing; Feather Quill's expression remained blank except for a mild scowl as she stirred at the mixture with an enchanted ladle.

Does she ever smile? Derpy asked.

She used to, Cross answered as he strung up another humming crystal. Hasn't really done it much since we left the homeland.

Where are you two from, anyway?

Cross tapped the newly-strung crystal, the last in a ring of them that encircled the campsite. Not a subject I enjoy discussing, little fairy. Having finished his task, he sat down next to the campfire. "Parasprite wards are in place, my lady," Cross announced with more flair than necessary, gesturing to the nearby trees with red sacs that Derpy hadn't recognized. "Though I'm not terribly sure how much we'll need them, what with all the eater trees hanging about."

"There's no sense in taking risks that we can avoid," Feather Quill remarked impassively, her pale lavender eyes fixed on the task in front of her. "Besides, those trees are about as much of a blessing as the rest of this stretch of woods has been." She prodded a nearby water gourd to show how easily it rocked back and forth. "The parasprite eaters have polluted the groundwater; even the river was somewhat rainbow-colored." Her frown grew slightly. "And now our fresh water supply is low. Color me surprised."

Was that a pun? Derpy wondered.

Silver Cross chuckled. "Sure you didn't hit up a bit of the rainbow water while I was away? Almost sounds like you've contracted a mild sense of humor."

Feather's eyes narrowed as she looked up from her task. "If that's the case, then I'll have to shove you into some Poison Joke tomorrow to nurse it. There's bound to be heaps of it growing somewhere around here with a river full of rainbows."

"Sorry I asked," Cross remarked as Feather levitated a wooden bowl from a nearby haversack. "So, what might be the name of this evening's repast?"

"Leek broth," Feather answered as she filled a bowl and passed it to Cross. "For lack of normal seasoning, I've added some essence of 'Doubt in our General Direction' and a pinch of 'Regret for Opportunities Missed'."

Cross received the bowl with a questioning gaze. "Good Lord. Those aren't real flavors, are they?"

Derpy suddenly discovered that she shared Cross's sense of taste when he took his first sip of the tan-colored leafy mixture. The intensely bitter sensation would have wiped out her own taste buds, but Cross seemed to take it in stride. I sure hope that it's full of vitamins, Derpy commented.

"More like genuine concerns," said Feather as she made a bowl for herself. "We only have enough drinking water for another day's travel. I'm fostering a growing distrust for the viability of the local vegetation. We're fresh out of hardtack, and we're more than a week's travel from the last trading post." She took a draught from the bowl. "No offense intended, but I'm seriously considering taking a risk on the trek back to civilization rather than on promises in a book of fairy tales."

You're here 'cause of a book? Derpy asked. You're supposed to read those, not base your life on them. A new thought entered Derpy's mind. Are you going to a convention?

If Cross had an answer for that question, he failed to volunteer it as he looked up from his meal. "I didn't hear you complain when it served us well."

"That was then," Feather replied. "And 'then' was quite some time ago. It seems like we've been living on the edge of starvation for the past few months. Looking back, I can only blame your stubbornness for this state of affairs" Her voice took on the tone of a considerate appeal. "We've passed up plenty of decent towns and villages over the years. For a while, I actually believed that these 'Green Pastures' of yours were just over the horizon. It's different now. We're way beyond the borders of civilization; I don't think anypony's ever journeyed this far. Did those slavers even have any captives?"

Cross shook his head.

"See what I mean?" Feather continued. "They were probably ready to give up and head back the way we came before they ran into you, and I'm starting to think that they've got the right idea."

Cross put down his empty bowl and looked straight into Feather's eyes. "I didn't leave the homeland in search of a 'decent' substitute."

"Did you leave it in search of death?" Feather asked bluntly. "Because that's all that's left in the place that we called home, and that's all we're going to find out here in the wilderness if we keep pushing our luck."

Cross smiled, which caused a bit of surprise to show on his friend's face. "You don't believe in luck, Feather," he said in a measured tone. "And I don't either. I only believe in the words of the Tome, and according to them we are closer than ever to the paradise of Green Pastures." He rose to his hooves and began to retreat to his bedroll. "Faith had in times of plenty has little value. You should try having some now."

"Faith and an empty sack is worth the sack," Feather retorted, reaching for her bowl to finish her largely untouched dinner. "Just wait until we have to burn that book to make a fire; then we'll have a talk about faith."

"Good night, Feather," Cross said with a yawn as he tucked himself in. "'Twill be a better day tomorrow."

"For how many tomorrows?" Feather Quill muttered under her breath before returning to the broth.

Derpy felt a chill run through her. Do you feel that?

Feel what? Cross replied.

It occurred to Derpy that it might simply be her own reaction to the words of the unicorn mare. I don't know if I trust Feather, she began. But what if she's right? What if you starve out here?

Derpy felt Cross smile as his mind began to fade into slumber. It'll come to something worse before it comes to that, my little fairy.

LL