Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic belongs to Hasbro and was created by Lauren Faust. Some ideas about Changelings and the Hive are borrowed from Silver Wing. This story and OCs belong to their author.

OCs: Calamity, Raven Wing, Granite, Indigo Sky, North Star, Tiger Lily, Poppy Rows, etc.

Notes: On to chapter three. Hopefully this one won't be as short as the last one. Chapter two just kind of… ended on me. After the last line I couldn't come up with a way to continue without it sounding forced and awkward. Oh well. It happens sometimes, I guess. Haha.

STARLESS
Chapter Three
By Senashenta

Calamity's legs took her through the forest so fast it almost seemed as if she was the one standing still and the Everfree was moving instead. She quickly left whatever had been approaching her far behind, but the adrenaline in her system urged her onward, fast and half hazard, deeper into the thick of the woods, slipping and tripping all the while.

Once, she caught a leg on a tree root and fell, tumbling a few feet. When she clambered to her feet to continue on, one hoof was chipped and her wings were a tangled mess of muck and cracked, torn membranes. She ignored the pain and kept going.

By the time her muscles began to burn and she was forced to slow, then finally stop for good, she was hopelessly turned around, lost in the depths of the forest she was supposed to be investigating. She panted heavily, gasping for breath as the weight of her situation began to settle over her shoulders.

Quickly, she turned her gaze to the sky, to the heavens that she could read like an open book, to the stars that would surely be out soon if they weren't already, just waiting to lead her home—but there was nothing. The treetop canopy blocked out everything above her, hiding the sky from her eyes and making it impossible for her to fly anywhere at the same time. She couldn't force her way through trees that thick even if her wings hadn't already been damaged by her earlier fall.

She wasn't just lost, she was also trapped on the ground.

Calamity had to take a moment to quash a second wave of panic that tried to overtake her. She was taking deep, somewhat shaky breaths, eyes closed and focusing on not hyperventilating, when she heard the voice for the first time.

"Wh—who's there…?"

The stuttered, two-word question came out of nowhere, making her start and practically jump out of her skin. Whirling, Calamity looked around, trying not to look as frightened as she actually was even as she was edging backward until her rump bumped into the bark of a nearby tree trunk.

She wanted to demand who was speaking to her, but when she opened her mouth, only a squeak came out. She swallowed thickly and tried again: "I—I'm—" But she had to stop there. How would she finish that sentence? I'm a Changeling? That wasn't a very good thing to be admitting to a disembodied voice that could have been coming from anyone or anything.

"Whoever… whoever you are… can you… help me?"

There was pain in the voice, the words coming out strained and weak-sounding. Calamity swallowed again, then took a tentative step away from the tree she was still huddled against, peering around as she tried to identify the direction the voice was coming from.

"I fell…"

The left. It was coming from the left.

"I'm stuck. I've been… I've been here for days… I think…"

Another few, tentative steps away from her tree. Calamity squinted absently as her eyes searched—then she paused. There, in the gloom beneath that copse of trees, at the foot of a sharp cliff-face, disguised and hidden by brambles and branches, half-buried in dirt. A small pony, possibly dark blue in color but smeared and coated in disguising mud, half-crushed under a pile of rubble, body twisted, broken, possibly beyond repair.

"H—hello?" The pony asked weakly, and tried to turn her head enough to look back toward Calamity, but her position made that impossible. After a moment she gave up, returning her head to the ground weakly and closing her eyes, seeming to resign herself for the moment.

Calamity's eyes flitted over the scene, taking in the pony before skimming upward to the cliff. There had clearly been a slide of some sort. The edge of the cliff, some thirty feet above, was sharp and raw. It had broken and tumbled off very recently, and judging by the other pony's predicament she had been standing there at the time it had happened. Swept off the cliff, she had tumbled down the hill along with the loose parts of the face, landing below only to be buried in the rock that was falling behind her.

"C…" Calamity paused, hesitating again before continuing, "can you move?"

The young mare's head lifted again as she tried once more to look back toward Calamity—and, as before, failed. Now the Changeling could see the horn perched high on her forehead. A unicorn. Her head returned to the ground, the same as before.

"…a little, but…" She sounded weak, sick. Calamity wondered just how long she had been there, trapped without food or water, warmth or medicine. "I'm hurt… and… thirsty, hungry…" Her voice was rough and strained. She tried to take a deep breath, but it was cut short by the crushing weight of the rock on top of her.

After a long pause, Calamity moved closer. This mare was clearly no threat to her. She could barely even lift her head, never mind doing anything to harm the other. Still, her steps were slow as she approached, then stopped only a few feet away.

This time when the unicorn attempted to look back, Calamity was close enough for her to see her.

"You're a—!"

Calamity almost flinched, but managed to keep it hidden. Instead she nodded, even as she was moving around the other pony to stand in front of her, still giving the mare a relatively wide berth. The distance was for physical safety, yes, but on top of that the unicorn was broadcasting fear, distress and despair so intensely that it was hitting Calamity in waves, forcing her to keep her distance. It tasted rotten and bitter, rancid. The way it pulsed against her mind was disgusting.

"I…" Standing in front of the other pony, she shifted uncomfortably, then, rather than confirm the previous exclamation, simply offered: "I'm lost, too." And then, "how long have you been here?"

There was a long silence from the mare in front of her. The distrust she was now feeling was expected—Calamity would have been surprised if it hadn't been there. But her quiet admission to also having lost her way seemed to make some of the fear seep away from the other pony, at least, and finally she responded, "two days… I think? It's hard to tell… it's always dark here…"

Two days? Two days trapped under all that rubble, without food, without water?

"I… I don't know if I can get you out."

"You… you'd try to… to help me?"

Even Calamity surprised herself with that sentence, so the shock in the other pony's voice wasn't a shock. Why would she even think about tryingto help this pony? A unicorn; an Outsider; someone not of the Hive. Surely she should simply turn tail and walk away, leave the mare where she was, to be…

To be what?

Tracked down and torn apart by timber wolves? To die cold, lost and alone?

She had done no harm. She hadn't wronged Calamity in any way. She was an Outsider, yes, but she was also an innocent, and she would be of no danger to anyone any time soon.

"I…" Calamity shifted, uncomfortable. "I would, but—the rock would be too heavy, and… I can't go for help. If anyone sees me, I—I'll be.,,"

"You could explain—"

"They wouldn't listen—"

"—say you were helping me—"

"I'm a Changeling, they'd just—"

"Please, I—"

In the end, Calamity won the argument, but only because the other pony was too weak to continue it for very long. Finally she simply sighed, resigned, and closed her eyes again.

Calamity took that opportunity to leave long enough to fetch some water from a nearby puddle, using her own magic to float a small globe of it back to where the injured unicorn lay. She let the mare drink, and then shifted awkwardly before folding her legs beneath herself and settling down on the ground.

"I'm… my name. It's Indigo Sky." Her eyes stayed closed as she spoke. "Thanks. For the water."

Caught off-guard, Calamity blinked a few times before shuffling a bit. "Um… you're welcome." And then; "I'm Calamity."

"Heh." Indigo gave a short laugh. "That's… a good Changeling name. 'Think I'll… call you Callie, though."

"Callie? My best friend calls me that."

"Changelings… they have best friends?"

Indigo sounded genuinely surprised by the idea, which really just made Calamity wonder about what kind of things they were teaching the Outside ponies about her race. Frowning a bit despite herself, she snorted and gave in to the urge to roll her eyes.

"Of course we have friends. Don't you?"

"Mine… they call me 'Indy'." Lifting her head slightly, Indigo adjusted herself the best she could before returning it to the ground, her tangled mane dragging along with the movement. Her eyes were still closed, but pain was clearly evident on her face. For a moment her nostrils flared before she pushed her expression back to neutral. "Or… I guess… they did." Her voice lowered, the tone turning subdued in an instant, "I'm not… I mean… I don't think… I'll see them again. Not—not after the fall—and everything…"

"They're probably looking for you." Calamity pointed out.

"Yeah…" Indigo agreed—then gave a pained smile. "But not this far out. I—I should've… just stayed where I was… when I got lost. That's—that's the rule, right…? Don't move… stay where you are… and wait for—someone to find you?"

"Why were you even out here?"

"I sleepwalk."

That was the last response Calamity could have expected, and her brows rose slightly in surprise. She knew what sleepwalking was, of course, but it was almost unheard of in the Hive—not to mention that anyone who sleepwalked had a maze of tunnels to get through before they reached anywhere even close to the exits. A Changeling wandering the corridors during the designated sleeping time would be found by the Guards very quickly and returned to their nest without incident.

In the Outside world, however, it was apparently very possible to simply walk off into the middle of nowhere while you were still not-so-blissfully unconscious. Calamity silently added that to her running mental inventory of various dangers that the rest of Equestria presented.

…strange ponies, storms, hydras, windogos… sleepwalking. Jeez.

"What… what are you… thinking about… Callie?"

The use of her nickname made Calamity mildly uncomfortable, but she chose not to say anything. Instead she was quiet for another long moment, listening to the way Indigo's breath rattled in her chest, sounding distinctly broken, before she finally responded. "The Outside… it's dangerous. I guess I never really understood just how dangerous until now."

"The… Outside…?"

It was clearly becoming harder and harder for the unicorn to talk. Calamity wondered why she was so insistent on pushing herself to do so, considering the pain it must have caused her. She briefly entertained the idea of insisting on ending the conversation, then decided against it.

"Outside the Hive… where I'm from. The rest of Equestria."

"A Hive… like—like insects?"

"Sort of."

Against her better judgment, they continued talking long into the night.

Indigo was from a suburb just inside the border of Canterlot city. She was an only foal, living with just her parents.

Her father, North Star, worked as a cartographer for the Royal Archives, creating maps of the world. He traveled a lot for his job, but only intermittently. Right now he was home, and wouldn't be leaving again for a couple of weeks. While she was used to him coming and going, Indigo always missed him when he was gone. When she was younger, she had wished fervently that he could find a different job—but cartography was his gift, his special talent, and he was very good at what he did.

Her mother, on the other hand, was called Tiger Lily. She was a wonderful gardener, able to make even the most difficult plants flourish—she owned and ran a popular garden center in the shopping district. Indigo helped out there after school and on weekends sometimes, along with a young earth pony named Poppy Rows.

Poppy was almost as good with flowers as Indigo's mother was—her name and the poppy blossom Cutie Mark on her flank both spoke highly of that. But while Tiger Lily was calm and graceful, serene, Poppy was bouncy, always full of energy, and could be clumsy at times. Poppy was a full hoof-and-a-half of trouble, but she was also Indigo's best friend.

"H… hey… Callie…?"

"Yeah?"

"You can… you can call me… call me Indy… if—you want…"

"I—ah. Yeah… okay."

Indigo was smart, determined, got good grades and was decently talented with magic. But she didn't particularly stand out from the rest, and was behind her friends and classmates in one way—she was the only one in her year group who didn't have a Cutie Mark yet. It was something that bothered her more than she let on. She tried to brush it off as unimportant, as something that will happen when it happens, but, Calamity learned, earning your Cutie Mark was a very important part of an Outside pony's life. Without hers, Indigo wondered if there was something wrong with her.

Now she also wondered if she would live long enough to earn it at all.

"Will you… stay with me…?"

"What do you mean?"

"Until—until I… until I'm asleep."

"I… sure. I'll stay."

"I'm so… tired."

"Get some rest then… Indy."

There was a colt. He was in Indigo's class at school. He was handsome and popular, maybe a little wild. He was a pegasus, not a unicorn, and that made him kind of different in her eyes, even though the pegasi were common enough around Canterlot. But while he was all of those things, he didn't know Indigo even existed. She wished he did, but was too shy and nervous to do anything about it herself—and had long forbidden Poppy to bounce over and intercede on her behalf.

Poppy didn't have the same sense of boundaries as her other friends. She could trust them not to do anything embarrassing, but not Poppy. The red pony had good intentions, of course, but sometimes she just didn't understand how she could come across, so—

"C-Callie…"

"I thought you were going to sleep…?"

"C… Callie…"

"I—Indy…?"

"I—I…"

"Indy?"

"…"

"Indy?"

No reply. Indigo's breath rattled in her lungs once, twice more—and then stopped. Dark eyes rolled back. Her head slumped down to the ground, settling there, completely lifeless.

"…Indigo!"

But Indigo couldn't respond to her high-pitched, desperate shout—or to the way Calamity shook her a moment later, hoping she had simply fallen asleep finally. Her head just flopped back a little when Calamity jerked on her shoulder.

Indigo Sky was dead.