A/N: Usually I don't have author's notes at the beginning, but this chapter will have both slurs, though it's minimal and not everywhere, and there will be realistic descriptions of something not so pretty looking. Can't spoil it, but it's a warning for this chapter considering the current rating which I might change later on.

Elora held onto her mother's hand.

She felt herself become sweaty and breathing heavier. Her eyes shakily wandered around as she saw the other fauns there, ones that were different breeds than her and her mother. Elora never had any friends, so Kulap thought it was a good idea to have her meet the other children in that world. Some of the children were playing ball while others were running around and chasing each other. Elora looked up at the older faun she held onto.

Kulap looked at her back with a smile.

"It's okay, Elora. I'll be here if you ever need me." She reassured her daughter.

Elora nodded and took a deep breath. Hesitantly she let go of her hand and started walking forward. After a few steps, she looked back at Kulap who still smiled and she waved. There was nothing she had to be nervous about, she knew that. She turned her head and walked towards the other kids. Upon getting closer, they seemed like they were older than her. Although then again, she was shorter than usual even by a little bit, so they could be around her age and she wouldn't know. A ball flew her way and she caught it. Two of the fauns she saw earlier came up to her.

One wore brown attire while the other wore green. The brown clad faun had her hair in braids while the green clad one had a long ponytail. They were blue unlike Elora and Kulap. If she was correct, they were from Fractured Hills. She had never been there herself, but it was a place she wanted to go with her mother someday.

"Can we have our ball back?" The braided girl asked.

"Sure!" Elora handed them their ball with a wide grin, showing a tooth was missing in the front.

She went to grab it from Elora's hands, but the ponytailed faun put her arm in front. She scanned Elora from top to bottom. Afterwards she crossed her arms.

"Why is your neck like that? And where are your horns?" She asked.

"Oh!" Elora started as her hand went to where her little horns would be. "I was born with a webbed neck and no horns. Mamma and I dunno why, though."

Her arm went out and her hand was wide open.

"My name's Elora! What's your names?"

The two looked at each other. The green one had her eyebrow up and her mouth pointed one way instead of being a smile or a frown. The brown faun had the same expression as before. Said faun looked back at her.

"I'm Krista and this is Spinner." Krista introduced themselves.

"Yeah, and I am so going." Spinner turned around as she started walking away. "See you never, Hermie."

Elora tilted her head and her eyebrow went up. That wasn't her name, yet for some reason she didn't decide to correct her. Krista looked at her, having a look of reconcile on her face.

"I'm sorry about Spinner, she's usually not like this." She apologized for her, taking the ball back. "Thank you for catching our ball, Elora!"

"Krista, let's go!"

Krista sighed. "I guess I'll see you later." She ran off and reunited with Spinner.

Elora sighed. There went those two, so now it was time for her to meet the other kids. Her gaze traveled around. There were a few fauns off in the distance with colorful balloons surrounding them. A cake with a few slices missing was in the middle of the whole thing, giving her a good idea on what was going on. She decided to walk over to them.

"Hello?"

Nobody paid any mind to her, they only danced along to the music.

"Hello!" Elora said louder than the first time.

They still didn't hear her. She walked over to one to get his attention, but she ended up getting hit by accident. She fell backwards into a mud puddle and groaned. Her green clothing had been stained when she fell in. Her ears fell downwards as she got up. She looked to her side, seeing Kulap bent down to her level.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Kulap's voice was laced with worry.

"I'm okay… I think." Elora got up as she answered. "I just wanna go home!"

Kulap frowned. "How about the swings? And we can get some ice cream afterwards if you want."

Elora nodded. "I want that."

Kulap's frown became a smile; she picked the young child up and put her on her back. Her yellow-orange fur brushed up against the mud on Elora's body, picking up some of it. Elora's arms wrapped around Kulap.

"Let's get you cleaned up first, okay?"

"Okay!"

Kulap went to the nearest body of water. She laid the red faun down next to the water. She pulled a washing towel out of her brown carrier bag. It unfolded the second it came out. Kulap dipped it into the water. She then pulled it out, twisting it for some of the water to fall out. Once that was done, she put the damp towel onto the muddy areas on her body. Elora had goosebumps appearing on her body as the towel touched her skin and fur. She stayed as still as she could, moving only when it was needed. Once that was over she shook her body. The older, blonde faun shielded herself from the wetness her daughter was shaking off.

Kulap then took the towel and went over her head with it, messing up her hair. Elora started laughing as she tried to get Kulap away. Kulap couldn't help but smile, near the edge of laughing. Elora almost fell onto her ass in the process. The other faun removed the towel as she laughed. Kulap folded the now dirty washing towel then put it back into her bag. She then hugged her child, who hugged back in return, except Elora was hugging her harder. Kulap broke off the hug and looked at her.

"I'll go get us some ice cream, okay?" Kulap informed. "I will be close, so don't worry I won't be far away."

Elora nodded with a large grin. "I want mint and strawberry!"

Kulap chuckled. "I know, hon."

She got up and walked away, still being in Elora's line of vision. She kept looking back with a reassuring smile. Elora sat there with her sight on Kulap. The older faun stopped walking and started talking to the person to get their ice cream. In the corner of her eye, a ball rolled up next to Elora. She turned her full attention to her. It was the same ball as before, meaning that the fauns she met earlier had to be close by.

She picked it up then looked up.

"Krista you dummy, you threw it too far again!" Spinner scolded. "I'm gonna go get it this time! Come on, Lila, let's go get it."

Elora immediately dropped the ball then pushed it away. It rolled off several feet away from her. It stopped rolling due to a hoof keeping it from going forward. Spinner removed her hoof as she bent down to grab it.

"Well well well, what do we have here," she threw the ball up into the air over and over. "Isn't it the little Hermie? What are you still doing here?"

"I'm- I'm here with my mom!" Elora stood up.

They just laughed. "That's not too surprising, only a mother could love her freak of a child!" Spinner continued laughing.

"You would be cute…" Lila flicked her on the nose. "...If you didn't have a duck's foot for a neck."

Elora hung her head in shame as they laughed. Her mother was in the corner of her eye, ready to march over there for what they were doing.

"Hey! Leave her alone you meanies!"

Elora looked up, seeing the fauns stopped laughing as they looked behind them. A young cheetah stood behind the girls, having a face that a ten year old would consider serious. She never saw him before, but just in his presence she had a smile on her face. Lila walked up to him.

"What if we don't, cheetah boy? What are you gonna do then?" She taunted.

"Then I'll- I'll fight you!" He raised his fists confidently. "Pick on someone your own size!"

Spinner scoffed. "That's real cute. We don't have time for your little sad game." She walked away from them.

"Maybe come to us when you decide to not hang out with a Hermie freak like that." Lila added before she pushed Elora into the water and left.

He stuck his tongue out accompanied with a sound. He then looked at Elora, who was shooting the water out of her mouth upwards. It landed onto the ground as Elora pulled herself out of the water. He ran over to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Elora nodded. "I'm fine thanks to you, uhh…"

"Hunter." He told her. "Name's Hunter."

"Thanks, Hunter! I'm Elora!"

"You know, I'm upset I didn't get three." Kulap bent down, handing Elora her ice cream. "He seems like a keeper if you ask me."

"Hey it's nothing! I can't let someone like her get hurt by those meanies." Hunter scratched behind his head.

"Well I thank you for helping my daughter out." She smiled. "I had to see if you were going to be like those girls or a friend, because otherwise you would have been in a messy situation with them."

Elora chuckled at that. She sneezed into her elbow then sniffed. Kulap took another towel out of her bag and wrapped it around Elora. The two kids stood up.

"How about you two go sit somewhere comfortable? I'm going to have a talk with their parents for using such words."

They nodded and Kulap walked off. Elora sneezed once again. The two little kids went over to an isolated, shaded spot away from everybody. Elora licked and took medium sized bites. A few times she stopped and she had her hand on her mouth. When she did it this time, Hunter laughed. She looked up at him.

"You look so funny like that!"

She chuckled. "Not as funny as you'll look!"

Her hand went to Hunter's head. She ruffled up his short haired fur. The towel fell off her right shoulder. He got her hand off and he fixed it by placing it back onto her shoulder.

"Your mom's really nice." Hunter said.

"Is your mom nice?" She tilted her head.

His ears fell and so did his eyes. "I don't know. I think she was. My parents were gone a few years ago, so I don't remember much about them."

"I'm… Sorry about that." She patted his shoulder. "I don't know my other parent if that helps."

He chuckled. "I guess we don't have many people then."

She suddenly hugged him, causing him to jump as well as going backwards. It took him a minute before returning the hug, even patting her on the back.

"We could be lonely together." Elora muttered to him.

Hunter smiled. "I'd like that."

It had been several months since Elora met Hunter.

She still got insults from the same girls, sometimes getting a combination of typical insults and the ones she got before. Every time she got an insult, Hunter was there to stand up for her. He sometimes ended up getting hurt doing so, however, as he came out of a few of them with a black eye. It was nice that she had a real friend despite the fact that each word the other fauns spat out stung her. The Molten Core fauns even joined in after a while even though she had never met them. That made her note to never visit neither Fractured Hills nor Molten Core unless she needed to for any reason.

Meanwhile whenever she wasn't outside, she studied the maps on each of the worlds in the realm. While she knew Autumn Plains very well, she never visited the others and she wanted to know about them as much as she could. She sometimes asked Kulap questions she had on her mind. One of them happened to be on why there were only three worlds instead of a fourth one to go with the seasonal theme. The most she got as an answer was that Spring Gardens was destroyed. She never mentioned how, why, nor when. Elora only shrugged it off as it being a mystery to her as well. It only made it more interesting to her, filling her mind with curiosities about the world. What was it like? Who used to live there? Was it similar to any of the current worlds or was it entirely different?

Those questions were ones she wanted to find answers at some point in her life. In all actuality, she didn't know if there was even a portal to get there. Nothing in the books said anything about it.

Kulap opened the door. "Dear, we're going out. Go get your scarf and hat, okay?"

Elora looked at her and nodded. She put a leaf on the page where she was at then closed it. She got up as she grabbed her red and white hat. The faun took the cherry red scarf off the wall and put it on with the hat. She skipped to Kulap and held her hand. They exited their cabin and walked through the forest. Elora stayed close to her mother. Soon enough they got to a portal leading to Summer Forest. They walked through, coming out on the other side.

Unlike Autumn Plains, the ground and the trees were all green instead of reds, oranges, and yellows. Elora's eyes wandered all around the area. She wanted to let go of her hand and run everywhere. There were different creatures in that world. She wanted to meet them all. She felt her mom stop, so she stopped walking as well. Now they were in front of a small, white building. Kulap knocked on the door and awaited for a reply.

"C-Coming!" A voice inside yelled out.

After a few seconds he got to the door and opened it. He was a small brown mole with a white lab coat. His eyes seemed to be closed but yet he had golden framed glasses. Above his eyes were big, white, bushy eyebrows that took up a majority of his forehead.

"How may I help you, ma'am?"

"Would you be my daughter's regular doctor?" Kulap asked outright.

That question took him by surprise. "Why would you come to me for that? I'm a professor, not a doctor."

"I know, but we have no other choice now." She explained. "If we had anyone else, we wouldn't come to you, but unfortunately it has come to that."

Right, Elora kept forgetting about that. Every doctor they came across either denied them or, in most cases, wanted to help get rid of her condition when really it wasn't affecting her negatively as far as she could remember. The most it brought onto her was the bullying, but both of them knew that it would come to her regardless. It only made her upset from the fact that they would bully her for something she couldn't control.

"And may I ask why?" The Professor asked.

Elora looked up to Kulap, who nodded at her. Her attention went back to the mole. She took off her hat and scarf, revealing her webbed neck and her hornless head. She put her scarf over her shoulder and held onto her hat with her swollen hands and wrists. Upon seeing this, he took off his glasses and wiped them with his coat. He put them back on.

"So that's why!" Professor adjusted his glasses. "This is quite unusual. Not in a bad way, of course, just not common."

"I don't want her to be, quote on quote, 'fixed' either before you think about it." Kulap immediately said.

"Of course not, it's both of your decisions after all. I wouldn't do anything of the sort without permission." He replied.

Kulap's shoulders went down and she smiled in reassurance. "Thank you so much."

"But I do want to examine and research her to learn about her condition."

"It sounds okay to me, but what about you, Elora?" Kulap looked at her daughter.

After a moment of thinking, she looked at her. "Yeah, I'm fine with it."

Kulap looked back at the Professor. "Well it looks like you got yourself a deal, Professor."

"Great! So I take it you want a checkup now, then?"

"Yes please." Kulap had her hand together.

"Come inside then."

He walked back inside the building. Elora and Kulap followed. The young child looked around the lab. It seemed much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. The walls were snow white while the tiled floors she walked on were an ocean blue. Getting her attention off the walls, she saw a brown desk that was messy. The Professor was getting a notebook that from what Elora could see was empty. She just assumed that nothing was written anywhere. He flipped through the pages to get to the very first one. When he did he stopped and started writing something down. He looked at his notes then looked at Elora.

"Mind if you stand near the monitor?" Professor asked kindly.

Elora nodded as she walked over to the monitor. Kulap took the hat and scarf from her before sitting down next to the monitor. Professor stepped closer.

"If you don't mind, take off your clothes."

Elora put her arms on her chest as if to hide her body. Kulap crossed her arms as she glared at the Professor with an eyebrow up. He switched looking at the two girls in the room.

"What? I just want to see if there's other physical symptoms, nothing more than that." He explained.

Elora watched him as she took her dress off through her legs, making sure her privates were hidden with it. Her ears dropped down while her face turned pink. The Professor laughed at her embarrassment.

"It's fine, we can get to that later whenever you're comfortable." He said.

He scanned her and wrote down a couple of notes. Elora looked down to avoid eye contact with him. Some areas that the clothes covered had a few moles accompanying them. Her nipples were widely spaced, which apparently was different from other people. She moved her eyeballs upwards to see what the Professor was doing. He finished writing, put the pencil in the middle of the pages, then closed the notebook.

He turned to Elora, who immediately looked away.

"You can put your clothes back on, Elora."

She did exactly that. She put it back on the same way she took it off. Elora went to Kulap and sat down next to her, holding her hand.

Elora took several more tests, some relating to her condition which it turned out she had only one X chromosome so it seemed like it only affected girls and women, while others were regular checkups. Professor gave them things that would help with Elora's development such as height growth, hormones, and so forth. He did what he could for the day so Kulap and Elora waved their goodbyes for the day.

When she stopped waving and faced ahead of her, she saw Hunter running up to her. He knocked her down with a hug. She hugged him back. Kulap bent down sideways to look at their faces. She was laughing in the process.

"Get up from the ground, kids, I don't think that's a great place for a hug." She playfully teased them.

Hunter broke away from the hug and got up first. He lent his hand to Elora. She took it then pulled herself up. Once she got her footing correct, Hunter hugged her again.

Afterwards they started walking back home.

It had been a few years since they met the Professor.

Elora still got called nasty things from the other kids every now and then, but it wasn't as bad as when it first started. Kulap and Hunter stood by her side through everything regardless of what it was. Around this time, Elora had to go in for another checkup so it was the usual. She was getting a lot more comfortable so she wasn't as nervous and embarrassed as before. Once they were done, Elora ran outside and hung out with Hunter who had to wait since he couldn't be in the same room during Elora's checkups.

Kulap leaned on the doorway as she watched the kids. The Professor, on the other hand, only stood next to her. The blonde faun smiled as she saw the kids being happy and playing together. Hunter tapped her back, causing Elora to come to a halt. As she tried to stop she fell backwards. He caught her before she hit the ground. They started laughing.

They had been getting along as if they were siblings from the very start. Because of that, Kulap allowed Hunter to stay at their place for as long as he wanted. He was like a son to her, a son she wasn't able to have. She loved and cared about both the same, no more or less for one or the other.

Her smile became a frown. The Professor took notice of this.

"Is something the matter, Kulap?"

She shrugged. "I just… Have a bad feeling that something's going to happen. I don't know why though."

He patted her on the back. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"Well just in case something does happen, especially to me," Kulap turned to him, "please- no, promise me that you'll take care of Elora."

His mouth opened, seemingly speechless. She didn't blame him, it sounded out of the blue to ask something like that. He cleared his throat. The Professor nodded.

"Y-Yeah, of course."

She sighed in relief and smiled.

"Thank you."

Kulap and Elora walked into Idol Springs.

The little faun looked around. There was a lake next to where they stood with a huge statue in the middle. If she wasn't holding a basket, and they weren't there to pick some fruits, she would jump in and have a swim. Kulap went ahead of her, causing Elora to follow right behind her. They waved a friendly 'hello' to the people living there as the two passed by them. Everyone waved back to them. They stopped walking when they reached a few trees. It was the first time Elora went out picking fruit with her mother that wasn't in Autumn Plains or in its sub-worlds.

Kulap reached up to grab a peach. She handed it to Elora, who took it then put it in her basket. She then put a peach in hers. The woman kept repeating the process between adding one into Elora's basket and then into her own. Elora looked to her right, seeing a blue butterfly. She then looked to Kulap.

"Is it okay if I go check out that butterfly over there, mom?" Elora asked.

"Yeah, just be sure not to go too far, okay?" Kulap grabbed another peach.

Elora nodded then ran off to the butterfly. She bent down, examining the small, blue insect. It was sitting on a black flower. Its wings glowed as if it was magic, which it could be just that. She put her finger down to the butterfly's level. At first, it didn't move an inch. All it did was slowly move its wings. Kulap looked over to Elora. One end of her mouth curled up. It soon disappeared after she saw a pebble fall down behind her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tilted her head.

"What the…"

Kulap looked upwards. Her eyes widened. She looked back at Elora.

"Elora, watch out!"

She ran over to Elora. The younger faun looked at her. A shadow appeared on the ground. It grew larger and larger. Elora looked above her. Kulap pushed her out of the way. Elora rolled several feet away. She heard an exhale from where she was at. The faun looked up, seeing a large boulder from the top. Her view of her mother wasn't clear enough. She got up immediately then ran off to get the Professor.

Elora didn't look back, she only looked ahead. She ran as fast as she could. Any obstacles that came in her way, she either jumped over it or quickly ran around it. She ran into the portal. The girl came out on the other side. She looked around. To her left, nothing. To her right, no one. She turned to her left as she heard someone gasping for air. She ran over to the person, who happened to be the mole she was looking for. Elora pulled him out of the water.

"Thank you, Elora!" He looked around. "Wait, where is your mother?"

"She- She got hurt! I don't know how hurt, but- but you have to help her!" Elora begged.

"Alright, lead me to her!"

She grabbed Professor's arm. She dragged him with her. He struggled to keep up. They went through the portal. She led him to the location. As soon as they got close, he tried to stop them from moving.

"Wait, don't look-"

His attempts were futile. It was already too late. Elora screamed from the top of her lungs. She fell to the floor sobbing. The Professor held onto her. He tried to keep her face away from the scene. In the meantime he examined Kulap's lifeless body.

Her eyes were already rolled to the back of her head. Black fluids were coming out of her body, mainly her mouth, all in clumps. It was under her purple and bloated limbs. Aside from that, she was pale, almost ghostly with a blue tint. His nose was filled up with a horrible stench. If he was correct, that boulder pushed out whatever excess waste that was inside of her. He would have to check her mouth for anything else. Only her hair stayed the same as before as it didn't fall off yet. Even if Elora wanted him to, he couldn't do anything to save her.

It was already too late.

As horrible as the gruesome sight was, it was good they came here as fast as they did. If they came any later, it would be an even worse view for her to see. He tried to soothe her with all his might. She kept crying and sobbing with no sign of stopping. He was sure her face was stained from all of those tears by now.

"I'm so, so sorry Elora…" He whispered. "I'm sure she's in a good place now."

Elora held onto him tighter. She only hoped that he was right. All she wanted right now was hope this was some messed up nightmare her subconscious managed to conjure up. She only hoped that, if it was just a nightmare, she would wake up then see her mom there like if nothing ever happened. Unfortunately part of her knew that it was reality unlike every other part of her that was in deep denial.

He broke away from her. His hand went onto her puffy red face and wiped away one of her tears. Before anything else, he turned her around to face away from the corpse entirely. Elora didn't bother looking back. Seeing how she was once was good enough for the day, maybe forever.

"Go back home, Elora, I'll… Do what I can here." The Professor frowned.

She only nodded as a response. She sniffed as she walked away. Her hands held onto her arms. Elora breathed through her mouth. Tears kept coming out of her eyes and down her face. She exited Idol Springs, coming out of the portal. She sat down at the edge. Her legs dipped into the water, down to below her knees. She started sobbing again with her tears going down her nose bridge and falling off her nose. Each tear that came out fell into the water below her.

Elora heard footsteps coming closer. She didn't bother lifting her head up. If it was the other fauns, she wasn't in the mood to deal with them at that moment, though she wouldn't know why they would be in Summer Forest. She then heard a thud and grass moving. Whoever was there bent down onto one knee.

"Elora, what's wrong?" Hunter asked. "Why are you crying?"

She looked at him. "She's gone, Hunter. Mom's gone!"

She hugged him tightly. Not too long after Hunter started crying as well. Elora knew how much Kulap meant to him. She was the only one who was like an actual parent to him.

Now they truly felt lonely.

A/N: Welp, that was a long and heavy chapter. May Kulap rest in peace. I thank one of my friends for the help on the corpse description part, considering she knows a lot about corpses and she's in the military, so without her I wouldn't have made it as realistic as I did here.

As for other things, if you guys didn't figure it out already, Elora is intersex here! More specifically X0/Turner Syndrome since I wanted to do something different with making a character intersex rather than what people would commonly go with when doing fanfics. Despite everything I hope everyone who read this enjoyed this chapter!