Fireflies danced in the summer air. Cheri plodded slowly along through Taiga, down the main road that cut the redwood forest in an uneven half. She was headed home for Loess, already unenthused about how late in the day she’d set out. As the hours drew on and her family mingling came to its natural end, Cheri couldn’t seem to fully shake her journey’s exhaustion. It weighed down on her so heavily that her stone hooves thumped one after the other, protesting every stride. Her wings drooped, barely lit even in the dim light crowding around her. She was a deadbeat horse.

She yawned, trying to stretch her neck and gain back some of the enthusiasm she’d lost over the span of her short vacation without much success. It wasn’t a lack of sleep that was ailing her; in fact the night before last she’d slept as if she were dead. Her mother Amarine had to physically shake her into consciousness that morning when a light prodding hadn’t worked. She just felt bone-deep tired.

Nothing ached. She wasn’t sick - and she would know if she was sick - and she wasn’t pregnant, which had actually been a slight concern for a moment until her mother had assured her that the timing wasn’t suitable for such a case.

“So why do I feel like I’m dying?” She thought dramatically, veering off the course of the road into a thicket of tightly-clustered pines. In a few hundred meters the forest would give way to the valleys, which would (in time) show the subtle rise of the redrock buttes looming in Loess’ distant horizon. “I’m so close.” She knew, but the fear of legitimately collapsing in the roadway seemed to outweigh her determination in the present. She would just have to be content with sleeping out in the wilderness for a night, and then in the morning she could start again - hopefully a bit earlier if she gave in to her body’s demands.

The pegasus mare slid in between the soft bristles of the trees, their evergreen needles turning dark with the setting of the sun, and she wedged herself tightly among them in hopes of being obscured by any passerbys. Tonight she wasn’t picky: it took her seconds to settle in and drop her head before a deep sleep tugged her under a heavy wave of blackness, and Cheri dove into the nothingness eagerly enough.

She would never know how the evergreen cluster lit itself like a strobe light afterwards, flashing for a moment with a brilliant explosion of white light before it snuffed out and took her with it.

Down and down and down she went; furthering herself into a dreamlike trance that had no beginning or end. Her thoughts and worries dissipated, time itself felt less of a linear thing and more like an abstract concept, so that when she awoke the appaloosa mare had entirely forgotten where she’d come from or what she’d been doing in the first place. She blinked, hazy with confusion, and then the memories came back like an object being thrust out of a disengaged rubber sling.

“Ow.” She moaned, pulling herself out of the evergreens and trailing heavy brown needles with her when she did. Cheri had a roaring headache, one fit to split her skull right down the middle, and she clenched her eyes shut against the light of the sun when at last she stumbled out onto the road again.

At first, nothing was obviously different. Her mouth felt dry, unused, and her brain was throbbing uncomfortably which kept her from taking flight. But she did feel rested for the first time in days, finally. About a mile or so down the thoroughfare her pain had subsided to a manageable state, so she unfurled her wings and shook them free of the deadweight she’d picked up in the course of her slumber. “What a mess…” Was all she had to say about the litter of curled, dried needles that gathered around her pink hooves. “So many dead ones … I thought the trees had been healthy but perhaps not.” The mare shrugged, then took to the sky.

Up in the air again she was free to breathe and relax, so the thumping inside her skull quieted and before long, Cheri was touching down in the heartlands of Loessian territory again. It felt good to be home, but she had a prickling urgency to meet with Oceane and discuss everything she might’ve missed in her time away; the young diplomat tipped her nose to the sky and gave a short hello by nickering softly, and then she set off on hoof to track down one of her mentors or the Lady liege herself.

Too late she realized how much had changed in her brief absence. The paths that had always been worn down were now overgrown, different than Cheri remembered. The scrubby, hardy growth of arid plants clung to the lower walls of the canyons where they hadn’t before, as if years had passed and not just a single night. Her confidence faltered the more Cheri took in the strange but familiar world around her, and the once-confident steps slowed their pace until the black mare had nearly come to a stop.

She rounded a bend in the maze of sandstone spires, only to be met with her worst nightmare.

Obscene. What was he doing in Loess? Cheri frowned, though her confusion about the events of last night superseded her ability to properly appear “displeased”, and the look itself was a less-harsh version of what it might’ve been in any other situation. Still, his mannerisms drew her attention back to the present and she watched, alarmed, as he approached her casually.

As if they were friends and not bitter rivals.

And then he kissed her.

It came so quickly that Cheri could only manage halfway picking up her leg before shock planted her firmly into place. The sensation of his lips, warm and with a definite purpose to their action, kept her silently amazed as they indented themselves into her pelt with a firm but loving pressure. That was highly unexpected; enough that her mouth popped open into a silent “O”.

Cheri blinked, trying (and failing miserably) to form words so that she could reply to his light-hearted joke, but just as a few came to mind Obscene had moved ahead without her. This time he meant business: the shape of his muzzle covered up her own sluggish mouth, quick to form itself to her as if he’d done it a thousand times before. It left Cheri stupefied, utterly frozen. The nothingness came back a thousand times as potent as the first, spreading throughout her lovely face and leaching into her motionless limbs until she found herself pushing back.

She kissed him because it reminded her of that day in the Pampas, and Cheri had never been able to get over it since.

Slowly, she closed her eyes. The darkness swept over her like a devouring animal, hungry for her subservience. She was surprised to find herself starving as well, having thought of this moment in heated daydreams until the desire left her gnashing her teeth in an unsatisfied rage. Obscene kissed her and passion sprung from the unspoken connection between them, as white-hot and real as anything Cheri had known in this life, as true and earnest as anything she would ever know in any lifetime, and for all her strength and goodness she was powerless in the face of it.

Gods she had wanted this so badly. Had wanted him.

Her face twisted in a spasm of painful ecstasy and with a breathy gasp Cheri broke away from Obscene, muffling an unexpected sob.

“Okay enough!” She managed to blurt out, finally taking that step she’d meant to take moments before. Her chest heaved, clearly out of air. She looked at him and then away from him, deliberately trying to make sense of what had just happened without losing herself again. “What the fuck Obscene?” Cheri murmured.

“What are you doing here?”

Enough is never enough, not when it comes to Obscene having a say. Cheri stepped back and he reached out to stop her, a different reaction than every single other one before this. Usually her rejection would’ve been enough to put a firm stop to their tête-à-têtes, and Obscene would’ve lashed out verbally as well, but for some unknown reason he didn’t. He grabbed her instead, surprising Cheri all over again, and she complied with his demanding grasp.

A small part of her liked to be handled that way anyways. To be told what to do and when to do it, as long as the speaker’s confidence matched or outshone hers. In all other cases she was typically the guide, usually the first to put a hoof forward and rally the others into following suit. Obscene had outshone her from the beginning, but they’d both wanted to lead the dance and had ended up stumbling over one another instead… Yet this time, it was inexplicably easier to allow him the lead.

He kissed her again and Cheri’s body worked against her, curving itself like a pliable mistress towards her master. She cursed the damn thing and spat out her frustration at him, which he answered in a tone much more like the Obscene she’d always known.

Suspicious. Curt. Accusatory.

According to him she’d been missing all night. “That part fits, at least.” Cheri thought, grasping at that singular puzzle piece while the rest seemed metaphorically scattered around her. The one indication he’d given her to make Cheri think that everything happening right now wasn’t some sort of lucid fantasy, but certain reality. Still: this piece was colored blue and the rest of the remaining ones looked red. Nothing fit.

Like the part about him dealing with Kingdom reports all by himself again, as if it were a normal thing for them to review. Or how Loess seemed strangely different than the last time she’d been here, overgrown and trodden down with new paths over the old familiar ones. Even the trees she’d left earlier seemed different, no longer evergreen but brown, as if the seasons had changed entirely.

Something … something was wrong.

“So why does everything still feel right?” The pegasus mare wondered, collecting herself with a sigh that oddly complemented her earlier outburst. “I’m … sorry?” Was all she could muster, which still didn’t explain why he was here. She asked, and he replied in a fashion so uniquely his own that Cheri couldn’t help but partially roll her eyes. “Of course,” her mind jumped at the first rational explanation it could find, “it’s probably one big joke.”

“He’s probably using some sort of fae trick on me. Maybe he drugged me and it’s just now taking effect.” Cheri deliberated, her gaze slowly rising to meet Obscene’s once more. “I was in Taiga, obviously.” She tested those strange waters of his, game to play along as if nothing were out of the ordinary. As if she was totally unaware of anything sinister happening outside of this little encounter. As if they really were lovers and he really was King of Loess.

But him touching her like that - pressing up against her like a cat curled around a warm object - made it harder to see clearly. Cheri blinked, swallowing her reservations down again the same way Obscene brought his mouth down again to touch her neck, and the deft awareness of his magic instantaneously shot itself through her system. She felt incredible thanks to him, recognizing the feeling of a healer but never having had the pleasure of being healed by one other than herself. His was a gold sort of healing, just like the strands of tinsel in his mane Cheri could see so clearly now that they were mingled together again.

She resisted the urge to reach out and play with them coyly.

“For you?” She murmured sarcastically, sucking in a breath of his powerful musk. “Your wish is my command.” Cheri breathed the promise out and over his pelt where the words fell like gold dust streaked across his shoulder.  She stared at him for a moment, lost in her thoughts and wondering just how far Obscene was willing to push things between them, and then her lips resigned themselves to the casual descent of a lover’s embrace, falling like silk over the wearer when they adorned his broad, handsome neck with slow, leisurely kisses.

One at the base where the thick chords of dark muscle connected to his shoulder blade.
One at the wicked curve of his crested neck, placed firmly in between those tangled locs of ebony and fool’s gold.
One underneath the crescent shape of his jaw, tenderly.
One on the broadside of his nose.

She paused. “Would you like me to show you just how sorry I am?” Cheri whispered, the corners of her eyes tilted toward him, full of unspoken promises.

If you fell asleep and woke up in a different time, how long do you think it would take you to realize that nothing was right anymore?

How far ahead or how far behind would you have to be for it to unravel suddenly, rather than slowly? And would you believe the impossible could be real anyways?

The truth dawned on Cheri as carefully as a stork wading through quiet waters in search of its next meal. The ripples of time were faint, nigh imperceptible at first, but they were there. The truth struck her like a rapier beak slicing through the surface.

At first she thought he was toying with her as the fae prince liked to do, though his scathing tone was noticeably softer. It was all part of the game, she thought. All part of his grand scheme to throw her off the scent of something much more despicable lying in wait where she couldn’t see. Was Aela there somewhere, hiding nearby and stifling her laughter? As Cheri kissed his dark skin she imagined the golden horse he’d brought along curving her nose into her shoulder, doing her best to stay silent while Obscene laid the trap.

She imagined all of the invisible paramours he’d thrown in her face, the longing to be one of them translated into the last touch of her lips against his nose until the pressure bore into his skin a bit too hard. Perhaps that was why he said what he said: the part about her pressing a pink quartz hoof into the fold of his throat. But it wasn’t until he mentioned her crystals that Cheri stopped altogether and drew her head away from his, if not her body.

“My crystals?” She thought. What about her crystals?

Her crystals … the thought circled a drain inside of her mind, swirling to an inevitable conclusion she couldn’t grasp in the moment. Something about the way he’d described them: whatever else you come up with in those wicked crystals - it gave her pause. She held perfectly still underneath him, just the way she had when they’d tangled together in the Pampas, a small part of her consciousness enjoying the blazing touch of his mouth and teeth scratching away at her dark shoulder while the world around them tilted. Cheri felt like she was experiencing vertigo for the first time, but there was nothing she could do to center herself while the colorful world blurred in a sickeningly terrifying way; that phrase: wife and husband, wife and husband, wife and husband...

“My crystals.” She realized, the spearpoint beak striking her through-and-through with an electric shock.

She came out of the Vertigo state by blinking rapidly, feeling as if she might hurl. Obscene stepped away from her and the result was that she stumbled forward, catching her balance again by striking out with one leg to steady the other three. Her spring-colored mane rustled like a silken green curtain, winking with sparkling color in the broad daylight as it did, and Cheri lifted herself up to face Obscene - a different Obscene from the one she knew - square in the face. “No, I … I believe you.” Cheri insisted, talking through the layer of cotton drying up her tongue. Her eyes, which had been so catty and severe before, now seemed to border on terror. “I do, Obscene. I really do.” Her voice faltered.

She wished suddenly that he would come back, press himself against her again like he’d been doing. Cheri was absolutely certain now that something had gone wildly wrong during her night of deep sleep and it scared her to think that everything she was experiencing right now was because of some fluke with the crystals growing out of her skin. Was she stuck here now? And if she were, just how much had changed? Her mind cut the thought off right there, unable to process such a cataclysmic event. It defied rational logic.

“I had a terrible night Ob.” Her eyes flicked quickly from left to right, as if seeing everything again through a new and horrifying filter. “I don’t think I’m feeling very well at all.”