She walked and walked, looking for something to inspire the next explosion of fashion in the Endless Forest. The doe would stop, glare at things, shake her head saying “tacky” or “uncool”, and would continue walking. Zephyr was in a bind, as there was nothing standing out that screamed ‘fashionable’, and plopping down under a tree, she sighed and shut her eyes.

Bonk!

The doe sat up, head pulsing as something hit her on the head. “Oww! Hey, what gives?”, she groaned, looking up at the tree. There she saw a pair of cardinals looking down at her, about the time another acorn fell and missed her snout. The doe stood and walked a few steps away from the tree, looking back at the pair with curiosity. One was a brilliant red male who kept chirping and carrying on, and the other was a brown female that kept tilting her head.

Zephyr stared at them for several minutes as they stood on the barren tree branch. Then, she blinked and gasped, “Oh my gods! That’s it!”, she shouted, and ran off. She nearly rammed into Redd, who was passing by. “W-whoa! W-w-what’s the r-rush?”, the timid male asked. Zephyr slid to a halt and turned to him, ”I found it! I finally found it! Come on, teehee!”, the doe bounced in excitement and kept running. Redd, unsure what she meant, started to follow the doe.

They stopped at that certain kind of tree, where the doe immediately started rubbing all onto it for a pinecone. One dropped, and she quickly ate it. Then she looked to Redd, ”Now hold still!”. “W-what? Wait a m-m-minute…”, Redd began, but Zephyr’s pictogram exploded in light, and the stag was hit with the spell. His antlers reverted to that of the Magpie antlers, on the first try. The doe was walking all around him, nodding, ”Uh huh! That was easy! Alright, now for the mask!”, and before Redd could stop her, the doe had run off to another tree. She ate the mushrooms and turned right around, firing the mask spell to Redd. The stag couldn’t say a word before he was struck with the Whistling Mask. He started to speak, but his voice was quiet and sounded like whistling.

”What? I can’t hear you! You have to speak up, teehee!”, Zephyr shouted at Redd, and then ate another mushroom and sent another spell his way. Next he was given the butterfly mask. “Ahh, I can s-speak again…Zephyr please, I d-didn’t want th-th-this…”, the stag pleaded, but Zephyr was already eating another mushroom. She grinned, ”I know, but I need a model, and you just happened to be there, so…”, she fired a third spell, and the mask Redd now wore was the Magpie mask. The doe nodded, and walked around him, ”Yes, yes! Now the last part is easy, come on!”, she started to run off when she noticed Redd wasn’t following. The ditzy doe turned around and started to nudge Redd with her head, ”Come on! Coooooome on! We’re so close!”. Redd was speechless but was pushed in the direction of the Crying Idol. He would start to walk himself, but Zephyr was right behind him wanting him to keep going.

He accidentally bumped into Caden, who was sleeping near a tree. ”Nrghhh…huh? What’s going on?”, he asked, sitting up. Zephyr turned to him, ”We’ve got the coolest fashion ever! Come on and we’ll get you fashionable too, teehee!”, she bounced and continued leading Redd to the Idol. Caden tilted his head, and standing, he followed.

When they got to the idol, two others were there – Sage and Neko. The doe was sitting and enjoying the Idol’s waterfall, and the cat was observing nearby. Zephyr immediately led Redd to the Idol and started to try to push him in. “H-hold on, I don’t w-want that p-p-pelt!”, he pleaded. Zephyr huffed, and walked around him, ”But we’re so close! Don’t you want to look absolutely ravishing? I mean it will look so amazing when you have a perfect fashionable set by the Forest’s fashion guru!”

“B-b-but…”, Redd began to say, and Zephyr, being herself, shoved him into the Idol. He gasped and lost his balance, falling into the giant rock and vanishing into it. He popped out on the other side with his body all stained red. “O-oh dear…”, he sighed. ”What’s going on? That…that set is…”, Sage started to say, looking at Redd with the new look. The Magpie mask with the red pelt and Magpie antlers made him look surprisingly like a cardinal! “Huh, looks interesting…”, Neko spoke from the distance, coming closer. ”Yeah, that’s…that’s not a bad look at all.”, Caden added. Zephyr nodded, ”Alright my fashion minions! We’re all going to strut this set! Everyone get the red pelt and we’ll work on giving you your mask and antlers too!”, she announced and ran into the Idol, getting the red pelt herself. Sage ran in as well, and then Caden, and Neko walked in proudly. Along with the now embarrassed Redd, the five of them went back to the trees to get the antlers and mask. When Sage got the full set, she bounced around in excitement. Caden laughed and enjoyed the fun. Neko sat and purred as he watched the others. And Zephyr was the last, getting the set herself.

”Well look at us! This is truly great!”, Sage laughed. Redd nodded, “I g-guess it’s not so b-b-bad when we’re all w-wearing it…”, he says. ”Mhmm, this is nice!”, Caden said. “Yeah, not bad at all!”, Neko said too.

Then Zephyr looked around, as there was starting to be interest in the fashion statement. Other deer approached, all curious in the set, and almost immediately several of them ran to the Crying Idol to get the red pelt. Those already wearing the set started working on ‘converting’ the newcomers for the fashion, getting the mask and antlers for them. It spread like a plague, what started with one deer now twenty were wearing. And then more came and wanted the set.

Soon there was a crowd of deer in red wearing the magpie mask and antlers. Zephyr stood on a hill, looking at all of them. ”Minions!! Follow your fashionista!!”, she announced to them all and then ran past the crowd, running into the distance. The countless deer laughed and all followed the leader, a swarm of cardinal deer chasing after her.

The march went all over the Forest, as they all showed off the fashion statement. Other deer saw them and were curious, also running off to get the set and to join in. After a while, they all met at Twin Gods Hill, where a massive dance party started.

”Great event, Zephyr!”, Caden laughed and bowed. Neko chuckled and danced as well, enjoying all of this as well. Sage and Redd ended up dancing together. The crowd grew and grew once others got the set and ran to join in.

On a tree nearby were the two cardinals, watching all of this oddly. “Huh, well I did not expect this to happen.”, the male spoke to the female. “Mhmm…I guess this is to be expected when we take forms we usually don’t.”, the female replied. Michael chuckled, “So should we tell them it was us?” Auriea shook her tiny cardinal head, “Oh no, let them have their fun. I’m sure there’s a tree around here somewhere that we can have our privacy.”, she replied. The two cardinals flew off toward the Birch Forest, and Zephyr spotted them flying off.

”Thank you for the cardinal fashion, teehee!!”, she called out to them.

The End