The River Back

The sloshing sound of water around him only worsened the further he walked into darkness; each droplet echoing tenfold within the giant metallic chamber, making him paranoid something was watching from behind the pitch-black wall, waiting to pounce. The grub in his mane gave no support or comfort whatsoever, just observing through layers of hair, perhaps it was more nervous than him. The thin air became worrying too, filling his nostrils with the scent of unnatural fumes.

Over time he believed that there probably wasn't going to be anything jumping out at him, as the only movement in the water was his own. But the moment he let his muscles loosen he stubbed his hoof on something hard, a loud squeak slipping from his lips by the surprise as he leapt back. He froze in the water where he fell back with a splash, the grub scrambled to the top of his head for safety, waiting for something to happen, yet there was nothing but silence. Summoning his courage once again, the colt cautiously leant forward to feel the stone-hard object. Upon climbing it, there was another, then another, and eventually it began to resemble stairs leading up to a single metal door left slightly ajar, a subtle light shining through.

Preferring to go through the door rather than continue into darkness, he shook off the water and poked his head through the doorway. He looked into a room lit faintly by sunlight shining through air ventilation fans in the ceiling, ominously spinning from their high place. This construction was a giant cubic room, two tunnels split off at separate ends of the room and a generator nearly as big as the room itself sat in the centre, reaching up towards the ceiling with large rubber tubes, however it was clear they had been detached from the fans, one flopping down onto the ground. The colt could feel his insect worm it's way through his mane, coming to the top of his head and poke out between his ears, observing the room with him.

Concluding that the room was safe, the colt stepped into the sunlight to dry himself off, weighing up his options of what to do next. Down the tunnel on his left was nothing but blackness, cutting his vision short by a few meters, but it's path took a turn deeper into the building. Down the route on his right was also blackness, but this appeared to continue in a straight path with a very slight breeze coming through. Both were circular, like pipes, he presumed they served as maintenance tunnels or escape routes for whatever sentient creatures lived in their depths.

It was then an idea struck him. Spinning around to eye the machinery in the middle of the room, he found the loosest panel he could find and tore it off, angling it in a beam of light so that it's lustre reflected the rays down the right path, piling up some scrap metal behind it so that the makeshift mirror would stay in place.

Sunlight beamed into the blackness, bouncing off a wall at the far end, around a corner and into the unknown. The colt looked deep into the path he chose to take, knowing full well that he could turn around and leave if he didn't feel up to the task. Curiosity kept his fire burning, the river led him to this place, he had to find out where he came from. It's not like a little curiosity killed anything, right?

Their journey in the tunnel was brief, the two reached a sharp corner, leading into more darkness, even though the sunlight zig-zagged into what appeared to be a seemingly infinite path, or at least a very long one.

A spike of fear shot up the colt's back when he heard something scraping along the ground far behind him, and quick as a flash the sunlight was gone. The mirror, though he couldn't see it now, had fallen to the ground. He backed up against a wall, panicking on the inside, keeping an ear out for any movement if something knocked the mirror over and was coming for him. There was nothing, nothing but the gentle breeze coming from deeper in the building. Gathering his bearings, he wiped small beads of sweat from his face and let his muscles loosen, reminding himself that there was nothing to be afraid of in this place but his own exaggerating imagination, the mirror probably just fell over on it's own.

His insectoid companion crawled to the tip of his muzzle, it's teeny legs making his skin itch with annoyance, but it didn't matter, the glow from the grub's rear seemed help illuminate the tunnel in a peaceful yellow shade, chirping swiftly in delight. Even though now his vision was reduced, it didn't worry him, the grub was more comforting than a fireplace in winter, they had each other's back, and in that moment it was all the lost little colt needed. He didn't even bother asking himself why it wanted to become a companion for him, he just went with it.

A friendly tweedle popped the colt's daydreaming bubble, his insect friend had spied a route splitting from the main tunnel, pointing at it with it's glowing rear. The insect's glow wasn't as powerful as sunshine flaring through the building or the flaming rod he found in the cave, but he could see that the path led to another door, an ominous pale-green light poking out from under it. The insect fluttered off his face down to the ground, crawling through the tiny gap between the floor and the door, obediently waiting for the colt on the other side.

He pushed against the door, swinging open with a squeak, the green sheen across the walls enticing him into the room. Papers were strewn about, desks flipped over and tools scattered, broken on the ground like someone threw a tantrum before leaving in a hurry. The source of the glow stood before him, a towering green vat rose over him like a monolith, holding a mysterious, sleeping figure in it's belly, the figure's body thin as twigs yet with a head as large as a soccer ball.

Tapping the tank surprised the colt with a response, the creature jolted back to the edge of the vat, staring at the colt with wide eyes as the colt too stepped back in shock. They watched each other for a minute, reading each other's anatomy and trying to get a grasp of what the other was. The young stallion took a brave step forward and placed a hoof on the glass, he figured it might help the creature to understand that he was friendly, and sure enough, the creature cautiously floated forward to rest a slim, spindly appendage on the glass where the colt's was. It seemed so alike to him yet so different, something whispering in the back of his mind that it's dark hair and minimal oratory skill reflected him. Perhaps this was where he came from.

The insect crawled out of the colt's mane and fluttered onto the glass, a twinkle of wonder appearing in the figure's eyes as it watched the insect. The grub crawled to the base of the vat where a console of buttons and dead light bulbs lay, sat on the edge of a lever and jumped on it, like it was trying to push the lever down, as if it was a failsafe to open the tank.

It leapt aside when the colt grasped the lever with both forehooves, the creature in the vat watching intently, bracing itself for the unknown. With a heave and a clunk the lever fell as the vat burst open like a dam, flooding the colt in a recipe of glowing water mixed with shards of glass.