The Game

Sterling woke up and was confused, this isn't the cave. where are-, then he remembered everything. The collapse of the mountain, the loss of their home, and all the pain that came with it. He trotted quietly over to Amy and nudged her with a hoof. She rolled onto her back and looked up at him with puffy eyes, tear-streaks cutting through the dust that stained her pale cheeks. "Amy, i- it's time to get moving, we probably shouldn't stay here for long". The human looked up at him and nodded sadly before sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"I... Just can't believe it's just... Gone", her voice was small, not at all like the voice that Sterling knew, "And besides, where do we go? It's not like there's gonna be another cave or something just waiting to be lived in", The grey pony stood and helped lead Amy out of the mountain ruins, her energy drained after not being able sleep the night before.

They reached the edge of the mountain ruins and looked back at the crushed rocks and cracked boulders before turning to the forest and slowly making their way through the greenery.

The two trudged their way through the undergrowth, only stopping to rest once or twice before looking up at the green canopy of the forest and returning to their aimless wander through the woods. Every now and again Sterling's ears would swivel in a certain direction checking for sounds from behind them.

"Psst!"

Sterling whirled around, looking at the bushes and shrubbery surrounding them, scanning for the owner of the voice. He narrowed his eyes, his head moving back and forth, leaving no spot unchecked. His knife slowly slid out of the leather casing on his foreleg, a silvery glow holding it aloft.

"Who's there? Come out!", the moment Sterling said it he knew that announcing his and Amy's presence in the woods probably  wasn't the best Idea ever.

"Psst", the voice called again, somewhere to Sterling's right.

"Please put the knife away", the voice calmly stated, although a slight tremble in it's tone said that it's owner wasn't entirely unafraid.

Sterling squinted over at the row of large ferns. He slowly stalked over, the soft earth beneath his hooves muffling the sound as he crept forward, knife poised at his side. He crept closer and closer to the bushes until he was at least a hoof's reach from the broad leaves. He reached forward and slowly pulled the leaves aside.

"Um, hi there", a tan unicorn crouched in the shadow under the ferns, a deep brown eye peered up at the grey unicorn. A straight brown mane with lighter brown streaks hung over one side of her face, covering her other eye. Sterling sighed and put his knife away, backing out of the bushes to allow the mare to follow.

"Who are you and what do you want?", Sterling spoke in the toughest voice he could muster, you're not a superhero Sterling, he thought to himself.

The tan mare in front of then looked up at Amy, then back to Sterling, who noticed that her chocolate brown eyes actually had golden flecks in the irises. She then glanced around and then looked over her shoulder, turning in a full circle before returning her focus to the two survivors, "I-It's not safe here, I'll take you back to the tunnels", she spun around and started to cautiously creep through the undergrowth, "A-are you coming?"

Sterling looked up at Amy to find her shrugging her shoulders. He turned back to the newcomer to find her already making her way through the bushes.

"Hey wait", he called out to her, making her once again poke her head back out of the bushes, "Yes?", she cocked her head to the side as she waited for a response.

Sterling slid his knife back into the leather casing, watching the dull-silver blade disappear before looking back at the mare, "I don't think that you introduced yourself, I'm Sterling, this is Amy", the human waved her hand to the pony in front of them, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear as they got into her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Ebony Quill", she gave another glance to either side before motioning for them to follow before drawing back into the bushes and quietly trotting through the forest, looking over her shoulder every once in a while to check the two newcomers.

It had been at least... Well, a long time. Sterling wasn't even sure how long the three of them had been walking through the forest, following Ebony as she confidently made her way through the forest, as if she was walking down a dirt road in broad daylight.

That was another problem. Sterling cast a glance at the canopy to find the bright blue of the sky to be dimming, growing darker by the minute. He looked up at Amy, who was leaning on him a little. She had begun to lag behind, the exhaustion of the restless night of sleep finally taking it's toll on her. She nodded to him and lifted her weight off of him, allowing him to trot quickly up to their guide, casting another nervous glance at the ever darkening sky in the process, "Um, Ebony... How long before we get... Wherever we're going again?"

The tan unicorn looked over at him, eyes once again dark brown in the fading light, "We should be there shortly", came a short answer. The unicorn glanced around warily, as if the shadows that were starting to form might jump out at them.

Suddenly, Ebony sprang forward, hurriedly trotting towards a large clump of trees, their giant trunks surrounded by thick ferns. "It's right through here", a snap in the forest made the three of them turn around, "Quickly, I don't think that we really want to know what that is and, frankly, I'd much rather be inside", then before Amy or Sterling could react, a light blue glow surrounded them and they were thrown through the bushes.