RUN GIRL RUN

by Cloud Smasher

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Original Character, Tragedy, Horror
Length: 6164

Why but a lonely runaway from home, nothing more than a burden on the land. She hated them, they hated her, what more could she have asked for? Perhaps she can start over now, or perhaps not. The forest takes what the forest wants.

She ran, and she ran some more. She ran until all that surrounded her was but the dark forest on the outskirts of town. The weather was just dreadful, and as such was she. Perhaps now that she was away, away from that awful place - the place she formerly called home - she could get back on track. Or perhaps not, as the forest and it's inhabitants never stop hungering. Perhaps it would've been a better idea to stay at home with dear old mom, that crack-hoarding whore.
And as she ran, she found it. Asylum. A place to stay the night, a place to stay warm. But she'll learn the hard way, oh just you wait. Never trust an abandoned manor in the woods, for you don't know what it harbours. Perhaps it's a void, one that won't stare back.

Any feedback appreciated!
For best effect, listen to some creepy, ambient, music.

Published 2017-02-18 05:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-06 02:31:36 UTC

Lost

Author's Note

Notice any blatant plot-holes or spelling/grammar mistakes? Drop 'em down below! Or send a PM!
This is my first attempt at any real creative writing project, so don't roast me too hard, or do, I don't care

Lost

She ran.

She ran some more.

But then, she saw her. She was running in front of herself.

But still she kept running. Fighting, undying, fleeting. She ran her hooves raw, raw as her mother had left her coat when she didn't clean her room. Raw as her inside cheek from gnawing on it so much. Raw as her would-have-been sibling's skin that laid on the floor of their shed. She ran until what surrounded her was but the cold and dark forest, and then she ran some more. Deeper, deeper into the bowels of Equestria's primal core.

All around her, birds chirped, owls hooted, critters scampered, and trees rustled. But she noticed none of it, her mind was set on one goal.

"Get away, get away, get away..." She croaked repeatedly.

It took hours for her stamina to falter, but it did. She could no longer run, she could barely even move. Restrained by the construct of her own body, trapped inside of a pony.

She struggled to regain her breath as she knelt, she couldn't help but fall to the cold ground below. She fell. Several miles in fact, and then she hit the ground. The disgusting dirt, alive and crawling with repulsive insects. Worms burrowed in and out of the dirt, and crickets leapt around her, making that horrific screeching sound she'd come to despise.

It took a saviour's effort not to fall unconscious as her lungs frantically convulsed, longing for the air they so desperately needed to survive. Luckily she kept herself conscious, and started to breathe. Her mind began to race - on it's own accord. What did she do? Where should she go? Is this the end? Or is it only the beginning?

Slowly but surely, she began to gain some rational thinking power. She needed shelter, it had to be at least fifteen degrees below zero, and it wasn't getting any warmer. She stood up to look, with what little she could see. The best she could probably do was sleep under a pile of leaves, and subsequently leave herself at the mercy of the forest's denizens. Perhaps she could find a house, some ponies enjoyed living the quiet life, right? Searching was probably better than freezing to death. Perhaps if she actually knew how to use her wings, the task at hand would be easier. But no, her mother knew better than to let that happen. And so the search was on, find decent shelter before you freeze to death, or get eaten by a wild animal.

As she searched the wretched forest, she began to think. She realized she didn't know her own name.

"Did she even have one?"

The thought was unnerving, but it was a strong possibility. Her mother never let her outside, and she was the only other one who lived in the house, so it was fairly easy to tell when she was being called upon. Perhaps she really didn't have a name.

As a matter of fact, what did she look like? She couldn't remember ever seeing herself, mother never kept any mirrors in the house. Her coat was a dark shade of orange, and her mane was... She couldn't remember what the name of that colour was. It was like pink, but darker. Red! That was surely it, she'd heard mother shout it out a few times after she cut herself.

Any features beyond her matted mane and rough coat were completely unknown to her. She knew she probably didn't look too healthy, but then again, what did a healthy pony look like? She'd barely seen another pony before in her life, save for the rare glimpse outside the door when mother went out, or the pictures that were up on the walls when she was little. Perhaps if she found a house she could find a mirror, and gaze into her own eyes for the first time in her miserable life.

She felt the rational thinking began to fade, trading places with her whatever her mental illness thought separately from her own consciousness. Soon her mind was filled with completely irrational thoughts and voices, thoughts and voices that would drive the average pony insane. Perhaps she was lucky, as she already was.

What was she doing again?

Shelter, right. Looking for shelter.

It was only now that she realized just how cold the forest was getting. Every rustle of the leaves sent a cold blast of air shooting around her, engulfing her in what might as well have been gaseous ice. She shivered, bringing her legs closer together in a feeble attempt to stay somewhat warm. She brought her tangled up tail between her legs to aid, but to little avail, she felt as cold as ever.

"You're going to DIE! There is no hope for you!"

She whipped around, looking for the source. She was terrified, whoever had said that was very loud. The voice was deep, it could probably even be considered "calming" if it wasn't shouting.

Her eyes darted around like mad, searching, scanning for what could have made the remark. But no results were returned, as real as that voice sounded, she could've just been having another hallucination. She gave up looking and turned around, she began to walk again at a brisk pace.

It must have been at least another hour of walking before she spotted a place that she could stay.

Found

It was a small house, compiled of mostly rotting wood and crumbling foundations; but it was a house nonetheless. It stood there nestled tightly between two rows of trees, all of them withering. Struggling to survive as the house stole what little space they already had for food. The house looked old, and perhaps uninhabited. There were no lights, at least none visible to the outside. It was in such disrepair that nopony could've actually lived there.

Cautiously she approached the residence, trying her best to be as quiet as her uncoordinated hooves would allow. With every step the air seemed to grow colder, only strengthening the need for shelter. She couldn't take it. She broke out in a sprint towards the house, faster than even she had anticipated. Her hooves pounded the soil below her, and the house never seemed to get any closer. It was always on the cusp of her grasp, and no more. It's haunted appearance taunted her with it's apparent warmth and shelter, which only infuriated her more. She kept running, begging for the house.

It was only a figment of her imagination.

The house was gone faster than she could realize she wasn't even moving. She blinked, and snapped back to reality. It was dark, pitch black in fact.

"Am I dead?" she tried to think, but it ended up spewing forth aloud. She covered her mouth as fast as she had said it, scared somepony was listening.

With as much caution as she could force into her unsteady hooves, she felt around her. It was soft, an unfamiliar sensation, but a welcome one at this point. There was something covering her, soft as the surface around her only thinner. Save for the numbness left in her hind legs, she was warm, comfortably warm.

She attempted to sit up, feeling down further. She kept her hooves moving until the surface stopped, it cut sharply downwards into what felt like an endless void, and she dared not push her hooves down further. There was no wind here, which meant she must've been indoors - or dead. It was also silent, all but enforcing her theory. Is this what death was like? A soft object to lay on in the never-ending abyss? Perhaps, or perhaps not.

She decided to take a leap of faith. She turned her body about ninety degrees and pushed herself forward, letting her hind legs dangle off the edge of the object. It was terrifying, and she couldn't help but hold her breath as she moved ever forward, letting herself fall.

It was too much.

She let out a sharp scream as she lost the touch of the soft object. Her mind went blank as her sense of dread only grew stronger, she plummeted through the darkness and she was gaining speed fast. She screamed again, simply unsure of what to do. At this point, she was frantic.

Thud.

She felt her back smash into what must've been the bottom of the void. She convulsed from the pain that followed, shooting through her nerves like lightning. The floor was hard, and it was a texture that she had never felt the likes of before. She could feel nothing around her but the cold air, she was lost in the dark.

"Are you okay?"

It was a masculine voice, and it seemed to come from not too far away.

"I heard a scream," the voice started. "Followed by a bump."

Blinding lights flashed in her face as the voice had finished it's last sentence. Her pupils dilated, leaving her blinded and terrified. She couldn't control her fear, and mindlessly leapt back. She felt the back of her head come crashing into a hard object, which luckily seemed to possess rounded corners. She slumped forward, the pain ringing through her head as if she'd just been punched.

"Hey!" The voice began again. "Calm down! I'm not here to hurt you!"

She forced her eyes to adjust to the bright light, revealing that she wasn't as dead as she had thought. She was indoors, in a room, a clean room. What she thought was the bottom of the void was simply a wooden floor, and she hadn't fallen nearly as far as she thought. She had smashed her head into what looked like a small table, also carved from wood. What she had fallen from also looked like a table, but it was covered in fabric.

Standing in the doorway was another pony. He was tall, but rather slender. His features were hard, and the border between cheek and jaw was ill-defined. The mane atop his head was a moderate shade of green, and his coat was a bright, unsoiled white. He cast a shadow of darkness that ran parallel to the boards of the floor, and he looked as intimidating as a serial killer.

Seeing as though the mare had calmed down, he opened his mouth to speak.

"I see you're awake, are you okay?" he asked.

She simply sat still, unsure of what to do, still reeling in the shock of the light.

The stallion took a few steps forward. "I said, are you okay?"

This time the message got to her, and she shook her head wildly from side to side. "N-no...!" she began. "Please! Help me!"

Her voice came out scratchy, like nails running down something porous. This was made painfully apparent by the way the stallion cringed away from the sound of her voice. He looked concerned, and he took a few more steps forward. It felt like he was walking slow, as slow as a snail; it took him forever to reach her. He gingerly sat down in front of her, and outstretched a single hoof.

"Calm down," he said. "My name is Thunderhoof - or just Thunder for short - and I'm here to help you."

She stared at him, eyes wide, heart racing. This is as close as she had ever gotten to another pony, save for her mother. Now that he was up close she could see, there was something wrong.

This stallion was depressed.

His eyes were sunken, and the surrounding tissue had the telltale puff of a pony who cried all to often. His muscles looked weak, struggling to support even his slender frame. This pony did not eat often, and he certainly did not go out much. His hair was wispy and unwashed. His mere presence was probably enough to cause malaise in the average pony, but not her. She welcomed the sight of a pony who didn't want to hurt her for once, at least that's what she assumed. She made careful to not let her guard down should anything happen, though how much her atrophied body could pull off was unknown.

She finally managed to calm down her breathing, bringing her frantic gasps down to a slowly paced huff. She stared at his hoof, unsure of what to do.

An awkward silence ensued.

Welcomed

Thunder dropped his hoof back to the wooden floor with a thump. He opened his mouth to speak again.

"What were you doing out in the woods by yourself, in the middle of the night?"

"Running." she said. Her words no longer came out as high pitched squeals, but as her normal voice.

"Running from what?"

"Running from my mother."

"Why?" he cocked his head.

"Because she's a bad pony, she killed my baby brother, she cut me, she cut herself, she never let me eat any good food-"

"I understand." she was cut off by Thunder. "What's your name?"

She paused, unsure of what to say.

"I-I don't know..." she said weakly.

Thunder sat and stared at her for a moment, almost dumbfounded. A pony who didn't even know her own name? It was unsettling just to think about, the idea that nopony had ever given her a name.

"You don't know your own name?"

"As far as I know, I don't have one." she replied. "Why are you helping me?"

Thunder opened his mouth for a second, but promptly close it again. His eyes rose in thought.

"Because it's wrong to leave those on death's edge as they are." he finally said.

"As far as I can tell, you're not getting much out of it..." she replied.

He paused again.

"I would argue that saving a life, is rewarding enough."

"I had no idea that ponies would value the lives of other's."

"Well it's true that some may not, most do - including me."

"I suppose I should thank you..." she began. "So, thank you for saving me from freezing to death out there."

"Don't mention it." he replied. "I suppose you're probably quite hungry, would you like something to eat?"

"Yes, I would."

"Alright, meet me downstairs in ten minutes."

She nodded, and he stood up to go. Before he left the room, he turned and said one last thing.

"I think you look like you'd make a nice 'Sunfire.'"

He left the room, his hooves audibly thumping down the hallway outside.

"Sunfire"

The name bounced about in her mind. She whispered it to herself a few times, grasping every turn of the tongue she had to make. Studying every wisp, every pop, and every nuance of it. Perhaps it would make a fitting name for her, it had a nice ring to it. She said it one final time, aloud, and proud.

She stood up and took a glance around the room. Everything seemed ordinary, and empty. The table she'd hit her head on was barren, as was the dresser in the corner of the room. The door looked rather "homemade," it was cobbled together out of roughly cut wood and glue. The lightbulb that hung from the ceiling was very clearly on it's last legs, as it flickered on and off at seemingly random intervals. It's yellow-white light gave the bedroom an eerie, desaturated hue. As thankful as Sunfire was for the shelter, it wasn't exactly too welcoming.

There was a window behind the mysterious fabric table she'd been laid across earlier. She clambered up to look out, and saw nothing but darkness. There were very faint shadows and outlines moving in the now audible wind, but nothing more than that. She began to question exactly how long she had been out. Was it still the same night? The next day? Or was it simply destined to be night forever? A symbol to forever remind her of mother's depravity? She thought to ask for the day when she went to get some food, but she realized it probably wouldn't do much good, as she didn't know when she'd left.

Food was cooking. The aroma of something was clearly rising through the floor, eggs possibly? It was hard to tell, being confined to eating whatever mother chose not to before now. Smelling the food made Sunfire realize just how hungry - and how weak - she really was. Her stomach grumbled slightly, a plea for sustenance. She began to count the seconds until she could go down.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...

It was time.

She began towards the door, walking as fast as she could without being impolite. The hallway outside was dim, supporting only a single lightbulb to it's clutches. The walls were thin and uninsulated, letting the cold from the surrounding night leech through. It smelled faintly of mildew as she trotted, stronger in some places than others.

She reached the stairs, and began to walk down. It was dark, unpierced by the waning lightbulb behind her. Every step she took creaked, creating a horrible whine beneath her. This stairway was surely the most unsettling part of the house, so far.

The main floor was no better. The stench of mildew was much stronger here, and the source was apparent. There was a hideously large patch of mould growing in the far corner, it coated the wall like a black fuzzy blanket, and Sunfire could swear it was throbbing. Underneath the mould sat an old sofa, tattered, ripped, and unwelcoming. The coffee table next to the sofa was in no better condition than the rest of the room, it's wooden frame crumbling with time. The floor was nothing more than slabs of plywood laid next to one another on top of concrete, letting the cold night air permeate through with even more strength than upstairs.

Thunderhoof sat in the kitchen, spatula in hoof as he leaned over an old looking oven. The kitchen was grungy, each and every appliance caked with grime; it would've been sickening if she wasn't used to wallowing in filth. The kitchen held the only light source on the main floor: a dimmed fluorescent light that did not look like it belonged here. The smell of cooking eggs from the kitchen mixed the smell of mould present all throughout the house, and it made her sick. She wretched at the wicked aroma and held her hoof over her nose, blocking the scent.

"Don't mind the smell." Thunder sighed. "You get used to it after awhile..."

"I... I'm sorry," Sunfire replied. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings..."

"It's fine." he chuckled. He moved his spatula in the pan, out of her view. The now-cooked eggs were brought to their new homes; two (thankfully) clean plates. He snatched the plates in his hooves and placed them on the counter directly opposite to him. "I don't own any cutlery..."

Sunfire simply nodded in acknowledgement as she started towards the kitchen. If anything, the eggs didn't look too bad.

Mould

Sunfire sat down, eager to eat.

The eggs were surprisingly good compared to the rest of the house, except for the shell that Thunder had clearly let slip by. She dug in without a second thought, devouring the eggs in one fell swoop. The first thing she had eaten that wasn't garbage.

Thunder ate at a painstakingly slow pace, chewing each and every bit to the fullest extent before swallowing. He looked scary just eating a day-to-day meal. His gaze would dart to a new location entirely every so often, and it would remain fixed for minutes at a time. When asked what he was looking at, he simply shook his head. He was stranger than Sunfire had thought.

After the food was no more, Thunderhoof silently took the plates out to the kitchen. He dumped them in the sink, already overflowing with old dishes. He sighed and turned back to Sunfire, staring at her. As much as she wanted to look away, his gaze was besetting. It held her by the eyes.

"I'm sorry..." he said, looking down at the floor.

"S-sorry...?" Sunfire began. "Sorry for what?"

"I'm a freak." Thunder replied bluntly.

"N-"

"Yes I am." he thumped his hoof on the ground.

Neither pony knew what to say, so they stayed quiet. The words rang throughout the house, bouncing in and out of their own ears.

"I haven't slept in four days," Thunder finally spoke up. "I'm going to bed."

A bed, that's what it was called.

He stumbled over to the disgusting couch across the room, and laid himself down on it. "Please, make yourself at home."

"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" Sunfire cocked her head. "Especially when there's a clean bed upstairs? I wouldn't even mind sharing it with you."

"No," he replied. "The couch is special."

Sunfire sighed and took for the upstairs bedroom without a second thought. She promptly laid herself across the mattress, and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she'd passed out cold, letting her body give way to the darkness that fed her life.

Hours had passed before she opened her eyes. She awoke, and sat up in her bed.

Something was wrong. No light was shining through the window, it looked as if no time had passed by since she fell unconscious. Sunfire rolled over and peered through, only to find the same dark silhouettes dancing in the wind; waving to her.

Confused, she got up. She decided to see if Thunder was still asleep downstairs, and if not, perhaps he could answer a few questions. The house creaked with pain as she moved, every step stressing a different part of the structure, making it cry for help. Eventually, she reached the landing, only to find Thunderhoof wide awake on the couch, staring at the ceiling, completely motionless.

"Thu-"

"This forest," Thunder cut her off. "Is not for the likes of you."

He turned his head to face her. His eyes were wide, and horrifically bloodshot. His muzzle dripped with blood, trickling down all over his chest. He had not slept, not one minute.

It was now that Sunfire had realized the front door was open. The cold breeze blowing in from the outside beckoned to her, she almost wanted to run. Thunderhoof was unsettling before, but now he was terrifying.

"We need to go." he said, pulling her from her daze.

Where To? (Choice)

"What? Why?" Sunfire said, starting to panic.

Thunder sat up straight, and pointed to the patch of mould in the corner. "It knows."

"Wh-"

"We have two options, make a stand in the cellar, or attempt to run in the forest." he said, his breath heavy. "What do you pick?"

"The cellar."
"The forest."

The Cellar (Branch 1)

"Alright, go to the closet opposite of the bedroom upstairs." Thunderhoof nodded vigorously. "Grab everything wrapped in a towel and meet me outside."

Sunfire stood, frozen.

"Go on!"

The words pushed her into action. She ran up the stairs to the aforementioned closet and frantically rooted through its contents. Sure enough, there were several rough objects wrapped in towels. All three of them were spherical, but not perfectly spherical. She knocked the rest of the closet's denizens out as she pulled the three spheres onto her back. She moved as fast as she could under the load of the strange articles.

As she made her way back downstairs, she heard something. It was raining - or rather storming outside. But there was something more to it, it wasn't just a storm. Something bigger was out there, something malicious, something wretched. She couldn't tell what was making that horrific noise, but it was there, and it was coming.

Sunfire gritted her teeth, and tried her best to stay calm. It was difficult, but she managed not to drop anything as she entered the landing. The main floor was near black now, it's one light was shut off. The only thing she could see was the faint ambient light creeping in through the door. She ran as fast as she could manage, making her way outside into the freezing cold night.

"Thunder?!"

"Over here." He replied, sounding just as monotone as he had been hours before. He stood to the side of the dilapidated house, already soaked from the rain. The outfit - or rather armour - he adorned was makeshift at best. Several sheets of corrugated metal were welded together around him, with heavy work boots placed on his hooves. "Lets get a move on."

Sunfire followed him to the side of the house, were she found a cellar door. It was only now that she realized, around his torso was a sheath, a series of leather cuffs holding a massive sword in their clutches. What exactly he needed it for she could only guess, but she found it comforting somehow.

Thunder wrapped his hooves around the doors to the cellar and threw them open, motioning her inside. For someone so slender and emaciated, he seemed quite tough, almost heroic.

Without even thinking, Sunfire leapt into the cellar. Thunder climbed in behind her and slammed the door shut, completely enshrouding the room in darkness. The floor was rough, and cold, probably made of stone. The air was cold, not as cold as the air outside, but still cold. Everything out here was just cold.

Sunfire heard the sound of scraping, followed by light. Thunderhoof had lit a lantern. Sunfire could now see the massive machine that surrounded the room. She was surprised she couldn't hear it before, even over the rain, it was loud. Perhaps she was just shocked. All around the room, pipes carried small components to and from a giant center console, boasting at least 100 different buttons and levers.

Behind her, Thunder secured the door tightly with a coil of rope.

"W-What is this?!" She stammered.

"None of your business right now!" he snapped back. "Unwrap the towels!"

Sunfire winced at the yell, and did as she was told. All three objects were placed to the ground and the towels covering them were removed. One by one, three large - and intricate - hunks of machine metal were revealed. Each one was painted a different colour, green, red, and blue.

"What are th-"

She was cut off as the cellar shook from side to side, all accompanied by a near-deafening roar outside the building. The cellar door buckled as something on the other side pounded into it with a horrific cracking noise.

As the cellar settled once more, Thunderhoof spoke up. "Take the metal, and go! Run!" he shouted. "There's a door behind that main console, it'll take you to the guts of this thing. There are three slots, each coloured to match one of the chunks of metal. I'm sure you know what to do, now go!"

"You're coming with me!"
"I understand."

The Forest (Branch 2)

"Got it," Thunder nodded. "I need you to go upstairs, look under the bed you were sleeping on and meet me outside. Understand?"

Sunfire hesitated, relaying the words back to herself, and she nodded. She turned around and made her way upstairs. She was slow at first, but something compelled her to go faster and faster, as though she were being chased. She ran down the hallway and into the bedroom. Underneath the bed was a single vest, made of some very slippery material bearing a silver sheen. It was cold, and almost rigid, but it could be worn with some uncomfortable adjustments. She slung the article over her back and left the room, frantically making her way back down the hallway.

As she ran, she noticed something, it was now storming outside. She had no idea when it started to storm, but it certainly was, and it was storming hard. Inbetween floor creaks, Sunfire noticed something: another horrible noise on top of the pitter-patter of the rain, there was something growling, rasping, and screaming it's head off out in the cold night. No amount of guessing could tell her what could've been making that noise, but it was there, and it was coming.

The unsettling presence only made her move that much faster out of the house, and into the freezing rain. All lights inside the house were now shut off, the only source of illumination being the clouded moonlight from outside the house. As she emerged she began to look for Thunder, her eyes rapidly darting from place to place in the darkness; searching. He was found on the left wall of the house coming out of the door, the side facing a large clearing of tall grass and shrubs. He appeared to be wearing a thick looking leather coat with the unmistakable jagged bulge of something metal underneath it.

"There you are!" Sunfire ran up to him, panting in fear. "I-I found this vest underneath the bed upstairs, is this what you meant?"

Thunderhoof simply nodded, providing a line of sight to the dagger he had strapped around his neck, easily within his jaw's reach. "Put it on, I have a sweater for you after."

Sunfire nodded shakily and put on the vest, it squeezed her uncomfortably, but she managed to get into it without much pain. Unfortunately, the vest's material did not conduct heat well, leaving her colder than before. "What is it for?"

"It'll keep that thing from touching you, at least until it figures out a way to get you without touching it," he started. "Problem is, it's hard to move in, and if without wearing anything over it, it's pretty easy to see."

Thunder outstretched a singly hoof, presenting Sunfire with a dark red pullover hoodie. "Put it on, it's freezing out here."

Sunfire nodded and pulled the sweater over her vest, awkwardly trying to get her hooves through the holes. With enough effort, she was warming up in the warm cotton embrace.

"Good?" Thunderhoof asked.

The horrific growling had only gotten louder in the time they'd taken outside.

"Mmhmm" Sunfire replied, trying to hide the edge of pure terror to her voice.

"Then let's go!" Thunder now had a slight edge of worry to his voice, no longer sounding as monotone as he had hours before.

The two turned to face the clearing beside the house, and started to move. It was but mere moments before the two broke out into another sprint, putting the dilapidated house behind them.

They ran as fast their outlandish build would allow, hopping over branches and brambles to the best of their abilities. The grass they were moving along was slick with rain, making their stamina drain fast. Whatever was behind them was gaining on them, it was getting louder. It's rasps were becoming more audible with every passing second, instilling the growing sense of terror within them.

Sunfire wanted to talk, but she couldn't risk wasting anymore breath than she already was in her panicked state. Eventually she decided to risk it.

"What the fuck is that thing behind us?!"

"I'll answer that later! Keep running!"

The two were panting heavily by the time they came to a fork in the road. Two paths, both branching away from each other, and no going back. One lead to the left, and as if it was swallowed by something not too far away, the mouth of a cave. The other path looked to lead to another clearing, wide open with plenty of places around it to hide.

"Dammit, we're beyond the part of the forest I recognize, which way do we go?!"

"The left."
"The right."

Accompaniment (Branch 3)

"But-"

"No!" Sunfire snapped back. "I'm not gonna make it without you, now come on!"

Thunder simply nodded, giving a sigh of annoyance in tandem. The two of them began to walk towards the aforementioned door, but they soon broke out into a sprint as whatever was outside pounded on the door a second time. Thunder wrapped his hoof around the door knob and jerked the crude wooden door wide open, scurrying Sunfire inside before following in himself. The door was slammed shut behind them as fast as it was opened. The darkness in the claustrophobic stone hallway seemed to put up a harder fight against the lantern light than the darkness before, making visibility even poorer.

The door in the other room buckled with an audible thump, starting to split as evidenced by the horrific cracking noises growing ever louder. The noise was startling, and it made the two move. They started running down the hallway as fast as they could manage, but it never seemed to end.

"Just a bit further!" Thunder said between ragged pants.

The two had been running for at least four minutes by the time they finally came across something new.

The incredibly tight hallway gave way to something of quite the opposite nature. They stepped into an enormous atrium enshrouded in darkness. There were windows at the top, giving off only a faint navy blue hue from the night sky above. The stone floor they were on stayed just as narrow as it jutted out into the darkness, providing nothing in the way of handholds. Thunder's lantern was beginning to give out, and barely penetrated five feet into the surrounding gloom. The two had to rely on their balance as they moved, slowly crawling along the narrow stone pathways that curved throughout the abyss. Sunfire had no idea where they were going, and could only place her faith in Thunder to lead her. It wasn't long before they came to a small circular platform, jutting out into three smaller stone paths. They were barely a foot across each, and would obviously require careful maneuvering to get over.

Thoom.

Both of them stopped on the platform and turned to face each other, opening their mouths to speak.

"What was that?" they both said in unison.

The air hung still, the tension rising as they were engulfed in silence.

Thoom.

The noise was closer, whatever was back at the cellar door was no longer there, but rather down here. Without speaking, Thunder instinctively grabbed one of the metal articles and started across the leftmost stone pathway. Bits of it crumbled under his weight, and he nearly lost his balance a few times, but it wasn't long before Sunfire was left in the dark. The only thing seen was his lantern light, faint in the distance.

Thoom.

Thunderhoof was standing on another small stone platform, this one home to some strange looking mechanical device that was about his height, thousands of tiny gears and dials were visible even from here, all of their functions unknown. There was an obvious hole in the middle of it rimmed with a faded green paint, of which Thunder hastily stuffed with the elaborately carved chunk of metal.

Thoom.

With a faintly audible whirring click, the machine started to breathe. The unsettling screech of rusted metal began to fill the room. One by one, the dials of the device lit up and it's gears began to spin. Sunfire simply stood, watching with anxiety as a spotlight shone down on the platform that Thunder was situated on. The illumination revealed that this mechanical device was in fact connected with hundreds of others boasting double the complexity, all with a series of metal plated tubes running from contraption to contraption.

Thoom.

For the first time, Thunderhoof looked worried. His eyes were wide and his hooves were shaky as he turned around and waved to Sunfire; a clear signal for her to place the next piece of metal. She nodded in response and without thinking, dropped one of the machine parts onto the stone platform beneath her hooves. She started running across the rightmost catwalk, struggling to keep her balance as she went, barely able to keep her eyes open as she moved throughout the darkness. Eventually she made it to the platform she was hoping for, and even though it was pitch black, she found the cold touch of her mechanical device, and its many moving parts. A terrifying thought struck her.

What if I grabbed the wrong one?!

She cursed herself for not thinking and grabbed ahold of the metal chunk, frantically searching for the access of the machine. It wasn't long before she found it, and subsequently jammed the object into it as fast as she could. She held her breath.

Thoom the room buckled.

With a small whirring click, an incredibly bright light began to shine down upon her. She smiled with relief upon confirmation that she had grabbed the correct piece. But that smile wouldn't last long.

THOOM.

"W-what is that?!""