The Bond

Chapter 5

Conflict

"Hey Tom...."

Ignoring Alex and Mike, I stepped foward towards the Zebra. Although I knew who it was, I had to be extra careful not to expose that factor as it would cause nothing but trouble for everyone, especially us.

"Hey! Please wait!" I shouted, making her turn and look at us with her glowing eyes.

"I...No, we want to thank you." I muttered, trying to keep my gaze fixed at her glowing eyes and praying that neither Alex nor Mike would say anything stupid.

The Zebra gave me a small nod of approval. Before I got to even ask, she turned her head towards to her left side. She turned and started to calmly walk to the woods behind her where we had originally come from before the incident with the wolf. I turned towards the guys, who were obviously pretty out by this point as they didn't seem to notice that she had shown the way out of this forsaken place.

I turned to our right side and started to walk to the way Zecora had pointed at. Oddly, neither Mike nor Alex questioned this and just followed behind me, perhaps a bit reluctantly. I couldn't blame them from this as Zecora didn't give a great first impression for the guys, even if she did stop us from becoming a dinner of the day for the hungry wolf.

Looking back, I saw that she had already left us and gone to the forest, presumably back to her cabin that laid somewhere there.

"Tom. Who was that?"

I sighed and turned to face Alex, who had asked the question. I could see from his eyes a glimpse of uncertainty of our current situation after the meet up with her. Even after she had saved us, Alex and Mike were still unsure of the whole ordeal that had happened.

Should I explain to them who she was?

"I'll explain later. What matters is that we now know the way out of here!"

* * * * *

*Rumble*

My stomach erupted into pain; it was almost incapacitating!

Even after Zecora pointed us the way out, we found ourselves still wandering in the woods. All of us were really down, as Mike wasn't saying any jokes and Alex was nearly crawling his way through. We hadn't eaten in so much time that Alex even resorted in eating some random leaves from some bushes, but he soon found himself spitting it out and cleaning his tongue. Neither me nor Mike laughed at this sight, even if it was very hilarious. We needed to conserve the little energy we had left on walking and observing our surroundings for any possible food. Even though we searched high and low through the dense bushes, we couldn't find anything that would pass as food. for now it was decided to focus on moving foward and not think about eating.

While all this happened, my mind was keeping itself busy with questions and all kinds of theories. Although some say its called wisdom, I preferred to call it logical thinking, as I very much dislike the idea of being superior to someone else. That was just the way I was, always trying to think my way out every situation possible. It also made me speak and think in formally, which has surprised many older people and too many younger ones, as it seems like teenagers aren't supposed to talk nothing but slang. Sometimes, I just feel like I was already born old....

As we walked, it was decided between me and Mike that he should take the place in front, so that if we were attacked again, I was able to defend both front- and backside. This also allowed me to relax a little, as now I wouldn't need to bother myself with both being only one us with some kind-of an weapon, even if it was still bloody, and guiding us. Me and Alex chatted a little, but not whole lot as he seemed to be in more worse condition, even if he insisted that he was fine and that his condition comes from the hunger. Still, I coudn't not help but look at his wound from time to time, as it seemed like the infection spread every minute...

This must have continued for an hour or so, until Mike had disappeared ahead of us, as I by now, I had to let Alex lean onto me and help him take step by step. This wasn't odd, as Mike constantly surveyed the area ahead with his Scouting skills, making sure it was safe for us to continue forward. As an unspoken rule, me and Alex would stop to wait for him to give the green light. I helped Alex to sit down and I took my place beside him.

"Tom... There's something I would like to ask you." Alex said to me, but not turning towards me. Then I knew it was something a little bit more serious than another question concerning us and Equestrian way of life.

"Yeah, what is it?" I said, not needing to even sound calm. It was perhaps the only good gift I had; when I wasn't angry or frustrated, my voice always bore calm, perhaps a little serene, tone. It had it's advances but most of the time back on Earth, people would just give me odd looks as it sounded like some good-looking guys voice, not some nerd's voice.

"What are we supposed to do after getting to the town?" he said while turning his attention towards me and getting another bad coughing spree, sighing, I turned my head upwards while trying to come up with an answer. Finally I had it, but I was unsure if it was what Alex was waiting for.

"Rebuild our lives from scratch. That's what we need to do: we need new names, a place to stay and past that is acceptable." I said while looking at the birds that flew above high above us.

"You mean, forgetting our past?"

I turned towards Alex who by now was sniffing. I knew it would be especially hard for him; he'd very loving family that had supported him through the best and worst and now I was asking him to let those memories fade away.

"No Alex. No matter what happens, don't ever forget your family. We just need to, ponify our memories; when we speak about our past or try to avoid situations where it might come up. Nothing is stopping you from talking about them; just remember to not leave lose ends." I said while raising myself up, as by now Mike had taken too much time for a normal check-up.

As if lady Fortuna was smiling on me, Mike appeared immediately from behind the trees.....laughing?

Indeed, he laughed while gallopped towards me and Alex, who by now also was interested in this unusual sight. Before I got to even say a thing, Mike stopped at the other side of Alex and helped me to carry him forward. Perhaps a little too enthusiastically as Alex flinched from pain every couple of steps we took. Before I got to point this out, a bright light shone from gap between the trees, blinding me temporarily. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could hear screams of joy that seemed to erupt from Mike. I could even hear Alex giving in a small laughter, soon followed by intensive cough.

As I soon saw what they saw, I also joined them in their joy, screaming and crying at the same time.

We had made it out of the forest!

* * * * *

We just stayed there for a couple of minutes just celebrating after the horrible time the forest had offered us. But soon enough, my mind gave me a mental kick in the nuts and I immediately turned back to my serious form. Sadly, I had to give Mike a little smack to his face to stop him from laughing, but as I was unicorn now, the hit didn't bolster any power what so ever, so no major injuries were done to Mikes face.

As I started to look around the current place we were, I immediately saw something that had to be a gift from Celestia herself or from some local farmer that had been quite reckless when throwing seeds.

It was a lone apple tree. The trunk fostered a dull grey colour, as to indicate that 'I'm old so get away from my apples.' I couldn't care less even if apples were rotten to their core.

By now, we all had noticed the tree. Mike just galloped to it without thinking, so I was left alone to help Alex. At the tree, Mike was hopping up and down, trying to catch one of the many apples it holstered in its branches. It amazed me just how high he could jump; perhaps he's just so lightly built now. As we got to him, he finally stopped trying and turned to face me.

"We've got a bit problem here." Mike said while giving a glimpse to the tree to, while some drool started to come from sides of his mouth.

"I noticed. Give it a kick" I commented, while letting go of Alex who informed he could stand on his own. Without any words said, Mike raised his right back hoof and gave the tree a kick. Sadly, the kick didn't cause any apples to drop down. Of course I knew from the show that only Earth ponies were powerful enough to buck apple trees, but Alex was definitely not well and I didn't want him to get in any worse condition. Mike was seemingly angry, as he gave the tree another kick but with even worse success. Even I took a shot but I did even worse than Mike, cursing in my mind I didn't know how to levitate objects.

"How about we try to kick it together? It might just do the trick." Mike said while giving me the "oh come on" look. I just shrugged and moved to the other side of the trunk while he got to the opposite side.

"Okay! On three! One..... two..... three!"

We both kicked the tree simultaneously, praying it would give us the thing we wanted.

It seemed like the prayer didn't go to waste, as I heard small thump voice. Looking back at Mike, I could see him bearing a faint grin as he raised his left hoof to show the apple that had fallen on his head; I walked over to him, raising my right hoof forward. Luckily he got the idea and in regards raised his hoof, making the two meet.

"Brohoof." I said while grinning. Mike chuckled little before answering to me.

"Yeah, I knew that one already." He said while lowering his hoof back and starting to walk towards Alex, who also had noticed the apple, basically drooling for it. Mike must have noticed this, as he quickly backed up while at the same time covering the apple, to Alex's dismay.

"Whoa! We've only got one apple; we're going to have to share." I said, trying to get the situation to calm down. Both of them just looked at me with asking gaze. Ignoring Alex for now, I asked Mike to hand over the apple. He did this, but a bit reluctantly.

Is this what hunger has done to us?

Without further do, I took a bite of the apple. A gasp erupted from both Mike and Alex, but before they got to say anything, I walked to Mike, handing the apple over to him.

"Easy. We all take a bite of the apple. It's big enough for each one of us to take a bite."

It seemed like both of them got the idea, as Mike took his part of the apple; eagerly chewing the crunchy part he had, savouring the taste while at the same time handing the apple over to Alex.

Alex gave the apple only glimpse before taking the whole thing down his throat, not leaving even the middle seed part behind. I couldn't help but to grin at the sight, when Alex tried to stand up, but was still unable to do that; single bite from already bitten apple was just not enough to keep pony like him working properly.

I walked over to him and helped him to stand up, while giving a glimpse back over to Mike, who was still looking at the tree. He sighed, while at the same time turning over and lending me a hand with helping Alex.

"Hope you know where to go next Tom." Mike said while taking over the left side of Alex.

What could I say?

"We'll just have to see." I said, while taking small balancing step forward.