Blue sighed as she dismounted off of Breakneck's back, looking around herself with slow movements. She blinked a few times, trying to comprehend her surroundings after having zoned out—though not sleeping—for the past few minutes, something which would have been easier had there not been hundreds of tiny pink elephants floating around in front of her.

"It's a cave," she said finally, sitting down on the cold stone floor and then glancing at her companion who laughed (though it sounded a little too loud to be genuine amusement).

"Yeah, tis." he replied, inspecting the area himself and not finding anything of any particular interest. On that note, though, it was so dark that to find anything would have been an accomplishment. "Ah'm a sprinter, so Ah can't run forever. So the best thing ta do was ta hide before them facility ponies catch us up."

"Oh." Blue was quiet for a moment before she snorted in aggravation, pushing away a small group of elephants which had gathered around her hoof and we're trying to eat it. "Did you have to choose the cave with elephants in, though? They're eating my foot. I don't like it."

Breakneck was silent for a second before he gave a short chuckle, something which drew a rather put out glare from Blue. Instead of sombering properly, though, he only laughed a little harder when she swatted away one of her pink elephants—or so he assumed, at least—from just behind her ear, yelping as her tail caught the soft skin and whimpering a little. She quietened quickly nonetheless; snarling, she turned on Breakneck with her ears flattened and bit out, "Shut up! Just because they're not jumping on you."

"Oh, ah'm sorry," he replied, trying to cover up his smile as best he could. It didn't go very well, but Blue couldn't see through the crowd of elephants which were now sat on his muzzle, trumpeting away. "Well, ya jus' stay here an'... Jus' go ta sleep. Or somethin'."

"Sleep?" Blue huffed as she jumped up, dancing on the spot as tiny pink elephants ran under her feet. She gasped as she looked around, whimpering as pebbles crumbled from the rocky caves, raining down around her in a tidal wave of rock. They shattered as they landed, morphing into tiny chickens which squaked and flapped about; Blue shrieked, hurtling up into the air with a single flap of her wings, pain coursing through her body as she crashed back into the ground, pink elephants and pebble chickens having a field day atop her back. Breakneck only snorted a little, finding the whole situation amusing.

"Ya could explore a bit, if ya'd like?" Breakneck suggested, nodding to the back end of the cave which was actually a tunnel, something which Blue, preoccupied with the pesky swarm of things around her, hadn't noticed. She huffed as she stood up, giving a small buck in frustration as the elephants stopped their trumpeting, whispering in sync to the mare.

"You don't have to listen to hiiiiim... You can do what you liiiiiiike..."

Blue shook her head, flattening her ears as if she could block out the sound. "Can't I just go with you?" she begged, pouting a little. "These creepy things bug me an- Hey! Hey, it's eating your nose! Breakneck, there's an elephant eating your nose!"

"Oh, really?" The stallion raised his hoof to his muzzle, brushing away whatever critter was supposedly eating him. In some ways, he didn't want Blue to get over the hallucinations; they were pretty funny. "Better?"

"Y-yeah. You know, you should really act faster." Blue frowned just as something small tugged at her tail; she yelped and shook her entire body, flapping her wings warningly. "Why you little- Argh! Argh! Stupid... things! Breakneck, I can't stay here! Let's go, c'mon-"

"Wait! Woah, woah. Ya can't come with me!" he barked, ears flattening a bit at Blue's comment as he snorted a little. Watching her face fall, though, he quickly tried to amend the situation. "No, Ah didn't  mean it like tha'! Jus'... Well, Ah'm a sprinter, Blue. If ya came ya'd slow me down. If ta stay here an'... Scout fer weapons or somethin', Ah can run back ta Pumpkin's real quick, grab ma caravan an' be back in a jiffy."

"What? I could keep up with you!" Shaking her leg as an elephant—were they growing?—wrapped it's trunk around her hoof, she groaned and galloped to the side of the cave, snarling at the crazy creatures, yelping as a chicken pecked her relentlessly. "Look! They're eating me!"

Breakneck sighed as he slowly inched back to the entrance to the cave. "Look, jus' go ta sleep, find a ledge or somethin', or jus' run down through the cave. But mind out for any... Mad bats or... Yeah. Jus' run down there, ya'll lose your..." He waved his hoof around the room at Blue's supposed army of tiny creatures. "Friends."

Spinning before Blue could say another word, he crept out through the fairly small entrance to the tunnel, leaving the mare alone. She whimpered as she watched him go, dashing after him as soon as his unnerving tails had disappeared, scampering through the crowd of elephants and chickens and, a new addition, tiny little humpback whales. Rushing outside, she gritted her teeth against the sudden rush of wind—where had that come from?—and looked around quickly, but could find no sign of him; the light half of the world held no clues, and the darker side was near impenetrable to see through.

Trying not to scream, Blue hurried to retreat back into the 'crowded' cave, suddenly afraid. Jot for Breakneck's sake—he was a big boy, he could take care of himself—but for her own sake; she'd been out here for perhaps a week, during which time she'd done next to nothing except newrly die, only ever saved by her companion. Now on her own, even if not for long as Breakneck had promised... Wimpish as she was, she couldn't cope with that.

Looking around the cave, she frowned when she noticed the sudden lack of creatures surrounding her, her heart dropping even more; not being able to understand was hardly good for her confidence. A moment later, she felt her eyes become heavy, drooping; the earth shook and shuddered beneath her hooves and the rocky floor cracked; thick red lava, icy cold to such an extent that it even burned her skin, seeped up through the gap, filling the cave rapidly. Blue gasped and opened her wings, flying upwards as the liquid chased her, her heart pounding as her lungs burned for some reason or other. She screamed, though no sound came, as she felt something hot and sticky trickling down her cheeks, her eyes bloodied and agonising, her vision nothing but red. Writhing, she tried to yell once again as wicked claws reached out from the  walls, grabbing at her mane and tail and fur, yanking without mercy, pulling out thick clumps of hair and fur, letting it fall down into the liquid, surrounding the mare's now bare body with bloodied, torturously scratchy matter. And, just as she couldn't picture it getting any worse, the freezing lava rose up higher, scalding her raw, hairless skin and covering her head, the liquid flooding her lungs, destroying her throat and, at long last, allowing her to simply let go. Next Chapter: Old Wounds Estimated time remaining: 31 Minutes