Look down, the ground below is crumbling
Look up, the stars are all exploding
Grateful and a little surprised given the many fouls Africa had truly, secretly committed against their home, a nerve in her heart began to wrench. Behind the mask of pale grey tranquillity, remorse was working a jagged path to the surface of her smooth being from the depths of her burning soul. Silas drew his shining black eyes from Fina, again, and rested them upon the bouncing crest of his love- concern for her pooling like a grim cloud throughout both his heart and his mind.
For so long they had avoided the inevitable confession; he did not understand why this horse, the black and white stallion had any greater influence than any other they had passed by recently. The young Zephyr had not been raised into the warmth and security of a family- he had fended for his mate, Africa, from the moment he had flown upon her withering existence. To him, isolation and tight lips had become everyday life, and he found her sudden desire for interaction amongst her kind disconcerting.

Never the less, he resumed his grooming of her, plucking gently at the flaking skin and shrivelled, dead hairs in the lowest part of her mane by her withers.

It did not pass Africa by unnoticed that Midas deflected her attempt to turn the conversation onto him. When she thought back- quickly, glancing across the terracotta-hued rock in brooding silence, she could not really count a time when the General had granted her insight into his life, feelings, motivations; anything actually, which might invite a deeper, more understanding friendship between them. She sighed, stealing a glance across the strange collar straddling the top of his muscular breast, and upwards to study without his notice (if she could), the suddenly obvious façade which he seemed always so gracefully to be wearing. She knew there must be depth to him; he, the epitome of strength, valour and dependability- but who was Midas?

Respectfully, though privately unconvinced, she shrugged gently and followed his lead- the distraction was welcome.
The dappled mare drew a long breath and a tender smile swept across her face. For something instigated by terror and sadness, truly, the time Silas and she had spent down there was invaluable.

Africa began with an effortless enthusiasm, finding great pleasure in sifting back through the hidden beauty of her peaceful home-away-from-home.
She explained that she had not realised how dependent her whole existence had been on the light, fresh air and familiarity of this vast region, Helovia. How when those luxuries were removed altogether, she had found to her amazement- within, a primitive will to survive against all odds. That her eyes had been so very dependent on the light, that it had taken what she could only imagine to be weeks for them to adjust to the eerie, black world below the earth. She had blundered about in a blind-stupor for a long while- and she laughed as she remembered those awkward, clumsy journeys through the maze-like tunnels.

She described for Midas (and for Fina), in fine detail the extravagant worm-like creatures whose abdomens were always aglow with a soft milky-blue light; the way they clung to the smooth, granite walls like beautiful lamps to brighten the weight of perpetual, dreary darkness. She told them how much their presence had been a comfort, when her instincts grew weary of the unnatural defiance, and craved open space and sunlight, (that natural urge was unaware that a night even darker still cloaked the whole of Helovia above).

She explained how she and Silas had copied the underground natives; centipedes, roaches and moths, grazing on the sweet moss which veiled across the cold wet walls of their home. That there was a whole ecosystem of life thriving, unseen and apparently ignored by the surface dwellers, until her visit- rats, insects and bats being a few of those they had stumbled upon. The creatures there were fearless, she told, their lives untouched and without the troubles which seemed to flank Helovian culture.
She went on to tell them how they had followed one such rat, whose fat white body slinking across a ledge in the black rock wall; scampering at times between the motionless glow-worms, had guided them to an enormous cavity which could easily have housed ten Pegasus all standing together. Within it, long sharp spears grew from the ceiling- and the echo of a misplaced hoof often sent one spiralling dangerously downwards, only to shatter across the stone-like floor with a shrill crash.
Within the large room too, was a small tranquil pool, fed by fresh, clean underground spring water. And she mentioned, that when she and Silas had sipped (so delicately) from its lip, the reflection of little lights began to dance to a melody Africa could never hear.

Really, Africa could have frothed about the unimaginable glory she had witnessed forever; but she drew a deep philosophical breath at last instead.
Living under the ground gave me a whole new perspective on what life has to offer; what secrets Helovia hides, and how insignificant we can really seem beneath such shadows."