It was wet.

Africa sucked a deep, thoughtful breath through slit nostrils who were still quite opposed to the stale, unmoving air sullying them. The darkness was unnerving and the putrid stench of flourishing mould and mildew was enough to turn her stomach. Horses were not suited to life below the earth, and appropriately the young mare found little comfort in the cave- now that the hounds had been lost of course, and the storm outside evaporated. She listened too, prompted by his pondering, with ears flitting both cautiously and curiously to scavenge and pick apart the few sounds that resonated off the walls somewhere nearby. Perhaps she heard the trickle of water; the unseen channelling of sweet, icy spring water, but it could almost as easily have been her imagination trying to twist their venturing into some new distorted quest. Either way, Africa was neither thrilled by the idea of plunging blindly into a ravenous river, or beginning such a treacherous game in a new realm which was beyond her control.

“...Maybe we'll just run into a wall.” She scoffed playfully, ever more amused by Voodoo’s blunt, tactless mannerisms. He was unwittingly fun and exciting; his very obvious shallow interest in her was both alluring and interesting, and every time is young, husky tone filled her ears it fuelled the fire which had long begun to burn within her throbbing heart.

When she stopped so suddenly, the colt ploughed forward against her taught haunches, slurring some smooth obscenity which impelled her eyes to roll with amusement. Again the heat generated by the intimate union of their adolescent bodies caused some influx of hot flushing blood to her face, but the sensation was more familiar than the first time, or even the second; and while her bunched hindquarters remained so, cautiously ready to fling her away from the strange object below, they did not flinch uncertainly at his unexpected touch. Her red-nosed company slid forward and around her anyway to pause, just touching the lazy clutch of her feathered wing.

"I don't think that's a rock?" He stated, or questioned- perhaps he was just filling the space Africa’s ope-ended statement had left behind. All the while, her hoof rolled across and around the small object beneath it. “You should pick it up...” She suggested, a little selfishly given that neither knew if it were dangerous. The dapple grey Pegasus admired Voodoo’s self-sacrificing courage, he had dragged her foolish corpse from its burning grave after all, and it was probably better if he took charge now.

She shrank back a little, removing her hoof so that he might investigate further- Africa would offer hearty moral support.