//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Tunnel 
// Story: The Story of Zeta 
// by Z-A-C 
//------------------------------//

"We should really go back." I said while looking around and walking, cautiously follow Ganger.

"Relax, I'm sure there's an exit somewhere around here."

"We have been walking for fifteen minutes." I said with a hint of anger in my voice.

"Then going back would be a further waste of time."

I opened my mouth to say something, but she was right. Turning back now would mean more time wasted. She had better be right about the exit.

"I don't know," Said Velvet. "It has been a while and there's still no light at the end."

"Aw now you're agreeing with him now? Come on! Just a little farther and I'm we'll be fine."

"For your sake you better be right." I saw under me breath, and thankfully the others didn't hear me. Those words weren't entirely my own. Ganger was right about one thing though. We are traveling in a cooler environment, and thus saving us some food and water. Mostly water but still, my point stays relevant.

I wish I could tell how late it was, because I'm getting tired. I know Velvet feels the same, but Ganger somehow has a lot of energy. Which I find suspicious considering she hasn't eaten much recently. I whisper my concerns to Velvet and she agrees. We will both be watching her for awhile. We convinced Ganger to stop so we could get some rest. She didn't want to at first, but when I told her how long we've been walking, she seemed to understand. I suggested we all get some sleep and Ganger offered to take first watch. Since she has so much energy Velvet and I accepted the offer. Little does she know I'll be watching her until I take watch.

It has been several minutes and Ganger hasn't done anything out of the ordinary. All she has been doing, watching us. She hasn't left for minutes on end, she hasn't looked at either of us in a weird way. Nothing. I guess I should be glad she seems normal, but I still think somethings going on. All I can do is wait and see if she does anything strange. Well strange for her at least. That voice keeps telling me something is wrong with Ganger. It's probably just...what's a good name for him? Hmm...The Conqueror sounds good to me. Yes, it's probably just him trying to drive me mad. I shall try to do anything I can to render him unsuccessful. If that is at all possible anyway. I decided to get some sleep since Ganger wasn't looking suspicious. Maybe I can get an hour or two of sleep before it is my turn to take watch.

It seems that I did get some sleep before Ganger woke me up. Shortly after I stood up she collapsed onto the ground. I told her she shouldn't have stayed awake as long as she did, but I don't think she heard me. I shook my head and sat down. There were only two directions to watch. Which meant that it was going to be easier tonight, but on the other hoof I have lower then usual visibility. So it's pretty much pitch dark in here. I really hope that nothing attacks us from both sides. And if we are attacked, I hope we can out run the attacker. But for now I will just stay vigilant.





Last night was interesting. Now that Velvet is getting her voice back, she talks in her sleep. Nothing particularly of interest, it's just kind of amusing. Ganger seemed to have a nightmare. Her ear was twitching, and she was mumbling. I couldn't tell she was saying but it didn't matter. I would, however, be lying if I said I was not curious, but I saw it unwise to get close to her. Lest she wake up and bite my ear off, if I were to wake her up that is.

Right now we are still travelling through the tunnel. There is no end in sight, and I don't see this tunnel ending for awhile. I could be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. We are also very bored. Anything that was worth talking about, has already been talked about. The only time any of them spoke was to ask me for a canteen. It's been like this for an hour. I think we really need to get outside, and soon.

We found a cavern, much like the cave, but not an exit. At least not yet, we're still looking. The was no clean looking water but there was, according to Ganger, some edible mushrooms.

"How do you know we can eat these?" I asked.

"These are the same mushrooms we ate at the Hive." She said while inspecting them.

"Then what are you doing?"

"Double checking. There is a poisonous mushroom that looks like these." She said as she picked one. "Yeah, see? Brown instead black. These are safe, though they don't taste that great raw." She started gathering the rest and she put them in the bag.

"What will make them taste better?"

She looked around and shrugged. "Nothing here. Their not that bad, they just have an earthy taste to them."

"And that's it?"

She nodded her head. "Yep."

"Okay. Thank you for making sure these won't kill us."

"Oh, the poisonous ones wouldn't kill you. They would just make you really sick."

"I see. Well still Ganger, thank you."

"No prob!" She said before continuing her search for an exit.

I turned to Velvet. "What do you think?"

"About the mushrooms?" I nodded my head. "I don't know, I think we should trust her. She is our friend after all."

"Friend? Hmm...I guess so."

She raised an eyebrow. "Have you not had friends before."

I shook my head. "Never. In all my life, I have never had a friend. I don't even know when it is proper to identify somezebra or somepony as my friend."

"Then what did you think we were all of this time?" Ganger asked, returning from her search.

"Travel companions, but...it seems I have been mistaken." I looked at the ground in thought.

"Well at least that's better than what it could be I suppose."

"Zeta," Velvet started. "You can be sure that Ganger and I are your friends."

"So you really haven't had any friends before?" I shook my head. "Harsh."

"Not that I felt I needed any friends." I said. "Everyzebra I have ever met were jerks. So why have them in my life? Though I have found the concept of friendship interesting." I looked up at Velvet and Ganger. "I used to observe such things, but after being chased and nearly beaten I chose to stay inside my home..."

"Why would they do that?"

"My eyes." I shrugged.

"Whoa, good thing I decided to come with you. I don't even want to think about what they would've done to me." I saw her shiver.

"Was your right eye always red?" Velvet asked.

"No, it wasn't. It's part of the curse. It was the same as my left eye, but it changed the morning of my eighteenth birthday. Which is very shortly before I was exiled."

"Eighteen years with no friends." She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes, which widened slightly and she looked away.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The streak changed color again."

"What color?"

"It's changing back now but it was black."

"The color of sadness." I shook my head and chuckled. "No point in dwelling on it." I turned to Ganger. "What were your findings?"

She smiled. "You are not going to believe this. Follow me." And we did. We were walking down this smaller, more narrow tunnel but when we reached the end, I was surprised. We were on the other end of the cave/tunnel system. This was the exit we've been waiting for. What had Velvet and I so awestruck was this beautiful jungle we were now standing in.

Ganger looked at me. "And you said I was wrong." She said in a smug tone.

"My apologies Ganger. You were right." I looked at what sky I could see. "I can't tell what time it is, but it is still light out."

"I'll go see where the sun is." Said Ganger before taking off. She came back a few seconds later. "We're good on time. Wanna get going?"

"No, not just yet." I pulled out my map and found the only jungle on it. "Whoa."

"What?"

"We must either have been stuck in that tunnel for three or four days or that tunnel was magic."

"Why do you say that?"

Velvet looked at me. "What's going on?"

I show the map. "This is where we must be." I pointed to the lone green spot. "And this is the Equestrian Border." I traced an imaginary line. "See what I mean now?"

"Whoa." The both said at the same time.

"I really don't know how we cut five hundreds miles in such a short amount of time!" I rolled the map up and put it back in the bag.

"How for away from Equestria are we now?"

"One thousand three hundred twenty three miles."

"Still pretty far huh?" Said Velvet.

"Yes, but let's continue on. No point in staying here for much longer."

"Right!"