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// 3: Merely Moving 
// Story: The Power of Randomite 
// by Archie Ratsworth 
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The voice cackled as she trotted stiffly forwards, distracting her from the way her hooves struck the floor, how different the sturdiness of having four legs was to the having of two sets of toes to keep her upright.  As the jarring sensations from her awkward strides made her grit her teeth, she was bemused to find she still had to reverse her slight overbite to do so. She'd changed forms and yet it seemed, some things were irritatingly consistent; probably Murphy's Law to blame for that, always screwing her over. 

Having chosen her target, a hole in the wall, she staggered over slowly, success swelling up inside her. She stopped, nosing over the loose-ish rocks at the edge of the cavity and seeing that it had been...blasted?! 

Rearing back, and staggering she regarded the opening with shock, her head reeling with the implications. Something had done this, and it could have been a life form, either sentient (meaning she'd be discovered in a gem mine, eek!), or not (which could mean rock moles, gah!) or maybe, it was something else, like explosive minerals...or maybe her arrival had blasted the hole.

Collapsing on her side, she lay there shuddering as her unintentional screaming reflected off the walls, acting like an echo-chamber and magnifying the noise back at her. Eventually, the noise faded, and the deafened pony ceased sobbing, realizing that the voice had gone away. She rolled back onto her feet-no... hooves, dammit! Sighing wetly, she wobbled back over to the hole and peered through…

The light was dimmer out there, but still enough to see by. She peered over her shoulder back at the lit cave and sighed, leaning down to the rubble by her hooves and opening her mouth. She gave the rocks an exploratory lick and found them to be cool, so she tried to pick some up in her teeth, finding them smooth but dusty (particles) and gritty (texture). Finding one she could hold in her maw, she found her tongue pressed against it, forcing her to stop and adjust her grip by pushing the rock against a wall, pressing it further into her mouth. It was, however, considerably more rock then she would have once been able to suck, and she'd done it a couple of times for sheer experimental experience value. 
Red-stone torch in cheek, so to speak, she gave another sigh and set out, her gut swarming with the nervousness of indecision. What if she was meant to stay there? No, she was going, she'd decided.
"Ah, leaving already?" The voice asked.
"Whuh?" She grunted through her rock, glancing around.
"I thought you'd linger until I'd have to tell you to go. Why did you bring the rock?"
"Luh." She grunted, trying not to think about how the cave had gone dark.
"I see." The voice said. "Well, it makes things easier. I can't afford to keep lighting things up for you."
"Kay." Smiling, she tossed her head, and paused due to irritation. She tried again, and again, a frown creasing her brow.
"Why are you jerking your head like that?" The voice snapped.
"Nuh huur!" She mumbled around the rock. "Whuh?"
"No what? Hair? Of course you have hair, it's that grey fuzz all over you."
She made a rude noise in response. "Mane." She managed, nearly choking on and spitting up the rock.
"Mane." The voice mused. "Oh! I see...you don't have a mane? That's your problem?"
"Yuh."
"Well, don't complain to me! It's your own fault for having such a short haircut before getting turned into a pony!"
She snorted, shaking her head, and then set off, faster, her eyes burning.

As if I knew this would happen! The thought rolled around in her skull, feeling like a lie. She blinked away tears, realising she'd started trotting like a dressage horse without knowing it. Her pace promptly halted as her legs tangled and left her staggering, trying not to fall and break her teeth. Surging forward, she took three very long strides and got her walk back to normal. The voice laughed at her, and only stopped when she reached a point where she had multiple options forward.

"Hold on a moment." The voice told her, and then her light went out. She froze, shivering and peering through the dark. After a while her eyes picked up a glimmer in the distance. "There."

She shuffled across the floor in that direction, and after a minute, the voice sighed and the rock started glowing again, much fainter. It was enough to pick a path by, however, so she sighed and headed towards the glimmer. Eventually, she reached something that made her legs stupid, rushing crumbling over to it, she halted, realising the drop that faced her. She backed away, and as her mouth opened to omit a cry of fear the rock slipped out of her mouth and skittered away, going dark.
After a while she realised she could see; her eyes were picking up on a dim ambient glow. She refocused, squinting at the thing that had shocked her into losing her light.

Tracks. Not just any tracks, but rails, metal tracks with wooden slabs betwixt them, striping the gap. Her head had gone stupid too, judging by that description. But it was a sign, too, a sign of sentient and advanced life. She stood, staring at them, gobsmacked at the change in her luck. On one side, it seemed to lead to a way out; on the other...there was no cart.  If she was going to use them, she'd have to walk on the slabs in the dark, a precarious plan. A board could be rotten, and give under her, or she could just misstep and achieve the same horrible result. She peered at the edge of the cliff and shuddered, backing away further.
For a moment, the glimmer she'd been heading towards seemed to wink out, and dismay came crashing in its place, filling her full of shame at her helplessness.
"What do I do?"
She couldn't think of an answer, and her resolve guttered, leaving her eyes wet and her chest heaving.
"What do I do?" She repeated, but the voice didn't provide an answer either.
Wait. Hold on.
The idea seemed...strange, but at this point she had no other choice. She sat and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.