It has been so long since I have been to the Basin, I hardly recognize it anymore. The chilly world had been transformed into something far more bright and welcoming than usual, the dark sky interrupted by fireworks and filled with joyous song. This was not a place I knew, not to say I knew it very well from the start. I could count my visits to my 'homeland' from one to ten, and although I could not be sure, I suspected that was probably something to be sad about. (I am not sad though, I feel... nothing) That sadness was amplified by the fact that nobody, and I mean nobody could tell me where my Mother was. She had honestly, truly vanished off the face of the earth, even her status as Corporal had been revoked. (You aren't important anymore) "AS important-" I quip before pulling dark ears back and my nose in closer to my painted chest.

I was never important like that, or at all for that matter. Perhaps a part of me wanted to believe that by tacking a name to mine that somewhere, somebody was worried about my safety and well-being. Maybe some dedicated herd member that kept tabs on all of the wayward children, or even the herd leader! The disappointment was barely tangible, if only in the glistening of pale blue eyes and how my growing hooves shuffled demurely across the loose soil. From the time that my Mother had taken me all the way to those dreadful Isles, to now, I was a completely different horse. Or so this is how I felt, just a recycled mind entrapped in an ever-changing body that seemed to keep changing when I was not looking.

My tail swept across the ground, pushing grass and rocks and pines in every which direction. I had settled myself off to the outskirts of the festivities, too uncomfortable with the whole situation to bother the attempt at forgetting. I did not realize quite what I was seeing until a few loose stones tumbled down to my ankles, making me raise my gaze once more to the alabaster pegasus who had passed by earlier. As with everything else, I paid her no mind. Now my jaw sank slowly open as I watched her climb yet another obstacle on a treacherous journey upward, a pitch shadow dogging her steps and occasionally, her back. A companion? Most probably, but that still did not explain her sudden need for a death sentence, surely there were better ways to go about such things? My first instinct was to flee, escape the situation so that no blame could be placed on my shoulders if she did fall. Instead I caught that terrible bug, that insatiable desire to know why she was so dedicated to this dangerous outing, I... I was curious.

For every step I took I hated myself for it, for with burning face and shaking legs, I began to follow the crazy mare, young legs propelling me onward with relative ease. Traversing short culverts and hard to maneuver dips in the shelf, you would think I had been born here or something. Still, it felt like ages before I could finally say that I made it to the top, lungs heaving and muscles all but collapsing my form. My entire body was on fire, a regretful venture for sure, where visiting foreign herds was exciting, this was terrifying and painful. For what? There was very little space to actually move atop the precipice, leaving it hard not to press against the pale mare's own legs as I sank to the rocky floor. The sky, apparently. Her chiseled face was firmly focused on the inter-changing aurora painted against the stars, silvery pin-pricks burning through the greens and purples with their own fire. She... came up to see this? And in that moment I could not be angry, not with her or myself for taking the dive into following her.


"Talk."


@Ultima it's awful I'm so sorry.