As Lyanna, the winged mare with a coat darker than his leads him towards and into what will be his new home, Ichab can't help but muse on how far he has come in such a short time. From the secluded valley of his youth, a place he had quite literally never stepped out of in his ten years until mere seasons ago, to a wonders of this place called Helovia. He was making new friends, or at least a new friend, in Lyanna, this exotic mare with turquoise feathers on her back and the sweetest smile.

As she takes him through the gateway of the World's Edge, Ichab paused by the wall. The material it is made from catches in the low sunlight of the early evening as it sparkles like nothing he has ever seen before. He hesitates in his path, coming to a halt and stretching out his neck to touch the wall with his muzzle. The material is cool against his skin, hard and smooth, and looks like water that has frozen to ice, but so clear and strong. Glass, Lyanna had called it. He wondered how such a structure had come to be. How was this glass made?

He picked up a brisk trot to catch back up with Lyanna as she entered a wonderful forested area. He glanced back at the wall for a moment, before his mind became once again filled with everything that was before him. He watched the feathers on Lyanna's topline move as she did, blow in the wind as it swept through the trees. He was mesmerized by her, by everything around him. Picking up a bit of speed, he pulled up alongside her.

The wind is picking up now. He can feel it whispering through the tines of his antlers and tickling his withers with his mane. The trees above them rustle their leaves and Ichab imagines that they are welcoming him to his new home.  Before long, the forest opens up and Lyanna comes to a halt. Ichab follows her gaze and feels his breath pulled from his chest.

Before him was an impossible vast stretch of water, crashing below them against the cliff on which they stood. Ichab couldn't see the other side. It was as it there was only water out there. He got the immense feeling that out there in the endlessness of the mass of water was both everything and nothing. The Edge of the World, Ichab thought, his eyes widened dramatically. He glanced at Lyanna when he heard her ask him what he thought. His mouth was gaping at the incredible sight.

He looked from her to the view and back again, lost for words for a moment. Finally, he found it voice. "It's... it's the most beautiful thing I've ever imagined," he said, his volume just above the whisper, his words almost lost to the wind that swept up the cliff face. "Truly, we stand at the end of the earth. Is there anything out there?" he asked her, not sure which answer he hoped for.

He had felt small in this vast world since leaving his herdland, but it was nothing to how he felt now. His meager life, the world he had known and lived in, was so tiny in the grand scheme of things, so insignificant. Realizing that was both terrifying and exhilarating. How could he make himself be someone in the enormous place?

“Talk.”

Ichab

The end is not as fun as the start,
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart.