Dash had been at World’s End for two days now and it was almost night once more. She planned departing the next morning with Butterscotch and the hippogryph. None of them had eaten in days now which didn’t help them recover from the journey they’d all taken getting here. Also as it turned out she wasn’t the one-hundredth pony... err, being up here after all. She’d been here before so it didn’t count. Butterscotch was the ninety-ninth being here which as a feat in itself, but aside from his name in a book he wouldn’t get much fame out of it.
It was twilight now but it was twilight here for all but four hours of the day between 10 and 2. Any other time and they were higher than the sun in the sky. Still, it was clearly getting to what would be about 8pm and dark on the ground. She’d learnt the hippogryphs name, it was Razor Talon and she’d given him the nickname ‘Tally’. She’d talked to him a few times about various things but hadn't asked about his horn though. She wanted to know, seems it was the only thing about a hippogryph that wasn't how she'd heard of them, and tonight would be the last chance she’d have to ask him before they all left and likely never saw each other again.
“So the first robot said ‘01101000 01100101 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110010’ and the second robot replied ‘01101000 01100101 01100001 01110100 her? I barely know her!’” Tally said, getting a slight laugh from Dash but it seemed to go right over Butterscotch’s head, like most of his jokes.
“Haha… yeah. Been there…” Dash said. The guy was kinda nerdy but thanks to Twilight, she actually understood most of his jokes. “So Tally, I’ve been meaning to ask something. I’ve heard about hippogryphs before, I’ve never seen one up until you.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot; even in Graustralia we’re rare. You know how we come about right?”
“Yeah, one of your parents is a gryphon and the other one's a pegasus. But what I want to ask is, I’d heard about you people…”
“What do you mean ‘you people’?” Butterscotch asked.
“What do YOU mean ‘you people’?” Tally replied with a stern voice.
“I… I’m just gonna go over here.” Butterscotch said and walked away.
Dash and Tally stayed silent for a moment before he just started laughing. Not loud enough for Butterscotch to hear it though. Dash joined in and laughed about the little prank. “So anyway, I never heard that ‘you people’ have horns.” and she really hopped he wasn’t just covering up that he was actually insulted by that before.
He wasn’t. “Well, you’re half right, my father was gryphon, but my mother wasn’t a pegasus, she was a unicorn. So I was born with a horn. I guess I’m even rarer than the average hippogryph because of it.” he said with a smile. He'd grown up as some-what of an outcast but had learnt to embrace it. Didn't hurt that it was a top notch, well respected athlete now too.
Dash didn’t know what to think about it. A gryphon and a pegasus were rare enough, most of them lived in cloud cities. But a unicorn though? It just seemed so unlikely, so impossible. That's when Dash realised the comparison to herself and Pinkie. “How did… your parents meet?”
“I don’t really know. They’ve just always been together. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just… there’s somepony… an earth pony and, I’m scared. I don’t want to be weighed down. I mean, look where I am! There’s no way I could ever share this with her. I mean…” Dash had used the word ‘her’ and saw the look on Tally’s face when she had. He clearly had an opinion on it. “Yeah, I said ‘her’! So what?!” she added, angrily.
“What, you think I care?” he replied nonchalantly. “I was just surprised. I thought you were with him.” he indicated towards a now sleeping Butterscotch. “I really doubt many beings even care either way. Do what you want, it’s not my thing but to each their own.”
“Thanks, and sorry… I just, don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, I don’t wanna give you the whole ‘How do you feel when you’re with her’ and ‘What’s it like when you think of her’ ‘You’re in love’ speech but just do what you feel is right. I’m sure my father felt the same way at one point. Nervous about loving somebeing who couldn’t fly. But here I am.” he said with a reassuring smile.
She was glad she hadn’t been lectured. Well she had sorta, but it could’ve been much worse. She had to think about what she was going to do. Tomorrow they where heading back to Ponyville and she’d have to see Pinkie. She couldn’t run any longer, but she just didn’t know what she was going to do.
“Well, it’s getting late and seeing him over there is making me tired too.” Tally said as he stood and went off to get some sleep, he was going to be leaving tomorrow as well.
“Yeah, me too I guess. Good night.” Dash replied but stayed seated after he left, thinking she’d just sleep where she was now. She lay down but tossed and turned for a far too long before standing up and heading off to find a better spot to sleep. It would be nice to sleep next to Butterscotch. It got quite cold up here at night but she thought against it, even though she’d done so the last few days. Eventually she found herself walking up a rather steep hill that overlooked a drop-off. From there she could see as far as the world curved.
It was literally the highest point in the world, if you fell, you would fall for ages before even coming close to the ground. It was truly World’s End. She lay down and drifted to sleep. Wishing she knew what to do the next day.