Eternity rolled onward.
Amidst an empty plain, barren of all but the tiniest of landmarks, insignificant against the darkened, dust-swept horizon, a collection of figures walked alone. One led, whilst the others followed, two directly behind and several more at a distance.
It was unclear how long this arrangement had been in place, and if anypony else had existed even remotely nearby to ask, even the leading three themselves might have needed pause before they could truly say for sure. In the eternal twilight, excepting their own means of tracking it, time had long since ceased to have any true meaning bar telling them when to sleep and rise.
The wasteland stretched forever, or at least seemed to. Each hoof-step felt like the last, and with horizons as empty as they had been for many moons (though that phrase too held little meaning out here), the world had become an endless void consisting of nothing but the sky and the ground. Two colours, one dark and one pale, locked together in perfect parallel, half of existence ceded to each, only halted by the occasional wind-blown dune, breaking rock or smattering of distant stars.
Stars that hadn’t moved or shifted for as long as the trio and duo had walked.
Soon, from sense alone, as no knowledge of astronomy was likely to be of help, the group felt they might rest, but knew whatever camp they made would seem, to them, identical to the one they had departed from earlier in what passed for the morning. One would expect, under such repetition, any creature, no matter how hardy, might lose their mind, and perhaps they had, in some ways. No-one who came out here of their own free will, even with sound reasons, was truly sane to begin with, though perhaps it was more polite to say that such an endeavour required a certain spark to endure, rather than anything and rough around the edges as outright insanity.
Or maybe insanity really was the order of the day, which might have explained why the idea of turning around hadn’t been a legitimate thought in any of their minds for longer than could be recalled. But after coming so far, perhaps that was to be expected.
“How much further?”
“Not far.”
These back and forth exchanges, short and to the point, had become common place now. With little to focus on and talk about beyond their goal, there wasn’t much to say. There had been a time, once, when their collective, at all hours, would’ve been sharing jokes and recounting stories, but those times had largely passed now. Almost all matters had been resolved amongst them, and whilst these moments were not completely lost to time, it took considerable effort to come up with something altogether new, especially when the need for sleep clawed at them all so desperately.
And more to the point, the last time someone had broached the thought of playing I-Spy, they’d been met with more than a few eyebrows raised. That game, among others, had gotten old impressively quickly.
Abruptly, the leader halted, lifting a hoof in pause. Her eyes darted around, as if judging something only she could see. Quite a feat in the present environment. Eventually, however, she nodded.
“Here.”
Something resembling fatigue-tinged relief washed across the group, an audible breath let out among all present. This was to be their stop for the ‘day’. It couldn’t have come soon enough, bodies collapsing limply enough to throw up a minor dust cloud. Some sought comfort in others, whilst others still merely sat and rested aching appendages, worn out from the distance travelled.
After a time, though, with learned synchronicity, they rose again.
A spark lit the area, fire igniting and spreading warmth to those nearby, though the magic that had brought it forth was barely a replacement for a fire stoked with wood or coals, such resources scarce, if at all existent, out here. In the light of the embers, they made camp, blankets and belongings unpacked with a very nearly practised rhythm, repeated a hundred or even a thousand times before, but with no less heart or value than it ever had, despite how robotic it seemed. Each article was a treasured memory, a piece of the world that proved the truth of all they had been through together, memoirs and heirlooms from every port of call.
Amongst all in the world, it could be agreed, had anyone been able to witness, that few things could match their collected experiences as a group in any manner, be that diversity or value, though much of that could be said to be sentimental.
Between the fellows, now, idle chatter at last began to spring up. Pleasantries and assurances that, whilst no less overused, would undoubtedly never grow stale, even as every new step drove them deeper into lands from which return was not only impossible, but unthinkable.
In time, food and drink emerged, shared between the group sparingly. Small pickings, rationed carefully, but enough to keep them going until they next made camp. They could only really think about the next day, anything beyond leading to… uncomfortable truths, best left seldom touched on.
Their supplies would last a week’s length more, at most. After that…
Again, best left untouched, for the time being.
The leader coughed, drawing the party’s attention as their meal of scraps was finished. For a moment, she frowned, as if thinking, hoof brushing through the dust with idle motions. Then, she managed a smile, and spoke.
The words were unimportant, at the end of it. They had been spoken, either in variation or identically, on many ‘evenings’ before this, and would hopefully be spoken on more to follow, if all went to plan. What did matter, though, was the message; that of hope and determination, to keep going even when their goal seemed both unreachable and mythical. To stay as friends, as family, to the end. One band of sisters and brothers, bonds forged by many an adventure, now on the final stretch of their epic, no matter how desolate and impossible said stretch appeared to be.
Take each day as it comes, support each other as they had so many times before, and one day they would find their destination, as many sought out in life, there at the end.
At the edge.
The group rallied, and there was a loud, if somewhat tired, cheer of approval among them. With a degree of satisfaction, the leader loosened up, sliding off her hooves and beneath a blanket, another warm body resting beside her in comfort.
And yet the abyss of sleep did not claim her.
Sighing faintly to herself as those around her slumbered, the leader slowly and carefully rose from beside her other, taking light footsteps to the edge of the camp, in need of space to think.
They had come so far, travelled for so long. She didn’t regret any of it, not for a moment, of course. Even with her early doubts, so distant in the past now, she’d always known this was the right choice, where she was meant to be, no matter how hard it had become or the divides that had sometimes come between their group along the way. None of that had changed anything.
What she felt now, then, and what was preventing her from resting, was perhaps instead fear. Not of the past, or even of her own resolve not quite being enough, but of the end that was to come. It was all she had looked ahead to for so long, with all it held for her, not the mention the others that walked with her. Maybe she was scared, then, that all these things wouldn’t come.
But this was nothing new. Moments like this had become increasingly common the closer the edge felt, and she could surely chalk it up to anticipation, and the worry of disappointment. It didn’t bear that much thought, though, so it was easily pushed away.
Then, of course, there was the other matter.
The leader’s eyes, which had unconsciously drifted towards tomorrow’s route (if it could even be called that), looked the other way, where the prints of their day’s travel were all but completely swallowed up by the dust, shifting winds erasing any trace. What she saw, however, beyond that, was of greater interest.
Distant, barely visible on the horizon, was a single glimmer of light, similar in colouration to their own fire, yet so many tens of miles away from where they stood and slept, no doubt close to where they had risen from.
The leader’s eyes narrowed at the sight, knowing that, as she stared backward, another pair of eyes, ones far fiercer and angrier than her own, glared forward at her flame in equal measure, plotting hatefully as the distance between them drew shorter, if only by the barest amount, with each cycle enacted.
If their group was the spark, their pursuer, possibly even considered a stalker depending on your personal definition of the word, could be considered truly insane.
Of course, it hadn’t taken the journey to reveal that fact, and the revenge driven individual that had chased them for so long had clearly been of that persuasion even before their gaze had fallen upon the leader and her expedition.
Another reason to keep moving, if one did exist.
The leader closed her eyes, letting out a deep and sudden yawn, before turning tail and slowly trudging back to the campfire, now beginning to dwindle, tiredness beginning to take her as her thoughts were organized. Settling down again, she let herself drift off.
She would need as much sleep as she could afford, as with every waking walk, striking the balance between staying ahead of danger and not driving her friends into the dust through exhaustion.
These were problems for ‘tomorrow’, though, and right now, all she needed was the warmth by her side.
The plains grew silent of thought and action, fire reduced to embers as the wind continued to sweep evenly across the untold vastness, whipping up the occasional flickering particle clouds amidst the group who, amongst all their hopes, were close to the ending they had long sought. Maybe it wasn’t close in terms of miles, or not to the degree one would like, but soon enough, they would be there, and all questions for which answers had been desired, would be given freely.
But for every ending, there is a beginning.
Eternity rolled onward.