//------------------------------//
// 7. A Regret for Mistakes Unmade 
// Story: The Strands of Time 
// by Faedelaide 
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The sound of the migration marching onwards towards their destination drilled into Raven's brain thoroughly and entirely. The scratching of claws against stone, the frustrated roars of firewinders packed tightly together and the crunch of packed sand all blended together until it became mere white noise, flowing through the air as easily as smoke. He peeked over the edge of the ravine, and saw a disturbed, roiling ocean of glimmering jewels and bloodstained thorns.

"Raven, I really don't think we should be following these things. What if one notices us?" Branch worried.

"Even if they noticed us, there's nothing they could do about it now. I doubt any of them would be able to scale the sides of the ravine, and even if they use their fire breath, we can just duck out of the way."

"Ok, but why are we following them instead of going as far away from them as physically possible?"

"Well, because they're headed in the same direction we are. Imagine if we had run ahead of them and got to the paradise, only to realize that white one tailed us and led the rest of them to us. It'd be a disaster."

"And this is any better?" Branch solicited.

"Well, at the very least, if they take a turn, we'll know it, and then we can go the other way. It's better to know where they all are than to just guess and hope, right?"

Branch huffed, but didn't argue any further. Either way, they had to keep going towards the mountains. They only had a limited amount of supplies, and each hour spent not going towards the mountains was an hour wasted.

The couple continued following the marching wave of scales and claws, all of them following the sun as it grew closer and closer to the horizon. Eventually, the mountains firmly held the star in their embrace, and the sky began to darken. 

Raven stared back down at the ravine's bottom. The writhing mass of shapes and bodies had begun to slow as the day faded. The firewinders were beginning to prepare for sleep, and Raven knew it would be smart for he and Branch to do the same.

"You want to get some rest now, dear?" he spoke quietly. With the firewinders beginning to settle in for sleep, the risk of one of them hearing him was much greater.

"Yeah, alright," The bug pony unrolled his sleeping bag, and Raven did the same with his own. Branch's bright blue eyes stared towards the mountains, which had become noticeably taller than they had yesterday. "How long until you think we finally reach the mountains?"

"At the pace we're going, I'd say a week at most."

"And at the least?"

Raven shrugged, taking a small hooffull of berries and popping them into his mouth one by one. "Three days, and that's being generous."

"Three days? You really think so?"

"The firewinders are pretty fast for how stubby their legs are. It all depends on how fast they go, and if they continue to follow us to the mountains."

"hmm," Branch lowered his head, staring at the winding ravine with waning patience. "Well... how are you holding up, love?"

"Me? as fresh and green as a newly grown skullberry bush," he popped another berry into his mouth, "you?"

"I guess I'm feeling a little... scared?"

"What, of the firewinders? I told you hun, it's perfectly-"

"No no, I know it's safe. I think I'm more worried about paradise itself."

Raven leaned forward. His face quickly turned serious. "What about paradise makes you afraid?"

"Well... what if... if..." Branch rubbed his hooves together anxiously. His mouth twitched for a few moments, and after a short span of silence, he managed to squeeze out a sentence. "What if the paradise doesn't... exist?"

"How could that be? The star has been guiding us towards something. Surely it must mean there's something out there."

"Of course, but Skull said it himself. That crystal star is older than any of us even realize. What if the destination it's guiding us towards ends up just like all the other marble pillars. Or what if our destination was turned to dust thousands of years ago, and it's just another dune by now? What do we do then?"

"I'm... not sure..." Raven sat for a moment and deliberated. "I guess we'd just keep walking until we found something."

"But is that... is that really what you want, Raven?"

"Is that what you want, Branch? I know this trip has been... a lot. I wouldn't hate you if you wanted to go back home to the village, love."

"Oh please. The only thing I had in that village that was worth keeping was you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I'll be there to support you as best as I can."

Raven smiled warmly, touched by Branch's declaration. However, the bug pony wasn't done yet. "And of course I'll follow you on the journey to paradise, partly because I want to see it for myself, but I can't help but have doubts about whether or not it exists. After all, in all these thousands of years, not a single pony has found paradise and come back to tell us."

"Well I believe it's out there, somewhere. I have hope that we'll find it someday soon."

For a moment, the only sounds Raven could hear were Branch's calm breathing, the whistling wind, and the distant scratching of firewinder claws. Then, Branch spoke up again. "Raven, dear, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, my love. Ask me anything you wish."

"Before we left, you told me you didn't really care about the people of Cant. You didn't care about the Strandbeast, and you thought Skull's story was crazy. So, if not for the town, or for Skull, or even for the Strandbeast, why did you go out on this quest in the first place? It couldn't have been just for my sake."

"Well, I do want to help Cant, but you are right in some respects. This journey wasn't for your sake or mine, in fact, you were one of the things that made me debate staying in Cant, if only to prevent you from coming to harm."

Branch leaned in closer, placing a hoof on Raven's. "So why did you decide to leave Cant?"

Raven let out a long, storied sigh. "Do you remember the story I told you the day before? The one about my parents leaving me in Cant and never coming back?"

"Of course, it still hurts me to hear."

"That's not necessary. I outgrew that pain a long while ago. But it led me to a realization: It didn't matter what happened to them. They could've found paradise, or the Strandbeast. Perhaps they simply kept walking, drifting from town to town until old age would finally take them. Or maybe, they simply got snapped up by a firewinder, and were never seen again. Any way, they were never going to come back."

"Hmph, some parents they are. I would've come back for you."

"And that's just it Branch. I'm not doing this for all the sadsacks who'd rather rot away in these wastes than actually work to earn their place in paradise. I'm doing this because I want to believe that we deserve paradise, Branch. I want to believe that paradise is a place for those who work to attain it, rather than those who simply crave it."

"I don't think I get what you mean, Raven," Branch mumbled.

"Think about it, Branch. Some group of ponies before us has a kingdom as great and expansive as the marble towers would have us believe, and somehow they just go extinct? They were supremely powerful if the legend of the Strandbeast is any indication, and yet there's not a trace of any of them, except their broken, dusty towers. They had to have done it to themselves, with greed and anger and hatred.

Raven stood up in his excitement. "You said it yourself, we all argue with each other even when we barely have the materials to do so. Think what might happen if we let everyone into paradise, only for them to argue over its resplendence."

"I... I believe that we'd know better by now."

"Well if people like Vulture exist, maybe not."

Branch stood up as well to confront Raven "Vulture's just scared, hun. He's scared for his future, for his life, just like we are."

"But I don't want to find paradise, only for everyone to tear it apart at the seams. Even if he is scared, what will people like him become if left to their own devices? We can't let them destroy something that we've worked thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of years to achieve."

"And they won't, not if we guide them," Branch rested a hoof delicately on Raven's cheek. His eyes glistened with passion and hope, though the moon was nearly invisible in the sky. "We could be what your parents never were. We could bring them to paradise, and we could teach them to cherish its beauty. We could be its vanguard, its students, and its teachers."

"Do you think they would listen?" Raven whispered, his face inches from Branch's.

"Honey, we'd be the ponies who brought them paradise, the paradise. Of course they'd listen to us. Who would choose to live in the despair and chaos of the wastes when they could live as one harmonic community, safe in paradise's embrace?"

"I know you're right, but what if they don't listen?"

"Then we teach them. We hold fast and show them our resolve. We shouldn't bestow them cruelty for their misdeeds, otherwise, how are we any better than our predecessors?"

Raven chuckled, leaning his head against Branch's own. "I think this is why I decided to have you with me."

"Why is that?"

"You always knew what was best. Anything I ever learned from you was taught with kindness and love. Maybe that's what everyone else has been missing all along."

"It couldn't hurt to try it on the rest of them. They do tend to argue a lot."

"Heh, tell me about it. I've had Termite's early morning ramblings as my alarm clock for the pas ten years."

Branch squeaked a laugh, but quickly quieted himself. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now, let's get some sleep. We don't want to get woken up by the migration too early."

"I'm gonna eat some berries before I do. You don't mind, do you?" Branch reached into his pack, pulling out a cluster of skullberries.

"Of course not, love."

"Thanks," Branch stuffed the cluster of berries into his mouth, spitting out the stems a moment later. "Y'know, It's funny how we've been having these talks while we're on our way to an unknown destination, and I don't remember us ever getting this thoughtful back at home."

"Maybe the wastes brings something out in us. It is quite the romantic area."

"Oh my goodness, if you had asked me out here, I would have rejected you on the spot."

"What, you don't like bones and sand during a first date?" Raven smirked.

"Having Vulture shout at us nonstop for two hours would be better than being out here."

"Eh, I can't argue with you there. His voice does make for some pleasant white noise."

"I bet," Branch stuffed another cluster of berries into his mouth, and spat out the remains, "If we really tried, we could get him to be part of a choir."

"Vulture, part of the paradise choir? Now that's something I'd like to see."

Branch giggled. "I mean, he has the voice for it... sort of."

"I think your expectations are too low, love."

"Well, we don't really have any better options now do we?" Swallowing his last bit of berries, Branch shoved his bag out of the way, and laid down next to Raven. "Anyway, goodnight dear."

"Goodnight my love," Raven whispered, placing a kiss on Branch's chitinous forehead. He yawned, and eventually, they drifted peacefully off to sleep together.