Echoes of a forgotten freedom

I quickly set up my tent as the sun began its slow descent over the San Palimo Desert. From the rocky peak where I had settled, I savored every moment of this spectacle. The sky, in constant change, was tinged with burning orange and deep purple, while darkness inexorably stretched over the dunes.

This desert must be one of the few places in Equestria where the transition from day to night was so tangible. As the sun declined, a dark line advanced over the sand, gradually swallowing up the still-burning dunes. This phenomenon seemed independent, free, yet it was still linked to the whims of the unicorns or alicorns. I found myself dreaming of a world where light and darkness danced like this, in perfect autonomy, without the slightest magical intervention.

A world where every being would be left to its own devices, challenging the elements to tame them. A world where rain would fall on its own, without any pegasus having to guide it. This thought, though fleeting, awakened in me a strange admiration for the earth ponies. They, deprived of magic or wings, still managed to make themselves indispensable. Their survival didn’t rely solely on brute strength, but on their ingenuity and incredible ability to adapt. They had learned to shape their environment without bending it to their will, unlike us pegasi or, to a lesser extent, the unicorns.

This desert, vast and untamable, could only inspire deep respect in me for those beings who faced the world with nothing but their hooves, claws, or teeth as weapons. Dragons, griffons, and many other races, for whom magic and cloud manipulation were nothing more than oddities. By this simple fact, they were superior to us, for they had never needed to depend on artifices to tame their environment. And I have no doubt that they would outlive us, should we ever disappear from the face of this world, whether under an eternal day or in an endless night.

These thoughts stirred contradictory feelings within me. A certain pride, first: that of rising above the narrow view of my species, of glimpsing the world in its vastness and diversity. But also an insidious realization: the insignificance of Equestria, and of the different pony races, in the face of the vastness of this world.

My gaze wandered to the horizon, where the sun was setting over the ocean. A green gleam, almost unreal, briefly crossed the line where the waters met the sky, pulling a smile from me. Despite all her power, even Celestia couldn’t have produced such a phenomenon. This natural mystery, whether a mirage or a reality, had something deeply comforting about it. A proof that the world could stand on its own.

I felt happy to have witnessed this spectacle, fulfilled in a way I had never known. The first stars timidly appeared in the sky, lighting up one by one like silent promises. I watched them, motionless, in a place where no pegasus moved or shaped the clouds, where no horn radiated its light into the night, and where no buildings had been constructed.

The wind began to rise, softly whistling against the rocky peak, slipping through my mane and tail. Too short, alas, to fully enjoy the sensation, but enough for the cold to gently bite through my fur. This bite, far from being unpleasant, had something invigorating about it, like a reminder that I was here, in the present moment, connected to this raw landscape.

Since I had left the palace, nature had ceased to be a constraint or nuisance for me. I still didn’t know how to define it, nor what role it should play in my life, but I knew one thing: here, far from the walls and rules of Equestria, it asked nothing of me. It simply existed.

I took a deep breath of the night air before retreating into my tent to sleep for the night.

The gentle warmth and the light filtering through the canvas of my tent slowly woke me. I stretched slowly, listening to my joints crack with the movement before poking my head out of the tent. The scent of the warm sand filled my senses, a soft fragrance that was already familiar.

I calmly folded my belongings, unhurried, savoring this moment of tranquility. Nothing was urgent, and in fact, everything seemed to encourage me to linger, to extend the moment. Yet, other horizons awaited me. Nothing would hold me here, not even this place, soothing as it was. I would return, perhaps, one day.

But today, a particular road was calling me. I gently launched myself from the heights, allowing my wings to slow my descent until I reached the ground. My hooves met the still-cool sand, which would soon warm under the kiss of the sun. I began to walk leisurely, each step infusing a little more warmth into my coat.

I made my way through the undulating dunes and rock formations near the mountain peaks. The only sign of Equestrian presence in these remote lands was the trace my hooves left in the sand, ephemeral marks destined to disappear. The winds, when they rose, would erase these footprints, restoring nature’s dominion and wiping away any trace of my passage.

Little by little, the landscape transformed. Dry bushes now dotted the scene, piercing the aridity like shards of tenacious life. The fine sand and desert rocks gave way to firmer, cracked earth beneath my hooves. A light breeze arose, accompanied by a subtle drop in temperature, offering a soothing contrast to the relentless heat of the dunes.

Nature, in its slow progression, was transforming under my hooves and my gaze, abandoning the relentless aridity of the desert and the scars of the cracked earth. In their place, the dawn of a budding forest opened up. The dry bushes, once dominated by brown and yellow hues, were gradually taking on a greener, more vibrant, and promising color. Among them, young trees timidly emerged.

A small group of gray mountains emerged on the horizon. They seemed to cluster at the center of the forest.

My hooves pressed into the grass as I moved forward, the forest growing increasingly dense around me. The ground, now harder to navigate, forced me to slow my already leisurely pace. I could feel branches snapping and grass bending under my weight, only to spring back into place.

Suddenly, a movement caught my eye, and I instinctively leaped back. My eyes widened as fangs snapped shut on the very spot where my hoof had been just moments earlier. A snake reared up, its tongue flicking out as it fixed its gaze on me, unblinking.

I stared at it, both amused and fascinated by its stealth, feeling a certain satisfaction in my reflexes.

"You’ll have better luck next time," I said, my voice carrying neither reproach nor insult, just a simple truth I had no qualms with. "But why attack me?"

I scanned my surroundings carefully, keeping the snake in my peripheral vision.

Perhaps it had sensed my shadow on the ground or felt the vibrations of my approach through the earth. Whatever the reason, at that precise moment, it had decided I was either a threat or prey.

The snake remained poised, its slender body swaying slightly, unable to comprehend the words leaving my mouth. Not that it mattered—its reaction wouldn’t have changed even if it could hear me, as snakes are deaf, or so I vaguely remembered from my survival training.

I sidestepped it calmly, feeling its gaze follow me until I disappeared into the forest. My awareness sharpened now, I doubled my caution, knowing full well that while my reflexes had served me well this time, dying to something so trivial would be the height of foolishness.

I felt a sly smile creep onto my face, almost against my will. The tranquility of ponykind seemed irrevocably behind me.