I coughed up a mouthful of water, black as squid ink. Flailing my legs to try and get a purchase on anything solid, reality slammed back in around me. Luckily, I had not gone far into the…river ? It certainly looked like one, although hard to differentiate from the black sand, black hills, black water and other generalised blackness. The décor was beginning to wear on me. “Somepony seriously needs a word with their designer” I muttered.

I changed direction and began walking along the edge of the river. There was little movement on the water, barely a ripple In fact. I kept a wary eye on it just in case. I’d heard of creatures that would hide beneath the surface of rivers in equestria, pretending to be logs, then leap out and snatch a pony in a whirlwind of teeth and snapping jaws. Ah yes, the good old Everfree Forest, a top holiday destination if ever there was one.

Plodding on, I wondered if I actually could be killed here, but in any case, I didn’t fancy having to face going through that whole experience again. I’d probably still end up here, I cynically thought to myself. Might be a different colour scheme though.

‘Off we go again’, I suppose I could have spoken aloud, I mean, who was going to hear me ? I was in all probability going to go mad here sooner or later, most likely sooner the way things were going. I wondered if I would end up like great uncle Barrel Cracker. He was very fond of drinking was uncle cracker, a bit too fond if I recall correctly. One day, he had convinced himself he was a slice of lime and tried to jump into a glass of gin. Sadly for uncle cracker, it turned out to be the town well. Couldn’t swim poor bugger. Didn’t drown though, Equestria was suffering a drought that year and the well was bone dry. Broke every bone in his body.

Goddesses, this endless walking was giving new meaning to the word ‘monotonous’.

If you were to ask me what I was planning on doing at that moment in time, I would have had to answer truthfully. I had NO idea what so ever. Zero. I simply plodded on, along the bank of the treacle black river.

How much time had passed was no longer of any importance. With no way of gauging it, with no sound, no wind even, it had become a meaningless and forgotten concept. I filled my time with memories of my life, my work in the watch and with Meadow. The more I thought, the more I found…bits…missing. Just a little here and there, probably old age. “Bloody typical”, I thought to myself, ‘ready for the knackers yard now eh Fairlight.?’. I let out a sigh, I had to try and do something, anything to get out of this place but how ? I had no idea where this place was, what it was and certainly not the faintest idea of how to get out. Even IF there was a way out. Maybe this was it for me, maybe I was going to be stuck here plodding along through nothingness forever slowly losing my mind.

Most worryingly for me was my mind was beginning to feel like it was emptying of thoughts like an hourglass, my memories so recently regained now slipping from my mental grasp like soap in a bathtub. After all that had happened, after all that, I gritted my teeth, I was going to lose even my memories ?

A small spark of panic flared up in me and I suddenly had the urge to run, to bolt, screaming and cursing at the world, at Equestria, the princesses, that bloody stupid golden idiot, but most of all….those damnable two. That pair. One red. One yellow.

Without warning my knees buckled, sending me crashing muzzle first into the sand. Coughing mouthfuls of the dry, tasteless grittiness out of my mouth, I realised for the first time since ‘arriving’ here, that I was tired. As much as a relief as you may have thought that would be, to actually experience a physical sensation at last, a niggling thought at the back of my consciousness shouted a warning. Something was wrong. What it was, was a little harder to pinpoint now as bone aching weariness washed over me like a wave of lethargy. Oh Luna, did I feel tired ! I could just close my eyes, right here, right now. Close my eyes and drift off into a land of…..land of…..”oh who cares ?” I whispered to no-one in particular and yawned widely. I slipped away into a deep slumber and was glad of it.