Northern Equestria and Beyond

by Your Friendly Neighbor

Journal

Entry one

August 24, 10AM EST [Equestria Standard Time]

I'm going to start writing this down in my journals. I bought up about 4 just in case. I'm not good at writing, so in case I screw up, I have some spares.

My name is Stomps. I had a dream months ago. A dream of an ordinary pony, much like myself, that traveled across the northern world and mapped it out for all of Equestria to see. It impacted me hard, and made me think: "What if I did that?" Most of the world that we live in remains unexplored, I'm about to change that. Today. I don't know when I'll be back. I don't know if I'll make it, but Celestia as my witness, I WILL try. May Celestia and Luna stand by my side.

Entry two

August 24, 2PM EST

I packed up supplies in an old set of saddle bags I've found and filled them up with needed things. I got assorted fruits and vegetables, a compass, a map, map sheets, a blanket, and my large collection of journals. I'll harvest my own food when I need more, I just need to stick close to my Plant's of Equestria book and I'll be fine. I should start early in the morning tomorrow at around 4 AM. I'm going to do it, I'm going to make history. If anypony is reading this, prepare for hell.

Entry three

August 25, 4AM EST

I decided to write one last entry before I set out. It'll calm me down. To tell you the truth: I'm scared. I'm scared that I wont be able to live through this. I said my last goodbyes to my friends, my family, and my crush. Anyone that might be reading this might think I'm stupid for doing this, but I'm following my dream. I will do this.

Entry four

August 25, 12:30PM EST

I'm taking a little break. I set out of Ponyville this morning and I am heading due north. It hasn't been explored much, and little knows what lies on the other side of the big mountain ranges. Some say it's another beautiful land, filled with ponies much like us. Some say that it's a land of hell, ridden with monsters and death. Others... others say it's nothingness, that it just ends. That's it. I'm setting out to find it my self.

Entry four

August 26, 12AM EST

It's midnight. I'm camping out near a forest of sorts on the foot of the mountain. It's a bit cold. Luckily, I packed my tent. It's pretty cozy in here, I got my self a small, magical lamp to warm up the place. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to climb the mountain. Shouldn't be to hard if I follow the least steep paths. I should head to bed. It's a big day tomorrow.

Entry five

August 27, 5AM EST

Another morning on my quest. I feel energized and ready to tackle this mountain. I'm going to make it mine. I'm going to traverse this mountain and it's going to have to put up with it! Sorry if I seem to ramble, I'm just so excited that I just have to write it down. I'll write another entry when I get to a safe spot.

Entry six

August 27, 6PM EST

Dammit! I sprang my front-left hoof. It bent wrong and now it hurts really badly! I'm going to have to sit this out for a day or so. Damn my luck. It hurts when I apply gentle pressure. It makes my eyes water.

Entry seven

August 28, 3AM EST

The Princesses are still on my side. I woke up pretty early to find that my hoof is doing perfectly fine. I'm going to pack up and try to tackle this again. I'm going to wrap my hoof up an make sure I apply less pressure to it just in case it was all false hope. I'm not saying that I should doubt it if it was a blessing from the Princess Sisters, but what if it wasn't? I'll write again when I get to my next planned point.

Entry eight

August 29, 5PM EST

I've reached one point. I'm pretty high up. If I was to guess, I would say about 2,000 hf. [hooves] It was hard, but I made it through alright. Good thing I pack up some extra layers, It's pretty chilly up here. I looked over a ledge and saw 'Equestria' for the first time. I've never left Ponyville before, so I never got to see Equestria. It was spectacular. The sun was beginning to set, giving the sky a beautiful shade of pink and yellow mixed together. The view was breath taking. Over the distance, I could make out the small town of Ponyville. Wow...

Entry nine

August 30, 10PM EST

I decided to make this my 'break day'. I've covered a large amount of land in these few days. I decided to make this day my "prayer day". I will pray to the Goddesses to grant me strength and protect over me as I cover this mountain. I'll make sure to get plenty of rest and spend this day gathering a few foodstuffs from the local region. I'll also try to fill a few canteens with water from a river.

Entry ten

August 31, 7AM EST

I am fully rested and ready to take this day down. I feel like my spirit has been lifted from my body. I can do this. I can make my friends proud, my family. I can make Equestria proud.

PS: Who ever is reading this is probably wondering why I'm putting 'EST' next to the date. I'm afraid I do not know any other time zones, so I settle with the standard.

Entry eleven

August 31, 10PM EST

I can feel it... I'm close to the peak of the first mountain. I can feel it. I am so close. The mountainous wind tickles my coat and flows through my body. I can feel it. The sun shined brightly overhead as I walked. I can feel it. The moon now rests close to me, keeping me company. I. Can. Feel it.

Entry twelve

September 1, 2AM EST

I woke up in the middle of the night and cried. I made a stupid choice of coming so far. I don't know what I would do if I was put into a near death scenario. How would my friends live without me. I made a dumb choice, I decided to damn fast. I don't know if I should go back and face mild shame, or stay and conquer this and face a glory that's unimaginable? I won't let go of her. If it comes down to it, I'll leave.

Entry thirteen

September 1, 8AM EST

Here we are, at the 13th entry. Unlucky 13. I'm not superstitious, but for all the weird stories that I hear that are associated with the number '13' in general, I just don't know. I'll put it behind.

Good news today. I smelled the fresh air of the peaks. It's beautiful. I can almost touch the sun as it glows upon me. Out of spite of my self, I fashion myself a small flag and planted it into the ground. I make sure it can withstand the elements. I wrote on it: "First Flag of Stomps - Never give up" for a quick laugh and kept it.

Entry fourteen

September 2, 5AM EST

Time to set out on the steep ridges of the Northern Equestrian Mountain Ranges. It extends more west to east than north to south, so I should be okay since it's going to go downhill in a few miles. If anypony is reading this, hold onto your hat, this is going to get a bit crazy. I'm going off the Equestrian map!

Entry fifteen

September 2, 6PM EST

I found a cool cave on the side of the mountain that doesn't extend far back. I would make a great place to camp out for a while. I'm running a bit low on foodstuffs, so I have to extract a few mushroom caps that are extremely abundant in this cave. They are perfectly safe to eat. They are called "Northern Caps" and grow in cold, damp areas of the north mountain ridges. I'm going to back a lot. I also found a small water leak where snow from above ground has melted and turned to nice, cool water. I'm going to do fine food wise. Not sure about clothing. It's a bit freezing. If I keep that magical light inside one of the pockets of my coat, it should warm me up.

Entry sixteen

September 3, 4AM EST

Another day in this cold land. The high altitude air is fresh and clean. It brushes my mane as I write this. It's embracing, making me stronger. I feel like I was supposed to be out here. I wonder what my friends are up to back down at Ponyville. I told them I don't know when I'll be back, or if I'll be back. I hope that they are doing just fine.

Entry seventeen

September 3, 6AM EST

DAMMIT! My magical light orb I got is out of juice. I have to let it recharge in the sun for at least 24 hours before I can use it again. Arg! Damn. Looks like tonight's going to be cold.

Entry eighteen

September 4, 8AM EST.

Got the damn thing working again, thank the Goddesses. I'm going to have to abandon this cave I've been staying in for a while and get back heading my path North. I'm going to fashion out another flag and stick it in front of the cave that says: "Stomps' Cave" just for a slight gag. I might want the next marker to be a bit more serious though.

Entry nineteen

September 5, 4PM EST

I headed out of my small cave and found a nice spot where I can hopefully set up camp. I've covered a lot of ground despite the rough terrain. I was always good at climbing things as a colt. I am proud of my self a bit, and I hope Celestia and Luna are proud too. What strikes me odd the most is that no other pony as ever gone far, far north before. Probably it was from all the rumors of "evil" Pah! I'll laugh in their face when I find the 'Meadow of Fluffy Bunnies'.

Entry twenty

September 6, 3PM EST

I haven't wrote in about 24 hours! I successively traversed the Northern Mountains into a new, steep path down to the other side of the mountains. These mountains weren't that hard to master. They were formed east to west as I said before, not north to south, so going north was easy. I'll write back in a while when I make my way down to the promising forest below.

Entry twenty-one

September 7, 5AM EST

I am laying in my new campsite as I write. I made it to the forest and found a clearing. It's rather peaceful and calm around here. It's still a bit chilly, but I am still a bit high in altitude. It looks like it's going to be a gentle slope down to lower levels. I'm going to write in when I find something interesting.

Entry twenty-two

September 8, 4PM EST

The days are a bit longer now that I'm off that mountain. There's little to no wildlife in this wood, I guess this is a calm region. It's calm and peaceful and I can hear running water from a river as I write this. I am sitting on a log. This is something I've always wanted to do: go camping. I pictured it as being with friends or family, but this will have to do. I'm beginning to find hope in my last second choice of decision! This solo expedition is going great!

Entry twenty-three

September 9, 4AM EST

I'm having these slight and sometimes sharp headaches that go on as I travel the forest. I think I got a cold from all the cold weather from the mountains. I'm going to have to hold off the exploration until I get to feeling better. My knees feel weak and my writing is getting mildly sloppy.

Entry twenty-four

September 9, 6AM EST.

I tried to rest, but I couldn't. I stepped outside to get some more air and I vomited up a bit. I started to bleed from the nose a bit a few minutes ago. I hope I can hold out. I'm going to pray to the goddesses tonight.

Entry twenty-five

September 10, 10AM EST

I'm not getting any better. I am getting very weak and my head is starting to heat up to high temperatures. I felt a bit of liquid in my ears and found out soon that it was blood. Dammit! I can't give up. I wont loose faith.

Entry twenty-six

September 11, 5PM

DAMMIT! I STARTED TO SLIGHTLY BLEED FROM THE EYES! I need to keep my cool! Dammit! I need to keep my cool! I can't die here, not now! I'm praying to Celestia as I write... I hope she can hear me.

Entry twenty-seven

September 11, 10PM

[The part of the page looks as if it has been torn and repaired]

They can't hear me. They can't fucking HEAR ME! They don't care about me, dammit! Screw them. I'm bleeding my eyes out here and they don't want to help... Screw them!

NO! I TAKE THAT BACK! PLEASE! Forgive me. No one can forgive me now! Hah! You're screwed Stomps, screwed like a little wind-up clock! No I'm not! I can beat this. I can beat this. I can beat this...

[Blood droplets litter the bottom part of the page]

Entry twenty-eight

I'm nearing my end... My entries become more frantic, more out of control. I'm not going to bother with date anymore. I'm going to die anyway, and this journal is going to die with me. This journey to the North... is hell. I hear voices inside, some of them are the voices of my friends. Visions of the good times we had. [Some ink is smeared] Some... are voices of the Goddesses, telling me that everything is going to be alright... I almost believed them.

If I die right here, and someone does find my journal... Return them to Ponyvile. Give the journal to my best friend if she is still alive. I want her to read this, as my last written words.

Rose, I've always love you. I've always wanted to be with you. Now that this damn expedition is the end of me... I want you to know. I wish I could spend more time with you. If your reading this, I might as well be either dead, or missing. I'll never forget you. You were the joy in my life, the only friend I had closest in my childhood. You were there for me and I was there for you. I might sound cheesy, but there really isn't much left to say. This is final goodbyes. The end of my life. Goodbye...

I love you.

~Stomps.

Comments

[Noakwolf]

My god... This... this was amazing...

[Jack Ass Knife]

My only real critique is I don't get what happened? Did he reach the end of Equestria and he began to break through the fourth wall? Did he die from the altitude, or the mushrooms?