The three ponies now traveled west along the southern border of Equestria. To their left the hills and mountains that made up the natural boundary rose in the distance. They wouldn’t be going any further south than this. Where they were now was a far cry from the swamp. They traveled through wide open plains with huge rock formations dotting the landscape as far as they could see. During the day the sun beat down hard on them while at night it was almost freezing cold. Even Trail Blazer and Steel Wing were having trouble adjusting to the extreme swings in temperature.
At least the ground was mostly flat and small streams were still found easily enough. Trail Blazer had mentioned this would be a good enough place for a town or two since the soil was rich enough for farms. She managed to somehow continue doing her work while being perpetually drunk on the whiskey she had swiped from the thieves a few days previously. Lustrous was amazed that she could function at all.
He had gotten used to her at this point though and he instead chose to take his time admiring the scenery. Sunrise and sunset truly made this part of Equestria beautiful, the light casting an orange glow over everything. Even if it wouldn’t be the easiest place to settle he had no doubt ponies would want to live here someday. And considering its distance from the center of Equestria and the northern part of the country that was already beginning to come together this would be a nice and quiet part of the world to live in for the ponies that didn’t care for big cities. Down here would hopefully stay a wide, open, world for a long time Lustrous thought.
“When did I start caring so much about this stuff?” He said aloud to himself.
It was caught by Trail Blazer though. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing important.” He quickly shook his head. “It’s just I was admiring the scenery and everything out here. It’s actually quite striking.”
“Heh, thought you didn’t care about the wilderness.” She teased.
“Well I didn’t. But I had never really seen it.” He wistfully looked out at the tall orange rock formations that towered over the landscape. “Now that I’ve traveled a bit, and gone through some rather ugly swamps and dreary coastlines, coming to a place like this is just… beautiful.”
“Glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Trail Blazer shrugged at his newfound appreciation for the wild.
“Well like you said this would all be more bearable if I started enjoying nature better.” Lustrous said. “Now I really wish that I had actually brought a notebook with me. Studying and taking notes akin to you would be a useful way to pass the time. Or just use it to write my thoughts down on things. Maybe I could even take up writing some poetry about the beautiful landscapes like this one?”
“As long as you don’t share it with me I’m fine with that.” Trail Blazer quipped. “You seem a bit too uptight for poetry anyways.”
“All a moot point without a journal of my own.” Lustrous reminded her.
“Hm. That so?” She murmured.
Lustrous wondered what she was getting at but a second later he realized. The map pony had started digging through one of her saddlebags and pulled out a notebook. It looked like the one she had been using to take notes in but was less worn. She tossed it to him and Lustrous reached for it, bobbling it up a couple of times before catching it.
“That’s a spare I brought with me, use it all you like.” She told him.
“Umm… thank you.” He was surprised at her generosity but he was hardly going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’ll, uh, be needing to borrow a pencil too though.”
“Right, right.” Trail Blazer quickly found one and threw it to him. The earth pony then glanced up at Steel Wing, who was flying slightly above them. “What about you? You want a journal of your own or anything?”
The pegasus looked down and shook his head. “No thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” Trail Blazer shrugged.
Lustrous meanwhile was staring at the inside cover to his new journal. Did he try to write something now? He wasn’t entirely sure he had anything in him right now though. Did he just try and force something out and write about the beauty of nature for the sake of it? No, that didn’t feel right. He’d fill this journal up but only when he was really inspired. Although it might also be good simply to record some events and keep track of how Trail Blazer behaves.
“It’s desolate out here, but there’s a lot of room to expand.” Steel Wing said from above them. “I can see pretty far and there’s nothing out here yet. I don’t see any signs of civilization, not even a little start up like that village along the coast.”
“Yep, most ponies just haven’t made it to this part of Equestria yet.” Trail Blazer nodded. “Not really any reason to right now anyways, we’ve got plenty of space up a little north. Space that’s more fertile and temperate. Easier to live in. You’d need some rugged ponies to be the first ones to settle down here.”
“It’ll happen some day I’m sure.” Lustrous chimed in. “Ponies spread to every corner of Equestria will be a beautiful thing.”
The map mare shrugged again. “I guess, can’t say I ever gave any real thought to the future of Equestria before this mission.”
“How could you not?” Lustrous asked her, a bit shocked. “We’ve been literally born into a wonderful new era. We’re the first generation to call this place our home. How can you say you haven’t been thinking about the path Equestria will take in the future?”
“Because I’ve had my own life to worry about.” She responded, not looking at him.
Lustrous frowned but he did recall how despondent she had gotten a few days ago in that tavern. There was something up with her and he didn’t want to be rude. Nor was he familiar or friendly enough with her to politely inquire as to what ailed her.
“I must confess to the same. I haven’t really given any thought to the new nation either. Not on that large a scale at least.” Steel Wing said as he floated down to walk alongside the two of them.
“You too?” Lustrous sighed.
“I won’t claim to know what preoccupied Miss Trail Blazer but I was kept very busy in my childhood.” The red pegasus mysteriously told Lustrous.
Lustrous didn’t say anything more after that. Why was he the only one who was totally fine with sharing his personal life and yet neither of them seemed to care to hear it?
This was a large part of Equestria and they spent many more days traveling through it, especially since Trail Blazer was trying to be as thorough as possible when it came to inspecting things like the ground and the scarce greenery they saw. She also seemed to be drawing a highly detailed topographic map that showed off each of the huge individual rock formations and just how high they got and how wide they were. It would be useful to anyone coming through here in the future to see how the ground shifted up and down and where the valleys and hills were. Since while there was a lot of wide open space around here the ground wasn’t even around the rock formations and it could be tricky putting down a road or something else that went in between them all without becoming too treacherous.
After another day they came to a large river that Steel Wing had to ferry them across again, it took much longer than last time considering this river’s greater size but there was nothing they could do about it. Once on the other side though the land started changing drastically very quickly. It was more like the same kind of temperate grassy forested area that they were familiar with from the start of their journey, although the overcast sky and cold mountains they could see just to the north gave things a rather dreary look here. But it was also a place more than fitting for ponies to live in and Trail Blazer jotted that down in her notebook. They should’ve been more than halfway to the west coast by now.
The following is an excerpt from Trail Blazer’s notebook
Day whatever of our trip. I haven’t been keeping track. It’s been blah, blah, however long since the Big Cheese had to interrupt me from drinking myself to death and roped me into this miserable job.
Miserable. At least I have whiskey.
What a complete waste of time this is. How many ponies are even going to care about a map like this? We’re just not the types to bother. Ponies will go where they want to go and do what they want to do. Those idiots back in the swamp are proof enough of that. They had no idea where they even were but they were living there without anyone telling them to weren’t they? Even moreso for those other idiots at the bay. They didn’t need Cheese or Celestia to tell them to start a town there and make a living.
I almost got knifed. I hate this job.
I should’ve just stayed in town making maps there. I bet ponies would’ve paid lots for my maps of that disorganized trash heap. Some of the stallions that frequented the bars were kind of fed up with me though. Too many of them kept getting the wrong idea. Whatever.
Speaking of stallions though the two with me right now aren’t so bad. I guess. Lustrous is oblivious and has no business being out here but he’s alright of a fellow. Steel Wing is quiet. I appreciate that.
Lustrous is kind of mad at me right now though because I threw up on his things yesterday. Oops.
Anyways the reason I’m writing now is because we just left those great plains right in the middle of southern Equestria. I guess I should write something every time we switch from one climate zone to another. Or cross some sort of natural boundary. Whatever. Who cares?
Some of the rock formations were really big. 200 feet tall and wide enough on top to fit a ranch. Why a ranch? It was the first thing that popped into my head. Maybe a pegasus would build a house on top of one of those things but no one else would be able to get up or down. I wonder if Lustrous has written anything in the spare notebook I gave him yet. Kind of hope that didn’t get puke on it.
Back to the rocks, I inspected a few and they seemed to mostly be made of sandstone and shale. Plenty of granite and quartz around too though. If you like building in stone you’d have an easy time doing it here. I bet a real geologist would have a lot more to say about this stuff but it’s not exactly my area of expertise. I only know a little bit.
Of course now that I’m done talking about that stuff there was another major thing to mention.
We found locals. For a given meaning of the word.
A huge herd of buffalo that apparently have been roaming these parts of Equestria for generations. We spent about a day with them and learned quite a bit of useful information. They’re mostly nomadic but they settle down wherever they might need to for a while. But they’re not the types to build towns or anything like that. They seemed a little upset to meet us I’ll be honest. I don’t think they quite liked Lustrous’s explanation of what the three of us were doing and what it might mean for them.
For the most part we got along pretty well though. They were hospitable and didn’t want to be rude to strangers, so they might have just begrudgingly accepted us being there. Who knows?
I think a few of them were staring at me too. I’m pretty sure I only like ponies but if one had asked I probably wouldn’t have said no. That might’ve offended them anyways. Well it’s not like it came down to that so whatever.
I am concerned over possible future settlers in this area now though. Hopefully they and the buffalo will be able to get along with each other fine. Considering the size of Equestria and how out of the way this place down here is though it will probably be years before any ponies even make it down here anyways. That’s not my problem. Let the “future” Equestria that Lustrous likes to go on about deal with that.
Well the buffalo gave us some food and water as a show of goodwill when we left so that’s that. I’ll be sure to let Cheese and what’s his name, whoever Lustrous’s cousin is, know that the buffalo are at least friendly and they don’t have to worry about them or anything. But if there are other non-ponies living here already some of them might not be so nice. The three of us are just gonna have to look out.
Now we’re in the next part of the south and I’ll write another entry like this later whenever something important comes up. I’ll bet that there are probably ponies living somewhere along the west coast here.
I need to get drunk. Drunker.
Their hooves carried them through a rocky semi-forested land over the next day. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks everywhere. Just piles and hills of them that covered the landscape and made travel far more difficult than it should have been. And as they had noticed earlier the sky was unusually always a bit murky and overcast here, but it never rained while they traveled through. It’s like it just existed to make things drab and unpleasant.
The trees were evergreens of various types and thoroughly uninteresting to the three ponies. Trail Blazer had no notes to take as it seemed there wasn’t any new or unusual flora or fauna in this part of Equestria. Luckily they hadn’t been accosted by any more unfriendly ponies but neither had they been able to meet up with and touch bases with any other pony settlers. Although this would be an easy enough piece of Equestria to live in it was all still too far out of the way for the era at this point. That’s the only thing the three could take away from the lack of… anything around them.
Of course things changed drastically for them the next day when they found themselves leaving this rocky area and practically wandering right into a scorching hot desert.
“I don’t understand how the weather and land can change so suddenly in this country.” Lustrous said as he stared across the sandy dunes. The sweltering heat was already starting to wave over them.
“Deserts usually come after mountain ranges.” Trail Blazer said. “And there are plenty of mountains around. There are the two just a bit to the north and I can see more even further north and ones south in the distance.” She pointed to each place for emphasis. “Equestria’s not lacking for any biomes that’s for sure.”
Lustrous was still not exactly pleased with this turn of events. “We’re not going to travel through the desert are we?”
“Sure are.” Trail Blazer sighed. “I’m not any happier about it than you but that’s what we gotta do.”
“Fine, fine...” Lustrous muttered. “I’m supposed to be the responsible one anyways, let’s at least get plenty of water before we start crossing it then?”
“Of course.” Trail Blazer nodded, she then looked at Steel Wing. “Can you fly up and see if you can see any close rivers or streams?”
Steel Wing nodded in affirmation and took off into the sky.
“We should’ve asked those buffalo if we could have an extra water skin or two.” Lustrous mused.
“We didn’t know there was a desert coming up. And most of our stuff we need to keep and can’t trade away.” Trail Blazer replied.
“I think your whiskey would’ve made the perfect thing to trade away.” He narrowed his eyes at her.
She glared at him in response. “Absolutely not.”
Although Trail Blazer was loathe to give up her alcohol the desert posed quite the problem when it came to that. The heat and threat of dehydration simply made it dangerous for her to drink while they were going through it. She’d have to put up with not drinking any until they made it through the desert. Trail Blazer was well aware of this and was not happy one bit, so she didn’t need anything else annoying her while they walked the desert. She’d do her best to use their job to take her mind off things. Hopefully there was plenty of stuff out in the desert for her to take notes on, if not she could try drawing more of the map.
Steel Wing came back after about five minutes and led them to the river he had found where they stocked up on an abundance of water. Lustrous tried and failed to get Trail Blazer to dump the rest of her whiskey and fill up the bottle with water. Seeing that any further attempts would be pointless the three got what they could and left back to the desert.
“We don’t really have the best clothes for traveling through the desert. And the stuff we’re carrying is going to exhaust us faster than usual so be careful.” Trail Blazer said to the two stallions as they all stood at the edge of the desert.
“Either way we still have to go through it. Might as well get started.” Lustrous said and took his first hoofstep on the hot sand. “Ow.” He quickly raised his hoof back. “Okay, that’s a little hot.”
Trail Blazer rolled her eyes at him. “Crybaby.” She quickly walked past him and over the sand, not showing any problem with the heat.
“Well I’m not an earth pony!” He shouted after her and gulped before trotting along after her. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...”
“That has nothing to do with it.” Trail Blazer scoffed.
And Steel Wing being a pegasus, he elected to fly.
As it turned out, much to Trail Blazer’s dismay, there wasn’t much to look at or do in this desert. The two grounded ponies were forced to go up and down huge rolling sand dunes that dwarfed even the largest of waves one would see in the ocean and combined with the heat and her bags it was enough for the normally stalwart Trail Blazer to sweat and struggle. The map mare would have a difficult time but she wasn’t about to ditch her coat or any bags. The stuff inside them was too important and the coat would be useful other places, she’d just have to bite the bullet for now. Lustrous was almost completely incapable of making the trips over the shifting sand dunes so Steel Wing had to help him out and support him for a lot of the journey.
No matter what they did though all three of them had sweat cascading down their bodies in rivers. Steel Wing eventually came to walk as well and used his wings to cover his head. The air was so dry and hot that the water they drank almost evaporated before it hit their tongues during the day. And by the time the first night had rolled around the temperature had swung to such a degree that it made the plains they had walked through earlier seem like paradise in comparison.
To put it simply this was the most miserable they had been on their journey yet. Worse than dealing with those obnoxious earth ponies or the thieves by far. This experience in the desert was quickly draining them to their limits.