//------------------------------// // The West // Story: Trail Blazer // by MagicS //------------------------------// The sun that Celestia raised every morning had turned into an unwelcome harbinger of murderous heat. It was simply impossible for these ponies who had lived most of their lives in a mild to slightly colder part of Equestria to get used to this heat over the course of a couple of days. Not when they were forced to travel over every inch of the desert and struggle over a seemingly endless ocean of sand dunes while carrying heavy backpacks and bags. They all had to think that if Tartarus was hot this must be close to what it was like. As Lustrous watched the sweat drip from his matted mane onto the hot sand he had to muse on how unfortunate it was that he didn’t have a hat. Trail Blazer and Steel Wing were both in the same boat, the former looking like she had even lost quite a bit of weight just from sweating so much. The pegasus did his best to seem as if he was fine but Lustrous had known him well enough by now to know that he was in relative agony as well. “A boat. I just thought we were all in the same boat. I wish we were on the ocean right now, that would be pretty nice.” Lustrous suddenly said. Trail Blazer looked at him with confusion written plainly on her face. “The heat getting to you there, Lustrous?” The unicorn slowed down a bit and wiped a hoof across his sweaty face. “I mean, I’m wet enough for us to be on the ocean aren’t I?” Steel Wing came by to hold a wing over his head to give the unicorn a little shade. “I think we should find shelter soon and get some rest for Lustrous’s sake.” He told Trail Blazer. The map pony couldn’t really disagree about that. And some rest and shelter sounded really good to her too even if she wasn’t feeling the negative effects of the heat quite as badly as Lustrous. The only problem was they were in the middle of nothing but sand. There were no rock formations or oases around they could see that would offer them any refuge from this heat. Trail Blazer thought she could see some small mountains or some sort of rocky terrain in the distance but it would take a while to get there. “At least we still have plenty of water.” Trail Blazer said while she jostled her saddlebag, several full bottles of water still inside. “Actually, it might be a little bit of a waste but can I have one of your bottles?” Steel Wing asked her. She looked at him and seemed like she might have argued or at least asked why he wanted it. But she was too tired at this point, her heavy panting even draining her more. With a shrug she pulled out one of the glass bottles of water and tossed it to the pegasus. “Go for it.” “Thank you.” Steel Wing said and popped off the top, pouring it on Lustrous’s head. For a second the three of them stood there. Lustrous stared down at the sand where the water was quickly evaporating and the other two waited to see if he might have regained a bit of his senses. The unicorn then took off his glasses and wiped them clean before putting them back on his face and taking a deep breath. “Right. Well since there aren’t any vultures overhead yet I think we’re still doing alright.” He said. “Let’s get a move on, sorry for slowing us down.” “No problem. We know you’re not as able as us two.” Trail Blazer said and resumed walking. “There’s nothing wrong with that though.” Steel Wing reassured him. And the traveling through the large desert that made up the natural southwestern boundary of Equestria continued. Thankfully they didn’t have to go any further south than here and the desert should give way to the western coastline soon enough. After that they’d travel north for a bit and then cut back across the interior of the country. That was still in the near future though and for now the three ponies continued to get roasted sandwiched between the hot sun and the hot sand. Whether good or bad there wasn’t any ponies or much life in general in the desert. It was an arid place with nothing to offer. Trail Blazer made note of how lacking it was, this is a place she would surely write down as not being fit for settlement or travel of any sort. You couldn’t build a road over these kinds of sand dunes either. When she was drawing up her map and writing every piece of information that went with it Trail Blazer would put down the suggestion that ponies simply avoid this place and travel around it. The good thing about that was that it was already so far out of the way and unnecessary to travel through to reach much of anywhere else that she couldn’t foresee many ponies in the future making the same mistake she and her party had. Luckily the night sky offered a bit of a reprieve from the heat and the three were able to get some rest. Trail Blazer also vowed that this would be the last night they spent in the desert, they were getting out of here by tomorrow no matter what. With her sense of direction she took them where she knew would be the shortest route to get out of all this sand. They started moving as soon as they had woken up and while the heat and everything else was still getting to them they were able to make good progress. They had never seen a single solitary oasis the whole time they were walking through the desert and that didn’t change as they reached the last vestiges of it. What they did see now was some greenery signaling the end of the desert and the ocean beyond that. “Finally.” Lustrous muttered. “Almost there.” “It’s still going to be hot as death.” Trail Blazer said. “But we can walk north a bit up the coastline. Maybe we’ll find a settlement or something.” “Actually I can see one already.” Steel Wing said from above them. “Really?” Trail Blazer looked up at him. The pegasus held his hooves up to his eyes and squinted to block out anything else as he looked far along the horizon. “Yes. There are definitely houses or buildings of some sort by the water.” “Alright.” Trail Blazer shrugged. “Let’s hope our luck keeps up and they’re friendly.” “I’m not going to hold out hope after the last two groups of ponies we encountered.” Lustrous bitterly said. “Hey, at least the buffalo were nice. Mostly.” Trail Blazer reminded him. It took a couple more hours before they finally made it out past the last of the sand dunes and to the coast. Then they followed the sandy but also grassy shoreline up a bit to the village Steel Wing had spotted. Compared to the east coast that had a cold wind pouring in from the ocean the west coast was warm, at least down here, and the breeze still almost unbearably hot. But it wasn’t quite so bad as it was when they were trudging through the middle of the desert. Trail Blazer’s jacket was essentially soaked in her own sweat, she was looking forward getting to wring it out and clean it in the next river they found. The fact that there was a village up ahead must mean there was some sort of freshwater inlet or stream sustaining it. The only other explanation was the ponies there had somehow learned to survive off of saltwater. “I see ponies out.” Steel Wing told them, he was the only one who had been watching where they were going intently, the other two too caught up in their own little worlds. “What are they doing?” Lustrous asked. Steel Wing shrugged. “Normal things? I see two of them carrying a small boat. One seems to be mending a fence. It just looks like a normal little village.” “Sounds good enough then.” Trail Blazer said and picked up her pace a little bit. The assessment by Steel Wing had been accurate. It was a small village of only a few huddled buildings at the edge of the coast with a small stream pouring out from deeper inland on the far side. The ponies that made it up looked out in surprise at the sweaty and exhausted party coming up from the desert to the south, they didn’t look afraid or upset but they were just confused as to who these newcomers were. “Umm, hi.” Lustrous said to the first pony they met. An earth pony who had been the one working on the fence. He held a mallet in his hoof and had been hammering posts into the ground when they walked up. “Well hello there. Who might you all be? Didn’t know any ponies lived south of here.” He said in a thick yokel accent. “They don’t. We’re a trio of travelers tasked with drawing a map of Equestria and we’ve just now made it out here. Pleasure to meet you.” Lustrous said, still exhausted from the desert. “Uh, alright then. You three look pretty… bad if I’m being honest.” He said. “We wouldn’t mind being allowed to stay here for another day, spend the night in some real shelter if that’s not much of a problem?” Trail Blazer asked. “Well of course there’s no problem there.” The earth pony cheerfully responded. “We’re happy to help out our fellow ponies. Aint like the old days. We’re all Equestrians now.” “That is… very nice to hear.” Lustrous sighed in relief. “Don’t have many big places though.” The pony continued, rubbing his head and looking out at the village. “Gonna be a bit cramped no matter where you shack up.” “That’s fine. Beats a tent.” Trail Blazer said. “And now that we’ve got that covered...” She reached into one of her saddlebags and pulled out the remainder of her whiskey, yanking out the cork and downing it all in one gulp. “Shouldn’t you get some rest or something before doing that?” Lustrous cringed at her drinking. She groaned and waved him off so Lustrous just ignored her. At least they were going to be okay now. From what he knew of the mare anyways the only reason she hadn’t been completely horrible back in the desert when she couldn’t drink is because the heat was too severe and the situation too serious for her to think or do anything else. Now that they were out of the desert it was probably for the best that she was drinking now actually, else she’d return to her rude and abrasive state that she normally was in when she was sober. “How long have you been settled here?” Lustrous decided to ask the earth pony as he led them through the small village. “Oh just a few good years now.” He stroked his chin. “Can’t remember when exactly we made it down here.” “May I ask if you do anything in particular here? Is there anything unique or notable about your village? In addition to making a map we’re also trying to find out as much about Equestria as possible and that includes the ponies and towns already in it too.” Lustrous said. “We farm seaweed. That’s what we started up when we first came here.” The earth pony told him. “Excellent. I hope it keeps going well for you.” Lustrous smiled at him. “You know it sounds like your journey is going to be a long one too, we’d be more than happy to give you some seaweed when you leave.” He offered. Lustrous’s smile widened even further in appreciation. He was just so happy to meet a friendly village of ponies, it really set his heart at ease. “That’s very kind of you. And I’m sorry but we never properly introduced ourselves. My name is Lustrous and these are-” He turned to introduce his companions only to see Steel Wing flying too high up overhead and Trail Blazer drunkenly stumbling around. “Er, well, they can say hello another time.” “Right. Well, my name is Oaken Hoof. Great to have you here.” He smiled and shook hooves with Lustrous. Oaken Hoof led them towards a small hut that stood at the edge of the village on top of a small hill that overlooked the narrow stream flowing into the ocean. It was a rough little shed but it would serve their purposes. Lustrous took the opportunity to look out at the wilderness beyond the stream. Much to his delight it got much greener very quickly and he could see a few snow-capped mountains in the distance to the northeast. They’d probably be making their way in that direction tomorrow morning. For now they could restock on water thanks to this stream, Trail Blazer could take a break from everything else and work on her map, and Oaken Hoof was going to give them food too. They really did luck out on finding this place. Trail Blazer walked inside the hut and threw off her bags and jacket before collapsing in the corner. Lustrous knew she wasn’t as worn by the desert as he was so it must have been the alcohol. He could only sigh in annoyance at her behavior, did she expect him to take care of her things? “Trail Blazer, you should take this opportunity to do some work or at least get prepared for the next leg of our journey.” He frowned at her. She weakly raised her head off the ground, returning his frown in full force. “Or we can just take an extra day here to rest. We’re not on a timetable.” She looked to Oaken Hoof who had been awkwardly standing outside the door. “Got any moonshine or anything here?” “Uh, we have some grain alcohol but that’s-” “I’ll take it.” The mare said before he could finish. “Oh for the love of—just ignore her please.” Lustrous said to him. “We’ll find something else later.” Trail Blazer snorted. “Fine, but you’re the one who’s going to have to deal with me sober.” “I’m well aware.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s gonna be worse for us all though, we’ve got a tough day when we decide to head out again and probably for the next few days after that.” Trail Blazer said as she unsteadily got to her hooves and walked out of the hut, Lustrous following behind her. She walked to the side of the hill and stared out at the big mountains Lustrous had seen just before. “Those mountains? We’re climbing those.”