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// The Journal of Lustrous 
// Story: Trail Blazer 
// by MagicS 
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The following is an excerpt from Lustrous’s journal:

What can I even say about this journey at this point? I’m not nearly as optimistic about things as I used to be I can tell you that. My experience with Trail Blazer and a few groups of rather awful ponies has done a good job of beating me down. I truly didn’t think I would find ponies like that all across Equestria. From my readings I thought things had completely changed after unification. But I suppose that was naive of me to think. After all if even two cousins who live in the same house can’t get along then how could every pony from the different tribes that are still complete strangers get along with each other?

You can see my new cynicism and negativity is already clouding this journal entry. I wanted to write about more positive things in here! It’s just that my mind immediately goes to the bad parts of our journey. Like almost dehydrating in the desert or getting stuck on a mountain.  

It would be inaccurate of me to say it’s all been bad though. There have been kind ponies we’ve met. And other creatures I was surprised to see in Equestria that have also been kind. Not to mention the beauty of the country all around me, I’ll talk more about that later.

It’s just… I grew up thinking that I was part of the first generation of a new kind of pony. And yet here I am, a unicorn traveling with a pegasus and an earth pony, and I don’t think I could call them friends. Now I hardly think this is my fault but still. Shouldn’t things be different? Shouldn’t we be able to get along better than all the old ponies? I’ve tried but neither of them seem particularly interested in us getting to know each other better and become friends. Even though that’s a large point of this journey too. Bright wished us to be inspiration as he called it after all. But everything about that so far has been a disappointment. If any stranger came across the three of us they’d think ponies still didn’t get along any better than before the unification, that’s how bad we make things look.

Steel Wing is polite but quiet and standoffish. I can never tell what he’s thinking or if he’s thinking anything at all.

Trail Blazer on the other hand… I could likely write an entire book on how this mare peeves me. Drunk all the time. Loose morals. Rude. Commanding. Bright picked me to keep her in line and focused on the job, but I don’t think that was necessary. As much as she might say she doesn’t want to be doing this that mare can get so caught up in her research and studying it’s almost like nothing else can reach her. I’ve had to try and talk her down from certain things because she’s just so dead set on doing something dangerous at times for the sake of her map. She may say that this whole journey is a bother but it’s clear to me that she’s taking great care with making this map. It’s definitely her hobby and calling.

So now since my duty of “caretaker” is essentially unnecessary I’ve instead taken up the duty of being the voice of reason. At least that’s how I like to put it. Another way to put it would be “The pony who complains about everything”. Even I have enough self-awareness to see that.  

You know it occurs to me now that I’ve written about the both of them that I actually know even less about Trail Blazer than Steel Wing despite her being much more talkative. Even the scant few facts I know about Steel Wing’s past is more than the blank slate that’s there for Trail Blazer. She’s very tight-lipped about herself, besides her love of drinking and sex, and I know literally nothing about her past. I can glean that something bad likely happened to her but I have no idea what. I would like to know what caused her to become the way she is but I have no idea how to proceed on that front.

I feel so lost with these two.

Should I just push that all out of my head now and talk about the good things? I did want to talk quite a bit about all the natural beauty I’ve seen out here.

It’s funny that I was so apathetic to the wilderness and the landscapes while we were going down the eastern coast but now I’m always looking out in wonder whenever we come across something new. Majestic is the perfect word for Equestria.  

I did attempt to write poetry about the wondrous scenery I had seen. It didn’t end well so I’m discarding that page of my journal.  

But I would like to say that after standing atop that mountain I think I know what the leaders of the tribes might have felt when they first came to Equestria and saw it. It must have been such a new and miraculous sight for them, something that warmed their hearts and made their jaws drop. Because I can’t imagine that there’s anywhere else in the world as beautiful as the country I saw from up there. And it’s not like we even saw all of it. There must be so much more out there for us to see. Things that will leave us breathless and speechless.

Even though this has been a troublesome journey and I have so many negative things to say about it I am glad that I came on it. I’m glad that Bright kicked me out of the house and made me see the world. I truly didn’t know what I was missing.

I can only hope that not only does the rest of Equestria live up to, if not exceed, what I’ve already seen but that my poor relationship with my two traveling buddies improves.

I’m still miffed at Trail Blazer for… everything. But I can at least hold some level of conversation with Steel Wing. I do think he’s slightly more open than when we first met. The previous day I asked why he didn’t want a journal of his own, he gave a flimsy response and when I offered to let him borrow mine any time he wanted he ended up telling the both of us that he can’t read or write.

Naturally I was quite surprised but I suppose there are a lot of ponies who can’t read or write. Most probably have no need to after all. I could possibly teach Steel Wing. It might be a good bonding experience, at least it would give us a reason to spend more time together that wasn’t just walking from place to place while Trail Blazer works on her map.

And Trail Blazer. The more my mind comes back to her the more annoyed I get. The other day we happened to come across a small caravan heading east. Well Trail Blazer was quite interested in the moonshine they happened to have with them but we didn’t have anything to buy it with or trade for it. So what does she do?

Sleeps with the caravan boss.  

Which is something she probably would’ve done anyways. But doesn’t it bother her that she’s, ugh, prostituting herself? It certainly bothers me and Steel Wing.  

Then of course now that she has her moonshine she gets drunk immediately and we continue on our journey as if nothing happened. Her drunk self is at least far more preferable than her sober one. If she’s sober she’s far more likely to shirk her duties unless she’s forced into it. She’s also far ruder when sober. I’ll take the drunk and calm Trail Blazer over the sober and agitated one is what I guess I’m saying.  

The only downside to that is how much she throws up. My bag is still stained.

Despite what I’ve said and as much as she annoys me I’m honestly worried about her. It’s not just whatever her reasons might be for drinking so much but the sheer amount is so unhealthy, if I had half of what she drank on average I think I’d die. But any of my attempts to get her to stop drinking or at least slow down have been met with failure, she is outrageously obstinate when it comes to her drinking.

Well anyways, enough of that. We’re coming up on a large forested area. Evergreen. I’ve decided to study and learn as much as possible about the wilderness even though my true passion is magic. I’m still a novice in this area and Trail Blazer is quick to point out any dumb things I do or mistakes I make but there’s no helping that. I don’t plan on becoming some pony who lives in the woods I just like learning things. Even though I don’t know where to start I can still tell the differences between trees and rocks and types of flowers can’t I?

Trail Blazer is likely cataloging all of this for the map so what I’m studying and writing down in this journal is really only for my own benefit and peace of mind.  

I can hope that we don’t run into anymore criminals or hateful ponies but it’s a large country and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still plenty more around. I can’t control that but I can at least work to fix some of the other negative aspects of this trip. I am not optimistic about my chances of success but I will continue to try and get Trail Blazer and Steel Wing to open up.

If we became friends then I could count this journey as a success regardless of what else may happen.