Beauty of an Illusion

[Rarity]

        Sand whipped around us. Visibility has been reduced to a fraction of what it was at sunrise this morning. No longer could I see the vastness of the desert, instead all my sight consisted of was a blanket of swirling sand.

        Derpy, Spitfire, and I have trudged through the dunes with difficulty for hours on end. With the opaque cover blocking the sun, an unusual darkness settled over the landscape. None of us could tell what time it truly was as the normally blazing sun was reduced to a faint glow, hardly noticeable to the unkeen eye.

        Each of us wore a makeshift face mask consisting of scraps of what was once my dress.

When the sandstorm had started, breathing the air quickly became a problem. After a brief discussion on what to do, Spitfire decided to scrap my dress to make the masks and continue through the storm.

        I had been upset about Spitfire’s suggestion at first, but she made a good point in that my dress was made of a thinner, more light weight fabric suitable for breathing than her thick, non porous jacket.

The permeability of her jacket is next to none and trying to breathe through it would cause suffocate us. My dress on the other hand is composed of light fabric that is permeable to air, but not to the sand swirling around us.

Spitfire cut the dress along the seams with her knife. From there we each tied a section of the fabric around our muzzles to filter the air. We also tied another piece of fabric around our heads to keep our ears protected from the prickling sand. We stuffed the rest of the scraps into Derpy’s bag.

We had nothing for eye protection so we were forced to use a hoof to shield our eyes from the harmful winds while trekking across the never-ceasing dunes.

My mouth has been bone-dry since the sandstorm picked up hours ago. The water ran despite Spitfire’s best efforts shortly after the dusty winds cooperated with the sweltering heat to send us all into a state of dehydration.

My hooves burned with every step from trudging for hours on end. My motivation consisted of wanting to return home and the fact that Spitfire warned us that if we do not find a water source soon, that we would have to reserve ourselves to some… more unsavory methods of hydration.

We all kept quiet after learning that chatting was an easy way to expose yourself to the elements during a sandstorm. After a few hours, with the combined force of pure exhaustion, the darkening of the landscape, and the sudden drop of both visibility and temperature around us gave me a good enough reason to speak up.

“It’s starting to get cold and there is no possible way we can continue in this terrible weather, I vote we stop for the night”

Derpy nodded. “I’m tired too, I think we should.”

Spitfire huffed, then sighed in resignation. “Fine. We’ll stop for tonight, but don’t blame me if you decide to take your time in this Celestia-forsaken desert.”

Spitfire bent her front hooves into a crouch and spread her wings, preparing herself to take off.

Wait, she can’t just leave us like that!

“Spitfire! Where are you going?” I shouted worriedly.

She turned her head to face me. “Relax, I’m only going up to a cloud to sleep for the night.”

“But you can not just leave us!”

Derpy spoke up in my aid, “What if the cloud floats away while you sleep Spitfire? I’ve made that mistake and woke up in Las Pegasus.”

Derpy shuddered noticeably, but quickly recovered.

I paused for a moment, chuckling at remembrance of the events that happened to Derpy in Las Pegasus. She told me once during one of my visits to the spa when we stumbled into one other.

Apparently Derpy partied hard the night before the Canterlot wedding with Princess Cadence and the other mares attending. After the bachelorette party, she decided to rest on a cloud instead of heading back to Ponyville and as a result woke up hours away in Las Pegasus where she got caught up in several antics before finally making it back to the wedding just before the real Cadence arrived.

She had admitted she did not know Cadence before the party, but after finding out that that Cadence was really Chrysalis in disguise she did give Chrysalis credit for knowing how to throw a party.

Spitfire’s shoulders relaxed as she released the tension in her back and folded her wings close to her sides. She sat on her haunches and sighed.

“I guess you’re right, there’s no telling where I could end up. We all know that I need to stay by you two. I doubt I could find you if I drifted off.”

        I shivered, the once sweltering weather is quickly freezing over. Spitfire must have noticed this as she stated.

        “Okay, nightfall is coming, we need shelter and heat.”

        Derpy and I nodded in agreement. Spitfire pointed a hoof towards me than to a spot near her.

        “Rarity, use your magic to dig a hole large enough for the three of us to fit in and deep enough to protect us from the storm.”

        I nodded and concentrated on the ground where she pointed, I imagined the sand slowly being lifted, forming three holes side-by-side. As the sand started to lift I was interrupted.

        “No no! Not like that, make one hole to fit the three of us. We don’t have enough fabric to cover each of us if we are separated. Plus we will need to share body warmth. Fur alone won’t protect us out here.”

        I adjusted my focus to combine the three holes to form one larger hole just under the ground so it formed a wall around us that would protect us from the pelting sand.

        As the sand slowly levitated and pushed off to the side I heard Spitfire saying something to Derpy, but could not quite understand it.

Almost done, I felt the exhaustion of the entire day and the heavy use of magic wear me down to the point of nearly passing out.

        After I finished forming the pit, I turned to find that Derpy had taken out the remaining pieces of fabric.

        “Rarity, can you magic these up into a blanket?” Spitfire looked at me curiously.

        I shook my head no. “I would need a needle and thread. I don’t have either of those with me. I had left them with my lugga-”

        “I have those!” Derpy exclaimed happily.

        She reached into her bag and pulled out a single sewing needle and a small spool of brown thread.

        “I keep them in my mailbag in case it ever fell apart!”

Thank Celestia, no sleeping with bits of rags tonight!

        Spitfire stated, “That was oddly convenient. It does not sound like something a mailmare would carry.”

        Derpy’s eyes rolled as she shrugged. “You get in a habit of bringing thread when your previous mail bag's straps tear and rip every other day.”

        I levitated the spool and needle from Derpy’s hooves.

This thread will look hideous with the fabric. If it were not for our situation I would declare this a crime against fashion!

I worked quickly and finished the blanket in five minutes. It seemed sturdy enough to hold together, but it looked terrible. The cuts along the edges of each section of fabric were uneven and led to long tears showing between the interconnecting pieces.

The three of us stepped into the pit and laid down. I laid the blanket on top of us once everypony was settled.

Together we formed a mass of fur and hair. It was strangely comforting to be so close to other ponies. Warmth radiated and multiplied between the three of us and the cold, harsh winds whipping sand seemed to fade away as I slipped into unconsciousness.