The cool sand blew against their bodies as they trudged onwards. Starlight stared through thick goggles, her face covered with a bandana. Shining was in the front, along with the rest, whatever they carried they carried on their own backs.
Trixie came up too Starlight from behind, clamping her hands down on the other woman’s shoulder.
“Trixie!” Starlight yelped. The other turned their heads too the noise, briefly shaking their heads as they saw Trixie.
“Hmmm, Starlight, you’re no fun anymore!” Trixie whined.
“Come on, Trixie, we have to keep moving.” Starlight shrugged Trixie off and continued forward. Trixie briefly stopped, doing her best to pout, but then realizing that her goggles and mask obscured her face anyways.
Starlight winced as a tiny particle of sand brushed past the exposed skin on her arm. Glancing down she saw that it contained the tiniest fragment of ice crystals.
“Shining!” she yelled, running up to the front of the group. Shining stopped, causing the group of thirty other people behind him to run into each other.
Starlight ran to the front and dropped the sand fragment into his hand.
“Wind’s coming from the North. They must be moving farther south than we thought.” Shining looked at the horizon, the approaching sandstorm was still a ways off. “Hopefully we can find somewhere to hunker down for the night. Otherwise it’s gonna be one hell of a ride.”
“Trixie and I can scout ahead if you want?” Starlight asked.
Shining looked past Starlight, too see Trixie clumsily making her way forwards. She tripped over a small rock and fell flat on her face, eliciting laughter from the others. He shook his head.
“Yeah, you do that.” Shining handed Starlight a pair of binoculars. She placed it in the satchel on her left side.
“Come on, Trixie!” Starlight called. Trixie got up and followed her friend as they moved ahead.
They never got that far in front of the group, they could still see them trudging behind a few hundred feet, but there was always the possibility of being lost.
Starlight scanned the horizon. Nothing but flat desert ground for miles on end. Not even a rock outcropping or cactus could be seen. Trixie practiced her magic tricks as Starlight continued to search for some reasonable shelter.
Trixie took out a smoke bomb and threw it down on the ground. A giant cloud of sand and dirt explored outwards.
“Trixie!” Starlight said, coughing.
“Trixie’s sorry.” Trixie giggled.
Starlight smiled. “Huh, come on, let's see if we can find something.”
Going ahead a few hundred more feet Starlight finally saw something within her binoculars. It was hard to tell but she believed it was a small town, or the remnants of a small town at least. They waited another half hour until the rest of the group caught up.
Shining saw the two women waiting and approached them. He slung his rifle over his back as Starlight handed him the binoculars. He scanned the horizon and spotted the same town.
“Might be an old settlement town. Can’t say for sure until we get closer. Good work, Starlight.” Shining handed her back the binoculars.
“Aren’t settlement towns gone though?” Trixie asked.
Shining shook his head. “Most were made out of wood, the quickest thing they could build out of, which is why most of them eventually are torn down by the sandstorms. Though some of them manage to survive every now and then. Mostly luck, though sometimes for whatever reason a wizard decided to cast a protection spell on the town's, preserving the buildings, but of course never the people.”
Starlight placed her hand on Trixie’s shoulder. “They can be rather interesting actually. With my old teacher-”
“With your old teacher this, your old teacher that. We know, Twilight Sparkle was the greatest wizard in all of Equestria. You always talk about her.” Trixie crossed her arms across her chest.
Shining rolled his eyes and stepped back. “Come on, we need to get moving.”
“Right,” Starlight said. She turned her attention too Trixie. “Yes, Twilight was the greatest wizard in Equestria. But you’re the greatest girlfriend.”
Starlight tickled the other woman's stomach, causing Trixie too roll around with laughter. Starlight pinned the other woman's arms to the ground, and placed herself on top of her. She lowered her head, and planted a kiss on the other woman's lips.
Trixie blushed. “Well, Trixie, can be rather sweet when she wants to be.”
Starlight giggled. “Yes, she can be.”
Starlight got off of Trixie and helped the other woman too stand up. Giggling they made their way to the village with the others.
On their approach they did find that it was actually a settlement town. The old wood and glass windows creaked in the wind. Broken fragments of both materials were strewn across the dirt roads that bisected the town.
As they quickly found out, as they so often found, the town was completely devoid of any living inhabitants. Occasionally they found a fragmented skeleton somewhere along the road, but no living residents. The town itself contained only thirty houses, a large center was in the middle.
Shining gathered Starlight, Trixie, and the other thirty travelers into the center of town.
“We should check the houses for supplies, they’re at least half a decade old at this point, but you never know what might still be usable. There are thirty houses, that means one person per house,” Shining said. The group broke up, taking their things with them as they searched the houses.
Trixie hooked her elbow around Starlight's right side as they went to search their own house.
“You know, Starlight, sometimes I question how intelligent Shining really is. There are clearly thirty three of us. That means you and I can be a team,” Trixie said.
Starlight giggled, leaning her head onto Trixie’s shoulder. “Alright, Trixie, alright.”
They made their way past the others, taking one of the main roads, and came across a relatively small house that hadn’t been searched yet.
It was single story, with a single front and back entrance. There was one window on the front of the house, and none on any other side. Entering they found that there was one main large room, the living room, with only three interior doors. One opened to an empty closet, the other two to bedrooms.
The first bedroom was completely empty, given the way the room looked, broken scraps of wood, Trixie and Starlight guessed another group had already raided this house. For whatever reason they neglected to take the blankets they left within the living room, the only thing in their.
“I’ll check the other bedroom,” Starlight said.
She twisted the knob, and upon opening the door, she found that the room was relatively intact.
Within was a single bed, with a night stand off to the side. There were some faded pictures on the wall. Starlight looked under the bed too find that there wasn’t anything underneath. She upturned the mattress and sheets, looking for anything useful.
She then checked behind the picture frames, which yielded nothing. Starlight looked at the dusty faded photographs. She wasn’t able to make out any details. They were to blurry for that, and even the ones that weren’t so blurry were caked in a thick layer of dust.
Starlight moved over to the nightstand. A wax candle sat on top, devoid of anything else. The night stand had two drawers. Starlight opened the top drawer, nothing was inside. Not even a crumb of dust could be found.
She opened the bottom drawer, to her surprise Starlight found a stack of books. Most books were already looted by the time they came across a settlement. Extremely valuable if they could be put into the right hands. Not that they would find the right hands for several months anyway.
Removing the books revealed several copies of a series called Daring Do. Starlight smiled, that was her teacher's favorite book series. Beneath the stack of Daring Do books, the only other book Starlight could find was a brown leather bound book.
The cover was printed with a swirly design, wrapping itself all the way around. The pages were yellowing, and a thick layer of dust covered the book. The book had no title, or anything to indicate what it might be.
Starlight flipped open a page.
6/14/76
Today Dashie came home from the air force. She was discharged after an accident involving some wizards in training prevented her from performing her duties.
I hate to say this, but I’m glad she’s back. I really missed her when she was gone. It was so lonely being by myself all these months. I know that’s terrible to say, she was just doing what she felt was right for her country, and she loved doing it, but I don’t want to lose her either.
I-
The writing became too faded to read after that. Starlight put the book back down. She sat back, pulling her legs up to her chest.
Nobody ever found personal memorabilia. If it existed it was usually in a condition not worth salvaging. Most of the earlier travelers who crossed the desert had already raided most personal items worth any value.
The items that weren’t worth anything other than sentimental value were usually destroyed, or were taken with the settlers who had survived the sand storms and crossed the desert. Starlight took in a deep breath. She just found the diary of a settler.
More importantly the diary of a settler who started writing before the great blizzards and firestorms of the south happened. 6/14/76 could only mean June fourteenth 2376. Which meant that at the very least who ever owned this diary had started writing in it three years prior to the blizzards or the firestorms.
Starlight placed the diary within her satchel, and picked up the stack of Daring Do books.
She went back into the living room. Trixie was just finishing rolling up the blankets.
“Oooh you found books,” Trixie said skipping over. She shrugged when she saw that they were Daring Do books. “Ehhh, I’ve already read those ones.”
“Come on, Trixie. These could be the only new books we find for miles. Besides nobody else in the group has any Daring Do books.” Starlight giggled.
Trixie shrugged. “Do you plan on trading with them?”
“No.”
“Whatever. Let’s just go back to the center of town.” Trixie picked up her stack of rolled up blankets and exited out the front of the house. Briefly Starlight checked back inside the bedroom. She took one of the least faded photographs, the other ones were likely irrecoverable at this point.
Starlight followed Trixie back to the center of town. Most of the others had already made it back. Shining smiled as several groups brought candles, blankets, matches, and even in one case a gun.
He waved too Trixie and Starlight as he saw them approaching. “I think we got lucky with this one. I guess whoever hit this town before us must have been in a hurry. They left a lot of good shit behind. Blankets, Trixie. And, Starlight, you found books. Nice.”
Trixie placed the blankets down next to the other piles of supplies. “Now, Shining, you know Starlight doesn’t have to give up the books if she doesn’t want too.”
“Of course, Trixie.” Shining rolled his eyes.
Starlight handed the stack of Daring Do books too Trixie, and took out the diary. “Shining, you won’t believe what I found.”
Shining took the diary from Starlight, flipping through the pages. “Incredible, you don’t see many of these survive. A word of advice, Starlight, don’t give this one up. This is a window into the past, even the not so distant past.”
Starlight smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t let it out of my sight.” Shining handed the diary back.
Shining went to check on more supplies. Trixie stretched out her hand for the diary, Starlight gave it to her. Trixie flipped to the same page that Starlight first read, the first readable page at least.
“This thing is twenty four years old?” Trixie said, scrunching up her face with disgust.
Starlight grabbed the diary back, and poked her girlfriend in the ribs. “Yes, I suppose it is. It’s younger than you then.”
Trixie blushed. “I’m not that old!”
“Oh, aren’t you?” Starlight started to laugh.
Trixie tackled her girlfriend to the ground, knocking the diary out of her hand.
“Trixie!” Starlight yelled, grabbing for the diary. Trixie snatched, still on top of Starlight, and clutched it to her chest.
“Trixie is upset now!” Trixie said, gripping her thighs around Starlight’s legs, preventing her from getting up. Starlight sighed.
“Does Trixie want a kiss?” Starlight asked, giving her best puppy dog eyes.
Trixie blushed, still clutching the diary. “Well, Trixie, wouldn’t mind that.”
Trixie leaned her head close too Starlight, Starlight planted a firm kiss on the other woman's lips. Trixie dropped the diary, which Starlight promptly grabbed. Trixie started to moan lightly as she pressed herself closely towards Starlight.
Starlight pulled away. “Later tonight, Trixie, you need to learn to wait.”
Trixie got up off of Starlight, helping the other woman up. “Trixie doesn’t want to wait!”
Starlight giggled. “Well, we’re gonna hunker down in this town for the night. When it gets dark, how about you and I make our way back to that house we searched earlier today. I’m sure the bed can't be worse than the dirt we’ve been sleeping on for the past several months. Hmm, does that sound nice?”
Trixie blushed. “Yes, Trixie would like that very much.”
Starlight smiled, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. “Fantastic.”
Starlight kept her word and when darkness fell she lead Trixie back to the house they’d searched. Cold wind assaulted their skin, and Starlight knew it
was a matter of days until the sand storm reached them. If it wasn’t for the wooden structures the group now inhabited, they’d be huddling together in tents braving the cold night air. One time a small child had been blown a mile away by the force of the winds. They found him the next morning, his body completely frozen.
Trixie placed her things in the living room and blew a kiss to Starlight as she entered the bedroom. Starlight undressed and followed her girlfriend. The wind no longer scorched her flesh, but it was still cold. This was not the time for sex, but a promise was a promise.
Trixie lay nude on the dusty olden bed. Her nipples erect in the cold, and she was shivering. Her cunt was already dripping fluid, and her eyes hungered for Starlight. Starlight got onto the bed and straddled her girlfriend, firmly pushing her into the mattress.
Their lips locked, and stringy wet glistening salvia dripped between them. Trixie moaned as Starlight inserted two fingers inside of Trixie’s vagina. With her thumb she massages her cliterous. And by now Starlight’s own cunt was dripping, and it aches to be fucked.
Her ministrations were vigorous, and in a matter of minutes cum was flowing from Trixie’s cunt. Starlight’s own cunt dropped fluid at the same time. Trixie was blushing.
“I didn’t expect to cum so soon.”
Starlight smiled. “Your cunt hasn’t exactly been utilized for awhile. And for that matter it’s been at least a month since the last time cum has dripped from my cunt as well. You were great.”
Trixie smiled, and the two women snuggled together in the darkness.
Starlight couldn’t sleep. And it wasn’t just because Trixie was snoring. It wasn’t the cold, though that certainly didn’t help. There was a sense of incompleteness. A sense of curiosity. Which was why she now sat in the living room looking for the next readable entry in the diary. After a time she found it.
6/16/76
Dashie is...upset. She’s only been back two days and already she isn’t talking to me. I don’t know why. I care about her so much, and wish she could just be honest with me. I don’t know what to say or do.
She really loved the Air Force. I know that the truth is she cared more about adventure than serving her country. But I’ve read about the things that can happen to soldiers when they go to war. It’s so so terrible. I’m very glad she was discharged from the Air Force. I couldn’t bare her being killed in battle. She’d hate me for saying that though. And I know that she must be hurting because she was discharged. I suppose my own selfish desire for her to be safe is more important to me than what she wants. That’s horrible to say, but if being in the military ultimately kills her, well it’s not like she’d exactly be able to live her dreams out at that point.
6/26/76
The festival yesterday was a lot of fun. Dashie is finally starting to smile again. She still hasn’t told me how she’s feeling, but I think she’s doing better. She’s started working as a security guard for the town. I don’t think she likes the job, but I also think she appreciates feeling useful.
I’m scared. There have been reports that a declaration of war is being considered against the Storm King. He’s killed thousands of people just in the last few months. But so far he hasn’t attacked Equestria. I’m so very worried. It just makes me even more glad that Dashie was discharged.
7/15/76
We’re going to be married. Dashie proposed to be yesterday, and she asked me to be her wife. I was so happy. And she started crying after that. She said she’d been wanting to ask me for a long time. I’m so glad she finally did. It’s not going to be really formal or anything. We’re going to go down to the courthouse tomorrow to make it official. I...plan on having a surprise for her tomorrow.
I still think she misses the Air Force. But I think she’s finally moved on. Thats good, and I’m glad. I just hope she can eventually find a different calling in life that will make her just as happy.
11/22/76
We have a baby girl. The sheriff found her abandoned outside of town limits. With the shortage of food since last month nobody else wanted to take her in. I’ve always wanted a daughter, and well sadly Dashie and I will never be able to conceive children ourselves. So I asked the sherif if we could take her in. She’s such a lovely baby. Dashie wanted to name her Scootaloo. I love that name, so that’s what we’ll call our daughter.
Equstria is at war now. The Storm King finnaly invaded from the North. He’s occupying the Crystal Empire and threatening to march on Canterlot if the princesses don’t surrender immediately. I’m so worried for the future. But...I’m also happy despite the terrible things that will surely happen. And have happend. Dashie is my wife now, and I’m her wife: and we’re together. We have a daughter. We’re a family, and that makes me so very happy.
7/29/77
Scootaloo said her first word today. It was...Dashie. Which caused Scootaloo to receive a torrential lecture on why I should be referred to as ‘Mommy’ and Rainbow is well Rainbow.
She said that our daughter shouldn’t be using a pet name to refer to one of her mothers. She half heartedly tried to call me ‘Flutters’ but she gave up. I think it’s cute that she finds the name embarrassing. And to be honest I think it's really cute for Scootaloo to continue referring to her mother as Dashie. I suppose I’ll have to keep that secret between mommy and daughter.
Double checking Starlight verified that there was only one readable page remaining. Everything after it was too faded to be legible.
1/23/78
Tomorrow we leave. I really don’t know where to. We were told that we could only bring the clothes we wore on our backs. It’s the Equestrian Wizard Corp that’s taking us. They said we’ll be taken east where it’s safe from the Storm King.
I’m very very worried. I couldn’t stop shaking when we were told this morning. Scootaloo is barely two years old and already our family must go on an arduous journey.
Dashie comforted me. She hugged me and stayed with me until I stopped crying. Until I could speak coherently again. She said that no matter what happens we’ll be okay. As long as we’re together. And so many terrible things have already been done by the Storm King. But...I believe her. I love Dashie, and I trust her that things will work out for us.
This will be my last entry then. And since I can’t bring this diary with me, I want to leave one final message. If anyone ever finds this, no matter what never loose faith in life.
Sincerely, a stranger, Fluttershy.
Starlight placed the journal down gently. That incompleteness was gone. And after scraping the photograph Starlight knew what it was. It was Rainbow, Fluttershy, and their daughter Scootaloo. She could only guess that the woman with short Rainbow hair was who Fluttershy affectionately called Dashie. Seeing the smiling faces of the family made Starlight smile.
There was a slim chance of survival. The Storm King had finally sent his army south after the fire storms that raged for fifteen years finally let up. Of course torrential sand storms still impacted even the Storm King and his forces.
It was all so terrible and overwhelming that Starlight often felt like she couldn’t handle it. She knew that more likely than not she would die along with the rest of the part before they ever reached the southern shores of Equestria.
Then Starlight heard Trixie snoring, and that made her smile. Things wouldn’t get better, but she could tolerate them. At the very least, she could tolerate her world as long as she had Trixie. That was enough for her.
THE END.
