The Burning [RfE]

Chapters

Log One: Officer Cobaltsky
Log Three : Day One
Log Two : Entering the Forest
Log Three: Arrival

Log One: Officer Cobaltsky

Officer Cobaltsky

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject: Commission

By the authority of Princess Twilight, the five Equestrian soldiers led by officer Cobaltsky have been commissioned to demolish the Everfree Forest. We have been assigned five tasks.

Eradicate all hostile life within the forest.
Evacuate any and all Civilians that may, for whatever reason, be residing in the forest.
Collect samples of seeds from any uncommon or listed plants for research and breeding to preserve the biological diversity of Equestria.
When the three prior tasks have been completed in a section of the forest, it is to be burned to the ground. The remains are to be left to provide nutrition for the earth, should it be used for farming in the future.

My flight for this mission will consist of :

Officer Cobaltsky. The oldest and most experienced soldier in this entire flight. I am an able bodied Pegasus that has served at the feet of princess Luna.
Stonewall : A massive grey Earth Pony that was originally commissioned under princess Celestia as a trainer for the recruits. Recently accepted into the Equestria Elite Forces. Has a great tolerance for pain and can keep running for miles without breaking a sweat. *note* This one seems to have an addiction to some of the plants in the Everfree, I am not sure how to feel about that.
Bluelight : I honestly know almost nothing about this one. A unicorn that served princess Luna, but that is all I know. What her job was, what her talents are, all these things are unbeknownst to me.
Brighteyes : A unicorn scholar, this one was originally supposed to serve Celestia, but suddenly changed to Twilight Sparkle, this one's talents are having a keen eye for detail and seeing things from new perspectives. What use we will have for this one, I am not certain.
Skyline : A Pegasus warrior for Celestia, this one has a history of passive aggression, or so I hear. I really hope he doesn't start anything with Stonewall, I know he has a distaste for Earth Ponies after he watched his mother get brutally raped and have her skull crushed by one.
Flash Sentry : I'm pretty sure the princesses want this one to die. They only sent him with us because of his horrible performance in the E.G. play we ran in the Crystal Empire. I'm pretty sure he hit on me when we all met each other. Even if I was gay, that was definitely the worst performance I have ever seen. I really hope he doesn't hit on me again.

As is standard of my flight, we shall be recording our days here in the forest. We have been mostly prepped for the forest back at the castle, but we are currently residing in Ponyville for two days, questioning the residences of the town for information about the forest. The town was set up around eighty years ago, so the inhabitants likely hold some information about the creatures that live in the forest. I have done some research on this town, and have elected three ponies who may know the most about the forest. Their names will be listed below.

Applebloom : A younger female pony who has been seen entering the forest on regular occasions.
Fluttershy : A middle aged female, bearer of an Element of Harmony. Noted to be quite anti-social. To circumvent this, I shall be having Bluelight go undercover as one of her closer friends, Rarity: a bearer of an Element of Harmony. She lives right near the Everfree and is known to hunt there to feed her addiction to meat.
Granny Smith : recorded to be the fourth oldest living creature in Equestria, she is the grand mother to Applejack: bearer of an Element of Harmony. She runs a farm right next to the forest, and had lived in the forest when she and her family colonized it.

On the first day, Bluelight will perform recon on the Unicorn Rarity, observing her patterns so that she can properly mimic her when she communicates with Fluttershy. Stonewall will be sent to take care of Granny Smith, and Brighteyes will be sent to deal with the child, she has a way with children.

On the second day, Flash Sentry and Skyline will be sent to collect supplies and see if any random ponies know anything about the forest. Bluelight will speak with Fluttershy, posing as Rarity, and we shall look at the out dated map to see if we can plan the best course to take to the castle.

On the third day, we shall reconvene at the town hall to discuss all our findings. We shall take all the new information into account and modify our plan accordingly. Once this is done we shall recheck our stock of supplies and get some good rest. On the fourth day, we walk into hell. May the two sisters guide us through this swampy death.

Now, all these formalities aside, I think it is time I record my real thoughts here. I am frightened, very afraid. I have heard many tales of ponies going in there and never coming out, and when they do come out, they come out twisted like the forest. Some ponies stay there forever. What if the ponies we are going in to help are actually going to stalk us. I know I am being a bit silly here. but I have just always had a bit of a phobia of dark places, not to mention I will be stuck on the ground for who knows how long. I just hope the thing that kills us isn't ourselves. I should request a switch our of soldier sat some point, give... I am thinking way to far ahead, just go with the flow, and everything will be alright. I feel like I should write to my mother before I go into the forest as I likely won't be seeing anyone for a long time besides these weirdos.

Log Three : Day One

Stonewall

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : Day one

It appears that I we are all required to log our thoughts and the events of the day here, and Cobalt says that our writings wont be read by anyone but ourselves and scribes back at Canterlot. I hope that is the case, I know how I can get over time. My condition is good for now, but I need to find the plants I need before too long or I will start to get jumpy. As for my thoughts, Skyline has been a total ass to me lately, she fucking flicked her tail in my face and called me a simple horse. I should teach that mare a lesson the first chance I get. I don't know what her problem is, but if we are going to survive out here, she should get her attitude in check. Most of the others seem alright to me, Bluelight is a bit freaky. I have had some buggy soldiers before, but this one just stares right at you and doesn't say anything. I wonder what her purpose was before she got sent with us. I have never even seen that girl's cutie mark, she always wears that blue uniform of hers. Apparently, those pain killers I had to take after dealing with the worlds oldest granny are being taken out of my rationing. Who the hell rations medicine? I suppose we will need to keep a close eye on that out here, especially since we are rarely going to be having contact with other ponies. We are currently breaking at a small clearing in the Everfree forest. I heard this is where that one Pegasus was killed, I think his name was Ace Swift. Fried by a lightning bolt, pretty gruesome way to go. I guess that is all for now, I am sure one of the others has more to add, so I will just seal this.

Brighteyes

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : My first day

I feel so nervous, I have never been in the Everfree before. I always used to look at its trees when I was a foal, but was too scared to come inside. Now here I am, in the middle of a bunch of soldiers, organizing their supplies and mapping our way through. I hope no one gets hurt, everyone here has been so nice to me. Flash Sentry hit on me in the town though, so maybe he can die, but other than that I really hope no one gets hurt. We may have over stocked on flint tips for Arrows, but Officer Cobalt says we will need all we can get "in this hell". I wonder if he has been here before, he seems to have a disliking for the place, but maybe he is just afraid. I know he always walks near the trees as if he thinks something is going to jump out. I wonder if the trees here might actually be dangerous. If they are, then it is a good thing we will be burning them down. I guess that is all for today, so goodnight!

Bluelight

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : Restlessness

I cannot bring myself to sleep. The others rest now, sleeping so vulnerably in the open. Fools, at any moment an enemy could approach and dispatch them without me knowing, even if I watched them all night. I wouldn't do so, though, anyway. The enemies would know where I am, as this is their dwelling place, and so I must sit here in the open with them, watching the shadows vigilantly. I like the sound the water makes when it drips from the leaves of the trees, such a pretty sound. One Two Two One Two Two One... The Ones are the water hitting the ground, and the Twos are the silence between the noises. As the grey light ebbs from my horn, I wonder just what will occur here in this forest. I must always plan ahead, for these ignorant ones I am with do not know the dangers of this forest as I do. One Two Two One Two Two One...

I saw a potential enemy, but later identified it as a squirrel. I killed it, as is my mission. Kill all life in the forest. Does that imply I must eradicate my comrades here? No, another order was to protect ponies. Do those orders not contradict one another? One is more specific than another. That makes it an exception. or is it acception. Who knows... I do feel a bit drowsy, if I die in my sleep, so be it. I only hope it is quick.

Log Two : Entering the Forest

Officer Cobaltsky

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : Entering the Forest

Our journey into the forest had been postponed for one day due to complications with information gathering. Oddly enough, the complications were not with the mare Fluttershy, but rather with the old mare, Granny Smith. Stonewall came back after five hours spent trying to get back on topic with Granny Smith, and had to take a great deal of our pain killers. We sent Brighteyes in at nine in the morning, and at around seven in the afternoon she finally came back with some recounts of numerous timber wolf attacks, different kinds of tentacle monsters that dwell in the forest, and a plethora of information about the forest. This information may prove to be useful, and it is being logged by our scribe.

In relation to the other interrogations, they went better than expected, especially the shy one. She is not nearly as reclusive as past reports indicate. The child was cooperative and complied with all requests for information. Everything is proceeding swiftly. I do hope we make it to the castle without losing anyone except for Flash.

I currently have no thoughts that were not previously logged, so I suppose I shall go inform the soldiers that they are to log their events and store them. They won't be read, of course, until we return to Canterlot, and even then we can only read ones we wrote ourselves or ones that we are given explicit permission to read by one of the princesses or the writer themselves. Goodnight.

Log Three: Arrival

Officer Cobalt

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : Arrival

The old woman gave us some shady information, we took the wrong path and ended up being two days behind schedule. It was then we finally arrived. I, of course, am writing this at the end of the day, as usual. We have already secured the main hall way, but there is a balcony above us that a creature can attack from. I am looking over an old map of the castle to find what the best strategic point. Many areas of the castle have collapsed in on itself, so we will need to be sweeping and sealing areas off in order to properly secure the castle. Bluelight recommended that since there are so few of us, we take control of the balcony above us so that we have only two openings to guard as well as anything that may fly up, we don't know if that balcony is stable, and I don't want to risk it. We will be sitting here until morning, me and Brighteyes taking the first shift, Bluelight and Stonewall taking the second shift, Skyline and Flash will finish it up. By tomorrow night, we will have secured a more optimal location in the castle and will being setting ourselves up. Celestia bless us all.

Bluelight

The eighth year of the united rule under the four princesses.

Subject : Incompetance

Whatever that bore has spouted, I shall clear it in this log. I located a secure and sound balcony, which could hold my weight without so much as a sound, and I landed rather roughly. I have no doubt in my mind it could hold Stonewall times twenty, but the officer states repeatedly that we have no way of properly and safely transporting the Earth Ponies or Unicorns up, and for some incomprehensible reason has overlooked the fact they can easily teleport. I only hope the incompetance of the officer does not put us at stake.

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