Two Hundred Days

Day 48

Gala Hat's Log

I'm not sure what to say, but I feel like I need to write something. It turns out that Hammer Hoof got pretty scraped up in our escape from Ponyville. He said a Changeling cut him in the side with just a small razor. He said he'd be fine. Then the infection settled in. Even if he told us how bad it felt, none of us could have done anything to save him. By the time we found out it was too late; Hammer started coughing up blood and choking on the mucus built up in his lungs. We buried him two days ago.

It was Keen who took responsibility for that. He buried Hammer Hoof, and he blamed himself afterwards. But Keen's led us all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot - he knew the hiking trail best - with barely enough sleep. He flopped onto the couch the first chance he got. I should consider us lucky that we got here. Canterlot's the capital of Equestria, and the Changelings know how important it is to us. I've never seen more Changelings in one spot than I have here in the inner district of Canterlot. We must have came in at a really good time, because just a few minutes after we made our way into this mansion, thousands upon thousands of Changelings began to swarm in and out of the city. I don't where they are during the night, but they march through the city in the day like they own it, which I guess they do.

Every Changeling I see bears some kind of insignia - a large green chrysalis or cocoon with dark strikes across it - that I can only assume is a symbol of rank or influence. They're military, and they sure now how to show it. If I crack open the blinds and look through the window, I can see constant saluting and trading of papers, information perhaps. This morning I spied one Changeling with red strikes across his insignia pass by, I don't know what it means except that he's shown the most respect. Or was it a she? I can't tell with Changelings, in fact I don't even know if they have genders. Aren't they like insects, with a Queen and all? So is the queen like their mother, and if so is she here too?

It's all very, very confusing, especially with everything that went down in Ponyville. Everything that I stepped out on. Sweet Tooth told me about the weapons she saw them bearing, weapons of the Equestrian E.U.P. that wasn't even supposed to be in effect yet. Keen told me what they said to him, that Manehattan was a ploy to fool the survivors of the invasion. He called them many thinks, things I will not repeat, ever, but I won't say it was without reason. Princess Luna saved us with the order to airdrop resources across the nation, and had just announced deploying troops back into cities infested with Changelings. Ponyville's a long way from Manehattan, but I didn't doubt for one moment that we'd get help. How could I? So long a the sun and moon moved like they should, our princesses were watching over us.

Day 50

Gala Hat's Log

We were almost found by a search party yesterday by a squad of Changelings making their daily rounds. I always peek out at the from the top window, but I never open the blinks more than a crack. Somehow, one of them noticed me and had his team double back onto our position. We spent most of yesterday in the cider cellar as different groups checked in to make sure they had no intruders. They got the answer they wanted after the red marked Changeling came in to investigate. He found nothing as well and sent a messenger to report that nothing was suspicious in the area.

He was definitely in charge; we were lucky to avoid him, or else there's no telling what he would have done. And he is a he, I could tell that much from all the "yes sir" that was going around him. On the bright side, Copper Tail uncovered even more food stored in the cider cellar, once again preserved with a special spell or potion. Even the boxes of hay fries smelled fresh, but that's probably all the preservatives put into it. I don't know what Hammer Hoof sees in junk food like that, it's disgusting. Good thing the previous owner had some sense to stock up on some apples and carrots too.

Day 51

Gala Hat's Log

That little raider found me writing in this journal yesterday, and asked what I was doing. I told her I was writing my thoughts. She just looked at me with with a blank stare. It took me a while to figure it out but it turns out she never got a chance to learn to write, at all. The invasion began just a few weeks before she was supposed to start school, and her mother was never a good teacher either. So she asked me why I was writing things down when so much stuff happened.

It was a good question, one that I never really stopped to answer. The Journal never had any purpose to surviving, in fact in some cases we could have spent our time on more important matters like improving our lives. It never occurred to me why I wanted to write along side Nurse and Keen, but once I thought about it I found that it made me feel connected with them again. We never read each other's entries, but just knowing the pages of this Journal shared our thoughts made me feel better. So that's what I said to Lavender, that writing made me feel better about the way our lives were, and that it was a way for me to tell the Journal my thoughts, like the way a filly talks to dolls, or a colt plays with an action figure.

So she asked me to teach her how to write. Me, a fashion designer, to teach a little filly? I didn't think I would like it, or that I could even do it for that matter, but she had lost her mother and her friends, and despite the things they do I understood how close she was to them. Like me, she felt safe among her raider buddies, and like me, she needed an outlet for her emotions. It was a long and hard process, and I'd often take over and write the words for her, but we wrote her first entry together by the end of the day. Here it is.

Hi there Journal, my name is Lavender, and all my friends are dead. Crush and Triple B are fine, but they were more like my mommy's friends. My mommy's dead too, but I don't know why. The other ponies that came for our barn kept shooting and shooting. Me and mommy had our friends to help us, but she was shot. Crush and Triple B are always angry about it, but they are nice to me. Not as nice as my friend Corn Flower though. He was a big colt, a whole three years older than me, and he would always play games in the afternoon after he was done looking for food in the fields. He called me brat sometimes, like how the others called him a runt, but I knew he was always my friend. He's dead now, somewhere in the grassy field of Ponyville, and so are all the ponies who saved me from the Changelings a few nights ago. I miss them, Journal. I miss mommy, I miss Corn Flower, I miss Zapple, Zeepple, Deranged, Blighthoof, and all my other friends from Ponyville. Gala Hat says you can make me happy again, right?

Day 55

Keen Eyes's Log

Work. Work is good. Though I sound far too much like my dad, I have to admit, it's true. While the arcane work beam was efficient, it's focus only generated enough force to push apart loose rubble and crack through thin wood. Here, in the capital city, thing's weren't senselessly destroyed by the invasion; no, they were colonizing Canterlot.

It was clear we needed better equipment to face a threat like this, I'll give the Last Survivors that much. They were crazy, but with the weaponry they had, it's hard not to be. Hiding from the Changelings is always an option, but it won't always work out that way, so I've began looking into creating a more power work beam, one that can replicate a magic blast from a powerful unicorn, one that all of us could use. I'll admit, I'm not the best at magic. I can't even do more than a short burst of a magic blast, and maybe that's why I chose to study arcane engineering as a way to compensate.

Resources however, are hard to come by. The small motors from sewing machines are strong enough, and Sweet Tooth has plenty of wiring and metal plating for the arcane beam's structure, however none of our parts could convert the kinetic energy from the engines into magic. My old pile of scrap had a few crystal lenses which generated power when spun against each other. The grinding of the crystal released a small amount of residual magic, which I channeled through a refraction gem - the emeralds I picked up from the Boutique. Of course, none of those essential materials were present in our mansion, so my brilliance is curse to remain within the walls of paper and pen.

The others haven't really been doing much either thanks to the Changelings paroling the streets, passing us every twenty minutes or so. The only times we can have any feelings of securing is in the morning and evening, probably during a shift change between the transition of night and day. It takes an hour for them to fully organize themselves and get back into action, which give us just enough time to snoop around the neighborhood and collect the few goods we don't have.

The pegasus twins Lilac and Lotus have been a big help during those times by keeping a bird's eye view on Changeling movements. The two raiders, Crush and Triple B, try to make themselves useful by patrolling the street during the shift changes, but they're quick to rush back to base when Lilac or Lotus spots incoming squads.

The other Marketeers, Gum Drop, White Hoof, and Red Diamond, they try to spruce up the place to feel more like home. Honestly though, we're in a freaking mansion. What's there to spruce up? If anything, the living room's now cluttered with boxes and old magazines as they rearrange and re-purpose a few useless rooms. I feel like I'm in a dorm all over again.

Day 56

Triple B

What is this? If every pony's going writing in journal then Triple B wants in!

Day 57

White Hoof's Log

Is this what the other's think of fun? But writing is boring. Well I guess since there's no other silent activity to do while the Changelings pass by, might as well jump on in.

I'm glad We have Crush and Triple B with us, there were just way too many mares in the Marketeers. Not that I'm complaining, most of them were easy on the eyes, but sometimes a stallion's gotta do a bit of roughhousing. Crush gets it, but we can't do much more beyond the good hoof wrestle and staring contest.

Day 58

Lilac's Log

Oh my gosh, Copper Tail literally just called me Lotus this morning. If he can't even get my name right, he could at least try to look less like an idiot. I don't even look that much like my sister. I mean, sure we're twins, but it takes me all morning to get my mane strait while she literally does nothing with it. It's always like a mess, like a bird found cotton candy and stuffed it into its nest after a cold rainy day.

Day 58.5

Lotus's Log

Don't listen to my sister, she's a bitch.

Day 59

Copper Tail's Log

This mansion's cider cellar is amazing, some of these recipes were only talked about as rumors back between students in my cooking class. Some said they contained ingredients that didn't exist or were too hard to get, others claimed the ratio of the ingredients were completely counter-intuitive but very delicious, but only the maker new of the true mixture. As for me, my clique always thought that the ciders were secretly the brewer's worst creation, passed off as something "radical" or "experimental" to draw attention away from the fact that it was screwed up.

That was, of course, until I tasted a cup of Flippy's Exquisite Burning Cider of the Inflamed Crystal Heart. I don't know all the ingredients in the recipe, however it had two distinct flavors while I drank it, and it left a third after taste that was nothing like the first two, but just as good. It did burn though, more than any other spice I have tried, yet it was a subtle burning, probably meant to react with another ingredient to subdue its intensity, only to be released like a fiery hell in one's mouth. I know not what this recipe is, nor do I know of its whereabouts, but Celestia as my witness, I will find that recipe, and I will make it mine.

Day 59 part 2

Gala Hat's Log

Teaching Lavender how to read and write is going great. With plenty of stored food and water, not to mention juices and cider, I can spend the whole day with Lavender, helping her with grammar and spelling. The mansion is the perfect place for a filly to begin learning; it's spacious, comfortable, and quiet, especially when a Changeling squad passes by.

Lotus and Lilac spend their days rummaging through the walk-in closets trying on outfits and jewelry, none of which I recognize as my own design. A few however, did resemble the drawing back at the Boutique, and I'm not surprised. The mare who worked at that place was really a big hit in the big cities, or so I've heard. I can't remember her name, but I read she was a designer for Sapphire Shores, and was even linked to Princess Cadence in some way. That was a status level I never dreamed of carrying in my life, but for her they were just notches on a belt among many others, and I'm sure that belt looked fabulous. Gossip around the spa was always uplifting, knowing that I lived in the same city as such an influential designer, I just wished I hadn't fallen asleep through the massage or I might remember her name.

I don't even know where to get purple dragon scales, let alone how to incorporate it into a jeweled dress. I'm just glad Lotus didn't get a hold of it. Unlike her sister she doesn't treat the dresses as well as she should. Luckily, both of them liked blue, so they left the purple one alone along with an rainbow of other colors, including an actual rainbow. It took me all day and most of the night to understand the technique used to put dragon scales on a dress. The thread itself - a diamond laced silver thread - was extremely expensive and difficult to acquire, but combined with a masterful technique of a tightly intertwined crisscrossing pattern, it was impossible to replicate. The thread did more than hold down the scales, it was woven around each scale, evenly distributed and so fine it was barely visible. It gave the polished scales a bright sparkling look, as the microscopic fragments of diamonds along the thread reflected a beautiful array of rainbow colored lights. There was nothing to show who had made the dress, but in the back of my mind I know it was from the Carousel Boutique. It had so many gemstones it was hard not to think of it when you looked at the dragon scales.

Day 60

Keen Eye's Log

No! I was so close to a power source. Inches away from my face in fact, taunting me with its mesmerizing glare. But Gala would not allow me to destroy a piece of work as fine as the Dragon Dress. All I need is three scales from the dress to replace the crystal lenses. The refraction gem doesn't even have to come from the dress, it could just be taken from one of the hundreds of gemstones lying around in the jewelry closet.

Dragon scale would even surpass the quality of crystal lenses as a conversion source. Their organic structure and near indestructibility binds to residual magic in the atmosphere, creating its own aura node. While still very faint and invisible to the naked eye, a dragon scale aura is over twenty times as potent as a regular crystal lens, give or take. If those scales were each attached to a motor and spun in alternating directions, the flow of energy between them would multiply itself as it passes each scale. It would be the ultimate magic source for an improved arcane work beam. I can only imagine the effects it could yield if hundred were lined up and attached to powerful engines. I'd probably never a chance to see it though. I can't even grab a hold of a few scale to power a small piece of equipment. It is a nice dress though, I have to admit.

I'll have to begin work on another project, one that doesn't require a source of magic, like some silent power tools or a spyglass. Anything I can make would take the edge off for a while, at least.

Day 60 part 2

Mint Leaf's Entry

It's been roughly a hundred and twenty days since the first Changelings revealed themselves in Equestria. Almost a third of a year has passed, and more things have changed than I could have ever imagined. I keep thinking back to my herb garden in Ponyville, and the neighbors I had along with it. Daisy had helped me start my first garden, and told me what kind of herbs grew in Ponyvile. Coming from Appleloosa, there was a huge difference between the dessert dirt and the Ponyville soil.

I don't think I'll ever know what became of Daisy, but she would weep for her flowers if she saw what the Changelings had done to every patch of fertile soil. It was all turned to dust, some effect of their sinister magic had ruined the land. The struggle was real when I tried to keep a herb garden going back at the house. Of course, fertilizer and pesticides were much appreciated when Sweet Tooth recreated them, but it just wasn't the same.

On the other hand, the flower patches and windowsill plants of Canterlot are almost untouched. Sometimes when I peek out the window I can see some stray Changelings enjoying the flowers as they walk by, smelling the various scents of tulips and roses. If you ask me, I'd say these Changelings are simply awful, bipolar creatures.

Day 61

Gala Hat's Log

I'm so bored. There's nothing to do in this mansion but wait for the Changelings to change shifts so we can explore the rest of Canterlot. I wish I could just fly up and out of here and take a look for myself, but Keen Eyes says there might still be Changelings moving in the city during the shift change. There's already signs of civilian-like Changelings, the ones who just walk around town on their own or with a partner or two. They don't follow any set path, nor do they bear their military insignia.

But if they're Changelings, then can't I just pass as a Changeling morphed into a pegasus? I get that they don't do that kind of stuff now that they control all of Canterlot, but they have no reason to suspect that I'm an infiltrator rather than a citizen. It's all confusing to me, why these Changelings don't act like the marauders roaming the streets of Equestria, and why Canterlot was left looking like a pony city and not a Changeling nest.

But what's not confusing is the amount of clothing material in this mansion. We've been here for days, but no pony bother to take a good look around and try to learn more about this place and its previous owners. Well, no pony but me, Detective Gala Hat is now on the case.

I spent the morning going through the contents of two separate rooms. Both were well decorated and shared similar interests, with few exceptions. The room of the left wing bore no mirrors to speak of, and possessed a much more rustic design than its counterpart. The bed was carved from a single, large piece of mahogany wood, and matted with a soft but very supporting mattress of pegasus feathers. The other room had a modern frame constructed from silver and steel. I didn't recognize the mattress material, but it was certainly artificial. In the rustic room was a golden golf club, a trophy most likely, and a matching certificate, naming it as an award from the "Annual Stallion's Golf Convention." Meanwhile, the modern bedroom was clearly a mare's room in every possible way; a body sized mirror, light pink wall paint, big flowery paintings on each wall, and a picture of the mare herself at a fashion event.

I've yet to determine the relationship of the two residents, but I have an idea of their personality, which is a start.

Day 62

Triple B

Triple B likes private gym!

Day 62 part 2

White Hoof's Log

What my comrade is trying to say is that the boys and I found the key card to the mansion's gym room, fully equipped with new treadmills that actually display time and distance. Really nice stuff, it is.

Day 62 part 3

Lilac's Log

Who do those stallion's think they're fooling? White Hoof might be tough but I've never seen him run across a street without losing his breath, and it's SO obvious those raider stallions are using magic to lift more than they actually can. They're like, not even tryhards, they're just like losers.

Day 63

Keen Eyes's Log

I got it, it's finally done. It's done, it's done, it's done. IT'S FINALLY DONE! The perfect creation, courtesy of Sweet Tooth's help, to combat the Changelings. It began shortly after Gala Hat so cruelly denied me my rightful dragon scales, when a massive army of Changelings marched into Canterlot. I don't know what they were doing or why they showed up, but many of them looked burned, crippled, or depressed. Probably defeated at the front lines of war, but I didn't care much about it at the time. What I was focused on was what I thought would be an adequate replacement for dragon scales. It was a quartz crystal I had spent days trying to fuse to three electromagnets without compromising its structure. Don't ask me why, I was desperate for something to do at the time.

Needless to say my initial purpose for the electromagnetic quartz was flawed, but it was the Changelings who revitalized its practicality as something else. For whatever reason, the Changelings emit a different type of magic that influenced the quartz in a very minor way; energy, presumably magic, passed through the ruby and generated small, almost unnoticeable vibrations. With such a large group of Changelings passing by, the effect was magnified to the point where the quartz began to aggressively shake against the electromagnets.

Now, if it were any other crystal attached to those electromagnets nothing would have happened, but luckily for me the property of the quartz converted the energy of its shaking into electricity, which in turn powered the electromagnets that repelled each other. The closer I moved the crude contraption closer to the windows, thus closer to the Changelings, the stronger the vibrations and the more power was released, as a result of being closer to the source of Changeling magic I assumed. This increased the power of the electromagnets until one of them actually cracked off the quartz crystal and bouncing out the room and down the stairs.

Were it not for the mansion's size and thick walls, clink of the small electromagnet may have alerted the Changelings of our presence. Thankfully, I had used the smallest piece from the scrap pile. After the shock of the incident passed us, I announced to every pony I had found a method of detecting Changelings through the use of their magic. The device, while simple on paper, took countless hours of searching for just the right pieces, and countless more hours of careful welding. Like I said, magic beams were not my forte, but with the help of Sweet Tooth the delicate pieces were assembled into one amazingly beautiful Changeling device. I called it, the ABCD. The other unicorns, the raiders especially, offered to help with the magic welding, but I would not have their brutish magics anywhere near my creation. It was one of a kind, the only method known that could seek out the location of the Changelings. Something so simple, that I could have easily constructed it during my classes, yet so useful, it could have revealed the numerous Changeling agents hidden among us.