Two Hundred Days

Day 64

Keen Eyes's Log

It's time for a test run out in the field today. Today, we're taking our equipment outside the walls of this luxurious mansion at an attempt at the first step for freedom. With me is the best team of survivors I could hope for: Gala Hat, her black clothing (which completely contradicts her love for colorful dresses) and quiet nature made her the perfect scout for the team, I just hope she doesn't get scared mid-mission; White Hoof's a peculiar Marketeer and a perfect sharpshooter, however his left foreleg was slightly disfigured and discolored at birth, thus he will be at the rear of the team looking out for targets to take down; Crush, a ruthless raider and an unstoppable fighter, he won't give anything about his past life despite his outward and social personality, and while he's smarter than his fellow rider Triple B, the difference was marginal; finally, there was Sweet Tooth, educated and somewhat insane, she's the only pony of the group who could fabricate and operate explosives for the mission, however I wish she wasn't so... enthusiastic about it.

I've left Lavender under the protection of the others, but Gala Hat was her closest friend. I'm sure she'll be happy with Mint Leaf though, they get along just as well and Mint loves to care for foals. I do hope Lilac and Lotus keep their influence away from her though, two of them is enough adolescence for the group.

The scout mission will begin just after the morning shift change, when the Changelings haven't fully woken up yet. We'll wait roughly ten minutes after the first patrol passes, ideally that would put the maximum distance between the patrol coming toward our base and the one moving away. The number of what appears to be "civilian" Changelings have increased, which is why the ABCD is vital in this situation. We cannot predict the movements of the civilians, along with that our predictions are likely to be inaccurate, so we need to be able to compensate for that with the device.

Our goal is to reach the Canterlot Gardens without detection within the day. The Gardens were one of the few places damaged by the invasion force, and while the inner parts of it remain relatively untouched, the main roads to it are obstructed by large stones and dead trees. I assume the Changeling military don't intend to put "trim the hedges" on their to do list, so it makes a perfect stopping point for future expeditions.

I leave the journal here until I return, I hear writing has become one of Lavender's favorite hobbies, maybe she could do her own entries.

Day 64 part 2

Mint Leaf

I'm glad Keen accomplished something that makes him happy, I really am, but I just think a test run of this scale is a little too much at this early stage. He says the ABCD was improved to point out just a single Changeling from twenty-five to thirty meters away, but we don't even know if it's true. All his facts were just drawn up on a sheet of paper and confirmed with equations I can't even read, let alone comprehend it. I'm not going to argue with him about it though, not after what happened between him and Nurse back in Ponyville. I won't let our team get shattered again, and that includes keeping every pony safe.

I feel weird talking about Nurse and Keen again. The subject has only ever been touched upon by Gala Hat every now and then, and she's never said anything about it in front of Keen. The conversation was always just between us. Well, it was more like me listening to all her stories and emotions about her past with Keen and Nurse. Some tears were shed, mistakes may have been made involving a lost parasprite and Sweet Tooth's "special pills," but we had some good moments.

Anyways, I just keep thinking back to how well they got along, at least from Gala Hat's point of view. I don't know what Keen thinks though, he never talked about Nurse before, at least not in the way Gala Hat does. Sure, I heard he studied at Ponyville University for a while, but I only ever saw him passing by on campus, so I didn't really know him; but if everything Gala Hat says about him is true, then I wish we were friends long ago. She almost idolizes him; she sees a brilliant and level headed stallion, one who's passionate about his work and lives to better the lives of others. I can see some of that in him, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's that perfect. He knows how to have fun, but keeps it bottled up inside, even more so given our current state of affairs, and in place of that he's stern and focused, and while that's just the behavior we need to survive, it's not what I'd look for in a stallion.

I wonder if he regrets anything. Gala Hat regrets the time she spent at the Carousel Boutique when the group split apart. I definitely regret not coming to terms with my best friend before she was taken by the Changelings. I recall White Hoof rambling about some old friends he knew in the E.U.P guard. According to him they died as the first response to the Changelings, and he regrets not looking out for them. But Keen's so locked up. He drowns himself in his work, always changing some equation or adding extra parts, never stopping until he makes something useful from the scrap he carries with him.

The detector he made's great, but I think it's a lost cause if he tried to continue with his other projects. No matter what he tries to make, we're always missing an "essential support structure" or some sort of "crystal conduit" is missing. It's impossible to know what he's holding back, but there's definitely something he feels sorry about, something he needs to reconcile with himself. Maybe it is Nurse Toxin, and he's just too sensitive about it. Or maybe as the one who led us to Canterlot he blames himself for Hammer Hoof's death. Maybe it's losing his home, or his friends; not all of us got out of Ponyville alive.

Day 64 part 3

Red Diamond's Log

I was told there's an unspoken rule about not reading each other's logs, but to hell with that I'm bored. While every pony has been keeping up with their tasks and their hobbies, I've been doing the one thing we never got to do in Ponyville: Sleep all day, everyday. I need to change things up a bit, even if it's just to get Gum Drop and Copper Tail off my back for being lazy. As if those oafs are doing something around here. I'm surprised their drinking and eating hasn't choked them to death yet. It doesn't matter, the cellar looks like it was built to last for months. For the first time in my life I'm glad we have rich ponies in Equestria.

Back to the journal. I'm starting from page one. I want to know the whole history of these ponies, Nurse Toxin especially. I want to know what broke up the Coalition that fateful day in Ponyville. Out of curiosity, of course. I couldn't care less for that trash pile I used to call home. I don;t get why they all cling to the past, it's not like we had a chance of getting our old homes back, or reclaiming the lives we lived before the attack. Hell, I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who thinks the mansion's a better place than what we had in Ponyville. For me it's better than anything I've lived in my whole life.

Yeah, so what if I was poor in the old days, there wasn't a job for some pony with a bed as her cutie mark and sleeping as her talent. I got the bills paid in time with a job at Quills and Sofas. Best work place by the way, since they were always out of quills and hardly any pony would buy a sofa I basically just sat in the store all day, like I am right now. Thankfully some things never change.

Day 64 part 4

Sweet Tooth's Records

Oh, it was wonderful, simply wonderful! Stepping out into the city of Canterlot, seeing the world, observing the enemy. For starters, did you know that Changelings stored their prey (us) in green sacs for storage even after feeding? I sure didn't! The amount of data I could have retrieve was phenomenal , Party Pooper Keen had us move on once we entered the Canterlot Gardens.

Contrary to popular belief it wasn't untouched at all! Oh, how delightful! The center of the Gardens seemed to have been cultivated to imitate the environment of a tropical rain forest, but despite the obvious use of magic it was a poor substitute. The green storage pods held countless animals that used to reside in the Gardens, some containing as many as eight creatures crammed into one swelling pod. Oh I wanted to poke it, I wanted to poke it so bad!

There's so much more we could learn from them, their biology, their magic, their social structure, it's all so fascinating. From the Gardens we had a quick view of the castle interior, an essential piece of information now that we've grown more offensive. The Changelings seems to have converted into a hive-like structure, with with green, slimy walls, and judging from the scent it was made of an organic material. I wish I could have explored it, I wanted to feel the walls, understand their architecture, even taste the material. Is it poisonous? Does it taste good? How do they make it? All these questions permeated my mind as we returned back to base, thankfully unharmed.

Night 64

Keen Eyes's Log

Something's inside the castle; something big. It set off the ABCD the moment we set food in the Canterlot Gardens. Up until that point the device showed no faults in its design. I would point it in one direction, and if the magnets rumbled around then we had a hostile in that direction. Most were civilians, since we knew how to avoid the soldiers.

But once inside the gardens, everything set off the detector, whether or not it was a Changeling. I gathered a small sample from a chrysalis we found in the Garden. I also filled up a jar of the slime they coated trees with. I don't know what it is, or what it does, but it definitely has done something to the landscape. And whatever's in the castle now, probably some disgusting sinister project, is interfering with the ABCD's capabilities. I have to know what it is if my creation has any hope of flourishing.

Day 65

Gum Drop's part

Finally, a reason to drink and eat without any pony getting on my case. We're having a nice gathering this evening to celebrate our first venture into the unknown. And guess who's got two hooves and is in charge of the drinks? This guy! :)

Copper Tail's taken over the kitchen now that his "exquisite cuisine" has a place in this world. Just as long as he doesn't touch the cider, I'm fine with that. He's a great chef, I will admit, but he better leave the drinks to The Brew Master Gum Drop. That was my DJ name back in school, please don't tell anyone.

Day 65 part 2

Red Diamond's Log

Fucking Keen Eyes, always gotta ruin my fun. I found some of those new headphones I kept hearing about. A new invention open to all ponies with a fat wallet and a love for listening. It was good for listening to some music I guess, but before I could try it on one of the music players in the master bedroom Keen Eyes saw me and freaked out about something. He had a quick rant and proceeded to yank the headphones away from me with is stupid unicorn magic and run off. Seriously, what the hell I only have hooves. He probably just wants to take it apart and add it to that awful device of his.

That stupid Changeling detector got every pony worked up for nothing. We're not soldiers and we're not scouts; I say we chill out while the military makes their way back to Canterlot. Nothing more to it; we have all the food, water, shelter, and medicine that we could possibly need, so why throw it all away on some ambitious pursuit to fight the Changelings ourselves?

Day 65 part 2

Keen Eyes's Log

Radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio...

It's been so long since we've heard from a radio. Our last connection to the outside was that the E.U.P. was mobilizing against the Changelings by order of the Princesses. With all that was going on, the escape and hiding in Canterlot, I had forgotten about our need for a radio.

Well maybe not ignored, since there was a huge old radio down in the kitchen, but just avoided. Those old radios were really loud and would have gave away our position to just about every Changeling in Canterlot. Thankfully the ~~red one~~ Red Diamond found a pair of headphones though. I don't know how long she had it, but I don't care. I'm re-configuring some of the internal pieces to connect the headphones to the audio so we can have the radio play without alerting anything outside of this mansion.

It would be an excellent surprise for every pony this evening, to play the radio for the first time in weeks and find out about the rest of Equestria.

Day 65 part 3

Mint Leaf's Log

Keen found me helping Gala Hat solve the mystery of the previous owners. He held up a pair of headphones and told me to come quick. I asked Gala Hat to come with me but she said she found some connection in the rooms we were looking at. Well I sure hope she found something great because the radio was definitely worth leaving to listen to. I hate writing with my mouth so I just asked Keen to use his magic for me.

... I'm Telly Prompter live from Fillydelphia HQ, the newest installment to the city's destroyed landscape and the place where Operation Reclamation is coordinated. Next to be is one of the Wonderbolts' most recent officer, Captain Rainbow Dash, here to tell us what she can about the military's recent efforts.

Thank you Miss Prompter, it's an honor to be on Manehattan Radio Station to give the latest feed to our struggling citizens. Now, I won't lie and say it's been easy. We've taken almost as many casualties as the Changelings have in the recent week of fighting, but it's not been in vain. Unlike them the E.U.P and the Wonderbolts have spearheaded the primitive hives scattered across Fillydelphia and Baltimare. I can't disclose all the details as of now, but I think even the Changeling know who's running the town now. Commander Spitfire and a large group of E.U.P guards have now passed the nearest demilitarized zone and hit fully fledged Changeling territory in the Foal Mountains and Hollow Shades. And, of course, we're winning. I really don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I just can't help it; I guess our loyalty to Equestria and her people just makes us the best around these parts.

Thank you, Captain, for that inside look on our position against the Changelings. I'm sure folks all over Equestria are happy to know how much progress the military's made in just the past few days. Now, over to.....

The Foal Mountains! I've taken the Express through those mountains and it's right between us and Manehattan. Amazing, if things keep going the way they are, Canterlot will be ponyfied once again pretty soon. I can't wait to finally do some proper gardening, maybe get a job trimming some hedges or pruning bushes. That would be the life.

This is really the perfect news to kick off the night. It'll be an hour or so before Copper Tail's done with the food, but I can smell it for sure, and I may have sampled a bit of Gum Drop's specialty drinks when he wasn't looking. Look, who could blame me? Ever since Sweet Tooth found the medicine cabinet fully stocked she's been making all kinds of crazy pills. I have a gut feeling she's going to spike something. Mark my words journal, it will happen!