The First Feather on Earth

June 10, 2015

Dear Journal,

Well, that was... Something.

So let's get things in order here. I've started heavily fortifying the base and overseeing the rapid construction of some minor outposts here and there, we found out where this crazy third pony is hiding, there may be some kind of new creature lurking around as well and I've been working on getting these bugs to listen to some of my own commands despite the language barrier.

No talk from Luna though, she must've been busy.

'Kay, so let me tell you about the wicked stuff I've been doing to fortify the place. First off, I always thought that those spikes that they placed at the bases of walls were fucking dumb. So I upgraded them by getting the Construction bugs to make them out of sharpened rebar and wrapped in barbed wiring. I've also started to trap the Hive, moving the shelves to create a sort of Labyrinth for the bottom floor and filling the dead-end with literal death traps. Trip-wires connected to a nail-gun with the safety held down by a strip of packing tape, hidden nooks for black widows to drop down and bite into intruders, buckets filled with rocks to be dropped onto their heads yadda yadda yadda. I did leave some subtle clues to guide people to the stairwell and if they do manage to figure their way through the maze... Well, then they're smart enough to listen to reason.

Right, so the crazy pony. Let me tell you this, his base is a fucking freakshow. No like, it's like this guy was from the Cult of Rakdos. I'm talking blood and skulls everywhere, sharp metal spikes that were taken straight from a KISS wardrobe and the smell... Holy fuck it's something that would make Nurgle delighted. Though you guys probably don't even understand those references... Oh well, it is what it is. Maybe the next era of civilization will recreate it.

Anyways, we've got more important things to worry about, so here's the good news. We can get in and take him out. It looks like a b-rated horror film and it's about as well protected as one. It's got so many holes and security breaches that I wouldn't have been able to count them on my fingers back when I had them!

So yeah, we know how to get to the guy. Now we just need to plan out our attack. I told Chatty to send some scouts for recon, see what he's up to and what he's capable of. Oh right, so something cool that I learned she can get them to do is to have a large group of flies form the 3d models of objects. It's like a hologram, just made out of bugs!

Kay, so we got that off the list. Let's see here...

Oh right, Chatty's been getting reports from the scouts that there's thing large horse thing that's been lurking about. Yeah, apparently it's like a horse but not? Like, they're saying it's some sort of large bug horse. With a carapace and everything. What's more, is that it seems to have picked up a pet fox. So yeah, looks like we gotta deal with that now. I'm going to throw that as a Lower Priority since it (or they. I can't exactly rule that out anymore, now can I?) don't seem to be actively hostile.

They are searching for something though I do know that much. Food maybe? I dunno. I do think that I should add "Make signs for others" though. If this bug is intelligent, then they could be another one of us. Human. Or at least used to be... But it brings up the point that there could be others later, and we need to make it so they can find us easily. Or the other way around.

Anyways, let us move on to the last topic for today. Oh yeah! The commands! So, me and Chatty came up with a brilliant solution to me not being able to communicate to the bugs like she can. Oh right, yeah that's a thing. For some reason, they can understand Chatty just fine but for some reason that doesn't translate over to me. It's weird. Anyways, we found a work around it. Essentially, we're teaching them to respond to Morse code and basic sign language. Very crude Morse code, but it will work until I can dive into my workshop for a while and make a real comms system.

Hmm... Hey, I should go through the kinds of commands with you guys!

So, the list goes something like this:

Click - Stop
2 Clicks - To Me
Click Pause Click - Go where I'm pointing
Click Pause 2 Clicks - Scout where I'm pointing
2 Clicks Pause Click - Stay here
Click Pause 3 Clicks - Attack

Those are just the basics that we've done so far. Oh, look there's Chatty now. Hey, Chatter! Want to add your little segment to today's log?

Hello everypony! So good to see you all again! Hope you've been having a good day! Oh and you don't need to worry about little ol' us, we're going to be fine! Tuney Woony here knows what he's doing. I trust him! Oh and sorry Mr Serious Business here is being suuuuch a Debbie Downer, cheer up! Life is short, so let's all make the best out of it, ok? Anyways, I gotta go, hive stuff talk to you all later and thank you for listening to Alex's logs!

... Right. Well, she was right about one thing. We are going to be fine, I just know it. Anyways, I'm not going to take up much more of your time, here's today's to-do list!

1 - HIGHEST PRIORITY: Deal with the scary pony.
2 - Find the odd Bug Horse
3 - Improve Field Comms with bugs
4 - Obtain a sustainable source of water
5 - Obtain a sustainable source of food (We have a lot of canned goods stored as of right now, Chatty raided a food bank before I arrived. However, I want to prep for the future sooner rather than later)
6 - Figure out a way to communicate with the outside world/Find other survivors

Things to do in off time:
[] Mark the way to the hive
[] Upgrade our modes of transportation
[] Look into reclaiming some generators for Electricity