Forbidden Land

Journal of the first overseer, Oaken Mug.

November, end of autumn, year 999

Prologue.
It has been almost ten years since those barbaric griffins sworn war to our superior race. Our land and capital in all Equestria given by the generous Princess Celestia to our kind, the Crystal Mountainhomes as been target of attacks every week , every month for over ten years!
Even if our carved fortifications were impenetrable, our king reached to a decision that our kind can't stay in only one place, and face possible death for the rest of history. According to his counselors, It was best to go far away as possible in hopes those griffins brutes don't find us anywhere. According to the Mining Guild, one of them had traveled outside the Mountainhomes in an expedition for research. He said the best place is on the extreme west of Equestria, where some good mountains would offer a good new city to our kind, and possibly the new capital! They set an expedition of seven pony dwarfs and appointed me as the leader, which I accepted normally. We packed our wagons with supplies for the trip, some tools, seeds, an anvil, some dogs and cats, etc etc... and my favorite... booze.
I made a few questions and they swear these mountains are hoarding with precious metals and gems, and this is the best spot to start digging. I suggested a way of ruling our new fort. Each year, a new dwarf would take possession of the overseer position, and It would end in the start of spring and pass to the next elected. They surprisingly accepted!

"What is the name of the fortress, by the way?" I asked them.

"StoneHammer. Now go and strike the earth! Make our king and city proud!" The damn Mining Guild noble answered and ran off to his place... they only care for themselves and nothing else...

We departed while waving goodbye to the Mountainhomes.
Hope you win the war and have the chance of celebrating the passage to the first millennium of Equestria's history.

March, start of spring, year 1000
We arrived to the place right in the first day of spring! Every pony dwarf in the group seems eager to start and I can't blame them. We are the hope of our kind! HERE, a new chapter of the pony dwarf civilization starts! HammerStone! STRIKE THE EARTH!

To start with, I ordered some trees to be cut to make the beds, while I ordered our two miners to a straight tunnel through the mountain and start also digging the future dormitory while I'll have to decide on the rooms later. Stockpile rooms next to the big area where the workshops will be. A dinning all for us seven and a kitchen.

Later, same month.
Damn... there's a lot of big animals here. They are grey, with big tusks and small black eyes. The mason told me they are called "elephants".
I hope they are peaceful, because I counted twenty in the distance!

April, 1000
The miners struck an underground river while digging the straight line. At least It was in a low point, I remember when in the Crystal Mountainhomes when a group found one and the mine got all flooded. I quickly designed a space to start a farm next to the river and start growing some mushrooms, so we can start producing our own drinks and some food too.

June, 1000
The digging is taking a bit more time than what I expected. We have only two miners, so I'm not surprised. The stockpiles and workshops have to stay outside for now. I scraped the plans about a dormitory and instead I told them to dig a new hall with spaces for our bedrooms, while the mason doesn't stop making doors, tables and thrones all in rock. While the carpenter made our beds and now he's making barrels for food and drink storage.

A few months like this and we might actually survive! I told our mechanic to make mechanisms and install the rock floodgate in the farm room connected to a lever. We let the room flood for a bit and then let the water settle down. Mud at last! Our farmer and me will start planting right away!

Those elephants have been quiet... too much. They sometimes come to the hill and look at us in the distance. They stare at us with those beady black eyes from the other side of the river. At least the river is deep enough... elephants can't swim, can they?

(Many pages of the diary have been torn out here, but the writing seems to tell something in autumn.)

October, 1000
Our carpenter has been having fun doing wooden crafts while the mason does some rock crafts, the bridge he built gave passage to the miners to keep digging inside the mountain, discovering metals and gems like the Mining Guild noble promised. We also built a trade depot near the workshops and stockpiles outside. And speaking of the devil...

We saw a small group of three merchants who dodged the elephants somehow. How did they find us?
Maybe the king told Princess Celestia of his decisions and she told to her lands about this new place, because the merchants are earth ponies and unicorns.
Oh well... they arrived and prepared their goods in the trade depot and... wow.
The only thing that mattered was the food and drinks and some rolls of cloth. I would say 70% of their goods were all clothing and none of those fitted our size! I told them to think about It next time they would show up... if they survive the elephants and some griffin group roaming around!
Traded all that mattered for us by the crafts the carpenter and the mason did.

November, 1000
With autumn almost ending, I take look with what had been made so far. At least I hope winter doesn't kill us.
Our bedroom and dining rooms are finished, had to cancel making the workshop and stockpile area so the miners would speed up the other rooms, except for the stockpile of food and drinks between the still, kitchen and the dinning hall.
I also ordered a statue garden for the magnificent sculptures our mason did. At least that stops them from throwing pebbles at the elephants at the other side of the river. Also a kennel for our dogs and start training them to guard us.
The mason has been smoothing the walls and floor of the dinning room. The farm keeps producing food, and we have plenty of It thanks to the merchants.

I think we might survive winter!

But those elephants... I have a bad feeling about them.

December, 1000
Diary! This is fucking amazing!
Apparently during winter, It doesn't snow here, and the rivers don't freeze! Only a slightly cold breeze!
HAHAHA! It rhymed!

Which is great, because I have a new project to the guys that I planned with the other farmer who is also our animal trainer.
I told the miners to dig a bit far away from our fort in the west side, three tunnels all connected by another tunnel. Kinda like a reverse "E", with a channel in the middle tunnel.
Then I told them to dig a deep channel until the outside river and It flooded. Now the only way way to cross the channel is going through the other two tunnels. I told our mechanic/engineer to set up some cage traps along these tunnels.
The plan is if those elephants would find a way across the main river outside, which It ends in a tiny swamp in the extreme west,. They must go through the tunnel, and the traps would get them. Then, the guy told me he could try train them for work and guard the entrance. I'm not sure if he's right of his mind...

January, 1001
Happy new year, and we start with some disturbance!
Some funny looking creatures crossed the river and we caught them outside in our workshops.
The animal trainer told me they are mandrills, and they love to grab and take anything that looks shiny! One of the war dogs we trained ran off to fight them...

And didn't go so well...
But the other war dogs came out seeking revenge for their dead friend. And pay attention to what happened next!
One of the bitches gave birth during the combat! And her puppies joined the fight! What the hell did I witnessed?!
At the end of the day, the four mandrills were dead and they took another war dog with them, injured another and a puppy.

The poor thing is in a terrible shape. It missed It's lower jaw and now goes around with It's tongue hanging in It's neck. It's so disturbing to watch... And It keep passing away while looking for It's mom. He passes out, wakes up, walks around a few minutes and then passes out again.
We feel like we should put him out of his misery by a sword, but nopony touches him. It's a sad way to treat a creature who fought off those mandrills in such young age.

End of February, 1001
My position of overseer is almost over. The fort seems to be going in a good direction! First year, got the bedrooms for us prepared, a dinning hall, a statue garden, a kitchen, a still and a farm pumping food and plants to brew. Our food and drinks stocks seem really good thanks to the merchants from autumn.

The elections will start in some days, and we shall elect the new overseer.
Let's see what the future reserved to us.