The Nine

    I have taken to keeping a log again, since I expect these next days and my next decisions to be something to put down in the history books. Not because I am an astounding general, which I may be, not because I’m a great leader, which I could be, but because this war is monumental. Whether we win or lose, this marks a new era for Equestria. If we win, it will be the era of Tom, who will lead when present becomes past. If we lose, we will see either an era of slavery or an era of desolation, for we could just kill everyone. I wouldn’t, nor would I authorize such a maneuver, but the possibility is always there.

    This is the day after I found out how to measure magic, and normally I would date these entries. However, I know not if Equestria runs on the same calendar as Earth, though I know it does run on the same week schedule. Either way, as stated, this is the day after I found I can put out two thousand watts of magic power. In essence, this much wattage simply means I can cast a whole lot of spells. But, this is not a personal journal, so I must get back on track.

    I have ordered told Pinkie to use her portal powers to win us some new recruits. She has done so, and our numbers rank in the hundred thousands. Fluttershy has gone, as I have instructed, with a group of other pegasi, to see what beasts from the Everfree still remain. I told her to round up as many as she could, and since she is not back yet, I am hopeful that some still remain. Of course, my ever present pessimistic side tells me she’s dead. I highly doubt that, though I have no solid reason to. Still, we will see her status when she returns.

    In other news, Rarity is working herself near to death. Even in the bedraggled state she is in, she is crafting the highest quality armor I have seen since my apprenticeship. I begged her to stop earlier, and she agreed. However, she could not just rest. She wound up buzzing around, making sure people were caring for their armor, that things were in order, that sort of thing. In an effort to keep her in place, and to sate my own curiosity, I had her test her magic strength. She told me that she had tested it before, and that she put out around five hundred watts. This time, however, she maxed near a thousand. If it isn’t already in the books, I will note that magical exercise increases your magical strength, just as physical exercise increases physical strength.

    But I digress. I should state that Rarity is running low on iron. With this being the main metal for our armors, this puts us in quite dire straits. I have not yet found a solution for this dilemma, though I have considered commandeering an abandoned mine for this purpose. However, this could attract attention from the Tratchy, so I am hesitant. I have theorized that Tratchy plating could be melted down and reformed, but I have yet to test this.

    This next entry was written roughly two hours after the first. Fluttershy has returned, and has requested more nets. We now have a hydra and a manticore in the gardens. This bodes extremely well, and the ursa major she promises next trip lifts my hope for this grueling conflict to an all time high.

    This entry was written an hour after the last. Rarity has confirmed my fears. We are out of iron. I have suggested using the crystals in the crystal caves, but the little we can break off can’t be melted. Not with our equipment, anyway. I have seen her eyeing my scrap bag, though I have told her that it is more valuable than any armor. Still, I fear some pieces may go missing tonight. It is not that I distrust her, per se, but I fear she is desperate, and doesn’t want anypony to die on the field. I understand her on that point, but my scrap will not be melted down for some measly armor.

    In lighter news, I used some of that scrap to build the weapon of Vinyl’s dreams. She came to me a while ago, saying something about a mythical speaker system with a deep enough bass to break bones. I took her hint, and made the Bass Cannon Mk. 1. We tested it out on a wall, and the mortar got jostled loose, the bricks were cracked, and a few bricks even got displaced. Of course, this is only the first mark, and I plan to enhance it to the point of total annihilation. That’s for later, though.

    I have sent Twilight riding away on Spike, with as many ponies as we can armor, and have told her to bring back the dead. She looked at me with concern, more than likely remembering our conversation about necromancy. If she doesn’t bring back the dead, however many there may be, we will more than likely be shorter on armor.

    I should probably not our equipment. As it has been hinted, we are wearing a medieval style of armor, most of us wearing full plate. Rarity, in her fashionist ways, made more stylized armors for the ponies she knew. This has made quite the scene, I must say. It is quite glorious to see a good hundred ponies, glinting in the sun, following a dragon into battle. Of course, I would be out there, too, but my pessimistic side keeps everyone except for Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, and the infantry off the front lines. For our weapons, we have simply what the royal armory could provide. Mostly, that is machine guns, though a few rocket launchers and one flamethrower were found.

    Fluttershy returned, two hours after the prior entry, with an ursa major and two minors. She set out again, hoping to maybe wrangle a few phoenixes. One of the other ponies mentioned a dragon, but Fluttershy quickly silenced her. I can only hope we won’t need that kind of power to win this war.

    Twilight has come back, another hour since the last entry, reporting three deaths on their side and only one on ours. She brought back all four corpse, as I asked, and we lay the dead mare to rest beside the others in the Canterlot graveyard. I had the Tratchy shells removed, and we successfully melted them down. However, Rarity is none too pleased. In the melting test, we mixed some red and purple, and she said ‘That looks atrocious!’. I really hope she can over her fashionista sense and make armor from the mixed colors, or we may never get any more armor.

    Rarity came to me, this being written twenty minutes after the prior entry, and told me wonderful news. Not only did she manage to make armor from the shells, but she made them fashionable, too. I am not so excited about that last part, but I am definitely excited to hear that we are producing armor again. She also asked why I wasn’t using the dead mare’s armor. I told her it was a sign of respect. She didn’t understand, which I expected, since it is a tradition from a war filled world. I explained it thus: ‘When a soldier dies, they are buried on the soil of their homeland, and their helmet is placed on their grave. Then, their armor is then passed on to their children, when they come of age.’ I feel she really understood, and when she left I almost felt homesickness. How I could be yearning for such a brutal planet, I know not, but yet some piece of me wants to go back.

    I sent Twilight back out onto the field, telling her to aim for the mines still inhabited. I hope she’s bolder this time around, since the more dead Tratchy, the less dead ponies. Fluttershy’s squad has been trailing in, bringing smaller and smaller creatures. One of them I gave an award, since she brought back a dragon. I also gave her leave, to nurse her burns. I guess dragons just don’t like being woken up. I should note that, since leading a group of Tratchy into a dragon’s lair would make for a mean surprise.

    It’s been three hours, and it’s creeping upon four in the evening. Twilight hasn’t been back yet, and with the sun setting, I have instructed Fluttershy’s squad to stand down. I can only hope for the best, because if Twilight dies, we may all die.

    Five in the evening. Twilight came back, in one piece. THe same can’t be said for her squad. We lost another five, though killed ten. Rarity has figured out how many scales she needs to make a suit of armor, and with ten Tratchy bodies, we’ve got twenty new sets of armor. In addition to the new armor, we have about a thousand new ponies. I am beginning to grow worried, since a purely vegetarian food source is harder to sustain than an omnivorous one, and we are running out of land. Though, with the nation being a primarily agricultural one, I am sure we will find no shortage of farmable land. We have a lot of ground to cover, but many have said a celebration is due. To mourn the dead and celebrate our small victories. I suppose I’ll join them, since if we do not celebrate our small victories, we won’t be around to even see the largest.

    Six in the morning. Twilight’s already back on the field, attempting to reclaim some farmland. I also sent Pinkie on a scouting mission, to sum up how many they have. She reported back in incredibly quick time, estimating a thousand. This war will be a cinch. They’re outnumbered a hundred to one.

    Two days have passed. The Tratchy are down to a hundred. We are down to fifty. While half our troops were out this morning, the Tratchy came in and slaughtered everypony in sight. I have done a roll call, and found a glimmer of hope in the dust of dismay. With us still are Spike, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Dash, Pinkie, AJ, Ace, Vinyl, Tom, and Octavia, along with thirty eight well and able armored ponies. Tom was hiding in the crystal caves, since we needed him alive, so he couldn’t really help.

With all the unused Tratchy bodies, we have forged ourselves weapons, for those that needed them. Everypony is required to wear armor at all times now, and to have a sword within hoove’s reach even more often. I have myself a bow, with a two hundred draw weight. Normally, only extremely strong ponies could pull such a beast, but with my robotic augmentation, I can pull it with ease. Canterlot will be abandoned come morning. We are taking the fight to them.

--Kiqo--

“Kiqo, quit blaming yourself. You couldn’t have done anything to prevent it” Twilight said, worry etching her voice.

“I know that” I said quietly. “That’s why I’m blaming myself. I should’ve been able to do something about it.”

That shut her up, along with everypony else. After a pause, I dove into our game plan.

“We know they know where we are. Which means we need to leave, else face slaughter like that again.”

“But, they know we know they know where we are, so they’ll be expecting us to leave. So, they may not send a squad out here to check” Ace piped up.

“Right, yes. As is, though, the outcome is unsure, so I say we stick to the original plan. All in favor?”

The proposal was met with a resounding ‘I’, and I moved on.

“The next question is where. Any ideas?”

“Well” Twilight started. “When Celestia accidentally burned everything in the years she couldn’t raise the moon, people thought they were doomed. However, she used magic from the wellspring to heal the land. Maybe we could regrow the forests and hide out in them.”

“Solid plan. However, when the Tratchy  see the forests come back, they will probably think we’ll be hiding there, so, with that possibility, it isn’t so solid.”

Twilight pondered that, and Dash chipped in. “We could use the forest as a distraction, then hide in the mountains.”

“Brilliant!” I cried, though I saw a glare of jealousy cross from Twilight to Dash. “They will never see that coming. All in favor?”

All but Twilight said ‘I’, but with such near unanimity, I disregarded her negative vote, since I probably couldn’t change her mind.

“So, pack up your things. We head out at dawn.”

“Everything?”

“As much as you need, limited by what you can carry.”

“Alright.”

I breathed in the crisp air. Dawn on a mountainside was always a fun time. Or so I thought. The other ponies didn’t seem to think much of either mountainsides, dawns, or both.

“Come on” I called to the rest. “We’ll never make it in time if you sloths don’t hurry up.”

“What are we trying to make it in time for?” Ace asked. “And where are we going?”

“Well, we’re going to try and get to this cave up ahead before the Tratchy catch wind of us.”

“How’d you find this cave?”

“That was me!” cried the hyper pink fluffball.

“Energetic as always” said a groggy Twilight. “I need more coffee before I come on a hike like this.”

“Don’t worry, Twi, we’ll be there shortly” I said, turning to her with a grin.

I was met with the grumpiest face since Cranky Doodle came to town. I immediately imitated it, walking backwards and grumping her down. She eventually cracked, and giggled a little.

“There we go. Not so grumpy now, are ya?”

“No, I guess I’m better. How much farther?”

“Just around this next bend. I hope. You said it was around the next bend, right, Pinkie?”

“Yeah!”

We rounded the bend, and sure enough, there was a cave. Inside was something that could either be more threatening than the Tratchy or possibly more inviting than a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day.

“I was wondering where you guys went!” Fluttershy cried, flying over and hugging the ursa major. “Did you guys run off when the fighting started?”

The celestial bear grunted in agreement. She emitted another affirmative grunt when Fluttershy asked if we could stay here.