Personal Journal of Dell Conagher, Builder's League United mercenary corps Engineer

Entry 2

Things have gotten stranger and stranger. Gray Mann, the apparently much more competent brother of our late, unlamented employers, Blutarch and Redmond Mann, is now officially confirmed to be in an alliance with our current nemesis, the creature called Slendermane.

Gray Mann's main modus operandi appears to be the use of robots. Primarily, before the alliance, he made use of robots in the form of I and my comrades using our basic equipment, with variants using other equipment here and there. Sometimes these more unique robots are distinguished by a form of headgear, usually a metalized version of headgear we ourselves owned or have owned in the past. He also makes use of giant robots, more powerful versions of his regular machines, although the only giants so far seem to be of Heavy, Soldier, Demoman, Pyro, Scout, and Medic. Two of his most destructive machines are the Sentry Buster, a giant bomb attached to the fast-moving lower torso of a giant Demoman robot, and the Tank, which is a heavily armored but otherwise unarmed mobile bomb delivery machine.

Most recently, he's made use of machines based off of our pony partners, which leads me to the distressing conclusion that he's learned how to fully harness magic instead of just suppressing our Harmony powers, which is what he did before. The Twilight robots, being based on an alicorn, are the most powerful, but each one is dangerous in its own right. Thankfully, the Rarity robots seemed out of date, lacking the upgrades given to the real thing. Although Gray probably had a Spy robot recording everything...

The idea of a collaboration between Slendermane and Gray Mann is both unacceptable and frightening. His genius plus Slendermane's evil power make for a foul collaboration, best exemplified by the recent capturing of Ponyville as well as the royalty of Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and the Changeling Collective. They were all placed into the influence of a carnivorous plant known as a Doomtree, a once-thought extinct breed of predator that apparently was cultivated in the demon lands that the entities known as Tirek and Scorpan come from. We were able to rescue everyone, but before that they were all forced to live out an illusion of being humans trapped in an insane asylum. Not pleasant, I can imagine.

Celestia has admitted that Scorpan has always been friendly to ponykind. We've sent word to Scorpan, and he's informed us that he's coming to aid in our efforts against the Slendermane. And even more good news, our rescue efforts to stop the Doomtree resulted in the awakening of the Dark Element of Hope. Seventeen down, one more to go. And if nothing else, Twilight's shown us that they can still access the Rainbow Power, the current source of the Elements' magic.

(But dang, the Rainbow Power forms look silly. Especially Rainbow Dash's. Zecora, Trixie, and Derpy didn't show their Rainbow Power forms, and if their expressions were any indication, they're not looking forward to it. I distinctly heard Zecora mumbling something about 'rainbow stripes' in a derisive tone as we left the Tree of Harmony...

On a mildly amusing note, we've acquired ourselves a new member. Prince Blueblood, stripped of his lands, money, and titles, and reduced to our Cadet as punishment for... well, I read the list. It's... extensive. Suffice to say that he's been abusing his royal privilege for a while and Celestia and Luna finally called him on it. He's been given to us for rehabilitation. Now, he comes off as a jerk at first, but I can see a LITTLE bit of good in him starting to develop, even if he does complain 99% of the time. Soldier's handling the majority of his rehab, and so far he hasn't gotten in the way of our efforts, so I suppose I can let him do his work. Who knows, he might successfully rehabilitate our Cadet into a good pony worthy of being called a Prince!

Or he'll kill him. Whatever works.

As for the citizenry of Ponyville... Everypony seems to be recovering from their ordeal, but their worry is evident. Even with the increased fortifications and the guarded paths to the Zap Apple Cove, Zecora's glade, and the Castle of the Two Sisters in Everfree, all three firmly established evacuation points, ponies are worried. And I can't blame them.

Twilight and I have taken a drastic measure. I should take this time to note that early on in our time in Equestria, Spy and I, just the two of us, have visited the other universe currently inhabited by Sunset Shimmer a former student of Princess Celestia's who's also become an alicorn, and the alternate human versions of the original six Element Bearers. It was nice to be human again, but it was clearly not our Earth, so we left and decided not to tell the others so as not to give them false hope. This, however, has given Twilight an idea. We could enchant a mirror in a fashion similar to the one that leads to Sunset's world and try to observe other worlds, in the hopes of finding some means of killing Slendermane.

The enchantment wouldn't be the same as the one on the other world's mirror, and would only allow us to observe. I'll post records of our findings once we have some decent results.

The others weren't happy when I told them about Sunset's world, as I felt they needed to know once we decided on our experiment. but we're all in agreement. We all want to go home, but we're not leaving until the contract's fulfilled and Slendermane is dead. Only when we have that thing's corpse in front of us will we feel that we can go back to our world. And besides, the new portal's just for viewing anyway.

…

Personal Note: Earlier today I overheard Soldier talking to Demoman about wanting to stay in Equestria, that he was happier here. Demoman said he'd be supportive of his decision. I asked Pyro what she thought about it, and she said that if it was at all possible, she would want to stay as well, although not without me. I love that woman... Even with the dementia, the split personality, and the violent tendencies, she's a thousand times better than Irene ever was. But the thing is... I can't blame her for wanting to stay. I'd never have been able to make something as wondrous as Gem if I was still living in our own world. The potential for learning, for discovery... it's fantastic. But I can't leave my daughter. No matter what, I can't leave my daughter in Irene's hands.

...As if she was sensing my thoughts on the matter, that same day Rarity mentioned in an oh so casual way that she had spoken with all four princesses and found out that none of them would recognize any legal custody arrangement made by human courts, and that if Krista was over here, she'd be my daughter and Irene would could only see her if I let her. Rarity said this in a casual, almost dismissive way, but I knew what she was getting at...

...Am I a bad person for wanting this? To have a loving wife in Pyro, and two wonderful daughters in Krista and Gem? To bring Krista over here, uproot whatever life she's made over there, just so I can be happy? I mean, she's always got along with Pyro and the fellas whenever I had visitation rights. And I know she's into unicorns and all that magical stuff... Still, she told me she does have friends over there, and that her mother, for all her faults, is making sure she gets good grades... If I just yanked her over here she'd have to start in kindergarten again, practically... Plus, we're pretty sure now that Slendermane has murdered several children over the years, including several in Canterlot recently. There have been disappearances since Canterlot, but nothing conclusive, although we all suspect...

This place is so beautiful, so wonderful despite its horrors...

But I just don't know... It's all so frustrating! I just...

I just want my Krista back! It's not FAIR! Is it so wrong that I just want to be happy again?!