Temperance's Journal - 7th Timber, 269

After the little 'incident' with the parasprites, I've decided that one of our priorities should definitely be getting some better defenses put up.  It won't stop more parasprites, but finishing the perimeter ditch will go a long way toward forestalling any future thieves at least.  That means Holly and Smoothblock have been hard at work again, and I've noticed the mares sleeping in the hospital lately since it was close to the work site.  As long as there's room left for any injured ponies, I don't see the harm.

I can't wait for the caravan to come.  We've only got four ponies with weapons and any inclination on how to use them, but the moment we get more metal I'm going to have Steel Rivet and Flamberge cobble together some more gear for them.  Right now Flamberge is the only pony with much of any armor at all.  Praetorian and Redhat are completely without any, with only their spears between them and any foes.

Maybe we won't see anything worse than a lone badger pony.

22nd Timber, 269

Speaking of badger ponies, we had another big scare again today when one showed up just outside the northern trench.  Smoothblock hasn't finished work there yet, so he was able to sneak through, and she saw it at the last moment.  As she fled, it made a break for the chickens, no doubt hoping to snatch one up and run off with it.

Fortunately, the soldiers were nearby.

Poor Morning Dew was running for her life, which was about all I saw of the poor mare before Flamberge and the spear ponies put the cursed badger pony out of its misery.  Nopony was hurt, thank the gods.

After it was all over I went to find Morning Dew, who was cowering out in the woods to the west.  It took me a minute to calm her down, but I finally got her to relax.  It was about lunch time anyway, so I convinced her to come with me to the new 'tavern' and get something to drink to help her finish leveling out and get her mind off the fact that the soldiers were disposing of the body.

There wasn't really anywhere to eat, so we just sat in the partially built back room and talked for a minute.  I think she'll be alright, but I'm certainly not Dr. Serenity when it comes to these things.

2nd Moonstone, 269

I've been keeping a close eye on our stocks the entire time we've been out here, but I noticed today that one of our picks and an axe have gone missing.

Nopony has seen either, and that's put me in a bit of a foul mood.  We've literally got no metal to spare out here, so losing them is a serious waste of resources.  I don't know who's responsible, and I don't want to know.  Instead of drilling everypony about it I just went and looked in the surrounding area myself.  That didn't turn up either, of course, but it did turn up something more alarming: Smoothblock unconscious in a pile of dirt.

I forgot to take a pic of her wounds, but that's her in the small cloud of dust up in the upper left corner in the trench.

I managed to rouse her with a bit of frantic shouting, and she swore up and down she wasn't hurt.  I had her go get checked out by Case Study, just in case.  Don't want to take any chances, and all.

Well, after I got her checked out and confirmed she was fine, I passed word around the camp to please be more careful.  We can't have ponies losing things or getting hurt because they're careless.

19th Moonstone, 269

The tavern is more than halfway finished!  So far it's mostly a glorified storage room and kitchen, but very, very soon we'll have some dining tables and chairs set up so ponies can eat like civilized beings again.  I didn't believe Virtue when she wrote that it took this long to get the basics set up, but she was right on the mark.

Depressingly, it's already evident that we didn't set aside enough storage space.  And that's just supplies for 24 ponies.  I'm already considering adding another level to the tavern for storage, but then where will we put the sleep space?  I don't know, something else to think about.

10th Opal, 269

I was out supervising the deconstruction of some of the workshops to make room for the dining area of the tavern today, when I saw something pretty unsettling out by the fields.  Maize and Morning Dew were galloping away, and it only took a quick look to see why.

We chased the giant rats around for a while as we tried to run them off.  They didn't do too much damage thankfully, but it's one more reason to get the food inside as soon as possible.  The seeds will need to stay out by the fields of course, so that means a barn or something to hold them... yet another thing to start building.

Well, it's late so I'm heading to bed.  I had some of Cream Puff's cheese soup, and while it was fantastic, it's putting me to sleep!  I think as soon as we get the dining area finished we'll need to throw a big party for everypony to show how much I appreciate all of the hard work everypony has put in to getting this settlement put together.  Maybe I'll ask Cream Puff to make some more of that soup…

6th Obsidian

We finally got the carpenter shops and sawmill moved to a more permanent location out west of the upcoming tavern.  It's step one of the very, very long list of things that need to be moved around to get this place somewhat organized.  One step at a time.

The floor's done in the tavern too, so as soon as we get a roof on it we can start eating inside!  Just thinking about that soup m a k e s  m e

Oh, sure.  I go all of Dawnpick without getting one for Virtue or anypony in her family, and Temperance is the first to get it in Duskfields?  And it's a possession so he doesn't get any skill?  Ah, whatever.  I'll have a little fun with it.

Temperance set his pen down on the table next to his journal and raised a hoof to his head.  He had the worst headache, which had been growing steadily worse over the last minute.  If it didn't ease off soon, he was going to have to go wake Case Study up in the hopes that the doctor had something for the pain.

Another blinding stab shot through his head, and he shut his eyes and raised both hooves to his temples.  Gods above, this was nigh unbearable...

Then, the pain was gone.  He cracked his eyes, but the room was nothing but a black void.  In a mild panic, he stumbled away from his desk only to find that it too was gone.  Around him, there was nothing but the blackness.  What was going on?

“I have something to show you,” a feminine voice called from the dark.  It was deep and commanding, but he couldn't see anything.  It all felt so cold.

“Who-who are you?  Amug?”  Who else could it be?  Was this a vision?  Why him?

“Indeed, it is I,” the voice continued.  A beautiful deep blue coated unicorn mare coalesced from the darkness before him.  “Amug, daughter to Shin Paleduty and mare of the night.  Now, come, young Temperance Scribebakes.  I have something to show you,” she said, beckoning him on with a hoof.

Temperance stumbled into the mechanic's workshop, speaking not a word to anypony along the way.  It was late, so there weren't many around anyway.  A few ponies were moving things to their storage for the night, but nopony was normally in the mechanic's shop, and tonight was no different.

He plopped down in the middle of the workshop and began rifling through the tools there.  “I need stone... and a gem... so says Amug...” he said to nopony.  Again and again he droned on, insisting that he needed these things.

Three days went on as the stallion stood motionless in the mechanic's shop.  Ponies wandered by and marveled, but were shooed away by whichever militia pony was currently stationed there to watch him.

Finally, on the night of that third day, Morning Dew approached and presented a small chunk of crudely cut green glass.  “Temperance?  I, um, brought you a gem, like you wanted.”

His eyes tracked down to the chunk of glass.  “Gem...”  He took it and placed it on the table with the chunks of stone the others had scrounged up, and set to work.

Amug smiled as she looked at the materials.  “Well done, my child, you have everything I have asked you to bring.  Now, watch as I show you what I promised.”  The mare strode forward and waved a hoof across the vast blackness, and an image began to form.

It looked like Duskfields, or at least it did before they started building things.  Wide, open hills on a dark night.  There were two things moving though.  A buffalo, it looked like, and something else.  A twisted monster of the night.  The monster flew forward and caught the fleeing buffalo and in a few swift and decisive blows, she was dead.

The image began to change, and was replaced by Duskfields.  Except this time, it was ponies running away from the settlement.  Temperance felt a twinge of fear roll through him as he realized what was happening.  Some of the ponies were chasing the others.

Horror replaced the fear when he saw Flamberge latch onto Crosshair midflight.  The small mare bucked and screamed in protest for a moment before he rammed his sword through her chest.  She gasped and choked momentarily as blood poured from the wound, and he kicked the mortally wounded markspony free to crash in a broken heap on the ground.

Praetorian and Redhat were next, as each drew their spears and charged at a target.  Praetorian bashed Maize to the ground with his shield, and while she was stunned and trying to get to her hooves he thrust his spear into her belly.  Her pained cry was cut short as he plunged the spear into her again, and ended her suffering with a stamp of his hoof.

Redhat traded blows with Holly, but the woodcutter's skill at cutting trees was no match for a soldier and his spear.  The steel tip slashed across her throat, spraying blood and sending her too tumbling to the ground.

Smoothblock pounced upon Cream Puff and pinned the smaller mare beneath her weight.  With a single decisive swing of her pick, the cook's life ended as her viscera were shredded.  Case Study was the next victim of the bloody pick.  He was too slow to avoid the tip as it pierced the back of his head, and he fell lifeless.

Veneer and Wood Chips were taking turns landing hammering blows on each other with their hooves, both completely ignoring any subtleties such as trying to avoid the blows.  At last Wood Chips struck Veneer hard enough in the head to put him down for good, but he collapsed immediately thereafter.

And finally, there he was.  Standing over the bloody and motionless body of Morning Dew.  He looked up to see Serenity backing away from the madness unfolding around her, and a ravenous grin formed on his blood stained face.  She never even saw him coming.  He leaped upon her, and pinned her to the ground with a single swift motion.  She begged and pleaded for him to release her, but a wild-eyed scowl formed on his face as he placed a hoof on her throat.  “I don't need my sister's help.  I don't need your help,” he said, resisting all attempts to dislodge him.  And then he crushed her throat.

Temperance could watch no more, and he backed away and shut his eyes.  “Amug... why?  Why are you showing me these terrible things?” he asked in a shaky voice.  He felt sick just watching it.  This wasn't what she was supposed to be like... Amug was supposed to be calm and cool, like the night.

He felt a cold hoof rest on his withers, and cracked his eyes to see that the horrible images hadn't left.  Amug moved before him and knelt to eye level.  “Because, dear child,” she said, shaking her head slowly, “I am not Amug.”

“What?”

The mare stepped back as a wicked, unnatural grin formed on her face.  Her form shimmered and faded to be replaced with a wispy, ethereal serpentine body of towering proportions.  Temperance gasped and backed away.  What in creation was this?

“I am not Amug, nor Shin Paleduty, nor any other of your petty gods,” the creature hissed in a twisted but definitely female voice.  A taloned finger thrust forward and pointed to a strange set of masterfully crafted gears at his hooves.  “Let this be a warning to you and all of your kind.”

Temperance made a startled shout and nearly jumped from his skin as he cowered away from the monster.  Instead of fleeing into the fields to get away, he found himself bumbling into a shelf covered with strange tools.  What?  Where was he?

He looked around and found that it was daylight again, and confused ponies were standing all around him.  At his hooves were those same gears, decorated with the image of a night freak killing a buffalo.  Had he actually seen that...?

There were so many ponies standing around, all staring at him in mild disbelief.  What had just happened?  Should he tell them what he saw?  No... no... not now.  Maybe never.

I've had a very, very troubling experience.  I don't know how to really describe what it was, save for the fact that I was, for lack of a better word, possessed.  I have no memory of what was happening here, but my mind was somewhere else... and I saw terrible, terrible things.  I don't want to think about it any more than I have to.

Instead, let me just quickly jot down what happened in my absence.  I was out for days.

Apparently the entire time I was in the mechanic's shop I was demanding stone and a gem, which we had none of.  Well, we had some stone, but that was all being used for the furnaces and forge.  Which were dismantled to get me what I needed.  I'm not sure what might have happened if they hadn't done that.  Maybe I'd have died of thirst waiting on it.  That's a pretty terrible thought, but now we're without any way to work metal, which is pretty bad too.

The gem was another matter entirely.  We've not dug up even a pebble out here, so I have to admit that the idea to get some glass to cut into a gem was a stroke of genius.  I'm not sure whose idea it was, since Flamberge took momentary command of Duskfields while I was incapacitated, but Morning Dew was the one who bought and cut some glass from the caravan for me.  I really need to thank everypony for what they did in my absence.

As for what I ended up making... I have no idea what we'll do with it.  I kind of want to just bury it and forget about it.

Speaking of the caravan, apparently they decided to show up while I was completely insane.  The outpost liaison from Coupledye decided he couldn't wait around “while I sat in a workshop,” and left in a huff yesterday.  That can't be good for my reputation, but I hope they'll understand it wasn't my fault...

To help make some amends, I hurried off to do some trading with the caravan while they were still here.  There wasn't much to choose from.  In particular I was really hoping to get some more stone and metal from them, but they didn't bring any!  Instead, I traded a little of our harvest for some juice to pad our stocks until the next harvest, and got a few pieces of armor for the militia.

It's a small start, but at least we can repurpose the stuff later by melting it down if we have to.  When we get another smelter put up, anyway...

I really wish I could have talked with the liaison.  There are a lot of things we need for next year.

1st Granite, 270

It's hard to believe the last year went by so fast.  Duskfields has come a long way, but it has so much further to go.  We've managed to avoid anything tragic so far at least, and I can be thankful of that much.  Everypony seems to be in reasonably high spirits, and the future looks bright enough.

I wish I could enjoy it a bit more though.  I'd really hoped to have some sort of celebration for the start of the new year, but I really haven't had the heart.  After my little 'incident', I've been spending most of my time in my office.  The others mean well when they ask about it, but I really don't want to think about it anymore.  The worst of it's gone now, thank goodness, but sometimes I still get a small chill when I look at the ponies I saw murdered.  Especially the two that I saw myself murder.

I hate to admit it, and as much as I really don't want to give in to it... I may have to talk to Dr. Serenity about it.

Maybe she can put my mind to ease.