Temperance's Journal - 2nd Hematite, 269

I've been spending a little time trying to get to know everypony out here a little better, and I think I'm making some headway.  I started out by watching the soldiers train a bit today, and I must say that while I haven't heard them say too much when off duty, I think they're becoming quite good friends

I also heard that Flamberge has made Crosshair a captain of the upcoming militia.  It's good to know that they're taking this seriously, but I can't help but wonder if he's getting a bit ahead of himself?  We haven't seen much in the way of wildlife out here, much less anything hostile.  I suppose if we do, they'll be ready at least.

Other than that, everypony seems to be in good spirits.  I think I've been working poor Holly too hard, so I'm going to give her a little time off to recover.  The carpenters could probably use some too, considering how they've been working pretty much nonstop since we got out here.

Maize worries me though.  She seems to prefer spending as much time as she can away from us, and while she smiles I wonder if there's something going on inside she's not telling us.  I hate to be too nosy, but I don't want anypony to be needlessly unhappy out here.  I think I am going to speak with her in the morning to see if anything's troubling her.

3rd Hematite, 269

Well, that didn't get me too far.  I tried talking with Maize, but she just seems evasive and nervous.  I felt like I was pushing too hard, and she seemed eager to get back to work so I left her alone.  Maybe I'll try talking with the others and see if they can get anything out of her.

13th Hematite, 269

There hasn't been a whole lot going on lately, aside from the first wheat harvest.  That's exciting, since it means we're actually a farm now.  Cream Puff spent a while this afternoon milling some of it into flour and trying to figure out what to do with it.  We've also got some eggs from the hens ready to use, so I'm sure she'll think of something tasty.

The other interesting bit is Flamberge coming to me asking if we could put some of that steel to use making more equipment for the militia.  I can scarcely call what we have a militia, but without much else to use it for I gave him the go ahead.  He set up a small forge with the anvil we brought with us, and set to work on something or other.

15th Malachite, 269

Well, I knew the day was coming, but I didn't realize it would be this soon.  Early this morning we had a small caravan of ponies arrive, having set out from Coupledye to join us out here.  We can definitely use some extra hooves to help out, but we've got to feed and house them, and that was challenging enough for just ten of us.  Well, we'll manage.  Here's the list of new arrivals:

A unicorn mare named Serenity, who is apparently a psychiatrist,

A unicorn stallion named Praetorian, who is skilled with a spear,

A pegasus stallion named Redhat, who is also skilled with a spear,

An earth pony stallion named Lathe, who is a carpenter,

An earth pony mare named Morning Dew, who is a farmer

A pegasus stallion named Millstone, who is a miller and presser

A pegasus stallion named Steel Rivet, who is an armorer and married to:

A pegasus mare named Heartfelt, who is a milker, shearer and general animal caretaker, and their son:

A pegasus colt named Cumulus.

I think they were all a bit surprised to find that there wasn't really anywhere for them to stay or eat yet, but we're working on that hard.  At least Lathe should be a huge help to Veneer and Wood Chips, and will help get things put together faster.

1st Galena, 269

The new ponies are fitting in nicely, thank goodness.  Housing is still coming together slowly, but it is coming together.  Speaking of which, this place is a bit of a haphazard mess, now that I've taken a little while to really notice it.  The housing is the start of the first real organization, but it's going to be a long, slow process.

Setting up the archery range for Crosshair was the first real indication that we've got to start moving stuff around soon.  It won't happen tomorrow, but sooner than later.

At least productivity isn't suffering too badly.  Flamberge and Steel Rivet put that steel to good use and produced a few pieces of armor and two spears to round out the militia's equipment a bit.  I know they've got to feel a bit safer now, and as a result so do I.  At least that hasn't been tested yet.

Now that we've got Heartfelt to help out with the livestock, we've also got some yarn and milk too.  It's not much, but it's a start!  I'm sure Cream Puff is looking forward to putting that milk to use.  The yarn we'll probably need to make some bags with, since we're having a time keeping up with mill production.

Food stocks are looking good though.  Cream Puff has produced a lot of very fine tasting food.  I especially like the egg sandwiches she makes most mornings.

I do have to wonder about one particular sandwich I saw somepony eating though.  I've never tried tomato juice with peanut butter... and I'm not sure I'm going to try it any time soon either.

15th Galena, 259

I took a little while to speak with Flamberge today to see how he and the other troops are holding up.  He filled me in on how he's set things up, which is what amounts to two “companies”.  First company is ponies armed with melee weapons, and second company are marksponies.  As he admitted, it's a bit overkill when you've got just 4 militia ponies, but the structure will hold over for when we get more in the future.  So far it's just him, Praetorian and Redhat in first company, and just lonely Crosshair in second company.  I don't have plans to upsize the militia much in the immediate future, but it's good to know he's on top of things at least.

Oh, and I must say, he was looking quite commanding in the armor Steel Rivet made out of some of the steel.  The spears he made are quite nice too.

I'm sure Smoothblock would love to be digging up some more iron for us to smelt, but her experimenting earlier proved that the land is saturated with water just below the surface.  We won't be digging down very far any time soon, so we'll be relying on what we get from the caravans for now.  Which is absolutely nothing so far, of course.

20th Galena, 269

Holly hasn't had too much to do recently, so I've had her, Case Study and Smoothblock picking a few of the local plants again.  They haven't turned up a whole lot, unfortunately, but Holly did manage to turn up a few sunflowers today.

The sunflowers themselves aren't all that useful, but we'll be able to squeeze some oil out of their seeds if we ever need them.  I've never cared for the seeds myself, but I know a lot of ponies like to eat them.

While I was updating the stocks on our food supplies, I noticed that the little bit of fermented fruit juices we had lying around are gone, and only freshly squeezed stuff is left.  That's good, I don't want to see ponies getting drunk.  I don't want to have to deal with that...

I grabbed a snack while I was there though, and Cream Puff's cooking nearly floored me this time.  I don't think I've ever had such an amazing sandwich!

4th Limestone, 269

The writing on this page is unsteady.

I haven't been this frightened in a very, very long time.  Maybe never.

Today, the badger ponies came.

Well, it was just one.  And that's all it took.

Morning Dew was out in the fields tending to the plants, when it ambushed her.  She tried to run for her life, but it stabbed her in the legs several times, and she collapsed from the pain.

Flameberge and Crosshair were close by, thank the gods, so they immediately leaped upon the badger pony and started attacking it.  I don't mind admitting I was scared out of my mind at this point, so I ran back with everypony else who wasn't involved and watched from a distance.  Flamberge and Crosshair struck it over and over again with their hooves and weapons, but the fight lasted for ages…

Flamberge seemed like a stallion possessed as he crushed the life from the beast pony.  I'm glad I wasn't there to get a close look, and I left it to him to sort out the corpse...

I was more interested in getting Morning Dew to Dr. Case Study immediately.  I hurried off to go check on her, praying she was still alive.  Maize beat me to it though, and she rushed the poor stricken mare back to the temporary dorms where Case Study set to work on her.  She was alive.

That's her in the top bed.  I don't imagine the others will be sleeping too well with her right there, but whatcha gonna do?

I checked with him afterward, and he said the wounds were serious but not life threatening.  She should recover, but it's going to take some time, and we don't have proper facilities for it.  Thank the gods Case Study can work with what we have.

[img]]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74348879/Duskfields/19.png[/img]

This is pretty terrifying.  Virtue wasn't kidding.  She told me about the badger ponies... and now I know personally.  I hope Morning Dew is going to be alright.  She has to be.  And we have to make sure this never happens again.

I have a lot of thinking to do...