In Aguayian tradition, water has always been used in their proverbs and culture to represent their ideas of wisdom: Finding the path of least resistance, and being able to adapt and conform to any situation one is thrust into. Archimedimite ideals dictate that water is the greatest symbol of metamorphosis, rebirth, and ultimately, a humble representation of the common ups and downs in life itself. As the old owl saying goes: "Like the rains will we fall, but only after, can we rise once more." Equinyr, Humans, and Lufae alike all wish to relate water to life-giving: Life cannot exist without it.

I can only perceive water to be the sign of oppression, destruction, and the sadism of fate right now.

The nip of winter’s coolness is noticeable tonight as I write, and I understand that the difficult season is the least of my worries right now. My clothes are still wet from the constant rains that have been falling this week, and I fear I may soon become ill due to these conditions. This still is not the full extent of my issues, however, as I am left alone sitting on the rocky cliffs overlooking the abandoned dining hall on the beach. There are no lights burning tonight aside from the one beside me, and the ones in my office where a few of the settlers are huddled together to spend the night.

It started about a week ago. Seasonal rains started coming in quite strong after the midway mark of Autumn, and were making conditions out here in Songring a bit difficult. A few caught some sinus ailments and were forced into the incomplete infirmary, most of which had been finished except for the roof, before the rainy weather started. We had to quarantine the sick there in hopes of avoiding an epidemic within the close sleeping quarters of the dormitory. The best we could do was to try and secure some tarps over the building to hold out the rainfall. We were forced to dig out drainage paths for the water before too long, attempting to force it to run off into the ocean so the ponds and lakes nearby would not rise too high and endanger the fields. We feared this might already be a lost cause because of the amount of soil the rains were carrying off. Things did not reach critical levels until yesterday, however

I believe it was around 1:00pm when the wind began howling violently over us, and the pounding rain with it made visibility impossible. All of the ponies pulled back into the dormitory waiting for the rain and wind to subside since there was no way that work topside could continue. I was not sure what was happening, but the continual increase in wind speeds prompted me to have Willow and Teak nail some wooden boards over the windows in case they shattered from the force. The weather was like nothing I had ever seen before, and continued to simply get worse and worse as the next hour passed. Dawnstar went with Willow as they left for the infirmary to supervise the reinforcement of that building as well, and I was left to comfort the ponies until the storm subsided.

At approximately 2:30pm when Dawnstar returned alone (Willow having stayed behind to help keep the infirmary settled), she began taking roll call and marking a record of who was accounted for. I remember I was huddled next to Teardrop who could not stop crying. She was afraid of what might become of Garnet, as nobody had seen her cat since the commotion began. All I could do at the time was assure her that Garnet would be alright and give her a shoulder to bury her face into. Springfield took my place and held the distraught little pony when Dawnstar approached me with a grim look and requested my attention.

"I have accounted for 41 ponies after double-checking, Mr. Prodder."

41? I had trouble understanding what she was telling me, a part of me refusing to believe what she was claiming. "What do you mean 41? There are 42 ponies in Songring."

Dawnstar slowly nodded to me, steeling her nerves as she tried to speak again with some difficulty. Her voice was shaky as she struggled to remain calm under the circumstances. "I have only been able to count out 41 between the dormitory and the Infirmary." While I still could not respond, she finally looked down to her clipboard and shuddered as she spoke out the name of the missing individual. "Silence... is absent."

"Silence?" I repeated the name a bit stupidly at first, before looking to the boarded windows fruitlessly. "Where is she then?"

"I don't know, Mr. Prodder. If I knew, I would have her accounted for."

My panic subsided for only a moment when Salmon piped up from the group behind me and stepped forward to address us. "The mines, boy. Where else would a miner be?"

Dawnstar heaved a sigh of relief, noting that she would be safe from the winds if that was the case. Her reprieve was interrupted when she caught me struggling to swing the door open, and buttoning down my coat to keep it from flapping in the strong winds. "Mr. Prodder!? Get back in here! What are you doing!?"

"I've got to go make sure she's okay," I called back, doing my best to force the door closed against the wind. "Keep everyone here and make sure to keep the door closed until the winds stop! I'll be back with Silence as soon as I can!"

"Are you insane? She's fine! Don't throw yourself into peril like this for nothing!" Dawnstar called back as the door finally started to give way under my insistent presses.

"She's not nothing! I have to check on her!" I shouted before the door slammed under my weight, and I got to view the carnage that was ensuing outside of the dormitory now. Debris from the refuse piles to the north had been picked up by the strong winds and was being flung at terrifying speeds, and the trees off to the west had started to bow and blow over with thundering crashes. I could barely remain on my feet with the powerful gusts. I lost my footing as I tried to take a step and the slick mud gave way beneath my foot throwing me to the ground. I began to drag myself towards the beach so I could reach the storeroom, but my heart sank when I saw that the beach was no more: Just the top half of the dining hall poking up out of the rising ocean that beat against the rocky cliff faces below me.

The entrance to the storeroom was already halfway submerged, and was nearly impossible to navigate. Grabbing a shovel floating nearby, I was able to prop open the crack in the door I had been able to manage and use the leverage to pry the door the rest of the way open. As the water began flooding in, I could see the entrance to the mines still open as well, but the stairwells were slick with rushing water flowing down them. Luckily the torches suspended on the walls had remained lit as they were above the current water level, so I had some light to guide me as I grabbed a sack and tied a rope to it, securing the other end of the rope to a wall in the storeroom. Tossing the sack down the stairs, I rested myself on the steps and let the water flush me down into the mines to keep from slipping on the slick stone.

At the bottom, I stumbled to my feet and began calling to Silence past the roaring flow of the water coming down the stairwells behind me. Again and again I called her name, knowing she could not answer, and only hoping dearly that I would see her bright mane peek out from one of the shafts or her voice come flooding through my thoughts. Trudging through the waters, I finally lost my footing and was swept by the current into an object that gave way as we both were pushed to the side. The flailing splashes beneath me brought a moment of joy as I groped for the neck of the creature to hold it up with me against the wall.

"What's happening? Who's here?" is all I could hear of Silence's thoughts through the frazzled and hectic noises as I pulled her up as much as I could to let her get her footing once again. "Help me," is all I heard afterwards as she looked at me, perhaps not even recognizing who I was. I remember her steel-colored eyes were filled with panic, and a discordant beat of words hummed under her surface thoughts to me. With a push, I tried to guide her back in the direction of the stairs, doing my best to keep my own footing against the sweeping waters with slow steps. I called out instructions as best as I could, leading her back to the sack bobbing in the rising water, after which I told her to grab the collar of my shirt in her mouth and push me up the stairs while I pulled us along the secured rope.

Our combined strength allowed us to make it back into the storeroom, past the water pouring down the stairwells and rapidly filling the mines behind us. Our victory was short lived, however, as time seemed to be running ever thinner and the door was now completely submerged by the sea; a torrent of water was splashing through and flooding back into the stairwell. Still clinging to the wet rope in my hands, I struggled to come up with a way to get past the water blocking the door, but I froze up: There seemed to be no way that we could muster the strength to swim past the currents of the ocean forcing its way through the open portal. Silence trudged past me while I thought, and as the water reached my stomach, I called out to her desperately. "I need some help, Silence! I don't have a plan!"

When I caught sight of her again, she was pulling a tabby cat off of one of the liquor kegs and holding it by the nape of its neck in her mouth. Helplessness and fear outlined her features as she stared back at me with a slow shake of her head. Saving the poor feline was all that she could do, and all she could muster from her hazy thoughts. "I don't know what to do, Mr. Prodder. I don't know what we can do. I need help."

"You need to remain calm," I called back immediately. I had gotten an idea seeing her stand near the kegs: If they could hold liquor in, they could hold water out. One of the empty kegs that was waiting to be filled at the still bobbed uselessly in the water. We both grabbed for it when I told her that we could use it to get out of there. The lid was already removed, and Silence was able to lift it above the water level with her horn to dump it out. She kept trying to hand me the cat, which did not help the situation as I looked to the doorway and knew there would be absolutely no way to get the creature safely through the torrent of water. Even as she simply held the tabby up to me, it was flailing about with claws extended, and spitting hisses. In my fury, I grabbed it by the nape of the neck and threw it in the barrel before slamming the lid over it. The shovel I had used to open the door to the storeroom was floating against the wall, and I used it to deliver a powerful blow to the top of the barrel, securing the lid down tight. Loosening the rope from the wall and doing the best I could to secure it to the keg, we both pushed the buoyant barrel towards the door. It took both our combined might and her magic to push the airtight barrel through the doorway, but we finally felt the container thrust outward through the water and make an audible plop and splash outside as it resurfaced above the water level.

I knew I didn't have the strength to pull Silence with me if she hung on to me while I pulled myself up the rope, but she did not have the grip she'd need to pull herself out. I paused, noting the lack of time left as the water was now up to my chest, and I gripped the rope with both hands. "I'm going up. Grab the rope in your mouth and don't let go no matter what: I'll have to pull you out from the other side."

"You can't," she begged me instantly, her pleading eyes glimmering in the torchlight, "Please don't leave me here." The moment of quiet as I reached back to touch her face was filled with panicked pleas for me to stay or to at least try to pull her with me. "You can't leave me; I don't want to die alone down here."

"You're not going to die!" I shouted, shoving the rope in her mouth insistently before pulling myself as fast as I could through the waterfall blocking the door. "I promise that I'm not going to abandon you! You just have to trust me! Now don't drop that for anything!" I could hear her sobbing at the sight of me leaving her there alone as I took a deep breath and plunged myself through the roaring waters, at which point I could hear nothing past the gushing flood rolling over my face and head.

It took at least a minute of struggle, each moment a fight against the forceful flow pushing me back toward the deathtrap of the storeroom. The water continued to beat against me and slipped between my fingers inhibiting each desperate grasp of the rope. Silence was counting on me, however, and the sound of her terrified weeping burned in my submerged ears as I refused to let up. I was finally able to feel my head break the surface of the water, allowing me to gasp for air and paddle to the rocky base of the cliff, pulling the rope and barrel with me. As I tried to scale up the side of the cliff face, I found the barrel to be too heavy and large to carry up, so I was only able to use the slack in the rope to keep it with me, slung over my shoulder. All I could think of was the image of the look in her eyes when I left her. All I could hear in my head was her sobbing alone in the flooding storeroom as she hoped for me to keep my promise. I couldn't let her down; I couldn't let her die down there, but as the give in the rope disappeared I could not escape feeling helpless to do anything; I was not even at the top of the cliff yet.

That was until I felt something grab my collar, and heard the loud, boisterous voice of Salmon shout out a bellowing, "Heave!" My feet left the water as my collar was thrust into my neck, choking me and almost causing me to lose grip on the rope. The barrel now came with me as I was thrown over the top of the ledge to land in Maple's lap. She still had my collar in her mouth, with Springfield and Salmon both hugging her waist as they had ripped me free of the high tide. It was then that I scrambled up to hoist the barrel over the ledge and towards me, motioning with panic for everyone to grab onto the rope with me and begin pulling. Without me even having to say anything, Salmon bellowed out with another loud, "Ready! Grip! Heave!" With that, all three of the ponies and I tugged on the rope with all of our might through the howling gusts of wind and battering rain. "Heave!" he called once again through his clenched teeth, as we all began to back up.

What seemed like minutes passed before our effort shone through: The light pelt and bright mane appeared from below. Silence was hoisted over the edge into a crumpled, shaking heap, still clinging to the rope in her mouth with everything in her. Before I could act, Salmon was already at her side and pulling the rope from her mouth. "Atta girl, c'mon lass, you've done good. You're all right now; Don't stand up, Springfield will be here in a moment to carry you back. Are you hurt? Can you breathe?" I wanted to approach and help, but the lilac farmpony rushed past me to aid her as well. With Salmon's help, they managed to throw her over Springfield's back and he began a steady trudge, under the added weight, back to the dormitory.

"What the nightmare, Ben?"

I barely even caught that someone was speaking to me as I watched on, turning to see Maple's jade eyes only inches from mine as she stood close to me. One of her hooves was around my waist, motioning for me to wrap my arm around her neck so she could help me remain standing against the roaring gusts. "I think I can still walk," I stuttered back, heaving for breaths as I let her begin guiding me slowly.

"You can't do this to us, Ben. We thought we might have lost you there. You can't do that to me."

"I have to get Garnet," I told her as I pulled away and towards the barrel where the cat was probably suffering from PTSD by now.

"Where is he? I'll go get him. You need to head back to the dorm and let everypony know you're okay."

When I told her that he was in the barrel, she cautiously left my side, after pushing me to the door, to go and collect it. I stumbled back to the dorm, finding relief once I was able to grasp the side of the building and was no longer threatened by the wind pulling me off my feet.

I didn't even get to say a word when the door was opened for me as I slammed my hand against it. I felt someone pull me in and heard Dawnstar calling out orders to the ponies inside. My soaked shirt was taken off and a blanket thrown over my shoulders. I felt myself ushered to one of the nearby beds to sit down. I am not very clear on who all spoke to me at that time. My thoughts were too preoccupied with what had just happened: What was I thinking? I could have been killed. I had thrown myself into a watery coffin without even taking a moment's notice to consider how irrational that was. I threw my life on the line without regard to my own safety. There was so much noise and movement going on, all I can really remember is Overcast tending to me by removing my shoes and socks and using another blanket to dry my hair before Springfield and Salmon got back with Silence. Lastly, Maple rolled the barrel into the dorm and the door was finally shut for good.

The storm continued to rage on outside for the next couple of hours, the loud howling wind drowning out the quiet and worried speech going on around me. There was a short break somewhere in the storm, in which I thought it might be safe to leave, but Salmon informed me to stay put while the “eye” passed over us. I am not sure what he meant by that, but it was a wise decision as the storm flared back up once again outside only twenty minutes later. I am unsure, but I believe it was not until 5:45pm when the aggressive winds finally quieted outside, and the downpour became just a regular gentle rainfall once more. There seemed to be no in-between for the violent weather to change over to a drizzly atmosphere within a span of ten minutes or so. By that time I had recovered, and was on my feet and ready to finally be able to get some fresh air from the cramped dorm.

Nobody rejoiced though when we finally stepped outside. The devastation was unbelievable. In the few hours that the storm had taken to pass, it had torn what little we had in Songring to pieces. The beach was completely submerged, with only the very top of the roof of the dining hall still poking up out of the water (what was left of the roof anyways). The infirmary over the submerged beach was in shambles, but we saw Willow across the water. He called back to us to let us know everyone was okay despite the terrible appearance of the structure. The dorm was beaten up by this time, and the windows were all shattered and broken, with a few smaller objects lodged in the wooden structure. The only building that seemed to have withstood the storm was my office, as it was made of stone and stood high above the flooding waters on the beach. The storeroom was still not visible beneath the water, and the fields had all but been washed away by the heavy rains that accompanied the storm. Trees were overturned in the forests to the west, and debris and refuse were scattered all about.

Songring had been destroyed.

I still can't believe it. In the span of a few hours, what had taken us nearly two years to make had been deconstructed. All of our work is lost. As I sit here, I can't even fathom a way to begin reclaiming this place after such a disaster. The only building that is still reliably standing is my office, and we have lost all of our supplies due to the flooding that overtook the storeroom.

As we all stood together, there was a long silence between us while we merely viewed the destruction. It was a silence of mourning, as all the ponies stared upon what was once their home: Now nothing more than a flooded wreck. After a while, I realized they were all looking at me instead. All of their eyes had fallen on me with wanting glances and pleading stares. They wanted answers. They wanted me to tell them what to do about this, or what was going to happen next. Even Overcast stepped up and sat down next to me with the question, "What now, Mr. Benjamen Prodder?"

I didn't have an answer, so I merely shrugged. It was all gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't hear any protests from the ponies, as a few of them finally stood up and began rummaging through the wreckage around us, for what they could perceive to be their belongings, and went to gather their friends and relatives who were still resting in the infirmary. I watched as one by one, they picked up what they could and simply headed to the Southwest into the tree lines. We had no wagons and no carts for them to take. Merely taking what they could wrap up in a blanket and secure to their sides, they began leaving to go back to The Sun of Chance. 42 became 30. Then 20. After a couple of hours, while I stayed lost in my stupor, there were only 8 ponies still standing around me as we waited. Overcast, Teardrop, Springfield, Salmon, Silence, Willow, Dirtnap, and Blueprint remained seated around me, watching me expectantly as the daylight began to fade, and the rains stopped completely.

I finally broke the silence with a cracked voice, unable to keep any strength in my tone as I had just witnessed everything they owned be taken from them in a day's time. After I had just watched everything that we had be torn from us. "What do you want from me? We did all we could. It's over. Go on... go and pack up what you can find. We're done here."

They all seemed unable to believe my words, and in an instant, I saw what it looks like when dreams are broken and hope is snuffed out; like a cold winter gust extinguishing a candlelight. The quiet burble and kisses of the water behind me against the rocky inclines was the only sound I could hear, as each of them came to accept my words and heed my suggestion.

Silence came up to me, grabbing me around my shoulders in an embrace, thanked me for what I had done for her. Her cheek brushed against mine, and I felt her mouth the words against my ear as though she whispered them. I simply patted her on the neck and waited for her sentimental display to end. As she pulled away, she told me telepathically that there was still hope for Songring.

"No, there's not. Just look around you, Silence: It's all washed up. There's nothing left and nothing we can do. We did our best, but some things are not meant to be."

"I'd still be willing to make our stand here with you. Things may look dark, but I will stand with you if you will just let me."

"Just let it die. Be thankful you're alive and well, and perhaps that thought will keep you warm while we head back to Canterlot."

Silence accepted my answer and defeatedly retreated to go find her belongings. Teardrop was the next to come to me with Garnet held in one of her front legs before her. She thanked me for saving Garnet, but I simply waved it off. "I know you may think he's not important enough for your trouble... but thank you for realizing how important he is to me." I didn't have it in me to tell her that it was all I could think to do: To keep the damn cat from clawing me to pieces by throwing it in a barrel; if she wanted to believe I was Garnet's hero, let her. She started to tell me how she thought that maybe we could still make something of this mess, but I told her to drop it. She did as I requested without any argument.

Springfield merely gave me a nod, having nothing to say. His look was one that made me burn a bit with brooding fury; it was disappointment. In me? In the situation? I can't tell, but for him to look me in the eye and nod that way, all I could hear was him saying to me how much I have let him down; how I wasn't trying hard enough.

"So what does this mean for me?" Willow prodded me with his hoof to gather my attention as he wore a stern glance. He is a poor actor, since I could only hear a shaky insecurity in his voice and see a lost and desperate appearance deep in his visage. "Where do I go from here? What am I left with now?"

"It means you move on, and just be happy you've got a life left to live. I don't know where you're going to go from here, and it's none of my damn business anymore. Do what you want, I don't care."

After my cold response, Salmon patted Willow on the shoulder and gently suggested that he go pick a few things up and begin packing. Once the belligerent pony had left, Salmon pulled me to the side with a leg around my shoulders and we both quietly sat there as he looked out into the blue waters worriedly. He bit his lower lip the whole time and I could tell he was thinking, if very slowly, about what to say to me. I didn't want to hear him say anything. He cleared his throat many times before he began. "I used to be a part of the Disaster Relief Corps, you know chap."

"I've heard you spout these stories plenty of times, Salmon. They aren't going to put our settlement back together, so don't even waste my time."

"You're better than this," he said shortly, furrowing his brow and looking at me while he still held me in a half-hug. He did not expound on what he meant, but I could surmise what he was referring to. "I know what it's like to see hard times. This isn't my first hurricane. Tides change, time moves, and you can be certain that sometimes shit will happen. I have seen ponies rebuild after everything has been lost, and all they needed was some hope to do it, Ben."

"It's not worth it, Salmon," I told him, "It was just an investment that didn't work out."

Salmon finally removed himself from my shoulder and grunted as he looked at the ground. "If that is how you see it... I'm sorry then." As he left my presence, I heard him utter a final remark to me, "You're right to think that hope and will do not just create themselves. They have to come from somewhere or somepony."

Overcast had been sitting beside me for a while before I turned to him with a growl and asked him why he was still just resting there.

"I'm going to go where you go, Mr. Benjamen Prodder." He idly shuffled some mud under his hoof as he said this, "Your side is the only place I feel like I belong."

"I'm going back to Canterlot, so grab your things if that's the case."

"Do you want me to tell Maple that we're not staying?"

I had not thought of her because I did not see her around at the time. She was not with the others, and only then did I realize she was sitting with a keg on top of the roof of the dining hall. Alone, she sat with a tarnished-looking tin mug, gulping lazily on something as she cast a broken roof tile into the water with a splash. "I'll tell her," I told him, walking around to the edge of the incline closest to the roof so she could see me. I kept my hands in my pockets as I gave a sharp whistle to catch her attention, watching her stir and smile at me drunkenly.

"Would you look at this mess?" she asked me casually, reclined on the roof with her mug spilling beside her. "Damn storm surges. Guess nopony thought about that before now. Was a real beater we had going today." I figured the reason she was speaking so easily was because of the alcohol she had been guzzling since I had last seen her. She might have been on that roof for an hour by now with the keg. "It was a great dining hall Overcast built here. Bless his short, mopey head; I hope the little sad sack is going to be okay with his hard work going in the latrine like this."

"Maple, come off of the roof and grab what you can find. We're leaving."

"You're leaving. I'm staying right here," she informed me as she tapped her keg with a hoof and pressed her ear to it to check how much was left inside.

"I don't have it in me to fight with you over this," I told her, "It's time to cut our losses and go home."

"Then do it, nopony's stopping you. Heck, I'm sure even if they wanted to they couldn't with how much of a mule you can be. Have a nice trip, Ben. Hope you don't get caught by the rains again."

"You know I can't leave you here," I told her with a sigh, rubbing my face in exhaustion. "Please be reasonable and just come off of the roof. It'll be getting dark soon, and we have a long trip ahead of us."

"I am being reasonable! I've told you to go do whatever the hay you're going to do! You be the reasonable one this time and let me do what I have to." With that, she placed her hooves behind her head and spread her wings beneath her to recline on the roof with closed eyes. "I already told you, Ben: Some of us don't get to make these kinds of decisions. If you're blessed enough to get to make one, then do it, but don't try to force it on me or guilt me like I even have a choice." She then looked me in the eyes only long enough to tell me, "I'm not asking you to stay, and you can at least respect me enough to not ask me to leave."

"What are you going to do then? If you're going to stay here, then the only option will be to solve the problem." I found myself asking her this familiar question as I watched her incredulously; shoulders slumped as I could not believe her stubborn insistence. "What do you plan to do to fix it?"

The hush between us remained difficult. I thought she might be ignoring me, until a struggled exhale escaped her loudly. "Be a suicidal twat and sit here 'til I die then, I suppose." Her teeth clenched afterwards, and I saw her begin to search for her mug once more for comfort. "At least then, Accidental Death and Dismemberment'll do a better job than me in taking care of the folks. Not like I even have a damn choice..." As much as she tried to hide it, I could hear her tearing up beneath her strong words.

“It’s comforting to see you're still the difficult and headstrong bitch you were when I first met you, Maple."

"Yeah... So what happened that changed you so much then?" I did not know what to say at first, or even what she meant, before she sat up to look me over with what I could perceive to be a demanding... and pained glare. "What happened to the fella who was supposed to make everything okay? What happened to the stallion who was supposed to be there to tell me how to fix it? You didn't give up on me back when I was nothing but a helpless drunk to you..." That is when I saw the water leaking down her face shimmer in the waning light, and she gritted her teeth to keep from letting me hear her gasp quietly to hold them back. "Why are you so ready to give up on me now?"

It is not common for me to feel the urges I had at that moment. I wanted to swim right across to her roof and pull her as close and tight as I could before telling her that it would all be okay and that I would think of a way to fix it. I wanted to brush my hand through her mane and try to undo what she thought of me; to let her know that it was just not true. I wanted to hold her. I couldn't bring myself to do it though, and instead I merely kicked a few stones in the water as I reflected on her question. Finally I answered her with a look into her eyes and said, "I'm not ready to do that," before marching back to my office once more.

When I got there, the first pony I saw was Dawnstar, who happened to have just finished collecting her belongings from within. She was checking some sort of atlas, and using a compass, had started marking a path for us. "Oh no," I told her, snatching the paper from midair, to her surprise, so that a jagged tear was left in the middle of it, "You're not going anywhere. Change of plans. We've got even more work to do now than before."

"Mr. Prodder... it's over. You said it yourself; There's nothing that we can do. I don't know of any way that we're going to be able to come back from something like this."

"Then we'd best start learning a way. That's why you're out here, isn't it? You want to learn how to be a leader? No better time than right now. I hope you're ready to do some real learning, because now you get to do it the same way I have had to for two years."

I informed the rest of the ponies when they returned to the door of my office prepared to embark that we will not be heading back to the Sun of Chance. Currently, I plan for us to remain here in the remnants of Songring until the end of winter and the arrival of the courier, so that we may send notice to Celestia and the investors of what has befallen our settlement. At that time, we will take with us what we can North along the shore of the Light Waters. We will find a place set on higher ground, well above the water, as well as situated further inland to minimize future damage from other meteorological events such as this. The remaining ten ponies will be staying in my office during these next six weeks, spread out amongst the three floors and alternating who gets to sleep in the few remaining beds that were not damaged by the storm.

I'm not even sure if we'll be able to make it through the winter before I'm forced to reinstate my orders to evacuate Songring and head back to the Sun of Chance, but it is truly all I can do at this time. Until we can let someone know what happened, we can't simply get started elsewhere, and I am not enough of a fool to believe building here once more would be a good idea. If the weather destroyed it once, it is certain to do it again. I am not sure of the future of Songring, but I do know that whatever must happen will be done under our new banner name. With the loss of our former settlers, and left with only eleven of us, we shed whatever title they had once bestowed on our expedition party.

I have named us The Voices of Subsisting, and with any luck, we will make the symphony of Songring yet.