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// Day 10 of the New Commision 
// Story: The Journal of Map Space 
// by Line Space 
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Day 10 of the new commission

We have finally left Canterlot! I can’t believe all the delays and problems that kept coming up! Gentle insisted on getting all new pots and pans to commemorate the importance of the trip. It reminded me so much of picking out wedding gifts for the register. Last time I had no one though but this time Star Charter was with me. Its nice getting the chance to mess around with her again with how serious her studies have been. For some reason her and Gentle couldn’t get along! Charter kept getting sarcastic about Gentle’s concerns about pots(something I did not get into only for tactical reasons) and Gentle was far more aggressive then I’m used to. I think she’s just getting jumpy about this expedition. She threw a pillow when I tried to be consoling the night of the shopping trip Red Liner kept me up all night laughing in the window.

Large Scale, Kill Joy, and I went out to some of the farms to try out some of their farming equipment and some ground clearing tools we were bringing along to establish a long term base somewhere in the forest. Kill Joy enjoyed his jokes about the girls staying at home a little too much on the trip because the moment Star Charter hears one of those she’s probably going to carry him underneath a waterfall. I chose to keep my opinion to myself. Large Scale on the other hand was rather upset by Kill Joy’s tasteless humor.

It was shortly later that he got his revenge however. I had difficulty but I managed to get the plow to move and pulled a few stumps out of the ground. Large Scale acted like it was nothing and seemed to enjoy flaunting his strength in front of Kill Joy. I warned Kill Joy to be careful and that it was understandable if he couldn’t do this. After all he practices with his sword but that means a neck and jaw workout. I very rarely ever see him walk and I usually carry more than he does. That just made him mad and he struggled against the plow for a good hour while me and Large Scale tried desperately not to laugh. We couldn’t help but bust out when he tried to get the stump out of the ground by flying up and landing on the shovel’s handle. Between our laughter and the shovel breaking without getting the stump out, he had a lot of drive to hack down some trees. Kill Joy was strangely quiet on the walk back to town.

Large Scale and I went on our regular trip to collect supplies for the trip. However, I made the mistake of trying to get Star Charter and Large Scale some time together. I tried getting Gentle to bring her along and explained that the mares on the trip should have a say on what to get since this is our largest budget yet. Of course, rather than just invite Star Charter, she only invites Cure! Large Scale and Cure have always gotten along well but I want him to have more, like what I have with Gentle Soul. The trip turned into a further disaster as the two had us stop at every store that held anything that could possibly hold something useful. To further the problem they were obsessed with trying to find the best items, in both style and quality. No matter how many times I begged, Gentle would only say is that this dream job deserved the best and ignore me. I will never understand what it is with mares and shopping.

Cure wasn’t as bad. For the first time I watched as she gathered herbs and other items she would need but wouldn’t be able to replenish on their trip. I talked to her about the possibility of a magic that could make a pony change on a moral or emotional basis. We have discussed similar topics before and as usual she humored me. We spent a lot of time on the topic although she kept distracting herself and getting into conversations with Large Scale. After much discussion, most of it pointless because of her talk of “the essence of a living thing” and getting distracted, she promised she would begin thinking about it. She also insisted that the best anypony could hope to do was to separate and expel whatever portion of themselves they wanted to be rid of. I really wish I wasn’t so afraid to lose her skills or else I would tell her about Red Liner. Unfortunately, there’s too high a chance that the news would spook her tribal thinking and I can’t lose her perspective and skills.

Finally we can go though! Tomorrow we start on our journey. Celestia had a long discussion with me today about it. She was happy I hadn’t left yet because she had wanted to discussion her worries with me. She talked to me about how the Everfree has a tendency to bring out the worst in even the most level headed of ponies. Red Liner helps me understand my own evils though and I made sure she understood that, although she can’t know about Red Liner. I have my evils under control and I will keep a close eye on everypony like I always have. It was kind of her to worry though. Her prize pupil Star Charter will be safe in my company. If theres one pony that recluse relies on and confides in, it’s me. Tomorrow it all starts. Tomorrow.