//------------------------------// // Day 100 // Story: Two Hundred Days // by SwordTune //------------------------------// Day 100 White Hoof's Log When Red's pissed wonders can really happen, that much has to be said. She's even keeping pace with Triple B, and they're still faster than the rest of us, even though Triple B's carrying so much more food. I don't blame Gala for what she did but why'd Lilac and Lotus have to go? They could have at least thought about how we were going to get out of a massive gorge without fliers. I can't believe she even left Lavender here with us. I mean, she treated that filly like her own, and she just got up and left without hesitation. Damn, what have we come to. Day 101 Triple B Triple B try to climb out but fall down. Was very close too. Day 101 part 2 Red Diamond This is so stupid. I make it all the way here, stub my hoof on rock trying to climb out, and all I get is being stuck. At least we've made it to some kind of end. The gorge split up a few times back but Gum Drop and White Hoof checked out the different paths to make sure we stayed on the main crevice. I hope those two didn't screw up, because there's nothing here. I heard some ponies say there was a path out of here once, a long time ago, but since then we've had a few weather disasters and if it even existed, well, it doesn't now. Unless of course White Hoof and Gum Drop are complete tools. We've only got two more days of food and a day left of water, and that's after we ration it. I swear, Gala Hat better come back or so help me Luna I will snap her wings the first chance I get. Day 102 Gum Drop's Log I'm so hungry. Red Diamond might get by with an apple for breakfast since she basically does nothing her whole life, but I need real sustenance! And the water is horrible. The water canisters got stuck in the mud back in the Everfree and now it tastes like dirt. Stale, flaky, and a little metallic, dirt. I wish we had just one bottle of cider left, just one sip would lift my poor spirits up. Day 102 part 2 Copper Tail's Log That's it, I'm done. First chance I get tonight, I'm looking out for me and myself, no pony else to share food and drink with, especially not Gum Drop. Yeah, we were friends in Canterlot, but that was when there was a cellar of food and cider only a few feet away. But down here in this crevice, these ponies got to learn: when the food's low, be the last one to sleep. Day 103 Red Diamond's Log So I heard Copper rummaging through my saddle bag last night, piling food into his. He'd already gone through Gum Drop's and White Hoof's bags by then. I don't know how he planned to escape with it, since he's so fat he can barely hike without extra weight, let alone a bag stuffed with food. Triple B caught him almost immediately once I alerted the group, but Lavender actually did most of the work. That little spitfire rammed her horn right into Copper's leg. He didn't bleed but it really jacked up his ankle, bending it in directions I didn't think was possible. So now we've got him hanging back, away from us and our food, with a heavy boulder on top of his tail for good measure. We might last a little longer without him to worry about, but I've got my eye on Gum Drop, his stamina's not much better than Copper's. And I'm keeping Lavender by my side from now on too; I'd like to have a little bandit child to back me up. Sadly Triple B's not going anywhere either, but it's always important to have some extra muscle with you nowadays. Day 108 White Hoof's Log Holy fucking shit, it's about time we got out of that place. To be honest, I've been smiling ever since Lilac and Lotus got back from Dodge, and I never thought I'd be smiling to see those twins. I don't know why they insisted on bringing Copper too, but I don't think he'll try anything now we're free, especially with Triple B staring him down the whole time. Lotus brought a hay bale for the trip to Dodge, but tomorrow will be the day we can have an actual warm meal in what feels like forever. And after that, I might go hunt down a few Changelings for payback after they booted us out of Canterlot. No pony's doing much except walking, and with civilization just over the hills we're all trying to keep up with Triple B's long strides. Hey, that's a pretty good name for him, Long Strides. I still don't know why he goes by "Triple B," it doesn't even have anything to do with his rock cutie mark. But he is as tough as one, I'll give him that. Day 108 part 2 Red Diamond's Log Today, I can sleep full on hay and water. Tomorrow, I'm going to give Gala hell. Day 109 Mint Leaf's Log It's been a while, journal. A long while, really. I'm better now though, I think. I still get nightmares, of course, but whenever I sleep I feel a presence, a calming presence, trying to coax me back into life. I can't remember much, but with Red Diamond and Gala here I'm getting back pieces. I know it's just the shock, but I feel so bad for getting in so much trouble. Gala said she brought me here with Keen, but when I woke up in Dodge, truly woke up, I was in an operating room. My first reaction was to check my leg because that was the last thing I remember happening before she was brought to me. I remembered Changelings with odd tools, eventually cracking my foreleg in two. I think that's when my brain just got overloaded, because everything after that's just fuzzy memories. So I would say I was ecstatic to wake up in Dodge to see my leg nearly healed; no bone fragments digging in my skin or moving around when I walked. Red seemed upset when she saw me, but her face quickly turned to relief when I started talking to her "normally." I really hope I didn't say something weird while my mind was lost. Amidst all the wild sentences and loose words she spewed, I heard Copper left the team once he got to Dodge, something to do with Triple B and food. My leg's not perfect, the local doctor said the makeshift splint I had was barely keeping my leg in place, and after all the walking I had to do the bone was put into a very awkward angle, so I'm stuck in bed for the next week or so. Still better than what happened to Keen. Seeing what happened to him, even while I was mental, was so nerve racking. I tried to make him better, at least I thought of trying, but Red said I didn't make big improvement until the gorge. Gosh, I barely even remember a gorge, I just recall a lot of rocks and falling. I wish I could do more right now to make up for everything I missed, but even writing is hard and I'm really tired. Must be the herbs they gave me at noon, something local I've never heard of. Wish I could learn more about it. Oh yeah, I almost forgot; Nurse Toxin's in Dodge Junction. Day 109 part 2 Gala Hat's Log I don't care what Red's complaining about, I'm just relieved to hear Keen will be fine. He's been under intensive care for four days now, and they haven't even gotten to the metal in his legs. Some of the doctors in Dodge are refugees from big cities, professionals with years of experience, and even they claim to have trouble. But they've confirmed that he's in a stable condition right now. That doesn't make the dark reality of Keen's condition any better. It wasn't the metal hooves nailed to his legs that was killing him, it was some kind of weak Changeling poison, a pale mucus-like fluid pervading nearly every part of his body. It's what caused the infections in his legs to worsen rapidly and return just as strong after repeated cleaning. They've tried cauterizing the wound to slow it down while they operate, but if it made any difference no pony can notice it. Dodge has grown a lot ever since ponies started fleeing east to Manehattan. A lot of ponies decided to settle in Dodge temporarily, a quickly became permanent residents. Even so the technology in the hospital still isn't completely up to the standards of Manehattan or even Fillydelphia, which happens to be an increasingly dangerous demilitarized zone right now. The lack of magic or machines has made it really hard for the doctors to flush out all the poison the Changelings put in Keen. That's why it's been so long, but they're making progress. I come see him every evening, and now I can do it with Lavender. Oh, the poor filly must have been so upset when I left with Keen, but I'm glad she understands why I had to save him. She even thanked me after Lotus flew her into Dodge this morning. It was a funny sight, a little unicorn on the back of a stark white pegasus, and a good reminder of why we still persist in this broken world. As long as I have my friends, I'll have a reason to live on, which makes it even better knowing who's taking care of Keen right now. I haven't gotten a chance to ask her all my questions, and though I don't understand how, at least Nurse is still alive. Day 110 Nurse Toxin's Log of Surviving a Long F***ing Time Where do I even begin? How do I even start, I mean, I feel like a total stranger here now. Jeez, they've used a shit ton of pages the past few months. Good think you've got plenty of pages to spare, right Journal? What am I doing, talking to a pile of paper? Must be as mad as Mint was when one of those twins brought her into the hospital. A psychiatrist's looking at her now that I've done what I can for her leg. You know, you'd think after living in Ponyville's ruins for over a month they'd learn how to keep a broken leg in the right place. Fuckers didn't even find a strait stick to hold her leg in place. But in all seriousness, it's a damn miracle Keen and Mint are still alive, Keen most of all. I never took him for the adventurous type, but I overheard what he found in Canterlot. Hard to believe we were so close to the central hive of the entire Changeling invasion. Red Diamond came in and showed me the pages Keen wrote while he was held captive, and now I understand the Changelings less than I did before. I don't get why they left the journal with him, or how he was so easily captured. Some powerful magic caught them, but whatever it was acted like some kind of sedation. Nothing in here describes what it was like or how it was administered. The poison, however, I do understand. Kind of. From what he wrote and what I see, the Changelings pumped him full of the stuff the second day of his torture. Disgusting pieces of shit gave him an oral dose, probably using his body's own digestion and immune system to give him a slow and painful death. I'm up to my neck in frustration just trying to counteract and reverse the effects of the poison, along with all the other doctors in Dodge. Dr.Healall's the one who showed us his trade secret, a spell that could exponentially increase cell activity and metabolism to hasten a patient's recovery. But with enough unicorns performing the spell, a total of 7 if you must know, we can seal minor wounds on the spot and prompt the body to heal itself over three times as fast. But even then Keen's body is only slowly beating back the Changeling's poison, and I still need to inspect the damage done to his internal organs before I even consider doing something with his steel hooves. I feel like I've just been pushed into the deep end of the pool. With my old friends coming out of no where, Keen on the operating table half dead, and the constant news from Manehattan about the spreading conflict with the Changelings, it's hard not to feel like an insect in this high stakes world we found ourselves in. Day 110 part 2 Gala Hat's Log I remember when Keen fixed a radio with nothing more than pieces of scrap and his own horn. I thought his recovery would be easier with a radio to listen to, so I asked around Dodge for a radio. Dozens of refugees camped around the main city have their own portable radios, but none had a spare to lend me. Luckily, the clerk at the general store near the cherry orchard offered to sell his radio in return for some extra farm ponies. I thought it was a great opportunity for Mint Leaf to recover quicker. She seems to be her happy self again, but the doctors say she needs to use her foreleg to help it strengthen now, and seeing as her talent's all about plants, there's no better place for her to work but the farm. I signed up to help repair uniforms and tapestries, and maybe add a bit of style on the way. I also looked for Triple B to ask him if he wanted work on the farm, but Lavender told me they left this morning with White Hoof for some Changeling hunting. I can't believe they want to go take revenge on the Changelings after we ran from their search parties by jumping down into the gorge. Then again, we had wounded with us and couldn't risk it. But I'd wish they wouldn't run off without finding anything useful to do. They don't even have a proper place to stay, and Nurse can't keep letting us stay at her cottage. Speaking of which, Red left a note on Nurse's kitchen asking me to let Keen use the journal as soon as possible. I don't know why but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. It'll still be a very long time though, according to Nurse. Day 112 Mint Leaf's Log It's nice to be working with plants again, and I can't complain about the free cherry pie for lunch everyday. It's given me some time to reflect on what's happened over the past few weeks. I'm still a little uncomfortable with the whole thing, as if I fell asleep back in that Changeling prison and woke up here. Gala says to just put it behind us, but I just an't shake the feeling of what the Changelings did to us in Canterlot. I keep thinking back to her. I don't exactly know who or what she was, but something about that Changeling had a powerful presence, like my very being was bleeding out with her simply being there. Powerful, menacing, and strangely captivating is all I can say about that encounter. I hope Nurse can bring Keen back to his old self so he could tell me what he remembers. Day 112 part 2 Nurse Toxin's Log Gala brought in a radio after breakfast, she said she bought it from the shop next to the cherry orchard. I had to turn her away though, because we're too close to the next stage to have anything distracting in the room. Dr.Healall said we drained all of the Changeling poison out of Keen Eyes's system, and I double checked with a blood test. Every pony agreed to begin examining the internal organs to find any damage that we couldn't identify at first glance. We looked through him fairly thoroughly while we filtered Keen's blood clean, but another doctor, once renowned in Vanhoover for his x-ray cutie mark and degree in internal magic scanning, detected ruptures in the renal vein and liver. We were lucky he was with us, or else none of us could have seen that with our spells. I stepped out after that, which is how I'm righting this now, because I really don't have much skill in prosthetic legs or amputations, at least not the same level of skill as the rest of the doctors. My cutie mark, a syringe of green venom, gives me a very, very limited range of expertise. But I'm relieved it worked for me today to save an old friend, and whatever we quarreled before I'll put behind us. Day 112 part 3 Dr.Healall's Medical Notes So, sadly I've used up the notebook I brought from Los Pegasus by filling it with countless memories of my past experiences. Living in a world where a simple cut could become fatal has made me realize how important every piece of medical knowledge is important, which is why this case is so crucial to Ponykind. The first property I noticed was its powerful affinity with magic. When my healing was put to use on the obvious damage to his muscles and organs every pony, especially me, was shocked to see an increase of poison as the damage was repaired. I was immediately cautious, but Nurse assured me she could filter away the poison faster than it developed, and I needed to repair Keen's body as soon as possible. The state he was in was too precarious to leave unattended. The second concern I had with this peculiar poison was the direct ration between its growth and the rate of healing. We hypothesized that it was a similar breed of fluid the Changelings were utilizing against Equestria's forces in every theater of war, however it possessed more properties than simple magic draining. After an analysis of the poison at the cellular level, I confirmed what was asserted earlier in this journal, that the poison was comprised of protists displaying all traits of both animal and plant cells, however unlike the original analysis done by the discoverers of the poison, my research identified the majority of the fluid to consist of an extracellular matrix of mostly protein and loose cellulose. One of Nurse's friends, Mint Leaf I believe, has an affinity for botany and nature, while my expertise only pertains to medical issues. I may require her assistance for further information. Day 112 part 4 Gala Hat's Log Every pony else has gone to bed but me. It's tiring work on the farm, but I just can't sleep, despite all the good that's come around lately. Triple B finally started helping out on the farm, and he's really helped Dodge Junction out with this season's rushed harvest. According to the weather ponies I heard on the radio, storm resources like snow and lightning are being directed toward slowing Changeling advancements into Manehattan territory. I'm really tired, so I'll let Nurse write down the report. ... to Pillow Clouds with the weather reports. Thank you, Vinyl. I'm sure all you ponies in Equestria can feel the heat just as we can in Manehattan, but I'm sorry to say that Cloudsdale has declared a rationing of cool weather effective immediately. The Changeling's most recent siege on our weather city has limited all movement of air forces and precipitation, and what we have is being targeted against the enemy. A recent paper issued by Captain Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts places two scheduled rain days sometime in the following months for the following cities: Appleloosa, Whinnyapolis, and Los Pegasus. All other regions will have to bear with the weather until the siege has lifted from Cloudsdale. Now over to Huffington for the recent war reports. Thank you. For ponies outside of the Manehattan area, Princess Celestia has declared Fillydelphia and its neighboring countryside to be unsafe for refugee travel. All ponies must direct their movement around the region and make their way to Manehattan from the northwest or higher. This is the result of recent enemy troop movements into the D.M.Z between lower and upper Fillydelphia, keeping our forces under constant heavy fire and night raids. The military and the Royal Guards assure us we have nothing to worry about, but I have with me today Former E.U.P Tactician and founder of the Royal Black Ops Division, Sergeant Delta Wing, and he's here to give us the grim reality of the situation. Continued rambling with details and guesses I couldn't care for.