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// August 24, 2015 
// Story: The First Unicorn on Earth 
// by Baileyjrob 
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Dear Journal,

We'd thought we'd have left by now, but turns out we were wrong. We needed to make sure we had all of our radios up and running, and have us much variety in radios as we can so that other ponies can radio us if necessary. Good thing we stayed too, as Martha had something up her proverbial sleeve. She made a BB for me! She thought we could use it to impress any ponies we met, as well as intimidate them if necessary. I asked for a copy of the blueprints to gift to other ponies, but she denied. She is afraid that if we give them BBs, they might use them against us. I, quite frankly, find that absurd. I doubt other ponies are as war-centric as we are here.

Let me rephrase that: I HOPE other ponies aren't as war-centric as we are.

We're finalizing the basic plans, and we've confirmed that we're going to be finishing our round at Phoenix. I gave the others the idea of packing food explicitly to gift to others as a sign of goodwill. We all found it unlikely that others would have started growing early enough to have fresh crops, and I imagined they'd like a break from all the canned crap. Even Martha was on my side in this one. We're packing food for any other ponies as we speak. Well, as I write anyhow. We think that we'll be leaving tomorrow. Depending on how long each city takes, and how much of it we decide to search, we should reach Phoenix somewhere between the 27th and the 30th. I mean, Dallas to Phoenix is only around 14 hours, but searching each city's going to take up a lot of time.

While I'm gone, Sheila and Martha are going to be focusing their efforts on finding the source of the radio signal. If it's somewhere in Dallas as we suspect, they may need serious help. If it turns out that they're outside of Dallas, we could warn them to stay away from the war ground, or ask for help if things get that bad.

Jamie is really excited to see new ponies. He's hovering around me as I write this, constantly buzzing and saying how excited he is. When the only people you have for companions is this little band of misfits, I suppose you'd want out as much as possible. In fact, he suggested that we run away from Dallas and live somewhere safer. But we couldn't do that.  Martha had no real qualms doing that, but Sheila wanted to look after her "friends." I... I just can't.

I was born and raised in Dallas, both my old life and my new one. This place is home. You could drop a nuke on it; it would still be home. All of the work I've done here... my human museum, the good old store... Max.

Max died believing that this city could become a safe haven for ponies, a colonized place where lost or confused ponies could make their way to for family, friends, and a normal life. God damn if I'm going to let that ideal slip. One day Dallas will be safe. I'll... I'll make sure of that for Max.

I suppose in the end we're persevering, and that's a miracle in of itself. We'll get there one day. I'd love nothing more than to one day be a veteran of this war. The dogs will eventually kill themselves to oblivion.

I can only hope that we don't go first.

– Leon.