Diary of the Dead

by AppleTank

9: Diary 1/Jouney

Dear Diary

Its been a little over a decade since the Eternal Blizzard started. Missed the start of it while buried deep in my revenge project. Both Gladas and Dimi have scouted the skies above and confirmed that it stretches across most of the continent. Curiously, it seems to have the largest concentration around the capital cities of the Three Tribes, so it is unlikely to be some revenge plot by the unicorns.

What little information that gets out says that they’re going to try to move the greener pastures. If it follows them, we will make a note of it.

The parasites that killed my family have been finished off, though Gladas is planning a short trip to check for stragglers. She is very concerned about creatures that can bypass our natural durability so easily and drain the life straight out of our phylacteries.

As for me, I’m doing my best to integrate with the rest of the Honeycomb Club. Gladas is helping me catch up to, well, everything. I barely got in two years of schooling before I died the first time around.

They also started teaching me basic combat training, since bad weather is really only a minor annoyance to us, outside a slight increase in food intake to keep our joints from locking up. Might come in handy if I get injured during a blizzard and need to patch myself up through frozen solid flesh. I was quite curious about it when it first came up, especially when we are so focused on forming better relations with our neighbors.

Unfortunately, I learned that the fear from our predecessors are far ranging, and almost ingrained into every culture within a year’s travel, maybe even more. Despite our efforts, all indications point that we will find enemies no matter how well we present ourselves, and will need to fight hard in defense or preemptive retaliation.

Regarding our unique magics, Gladas has me focusing on soul control. Having the seat of your consciousness physically separated from your body has its advantages and disadvantages, and she wants to make sure I can minimize our natural weaknesses, especially the whole “get controlled the moment someone grabs hold of your soul” thing. Apparently we actually have some movement options even as a sentient gem? Who knew?

On the other hoof, my emotional problems ... have not gone so well. Gladas has been a great help, but the shadow of my home still haunts me. This isn’t helped by the emotive rigidity caused by the complete lockdown of bodily chemicals, leaving us stuck on our last thoughts.

In other news, my mentor has started on a new project. When she first heard about Honeycomb, she decided that, despite our undeath, we still needed a healer. Someone has to put us back together if we are blown apart somehow. And not in the creepy puppet way Mr. Falcowolf learned. She has made headway into repairs that make our injuries look less grotesque, but has hit a roadblock if the injury has gone as far as complete limb destruction. Multiple options are still being tried out. We may have to look into the incomplete chrono-repair spell for hints at the truth.

Agatha isn’t getting any younger, importantly. She’s stuck using that chrono-repair spell, except as mentioned, it doesn’t really work on living creatures, at least not the way she’s been using it. Us Phylactery users already create a bit of a blindspot, it would likely blind herself completely if she had to use it herself. But the spell is missing something. Errors are made, bits missing in the repair, even without restricting it to leave her brain mostly alone to prevent memory disruption.

I wish them luck. I have no idea where to even start. I can only make sure they don’t have to worry about me, though Gladas has expressed interest in whether my talent can provide insight. I will wait for her to give me things to try. For now, The Antibodies are next, I think. See you then.

--Cycle Garand Springfield

---

Present day

I gave a small snort at Twilight’s coo of amazement. As her horn’s glow lit up floating rune circles around a splintered wooden block reversed its damage, becoming a perfect cube.

Almost.

“This is amazing!” Twilight Sparkle said, eyes wide as she floated the cube in her magic. “How come I haven’t heard of it?”

I raised an eyebrow. “How long did it take you to learn this?” Twilight opened her mouth “-And take into account how your own skills compare to the average pony.”

“Ah ...”

“And on top of that, think about how much mana it used to fix something broken thirty seconds ago.” I tapped the cube, and a small layer of wood dust flaked off. “The ramp up in cost scales horribly, and even then, no matter how much mana you push into it, it never truly returns it into its original form.”

Twilight’s brow scrunched in concentration. “So, if applied to living tissue, you’ll be left with small cuts?”

I shook his head. “Worse. I assume you have taken at least a course in the biological sciences?”

“Of course!”

“Then tell me, what do you think happens when one’s body experiences full-body genetic data corruption?”

Author's Note:

Edit (2020/5/8) Changed slightly due to slightly increased competence at story planning.

Comments

[Butterwings]

Dear Diary,

She has promised to investigate the fu--creatures.

WHO WRITES -- ?!
Seriously, striked trough text would make a lot more sense.