Diary of a Soldier

by TheCamel

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark, Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other
Length: 3796

The griffons attack on Los Pegasus, from the view of one pony guard.

The griffons are attacking Los Pegasus, and Celestia has sent her guard to protect the city. Everypony thinks that the royal guard will be victorious, but when a lone pegasus returns to Canterlot and reports that the guard ponies have been wiped out, Princess Celestia quickly orders a search and rescue effort be made. By the time the first rescue team arrives the city has been abandoned and dead bodies of ponies and griffons litter the streets.

During the recovery effort, one pony finds a corpse clutching a book to his chest. It turns out that this book is the dead pony's diary, and it is the only written account of what happened during the battle. This is that story;

Published 2013-12-25 03:40:06 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-25 03:40:06 UTC

Graduation Day

We did it! Today’s the day! We all survived The Academy and have been sworn in as the newest members of The Royal Guard!

I’ll be honest, I never thought that this day would come, that I would have dropped out like so many others who started in our class but couldn’t take the grueling demands. But here I am, back home with my graduation certificate and coveted helmet of one of Princess Celestia’s protectors! This is the best day of my life!

Mom and dad were so happy, they wouldn’t stop hugging me. It was funny when Sergeant Rough Hoof came over to congratulate me; he was smiling and joking with mom and dad the entire time. Funny how just the previous morning he was yelling at all of us one last time, making us run laps around the grounds and putting us through the obstacle course yet again.

Ugh, I won’t miss seeing that obstacle course any time soon. The earth and pegasi pony recruits all say that we unicorns have it easy, that their paths are all physically demanding while we can use magic to get through our path. They have no idea how taxing it can be when we deplete our magic reserves... Night Sparkler almost got himself killed when the boulder he had to levitate almost crushed him when his magic ran out. Lucky for him that Sarge yanked him out of the way just in time. It’s absolutely excruciatingly painful when a unicorn uses all their magic and has to start draining their own life force to maintain a spell, but it’s something we all had to do to prepare us for our future jobs.

Anyway, the graduation ceremony was absolutely spectacular! Captain Shining Armor himself came down from the Crystal Empire to swear us in and handed us our badges. Princess Celestia oversaw the ceremony and even posed for pictures with us! My little sister wanted to join us when my turn came up, and her highness was more than happy to let her jump in for an additional photo.

I think I have a few weeks of leave before I get called back to Canterlot to start my first assignment. Most of my fellow recruits- I mean, my fellow new guards will be deployed to the areas they are already familiar with. Night Sparkler is going to be assigned to my post, along with Swift Wing, Red Canyon, and Max Speed. It’s kind of surprising that Red and Max got assigned to Canterlot since they’re earth ponies, and Swift chose not to go back to Cloudsdale to start Wonderbolts training, saying he’d rather work his way up the rank than put on silly acrobatic shows, even though the pay is so much better. But I’m glad to be with all of them, especially Night Sparkler; who would have guessed that my best friend would be my battle buddy in The Academy?

This is definitely the best day ever. Nothing can go wrong in life now!

Canterlot: Day 16

Big news; earlier today, our lieutenant ordered everypony in the barracks to gear up for an attack. We were all sure it was another drill, that the command ponies wanted to see if us new recruits could prepare for an attack within an acceptable time. Red even bet fifty bits that he could correctly guess which officer ordered the drill. But it turns out it wasn’t a drill... when we reached the armory every single guard in the castle was there putting on their armor and being issued their weapons.

Needless to say we hustled to our assigned sector; the north-west corner of the city wall. We further confirmed that this was no drill when we saw Lieutenant Eisenhoover approach us. He told us to keep our focus to the north and to subdue any griffon we saw trying to enter or leave the city, as well to immediately dispatch our runner to headquarters. He left before we could ask what was going on, so we had no choice but to follow his orders.

It’s a little strange we were looking for griffons; they’re such a common sight in Canterlot. Being the only pegasus in our squad, Swift Wing would have to chase any griffon trying to escape by flight. Night Sparkler and I could help with our magic as long as we were in range, but Max Speed and Red Canyon can’t help at all. Max is our runner, so he would go to HQ anyway, but Red can’t do much except help if we force any griffon to the ground. Thankfully, none of that mattered since we didn’t see any.

When we were finally relieved from our post we were ordered to the Princess’s throne room. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna weren’t there, but Lieutenant Eisenhoover was. Once everypony was there he informed us that Equestria was officially at war with the Griffon Kingdom.

War! None of us could believe it! The last time Equestria was at was was hundreds of years ago during the Changeling uprising. But now the two largest kingdoms in the world are at war! We were ordered to prepare for deployment immediately, but when my squad returned to our bunks we were told that we’d be staying here in Canterlot. A lot of the ponies we know are being sent all over; Heavy Hitter’s squad is being deployed out to Manehattan, Foggy Dawn is headed to Los Pegasus with his and Sharp Tip’s squad, and I think Blue Skies is headed back to Cloudsdale since her squad is all pegasi.

We said a quick goodbye before they all left. I’m kind of jealous that they get to go off and travel since there’s no way an attack can happen here. Canterlot is the most protected city in Equestria, not to mention Princess Luna and Princess Celestia could wipe out an entire army by themselves. Still, it’s good to be close to mom, dad, and my sis. I’m sure they’ll be glad to hear that I’m staying in Canterlot, especially mom. She can worry over absolutely nothing.

Well, gotta head off for another patrol around the city. Night says that this whole war thing is being blown out of proportion and will be over in a few days. I hope he’s right.

Los Pegasus: Day 1

We were ordered to pack up all our things in preparation to deployment. I’ve never seen everypony here moving around so frantically and quickly. Word came that the griffons are planning a massive attack on Los Pegasus. Why they’re choosing that city is an absolute mystery as it has no military importance whatsoever. But whatever their reason is, we have to deploy to protect the city. Red Canyon is taking the news especially hard since he’s from Los Pegasus, and his entire family is still there. He keeps on saying that they probably evacuated with most of the other civilians, but we all know deep down that his parents are stubborn and will stay to protect their shop. The only morale booster we had here was that we saw Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts right here in the capital, meaning that at least some of the Wonderbolts were able to escape Cloudsdale. Maybe Blue Skies is okay after all.

The train ride west was tense. Nopony knew if the attack will have started by the time we arrived or not, and as we pulled into the Los Pegasus station it was a huge relief to see that the griffons have not attacked yet. There were hundreds and hundreds of civilians waiting on the platforms to board the train to escape, and it was absolute chaos when we tried disembarking. All those ponies trying to push their way onto the train as we’re trying to disembark with all our gear… even when the local guards tried to cordon off the area, the crowd was just too much. It took longer than expected to get off and regroup but we managed.

The last time I was in this city was years ago, when I was still a colt. But even after all those years, the city changed more in the last few days than any other time frame. Almost every shop is closed, every building is empty. Checkpoints litter the perimeter of the city and the pegasi troops enforce a strict no-fly ban above the city. The only civilians that were asked to stay are the local weather ponies, who keep the sky clear 24/7 to prevent any sneak attacks through the clouds. Red was denied a few hours leave to go looking for his family. Poor stallion, we’re not even assigned to an area close to his home.

We’re bunking down in a shopping mall until we receive further word on the griffons’ movements. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but I’m kind of excited also. This is history, the first war in hundreds and hundreds of years. We all know our duties for our war plan, and our commanders are confident that since we have the home-field advantage, any attack will be easily repelled.

Oh, I almost forgot! Our old drill instructor, Rough Hoof, is leading our company! He was promoted to lieutenant and asked to command us guards from Canterlot! He was happy to see us again, and even said the next round drinks when everything is-

Uh oh.

Los Pegasus: Day 3

It’s only been two days. Two days, and the city is absolutely unrecognizable. I wasn’t prepared for this. None of us were.

This is the first break I’ve had since my last entry. I haven’t been able to stop and rest at all. I haven’ t slept since then, but I’m not tired. None of us are. I don’t think I’ll be able to close my eyes anytime soon.

The griffons came down on us out of nowhere. From what we could gather, a squad or two of griffons attacked on the ground. The pegasi on sky patrol were ordered to intercept them in case they tried to fly away, but with the sky now vulnerable an entire company of griffons came out of nowhere and attacked.

They landed almost in the middle of the city and split our forces in two. Our side of the city caught a small break, but we can’t rest for long as the griffons are focusing their attack on the other side of the city. We’re trying to organize a counter attack and reconnect our forces. If we don’t our comrades in arms are doomes; we have the supply depot on our side, but they have nothing besides what they’re carrying and what they can find.

We’re right now holed back up in the shopping mall as it’s the strongest defensive position we could find that is also large enough to hold our supplies. Our small infirmary is already at full capacity, but there’s currently no way to evacuate any of the casualties as the train station is held by the griffons. We have plenty of supplies to keep the wounded stable, but the medics are using only what’s absolutely necessary to keep our supplies in stock as long as possible.

Our squad saw a bit of fighting… these griffons are tougher than I thought. In the air they’re especially savage; their tactic is to rip out the feathers from our pegasi and ground them, causing us to lose air superiority. Our pegasi now have to stay within range of us unicorns for protection, but by having to stay so low to the ground they’re unable to reach the rooftops of many of the buildings in the city.

Our casualties are relatively light. Red Canyon got a few deep slashes in one of his legs while fighting a downed griffon. Swift Wing also got shaken up a bit when a griffon grabbed ahold of one of his wings, but Night Sparkler and I were able to blast the griffon off just in time, thank Celestia.

Still, some ponies weren’t so lucky. We ran into Foggy Dawn’s squad while falling back from our first position, or… what was left of his squad. Fog was in rough shape; he had his face cut up and had a nasty slash across his throat. The only pony left in his squad wasn’t in much better shape. Poor pegasus had his wings broken and only survived thanks to one of the unicorns in their squad before he was killed. But on their way back they passed by the scene of another brutal skirmish and found Sharp Tip’s body among the carnage. It was no surprise he was the only loss his squad suffered. He was always one to put himself in danger to protect the rest of us. Poor guy, his mother and sister are going to be heartbroken.

Los Pegasus: Day 8

This is impossible. Celestia help us, we’re all going to die.

We’re hiding in a partially collapsed building. By ‘we’ I mean just Swift and I. The others are... Luna watch over them, the others are all dead.

They’re gone.

I... still don’t know what happened. Swift and I are still in shock. We have no idea if anypony else managed to escape the shopping center, or maybe we’re the only ones left.

We all were ordered back to HQ to help evacuate the wounded. I guess some of the ponies were able to fight their way to the smaller freight rail and managed to secure a train for our retreat. Lt. Hoof, Swift, and I went downstairs to see if we could find a cart to help move the wounded, but just when we were about to head back up an explosion went off somewhere upstairs. Lt. Hoof ordered us to stay put until he figured out what was going on, but after he rushed upstairs he never came back.

All we heard was the sound of fighting and ponies dying, so we headed upstairs but something had fallen across the door. We had no choice but to head to the second floor and try to find a way back down, but once we reached the first window and saw what was going on we both froze. The griffons had managed to break past our defenses and were inside, but leading them was something that even Discord would never do. A griffon with a horn growing out of his head was fronting the attack. I don’t know how, but he was using magic and casting attack spells while also dissipating any attack thrown back at him.

We saw pony after pony fall to his attacks, and the griffons behind him were picking off anypony that was wounded or tried to escape. We saw... Swift and I, we watched as Red and Lieutenant Hoof tried taking this monster head on. They never touched him, they were killed before they could get anywhere close to them. Right after that we saw Max being cut down, he was trying to help an injured pony get out through a side door without being noticed but they were caught and ripped apart.

Only small circle of survivors were left, Night Sparkler one of them. He must have seen us staring down at him because he shook his head when Swift and I were preparing to jump down to help. We stopped, thinking that they would be taken as prisoners and Swift and I could then try to rescue them. But... but that griffons monster, he ordered the others to attack, we watched them all die. Every single one. The last... the last thing my best friend said to me, he told me and Swift telepathically to run. Run, get out.

So we did.

We ran.

Canterlot: Day 18

Celestia help us all... this war is becoming worse than anypony could have guessed.

Swift Wing told us at morning chow one day that Cloudsdale was attacked and is now cut off from all contact. He must be right, since no messages from Cloudsdale have been delivered or received in a few days. One of the Wonderbolts stationed here says that the griffons attacked the weather factory and a thunderstorm has swallowed the entire city, and that the death toll is close to two hundred! I hope Blue Skies is okay; nopony has heard from her or her squad since they left for Cloudsdale.

There’s also report that two celebrities from Canterlot have been attacked while on a train. Again, nopony knows if this is true or not, or who the two ponies who were attacked are. But for some reason command is freaking out that some small place called Ponyville was attacked recently, and Princess Celestia herself ordered an entire company to protect the town. Because of that deployment Canterlot now barely has enough of us guards to protect it, but all the officers insist that Ponyville is extremely important for some reason.

Rumors, it’s all that seems to be spreading. Always rumors, never facts. There’s talk among the guards that Princess Luna snuck out with her freaky guard ponies and attacked the griffon army while they were attempting to launch a sneak attack. One of the corporals is claiming that Discord is fighting the griffons single hoofedly. I dunno... the only fact I know is that me and my squad guard the north-west corner of Canterlot for 10 hours every day, and we haven’t seen a single sign of any griffon. Only sure thing is that Princess Celestia is tirelessly trying to negotiate peace with the griffons, but the griffons are claiming that Celestia ordered an attack on their kingdom and had their king assassinated. That claim is obviously absolutely insane; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would never, ever allow that to happen.

Los Pegasus: Day 6

Something’s wrong. Really wrong.

The griffons are focusing their attacks on us now. None of us have any idea why they’re giving up on the other ponies stranded in the north part of the city. There’s no way that an entire battalion could be wiped out, even with their lack of supplies. Maybe they put up too much resistance and the griffons were unable to make any progress and thought we would be easier to defeat. At least it gives the other ponies a break, plus we’re better equipped to repel any attacks.

We were all sent out to hold our defensive lines around our HQ but our forces are quickly collapsing. Swift Wing is still hesitant to take to the skies and provide us air cover, not that I can blame him. Max Speed, though, is running himself exhausted. He refuses to take a break, always running off to deliver updates to the forward operating base or to fetch medical supplies. Hopefully he doesn’t get wounded, we’d be screwed without him.

We had to fall back twice today, both times due to the right flank collapsing. Even after reinforcing that side with another five squads the right flank kept on showing to be our weak side. I can’t imagine how many griffons must be attacking that side since we’re being almost overwhelmed ourselves in the middle of the line.

Only when we fell back to our final position did we learn that the entire right flank of our force had been wiped out. Nopony has any idea what happened as there were no survivors, but the ponies closest to that area reported a series of flashing lights. The unicorns in the area also said they felt an unnatural fluctuation in magic, but they must be battle fatigued. Everypony knows that griffons can’t use magic.

Los Pegasus: Day 9

We’re the only ponies left in...

No. We’re the only living creatures left in Los Pegasus.

Swift and I hid for... I don’t know how long. But once we emerged from our hiding spot, the griffons have all left. All that’s left is countless bodies littering the streets.

The shopping center, we ran back there to check for survivors. Maybe some other ponies managed to hide or get out.

No, all that was left. Bodies of our friends, our fellow guards. All dead.

We wanted to bury our fallen, to let them rest peacefully under Luna’s skies for all of eternity, but there are so many. Too many. We can’t bury them all, not even if we were given a thousand years. The corpses of those griffons can rot away for all I care, but we can’t manage this many.

We found Nigh Sparkler’s body. He was backed in a corner, protecting three other wounded ponies. He was always like that; even as colts he would protect the weak. He even took the blame when I forgot to finish our astronomy project in school, allowing his own grade to drop from an ‘A’ to a ‘C’ just so I wouldn’t fail the class.

Red Canyon. He wasn’t where we remembered him falling, it looked like he managed to pick himself up and kept on fighting. Tough bastard, even during basic he was unstoppable. During the log lift he would carry the entire thing just long enough for the rest of us to catch our breaths while never taking a break himself. Nopony ever wanted to be his sparring partner, I think the record was twelve seconds before he would knock out his partner.

Max was where we saw him fall. All the injuries he had on his body, it’s an absolute miracle he could still move so fast until... yeah. It was painful, looking at his hoof stretched out reaching for the door, his other hoof still around the pegasus he was trying to save. That’s all he ever did, helping as many ponies as possible with his amazing speed. He was faster than most pegasi.

Swift and I dumped the griffon corpses into the street; they do not deserve to lay alongside our fallen. We can’t bury them all, but we can at least let them rest next to their brothers and sisters in peace. I hope Princess Celestia erects a memorial for them here. If she doesn’t, I don’t think... no, she has to.

Swift is flying off tomorrow back to Canterlot to warn everypony of what happened here. Almost forty percent of the guards in Equestria are now gone from one battle. Swift said he found an undamaged train we could take back, but it would be faster for him to fly back alone. Besides, I can’t leave if there’s anypony left alive out there. Once I’ve rounded up all the survivors I can, I’ll bring them back to Canterlot with me. But until then, I won’t leave my brothers in arms.