A week before Attack, St. Pederson, Fort Pederson, Griffon Empire

Second Lieutenant Conrad Anderson was a large Griffon. He had bright red feathers on his head, and was otherwise a dark shade of red. His beak was black. He was in charge of the 15th Griffonese panzer company of the 12th Guards Armored. He was sitting in his office, going over last night’s paperwork. Suddenly, Captain Henderson burst in. He was not pleased.

Captain Lolek Henderson was smaller than Conrad, but he was menacing. He had orange feathers on his wings and head, and was blue everywhere else. He was friends with Conrad, but he still outranked him. He was in charge of the 13th Guards Armored.

“ANDERSON! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Conrad looked at him. “I’m… filing paperwork?”

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE TRANSPORT! GET MOVING!”

Conrad quickly got up, grabbed his backpack and gun, stuffed some paperwork into his bags and went out the door. Lolek walked with him.

The S.S. lilac was a large warship. It was fresh out of the factory. It was by far the largest dreadnought the Griffons had. Conrad and Lolek moved into the officer's quarters in the hold. Conrad started going through his bags.

“What are you doing?” asked Lolek as he was pulling out his pad of paper to write a letter home.

“I’m finishing my paperwork.” By this time Conrad had found his papers and had started doing the section he had left off on.

“We’re moving into a warzone, where the men under our command will die, and even we might not make it out, and all you can think of is GODDAMN PAPERWORK?”

“You know that I can't leave this unfinished. This is important!” Conrad was thorough when it came to paperwork.

Lolek stared at him, shrugged and rolled his eyes, and went to sleep.

2 hours before Attack, Ponyville Trenches, Ponyville, Equestria

The rain drizzled from the gray sky. Lionel “Hookshot” Allen was a tan unicorn with a fishing pole cutiemark. He had a large mane of messy hair at the top of his head, and a sullen, weary demeanor. He was a corporal in the 15th Equestria Guards Rifle Army. His helmet was too big for his head, and it covered his eyes if he wore it wrong. He had been in the army since the Saddle Arabian war. He had seen a lot. He was standing in the trenches surrounding Ponyville, on the end of the Eastern flank. The Griffons had Blitzed most of Equestria, capturing Cities and railroads. The Battle of Manehattan had quickly turned into a war of attrition, as the fighting became house to house. The Griffons managed to cut off all supply lines into the city, effectively stranding the entire population and 28th Infantry. Next fell Horseshoe Bay, as relentless offshore shelling reduced the city of Baltimare to rubble. The situation was dire. If Ponyville fell, then there was no major resistance left on the railroads to Canterlot. And if Canterlot fell… well, Hookshot didn't like to think about that.

“Ay! Hookshot!” Said Ian “Knifewound” Carlton. Knifewound was a dark brown earth pony with a Bloody knife as a cutiemark. He was in the Manehattan Mafia before he was drafted.

“Yeah, Ian?” Said Hookshot.

“Sergeant Kaiser wants to see you.”

Hookshot sighed, grabbed his rifle, and started off in the direction of the command trench.

Hookshot climbed into the trench that housed the dugout with the commanders. Sergeant Kaiser Hamilton was a green earth pony with a Sergeant insignia for a cutie mark, and through heavy attrition had ended up as platoon commander. Kaiser was drawing on a map of some kind when Hookshot entered.

“Ah. Hookshot. Glad to see you.” Said Kaiser, hardly looking up.

“Yeah, yeah. Enough with the pleasantries. Whaddaya want?”

Kaiser moved a piece with a Griffon flag towards Canterlot. “Hookshot, we are out of squad leaders, almost all our Sergeants are out of it with Griffish malaria or dead. Effective immediately, all the most experienced soldiers become Squad leaders.” He handed Hookshot an envelope. “Straight from Alliance High Command.”

Hookshot opened the envelope. Inside was a short note saying:

“GG, son. ~Sunbutt”, and next to it was a scribbled doodle of Celestia giving the one finger salute, which was quite impressive given that she had hooves and not fingers. “Hmm.” Said Hookshot. “And where will I be positioned?”

“A few meters west.” Said Kaiser.

Hookshot took a second to blink, then opened his mouth. “I assume that you mean KILOmeters, right?”

“No, no. A few meters. There’s a squad without a Sergeant right next to ours, and the Lieutenant has you assigned there.”

Hookshot took another few seconds to blink, then turned around and left the dugout.

“This goddamn company. Miles covered by us and I end up next to the bastards who I’m escaping.”

The siege of Ponyville was, by far, the most radical battle in the history of Equestria. Let’s start with the Ponyville trenches. This was a 50-mile-total stretch of trenches surrounding ponyville on three sides, North, East, and West. The south was covered by the Everfree forest. This diagram shows the trenches in relation to the town.

Trench warfare of this scale had never been used in Equestria. In fact, trench warfare of ANY scale had never been used in Equestria. Trenches Just Weren’t Done.

And the town of Ponyville ITSELF wasn’t safe. Not depicted is the many pit traps, foxholes, minefields, and artillery positions inside and outside Ponyville. Within the Town was the 28th Dragoons, the First “army” of the Ponyville Volunteer Garrison, and the 3rd Artillery. In the Trenches were the Second “army” of the Ponyville Volunteer Garrison and the 8th, 15th, and 16th Guards Rifle.

Anyways, The Griffon 15th Infantry and the Griffon 17th Armored were to attack via the East and West, and the 9th Guards Mechanized were to attack from the North. They would all be supported by the 9th Guards Artillery. And the 12th Guards Armored…

The 12th Guards Armored were attacking through the Everfree forest.

I don’t think you grasp just HOW radical this is.

Throughout the tumultuous history of Equestria, when the Equestrian Griffons [Not the one’s we’re talking about here, as we’re talking about the Griffonese Griffons] fought the Pegasi who fought the Unicorns who fought the Earth Ponies, NOBODY HAD EVER LED AN ARMY THROUGH THE EVERFREE. And this wasn’t just any army. This was the 9th mechanized, which was the most decorated, the most honored, the best led, and LARGEST Panzer Army. And, without doing anything to make them noticed, like burning down trees, killing the wildlife, poisoning the river, they made it through. And this is even more amazing, as the Griffonese panzer looked like a MK 5 tank only with no guns on the side and a fixed, square turret that fired High Explosive shells. As the Equestrians had no tanks, it was mainly for use as anti-infantry. It took them more than a week, but they made it through the forest, as that was expected and they were deployed a week in advance. And now, the pieces are set. Let’s see them play out.

Author's Note

And so, the end begins.