The following diary entry has been translated to Hertzland for your reading pleasure. The original entry was written in Wingbardian by a Wingbardy soldier during the New Mareland occupation that occurred during the fall of New Mareland in October, 1011. The soldier was found deceased in the fields surrounding the city of Francistria in 1013 by an unknown creature. After exchanging it by claw a few times, it ended up in the collection of a griffon in Middenheim, who eventually donated it to the Greenback University, where it now remains as an artifact of the past.
If you have any questions regarding this specific artifact, please seek out one of the student employees, who will kindly offer more information regarding the history of the events mentioned in the diary.
In compliance of Law 157-122;2 , any employee available at the current time will assist with the reading of the text for you.
Page 14.
-October 27th, 1011.
We nearly occupy Sunset City and I am now only finally getting my first proper nights rest since we came here. Talouse troops have finally caught up and are pushing the remainder of the city for us so we can rest up and have proper meals. We were told to not stop until we reached “the front lines”, which were non-existent.
The countryside of New Mareland was barren of any resistance, which was an odd feeling. At every farmhouse and village we went past, we thought we would encounter some form of enemy, but no. Just civilian ponieswho honestly seemed more glad to see us arrive than anything. As I said, it was odd. We never stopped to talk to them outside of making sure they weren’t going to stomp on us once we moved on.
It was only until we crossed the river that we started to find forms of resistance. The occasional mine, blockaid, occasional pony who shot at us, but it wasn’t anything that stopped us in our tracks. We let the cars take care of them while the rest of us continued on. We eventually had to go slow with the advance as we could see Sunset in the distance as that’s when the mines really started to pop up.
The [air force] had been dropping bombs on the city before we made it there that day, that way they could soften them up for us, a common tactic we had been using during the Falcorian war.
Only once we reached the outskirts of the city did we start encountering resistance. This time not by lone soldiers or civilians, but by the army we had been expecting to encounter up until now. It was the same urban warfare we had experienced in Falcoria, except this time we’re fighting ponies.
It’s the same experience, but the enemy isn’t that motivated. Of the few enemies we captured, they didn’t put up a fight and just accepted their fate. It would only be until yesterday that we would come to realize why.
We made it halfway through the city and were still facing the normal resistance we had been, but my squad had been tasked, along with a few others, to clear out the capitol building. It wasn’t as fortified as you might think a capital building would be, but that became apparent as we went in.
The capital was void of any ponies defending it, but it still looked like it had seen the war already. I must truly say this though, the experience and the atmosphere we went through as we went through the building got worse and worse as we continued on.
Occasionally throughout the halls of the building and the rooms throughout it were the scenes that none of us could understand. Blood sometimes caked some areas while some places only had splatters.
Then there were the few dead ponies. Most of the ones we found were unarmed, but the occasional one either still held a gun or had one close by.
It wouldn’t be until we found the main chamber of the capital that we saw what had truly happened. We weren’t the ones who checked the second floor, but the view? I don’t want to know how it looked from up there, but the chamber was an utter disaster. What we saw wasn’t good, and these were the enemy.
Bodies upon bodies laid about in the camber floor. Ponies in seats, slumped over dead, guards everywhere were dead. Bullet holes littered the walls of the entire room. It was as if a war had broken out within the capital without us being there.
It’s what happened though. We checked the guns we found throughout the floor and they were either empty or used up. Empty magazines, bullet casings everywhere, half shot revolvers, ponies in suites and ponies in uniform.
Even from the ground, we could see the upper floor seats were the same. The other griffons who were checking the second floor were just as puzzled and– I don’t even know the word. I’m only now able to think about the whole event since experiencing it.
We didn’t- We still don’t know how long it was like that before we found it. No alive creature was found inside, enemy or not. It was as if it had turned into a mass grave for the ponies that died inside.
The rest of the capital was the same. We can only theorize that it originated from the main chamber hall, where else would something like that start. We-
Beciuliu just told me to not think about it after they asked what I was writing. He was there with us when we cleared the main chamber. He might be right.
Is it wrong that I feel bad for them? Whatever fate lead to that, must not have been a good one.
This will have to be the final line. The soup’s finished. We scavenged off the ponies so we could make a big meal without using our own stuff. The lieutenant wouldn’t like that if he found out we feasted on the remainder of the fish rations.
This concludes the diary entry that we display for the day. If you want to check out other entries within the diary, please get the attention of the staff and they will gladly show you the other translations we currently have of this diary.
Thank you for reading.
