Soldier Series Info: EDF History: First War · 6:22pm Apr 29th, 2016
This blog will cover a bit of history of the EDF in greater detail then the stories have, in this case the EDF’s first war simply called The War with Tirek.
In Hiding: Tirek had been free of Tartarus since Cerberus has left his post as the guard of that place however he had been too weak to begin his plan for revenge. With no one noticing him missing from that hellish prison. IT is unknown where he had been hiding but was is known was he watched as the EDF slowly spread across the nation and secured it forcing Tirek to change his plans.
Theft: Tirek watched the EDF for some time and learned their area of coverage and began to target isolated homesteads of ponies such as prospectors who lived far from where the EDF patrolled, this allowed him to slowly gain more power as he attacked more homesteads and stole the magic of the ponies who lived there.
Do to the extreme isolation of these ponies none of them were noticed and it allowed Tirek to move freely with in the nation as he gathered more magic.
Discovery: Tirek had gained enough magic from the isolated homesteads to move onto small villages far from other towns, most of these mining or logging villages or some other sort of village. During an attack on an isolated logging village a Pegasus worker was able to escape and flew to the nearest guard outpost and reported the attack. However the worker had not gotten a good look at Tirek and thought it was just a normal monster attack.
The Royal Guard mobilized a small force and sent them out to hunt the monster armed with the wrong information. The Guards were ill-prepared to face Tirek and they fell after a short battle and had their magic drained as well. However this forced Tirek to step up his plans as when the guards failed to report in a search would be launched and the searchers would most likely not engage him and retreat to report their findings.
Having no other choice Tirek turned his attention not the outpost as he knew that if the outpost fell it would take some time before its lack of reports was investigated. The Defenders of the Outpost still had no idea Tirek was not a simple monster till he had breached the walls and by then it was too late as the guards were trapped within the walls meant to defend them from monster attacks.
EDF Alerted: After the Royal Guard Outpost had fallen Tirek had enough magic to start attacking larger settlement, though he was still targeting isolated towns to avoid the EDF and Royal Guard’s attention.
During one of these attacks Tirek had been unaware an EDF recruiter had been visiting the town and once the attack was under way the recruiter was able to alert his superiors before engaging Tirek, however the due to the panicking civilians the recruiter had been unable to get a clear shot on Tirek and before he was able to fire his weapon Tirek noticed him and drained him of his magic leaving him too weak to fight back.
Tirek knew the presences of an EDF soldier meant the EDF was most likely aware of his presence but by the point Tirek had gained much power from his attacks.
First Engagement: The first Engagement between the EDF and Tirek was between two Rifle Teams from a small garrison; however the EDF was unaware of who Tirek was or what his ability was the garrison leader felt the small force was sufficient to deal with the threat.
While the soldiers proved a larger threat then the civilians and ill-prepared Royal Guard they had not been ready for their magic to be stolen leaving them unable to fight, however the teams had been able to radio back what was happening before contact was lost and from the garrison commander reported the incident to EDF HQ before mounting another force to hunt for Tirek.
Mobilization: The EDF was placed on high alert after the first garrison failed to contain or neutralize Tirek and all EDF forces were mobilized to defend their assigned areas. Once the EDF was in a defensive position a strike force was dispatched to deal with Tirek, however the force was small as the EDF did not want to leave their assigned areas undefended.
This proved to have been a mistake as Tirek had learned to keep himself shielded when facing the EDG soldiers and thus the strike force failed their objective and their magic fed Tirek as he began to target larger and larger settlements.
Fort Zandar: The EDF fought Tirek at every turn however Tirek had grown powerful on his stolen magic and the EDF was in a desperate fight to try and either contain or neutralize Tirek who had begun attacking EDF garrisons and small bases and the EDF gave the order to begin evacuating civilians to safety.
It was around this time Tirek came upon the EDF base known as Fort Zandar, a unique base of the EDF. Fort Zandar was unlike other EDF bases in that it had been a large base built in an isolated location as it was meant to be a fall back point for the EDF leaders as well as the Equestrian government, as such the Fort was heavily armed. However do to the isolation of the base during its construction workers had to remain onsite in temporary housing, seeing the opportunity some businesses set up small temporary shops to cater to the works and as time went on the workers families came to stay for longer and longer periods of time till without notice the small collection of temporary buildings had become permeant structures as a town sprung up around the Fort taking the same name as the Fort.
As such Fort Zandar had been abandoned as a fall back point but still remained a heavily armed EDF base.
The Forts armament was not what caused events to transpire during the battle, the major factor in events that played out was the town surrounding the Fort, it was populated with the friends and families of the soldiers stationed with in the base and as soon as Tirek was spotted on the horizon the Fort sounded an alarm and evacuated the civilians into bunkers buried benefit the base.
Now the only thing standing between Tirek and their loved one the soldiers of Fort Zandar had a motivation unrivaled in might. The Fort wasted no time in turning their powerful guns on Tirek and opening up with volley after volley of heavy artily that left much of the town surrounding the Fort in ruins and still Tirek came on. As the distance closed the fort turned more and more of its armaments on Tirek firing everything from small arms and mortars to the massive heavy cannons meant to destroy large groups of enemy infantry and armor.
At the height of the battle the soldiers of Fort Zandar were firing so much ordinates that it could be felt and heard within the bunkers bellow the base. It was at this point, either my luck or sheer force of will the soldiers of the Fork were able to crack Tirek’s shield and a single high explosive artillery shell past through and detonated against the left side of Tirek’s chest.
This small victory by the fort enraged Tirek and he made a decision to no longer spare the EDF soldiers and steal the magic of those that survived his onslaught. It was this decision that caused the battle at Fort Zander to shift as Tirek began using powerful magical blasts to destroy the Forts main guns and bring down the walls. Even as the Fort came down around them the soldier stationed within the Fort never ceased their firing on Tirek in a desperate attempt to defend those hiding below.
However despite the best efforts of the soldiers of the Fort it was all for naught as the fort was mostly leveled and most of the soldiers killed before Tirek dug out the Bunkers and stole the magic of the civilians the Fort fought so desperately to defend.
Tragedy of Train 23: During the reconstruction of Equestria after the War with Tirek a team of volunteers and EDF workers was sent from Fillydelphia to clear a train tunnel that had collapsed during the war. As the reconstruction team neared the tunnel the EDF among them picked up a faint radio signal as they neared the tunnel. Investigating it reveled it as an EDF emergency distress beacon broadcasting on all frequencies.
As they neared the tunnel the radio signal got stronger and it was quickly determined to have been coming from within the tunnel itself. As fast as they could the reconstruction team began to clear the tunnel entrance as word was sent back of the beacon and aide was requested. What the teams found when they broke through to the tunnel was an EDF armored trained designated Train 23….
With Tirek showing the EDF no mercy, the soldiers stepped up their efforts to evacuate civilians from population zones by commandeering any form of transport they could and using more than just air transport.
One such alterative was the EDF’s armored trains.
It was one of these trains, designated Train 23 that departed Fillydelphia as the city came under attack by Tirek with over 200 civilians onboard along with 50 EDF soldiers to defend the train. The train was the only one to escape after the city came under attack as trains that departed just a few minutes after it were stopped by Tirek destroying the tracks.
The train wasted no time in reaching maximum speed to put as much distance between the besieged city and itself as it headed for an evacuation point near the Frozen North. However Train 23 would not reach its destination for as it passed through a tunnel a stray magical blast from the battle raging in the city behind it cased the tunnel exit to collapse
The train was able to stop before reaching the blocked tunnel and attempted to revers in order to try and switch tracks but a rock slide had buried the entrance, the Train was trapped within the tunnel. Due to the chaos of the war and the fact most of the EDF was cut off do to the radio towers being destroyed no one noticed Train 23 never reached its destination.
Evidence suggest the train attempted to ram its way out of the tunnel with the use of the built in battering ram mounted on the train engine but there was too many tons of rock for the train to move. Evidence then suggests the train turned its cannons on the debris blocking its path in an attempt to blast its way out. This only succeeding in collapsing more of the tunnel, burying the train further. Now completely trapped the soldiers on board turned to the emergency beacon onboard the train to call for help unaware that the nearby radio towers meant to boost radios range had been destroyed.
Transcript of Train 23’s Distress Call:
Begin play back
“Attention this is Lieutenant Greyscale on board Equestrian Defense Force Train Twenty-Three. This is an emergency distress call being broadcast on all frequencies.
To anypony who can hear this, our train is trapped in a tunnel 16 miles north of Fillydelphia and we need immediate assistance.
We were in the process of evacuating two-hundred civilians from the city of Fillydephia when the tunnel collapsed for an unknown reason.
I repeat we need immediate assistance; we have two-hundred civilian stallions, mares and foals onboard along with fifty EDF personnel in need of rescue. I will set this message to repeat.”
End Play Back
Equestrian Defense Force Train 23 was not discovered till 4 months after the reconstruction effort had begun…there were no survivors.
Evacuation of Ponyville: With the war against Tirek quickly turning into a one sided war the EDF could not spar many soldiers for small towns as they were trying to evacuate the larger populations centers.
As such the EDF was only able to dispatch two Rifle Teams and one wing of Pegasi Sharpshooters to the town of Ponyville to evacuate the town however in the chaos of the war and evacuation a miscommunication left the Ponyville Evacuation Teams without any transports.
Without transports the EDF soldiers were not sure what to do, however they did round up all of the Ponyville Civilians so as once a plan was made they could begin evacuation, It was at this point one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, reports vary who which one, suggested going to the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters deep within the Everfree Forest.
Not having any other options and time running out the Evacuation Team began to rabidly move the civilians as rapidly as they could towards the ruins. While providing escort in case of a monster attack. The evacuees were able to reach the Ruins unharmed and the Sharpshooter did a quick sweep to ensure there were no monsters with in the ruins, once it was confirmed they were safe the Evacuation team began to move the civilians into the castle as fast as they safely could with the use of across the old wooden bridge. Once everyone was crossed the EDF soldier moved everyone into the lowest levels of the old castle.
Once the civilians were secured the soldiers cut the bridge away to hopefully slow Tirek if he discovered them and then they took up defensive positions within the Ruin’s main hall. It was at this point contact was lost with EDF Command and the soldiers were cut off from the outside world.
The Ruins proved an excellent safe zone as do to the natural magic of the Everfree Forest Tirek was unable to sense the presence of the civilians and soldiers hidden within the castle ruins.
This had the effect of enraging Tirek do to finding a town successfully evacuated that he took out his rage on the empty town and much of Ponyville was leveled.
The entire town would have been destroyed if not for Tirek’s attention being drawn to the nearby Camp Mendez as it desperately tried to evacuate the onsite recruits.
Camp Mendez Battle: Camp Mendez was in the middle of evacuating the EDF Recruits when Tirek attacked. As primarily a training facility Camp Mendez was not equipped like most other EDF bases, however Camp Mendez had something no other base had, The God of Chaos himself, Discord.
Discord had been on site aiding in the evacuation by turning random objects into emergency transports for recruits to be loaded into. Discord was alerted to Tirek’s presences when a Transport launched and was immediately shot down by Tirek. Abandoning the task of creating more transports Tirek joined the soldier at the gate and brought his chaos magic to bear against Tirek allowing more transports to be loaded and launched.
However at this point Tirek had grown powerful as Camp Mendez and Canterlot were the only places in all of Equestrian that had not fallen to Tirek. Despite Discord own power Tirek proved stronger and 15 minutes after Discord joined the battle he was defeated and his magic stolen. However his efforts were not in vain as a dozen transports loaded with untrained recruits were able to get clear and were on their way to safe zones.
However with Discord out of the way Tirek was free to attack the base. Seeing no way for transports to get clear the base commander called off the evacuation and ordered every recruit armed. The last order received by the soldier stationed at Camp Mendez from the base Commander before the administration building was destroyed was the simple order of “Fight for your lives”
Most of Camp Mendez was destroyed and over 95% of onsite personnel were confirmed KIA.
The Battle of Canterlot: With Camp Mendez nothing but a raging inferno the last EDF controlled site was the Capital city of Canterlot. Defended by the EDF Canterlot Garrison, the EDF HQ personnel and EDF Remnants from other EDF facilities that had managed to reach the city.
Most of what remained of the EDF and Royal Guard were working towards evacuating the city as they were in all other cities.
The opening shots of the battle were fired by the southern defense bunkers, armed with surface to air missiles, AA cannons, AT cannons and .50 cal. Machine gun nests meant to hold back an army were fired on Tirek once he was in range. 10 seconds alter Tirek returned fire and in one shot the defense bunkers and the soldiers within ceased to exist. The only bodies that were recovered from where the bunkers had once stood were found in a bunker at the very edge of the defense line, the heat and pressure from Tirek’s attack had effectively turned the bunker into a high temperature oven within seconds.
With the bunkers out of the way Tirek was free to enter the city; it was at this point all EDF personnel not actively evacuating civilians were ordered to fall back to the castle. It was here the latest EDF equipment joined the battle. While the Main Battle Tanks had no hope against Tirek they still readied themselves to defend the castle.
All except an EDF MBT designated Hammer Two which while in route to the castle was flagged down by a civilian that was a teacher at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. While locking the school up over a dozen foals had ran past her and hid within the school. The foals had gotten separated from their evacuation group and in their fear ran for the only place they knew in the city to hide.
Too scared to leave the teacher asked if the tank crew could help, having no way to transport the foals as the tank only had enough room for the three man tank crew the tank took up a defensive position outside the school.
Seeing the tank there to defend them and teacher was able to convince the foals to leave the school.
Hammer Two met Tirek head on firing shot after shot at the behemoth as he bore down on the school, distracted by the tank Tirek never saw the teacher and foals escape out the back of the school. Hammer Two was able to dodge several of Tirek’s attack as it returned fire however its luck quickly ran out when Tirek lifted it from the ground in a telekinetic grip. Knowing what was going to cum next the tank crew showed an act of supreme defiance by rotating the main cannon around and deliver a high explosive shell to Tirek’s face from point blank. Enraged by the act Tirek turned the tank into a fire ball and threw it to the side.
It was during this time the EDF second in commander, Major Chrysalis delivered her rallying speech via radio to all remaining EDF soldiers before abandoning the radio room as Tirek reached the castle with the objective of evacuating the Princesses.
Teaching the throne room the EDF Major found both EDF soldier and Royal Guard in defensive positions behind sandbag barricades as well as furniture taken from various rooms of the castle, this defense included one of the EDF .50 Cal. Heavy machineguns places dead center and aimed at the door.
Attempting to convince the Princesses to evacuate as the city had fallen the Princesses refused to leave as Tirek would just follow them to the safe zones and find the ponies hiding there. Having no choice the EDF Major readied herself to defend the throne room.
Defeat and Atrocities: Seconds after the EDF Major readied herself to defend the Princesses, Tirek breached the door to the throne room, having easily fought his way through the EDF and Royal Guard scattered throughout the halls of the castle.
Before the doors even hit the ground the machinegun nest opened up on Tirek seconds before the rest of the defenders opened fire as the Royal Guard attacked Tirek from the sides. Like every other engagement the EDF and Royal Guard had with Tirek at this point it proves futile as Tirek ended the battle in seconds by firing a single magical blast and killing every soldier and guard within the room save for the EDF Major who barely got a shield up in time and was thrown back. The Major would have been seriously hurt if not for Cadence using her magic to catch the Major before she could smash into the wall, an event that would have seriously wounded her if not killed her.
With the defenders wiped out only the Princesses and the Major still stood to defend the nation from Tirek. While Cadence caught the Major Princess Luna fired a magical blast at Tirek while Princess Celestia took to the air. Moments later Cadence and the EDF Major joined the fight and the four of them coordinated their attacks as best as they could to try and defeat Tirek in a battle that would leave a fourth of the castle destroyed and the rest heavily damaged.
Despite their best efforts Tirek would prove to be too powerful for the three alicorns and one changeling queen and one by one they fell and were captured and drained of their magic.
With the power of all three alicorns and the changeling queen as his own, no one could stand against Tirek. In an attack of true cruelty for daring to defy him Tirek turned his attention to the remaining EDF and Royal Guard within the city who still were defending the civilians trapped in the city.
Keeping the Princesses and Queen close so they could watch Tirek moved through the city hunting the EDF and Royal guard who despite all having been lost still continued to fight and some soldier attempted to rescue the Princesses and Major. This in turn allow Tirek to inflict one of the greatest psychological wounds to Cadence as with the aid of a squad on the ground the remnants of a Sharpshooter Wing succeeding and acquiring the young Princess and attempted to get her to safety. However Cadence’s rescue did not go unnoticed by Tirek and as punishment for the soldier’s continued defiance Tirek used his magic to teleport the skin from the pegasi carrying the young alicorn from their bodies. This is an event Cadence still has occasional nightmares of even years after the war.
What was done to the Sharpshooter Wing was just the tip of what Tirek had planned for the EDF and Royal Guard as he spent the next two hours Tirek used his stolen magic to slowly torture the soldiers and guards till they expired. Once all the soldiers and most of the guard now lay dead at his hooves Tirek banished the Princess and the Changeling Queen to Tartarus where he had been held for so long.
The EDF had lost their first ever war and Tirek now ruled the land.
One Mare against a God: However unknown to Tirek before he reached the throne room the EDF Major had sent a single soldier to look for the leader of the EDF who was deep within the Everfree Forest helping to oversee the survival test of a group of recruits from Camp Mendez. Do to the range radio contact was impossible so the Commander and the two Instructors with her were unaware of what was happening to their country till the soldier was able to find the mare hours after the war had been lost.
Now aware of the situation the Commander left the exhausted soldier in the Everfree as he would be safe there and informed the two other Instructors of the message she had received and ordered them to gather the recruits and soldier and take up a defensive position somewhere within the forest and wait there as long as they could till they received word it was all clear. Should supplies run out they were to head for the Ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Now with the test canceled and an enemy to face the Commander began the long hike out of the forest with full intention of neutralizing Tirek.
It took the Commander many hours to reach the edge of the forest and when she did it had not been hard to find Tirek as he was clearing away an area for his throne to be built. Carefully observing Tirek the Commander saw that the shield Tirek had worn for the duration of the war was not active as he believed there was no one left to stand against him.
Not wanting to give the behemoth the chance to raise the shield the commander chose to use her anti-tank sniper rifle. Taking up a position half a mile away from Tirek the mare calmly sighted her target.
Tirek sensed the presence of a powerful user nearby, however before he could raise his shield the first round fired by the Commander found its mark in Tirek’s left eye and was quickly followed up by seven more shots with the last round exiting out the back of Tirek’s skull.
With a large hole now burrowed through his head Tirek’s life was ended and he collapsed where he stood. A moment later all of the stolen magic was released and raced off to return to its rightful owners. The war with Tirek was now truly over at a high cost as 75% of the EDF now lay dead or missing around the nation. The EDF’s first war turned out to be a bitter victory.
Reconstruction and The Fallen: With Tirek dead and the war ended in a Pyrite Victory for the EDF it was time to begin the long process of rebuilding and collecting the dead from around the nation. This task fell to what remained of the EDF and Royal Guard. The EDF also took it upon themselves to organize the reconstruction efforts as nearly every city and town had suffered damage as the EDF fought Tirek at every settlement with the settlements attacked after Fort Zander suffering the most damage.
Once the EDF had recovered a significant portion of the dead, it would be months before all bodies were recovered, and identified to the best of the EDFs abilities it was Suggested by Princess Luna that a memorial should be set up for the soldier who paid the price to protect the nation and it was the leader of the EDF who decided to also include the Royal Guard who also died during the war as she felt they deserved the same level of respect as the soldiers. Once it was agreed upon and the plans drawn up for what the memorial would be exactly the Equestrian Government asked for volunteers to help build it as most of the EDF was still focused on rebuilding the rest of the nation and recovering the dead. There has been no shortage of skilled workers volunteering their time and many businesses donated supplies free of charge.
Once the memorial was built a small service was held the day what became known as The Memorial to the Fallen opened where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as well as the Commander delivered speeches, Princess Cadence had been absence as she was still recovering from what had happened during the Battle for Canterlot. It was here that the EDF tradition of giving a 16 gun salute to soldier who fall in battle was created based of a tradition the EDF Commander had heard about while she had been missing a year ago.
As more of the dead were found and identified their names were added to the wall till the number reached over 250,000 names of both ponies and changelings. The Memorial is simple, a polished obsidian wall adorn with the names of the Fallen as well as the remains of Hammer Two on a pedestal facing the street with a path that goes from the street, past the tank to the wall and cuts through a flower garden made up of many different types of flowers planted with no design in mind to symbolize how all of The Fallen came from all walks of life and personalities and yet had managed to come together when the nation needed them.
With so much of the county destroyed many settlements were redesigned, either by choice or because the land had been too heavily destroyed to allow the town to go back to how it was. Many smaller towns were redesigned to make it easier to defend or evacuate the civilians as well as every town and city having emergency shelters built meant to hide the civilians through a means of masking their magical signature so they cannot be detected as well as making it virtually impossible to reach the bunkers much less enter once they are sealed. It would take almost 3 years before Equestria fully rebuilt after the war with Tirek and the last of the Safe Zones was finally emptied, though several became new Towns as ponies built new homes within the safe zones and chose to stay.
Changing Opinions and Swelling of Ranks: Before the war with Tirek most of the nation opposed the Changelings being part of the army much less being allowed within the country at all and it made life difficult for the EDF who had accepted their Changeling Brothers-in-Arms and there were many confrontations between EDF personnel, both on and off duty, and civilians who desired the changelings be thrown out of the country.
However after the War with Tirek where it was these changeling soldier who stood between Tirek and the ponies who hated them without caring about that fact public opinion shifted greatly from hate and suspicion to one of acceptance and respect, especially among foals who were born after the invasion of Canterlot, though there were still citizens who hated the changelings they soon found themselves the extreme minority and learned quickly it was best to remain a silent minority or receive retribution from those citizens whose lives and magic had been saved by changeling soldiers.
With acceptance spreading like wildfire changelings were no longer forced to only be part of the military and many of them chose to branch out into other lines of work around the nation. The largest concentration in the early days being within the town of Ponyville where over a fourth of its population became changelings who lived and worked in the town or around the area. Eventually all towns and cities had a large population of changelings living and working within them as the hive grew.
Another effect of the War with Tirek was many citizens seeing the army as a highly respectable career and EDF recruitment officers found themselves flooded with applicants desiring to join up and help defend their nation. This was also felt by the Royal Guard and both groups found their numbers quickly reaching three times the size they had been before the war within the first year after the war. These numbers would prove vital in the coming few years when the EDF would face its next war…
That's nicely written. It must be hard for Commander Twilight to have gone so far to raise a force to defend Equestria, just for this to happen. Especially after she visits the other Equestria and learn that, here, a friendship beam was all it took to defeat Tirek and nopony was killed.
3905653 yeah it is hard, despite the Commander's Equestria being safer from threats that plague the normal cannonverse her home faces threats it never has or will.