//------------------------------//
// Bi-weekly Report to the Crown #1 
// Story: Equestria: The Afterlife 
// by Timzocker201 
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As per CptotG* Shining Armor’s plan, the 4th Forward Reconnaissance Company has spent the first week of the war on a constant tactical retreat, fighting only when the opposing forces could be dealt with from afar.

When the first phase was over and the second Phase began, General Pillbox tasked us with securing the town of Trottingham together with the Elements of Harmony, though their impact on the outcome can largely be ignored, with Twilight Sparkle being the only one of note by giving the Gryphon Forces the final motivation for their withdrawal. After the battle, the Elements of Harmony decided to relocate back to the home front due to them having been heavily wounded – both, physically and mentally.

The total losses on our side of the battle lay at eight heavily wounded, out of which one was incapacitated, as well as a further six lightly wounded and no KIAs. The Gryphon’s losses are estimated to number around a hundred.

An important note to make would be that the whole town seemed vacant, with not even our later in-depth searches turning up any traces or hints about the whereabouts of the local population. 









General Pillbox sent the 6th heavy company to defend Trottingham after we’d successfully captured it, while we were ordered to use our momentum and advance further, into a village called ‘Hoovesville’ further to the north-west, which was held by a small garrison force. We managed to surprise the enemy and force them to flee without suffering any casualties.

The Village was thoroughly searched and we found the local population, as well as some refugees from Trottingham hiding in the buildings. I suggest interrogating them to gain intel about the possible locations of the remaining ponies.

Our following task was to remain in the village to wait for the 5th heavy company to arrive and set up defences around the town.

The enemy launched a counter-attack on us the day after our successful attack, which we managed to repel.

In total, 26 of my ponies were wounded in battle, out of which eight need further medical attention, with, as of current, no fatal injuries and no KIAs. The villagers were successfully defended with only one having sustained a sprained ankle from tripping over a body after the battle.

The enemy casualties could not be determined.

I decided to overrule the General’s orders and withdraw from the village, taking the villagers with us and handing them over to the 5th, with which we met up on the go. At the time of writing this report, we have been reassigned to a defensive position for the time being.







Comment by 1st Lt. Lucky Throw of the 5th heavy company

Of course, it came as a surprise to see them coming our way at first, but when I saw the state the 4th Recon was in, it was actually quite understandable that they chose to withdraw. Only about half of them were still free of any bandages. Some of them were limping, others had to lean on their comrades and eight of them were even carried on ponyback, because they couldn’t walk themselves anymore.

With them, they were taking several civilians out of the village that lay ahead and after a short discussion I agreed to take charge of them. You probably can’t imagine the massive… feedback we got, when we took them back to the exact same village they had just fled from.

Speaking of the village, what we saw there was truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. What must have happened there cannot be called a simple battle, but a massacre! At first, we only saw sporadically placed gryphon corpses, which grew in density the closer we got to the village, which was fairly normal. However, what we saw INSIDE the village was absolutely horrifying.

There weren’t many bodies. At least not many that we could identify. Those that we could identify, however, were heavily burnt. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was a heavy stench that smelled like a combination of burned flesh and that smell when you walk past the chemistry wing of the royal academy.

Some of the houses were burning and so were the patches of grass and flowers that once decorated the village centre. Speaking of which, it was the village centre, where we found the most terrifying thing of all. In front of the village hall, there was a large patch of molten ground from where there were multiple smaller molten patches leading away from it and along the path they formed, we found multiple sets of heavily charred armour and weapons and even some barely maintained bones and splotches of blood and other bodily liquids.

Whatever the 4th had unleashed there, at that time I was just glad that they were on our side…