//------------------------------// // House of Moon and Star: Inquisition Troops // Story: Equestria Divided Tales // by Grenazers //------------------------------// The city of Stalliongrad is a fortress city, located in the Moon and Star territory. Long ago Stalliongrad served as as a last bastion of hope during Equestria's dark ages. Now the fortress city will be used again during this growing conflict between the different factions. However, the city is far from being safe. Not only does this fortified city holds some of the important unicorn citizens but, it also contains a number of cultists as well. The Cult of Laughter used to be a small group of ponies, but over time more members joined, growing into a sizable force. Once they had enough, the cult launched numerous guerrilla attacks around the city. They attacked the guards, bombed barracks, sabotaged factories, poison food & water, and assassinate officials. The city's guards were having a hard time stopping these chain of attacks, forcing the captain of the guard to require assistants. His letter was sent to Canterlot, detailing the condition of the city and explaining his need of reinforcements. Members of the house responded to his letter and sent a battalion of soldiers to help deal with the cultist's violent uprising. Leading this battalion is Colonel Starstrong, a well known and respected leader during before the royal sister's disappearance. Now Starstrong serve under the house of Moon and Star, doing the task the members asked of him. Down below are some of the pages from his personal journal relating to his campaign in Stalliongrad. These few pages are written differently from his field report, since these contain his thought and feelings during the campaign. Today I was called in to meet some members of the house, the courier who delivered the message inform me that the house require my skills. Apparently they want me to lead a battalion of troops and help stomp down the cultists, in the fortress city of Stalliongrad. From what I've heard, the cult of laughter has been launching many violent attacks around the city. So now their captain asks assistance from the house and that is where I come in. Not sure what to make of this though, I've fought against the army of Stormwing and Earthborn before. But, never against the Cult of Laughter. From what I can gather from information of other soldiers, the cultist is insane ponies who are incredibly loyal to their cause, to the point of zealously. Kind of remind me of some ponies here who for some reason worship the two princesses, as gods. Then I heard that the cult practiced a forbidden magic, known as necromancy. So not only do I have deal with a bunch of crazy ponies, now I have to deal with the freaking undead. Day 0 When my battalion reached the city of Stalliongrad, the place was a total wreck. The roads were covered in potholes, stores were either burned destroyed or boarded up, and graffiti of the cults were plaster the walls around the city. To put simply I have a lot of work to deal with, I know the captain of guard describe the situation as chaotic but, I never imagine it would the this bad. Speaking of the captain, his name is Iron Sphere and the poor guy looked like he hadn't slept well in days. Those black rings around his eyes and his messy hair. You can tell at first glance that he is in a very grouchy mood. We talked, he explained the situation to me in details, and I assured him that I'll solve his problem by the end of this month. Day 1 Well today was rather eventful. This morning a just got a letter written in blood and despite the messy letter, I was able to read messages. It basically those cultist threatening me and my troops to slow and painful death. I then lit the bloody letter on fire and watched it turn to ash, these ponies think they can scare me. Please, I got more threatening letters from my ex-wife. Then again she never sent a letter written letter before, except that one time when we were dating. Anyways after the whole letter thing, I went to the city hall, where the mayor announces my presence to a huge audience of ponies. While I was up there giving my speech, I noticed somepony in the front concealing something. I waited for to make his move. The pony then took out a knife and through it at me. I used my magic to grab the thrown weapon and dropped it to the ground. After ordering my troop to apprehend the pony for questioning, the whole meeting ended early and my troops and I trotted back to our barracks. Unfortunately, along the way we were ambushed by members of the cult. They came at us in full force, luckily my Legionnaires are well trained and easily dispatched our assailants. However, amidst this battle, our prisoner escape. While the prisoner may have escaped, I now realized just how dangerous these ponies really are. Nevertheless I promised Captain Sphere that I will put a stop to these cults, and I am a stallion of my word. Day 7 Its been a week since I last wrote in this journal, it was a pretty hectic week. Some days ago I my troops discovered a massive meeting with all the cult members. We cracked down on them and captured many of them, that was until the next the cultist besieged the prison. They not only freed their members but, also killed all guards. This is quite troubling, the cultist showed they are not only deadly, but also well organized. In order to prevent any further losses for us, I'll have to step up my game. Perhaps I should position more troops around the streets and have spies posing as members to gain information. Day 14 Another gone by and still no success with the cult. My troops are getting assaulted and my spies are missing. I could only presume that my spies were discovered and disposed. With the casualty increasing the mayor and the captain were doubting my abilities to handle the situation. I kind of agree with them there, I've been here for two weeks now and have made no progress. In fact my presence here only escalated the violence. The cultist has increased their attacks, destroying dozens of properties and hurting or killing hundreds of lives. I hate to admit this but, I'm afraid that this situation is simply too much for. If I am going to finish this then I'm going to need some help. Now most commander usually hate the idea of calling for assistance. They believe that by calling for help, will lower their reputation to the house. Showing them that they are incapable of solving the task at hoof. I however, have no problem with it, I will not have pony die because of egotism. So then I wrote a letter and have it sent to Canterlot, and now I await for their response. Day 16 It took only two days for them to respond. I just received a letter this morning, in it the house said that they were disappointed that I wasn't able to complete the task. However, they will send help since Stalliongrad is too important to lose to the cultist. So they said that they've sent a platoon of Inquisition troops as reinforcements. Accompanying this platoon is Commander Seeker, renown unicorn leader. Hearing his name sent a feeling of disgust in me. I know this Commander Seeker, and I've seen him in action. What most ponies don't know that Seeker is a brutal commander who has the highest body count then all the other commanders. Half his body count was his enemies and the other half were his own troops, but it's mostly the slave warriors. It amazes me that this guy is still around and not suspended, but now the house keeps him around because he gets results. It also helps that he serves under Grand Inquisitor Trixie Lulamoon, further protecting him against any opposition. So not only are they sending this guy over here, they are ordering me the relinquished command of my troops to this guy. What fucking bullshit is this? Oh and add insult to injury, they want me to assist the commander while he is here. Great so now I've be demoted from leader to assistant in one day, could this just get any worse? Day 17 So on the next day, the yellow bastard came with his platoon of Inquisition troops. The first thing he ordered were the capture of some cultist members. When I informed him of the few we had in captivity, I swear I saw the guy smiling maliciously upon hearing my words. I led him to the cell where we keep the prisoners, he trotted to one of the cells and stared at the cultist inside. He then ordered to unlock the cage and leave the room. Normally I would've objected but, frankly I don't care what the prisoners is going to do to him. As soon as I got out of the room, two Inquisition troops block the door. As I turned I then heard loud screams coming from the cell. I ordered the two to let me through, but on their commander's order, they won't let anypony interfere with his work. For the next hour the scream continued, scaring the crap out everypony in this building. Finally the commander got out and inform me of a massive meeting happening tonight. I asked what happened in there and he responded that he was "gather information". I went inside the cell room and saw a very disturbing sight. Down on the floor is pony barely alive. All four legs of his were gone, his eyes gouged out, and is lying in a pool of his blood. Seeing that made me puke out my lunch onto the floor. I called for a medic to help out the prisoner, while I confronted the commander. I snapped at the commander, told him what he did was inhumane. He shrugged it off and told me the prisoner was being uncooperative and needed the right interrogation, to get him to talk. Before I could say anything, he told that the troops will crack down on the meeting and capture the cultist. I warn him that the last time that happened, the cult amassed and attacked the prison their friends were in. The bastard then smiled again and said that he was hoping for that. Later that night I participated in the crackdown of the cultist meeting, Among the troops of Legionnaires, I spotted a few Inquisition troop in action. They either raised the spirit of their comrades or curse the cult members Afterwards the surviving cultist were rounded up and placed in prison, I returned to my sleeping quarters and await news of the cultist attacking the prison. Day 18 Well today the cult attacked again, but this time our commander has plans for them. When those guys stormed the prison Commander Seeker sealed up the entire building with a magical barrier. He then orders the prison to light on fire, killing all the trapped cultist inside. By the time it was over the entire inside of the building was scorched, burnt bodies of ponies scattered the concrete floor of the prison. Among them are the cultist, the prisoners, and the unfortunate guard station there. I demanded to know why the guards were there. He responded by saying that the cultist attacked sooner than he planned and if he told them to evacuate, the prisoners would get suspicious and warned their comrades that it was trapped. As you can imagine I was really pissed off, and punched the yellow bastard in his face. The two guards with him were about to apprehend him when their commander stopped them. He said that he'll let that slide, but warned me not to ever do that again. Day 19 After that day the cultist was dealt with a devastating blow, with most of their forces dead the Inquisition troops easily dealt with the remaining cultist. With assistance from Legionnaires, the Inquisition troops tracked down them and either killed them or captured them. Once again I've seen these troops in action, casting spells that raises the morale of the other troops, getting them to fight valiantly. Some of the Inquisition ponies cast curses, which caused the cultist to be less efficient in combat. With the last of the cultist captured, we can finally say that this campaign was over. However, our commander had other ideas. Later that night Commander Seeker ordered a meeting outside the city hall building. He was apparently holding a public execution of the captured prisoners. Now I'm no stranger to executions since many of disobedience slaves face this fate but, it still disgust me that we are still doing this practice. When I got there the prisoners were tied up large wooden boards, with many scrapped wood under them. Seeing the scene before me, I can pretty much figure out what's going to happen next. I left the place just in time as the Inquisition set the prisoners on fire. Day 25 After the execution, Commander Seeker and his Inquisition goons put the city under martial law. Every building was searched and any cultist hiding was killed. But, the thing is most of the cult is already dead. Those that survived has already fled. But, no our commander wanted to make sure all influence of cults was erased from this city. Soon he started to bring in civilians from the city and questioned them. Any ponies that had any connection to cult were imprisoned and interrogated. Most of these prisoners only had the briefest of connection with the cult but, apparently it was enough to have them incarcerated. To put it simply, if just come across a cultist, then you are somehow affiliated with them. Captain Sphere came to me later that day, informing me that the mayor's daughter has been arrested by the Inquisition. It turns out she had friends who were members of the cult. Now they suspect her of being of one. The captain wanted my assistance in releasing the girl. I just told him that if he wanted her to be released, then he needs to talk to the commander. He then told that he did , but the commander was quite a stubborn one and refused to release a possible suspect. Hearing that bullshit I decided sober up and come up with a plan. Day 26 Using the few connection I had, I was able to persuade some of the Inquisition troops to say that she was all clear and let her go. The daughter was free ad she was reunited with her father. Captain Sphere congratulated me, and told me I was good pony. Good pony, eh? I wished I was, all I did was save one free one pony. There are still more locked and are forced to deal with their interrogation. No, I'm not good pony. I've failed them and I hate myself for it. I stood by and watched as that yellow bastard terrorized the city, I couldn't do anything to stop him, I just watched as citizens were taken in and face the brutality of their 'interrogation'. Day 30 Finally the day has arrived, I can finally leave this place. As I gathered my things I went to the gate and met up with the other troops. At the gate the Captain was there, and so was the mayor's daughter. She wanted to thank me for rescuing her from the prison. I smiled at her compliment and rub my hoof on her head and left. As reach out the fortress city, I gave it one last look before turn back and trotting back to Canterlot. The city may be cleanse of the cultist but, it is forever scarred by the action of the Inquisition.