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// House of Earthborn: Buffalo Juggernauts 
// Story: Equestria Divided Tales 
// by Grenazers 
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The Frontier, home to the Earthborn faction and their buffalo allies. This large piece of land is interconnected with four other lands. The Wasteland and Zebran Desert in the south, and the Everfree Forest and Heartlands to the north.

Currently the Earthborn forces in the Frontier are engaged in battle with two of the lands. The savage ponies of the Everfree Forest and the endless swarm of Changelings in the Wasteland.

The Heartlands belonged to them and serves as a front against the Moon & Star and the Stormwing factions. The zebras of the Zebran Desert are no threat to the house, as most of them rather stay out of the ongoing conflict in Equestria.

However, one zebra had other ideas. His name is Zulu and his clan are ready to attack the ponies in the Frontier. For a few years the Zebra leader has been building up his forces, preparing to attack the Earthborn ponies.

The reason behind his actions is due to what lies beyond the Frontier. Zulu has been in contact with the zebras of the Everfree Forest. They had promised him power, but in exchange he must do something for them.

Zulu has been tasked with assaulting the Earthborn city called Dodge Junction. He is to take the city and hold it until the Everfree forces comes and secure it.

The zebra leader accepted the term and assembled his army. Going under the cover of night, zulu's forces travel across the rocky desert reaching for their destination. Along the way they silently killed any patrols they come across.

They then finally reached the city of Dodge Junction. The once small town has grown huge over the years, now with the addition of the tall, strong walls surrounding the city.

Zulu however, wasn't going to let a wall stop him. Quickly devising a plan, he managed to sneak in a few of his warriors inside. Giving them the task of opening the gates in the dead of night, his warriors did as they were ordered and waited for the night.

When the night fell upon the city, the hiding zebra emerged out and went for the walls. Taking out the pony guards station there, the zebras infiltrator opened the gates, allowing entry for the rest of their comrades.

Once inside, Zulu ordered the disposal of anypony that can be a threat to their objective. His forces spread out into the city, killing any guards they find. Their leader told them to not hide the bodies, he intended for the for ponies of Dodge Junction to have a very rude awakening.

When the sun rose from the horizon, the ponies were shocked to find the bodies of their guards laying on the streets. Even more shocking and disturbing, is when they went to the barracks. Inside all the guards are dead, those that were sleeping had their neck sliced.

By now the citizens were panicking and some them wanted to leave the city. Unfortunately, they soon met with Zulu's warriors at the wall. Zulu personally told a large of ponies that they have killed all the guards and are now occupying this city.

Many shouted in response, their voices expresses their anger of the situation. This didn't last long, as they were silenced when Zulu ordered his soldiers to open fire on them. After displaying his ruthless
action, the ponies stopped their shouting.

Zulu ordered all the ponies to return to their homes and not leave, or else suffer his wrath. Slowly eveypony made their way back home. Some tried to fight back, but were easily defeated by the zebra warriors.

Once the city has been locked down, Zulu position the majority of his warriors along the wall. The few he made them patrol the streets, making sure the ponies don't try anything stupid.

The occupation is on its third day, Zulu awaited patiently for the Everfree forces to arrive. So far the ponies are becoming more reckless and daring. Just yesterday his warriors had to violently take down an angry mob.

The ponies weren't the only ones to be restless. His own warriors were getting impatient and wonders if those ponies of the forest will ever arrive.

Then suddenly one of the zebra lookout spotted something of in the distance. Looking through his scope, Zulu saw a mass of black figure heading in their direction.

Many of his warriors thought that the army of the Everfree has arrived. Zulu on the other hoof wasn't so sure about that. Looking closer the Zebra leader was able to see some details of their new guest. Their bodies were massive compared to a pony, they also seem to have two horns sticking out of their heads.

Zulu's face slowly turn from curiosity to horror upon realizing who they were. The buffaloes, allies of the Earthborns. 

Quickly yelling out orders to his troops, the Zebra leader have all his warriors ready for the up coming battle.

When they got closer, the Zebras could now truly see how menacing these beast are. Despite their large sizes the buffaloes moved with great speed. 

They tried taking these large creatures down with arrows, but it proved useless as they simply seemed unaffected. With their weapons doing nothing against the buffaloes, they then turned their attention to the cannons.

Loading a ball into the cannon and aiming it, the zebras lit the fuse and watched it awe as the large cylinder weapon fired. The weapon proved effective against the buffaloes. Soon every zebra was manning the cannons and firing it at the buffalo hordes.

At first Zulu and his warriors were doing fine, that is until the arrival of some new buffaloes. Unlike the first wave, these buffaloes wore heavy armor and had Hoof Cannoneers riding on top. 

Concentrating their attention to these armored behemoths, the Zulu's forces fire the cannons at them. The cannons proved to be ineffective, as they were too fast and too heavily protected.

Meanwhile the ponies riding on top the buffaloes were aiming their weapons at the zebras. While some of them hit walls, some others managed to hit the enemy controlled cannons.

With enough damage down, the head armored buffalo order his fellow Juggernauts to take down the gate. Soon all the buffaloes made a beeline to the gate, with the Buffalo Juggernauts in the front. The long line of Buffaloes broke down the gate and spread out into the city.

With the arrival of their ally buffaloes, the citizens of Dodge Junction took up arms and joined their rescuers in battle. Their combined forces left the zebras at a serious disadvantage.

Zulu, however was not deterred by this and ordered his troops to attack. Stinking to the roof tops, the zebra leader shoot down any ponies or buffaloes with a toss of his spears. As the battle rages on, Zulu could hear and see his fellow warriors dying around him. 

In his mind, his thoughts are telling to turn tail and run away. But, Zulu shook those thoughts out his head and continued to fight.

Suddenly he was blasted off the roof by a cannon, making him fall down onto the streets. Looking up, Zulu found himself surrounded by some glaring ponies and buffaloes. He quickly got up and prepared himself as his attackers all charge at him.

The ponies were easily dealt with, just a simple dodge and countering. The buffaloes on the other hoof were much more difficult. Their large sizes made it difficult to kill them, but he managed anyways and slayed a couple of them.

Eventually they stopped their assault, after watching their brethren getting killed off by this lone zebra. Zulu looked around and saw the shock and fear on their faces, doing one last look around to see if any of them would fight him.

Then he heard a sound. It was the sound of a loud stomps coming his way. Turning to the source of the noise, Zulu saw an armored buffalo heading towards him.

Raising his spear up the zebra threw his weapon at incoming challenger. The Juggernaut shifted his head a bit and the spear missed his eye socket by an inch, bouncing off his helmet.

Seeing that his weapon missed, Zulu stood his ground and waited for the Juggernaut. 

When the buffaloes was about to ram him, the zebra jumped up and landed onto his opponent’s face. Once he was on, Zulu took out his dagger and stabbed it into the buffalo's eye. Hearing his scream, Zulu kept on pushing the dagger further in.

Before he could finish him off, his opponent lowered his head and quickly swung it back up, launching the zebra into the air. When Zulu got high enough, he quickly started falling back down.

Instead of falling down to the ground, he was impaled by one of the Buffalo Juggrnaut's blade. 

The zebra leader put his hooves onto the blade, trying to pull himself off. He tried for a bit until he gave up and lie limp. 

Nearing death, the zebra leader's vision started to get blurry and was losing consciousness. With no energy to speak, Zulu in his thought curse the Everfree forces for not arriving.

And with that the zebra was gone from the world.