//------------------------------//
// House of Moon and Star: Firebirds 
// Story: Equestria Divided Tales 
// by Grenazers 
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The following below is a written record from a survivor of the massacre that took place on the border between Moon and Star and the Earthborn. Private Storm Seed was part of the battalion that pushing the enemy forces of their land. But, then when it looks like they were winning, the Moon and Star launched a new kind of weapon. This caused the death of over hundreds of ponies. The few that did survived were horribly scarred, both physically and mentally.

Yeah, I remember what happened that day. It started off like any other day. The sun was bright and shining, the wind gave us a cool breeze, and we were just sitting around our campsite. It was rather peaceful really.

Then it was ruin when those unicorn bastards arrive. They made themselves known by having a line of Markmages firing at us. We of course acted quickly, taking up arms we charged at our attackers and fought them.

Me being a pegasus I flew above the battle and harass the unicorns, I would occasionally interrupt their casting or rescue my comrades. The battle didn't last long as the unicorns soldiers started to fall back.

Instead of letting them go, our commander ordered us to chase after them. We all followed his orders with no complaint.[pause] Kinda wished we hadn't. So anyways we went after the retreating ponies like savage wolves. We followed them to a large open field. There were these strange looking contraption they had, like this one which looked like a pillar on wheels.

You mean the Arcane Manipulator?

Yeah that thing. Anyways where was I? Oh yeah, once we found their camp our commander ordered us to burned it the ground. Grabbing some fire from one of our guys, I quickly flew around the camp, setting their tents, boxes, machines, and anything else flammable a blaze.

With their position compromised the Moon and Star commander order everypony to fall back. Our enemies were quickly rushing back to their territories, they didn't even bother to take any of the supplies back with them.

At that point we should have let them go, but our commander had other ideas. Giving the order to pursue and annihilate the enemies, we all galloped our legs and chase after them. Despite them having a head start we easily caught up with them. Slowly our guys slayed the unicorns in the back and we were pushing further in.

In our minds we thought we were invincible. The adrenaline from the battle fuelled our desires to continue our assault on these cowardly bastards. [Taking a long breath] And that is when everything went to shit.

What do you mean?

Like I said, things gone from good to bad in matter of seconds. [Closes both eyes] I can still remember what transpired that day. Up high in skies something was coming straight for us and they were moving with incredible speed.

Next thing I remember they crash right into our forces, releasing a huge fiery explosions that engulfed everypony. Those near the impact died quickly, their bodies completely incinerated from the blast. Others who were not near the impact suffered a much painful fate. The ponies caught in the fire were screaming in utter agony, as they were being burnt alive. Amidst all this chaos we were finally able to see the things that caused all this devastation. Flying above the scorched ground was a large bird made of flames.

Birds of flame? Do you mean a phoenix?  

No, I seen phoenixes before and let me tell that damn thing was any ordinary bird.

Would you care to explain?

Well its quite simple despite what many pony believe, the phoenix don't actually use their fire magic a lot. Sure they used it before, but it was mostly for defensive purpose only. When using their fire, it is very little, enough to scare away any predators.

[Open both eyes] The ones I encounter weren't normal. They were too big and far more aggressive then the usual phoenix No those things are an abomination!, just another example of twisted unicorn magic at work.

Please continue your story Miss Seed.

Right getting sorry, Anyways after the first strike, everypony was in total disarray. Everywhere you can hear the sounds of inured ponies screaming for help. Unfortunately their call for aid was blocked out by the screams of the dying.

Before we could even do anything, those Firebirds flew up high, planning for another dive bomb.

Firebirds?

Yeah you know, birds made of fire. Firebirds.

Right, continue on then.

So seeing those things going for another attack, our commander order all pegasus to take out the Firebirds. As you can imagine that didn't turn out well. [The mare turned slightly, revealing her two burnt wings.] The doctor said I will probably never fly again.

Well to make a long story short, after our failed attempt, the Firebirds struck the ground again killing anything near them. Finally the commander realized the hopelessness of the situation and ordered a retreat. 

Anypony that could still trot immediately started falling back. Some carried the really injured out of there. As for me, I just galloped the hell out of there. A long the way one of my legs was grabbed by a hoof. The hoof belong to a badly hurt pony asking for me to help him. 

Did you help him?

[Silence] No, I quickly bucked him in the face and left him there. Not really the proudest moment of my life. And before you ask, yes I do regret it, I still have dream of that scene playing over and over in my nights.

Why didn't you help him?

To put it simply I was scared. Seeing those birds incinerating my comrades in front of me really leave mark on you. I was so afraid of those things that I ignored my duty to help those in needs and just left the poor guy to his death.

You wanna know what's also mess up, I don't even know what he looks like. I gave the stallion a quick glance before I bucked him. Despite not remembering his face, something tells me he remembers mine and will never forget it.

End of record