“I speak for he who strides over the sinless with burning hooves! I speak for mighty Pizzle af Pysmir, beloved by Fat! I speak of your doom and our eternal struggle against the wicked and vain! We are the Utt! We are the Unchained! And we are not of Equestria yet we shall have it! Soon! We are not bound by your laws of friendship! We are not enslaved by your laws of harmony! We are not ruled by your laws of sanity! All that Equestria is, we shall defy! All that Equestria loves, we shall destroy! This is our promise and by the word of Fat, it shall be do-”
~Last words of Crustus Willipickle, Herald of the Prince of the Unprincipled at the Battle of Gallumpas (His words cut short by oncoming reinforcements under Grand Admiral Thorn)

The Outskirts are a wide but bare region that encompasses most of the Badlands and the lands beyond. Cities between the mainland and the sea will often have pegasus sky-travel stations or unicorn portal chambers to make travel over these lands easy. While it is far from convenient to be caught in the sparse, arid, barren lands, it is those that dwell within these lands that Equestrians most hope to avoid.

The reason for their barrenness is a complicated one. They are land-locked sections of the Equestrian borders far from Canterlot, hit hardest by the Long Winter before the founding. Their weather patterns seem to defy nature as the sun rarely seems to shine upon their lands despite suffering intense heat most times of the year. Surrounding them is the lush Furbidden Jungle to the south, the rolling Macintosh Hills before scenic Appleloosa to the north and the bountiful Horseshoe Bay before Baltimare to the east. All these places have their own safe and relatively healthy ecozones but from the Outskirts on, one is lucky if one finds a square mile with more than one shrub. The only animals that thrive are those that may prey on ponies.
Though a modern theory has surfaced that proposes that the Outskirts were rich in minerals, mined and excavated by its’ denizens and that during the Long Winter, the Outskirts were able to prosper in the wake of Equestria’s crisis, selling and making iron and taking part in huge raiding campaigns that stretched to as far as Canterlot before winding back the way they came, carrying off food, wine, treasures and mares in abundance. After the Founding, shifting weather patterns allowed mainland Equestria to regain their agricultural and economic prowess as well as reorganise their political and military structure. Combined armies of unicorn, pegasus and earth pony shattered the raiders and killed many of their kings. The minerals they’d mined had worn out and the weapons made from them lost where their wielders fell, and so nothing came from the land they tilled. So it was that they yielded, forced to bow to the ponies they’d once made slaves and beg them for food. With nothing to offer them, Equestria made it quite clear that it was thanks to the virtues that the Outskirts had spat upon that they were allowed to eat, a slight that has always pricked the dwellers of the Outskirts to this day.

It should not be accepted, however, that all states of the Outskirts are backwards and uncivilised. There are some notable vassal states of Equestria that have regained much reputation in the wake of the Second Age. Marchion is one. Founded by Brutus Bloodgard Sanguine, one of the most prominent assassins of Rememberly, Marchion made war with the Unicorn Kingdoms so fiercely and efficiently that it began to resemble one itself. With the coming of the Agneian Church, Brutus’s son Hyacinthus was anointed by one of the first Ovine Missionaries, St. Lanarius and became heavily influenced by Stirropean culture.
Boulea, nowadays modern Boulette, was founded by Manlius Manicus ‘Da Pompoleoney’ another of Rememberly’s assassins who did not forget his pre-alicorn Equestrian origins and kept his civilisation in-keeping with the standards at the time, progressing technology and knowledge but with the highly traditional, conservative philosophies intact, including its policy for permanent and hereditary leadership. Pompoleony himself is actually credited with creating what may have been the first Equestrian hoof-grenade.
After his death, his younger bastard son, Madeirius Maximus fought a civil war against his elder half-brother Masculus Mediocritus which ended up killing both of them, leaving Manlius’s daughter, Magnacarta, to rule Boulea which she did well for twenty years alone, twenty more years with her husband Papaver Moh of the neighbouring state of Rostelle and ten more years a widow until her assassination at the hooves of her nephew, Migraine Masturbant who was promptly killed by his son and daughter, the incestuous Tarquin Superbus and Lucretia. In any event, though bloody and dogmatic, their society was comparatively advanced and, in the eyes of some, shows what Equestria would be like if the alicorns had never come, for better or for worse.
In any case, the Outskirts get coarser and more hostile the greater their expanse between the Equestrian mainland and the Equestrian shore. And the states that begin to drift from their conventions often become targets of their more boorish neighbours.

The proper name for this part of the Outskirts is the Utterlands, and its ponies known as the Udd although historically it went by the name of the ‘Unchained States’. There were many different nations amongst its reaches which rose and fell as the ages passed. The Guild of Cartographers give only their most hard-working professors the task of mapping the Outskirts who’s political boundaries can change between seasons for the ponies that dwell there are famous for their belligerence and, when they have to go long without attacking Equestria’s domains, they will turn on each other.
Its denizens have always had a great enmity towards magic and during the First Age of Magic, their ancestors fled Canterlot, regarding the first alicorn, Rememberly, as a dangerous demon masquerading as demi-deitic equine. This philosophy extended to regard the beauty and wonder Rememberly sowed and the knowledge of the world developed therein as fundamentally heretical. They made sure the Utterlands were practically devoid of natural beauty, slaughtering its’ native non-equine denizens and assimilating any local pony tribes into their way of life on pain of death. They made it their goal to be as unlike Equestria as possible. During the Second Age of Magic, they made war upon Equestria in several consecutive campaigns each ending in varying flavours of failure. The exact number of how many campaigns they fought in uncertain and dependent on what one would consider a campaign or mere skirmish but it ranges between four to eighty-eight. The last one, known as the ‘Final Furlong of Folly’ was started and ended during Vorpal Blade’s time as Lord Steward of Canterlot when he, in a controversial move, bought and called in every debt the mercenaries of his home city of Dunholm owed around Equestria and negotiated for them to take the fight to the Udd all across the Outskirts, assassinating every key figure of power until the Udd bent the knee sincerely (The first time the Lord Commander Midnight Blade of the Eternal Knights saw war although he is quoted as saying...
“That wasn’t a war. I’ve studied war. What the Udd were putting together was pure imbecility!”

When the Udd go to war, they do so with equal amounts of vigour and desperation. They clap themselves in makeshift armour of whatever they have at their disposal, sometimes this is leather from beasts, pieces of wood, some scraps of metal extracted from here and there. Sometimes they decorate their armour with animal bone.
Around the end of the Civil War, the Udd discovered how to create ‘salt-metal’ or aluminium as it is better known in Equestria. A very common metal, the Udd were able to mass produce it by mixing its ore and flecks with salt and fat in stifling workshops and foundries to create ‘Bittersalt’ armour, stronger the more times it’s folded. It also highly resistant to magic.
Unfortunately for the Udd, the Bittersalt Armour strengthens over time and, by armouring their troops fresh out the foundry, they rendered their armour very brittle as the folds fell apart.
The second time they tried this, they forewent sheets of metal and instead tried to coil the metal into barbed wire, wrapping it around their own makeshift armour and clothing. But this also meant there were more gaps for projectiles, magical or mundane.
In any case, Bittersalt is also highly conductive of electricity so while magic couldn’t penetrate it, pegasus formations were able to call down lightning and shock whole divisions to death at once in chained bolts of electricity.
Their weapons also tend to be improvised but due to their experiments with crude fuel, they do possess some innovation, if without elegance.
They do possess firearms and tend to favour them. How many they are capable of making and utilising is dependent on their situation but much of their military science and strategy goes into bigger and bigger guns. To aid in their strength and impact, many of their bolters are fitted with small cans of fuel, to make the projectiles flammable or charged with electricity and other means that only magic may match. Like their armour, they decorate their weapons with the skulls and bones of beasts. As their focus on firearms has developed, their new designs for melee weapons have focussed less on keenness and manoeuvrability and rather more on how much pain they can inflict, creating instruments of torture to use on surviving foes.
What they tend to neglect is the importance of organisation and strategy. All too often, their weaponry is indistinct and ungainly and their formations unable to sustain prolonged combat. In short, they favour raiding and short-term gain over the mighty campaigns they boast of waging against Equestria, perhaps seeing each and every unrelated attack on the borders as part of a bigger picture.
If so, they can be congratulated for waging a war that’s spanned centuries...and not having learned a thing over all that time.
However, there have been a few instances where the Udd actually succeeded in building on Equestrian Soil (Though none have lasted to this day), the most famous of these is Grimborg.

On the shores of Shatterglass Lake stands a monument to ego and spite; Castle Grimborg.
Around the same period as the coming of Laurelore, the Unchained States gave rise to the kingdom of Grimland. Its kings were fierce and greedy but none more so than Grimgud, the seventh king of Grimland. His predecessors had been among the most successful of Udd kings, steadily carving out more and more land from the unicorn kingdoms still recovering from the Long Winter. Though primarily made up of earth-ponies, they were unicorn-led since the second king, Grimhuf took to wife a unicorn mare claiming to be the bastard-daughter of King Ferric (Therefore a half-sister of Princess Platinum herself) and from his first son, Grimhorn, only bore unicorns thereafter, tall, grey and ice-eyed.
Grimgud had crowned himself King of the Glasslands (The region denoted by the Udd for the unicorn kingdoms closest to them for their belief that they are pretty and easily broken) and Conqueror of the East. At the height of his power, he effectively dominated a tenth of the unicorn kingdoms, an area about the size of Farmany. Yet he still operated as though he were a raider, his armies regularly raiding his own dominions and then reaching out to plunder the borders once his own lands had no more gold, food or unspoiled mares to give.
It seems that, for a race that pride themselves on their own lands, the Udd sought out any chance to leave them though it was their intention to make the Glasslands every bit as broken and bare as the Utterlands.
Grimgud the Breaker as he became known became the icon of a thousand horror stories and numerous tales purported of his cruelties.
One of the most famous being the Wedding Gottengrim where he turned up uninvited to the wedding of Prince Chromis Sanguine and Lady Allabrevia of Balladia. He was informed of the wedding by a hoof-maiden named Resumia who was jealous of Allabrevia for marrying Chromis, the object of her own desires. She hoped the Grimgud could intimidate Allabrevia and her family into abandoning the marriage plans. Instead, Grimgud turned up with a hundred of his raiders and took control of the wedding, all Equestrians present frozen with fear. He butchered all the male wedding guests including the King of Balladia, Prosody the Singer. He spared only Chromis who he chained to the wall and castrated with iron tongs, before forcing him to eat the cooked meat of the sheep priest and then watch as Lady Allabrevia and her hoofmaidens were gang-raped, Resumia saved for last so she could see what her treachery had brought her. The mares were then impaled upside-down on spikes along the borders of the Outskirts save for Resumia who cut her own throat when she realised what she had wrought. Prince Chromis Sanguine never recovered and died two weeks later from shock and depression
After the Founding was concluded and Equestria united under one alicorn Princess, Grimgud sought to set his kingdom in stone, quite literally. Grimgud set about enslaving the populace of his kingdom to raise the mightiest fortress the Utterlands had ever seen, a match for Canterlot or any other castle that Equestria had built; a castle that could garrison a million ponies with walls so vast that the seasons would never harm it and besieging armies die of old age before the castle fell. Five towers were built, reaching into the clouds to fight off pegasi or griffin if ever they approached. It was an undecorated structure, squat, bare and, like its king, utterly grim. Yet it is said there was majesty in it somehow. The unicorn monarchs beheld it, even while it was still finishing construction and knew they could never take it.
Grimborg; Its walls were a gigantic curtain of stone as high as a mountain cliff and dotted with lethal siege engines, at least a thousand at each side of the walls. It gatehouse was as large as Canterlot Castle and the tops of the five towers cannot be seen from the ground disappearing into the clouds.
Each of the five towers had a different purpose; The Tower of Truth was a torture chamber where prisoners were interrogated. Connected to it was the Tower of Protection which doubled as a dungeon, able to fit the population of a city in chains. Opposite those was the Tower of Duty where Grimgud’s slaves were kept. Here had certain luxuries such as baths, soft beds, incense, oils and lights but to those within, it offered no salvation from Grimgud’s savagery and perversity. Fillies as young as ten years of age were sent here and mares who gave birth to a female were sent immediately over to the Tower of Truth. Connected to the Tower of Duty was the Tower of Glory where Grimgud’s sons were to be sent...if he had any.
He had one son he had before his conquest began, Grimbode, who was considered weak and feeble. He expected the foals of his conquests would be born warriors and lead his armies when they came of age but every son was born a monstrosity, often stillborn and possessed of hideous deformities, rotting from the inside. This was infrequent however. Scientifically, Grimgud likely possessed some form of illness that prevented him from progenerating healthy foals. There are tales that purport that his incursion upon Equestria cursed him and his line while others believe that a certain unicorn or unicorns delivered upon him a curse in revenge for their lost lands and slaughtered families. There is even a theory that this was caused by what the mothers themselves had suffered, their magic unbalanced and detrimental, unable to reproduce properly.
The fifth tower, the Tower of Vigilance, was the lookout tower and from where Grimgud gave orders across his domain. It was fitted with enormous brass pipes that acted like a loudspeaker. Heralds would be ordered to repeat his laws and doctrines every hour of the day to every warrior and slave that Grimgud ruled over.
Equestria would never have seen anything like it in all its history.

Yet the very day it was completed, Laurelore the Firsticorn came to liberate the Glassland.
She chose not to send an emissary since it had, at that point, become common practice for Grimgud and other Udd Kings to execute bearers of bad news. She flew up to the highest tower of Grimborg and declared that he had a day and a night to organise his surrender and leave Equestria forever. If he was to do so, he and his warriors would be spared. Grimgud climbed to the Tower of Vigilance and beheld the alicorn and below her, her small army, three-thousand, nine-hundred strong, comprised of unicorn, earth pony, pegasus and non-pony auxiliaries and guides. He laughed at the scant size of it and the audacity of the one who commanded it, mocked her and her kind, spat at her face (But missed according to histories) and invited her to do her worst.
She did so.
As it turned out, she’d called upon some friends before she marched.
Dragons. Three of them, all the largest of their kind and each of a different affinity.
There was Sigurd the Frostfather, described as a ‘Flying Glacier’, a mighty white and sky-blue ice dragon, the oldest and wisest of the dragons, he was hatched and raised by Rememberly herself and had woken once more to aid the cause of harmony and friendship.
Beside him was Ignes the Magmother, largest, loudest and wildest of the fire drakes, queen of Salamandra wife of Lavan and mother of Dragon King Torch.
And after her, Asterath the Cloudcaller, the storm wyrm who’s arching serpentine body could wind all the way round the middle of Mount Canterhorn.
Three of the largest dragons that have ever existed in Equestria.
Laurelore set them upon Grimborg. The combined breath of the three dragons was capable of melting stone and charring steel as if it were wax and parchment.
Before Grimgud could properly realise just how doomed he was, he and his honour guard were blasted to pieces as the Tower of Vigilance shattered, all three dragons’s breath’s ripping through stone and bronze like paper. The seven-hundred-thousand strong army behind the walls of Grimborg lasted around a minute and a half before they were destroyed.
Here, Vorpal Blade, who was present at the time, outlines...
‘Not killed- Destroyed. I had never seen anything like it. Ponies were burned, frozen and electrocuted all at once. It was as though all their life, all their fullness...was suddenly cut from them like a thread. One moment they were standing on the walls, watching the dragons fly...and then they were gone. All that was left was a dry, colourless, vaguely-pony-shaped husk that steadily crumbled to dust and blew away in the wind.
I must remember these were terrible ponies. Ponies who slaughtered the innocent and defenceless for sport, plundered from ponies that already had nothing, wantonly destroyed art and knowledge, killed unicorns for no crime other than possessing a horn, raped fillies too young to have their cutie marks, I must remember they did all this and more...
But...seven-hundred-thousand...All turned to dust...in a mere minute...
Sometimes I wonder how I stay sane.’
It is worth noting that conventional histories tell that Laurelore saved the mares in the Tower of Duty. She cast a mighty magic shield that swallowed the tower and another spell that broke every lock upon every chain, ordering the mares and fillies within to flee the city and carry those who could not walk.
Over ten thousand female ponies were rescued before the city fell but the exact number of those rescued, and whether it is the name number as those who Grimborg actually had captive at the time, is uncertain.

Though nothing remains of Grimborg’s denizens, its walls still stand, albeit shattered remains of their former might.
The walls are blasted and fragmented in parts, though other areas still stand as tall as they did, monstrous coal-black monoliths. The Tower of Duty still stands as tall as it though part of the top is blasted open, beset by the elements.
The Tower of Vigilance is half as tall as it once was. Though that still cuts an impressive height, it’s top is gone entirely and three of the floors before it are gone, the effects of the dragon’s breath amplified through the brass clarion system having resulted in a small but powerful sonic boom. The Tower of Truth was toppled, its top-half slumped precariously over the castle wall. It is uncertain how long it may stay in such a position but none have seen it move to this day since Laurelore beset upon it. The Tower of Protection stands mostly intact but only a few cells are still secure and functional, the dragon’s breath having melted iron bars from within the tower like some colossal oven.
Nothing remains of the Tower of Glory but a large but low ring of stone south-east of the yard.
It stands now a testament to the dangers of provoking an alicorn’s wrath.
The Utterlands regard it as a sign of an alicorn’s cruelty but let it never be forgotten that cruelty was a game Grimgud favoured dearly and mastered throughout his life.
So what sort of things live in Grimborg now?

Often, Equestrian authorities hear of smugglers using the castle to store their wares or criminals hiding from justice there or even petty kings setting up state upon the place and trying to succeed where Grimgud failed.
They pay it little heed. One would need the population of a small city to make any use of Grimborg as anything more than a hideaway.
And anyway, it all ends the same way.
Grimborg is stated to be cursed.
By whom, none can ascertain. Some say Grimgud laid it upon his castle before he was engulfed, declaring nopony would ever hold what he himself could not and that he would forever be king of his castle in life or in death.
Others say Laurelore was responsible, making sure nopony would ever use such a fortress as a refuge for their cruelty or corruption while she or her descendants ruled Equestria.
There are even stories that claim that one of Grimgud’s prisoners or concubines laid the curse in their dying moments or even the spirits of Grimgud’s stillborn sons.
Regardless, tales abound about the place. Of the ghosts of Grimborg and the savage void that bore them.
When one rests in the Tower of Duty, it is said, the wind blows through the open ceiling and down the stairway. And then you realise it is not wind but the screams and wails of pleasure-slaves and brood-mares unlucky enough to not escape their prison.
Many say the same thing about the Tower of Truth and the Tower of Protection and they even state that in the Tower of Vigilance, the flaming spectres of Grimgud and his warriors chase anypony who ventures in with blazing eyes and hellish shrieks.
But worst has to be what some profess takes place in the stone rings that once made up the Tower of Glory.
At night, one may hear the cries of newborn babies. And steadily, they grow more guttural and growly until they sound like a creature not of his world.
Then, it is said, things come for it, things nopony can describe in words, crawling into the circle to carry off the baby-that-never-was.
What happens then, none care to say.
What is apparent is that just about every pony recorded to have dwelt within the castle has come to a painful end.
The list is documented in the Canterlot Royal Library and its details are unpleasant to say the least.
The last pony who sought to use the castle as a domain was Count Perglyn Skerpenskutt, a prominent Big Game Hunter. He camped in the castle courtyard for three weeks, hoping to develop a private urban safari for upper-class game-enthusiasts. When his business partners checked on him on the fourth week, they found a piece of his left hind-leg in the courtyard. They then spent the day finding and picking up his pieces, some of which they found in the mouths and bellies of his taxidermized trophies until finding him as barely anything less than his head, neck, upper chest and one forehoof, crawling to the window of the Tower of Truth and throwing himself out unto the ground to escape his agony, babbling that the beasts were chasing him always, everytime he blinked but that they wouldn’t ‘Make him a trophy. I’ll ruin this body before than gloat over it.’

What actual events befell him none can say but the authorities of Equestria do make it clear in every text of information on the Utterlands that Grimborg is not to be traversed.
They have thought of putting a sign there but none can agree on how close one must be to the castle to avoid its curse and every attempt to put a sign by a crossroad ends with it being removed.
Regardless, Grimborg stands as a reminder that if pressed, an alicorn will meet violence with violence, in a measure mortal ponies cannot match, and the scars of the past still run deep and dark down where its grim.

7211470
You never fail to make it interesting. And that lore certialy helps me (If I actually do that story).

Though Grimborg, let me think of a joke, it's baout something I told you before.

Laughs in Sturmtiger

7211515
Hope it helps.

Afraid I don't get it. Remind me.

Also, did you see the Star Wars reference at the beginning?

7211640
I did, Thrawn.

As for the joke, the Sturmtiger was a German assault gun in WW2, intended to serve as a heavy infantry support vehicle, rendering assistance with attacks on heavily fortified or built-up areas. For this, the main weapon was a 380mm rocket-propelled mortar, which could penetrate up to 2.5 m of reinforced concrete. So, I guess Grimgud would not see that coming. I mean, with 150mm armor, the Sturmtiger is well armored to get in range.

The only problem, (apart from the weight and speed) the ammo had a weight of 376 kg. As such, due to the bulkiness of the ammunition, only fourteen rounds could be carried internally, of which one was already loaded, with another in the loading tray. The rest were carried in two storage racks. To help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure next to the loading hatch. Even then, the entire five-man crew had to help with the loading.

I don't think Earth ponies would have it easer with that

7211650
Yeah, Grand Admiral Thorn actually led an Equestrian Campaign to reconquer states the Outskirts had held onto since the Civil War.
He was the son of Pegasus and a Changeling.

Well, it's really more the fact that the walls were built so thick and insulated (At least 10 metres thick) that even a Sturmtiger wouldn't be able to penetrate its defences before running out of ammo.
If a Sturmtiger fired at Grimborg's walls consistently in the same spot it would still take at least three hundred rounds before you made any sort of breach.
And tanks aren't very convenient when enemy armies run as fast as horses can.

The combination of three dragon rulers of ice, fire and storm was akin to a nuclear missile barrage (Much smaller but more concentrated).
None know just how the walls rose so high...
But everypony knows how they fell so low.

7212539
Good idea!

I see. What I meant was, given how the Sturmtiger was designed to breach, that Grimgud would have the same reaction as with the dragons when such a weapon is coming into view against him and realizes it's especially against such defenses.

Still, with that weight of the ammo, I don't think Earth ponies would have it easier with that, or are Earth ponies stronger in your headcanon.

And let me tell you, you can use it in Company of Heroes 2 and it's a nightmare for user and enemy. While devasting, relading takes about a minute and the tank is completely immobile. So you either have to find a really safe spot or have a unit to guard it during reload.

7212558
I guess but even in that event, the Sturmtiger wouldn't be able to get those walls down. At least not without great loss of time and resources.
By the time, the Sturmtiger made a dent, Grimgud could have used the Tower of Vigilance's speakers to summon reinforcements from back home in the Utterlands.

Well, yeah, earth ponies have a natural affinity for carrying heavy loads as well as proficiency in machinery.
They designed catapults and trebuchets and eventually cannons. Unicorns focus more on magical missiles while pegasi just attack from above and sometimes call down hail or lightning.
Each have their own specialty for getting inside a castle.
A Sturmtiger just wouldn't be very convenient in that situation.

I see.

7212893
Of course, I was just theoretical. But still, would a 376 kg shell be a issue for an earth pony to load?

7212898
Well, that’s about the weight of the average horse so, I reckon if it was a two pony job, they’d probably get around it okay. Wouldn’t be quick though.

7212918
Yeah, it's a good question. As stated, to help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure next to the loading hatch. Even then, the entire five-man crew had to help with the loading.

7211470 Is it bad that I see the spectre of his wrath as but a mere fragment of his magic, and the rest of Grimgud's soul in Tartarus...

enduring friendship lessons?

7250445
That is a possibility.

7251175 But not just ANY friendship lessons, oh no! He's stuck in Tartarus after all, and the demons there would have probably dressed him up in some FANTABULOUS drag! Along with removal of the male bits and the musculature, y'know, just to cement him to the fact that, yes, he's basically in Pony Hell.

7251241
That would be quite befitting.
Still, its' always a matter of debate how an Equestrian can judge an Udd.
With characters like Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, they chose the path of darkness.
With the Udd, it's kind of a cultural matter.
Do they know any better, or indeed can I?

7252091 Yeah, you are right that it depends on the perspective. Culture can be weird sometimes.

7252134
On a different note, did you notice the Mad Max references for Boulea?

7254242 A few, but not as many as I'd have liked due to not watching the entire first film (one of those events where Grandpa had me put the disc in, and I tuned 75% of the film out via Phoneland.)