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// War of the Bloodied Crystals: Opening Deployments 
// Story: A Guide to Recent Equestrian History 
// by mint20 
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The War of Bloodied Crystals
2198-2236 AW
Opening Deployments
Battle of Manehattan, Declaration of War: 2222 AW
First Invasion of Equestria: 2222-2223 AW
Battle of Foal Mountain, End of the First Invasion of Equestria: 2223 AW


Speaking unprofessionally, when the Battle of Manehattan occurred, it was at least five different layers of on. As the true banners of war were unfurled, ponies could be found in the streets of cities chanting, singing, and otherwise showing patriotism and offering their support to Equestria. Likewise, similar scenes were seen throughout the Crystal Empire. Both sides’ population were certain of a swift victory, and winning much glory for their mother countries.

That makes two populations that were wrong. Dead wrong.

As armies marched to the front lines, both sides opened diplomatic lines to their allies, calling in alliances and promises of support. Equestria called in the Treaty of the Alliance, signed in 2171 with the buffalo, who mobilized and sent troops, though they would not arrive at the frontlines for a year.

The Crystal Empire seized the initiative, using Manehattan as a staging point for troop movements and supply trains. Starting mid-2222, the Empire launched a two-prong invasion of Equestria, with simultaneous assaults on Yanhoover and Fillydelphia. The Battle of Yanhoover lasted from May 2-3, 2222 and pit the new Twentieth Army of Equestria against various armies under the banner of the Empire. After two days of bloody combat, the Twentieth Army, made up of ten thousand ponies, was completely annihilated. They had inflicted severe damage amongst the Empire, though, slaying or greatly wounding over twelve thousand troops.

Meanwhile, the other prong of the invasion came to Fillydelphia on April 30, 2222. This battle, the First Battle of Fillydelphia lasted until May 5, and was a very sloppy affair, with about twenty thousand troops for the Crystal Empire engaging scraps of the Eighteenth Army and the full might of the Nineteenth Army of Equestria. At the end of the six day battle, little remained of either force. Their objective failed, the scattered remains of the Crystal armies, about six hundred strong, withdrew, leaving no more than five hundred soldiers alive and garrisoning Fillydelphia.

These two campaigns were abrupt and sudden wake-up calls to both governments and populations. The message was simple, really: This war will last longer and cost more than you can even dream of. Too bad nopony realized it at the time, though.

With one prong of the invasion beat back and the other successful, Emperor Sombra retreated, regrouped, and prepared the next onslaught. Soon, he had regrouped and launched an assault against Galloping Gorge, where three military forts maintained by Equestria were located. His troops numbered some thirty thousand, and met the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Armies of Equestria, along with the garrisons of the forts, each numbering about five hundred strong, on September 30, 2222.

These three assaults on the forts, Fort Zeta, Eta, and Theta, are collectively referred to as the Battle of Galloping Gorge. The first day of battle saw a clash when a scouting force, about a dozen strong from the Empire, encountered a similarly sized reconnaissance force under Equestria’s banner. After a brief skirmish, ten Equestrian soldiers were slain, in exchange for eleven of the Crystal Empire.

Despite the fighting, the bulk of the two armies were still unaware of each other’s locations. The rest of the day passed with no violence towards either side.

After an uneasy night, two detachments of troops clashed over fort Zeta. Each side numbering some five thousand strong, they collided over control of the fort. The money the Royal Sisters invested in military technology started to show its worth, as the Equestrian ponies soon gained the upper hoof in the battle and pushed the armies of the Crystal Empire around. After two hours of desperate fighting, the Crystal troops were totally annihilated. Victory came at a heavy cost, though. Over four thousand ponies of Equestria laid beside them.

Zeta successfully defended, Eta and Theta were still vulnerable to attack. Evening the same day saw a clash between the full might of the Seventeenth Army of Equestria, ten thousand strong, and over fifteen thousand troops of the Empire. The Seventeenth Army was taken completely by surprise and crushed. Only three thousand ponies escaped the slaughter. In turn, some five thousand soldiers of the Empire were slain.

With this downward turn in the battle, the Equestrian forces retreated to the forts. Less than thirteen thousand of the opening Equestrian force of twenty-five thousand troops were left in fighting condition, and morale was at a low. By contrast, the Empire retained over twenty thousand of their thirty thousand opening forces. With the numbers stacked so heavily against them, the ponies of Equestria turned to guerrilla warfare and night assaults, aiming to destroy supply lines and whittle down the might of the Empire’s armies through attrition. This operation lasted for over a week, meeting with complete success.

By October 9, the general of the Equestrian forces decided that the Empire was weakened enough by a lack of food and medical supplies to launch an all-out assault with the intent of driving them away. On the ninth, the Equestrian forces collided with the tired and hungry forces of the Crystal Empire. This last, all-out throw of the dice paid off, By the end of the day, the Empire’s troops were driven from the battlefield, barely two thousand remaining. The Equestrian forces had won, and they emerged with four thousand ponies still standing.

With the winter setting in, the pegasi of Equestria effectively closed the border between the Empire and Equestria with the extreme amount of snow. This allowed both sides some much-needed time to rebuild their forces and prepare themselves for the return of the other side. However, while the Empire and Equestria had settled into a tense stalemate, their allies had not. Clashes between the various diamond dog packs were the most fierce, each side suffering great losses at the paws of the others. In addition, the griffons made more than one insurgency into the territory of Maretonia, each time countered by an alliance of ponies and zebra tribes. Equestria and the Empire both sent troops to assist their allies, but these forces were limited and quickly overrun.

Socially speaking, the population of both sides still supported the war. Despite the appalling losses on both sides, protests and revolts were unheard of. One must appreciate how much different Equestria was then it is now. Over a thousand years ago, war was the trade of Equestria. Conflict was the thing that all ponies knew. Remember, this is the population that overthrew the god-like Discord just over fifty years previously, at a heavy cost. And the ponies of the Crystal Empire shared much the same blood.
From a military standpoint, Equestria still had a rather large advantage over its rival. The Crystal Empire was a much smaller nation with fewer natural resources. However, whatever they lacked in military capacity they made up for with the complicated web of alliances that they had forged, for they simply had to call in a few allies to even the odds. As the snow started to melt, the war kicked back into high gear. This time, however, allies were involved.

There were numerous skirmishes and clashes as both sides probed each other and attempted to determine how much each side had fortified and re-armed. Equestria had, in the few month respite, rebuilt the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Armies, while the Empire had greatly repaired and somewhat expanded the Crystal military.

The Princesses, thinking that a swift victory was still achievable, decided to attempt to retake the fallen city of Manehattan. The two sisters dispatched the First, Second, and Third Armies of Equestria, along with three thousand supporting pony soldiers from Maretonia and five thousand buffalo. They clashed with twenty-five thousand ponies of the Crystal Empire and ten thousand griffon troops. On March 15, 2223, the Second Battle of Manehattan commenced. Battle lasted for three days, and when the smoke cleared, Manehattan was back under Equestria’s control. Victory in the battle cost over eighteen thousand Equestrian lives, along with two thousand of Martonia and four thousand of the Buffalo Tribes.

With his one of his principal possessions in Equestria lost, Sombra started to become worried. Fearing what would happen if Equestria invaded the Empire, he decided to mobilize and send the largest army his realm had ever created in a desperate attempt to cripple the Equestrian war machine before it ran him over. Mobilizing some sixty thousand troops from his own population, the massive army combined with eighteen thousand griffons, two thousand diamond dogs, and over ten thousand changelings to create an army just over ninety thousand strong.

To counter this massive threat, the Royal Sisters deployed the Tenth through the Seventeenth Armies of Equestria, along with some twenty thousand buffalo and five thousand zebra allies, for an army ninety five-thousand strong. This was a huge gamble, as these forces represent just under half of Equestria’s national army. If the battle ended in rout, the nation would be left with a crippled, at best, defensive capability.

These two massive armies met each other at Foal Mountain in the early hours of May 31, and would last for five days, finally ending on June 4. Between the griffons, changelings, and pegasi, the soldiers of the Crystal Empire held a significant advantage in the skies. The changelings allowed the Empire to have the advantage of espionage and stealth, while the solid backbone of ponies and dogs would be able to hold their own against a ground assault, at least for a while. Also, magical artifacts wielded by the Empire tended to be slightly better than the Equestrian counterparts.

By contrast, Equestria also held a few of their own advantages. The buffalo and zebra combined with the solid earth pony foundation gave Equestria and her allies a clear ground advantage. The heavy investment in military technology during the years of cold war had allowed for a technologically advanced army. The armies of Equestria were more diverse than those of the Empire, consisting of a great deal more of unicorns and pegasi. In addition, training in aerial combat and battle spells also tended to be better than that in the Empire. Soldiers in the Equestrian army also tended to have a slightly higher morale.

Each side clearly had their own advantages, so it would come down to which side made fewer mistakes. Let the Battle of Foal Mountain commence!

Battle opened in early morning with skirmishes over the ground surrounding the mountain in question. Both sides probed each other with skirmishing forces, attempting to find a place where the enemy’s defense was weak. This back and forth fighting lasted for several hours, as each general tried the other’s patience. As the fighting slowly intensified, casualties started grow on both sides. The advantage was found by the armies of the Crystal Empire around noon, who forced a small hole in the Equestrian western defense. Suddenly, armies from the Empire poured into the hole, both inflicting and receiving huge casualties. Equestria and her allies rallied and managed to drive back and defeat the Empire, but at heavy cost.

Meanwhile, the battle for the skies was raging as well. Unlike the ground combat, the fighting in the sky started around nine o’clock in the morning, started intense, and stayed that way. Greatly outnumbered, the Equestrian pegasi was in dire straits for most of the opening day. Between the changelings, griffons, and enemy pegasi, the fighting capacity of Equestria in the air was almost pitiful.

As the first day of combat ended, some seven thousand of the Equestrian soldiers and allies were dead or dying. In exchange, they had inflicted some five thousand seven hundred casualties on the Empire.

The next day, thanks to heavy security and guards, no changelings were able to enter the Equestrian Alliance’s camp. Thus, when the battle recommenced the next morning, the Equestrian forces struck the Empire’s alliance and inflicted heavy damage. No back-and-forth action for the combatants this time. Rather, the fighting started brutal and stayed that way. By the time the two armies disengaged and withdrew around one in the afternoon, over eleven thousand had been killed on both sides. The Equestrian Alliance had been decisively forced out of the skies. If Equestria was to win the battle, they had to negate the advantage held by their enemies.

The first half of the third day of battle was really more of a siege. As the Empire controlled the skies, they were able to effectively bombard the Equestrians and their allies and otherwise force them to keep in half-built fortifications that they had been sleeping in. This had more than a slight effect on morale, as talks of surrender ran rampant. Around noon, though, the general of the Equestrian allies, one General Armored Hex, had an ingenious idea. Taking anypony that could wield magic, the General had them combine forces and create an image of several thousand pegasi “charge” at the enemy troops. As the Empire moved to intercept the apparitions, she then launched an all-out assault on their air troops, supported by magical assaults. This sub-battle raged for about a half hour, and allowed Equestria to regain control of a portion of the skies. The pegasi wasted no time in fortifying their position, using clouds and weather to create something of a screen to knock enemies out of the sky.

As noon came and went, the ground theatre of the battle suddenly reopened. Fighting began as both sides attempted to take the high ground that the mountain provided. The fighting would go back and forth, with nopony truly winning the upper hoof. As the sun started to set, both sides withdrew to their territory, leaving fifteen thousand members of the Equestrian Alliance and just over seventeen thousand members of the Empire’s alliance dead.

By now, the heavy casualties had taken a severe toll on morale, for both sides had lost over thirty thousand combat troops. General Hex even considered leaving the field of battle to the Empire, for if her army was annihilated, it would weaken Equestria more than a victory would strengthen her. However, after extensive calculations and discussion with advisers, she came to the conclusion that Equestria still had a very good chance of decisively winning the battle and annihilating the armies of the Crystal Empire, so she decided to stay and fight it out.

As the fourth day of battle dawned, aware of the losses they had sustained, both sides were a little more cautious. In order to achieve victory, Equestria had to secure the skies. They could not afford to continue to trade casualties like they had been.

The fourth day, compared to the others, was much more straight-forward. Equestria, in order to negate the advantages held by the Empire, attempted to take the high ground under the cover of the early morning. Fighting over the mountain continued for several hours, with heavy losses on both sides. However, as morning went to afternoon, the tide of the battle slowly turned to Equestria’s favor, using a strategy of magical bombardment against the aerial combatants while the earth ponies and allies pushed the Empire’s ground forces around.

Finally, at almost ten in the morning, Equestria and her allies finally forced the Empire off of the mountain. Quickly establishing a fortified camp, Equestria had secured the upper hoof in this battle. Both sides realized this, and the Empire retreated to regroup, in the hope that they would be able to strike and salvage the situation. It looked grim for them, though, as in the conflict, the sky troops of the Empire were crippled, only two or three thousand of them left alive.

At last, the final day of battle came. Equestria, unlike the past engagements, had a significant portion of control over the skies. Thus, when the Empire attacked, they were pummeled by storms and lightning, much like the third day of battle for the Equestrians. The difference was that the Empire lacked the strong magical offensive, and was unable to counter the assault with the same effectiveness that the Equestrians possessed. This is not meant to say that the Empire gave up. No, the Empire, despite their odds of victory being less than zero, made a brave stand and both shed and caused to be shed huge amounts of blood that day. However, the advantages that Equestria wielded were too great, and the Empire’s final stand was annihilated, thus conclusively ending the battle and the First Invasion of Equestria.

Both sides of the battle, though, suffered greatly from the fighting. The mighty army marshaled by the Empire was utterly crushed. Only some eight thousand of the Empire and her allies survived, and a good deal of the survivors were wounded. On the other side, Equestria had to lick its wounds, too, for the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Armies were completely destroyed, while all of the remaining armies were severely depleted. It is estimated that only nine thousand Equestrian ponies were left alive, along with five thousand buffalo and one and a half thousand zebra allies.

With the end of the First Invasion of Equestria, both sides quickly realized that the war was not going to be easy. Both sides were determined to win and had massive building and military infrastructure backing up that determination, to the point that the entire world would suffer in this war. In the first year of conflict, the body count was already over one hundred thousand. And the war was just getting warmed up. Many, many more would have to die before the advantage shifted to either side.