A Guide to Recent Equestrian History

by mint20

War of the Bloodied Crystals: The Road to War

The War of the Bloodied Crystals
2198-2236 AW
Cold War and the Declaration of 2222
End of the First Crystalline-Equestrian Alliance: 2205 AW
Cold War: 2205-2221 AW
Ambassadorial Missions: 2211-2215 AW
Incident in Baltimare, Embargo: 2220 AW
Equestrian Ultimatum, Evacuation of the Equestrian Embassy: 2221 AW
Campaigns on Manehattan, Declaration of War: 2222 AW

Upon the collapse of the Crystal Empire and Equestria’s alliance, ripples were sent throughout world politics. Suddenly, with the two pony nations gearing up for war, many small nations had to pick one side or the other, with effects that would send yet more ripples throughout the complicated stage of world politics.

Diplomatically speaking, the Crystal Empire, thanks to its propaganda, had a huge hoof up on Equestria. By 2210, they had secured alliances with various city-states, including ones populated by griffons, diamond dogs, and many of the wandering changeling packs and hives, promising the changelings restored lands and the dogs and griffons great riches.

The idea to enlist the help of changelings, again, the old ancestral enemy of ponies, was not popular. Much like Discord many years ago, this caused ripples of outrage and saw a great deal of the Empire’s allies to defect to Equestria or pull out of the cold war altogether. For instance, the city state of Maretonia switched sides to Equestria, while Saddle Arabia, which had been tentatively backing the Crystal Empire, pulled out and issued the Proclamation of Neutrality in 2212, where they announced they would protect any nation not allied with either the Empire or Equestria.

Realizing their diplomatic weakness, Equestria started systematically attempting to undermine nations allied with the Empire while forging their own web of alliances and treaties. In 2211, missions to various foreign powers occurred, including the zebras, a hooful of diamond dog packs, and even to the dragons.

By and large, these missions where only somewhat successful. In 2214, the backing of a hooful of zebra tribes was secured, but most of them flat out rejected Equestria, on the grounds that it wasn’t their place to decide the right or wrong of a nation’s actions. Similar results were achieved with the diamond dogs.

All diplomatic missions to the xenophobic dragons were never heard from again.

Meanwhile, while all this was happening, both nations continued to build their military at a rate that would never be tolerated at this day and age. By 2215, Equestria had a standing army of over five hundred thousand troops, and it was growing every day. The Crystal Empire was also increasing the size of its military at a comparable rate. The powers seemed to be set on a collision course.

The years of 2216-2220 were an intimidating time for the Empire and Equestria alike. Each power had built an impressive amount of military capacity and infrastructure in such a limited amount of time. Both nations had also secured alternate economic sources, in the case trade embargoes were created. Socially speaking, propaganda within the Empire had almost conclusively turned the ponies of the Crystal Empire against their Equestrian cousins, while in Equestria, the average pony saw the increased armies of the Empire as a threat that had to be terminated.

Events finally came to a head when, in 2220, there was some kind of conflict in Baltimare. The details aren’t clear, but the records seem to reference some kind of insurrection by the Crystal ponies and a few of their allies. The increased military presence throughout Equestria was enough to swiftly defeat the enemy, which was reported to be approximately a dozen, but not before ten civilians and three soldiers were killed in action.

This caused an outrage throughout Equestria. Most everypony demanded that some kind of action be taken against the Crystal Empire. Pressured by the citizenry, the Royal Sisters decreed in November of 2220 that all trade with the Crystal Empire was to become illegal. With this fateful step, the rest became inevitable.

Suddenly, all the fears of the past few years were realized. Huge armies from both sides mobilized and were put onto some form of alert as diplomacy between the two continued its downward spiral. Ambassadors from the Crystal Empire attempted to negotiate some kind of release from the embargo, but were clearly only there as a formality. Sombra had Equestria right where he wanted them to be: confused, uncertain, and ready for his strike.

As the buildup of troops on the Crystalline-Equestrian border continued, growing exponentially, the Royal Sisters got more and more nervous. War seemed to be the only remaining answer. Finally, after sweating on their thrones for some nine months, on August 25, 2221, Celestia and Luna issued a diplomatic demand known as the Equestrian Ultimatum, In it, the Sisters ordered the Crystal Empire to disband a quarter of its army, and to pay a fine to Equestria for the attack on Baltimare, among a few other demands.

Upon receiving this demand, it is said that Emperor Sombra laughed uncontrollably for some twenty minutes. After that, he disposed of the parchment and never spoke of or acknowledged its existence again.

After four months, in December, it became clear that Sombra had no intention of bowing to the Equestrian demands. As such, on the 20 of that month the Royal Sisters ordered an evacuation of the Equestrian embassy and all of the consulates, revoked all visas of citizens of the Crystal Empire, and de facto terminated all diplomatic ties with the Crystal Empire. Sombra returned the favor, evacuating the Empire’s embassy and consulates, and also terminated all Equestrian (and allies of Equestria) visas on January 2 of 2222.

With no correspondence between the two nations, starting a war was easy. On the fateful day of March 3rd, Sombra moved ten thousand troops to attack Manehattan. The troops arrived on March 6th, and attacked the same day. They met stiff resistance, but the Eighteenth Army of Equestria, stationed there, was overwhelmed and forced to retreat by March 10th. Manehattan was captured by the forces of the Crystal Empire.

As outrage rippled across the nation, the Sisters decided that there was no alternative. On March 15th, 2222 A.W., the Equestrian government issued a declaration of war against the Crystal Empire. This would be the bloodiest war since the Harmonious Revolution, and almost as many Equestrian ponies will die in it.