//------------------------------//
// The History of Equestrian Expansion Part 3: The 2nd Griffonian-Equestrian War 
// Story: Princess Celestia The Changeling Queen:  Stories Behind the Mask 
// by vren55 
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The 2nd Griffonian War

Arguably, the 2nd Griffonian War started on the island of Venecia, but it’s roots go for some time back. Still, it’s necessary to explain Venecia’s current state to understand it’s important role.

The island, in the center of the Eastern Sea, was officially charted by Equestria in 305 AR and was then mostly a large sandbar with some bedrock that the sand had caught on. It also was rather well placed at the heart of a series of trade winds. North of the island the winds blow you east, south of the island the winds blow you west.

Alternia had an outpost constructed there, and as time went on, ended up sending a number of Equestria’s less problematic criminals there to build new lives for themselves, whilst ostensibly punishing them by semi-exile.

Here’s the issue, Alternia’s victory over the Griffons in the First Equestrian-Griffin War had resulted in a regime change that had placed the friendly Arctic Wind as king. She had continued to maintain good relations with Arctic Wind and his descendants. In fact, during the Equestrian Civil War, King Hot Beak in 501 AR had declared to his nobles that the Griffon Kingdom would not take advantage of the civil war to strike Equestria.

Promptly before getting stabbed in the back by his wife, Helga Greywing, who crowned herself Queen in his place, as her supporters massacred Hot Beak’s supporters.

The coup that Helga Greywing pulled on the last of the “Wind” dynasty was years in the planning, rooted in old grudges against the Equestrians for their victory in the First Equestrian-Griffin War. Partially driven by a wish to expand their land, and also to rid the Griffin kingdom of any Equestrian influence, Helga’s rebellion was too well planned for even Alternia’s best spies to prevent.

And when Helga did launch the rebellion, Alternia was too immersed with the civil war to fight back. The end result was that Queen Helga managed to seize control of Griffonia a little after the end of the Equestrian Civil War in 502 AR. The remaining Loyalist Griffin exiles under Marshal Gordon managed to escape to Venecia, about ten thousand strong, including their families.

Of course, Alternia, Prince Blueblood the 10th and Voulge weren’t simply going to sit idly by. They knew Helga would want to attack Equestria as soon as she was ready. They needed to make sure they would be ready. The now United Parliament continued the modernization of Equestria’s military and  Voulge went on a tour of the world to try to collect new military technologies and doctrines that may be useful to Equestria.

It was far more successful than she expected, but also more dangerous. The dragons nearly roasted Voulge alive. However, a journey to Saddle Arabia in particular proved incredibly impactful.

You see, Equestrians had gunpowder, and some early cannon, as did the Griffins, but neither of them saw it as useful due to the fact that both of them had fliers.  Moreover, early Equestrian cannon had a habit of blowing up in battles and so was not a common implement.

However, the Saddle Arabians had perfected a far more advanced form gunpowder than the Equestrians had, and a new design of gun. A brass gun, cast in a single piece, making it stronger, smaller, and more mobile. It could tear down most fortress walls and as the Equestrians tested it on their ships, they realized it was a deadly ship-killer.

In the three years that followed, Equestrians sunk hundreds of gold bits into the purchasing, designing and construction of new cannon carriages for new warships and artillery brigades When they had them produced in sufficient qualities, they drilled with their cannons, marched with their cannons, and performed joint military exercises with their cannons. It was an expensive endeavour, but they were urged by the anti-Equestrian rhetoric and fleeing pony refugees from Griffonia.

The issue was, when the war came, they had only managed to get six months of training with their guns.

Not that it mattered, because the first strike came at Venecia.

Alternia’s spy network had been hard at work, and had many sympathetic Griffin informants within Griffonia and Griffonstone. This meant that they got word of the Griffins first target, Venecia. Helga intended to use the island as a staging ground to dominate Equestrians western coast, which would have allowed the Griffin navy to seriously hinder the Equestrian navy.

The problem was that Helga had done her best to mask her intentions, meaning the message got to Canterlot quite late. Significant naval reinforcements would not make the island in time.

Alternia thus elected to personally lead two hundred of Equestria’s best flyers from the Dragoon Guard to the island as reinforcements. Meanwhile, newly appointed Admiral Salted Apple would take a section of Equestrian Navy numbering ten galleons, and ten lighter fluyts to Venecia and establish a naval base.

Alternia’s arrived on Venecia after a six day flight was shortly followed by the arrival of the Griffin vanguard. It did not look good. The Griffin vanguard was composed of five galleons with twenty guns each, ten troop-transport carracks (predecessors to galleons. Only ten guns each, larger hull).  They carried nearly two thousand Griffin troops aside from their crew.

Venecia on the other hand had a professional garrison of one hundred and twelve, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies equally divided. They had no cannon, only ten ballista and catapults. They did have a well kept citadel. The island’s population was of about five hundred then, with about fifty fillies and colts. They formed a militia. Alternia personally took command of the defense and organized the inhabitants into a battle plan.

When the Griffon fleet arrived and began the Battle of Venecia, Alternia quickly attempted to seize the momentum of the battle by personally launching a devastating attack on the galleons. The Griffons didn’t expect Alternia’s presence, much less a rapidly flying ‘alicorn’ diving on them alone, allowing her to sink one of the galleons and set fire to the sails of another. Immediately though, the Griffon Admiral Ulric concentrated his griffon aerial units on capturing Alternia, forcing her to go evasive.

Unfortunately for the Griffins, this was all in Alternia’s battleplan. The wind was with the Venecians, and so they charged five fireships at the Griffin transport fleet. And as the two remaining Griffin galleons and transport carracks focused their attention on the fireships, The Dragoon Guard dove on the Griffin flagship The Cormorant Triumphant with firebombs made from fish oil, setting the ship’s sails on fire, forcing the Griffin crew and Ulric to flee.

What the Equestrians did not anticipate in their plan, though, was the fact that The Cormorant Triumphant was carrying spare gunpowder for the naval base the Griffons planned to establish. Once the Dragoon Guard’s fire met the magazine, the galleon blew, sending shrapnel that wounded two dozen Dragoon Guard and actually capsized the smallest of the then unmanned fireships, a small ketch.

The explosion was so violent, though, it killed Admiral Ulric and his second in command, and set a third Griffon galleon on fire as well as another transport ship. With the losses mounting and his aerial units still unable to hunt Alternia down, the Griffin captain George ordered a retreat.

Venecia was safe, but Equestria...wasn’t. Helga had ordered a invasion of Equestria across the North Channel, a fairly large stretch of ocean dividing Griffonia and Equestria that could only be crossed by two days leisurely flight, but it was a manageable logistical feat. It helped that while Voulge had gathered the 1st division of the Equestrian Army numbering ten thousand ponies to oppose the Griffins, the Griffonians had mustered an invasion force of thirty thousand.

Under these odds, Voulge obviously elected not to directly oppose the Griffons landing on Equestrian soil. Rather, she used the regiments under her command (the Spark Brigade (unicorn mage group), Manehattan Rangers, the Vanhoofer Engineers and Artillery, and the Cloudsdale Blues) to undertake a scorched earth policy, evacuating inhabitants, torching settlements and seizing property in a controversial, but ultimately effective campaign to deny the Griffons any supplies, or even shelter.  She even had her pegasi purposely direct a thunderstorm into the path of the Griffons to delay their advance.

Even that wasn’t enough, though, and so Voulge deployed the several unicorn mages under the direction of Blackfire the Dreadful, as well as elements of the Cloudsdale Blues and Manehattan Rangers to act as a one thousand pony rearguard, The Forlorn Hope. She intended them to do a fighting retreat, but she expected they would all die.

Somehow, Blackfire the Dreadful conducted a nine-day fighting retreat, luring the Griffin army down the steep mountain pass that was the the Flaming Gulch. More like a maze of canyons, the depth and narrowness of the Gulch’s winding canyons nullified the Griffin’s aerial advantage, but prevented them from just going over, as they needed to move the supply wagons through the Gulch. Taking advantage of the terrain, Blackfire managed to keep his forces intact despite some desertions and mounting casualties. In contrast, the Griffins suffered nearly three thousand casualties, unable to overcome the discipline and training of Blackfire’s detachment.

On the ninth day, with less than a hundred ponies able to fight, Blackfire intended to make a glorious land stand. Yet, to the rearguard’s surprise, they were relieved by two thousand of the Vanhoofer Engineers and Artillery regiment. Here, in the narrow chokepoint, they unleashed their new cannon.

The Griffins hadn’t expected the Equestrians to be able to rush cannon into the mountains so quickly, but earth pony strength and well-designed carriages gave the new cannons just enough mobility to be wheeled into the Flaming Gulch. The resultant engagement led to nearly two hundred Griffin casualties to Equestria’s thirty.

Better briefed on the capabilities of the cannon, and having finally figured mapped out the Gulch, the Griffin vanguard’s commander, James Arrowflight, planned an audacious aerial assault. It would flank the Equestrian rearguard and surround them from air, front and rear.

It would have worked, but James had taken too long.

Voulge had used every one of the nine days that Blackfire had brought to bolster her army with  Equestria’s 2nd division, composing of the newly formed Las Pegasus Lancers, the Royal Guard, the Dragoon Guard, and The Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns Mage Group (now known as The Scorchers). James’s flanking attacks were neutralized by the Lancers and Dragoon Guards, whilst the Royal Guard covered the retreat of the Forlorn Hope.

The Retreat through the Gulch, as the battle came to be known, led to the Griffin Expeditionary Force suffering four thousand casualties to Equestria’s one thousand. Not a promising start to the Griffin campaign, but while a setback, it wasn’t a permanent one. The Griffin army still outnumbered the Equestrians and had been reinforced back up to 25,000. Meanwhile, Voulge and now, Prince Blueblood, who had joined her, still had to figure out how to use their 19,000 ponies to prevent further incursion.

On the other hoof, the Griffins were about to get a major setback.

Marshal Arnold Longwing, commander of the Griffin force and his two division commanders, Generals James Arrowing and Henry Flamebeak realized that if General Voulge and Blueblood were to continue a scorched earth tactic, they were going to be in serious trouble. Supplies were dwindling, and they needed naval support to escort ships to their army.

Queen Helga responded by ordering Admiral Anne Goldeneye of the 2nd Griffin fleet numbering ten galleons (twenty guns each) and twelve carracks (ten guns each) to set sail and deliver the supplies to the Griffin Expeditionary force.

Alternia’s spies were at work, though. Her spymaster, a unicorn named Elektra Crown, managed to receive a communique from Vesperia, an Equestrian earth pony agent working as the maidservant/slave in Helga palace. Tragically, Vesperia blew her cover to get the intelligence to Elektra. She was tortured to death, skinned alive, her body displayed on the castle gates of Helga’s palace.

But she didn’t reveal what she had leaked, and had misled the Griffins to think that she had leaked false information they had planted. In fact, she had managed to get to Elektra, the exact location and disposition of their 2nd Fleet, and that they were sailing with crucial supplies for the Expeditionary Force.

Elektra promptly had the message sent to pegasus Admiral Widow’s Wail (her actual name is Mara Bois Strawberry, but she changed her name after her husband Porcelain Smith was murdered by deserters in the Equestrian Civil War) to get the Equestrian 2nd Fleet to intercept them. Widow’s Wail immediately ordered her ten twenty-gun galleons and accompanying thirteen fluyts to make sail from Manehattan immediately.

The fluyts of Wail’s fleet were particularly deadly as they sported twenty-six cannon, the most cannon put onto an Equestrian warship at that time. She herself commanded from the fluyt, Nemesis, an entirely black ship, from sails to keel, it cut a menacing sight on the horizon.

Unsurprisingly, Anne Goldeneye was not happy to see Widow’s Wail on the horizon. She was escorting twenty cargo vessels that had no cannon. All Wail had to do was make sure they were destroyed and she would succeed. She didn’t even need to destroy the Griffin fleet. Anne planned to charge her fleet at Widow’s command, to divert Wail’s attention away from the cargo vessels. Of course, Wail wanted to avoid Anne’s fleet at all costs and find a way to attack the cargo ships with as few casualties as possible.

Fate… conspired against Wail and Anne though. A massive storm came out of nowhere. A hurricane known only as the “Cursed Cyclone” which started in between the two fleets and drew them together. Water tornadoes coursed through the air as the Anne in the Natalya (named after her adopted daughter) and Wail in the Nemesis realized they couldn’t fight the storm. They were going to have to fight their enemy in this condition and win, no matter the cost.

Needless to say, unlike films where fleets fight during a storm and nothing wrong happens… lots of things went wrong with this battle. The winds were so high that sails were ripped, masts were snapped, waves swamped gunpowders or nearly capsized ships. Most of the Griffin and Equestrian ships exchanged cannonfire, but were more concerned about ensuring that they didn’t capsize.

That was except for the Nemesis which charged straight for the Natalya nearly breaking its bowsprit as it pushed through the massive waves. The Nemesis raked the larger Natalya’s stern before its crew threw grappling hooks and boarded. Vicious hoof to claw fighting ensued.

In an odd coincidence, Wail and Anne found themselves facing each other. Saber in Wail’s hoof, and cutlass and dagger in Anne’s claws. The two duelled, flying around the masts of their joined ships.

Fate again, conspired against both of them. Lightning had crashed throughout the fight and a stray bolt smacked into one of the masts, blasting the two apart with a shower of splinters. Heavily wounded, the pair called a truce and found that the pony crew had managed to subdue the Griffin crew. Thus, Anne surrendered to Wail.

They didn’t have any time to celebrate. The Griffins and pony spent the rest of the night battling the storm, when they had been trying to kill each other a moment before. When it finally ended, well…

The Equestrian and Griffin fleet were in ruins. Every ship was damaged in some form. Seven Equestrian ships: six fluyts and a galleon, had gone down. All but two of the top-heavy, over-weighted Griffin transports had been lost, while they had lost three carracks and three galleons. The scattered ships of both sides limped home to their nearest home ports where both sides finally found out that Anne and the Griffin flagship had been captured.

While a pyrrhic tactical victory, the decisive strategic victory and the capture of Anne Goldeneye allowed Alternia to declare the Battle of the North Cape a victory, bolstering Equestrian morale.

Moreover, in light of the victory, Marshal Arnold Longwing was also faced with a terrible dilemma. Queen Helga demanded he advance. Common strategic sense dictated he retreat as now he had no supplies.

But he knew that if he disobeyed Helga, he would suffer, or worse, his family would suffer, so Longwing decided to go with a third option. He would advance as fast as he could and bring Voulge’s army into battle.

Voulge and co-commander Blueblood hadn’t expected this aggressiveness and was forced to retreat as she found all three divisions of Longwing’s army pursuing her incredible vigour. But after they got over the initial shock, Voulge suggested to Blueblood to let the Griffin army exhaust itself and then counterattack.

That was until an opportunity presented itself.

The story goes that Voulge, Blueblood and their officers, who had been hurrying her army’s retreat, were eating breakfast on a hill. Most of her army was camped behind a ridge, getting ready for another long day of marching. The supply column had already gotten moving in front of her army atop the ridge, and kicking up quite a cloud of dust.

Longwing’s army had been behind, but as the Equestrian army prepared to march, Voulge noticed that he had detached his first division. This worried her initially, as she thought the division would try to attack the Equestrians who were just about to march.

Until that division started marching in the direction for her supply column, which was when Voulge realized that Longwing’s army was pursuing her supply train, not knowing that he was exposing the left flank of his leading division to her entire army, hidden behind the ridge.

She immediately threw the hay sandwich out of her hoof and ordered Blueblood, her 2nd Division’s commander, to make ready for battle.

The Battle of Salamander Ridge began with the 2nd Division attacking the Griffon vanguard’s flank. The Las Pegasus Lancers slammed the Griffons out of the air for the Royal Guard and Dragoon Guard to rout. All the while, the unicorn mages of the Celestia’s School brigade gave supporting fire, which killed Henry Flamewing.

Arnold Longwing obviously didn’t just do nothing. He moved his remaining two divisions to counterattack, but found himself blocked by Voulge and the 1st Equestrian division. Tired from the long flight or march, the Griffon brigades streamed into the battle piecemeal, and were turned back by the Manehattan Rangers, Cloudsdale Blues, Royal Battle Mages and Vanhoofer Engineers and Artillery.

With the 1st Griffin Division routed, the rest of the Equestrian brigades were able to loop around and hit the Griffin army in the flank. This second attack by Blueblood wasn’t as successful. It was halted by James Arrowwing maneuvering various companies and regiments to stop the Equestrians.

Still, Arnold Longwing, realising the danger of his position, withdrew as fast as he could.

Casualties were high on both sides, but the Griffins had lost more. The Equestrians had three thousand casualties. The Griffins had four thousand casualties, but unfortunately, had five thousand more captured.

The Equestrians hadn’t equaled the scales yet, but Longwing, with the death of one of his division commanders, so many dead, and being turned back by Voulge again, had lost his nerve, as had James Arrowwing. They retreated, giving up all the land they had taken, and falling back across the Northern gap. Longwing would be forever vilified for this action, but to be honest, he had little choice. His army was starving, the Equestrian army had taken losses, but was intact and remained a threat.

Helga was furious. But she still held hope for a second invasion. Longwing’s army was still intact, demoralised, but after replacing him with Joseph Eaglefeathers, who began retraining the army and equipping it with field artillery, she was sure that they would be able to mount a second invasion, supported by the navy.

So it was an utter shock when three months later, she received news the Equestrian Army had landed on the Griffonia’s Northern Coast, supported by the navy.

Alternia, Voulge and Blueblood were both on the field, and had assembled at that time, Equestria’s largest army, twenty-nine thousand strong. Divided into three divisions, with one of the divisions acting as a reserve force of nine thousand, the army marched south along the coast, supplied by the Equestrian navy under Admirals Salted Apple and Widow’s Wail.

The griffons were astonished and honestly didn’t know what to expect. They hadn’t been invaded by Equestria, ever. With their depleted fleet unable to sortie against the Equestrians due to the last few battles, Helga personally took to the field and with her supporters, rallied an army of thirty-five thousand to meet the Equestrians.

Just as Voulge and Alternia had planned. They knew Helga had to end the war quickly as Griffonia’s economy was overexerted, and she was facing the capture of her kingdom’s capital. In the first place, the Griffins had initiated the war too quickly, before they were ready to organize the kingdom’s economy to meet it. Equestria hadn’t expected the war, but they didn’t field more armies than they could handle.

So, on paper, Helga’s army was formidable, consisting of seven divisions of five thousand griffons.  They also had thirty-five artillery pieces to Equestria’s thirty. The problem was that four out of the seven Griffonia divisions were made up of green recruits, or unwilling conscripts. Moreover, lack of food meant that these griffins weren’t very well fed.

Not to say it didn’t pose a threat to Equestria’s army, because it certainly did. But while Equestria’s army had about eleven-thousand troops that had yet to see a battle, they were at least trained, and well-supplied, and their morale was soaring thanks to their victories.

Nevertheless, Queen Helga prepared to attack the Equestrian Army by the Beaches of Marathon. She and General Grouchy Blackbeak formed up their divisions to attack in three waves. The first two divisions would attack, and then the next three, and then the final two.

There was just one problem, the Equestrians decided to attack instead. Alternia had spied on the griffins (historians are still debating whether she personally snuck into the griffin camp or whether her spymaster Elektra had figured out what Helga planned) and figured out their plan.

So the next morning, before the griffins could form up, they were woken up by cannonfire from the Equestrian fleet moored nearby, followed by a great roar.

The entire Equestrian Army then proceeded to charge. The Royal Guard and Dragoon Guard led the attack and seized the Griffin cannon positions. The Cloudsdale Blues and Las Pegasus Lancers, backed up by the Dragoon Guard , dropped firebombs and grenades on the tents, while also attacking Griffon companies trying to get off the ground.

Meanwhile, the Manehattan Rangers, Vanhoofer Engineers and Royal Guard started to roll the Griffins back. This wasn’t too difficult. With the surprise, the poor condition of the Griffin troops, the confusion caused by the bombardment, Griffin soldiers were either falling back to find a place to regroup, or surrendering in droves.

Helga wasn’t idle though. While her first five divisions were disintegrating in front of her, their numbers were still slowing the Equestrian advance. She ordered her last two divisions to prepare to counterattack, and rally their fleeing troops.

The Griffin counterattack got off to a good start. Bogged down as they pushed off the beach and into the plain adjacent to the beach, the Equestrians were taken aback when Griffin reinforcements threw themselves into the melee in the air and at those on the ground. This halted the retreat of the Griffin divisions that had broke earlier and they regrouped to reinforce the attack.

Until, that is, Alternia herself took to the field. Voulge had anticipated the possibility that the Griffins could rally for a counterattack and had planned with Alternia to use “Celestia” as reinforcements. Escorted by Royal Guard, Alternia unleashed fireballs, lightning, huge spells that no spellcaster could accomplish. It broke the line of the Griffin advance, which eventually halted their momentum. Further reinforced by Equestria’s reserve division, slowly, but surely, the Equestrian Army started to rout the Griffins.

By the end, Alternia, assisted by her Royal Guard had personally captured Helga after smashing her bodyguards with her magical might. Captured, her army in shambles, the generals of her kingdom bickering with each other or surrendering to the enemy, Helga surrendered.

In a surprising show of mercy, Alternia did not imprison Helga or replace her. However, the Treaty of Trottingham, while allowing Griffonia to continue as an independent kingdom, forced onto the Griffins several very harsh demands. Griffonia was to give up any land claims to Venecia, Trottingham and any land that was part of Northern Equestria. They were also to pay back a huge amount of reparations over a long period of time.

But the one that really humiliated Griffonia was Equestria’s taking of several high profile Griffin hostages, which included Helga’s twelve year old son and heir. And there was nothing they could do, because to refuse was to invite Equestrian retribution.

For the long term though, most historians, even Griffonian, agree that the fostering of the future King Horace, was one of the best things to occur to Griffonia, for he brought Equestrian ideals, technology and social structures to Griffonia. He would become known by his title as “The Great Builder.”

As for Equestria, the united front the three pony races had presented against an external enemy helped to unite the races once more, and sooth the divisions caused by the civil war. It would also usher in another boom in prosperity, brought about by the war’s great social mobilization, under the watchful eye of Equestria’s greatest Prime Minister, Rapier Apple.

But that’s another story.