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// The First Griffon War* 
// Story: Anno Equestria: A Brief History of the Pony Nation 
// by Insert Pen Name 
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Anno Equestria
A Brief History of the Pony Nation
A FiM fic by (Insert Pen Name)

The First Griffon War
AE257-259


Though Equestria maintained excellent trade relations with the griffon colonies in Horseshoe Bay, the same could not be said for the Griffon Isles across the Great Eastern Sea. Griffon society at the time was intensely feudal, with hundreds of independent warlords vying for wealth and power across the region. Most of the colonists in Horseshoe Bay were in fact refugees from this warlike system. While both Equestria and the griffon colonies were largely ignored by the Griffon Isles at first, it wasn't long before stories of the new nation growing in the west peaked the warlords' interests.

In AE256, a number of the lesser griffon warlords, who had so far failed to make their fortunes, banded together with the intention of invading the Equestrian mainland and carving out their own personal empires overseas. Promising adventure and plunder to any who joined them, they were able to quickly recruit a large army of seasoned mercenaries, and made the flight across the Great Eastern Sea the following spring. The invaders swiftly annexed the colonies in Horseshoe Bay, and within days had overwhelmed most of the nearby coastal villages and laid siege to Fillydelphia.

So began what is now known as the First Griffon War, the first major military conflict in Equestrian history. To say Equestria was ill-prepared for such an invasion would be an understatement. Of the three original tribes, only the Pegasi had ever maintained a professional standing army (the Earth-Ponies had relied on local militias, and the Unicorns had only ever maintained private knights and guards). In Equestria, this Pegasus Army had endured mostly out of tradition, but it had been in steady decline for well over a century. At the time of the invasion, the Pegasus Army numbered less than 6000 pegasus soldiers nationwide; the garrison at Fillydelphia numbered barely over 200. The siege of Fillydelphia lasted just over a day before the griffons poured into the city. The city’s inhabitants were rounded up, herded into the main square, and forced to submit to their new griffon overlords. Of the valiant garrison, a mere three pegasus soldiers escaped the city to warn Parliament of the sudden invasion. 

Incidentally, Parliament had just selected its Eleventh Triumvirate*, which included the commander of the Pegasus Army, General Stormfront. A proud Cloudsdale pegasus, Stormfront immediately saw in the war an opportunity to restore his army to its former glory, and rose vocally to the challenge of repelling the griffon invasion. Within the hour, Parliament had granted the Triumvirate (which is to say Stormfront) emergency powers to strike back at the griffons and liberate the east coast from their tyranny.

Stormfront’s first order was to recruit and train as many able-bodied pegasi as possible while the rest of the Pegasus Army moved to hold back the griffon onslaught. Fortunately, dissent had broken out among the griffon warlords over the lordship of Fillydelphia. As a result, the warlords had temporarily abandoned any pretense of a cooperative invasion, and took instead to raiding the countryside in disparate bands. The autumn of AE257 saw continuous skirmishes in the skies above the east coast, as the Pegasus Army moved to repeatedly counter the piecemeal griffon incursions. Only the onset of winter brought a temporary end to the fighting.

By the spring of AE258, fresh pegasus legions had been assembled and deployed to the front, but the griffons had also mended their alliance, and now drove north to Manehatten with a large force (estimates range between 20,000 and 30,000 griffon warriors). Stormfront responded by flying south with 9,600 pegasi, and laying a trap in the skies above a local wheatfield. The resulting Battle of Hayseed’s Field (the unfortunate farmer’s name was Hayseed) would be a textbook example of pegasus tactical acumen. Stormfront first divided his forces, ordering half to prepare a low-hanging rainstorm above the field and then form up to meet the griffon advance. When the griffons arrived, they naturally chose to avoid the unfavourable weather conditions and fly above the rainstorm instead, where they were swiftly met by the rest of Stormfront’s forces. While the battle raged above, the pegasi below used the storm as cover to flank the griffons from behind. After three bloody hours of fighting, the griffons broke out and retreated, and the pegasi claimed victory.

Unfortunately, Stormfront’s triumph came at a heavy cost. Though the enemy had been pushed back, fewer than 3000 of Stormfront’s original force were still in fighting condition, and it would be several months yet before the next wave of reinforcements could be mustered. Unable to mount an effective counterattack, the Pegasus Army was forced once more into a defensive war as the griffons made repeated attempts to advance inland. It wasn't until fresh legions arrived in mid-autumn that Stormfront was finally able to firmly hold the line.

Meanwhile, Stormfront also faced opposition on the home front. So far, the war had been fought exclusively by pegasus soldiers, and the other Triumviri, Cornbread the Honest and Baroness Beryl, felt that the other races should contribute to the defence of Equestria. Their opinion was echoed by a number of Stormfront’s junior officers, who wisely pointed out that while the griffons had plentiful access to reinforcements at home, the pegasi were slowly being stretched to their limit. Stormfront arrogantly refused to incorporate non-pegasi into his army, however, arguing that ground ponies had no business fighting "a war of flyers”. In response, several of these officers “resigned” and instead swore fealty directly to Equestria and its Parliament. These officers were promptly set to recruiting earth-ponies and unicorns alike into new Equestrian Militia, expressly trained to counter airborne attackers. The intent was to use these troops on the offensive in conjunction with pegasus attacks, forcing the griffons to divide their forces between both ground and air combat. It wasn't until AE259, however, that the Militia would finally see action.

The late winter of AE258 brought another costly victory for the Pegasus Army, this time in the skies over Rambling Rock Ridge. The griffons had attempted an all-out push to breach the pegasus lines, but were forced to take refuge on the ridge when a freak snow storm drifted in from the Everfree Forest. The pegasi quickly seized on this opportunity and fell upon the sheltering griffons in a brutal melee. Trapped between a literal rock and a proverbial hard place, the desperate griffons chose the hard place.The snowbound fighting was taxing for both sides, and once again, the griffon offensive was broken at the cost of over 5000 pegasus lives.

Again in desperate need of reinforcements, Stormfront reluctantly agreed to combine his forces with the Equestrian Militia to launch a counter-offensive on the griffon-held east coast. By all accounts, the Militia performed their function admirably. As predicted, the Griffon warlords had neither the numbers nor the tactics to effectively contest the skies and defend their ground holdings at the same time, and soon the griffon forces were in full retreat across the east coast. Fillydelphia was liberated in early spring, and by mid-summer, only Horseshoe Bay remained under the warlords’ control.

As fate would have it, the newly-vindicated Militia would yet face their first true test before the war was out. Stormfront’s intent was to completely surround Horseshoe Bay by land, hoping to force a surrender rather than commit to a costly assault. Unfortunately, the move to surround the bay was met with almost continuous counterattacks by the griffons, often forcing the pony ground forces to advance alone while their flyers mopped up. So it was that one battalion was caught out in the open by a massive griffon ambush. The earth-ponies quickly reacted by drawing back into a tight circle, thrusting their long spears out for defence while the unicorns in the centre filled the sky with magic missiles. The surprise attack quickly became a complete debacle, and by the time pegasus reinforcements arrived, the humiliated griffons were already in full retreat. This surprising skirmish was promptly dubbed the Battle of Horseshoe Bay, and was jubilantly celebrated in every town and city in Equestria (except Cloudsdale).

Realising they were facing defeat, the surviving warlords fled back across the Great Eastern Sea. Many of the griffon colonists followed, fearing retribution at the hooves of the victorious ponies. On the eve of the autumn equinox, AE259, Stormfront marched his troops into Horseshoe Bay, annexed the griffon colonies, and declared victory. After two years of desperate fighting, Equestria had prevailed.

Almost immediately, the remaining griffons of Horseshoe Bay sent envoys to Parliament, requesting to swear fealty to Equestria and seek the protection of the Unity Act.** Though Stormfront was reluctant, Cornbread and Beryl accepted their request, and on Hearth’s Warming Eve, nearly 9000 griffons, young and old, became gracious citizens of Equestria.

In AE261, Parliament oversaw the formation of a new and innovative Equestrian Army, firmly establishing the modern Equestrian military tradition of pegasus flyers, unicorn battlemages, and earth-pony rangers, heavily supplemented by a reserve militia. Though Equestria’s military has gone through numerous incarnations over the centuries, the First Griffon War will always be remembered as a vital chapter in pony history.

*Eleventh Triumvirate (AE257-299): Cornbread the Honest, Baroness Beryl, General Stormfront.

**The Unity Act had been amended in AE132 to include all sapient races under Equestrian governance. Any sapient creature living as an Equestrian citizen is thus protected from any and all forms of social and cultural discrimination.