My Little Pony: Griffonia
Chapter 3: Fires of Battle (Battle of Forthwind Field)
All the necessary preparations were made. The dark soil of the battlefield masked a trap. A gathered force of five thousand tercel and she-griffon warriors gathered to defend their homeland. Approaching from the south was the Equestrian Legions. Ten thousand ponies in iron and steel like a monster with teeth and claws of steel gladii and iron pila.
Chief Gerulf and Glond put on their helmets, and fastened the cheek pieces for battle with their wolfskin and bearskin cloaks over their backs and the tops of their helmets. Goda went up to her father's side as her she-griffon warriors were ready. She looked on at the larger and more imposing army of ponies on the march to quash this 'minor nuisance'.
"So many," Goda said, seeing the gathered army,
"Your fear is natural, just turn it toward purpose," said Glond,
"We all felt fear in our first battle," said Gerulf, patting Goda
"Use the hills as cover, and fly around their forces, and flank them," Chief Gerulf said to his daughter, Goda nodded and took her band of a few hundred she-griffon warriors. To the ponies, Griffonia is the very heart of darkness, and it's inhabitants are uncivilized savages with barbaric pagan customs. These ponies will learn underestimating is never wise
Leading the ponies was a decorated general named Furious, "Insolent catbirds...I want the heads of those chiefs on a silver plate," He snarled, and pointed his sword with his unicorn magic, "cohorts at the ready, Equestrians forward!" Chiefs Gerulf and Glond put on their helmets. Gerulf unsheathed his sword. Chief Glond clinched his spear for battle.
All the griffons cheered, and raised their weapons to the sky ready for battle. They roared mighty roars to the ponies in defiance. Furious was not phased by the smaller army standing before them on the other side of the rolling fields, "Other species should know when they are conquered," he said, looking on at the enemy they see as inferior to them.
Pony legionaries are taught to be ready for anything an enemy can throw at them. They marched toward the enemy in a 'Testudo' formation. The Chiefs agreed the best way to beat the formation was to insight panic. Chief Glond nodded to an archer griffon to make ready. With a fire arrow being drawn from his bow, the archer shot the arrow skyward.
The arrow fell back down, and struck the ground covered in oil and the trap was sprung. The ground covered in oil turned into a sea of flames, and the ponies were caught in it. The screams of pain echoed on the spring wind, causing the 'testudo' to fall apart, "Fire!" Gerulf yelled with a downward slash, and it began to rain down arrows from the archers
It was chaos in the ranks of ponies with ponies on fire, and then the arrows rained down on the ponies, "What in the name of Celestia?" General Furious said, having not seen tactics like that being used before. As the flames began to die down, the griffons attacked amid the burnt bodies of dead ponies. To the ponies, this is no battle, but a massacre.
"Sir, this is a disaster, we must flee!" said an officer in panic,
"No!" snapped Furious, "I will not bow to these filthy savages!"
"For Celestia! Ponies never surrender!" he called out to the chiefs,
Just then, a few ponies began to retreat despite Commander Furious's orders for them to stand their ground. Their gladii and pila quivered in the unicorn magic holding them as the griffon warriors were closing in on them. The air smelled of burnt flesh from the trap the cohorts of legionaries were led into. The might of Celestia's kingdom can be beaten.
Chiefs Glond and Gerulf fought bravely in battle as chiefs do, slaying every pony legionary that got in their way as they led the attack going down a hillside. Furious made many mistakes in his battle tactics. One is letting pride get the better of him, and refusing to have pegasus reinforcements as he said: "earth ponies and unicorns can handle this filth,"
Only a few hundred remained from the ten thousand that marched into Griffonian Territory from Cantorlot. The standard of the first legions that marched into battle was lost to the flames. The oil trap was not the only one that these griffon tribes had planned. The battle-cries of Goda, and her she-griffon warriors came from the back as they charged in.
Goda, dazzled in her zig-zagged lightning war paint on her black pelt and feathers, led an attack on the flanks of Furious's legions as they were taken by surprise. The last thing he saw as he turned was Goda's spatha which sliced off his head with one clean slash across the neck. Her warriors came armed with hewing spears, axes, and war clubs to fight
Spears ran their blades into pony flesh, axes and war clubs split and cracked open skulls with splattering blood and brains as offering and tribute to the war god on Forthwind Field. Within only a few hours, the battle was won. The griffons had captured the standard of the Equestrian Legions. Not a single pony was left alive. The griffons lost only two.
It was a lopsided victory for the griffons, and a lesson for the ponies to learn not to underestimate their foe. Though clans will grieve for the loss of their loved ones in battle, still they fought and brought honor to their families and their clans. Furious's severed head was placed on a sharpened stick, and the bodies left to the crows to warn all Equestrians.
"There is a lesson to be learned, Good Goda," said Gerulf,
"What would that be, father?" Goda asked curiously for his wisdom,
"That even a mighty empire...bleeds when struck," he stated,