This story is set in the Equestria at War mod for Hearts of Iron 4 (mod is available through Steam). It was written as a contest entry for the EaW subreddit's writing challenge. OCs appearing in the story are not my own but from the mod.

The Riverland ponies of the far east have never had any immortal princesses to protect and nurture them, and their griffin neighbors have rarely, if ever, been too friendly. Even among ponies there could be infighting and violence, and that was what made the River Coalition such a potent idea: a defensive pact tying all the Riverland nations together. Under the ambitious chairmare River Swirl this Coalition has grown even beyond its usual borders and gone triumphantly through numerous diplomatic challenges.

Yet then came the Reformisten; an army of murderous fanatics from the kingdom of Hellquill. Led by the pitiless monster Eisen Silberkrone, these griffons have come to wipe out the ponies and build their thousand year empire atop their graves. With the help of a terrible plague created to target the ponies and weaken them, they murder their way through the Riverlands unchallenged.

What they did not count on, however, was that River Swirl, a former student under Celestia herself, had reached out to other species as well as ponies, offering them the hoof of friendship. Now, in this dark moment, that friendship is tested.