Several minutes after the princess had come to my cell, I’d been taken to an interrogation room, this one was a little larger than the others I’d been in, and empty. All my questions on the way had been ignored, and when I’d sat down in the hallway and refused to cooperate, I’d just been dragged. When we got to the room, I was dumped in the middle on my face.
Standing up, I looked around. The guards had taken up positions around and facing me, but otherwise did nothing else. They were all still armed with their spears, which I found odd. I guess it was just for intimidation. Celestia was currently absent, having left us saying she’d be back soon.
“So when is someone going to tell me what happened?” I asked no one in particular.
“When it becomes pertinent for you to know.” Steel answered.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, which had the consequence of dragging the other arm along, thanks to the shackles.
“Why can’t you just tell me?”
“I already answered that.”
Ass. “I bet you just don’t know,” I said, trying to get some kind of response. It didn’t work.
Since I wasn’t going to get anything out of them, I started thinking about what the guys could have possibly done to put me in this position. Almost unconsciously, I started pacing. This got an annoyed huff out of Stormfront, but I ignored him. Given our current orders, I couldn’t imagine anyone doing anything too crazy. Either something’s changed since I got caught, or someone violated those orders and fucked everyone else. I doubt that’s the case, but if it is… what did they do? If someone was willing to disobey those orders, what else would they be willing to do?
I heard the door open behind me and spun to see Princess Celestia walking in. Her expression hadn’t changed, still passive, betraying nothing. She said nothing as she stopped between Heartmender and the other unicorn, Private Plane, and stared at me.
After an uncomfortable amount of time passed, I finally broke the silence. “Are you just going to stare at me, or is there actually a reason behind all this?” I gestured to the room in general as I asked.
A few seconds passed before Celestia answered, “There is, of course, a reason, and you will see it soon enough, but you will have wait till everyone is present first.”
Seriously… “Well, while we’re just standing around, why don’t you tell me what happened?”
I heard one of the guards behind me sigh, but Celestia gave no reaction. I thought she was going to give me a similar answer that I’d gotten from Steel, or just ignore me, but the princess did neither.
“Since you are likely keep asking, as you have been, I will just tell you and save us the ongoing headache.”
I don’t know if it was intentional, but I could hear an edge in Celestia’s voice. Rather than say anything, I just waited for her to continue.
“About an hour ago, I received word that your allies killed five of my ponies… they were civilians.”
I stood there blinking for a moment, processing what I’d just been told. It didn’t take long for me to come to a conclusion.
“You’re lying.”
The princess slowly approached, stopping out of arm's reach and looking down at me. “And what, Corporal, makes you think that?”
I ignored Celestia’s accusatory glare as I answered, “We don’t kill civilians. It’s one of our rules.”
“I have five dead ponies that say one or more of your friends do not follow the rules.”
Frowning, I shook my head. “I still don’t believe you. That’s a one-way ticket to Leavenworth. Nobody would risk that. Besides, for all I know, this is just your latest attempt to get me to talk.”
Her eyes narrowing, Celestia said, “Believe what you want, Corporal, but this has happened, and you are going tell me the location of your camp, so that we might remove the lot of you from Equestria, and punish those responsible.”
Either the princess was doing an excellent job of acting, or someone had actually killed civilians, because I found myself second-guessing my last argument. Before I could come up with another counter-argument, the door opened again. This time, it was Princess Luna who came through. I heard something in the hallway, and Tovey, restrained like me, was magically thrown into the room a few moments later. A lone unicorn guard entered, lifted Tovey once again in his magic, and followed behind Luna.
“This one puts up more of a fight than the Corporal.” Luna said as she joined Celestia. “I wonder why that is,” she mused, directing her attention to me.
“Because I’m lazy and don’t like wasting my energy on something pointless.” I said, waving a hand dismissively and watching Tovey struggle uselessly in the magical grip that held him.
When the guard reached us, he dropped Tovey, bowed to the princesses, then left, closing the door behind him. Tovey got to his feet and made to take a step forward, but was stopped by a spearhead being shoved toward him. Taking a step back, the private looked around angrily.
“Welcome back.”
His gaze locked on me as soon as I spoke. “Fuck you.”
I’ve had enough of that shit. Quickly reaching out, I smacked Tovey upside the head. The action was made clumsy thanks to my shackles forcing me to move both arms. Tovey flinched when I moved, but wasn’t quick enough to stop me, or avoid the blow.
“Wha–
“Shut the fuck up, Private.” I interrupted. “I told you what would happen.”
“Enough.” Celestia said, moving between us, which forced me to take a step back. “You weren’t brought here to bicker, and now that you’re both here, we can begin.”
The feeling of dread from earlier returned, brought on by the uncharacteristically dark tone the princess’s voice had taken. Lieutenant Steel and Sergeant Stormfront moved up from behind, and forced me back a few steps with their spears as Celestia strode a few steps away, then turned back. She was joined by Luna a few moments later. I glanced over at Tovey, and saw him looking back at me, his anger gone, replaced with uncertainty.
“Now,” Celestia began, drawing my attention back to her, “I’ll give you one last chance to simply tell us what we want to know, and avoid this unpleasantness.”
I didn’t even have to think about it.
“I’m gonna go with ‘no’,” I said, giving them a defiant look.
Celestia sighed, and Luna shook her head.
“As expected from you, Corporal.” Celestia said, before addressing Tovey. “And what do you say?”
I looked back to the private. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him break and start talking right then, but it didn’t happen. After a few moments of silence, he responded with a shaky, “I–I won’t tell you.” When he looked to me, I gave him a nod. Regardless of how I felt, he’d made the right choice, and we were in this together.
“Very well. You brought this on yourselves.”
My gaze returning to the sisters, I gave a humorless laugh. “Go ahead, read my mind. You’ll be scarred for life.”
Celestia gave me an emotionless stare, while Luna almost looked like she pitied me.
“That will be saved as a last resort… should you make it that far. We have something else in mind, something you’re more likely to respond to.”
“Whatever it is, it won’t work. Do your worst, I can take it,” I challenged. I may have sounded confident, but that was for Tovey’s benefit. Internally, I was on the verge of panic. I had no clue what they had in mind, and I honestly didn’t know if I could take whatever it was.
“Knowing you, Corporal Duran, you would just resist till you are no longer able to respond,” Celestia said, her gaze hardening, “but I believe I can break you without even touching you.”
What is she planning? I got my answer a second later when Celestia’s horn ignited, and a bolt shot from her horn, filling the room with a crackling sound. The bolt hit Tovey in the chest, sending him to his knees, his face contorting in pain as he screamed.
I flinched away from Tovey and the magic. “Son of a bitch!”
The crackling of electricity faded several seconds after the bolt did. Tovey fell forward to his hands, gasping. When that happened, I tried to go to Tovey, to help him somehow, but was blocked by the spears of Steel of Stormfront.
“Tovey, talk to me!”
I shoved the spears aside, but they stuck them right back into my face. When I continued trying to get past them, Steel just pushed me back with his magic. Because I wasn’t expecting it, and the fact that he was using magic, I stumbled backwards and lost my balance. Landing on my back, I sat up quickly.
“Bastard!”
“You are quite devoted to your country, and your fellow soldiers, Corporal." Celestia commented. "An admirable trait indeed, but it will not help you now.”
“Fuck you!” I yelled, getting to my feet, glaring at the princes.
“That is not what I wanted to hear.”
The crackling returned as the princess fired another bolt at Tovey. The private screamed again, and fell to his side. As he began writhing, I tried again to get to him. Heartmender and Plane had joined the other two now, and as I attempted to go around the lot of them, Steel just picked me up and held me in his magic. Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! With no way to break free, all I could do was try to keep my panic in check, and watch as Tovey was tortured.
“God damn it, leave him alone!”
When she stopped this time, Celestia said, “Let him through.”
I was dropped, and scrambled away from the guards. When I’d collected myself, I moved to Tovey as fast as I could. He wasn’t moving when I knelt next to him. A quick check showed he was still breathing, but his pulse was weak.
I gave him a gentle shake. “Tovey! Tovey, talk to me!”
Tovey coughed, then groaned in response. Without opening his eyes, he weakly said, “D–Duran, I c–can’t take it… please... let’s j–just... just tell…” The private went limp before he finished.
“Tovey? Tovey!”
I tried a couple different ways to get some kind of response from him, but got nothing.
“Fuck!”
Another check told me he wasn’t dead, just unconscious.
“I thought he would last longer than that.” Celestia commented, nonchalantly. “I suppose I will have to deal with you directly after all.”
“BITCH!”
In one motion, I stood and charged the princess. I didn’t know what I would do, I just knew that I wanted to snap her horn off her head. It didn’t matter in the end, since I never got close. I was blown off my feet by a burst of magic from Luna. Landing at the hooves of the guards, I rolled to my stomach and rose to my feet again. As I rose, the four of them surrounded me, each one directing their spears at my upper torso to prevent me from moving. In response to that, I grabbed the spear pointing at my chest and pushed it to the right, then kicked its owner —which happened to be Stormfront— in the barrel, where he had no armor. The pegasus’ wings flared in surprise, and he staggered back, holding a foreleg to the area I’d hit. This allowed me to get control of his spear. As soon as I did, I was encased again in the green glow of Steel’s magic. The spear was ripped from my hands by Plane, and returned to Stormfront once he’d recovered. I knew everything I’d been trying to do was pointless, and contradicted what I’d said earlier, but I was too pissed to care.
“So the Corporal does have fight in him.” Luna commented, speaking up for the first time since she’d entered.
“Come over here and I’ll show you just how much fight I’ve got!” That probably wasn’t very threatening, considering I was currently helpless, and Luna would certainly have no problem dealing with me if she wanted.
“Release him. Tend to the other one, Sergeant. See that he survives.” Celestia ordered, stepping forward. I heard Heartmender move to where Tovey was as I was released. Addressing me, the princess continued, “I would save that energy if I were you. You are going to need it.”
Looking up, I fixed Celestia with a searing glare. “I already told you to do your worst and if you think I’ll tell you anything after what you did to Tovey, you’re out of your fucking mind!”
The princess gave no discernible reaction. “We will see if you still feel that way in a few moments.” As soon as she finished talking, Celestia hit me with the same thing she’d used on Tovey. The instant the bolt hit me, my world exploded with pain. Immediately, my eyes clenched shut, and moments later I faintly registered an impact on my right side as I hit the floor. I don’t know how long the princess hit me with that thing. It couldn’t have been more than six or seven seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Somehow, I managed not to scream, though why is a mystery.
When the pain finally ended, I let out a long, ragged gasp as my whole body throbbed and twitched. As I lay there, I was vaguely aware of the sound of hoofsteps next to me. When I finally opened my eyes, I was looking at Celestia’s gold-clad hooves. Slowly, I turned my head to look up at her. She was once again wearing her neutral mask, hiding any emotion.
“Would you like to reconsider your position, Corporal?” Celestia asked when she saw me looking at her.
Fighting through the ache, I rolled left, and got into a kneeling position. After a break to catch my breath, I shakily got to my feet. I wavered, but stayed upright, and turned to face Celestia.
Looking her in the eye, I finally answered the princess’s question. “No.”
“Consider the consequences of your choice, Corporal,” Luna said, approaching. “Your decision only leads you to more pain and suffering.” She stopped beside her sister. “Tell us where the rest of your forces are, and the pain stops.”
Slowly, I looked to Luna. “I will not betray my friends.” In that moment, I made another decision that I wouldn’t change either. “I would rather die.”
Luna’s look turned to one of pity. “We do not wish for this any more than you do. Please reconsider!”
“No.”
Celestia made a sound of exasperation, then leaned towards me. “What is it that drives you, Jaden Duran, pushes you to endure all that you have?” she asked. “Are you truly this loyal? Perhaps are you simply too stubborn for your own good, or maybe are you just doing this to spite us at this point? I honestly cannot tell.”
All of the above. I didn’t answer the question, and I couldn’t muster the energy to openly act defiant anymore, so I just stared off into the space between the two sisters.
“I’m only going to ask one more time. Where is your camp located?”
“Duran, Jaden. Corporal. 523–”
Celestia zapped me again before I finished. I think I blacked out this time, because the next thing I knew, I was on my side again. Since it hurt too much to do anything now, I just lay there with my eyes closed. I must have screamed that time, because my throat was scratchy and sore. My mind felt sluggish, and at this point, I started to wish the princess would just kill me so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything again. I’d go home a hero, provided the ponies had the decency to return my body after everything was said and done, because really, it was only a matter of time till they found the camp.
“He’s conscious.” It took a second, but I recognized the speaker as Heartmender.
“Good, it is time we ended this.” That was Celestia. It sounded like she was behind me.
Against my better judgement, I cracked open an eye. Initially, I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, but it became clear that I was looking at the hooves of all my guards. I must have done a lot of flailing around if I was facing them. Closing my eye, I waited for whatever was going to happen to happen.
“Sister, stop! If you try to read the Corporal’s mind in his current condition, he won’t survive!”
“How else do you suggest that we get the information, then, Luna? He’s already proven he won’t tell us!”
“I… I do not know… But we shouldn’t resort to killing him.”
“And what about our ponies? If we’d just read his mind from the beginning, they would still be alive!”
“This is true, but we agreed we would avoid doing that, and the Corporal’s death now will not bring them back. Furthermore, there is no guarantee, in his current state, that he will survive long enough for us to retrieve the information.” I heard hoofsteps followed by more sounds that I couldn’t identify. “I believe our best course of action is to wait till he recovers, then extract what we want, if you still believe we should.”
There was a long pause then I heard Celestia give a long sigh. “You’re right, Luna. I was letting my emotions control my actions.”
It would have been nice if they’d come to that conclusion before they’d tortured us. Groaning, I tried to roll to my back. The pain was incredible, and almost didn’t make it.
“Easy, Corporal. You shouldn’t try to move.”
Heartmender’s voice was accompanied by a hoof being placed on my chest and the sound of a horn igniting. When I tried to squirm away, which only succeeded in bringing me more pain, the pressure from the hoof increased.
“Just relax, Duran, I’m going to help you.”
Despite everything my instincts were telling me, I relaxed, and the pressure from Heartmender’s hoof lessened. An odd sensation washed over me, and after a few moments I began to feel better, but the change was nearly imperceptible.
“How is he?” Celestia asked.
“He’ll need to spend a lot of time horizontal, but he’ll recover, Princess.”
“Why do you care? You’re the one who did this to me.” Talking hurt, but not enough to stop me.
“I took no pleasure from what I did.”
“Whatever. I just wish you ponies would make up your minds. I don’t think I’ll survive the next time.”
“I–”
The door slamming open interrupted Celestia’s response. Someone, a guard most likely, came galloping over.
“Princess! We found them!”
With the exception of the newcomer’s heavy breathing and the sound of Heartmender’s magic, the room fell into a stunned silence for several seconds.
Luna spoke first. “You found the humans? Where?!”
“They were hiding at the base of the Unicorn Mountain Range, using caves to stay out of sight.”
I knew it was inevitable, but that didn’t mean I was ready for it to happen. Sighing in defeat, I muttered a faint, “God damn it.”
“That would explain why we couldn’t find them.” Celestia was saying. “Whenever we found one of their patrols, they were out in the woods, so we thought that was where they were. We were searching in the wrong place… But now the search is over. Lieutenant!”
I heard Steel snap to attention. “Yes, Princess?”
“Go inform Captain Armor. Tell him I want a strike force ready, and in position to attack by tomorrow morning. Also, take Private Plane. I do not think you two will be needed to watch the Corporal any longer, and I want you to take part in the attack.”
“Yes, Princess. Let’s go, Plane… You too, Thunderhead.” Thunderhead must have been the name of the messenger.
“Right behind you, Sir.” The sound of three ponies leaving in a hurry filled the room.
Once they’d left, the room fell mostly silent again. Opening my eyes, I looked up at Heartmender, who was still using whatever spell on me, and still had his hoof on my chest. My instinct was still telling me to run, but I was in no condition to do so. Plus, after what I’d been through, and the recent news, I lacked the motivation to do anything.
When he saw me looking, the unicorn gave me a sad smile. “At least this war is almost over, right?”
I just looked away.
“Take the Corporal to the infirmary when you feel you can do so.” I heard the princesses start towards the door.
“Yes, Princess. Shouldn’t be much longer.”
As the sisters left, I couldn’t help but feel I was forgetting something. After a minute, I realized what it was.
“What about Tovey?”
“He’s stable, but unconscious.” Heartmender answered. “I’m going to get you to a point where you can walk, then I’ll carry him.”
“Will he be okay?”
“In time.”
Closing my eyes, sighed. As much as it sucked to admit, Heartmender was right. This war, regardless of the outcome, was almost over. Soon, I’d be on way home. Acknowledging that didn’t bring me any happiness. The knowledge that our forces were about to be attacked and me being unable to do anything about it killed any enthusiasm before I could muster it. Lying there, waiting for Heartmender to finish what he was doing, I could only wonder how everything was going to turn out.
We really want to know how did the war happen and why the small number of human forces. Though I have my theory is that some kind experimental gone wrong and transported said forces and probably some scientist too. Their encounter with pony must have gone wrong
Hopefully, the humans are able to make it back to their own world without having to surrender. I have a hard time believing US soldiers would kill civilians, unless they mistook them for soldiers or some other case of misidentification happened. I'd rather die than part with my weapons and personal effects.
Celestia has just lost all credibility for justice. That was torture, nothing but. I hope her forces get trashed in the battle to come.
6408900 There is. I know. I've done the sere training and know the rules of being a pow. And I have evaded in a 25 below snowfest on Washington state years ago. Even though they were or instructors, I did NOT want to get captured.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the civilians were killed by ponies that framed the humans. Specifically to get the Princesses to take the war seriously. It could have even been those that were let go following dealing with the protagonist. Let's see the protagonist blamed for that, too.
While humans could have done it, it would have been a counterproductive move, so I doubt they did.
I can't blame him for thinking that. I'm increasingly convinced Celestia crying was a mind game.
There is no reason for her to be doing this. She could just Want it Need it something and be done with it. And she's clearly not going to be morally inhibited given that she's torturing him.
Again, I'm not seeing the need for this. It torture for torture's sake.
Given that the human forces were trying pretty hard to hide, I'm going to guess they don't exactly have the ability to fend off attackers...
And there goes any hope of the royals being held in a good light after the war.
Gotta say that I admire Duran's willingness to protect his allies at the cost of enduring torture and, while I still hate Tovey's guts, I regained a bit of respect for him because he didn't betray his team. Still, the news that civilians were supposedly killed by his team and that the humans were found make Duran's trials and sufferings as a prisoner seem empty. Then again, scenarios like that happen in war stories regardless if the characters are good or bad, so I admit that it's a good plot development. Regardless, I think that the story is about to reach its conclusion in a few chapters, so I say that it's been an entertaining ride, even if a few plot points (the reason for the war, Duran's motivations for fighting, and Tovey's reason for joining the war despite being a coward most of the time) are purposely left unanswered.
Why on earth would soldiers deliberately make things worse by killing civilians? Humans aren't perfect sure but these don't seem like the bad kind of soldiers.
6515661
Eyepp, I'm of the same mind. The ponies tried really hard at first to present themselves as the more civilized group, but that broke down rather fast.
Damn son...
6515674 To be fair, we don't know anything about the 'other' soldiers beyond what he himself knows.
6515671
Five dead civilians says that the humans will not be look'in much better.
6515617
I'm pretty sure the story explained that the humans where in contact with the ponies for a year before things went south.
6515674
It happens in the war. A soldier breaks down or looks for some payback for the pain of losing a buddy. It just takes one soldier to do it. If humans do that to another humans, I guess it would be a lot more easier to do such things to an "animal". It won't matter how sapient & evolved it is, it's just an animal & ponies in the end look more like animals than humans, ergo more easier to demonize.
Raise your hand and yell I if you want to slowly rip off Celestia's limbs and when her limbs are gone repeatedly kick her till death finds her!
And then it turns out that there is no greater conspiracy. That the humans truly did f*** up as folk tend to do.
Frankly, me too. They behave like people with bipolar disorder.
I have no doubt after the human base has been taken, Celestia will ask the Corporal to be their friend.
I feel like the civilians were looking for the soldiers.
Elements of harmony may of come looking for them.
6515661
I see it more as they don't want a confrontation because they have limited supplies, not that they lack the ability to do so.
It seems things will get serious now.
What am I telling? They got serious long ago.
Human vs. Ponies - The Final Battle
Choose your side!
That's really an cliffhanger of an cliffhanger.
Can the humans stand the force of an entire pony-army include (probably) two very pissed Alicorn-princesses?
What will happen to Duran and Tovey?
Will they ever get home? Will they make responsible for give away the location of the base?
And why am I asking questions instead congratulate the author and wait for the next chapter?
6515638 It happens, eventually it happen. I'm not talking the accidental killing of civilians because of an errant bomb or misidentification of a target (which some in the media that are against the war love to report for shock purposes). I'm referring soldiers that went their way to kill a civilian. Like I said earlier to someone else, it could be a soldier who simply lost it or want payback for the loss of a fellow soldier. Many reason why it would happen.
It is a rare occurrence a US soldier will deliberate murder a civilian, but in the end it does happen. US soldiers do act honorably & fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities, & in some cases went their way to avoid civilian casualties. But unfortunately nothing is perfect. It just takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.
Look at for example Tovey, ran off with the radio on his back when our protagonist tried to communicate to his superiors of the approaching danger, it could be another soldier worse then Tovey. Was the killing accidental, a panicked soldier that mistook the 5 ponies as an enemy patrol? Or was it a deliberate act by a soldier that just lost it & let his anger take the better of him?
Whatever the reason, it was an event Celestia was trying to prevent from occurring & she was successful until now. Soldiers died but not civilians. Obviously she doesn't care the reasons why it happened, all it matters to her is that 5 innocents ponies were killed. And I fill sorry for Duran, trying to do what is best & is someone else who is making things worse.
Cannot wait the next chapter, & read what happened & what will happen.
Attacking civvies? Sorry boyos but that's just not cricket.
6515697 If they were any of the mane six I don't count them as civilians. More like commanders.
Damn that cliffhanger, damn it.
I hope the humans wins against the strike force or at least go down like the 300 Spartans in glorious combat.
BTW, great chapter
Maybe a terror group made it through to equestria?
6515987
Being commanders implies being a part of the military, with all the training and ceremony that it implies. The show makes it clear that they (with the possible exception of twilight and rainbow) are not. Even if they wield the rainbow power, they would still be considered civilian assets.
Now I don't know how big of a force would be send against the Humans. But if we do get a say like 20-1 battle then I have a feeling this song would fit it.
Either that or I just put that song there cause I always wanted to just post a sabaton song randomly at one point in time on one of my favorite stories.
6515968 Ponies will win the battle after taking enormous casualties. Every human will go the way of the Spartans at Thermopylae and the US will unleash hell upon Equestria.
6515968
6516090
I think she already has.
6516184 I would think this would also work but not as well. Also 40-1 is what got me hooked to Sabaton so brownie points to you.
6516290 That would work too they would only need to change it from 3 to 30...if that's that size of the force of course. The song that got me hooked on Sabaton was "Price of a mile." Also thank you good sir. Because you just reminded me of another one that would actually fit perfectly.
So thanks for that fellow sabaton fan. lol
God I need to know what happens next.
great job, please hurry!
Great chapter! Can hardly wait for the next one.
I don't think the princesses realize the bag of worms they're about to unleash.
6516589 Aye. Torture is inexcusable in the eyes of their enemies, and that is what they did counts as. The current force may or may not be destroyed, but more are coming.
As far as I'm concerned, the princesses of this story can burn.
This seems somewhat illogical, she explained in chapter 9 that mind-altering magic wasn't inherently harmful, and was only dangerous if the wielder was unskilled or ment to cause harm. So instead of doing something unethical (but safe) she instead decides to do something even more unethical and dangerous (life threatening torture). Reasons?
Not sure why so many are anti-ponies in this story, I mean Ponies are basically Americans in pony form.
6516997 You lot seem ignorant....
It's fucking victor's justice....No one is right or wrong in a war...Geneva convention can go fuck themselves most of the time during war...You only know about the violation of those rules because the sides needed more support or some hackers found out and later executed quietly or branded traitor for spreading that.
And I don't really care about the torture right now because they are fucking light compare to what I known of, heard stories about, and that the fact that it is the humans that are invading the ponies.
And if the human win...Sorry to say but the ponies most likely will become slaves, all kind of slaves and maybe even meat. And their excuse? They are animals and not humans.
Which most commenters here seem to agree...They are only animal, human are superior.
What is wrong with the world?
6515982 Yeah. I understand. Still, I will assume it was an accident until further evidence comes to light. In any case. I refuse to renounce my loyalty to the Union.
6516090 Right
6517134 Why are you saying that they are like Americans? I hate when people start saying crap like this, I see it to much. If you want a better comparison then just say that they are like us Humans. Because in the end I have another question to ask. What Human nation hasn't done crap? In the end it just shows how human-like they are rather then nation-like.
...I get into rants to much. Anyway you have a nice day.
That was an extraordinarily ineffective method of interrogation. Intense pain over a short amount of time isn't going to break someone like something drawn out would. And those mind magics would have been the best thing to pull out at the beginning of the interrogation. Then there's the deal with letting one of them fall unconscious--Celestia should have tortured one of them and forced the other to watch, keeping the tortured one conscious so it wouldn't be cut short. Or better yet, just use illusion magic--that way she could do the "confess or we keep torturing your friend" trick on both of them at once.
6515674 Look at any war. Even the more "benevolent" side of any conflict will rack up quite a few civilian deaths, and not just from collateral damage. You've got these people trapped in another world, being hunted down, and are almost certain to be found soon enough. There'll be a lot of pent-up anger there, and the only ones to take it out on are ponies--and they're trying to avoid the military.
One of the biggest reasons why humans can commit atrocities on one another is because we dehumanize one another, don't recognize the other side as "people". Ponies aren't human in the first place, and don't even use the word people. Frankly, it's a near-perfect set-up for war crimes to bust out.
6516997 Practicality trumps morality. With only a few instances of torture (and with civilian casualties as a ready excuse), unless there were already intentions for a longer conflict then the Earth governments are extremely unlikely to draw out conflict over a couple of soldiers. War is expensive and exacts a great toll on the nation involved--unless there's a larger threat to them or a bigger prize to the fight, it just isn't worth it. The most the torture of two people would get would be demands for reparations, an apology, and maybe the establishment of some trade sanctions (if contact between Equestria and Earth continues at all).
6517285 LOL!
Like I said, don't know what happened. Made some conjectures, maybe an accident, maybe it was deliberate. As always trying to guess. In the end I can do but wait for the next chapter. And I hope it doesn't take long.
6517263 And you seem discourteous.
There is most definitely right and wrong in war, though it is often ignored. In any case, Celestia has guaranteed by her actions that the war will not be over soon, no matter the outcome of this coming battle.
The only way Celestia can truly assure no word ever gets out is by killing all prisoners, which will cause its own issues in consequence, and in any case I doubt she has the nerve to do that.
6517401 WWI, Territory war...People often forgot that a large portion of the soldiers are from the colonies that they oppressed with the promise of free and better life if they join the war which wasn't true.
WWII, ideals and politicians's war. Started by politicians wanting to release Hitler so he could eliminate the Russians...He fight the Russians alright, but he also fight the rest of the world.
They let Hitler take the smaller nations in hope he won't fight them and look where that got them...
There are over 40 nations fighting in the war? Most of those 40 nations not including the big players are all the opressed colonies.
It is not at all good vs evil but a fight for the lesser of the evils and the shits that they had done during the war never really got out because victor's justice. Anyway, those are just two notable example.
The crusade? Fuck it, that is not at all what God would have wanted. They violated the third commandment by doing that shit...Forcing religion down people throat and if they don't want it, die...
The war in the 300 movie? The Persian have much better human's right and equality then the Greek but then again, it is territory and power war.
The cold war? It is of a small part ideals but, mainly power, territory and control. The kind of shit both sides had done is deplorable.
Most war isn't some angel vs demon. They are all this guy want this and the other guy don't agree, they fight.
The aftermath is dependent on the 2 guys and their reasons that are in the fight.
In this. It seem like the politicians want the rich resources of Equestria and probably enslaved its inhabitan...And the Princesses don't agree.
I support the ponies whole heartly in this war because the consequence for Equestria would be bad if they lose and very much against my personal moral code.
6517401
The war won't be continued just because a few people were tortured. It wouldn't even continue if they were executed.
Sanctions, possibly (though I get the impression Celestia would gladly cut the worlds apart if she could, so it would have no effect), but not continuing the war or starting a new one. It wouldn't be worth it.
It just means that Celestia's ponies could be treated badly if they are captured. If they are or not is a 50-50 chance, really. America has a poor record for how it deals with PoWs lately.
6517520
It's a mistake to make assumptions like this, as the story has this entire time been hinting that things aren't as simple as they appear. Specifically with Celestia willing to torture before using mind reading magic. Her behavior is completely 180 degrees from when the interrogations began and she was reduced to tears. I think what we are observing is the deceptions wearing off, we automatically assume Celestia was genuine in her commentary about how the humans would be treated, but we can't know that. She might kill all of them in retaliation for civilian deaths, even if they didn't cause it.
We don't know what the situation is or who is being genuine or not. They've been two assassination attempts on the protagonist already and the guards dislike him greatly. That's not consistent with what you believe ponies to be like.
6517785 same for your line of thinking, really.
6517818
Did you even read my post? There is nothing for your reply to refer to.
6517905 Do you even think, bro?
No, seriously...Think deeply.
6517768 Wars have started, and carried on, for less. Wars have been fought over buckets.
I sort of wish that were a joke. It isn't.
That said, with modern human leadership, you may well be correct.
6517314
Ah, I did write they were American in a basic sense, and didn't mean the torture and stuff. But I can see how that could get interpreted because of my earlier rant. I could have said Human but its not like the Ponies are fighting Mongolians.