Humanity and Ponykind

by Swordsmen

Finis

A familiar silence echoed throughout the room.

It wasn't a tense silence, nor was it a forced one. It was a silence that was somehow satisfying to hear. It would be any teacher's dream to have a classroom such as this one so incredibly devoid of sound, with so many students in it.

Even the teachers were silent, while everywhere else in the school, they kept shouting at their students on how to answer a question in an exam, or ordering them to remain silent while they spoke to them. That was their way of teaching their students.

But in this particular classroom, things were drastically different. The students did not need to hear anything from their teacher for the entirety of the session, nor did they have to ask questions. In fact, everyone there was sleeping in the classroom, all the while learning from the past, without a single spoken word.

The staff members on the school, who usually swept the corridors closest to that classroom, could be seen conversing among themselves on how silent, even eerie it was inside. They were far too used in hearing about the class' mischievous reputation of having terrible grades and being as loud and wearisome as any human could be.

They couldn't exactly complain, either. It was a most pleasant change from the norm, but they couldn't help but notice that fact.

Meanwhile inside of that classroom, everyone was still in deep slumber. Indeed, it was a correct statement make, but there was also another individual who, by current norms, did not count as a somebody. It was Professor Blaze, a pony who suddenly came to these student's classroom, and taught them about the history of Equestria.

It might not look like it, but he was very much awake, albeit, deep in concentration. All the while, his horn glowed strongly, to the point of emitting considerable shadows on the furniture nearby, despite the windows being completely open to the outside. He would occasionally let out short, forceful puffs of air, in a manner that would be appropriate if the professor was very exhausted.

And with due observation, he was. His facial features were extremely sluggish, and somewhat in need of attending to. Below his closed eyes, he held long dark shadows, and only his white mane, completely unkempt and greasy-looking, served as contrast. The rest of his body, currently in a sitting position, was blue in color and somewhat malnourished, contrary to how he usually presented himself beforehand.

And then, he opened his eyes. Not too fast, nor too slow; Just at the right speed. He looked around the room with wide-open eyes, like if he had just seen something extremely upsetting. And then he blinked a couple of times, and stood up.

He seemed confused for a while, as if he didn't know where he was -- that he encountered himself in some obscure place he had never set foot before.

His expression returned to normal after a minute or two of looking around the room with avid curiosity. He realized that everyone else in the room was sleeping profoundly, to the point of even having one or two people snoring loudly. He sighed, and looked down at the floor, where his hooves were right now.

He tapped on the floor a couple of times, the noise echoing throughout the classroom. He tilted his head slightly, whilst he tapped. It seemed as if he had never experienced it in his life. Despite this odd behaviour, he lifted his head up, and turned around at the woman sleeping on the teacher's desk.

He approached her, and gently tapped her arm, pushing her over ever so slightly.

She would not wake up for another minute or two of periodic tapping and whispering calls. But when she did, it would be yet another long moment until she realized that she was on the classroom as well, in front of a crowd of sleeping students.

"Is everything alright with you?" Asked professor Blaze. Mrs. Annabel simply looked at him with an awed expression.

"Well, uh, yes, I am well... But you, you certainly do not, Blaze," She said, blinking several times at him.

"Drop it Annabel, it is not important right now. What matters, is that I have fulfilled my task here in your class," He said with a satisfied tone. He looked at the slumbering students again, and smirked.

"I don't think I would mind being here permanently, you know?" He commented, whilst he levitated some books from the teacher's desk in front of him. He examined the book he was looking for, 'Runes of the Past'. It had a very aged look about it; It was partially covered in dust, and its cover image and writings seem to have faded away considerably.

Gently opening it in a marked page, he read out the ancient runes and its strange symbols and imagery. Many stick figures, mostly resembling unicorns, were painted into it.

Mrs. Annabel had lifted herself up and walked, as if drunk, near professor Blaze, "So, is that the book, then?" She said, with her familiar ragged voice.

Blaze nodded, "I had to acquire special rights in order to get it... But I believe it was worth it, no?"

"If it was. But don't you think that it is tiring for you to do it for so many students?"

"Well, I can say that being tired is the least of my worries, right now. That is for sure," He said, looking at Mrs. Annabel with a curious look about him.

Before he let her say anything, "And don't worry about feeling dizzy right now," He returned his gaze towards the book, "It'll wear off before the session ends."

"That much I know, Blaze. But please don't over-exhaust yourself. We still have many things to do for next week,"

"Is it really worth it? It is a ridiculous plan, Annabel, and I have every reason to believe that you accepted simply out of curiosity of what would happen," He glanced at her with a serious look.

"And it might just as well give us a chance to finally complete it. The organization is well-funded and prepared for any draw-backs, why should we stop supporting them?"

"How many times have organizations like these ever gone back to their original goals and promises? We are taking a risk; Plain and simple,"

He shut the book close, and placed it atop the desk near the others. He sighed, and glanced at Mrs. Annabel with a concerned look.

"What if they do what they said they would, hm? I say this again, do the rewards really outnumber the risks we are about to take?"

"If it means helping those in need, then I see no reason to think twice about it," She said, crossing her arms.

He seemed disappointed, but did not press the matter further. Instead, he turned around from her, and asked, facing the students, "Aside from that, what did you think of the memory?"

She joined him by his side, "... It adds a new perspective on the First Contact, most likely,"

"And if I'm being honest, this should be a new way of teaching students history, don't you think?"

"Maybe... But the psychological effects differ from each person... What did it feel like when you woke up?"

"Like I had traveled the universe to replace another person entirely," She said, smiling to herself, "For a second, I thought I was still that Bernand, watching the blurred window and hearing those ponies speaking behind him,"

"And you, what did it feel like?"

"Blurry. I wasn't paying attention half the time. All of my thoughts were concentrated on keeping the memories playing for everyone... Though I did see glimpses of it, more so during moments of distress lived by Lavoie. When I woke up, I thought I could stand on two legs and walk like you do... It was a strange feeling,"

She did not comment. Her eyes were upon her students, who were still sleeping profoundly.

"Aren't you able to wake them up earlier? I am not want to have worried parents at my doorstep tomorrow,"

"Sorry, I can't help you right now. I did not have time to prepare that, most of it was dedicated to the memory spell itself. Fifteen minutes or so should do it for them, unless you're looking to wake each one up individually," He said, looking at her with a smirk.

"...You can start by grabbing those books over there, and positioning them near their faces. When you're ready, just give them a nice wake-me-up call and you're done. Easier done than said, huh?"

He showed her a warm smile, "Exactly,"

For a moment, the classroom fell silent again, with both teachers looking at the sleeping students with mild interest. They took notice of a few rays of sunshine through the windows, lighting up the darkened skies for a bit. After a while, it vanished, and was replaced by the same gloomy clouds that so commonly dotted the skies in London.

Professor Blazed yawned a few times, unable to contain his tiredness. Mrs. Annabel took notice of this, but did not say anything until professor Blaze spoke up, after another yawn.

"I'm afraid that the spell was too much for me, Annabel,"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean I cannot teach these students any more, at least not today."

"You look tired as well, no doubt in that," She commented, "But I understand, you did something not even I could've imagined you doing,"

"Thank you, I appreciate that," He said, lower in tone.

He slowly sat down on the floor and hanged his head low, apparently deep in thought. Mrs. Annabel, instead, sat on the teacher's desk, and watched over the students, and even professor Blaze for some time. According to the classroom's clock, it would be another seventeen minutes until the bell rang.

Mrs. Annabel stood up from her chair, and walked across the room to open up the windows a bit, as the air inside of the class was becoming a little heavy for her. As she turned around, she noticed professor Blaze with his books floating beside him, standing up, and slowly marching towards the exit.

"Blaze? Where are you going?" She asked, clearly worried.

"Home, for the time being," He said wearily.

"Already, Blaze...? Just a quarter hour and we can leave together for some tea or..." Her words died out once she looked at him in the eye.

He said nothing.

"Do you, really...?"

He nodded, simply.

He continued towards the door, tilted the handle with his aura, and slowly opened it with loud creaks coming from the wooden material. He looked back at her, and smiled. He was about to step off, until Mrs. Annabel called out for him once more.

"And Blaze, what should I tell the students if they ask about either you, or what happened next after that memory?"

He did not look at her straight away, instead getting distracted by a pair of teachers that passed through the corridors, greeting professor Blaze. When he turned, however, he answered, though forcefully:

"I will give you a summary, Annabel, because of the students. They deserve to know the truth," He closed the door behind him, and placed his belongings near a student's desk.

"In the aftermath of those events, the french commander reached a consensus with the ponies, and punished his men for their wrongdoings,"

"In the years that followed, the other empires found the ponies, and various events similar to this one happened for nearly a decade. After every empire had met the ponies, Princess Celestia, who had just suffered a great loss, her sister, mainly, sought to open relations with the empires, and invited them into her court,"

"There, border disputes erupted, with each side demanding something from the other. In the end, it only worsened things, and the fire pot had begun heating up, as they say," He said with a smile on his face.

"Many years later, industrialization began in Europe, and the ponies were becoming increasingly weaker in terms of technology and general knowledge. Celestia understood this issue, and decided to reform her entire kingdom, at which point, spanned most of its modern territories. Finally, by the late 19th century, Equestria was basically on par with the rest of the world, having humans serving as advisers on its courts, and helping to manage various aspects of the country,"

"In Nineteen-Fourteen, the United States, eager to find a reason to gain more territory and increase its influence on the world, decided to declare war on the central powers during the First World War. Due to events that not even I am sure of, Equestria was dragged on to the war, except not in the United State's side,"

"They were essentially fighting alone, Annabel. Think of that, three great powers; the United Kingdom, France and the United States, all against Equestria,"

"Hatred had built up among each nation's leaders, all of them hated ponykind in a way we cannot imagine today," Professor Blaze seemed wide awake at that moment, like he wasn't tired at all, "Everyone in the world saw ponies as these vile beings who could not understand anything, and were simply intelligent due to human interference,"

"This sort of thinking led to the creation of a new ideology called 'Human Fanaticism', that there could be only one sapient species in the world, and one only!"

"This was the main reason those Empires declared war on the ponies... Fortunately for ponykind, however, they managed to win the war," He said, in a much more tired, but satisfied way, "The ponies sacrificed a great number of their population in order to repel the more advanced tactics and weaponry used by the invading forces, but it was worth it in the end,"

"After countless lives lost, mount for almost Thirty-Six million ponies of all races, Equestria signed the treaty of Canterlot in Ninteen-Twenty Two, and ended the war with the Allied Powers. After the war had been fought, Equestria found out that it lost Forty-Six Percent of its total population... Equestria was in ruins, and there was no one willing to help them rebuild their nation,"

"The 20th century was later known as the Rebuilding Era in history books, never completely recovering from its effects until Two-Thousand-Ten, after having payed all of its debts for raw materials in order to rebuild their historic landmarks,"

"... And I can't see the United Nations being formed without Equestria, either. They were the ones who proposed it, who held that idea tightly until the global powers decided that it was indeed a valid effort undertaken by the ponies... I'm just glad they didn't enter the second World War, then ponies wouldn't exist today."

He had stopped talking. During his entire speech, more than fifteen minutes had passed, and most of the students were beginning to lazily wake up, presumably because of professor's Blaze over-sized summary. It was a fact that did not go unnoticed by Mrs. Annabel, who couldn't help but smile at him.

When he realized this, he went slightly pink, but regained composure almost immediately.

"And that was that, Annabel. You know I value truth above all else, no matter how much I rant about it,"

"I do." She said, still smiling.

"But let this be known,"

"Ponykind has suffered gravely in humanity's hands. Equestria will not do the same to humans, however. They will receive each and every human being into their homes as one of them, despite what happened in the past. And the only feasible way I can see this happening, is through the Bureaus,"

He looked at her, a tired smile on his lips.

"Until then, I will be waiting there for you, Annabel," He said with a nod.

And so, he lifted his books with his magical aura, and left the classroom with a soft thud from the wooden door.

None of the students were aware of anything said between professor Blaze and Mrs. Annabel. None of them knew, that for the next nine years, the world would change drastically, for the better or worse. All they knew, was that their teacher was left sobbing, and with tears streaming down her red cheeks.

Author's Note:

And that was Humanity and Ponykind! I hope you've enjoyed it so far, it really took all of my imagination to do it (not really).

This little idea here popped up during, unsurprisingly, my history session, whilst looking at the North American map in the colonial era. I also got inspired by other things, such as the Victoria 2 Equestria mod, Crusader Kings 2 MLP images (that I found about out of pure luck), Alternate Universe videos (mostly historical ones);

All these things, plus others I have not mentioned, all influenced me into creating this universe, a place where humans and ponies could realistically exist, as in, not a parallel universe merging with our own, no. Just by adding the actual ponies themselves, and readjusting the story as to fit in our world.

Many aspects of the ponies themselves have been adjusted to better fit into our world as well... But as to that, I'll leave it be until I have developed this world just enough to write another piece of it in the future.

And once again, thank you for reading this fanfic, it means a lot to me!

Comments

[Fireheart 1945]

Hmmm. Can't say I'm thrilled with the pro-conversion part of the story. Human beings sin - there is no mere human being who does not - but as the show allows us to see, so do ponies and the other species. Even the history shown here shows that ponies "conquered" native tribes by essentially claiming the land near and around them and trying to force them into their society, and then killing them when they resisted. The true root of the problem is sin, not humanity.

I did like the part at the end about Victoria 2 and Crusader Kings 2 (both of which I've played, to much enjoyment). I figured the map came from that, or something like it.

[Swordsmen]

7661076 Remember that both species have their flaws, that they are not perfect, and that they have their own view of things, The simple fact that the whole of Ponykind is under one flag, may dictate how ponies around the world (who do not have a nation of their own besides Equestria) think about certain things.

I may have hinted towards certain parts of history, told at the end by Blaze, were not public to everypony within Equestria, as he did not know what dragged Equestria into WW1.

Either way, it was clearly meant to be biased, apart from the memory. And the mention of Bureaus in this story serves as a simple warning to whats to come in the future.

Thank you for viewing my story. It means alot.

[Ericcartmanlikescheese]

[Fireheart 1945]

7661773 You are welcome, and I apologize if my words sounded like they were bashing you. I realize, through a lot of study, that history has a lot of what we'd call dark days, and in many if not most cases both parties have some fault in it.

May God go with you

[TheMistyJoke]

I like it... Twice.
Teaching with a new approach like this might be rude for most teachers but surely must be efficient. You made me feel it's possible to adapt this method IRL (if technology permit it).

Second though :
Personally, I doubt that a military (sergent ?) was able to react with a "matter of factly" thinking. Human cannot stand for now this level of mind breaking. Like it takes over 1 or 2 thousand years to accept that Earth is not a pizza.

So, I really like it !

[Swordsmen]

7673121 Appreciated!

[Comnislasher]

after having payed all of its debts for raw materials in order to rebuild their historic landmarks

Stop... Equestria won a first World War but for some reason pay for all damage caused by war? What?

[Swordsmen]

7685990 If you think about it, in real life, despite we knowing what caused the first World War, Germany was blamed for everything that happened during that period. It isn't much different here for Equestria, specially so when the two opposing sides are different species, hence higher chance of rivalry and/or intolerance.

And in the case of paying off their debts and the like, humans and ponies are different species, with different ways of thinking, viewing the world around them etc. And as such, Equestria most likely saw no need in foreign help, specially from humans, in order to rebuild their country. They would do so with their own wealth, population, materials and the sort.

[Comnislasher]

7686059
Germany lose, Equestria (as far as I understand) won. That the difference. If Equestria for some bizzare pony reason chose to not demand any reparation - OK. But why exactly winners pays reparation to losers?

[Swordsmen]

7686079 Well, sorry to say, but I can't spoil you all of the details right here. Maybe in the future you'll understand what really happened back then.

[Swordsmen]

7687447 I see, a quick question though, how do you find crashing to the ground? I'm not completely sure what you meant by that.

Anyhow, thank you for commenting, helps me get some perspective on the story.

[The Commandant]

Ooooooo! History! I'll have to read this soon!

[ssokolow]

This had so much potential to work well as its own thing with a feel similar to professionally published AU fiction but, every time you mention the bureaus, the house of cards collapses... and there was no need for them to be mentioned!

If you were to cut them out and replace the one "reason character X doesn't like ponies" point with some more mundane rationale, the story would get better. (It wouldn't be difficult. Humans are creatures of cognitive habit and learning to favour reason over emotion is a difficult and ongoing struggle. That's where prejudice comes from.)

I'll give it an upvote because I can mostly ignore it, but, because of that, it falls short of the standard of quality for my recommendations group.

[Swordsmen]

7703263 Every word you've written will have an impact on future projects I may write regarding this world. I shall attempt to strike a balance between the Conversion Bureaus and the world itself and its reality.

This story, however, serves as a prelude to a bigger, much in-depth story that I currently plan to publish within the next three months. The conversion bureau universe simply serves to justify some events that shall be played out within that story, it is not meant to be all that relevant in the grand scheme of things, but something that you might notice along the way once in a while.

Like I said, this is more of a prelude to that, and made with that in mind. Sorry if it did not reach your recommendations, but I do appreciate all forms of criticism, specially if they have valid reasons behind them.

[PeachClover]

Well that was weird. I hate "world history" because it's always about who killed who and never asking why. I liked the nod to the original TCB.

[karnazom]

8440650
Me too, liked!

[horses are fuckin weird]

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth...

[Pinki Naughty]

Woah, this feels like a waste of time.