Drats and curses! · 10:54pm Jan 10th, 2013
So the results from my last poll are in.
And all I can say is this...
So apparently, after evaluating the responses given... I seem to have lost my argument with my brother.
The idea was whether or not people would be receptive to the idea of an actual deity coexisting with us. I was in the camp that said "Yes, since we as a race are starved for concrete answers when it comes to spiritual matters." My brother disagreed, saying that any deity who decided to reveal themselves tangibly would wind up being dissected by the government. Then, I nearly died laughing as he pulled off a perfect vocal and facial imitation of this:
After swiftly recovering, we concluded we had reached an impasse. One which could only be settled by a gentlemen's wager. We donned our top hats, and shook upon the terms. The scenario was placed before you all, and we looked at your responses.
Because I am a gentlemen, and have lost the wager, I must honor the agreement. Thus... I relinquish to him the spoils of our wager.
*glares at all of them* Thanks for that, folks. Does anypony know and appreciate the value of one whole dollar in this day and age?
*he gives a wide grin and a wink* FORTUNATELY my brother is giving me a second chance. Double or nothing folks!
A portal to Equestria forms in the center to a well known area. For all intents and purposes, we're gonna say Times Square. Nopony has gone in or out of the portal since its sprung into existence and the only way we know it goes to Equestria is because the portal acts like a window; we can see Equestria and the ponies on the other side. Within the first hour, the US government and the UN, with no idea how to close the portal makes its intent clear to go through the portal and invade Equestria with the bulk of its forces and burn everything to the ground and commit genocide, under the belief that Equestria is a threat. Now, these are politicians so reasoning with them and explaining the situation isnt going to work. Therefor, a small group of bronies set up flimsy encampment and barricades to defend the gateway. They are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned.
What do you do?
CHALLENGE ROUND: The Mane Six come through the portal (same scenario) to beg for any sympathetic humans to help keep the armies away long enough so that Twilight can figure out how to undo the crazy spell she cast that created a portal to Equestria.
What do?
Raid ALL the gun stores, protect Equestria with life. Maybe the government will realize after seeing people up in arms to protect this alien world that it would be a bad idea to invade. Ah, who am I kidding?
I guess I would be blowing up some of our fine soldiers, no offense, then, if I survived, promptly start taking out the people who made such a violent and monstrous decision.
That's a silly damn decision for our Gov't to make. That said, follow Orders. Orders are for following, not questioning. And may Luna have mercy on my soul.
698206
We'd know it was Equestria because Pinkie Pie is doing this:
fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/014/9/c/pinkie_pie___4th_wall_by_cptofthefriendship-d4mdrlt.png
And not just sitting there. The bronies participating are fighting! Fighting for friendship! Harmony and all of her elements! THey fight for cupcakes and keep an innocent world innocent!
698245 *holds up a clipboard* Care to clarify good sir? Explain what is is you truly mean.
Er... what? Even from just what we've seen in the show, the ponies would definitely be capable of repelling most conventional weaponry. They'd by no means come out unscathed, but if Twilight were to, say, throw an Ursa Minor at the invaders, then that alone would probably neutralize a significant portion of any sort of invading force, human or otherwise. Any sort of missiles could probably caught by Twilight or another powerful unicorn, and those shields that we've seen would probably be fairly hard to breach, and can be set up quite quickly. Teleportation would make evacuation a breeze. Weather control means that lightning could be weaponized, which there really isn't any defense against. No action would really be needed.
But even if we're operating under the assumption of a more or less helpless Equestria, the US and UN both mobilizing so suddenly against a target in a heavily-populated area without any sort of large-scale invasion from the other side to instigate would be more than enough to get pretty much everyone else in the world to, if not mobilize against the UN and US, then to threaten to do so, which is not something that would be taken lightly at all by anyone. In that case, the only realistic course of action besides doing nothing would be to inform as many people and countries as possible of the situation, a task which would be quite easy then you consider that this is the sort of thing that every news organization across the globe would pounce on.
"sympathetic humans"
Whelp, she's screwed. The odds of her spawning in any place at all that would have any that wouldn't try and shoot first and ask questions later would be rather slim knowing how 'well' humans react to anything outside their comfort zone.
I'd advise her to bubble the portal in some way lest more victims come through or if it's possible just stay on her side and bubble the portal till a solution on their end would appear. Knowing Americans they would just shoot into the portal and others would just throw stuff in. Crazy church evangelists will claim it's a portal to the heavens or hell and 'true believers' and alien conspirators will try and jump in maybe.
Closing a portal can be tough, but with our planet constantly moving I'd surmise it wouldn't stay open too long. Course if it's a STARGATE sort of thing... Well, that'd be different. Slightly easier to fix too by destroying the mechanism. Though, there's no telling if any harmful effects like a reactor or some crazy defensive device would activate. WHO KNOWS.
Twilight, well, no humans will go through it for weeks most likely. They'd only send probs and crap to test the air purity and soil samples to try and see if it can support life. Then, they'd probably amass a way to invade and try and take over since they would see the animals there as unintelligent or trivial consequence to further our reach to the stars, etc.
Yeah, Twilight would have to work rather fast. I'd totally advise her of all the dangers and make sure the portal stay properly enclosed so nothing can get through like a possible nuke. She'd likely not like the thought of such a violent race but, I'd at least assure it would just be from a very corrupt society and government that cares more for keeping themselves in power, even if it meant sacrificing it's own people's welfare. But, that despite that, a rare few actually do try to help better the world, their influence is just not strong enough yet nor their resources plenty. But, more than millions of great upstanding people in the world do exist.
Hearing that would probably have her pity our kind, but the hope in her eyes that we may not be a completely lost cause after all would probably lead to a good report for the Princess or at least warrant further study into the Human race, that perhaps a time would come when the two sides can meet and learn from each other.
*shrug* All possible scenarios. Most however would lead to her being killed or her having to use offensive magics or escape till she uses up all her reserves.
I hope that entertained your poll enough, I skipped out on the last one. Humans, especially those in power, would never like to see their positions threatened and would be first to concoct a way to stealthily kill or abduct the Princesses, even if through food poisoning. Seeing how vulnerable Celestia is, it'd be a rather easy task to kill the sun goddess. Which would be hilarious in a way, as when Luna discovers of her sister's death, assuming she came to earth after Celestia, our apocalypse would come to the hooves of an enraged Lunar Goddess that would likely rain down her starry wrath open us or simply crash our moon into our planet and return to her world before it's impact.
Just saying.
The U.N. wants to destroy Equestria?
anyway, Besides waiting for the crazy bronies to zapped by a drone... I'd try to open people up to negotiations and non-genocide solutions to whatever problems wee causing this. You know, write letters, attend rallies. But seriously, why do the U.N. and America want to genocide the ponies? How could they do that if the entire nation was against it, even non bronies are against mass murder?!
Also, I'd send the President a link to Ponies Make War, that might stop'em.
First of all, wouldn't happen... this is AMERICA... but the UN I can't vouch for. In the case that the UN decided to do such an action, I highly doubt our roll over to the UN administration is going to do anything to prevent them from taking action.
In this case, I take all the guns ever made and shoot the hell out of those commies.
(If you really want me to believe that the US is about to do this, then the only thing stopping me from protecting the portal to Equestria is loyalty to the US, and any country willing to commit genocide doesn't deserve my loyalty, so I would definitely be out in Times Square)
Oh and uh.. the same thing if the Mane 6 were out and about... except I would probably have ripped a hole in the space time continuum to reach there
I'd defend Equestria, I really would. We're too damned trigger happy.
everyone would be arguing with each for way longer than she actually needs to close of the window, but for the sake of the discussion; if i think and have some kind of evidence that i can actually make a difference then yes, i would try to protect them...i don't think i would be able to walk over there by myself, but if a few of us did it then i could follow along.
Okay, challenge round answer: First and most serious order of business- SQUEE!
SWEET CELESTIA ITS TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND PINKIE AND... FLUTTERSHY!!!! hug everypony.
next, I'm not going to be fighting or killing anyone, but I could do something to distract them, like remind people of basic humanity and morals. I'd imagine planing a full scale invasion without any intelligence would take awhile, so twi won't need our help; she can fix all her problems in 22 minutes. Assumig the United States hasn't become some kind of dictatorship overnight, if I went there to protest peacfully I wouldn't be alone, people wouldn't stand for this.
I'd die to help the mane six. Just meeting them would mean I could die happy.
Um. Die like flies?
There have been a number of rather well publicized events in the past couple of decades in which extreamlly well armed and well provisioned individuals have gone up abasing the federal government. The big advantage that the Feds have is that they are always better armed and equipped than you are, which are pretty big advantages when it comes to a fight, and they always have more bodies than you. If the government thinks the hole represents an clear and present threat that warents and unrestrained military response, a few civilians and a baricade is not going to slow them down.
And if America really wanted to use full force to remove it as a threat, the military wouldn't bother with an invasion. They'd just load a few dozen cruise missiles with medium yield nuclear warheads and fly them through the hole. If we could put a tomahawk through a specific window in a specific building in Baghdad back in 1991, we can nail a portal with one in 2013, bystanders or no, and the W80 warhead you can load it with has an easy 200 kiloton yield. Sure, it's not a megaton city-buster, but you can use a number of them. The thing about these things is that a small group of civilian protestors can do nothing to even slow them down.
Die most likely.
Before that we would organize to get as much publicity about the Armed Invasion of Another World with genocidal intent.
We would appeal to every Human Rights, Animal Rights, Environmental, and/or spiritual group out there because this idea violates some tenet of their beliefs in one way or another. Hell, I'd invite the Libertarians if they agree to leave their guns behind.
Yeah, NO GUNS. Using violence to stop genicide would be like using oxy/accetaline gas to fight fire - theoretically you might eventually put the fire out, but everything is going to get so much worse before anything changes.
I said I'd be willing to die, let me clarify: as awesome as ponies are, I would be dying to prevent humanity from making yet another terrible mistake.
Bonus round: After recovering from a squee induced coma, I'd beg Twilight to drop a mountain on the Equestrian side of the gate. Failing that it would be wise to have Shining Armor on standby and some sort of reflection spell ready for the inevitable first salvo of weaponry.
The first thing the US government would do is quarantine the area. And then sent in an army of scientists.
And as we ALL know congress would sit back and talk, talk,talk. All the while doing nothing. And evwn if the mane six came through, four of them would have
cause to sweat. Slightly.
All in all the portal would be to small to consider a clear and present danger
I don't have a problem with the idea of dying to protect Equestria. My specific reaction depends on how far the military is going. If the military is going so far as to even kill peaceful protestors that are in their way, my plan of action would be to steal a tanker truck full of chemicals of the volatile and poisonous variety. The sort of thing that would take days or weeks to clean up and require evacuations up to a half mile of the spill site. Get said tanker truck in between the portal and the military and blow it up. Hopefully the ponies can get the portal closed before the military can get past the chemicals. Now I know this is a ridiculous plan and likely to be near suicidal, but the what if scenario is a tad ridiculous too. Oh, and my plan to avoid getting taken out by the chemical spill is to jump in the portal.
I blame action movies for this idea.
I live quite a distance away from New York so I wouldn't be able to get there in time to do anything. Assuming I was there and could act to influence events, however, hm.
If it's just me confronted with this portal, I would be extremely wary of it. I know that Equestria shouldn't really exist like that, and that portals to other universes that just sit there without being black holes or other crazy high-energy astrophysical phenomena shouldn't exist either, so were it up to me I'd recommend barricading the thing and studying it to find out what's going on.
But this scenario is more than just "here's a portal." The US government, in this scenario, is acting completely flipping pants-on-heads insane. The evil morality of their intended response is almost completely overshadowed by the sheer irrationality of it. Were I there at the portal I don't think I could let this stand, and I would like to think I'd be brave enough to take a chance at stopping it. I would go through the portal and try to warn everypony on the other side of what's coming. If everything really is as described it'd be worth getting stranded there to prevent all that bloodshed.
Despite the fact that Equestria's technology is primitive and population small relative to Earth, I think they could actually hold off an invasion if they believed me and were able to prepare. Celestia and Luna are goddesses, unicorns can put up mighty force fields to seal the portal or imprison foes, pegasi can bring down lightning and tornadoes, and earth ponies can toss a mean apple pie. About the only way I can imagine humans establishing a beachhead would be if they get a nuke through and crack the defenders that way, but controlling a continuously-exploding nuclear furnace is kind of Celestia's thing so I wouldn't be surprised if any nukes the humans send through merely produced an embarrassing "pifft."
The key would be getting the Princesses to believe me about what's coming. Hopefully Luna's dream-walking will have applications in this area, or other similar mind-reading or truth-telling magic is available.
698254
Well it's like this, I don't really see the Gov't pulling a Genocide, and I really don't see the UN getting behind it. The UN is kinda useless that way. I'm a Law Enforcement guy (State Trooper), and I've got oaths to uphold, and Brothers in Uniform to support.
I'd be against the wiping out of my beloved Ponies, but at the end of the day I trust that those who know more about the situation are ordering the actions that make sense with the greater intelligence (as in information gathered) that they have over the guy on the ground with boots.
698257
Obviously, until the folks at FOB Equestria hit on the brilliant military strategy of starting some sort of stampede. Doesn't matter what kind, ponies'll react to it the same: panic, scream, and run indoors.
Then, conventional weaponry. I think Shock and Awe would work brilliantly against ponies.
On the "lets do something about this!" camp, I'm not going to get there in time and I don't have any sway over government or military officials, so I think I'ma stay outta this one. Speaking of FOB Equestria, I'd be curious as to what they'd do in the event of invasion of Equestria.
699104 That's the problem with hypotheticals - all the thousands of little details that in the real world add up to reality but can't be contained in a paragraph for a situational question. But it would have to be some damn amazing little details to justify this, but then 'this' wouldn't ever happen... would it?
Hey, SirorMadam Scroll, are you planning to write this out? It would make one hay of an interesting scenario, half a dozen separate stories from all sorts of different perspectives about the outbreak of an inter-dimensional war, where no one really has a clear picture of what's going on.
Do nothing, since I can't afford to physically transport myself to Eagleland. Maybe encourage nuking the site, preferably with a dirty bomb; massive radioactiv fallout will effectively seal the gap at the cost of several counties' worth of uninhabitable space on both sides.
Well seeing as I live in canada I'd probably be part of the massive social media movement set to stop un forces from invading a land with no prior peace talks or really any reason to. This is a first contact scenario and I doubt most people want the first impression ANY other species of humanity to be that of a gun toting genocidal maniac. Regardles of the truth of such impression XD.