//------------------------------// // War never changes // Story: The war with ourselves // by The Potato Guy //------------------------------// Equestria At war War. War never changes. A cold warning. One of despair, sorrow and pessimistic realisation. War had been a concept increasingly regulated in the annals of the past. A devastating occurrence apparently impossible in today’s society, at least in Equestria itself. Ponies lived and worked in a world too accustomed to peace. Cities and nations prospered in this golden age of cooperation and friendship. Yet the bubble was growing, ready to be burst. Tension had only been allowed to rise in such a docile time, and those who call themselves powerful have had little done to contain their increasing disruption. Nevertheless, for now, all seemed well in the world, and who could dare say otherwise? Threats had come and gone, in various forms and approaches, and every threat had been dealt with, defeated by the very thing that now ruled across the land. Friendship. A quaint enough thing even in recent memory. A bond in social circles that helped form alliances, if nothing more. How could such a petty and seemingly harmless thing be such a powerful weapon? Many ponies, many races and nations, all laughed at the prospect of such a trivial force fixing anything. When the heat had risen, and armies with it, friendship was but a complete and utter paradox in those moments. When one Pony stared into the animalistic eyes of another, across the battlefield, who could believe friendship would even form, let alone make peace. Friends were reserved for comrades of war, and the overly indulgent masses of the world, their leisurely, inconsequential lives. Yet, despite all this, despite all the sniggering and disbelief, threats, that had been rightfully seen as catastrophic, world ending levels of power and might, whose danger echoed across every land, had been silenced by the magical prospect of the bonds of friendship. Beings capable of bending entire countries to their will, factions whose desire for power and their accompanying ferocity was enough to conquer continents had been stopped in their tracks by individuals with no knowledge of war. Only friendship. This had puzzled theorists and leaders the world over. How could ponies, usually numbering in single digits, stop that what entire nation’s armies and industries could not? Those who began to see the majestic strength of this new found strategy quickly found themselves sharing such friendly ideals, and before anyone knew it, a society, even more docile and soft had formed. Yes, victories had been won and yes, peace had been proclaimed, but as the populations of the world converted to this ideology of kindness, laughter and the like, so did any desire to properly prepare, should friendship eventually fall. Equestria in particular allowed itself to rot from within, a rot who’s pleasant smell and feeling numbed all those ignorant to the truth. War, seen as a tragedy from a bygone age, now was seen as laughable and unlikely as friendship had seemed, before its many accomplishments. War would never again stain the planet. Never could it even return on a small scale, not when friendship rules. This was the thinking of the majority, not all. Even now, across the world, hidden deep within the darkest pockets, physically and mentally, the prospect of conquest and war had not been so easily forgotten and joked at. These induvials of varied races and allegiances were, as of now though, just that. Lone wolves, whose dark hearts could only further corrupt themselves. The means of growing their equally varied desires of darkness, they were not possible in such a peaceful world. They were the pin to the bubble of the world. But a pin, so small in size and so blunt in threat could do little to burst the protective shield of society’s bubble. Something else would be needed, something far more powerful. Recently, time had not been generous to these individuals. Threats, that could spark the fires of war, had been defeated, by friendship itself. Furthermore, the only perceivable threats nowadays were perfectly suited to being crushed by friendship. The problem today was that should any threat arise, it was because of the direct lack of friendship, not just because of the darkness of its desires. This was the perfect challenge to friendship, the desirable outcome to convert any darkness to the light. The difference that that the new darkness now had though, the only seemingly positive thing to their causes, was that friendship, In its most basic and original form, wasn’t something so foreign to them. They were not the untrusting, lonely and foolish beings that the old threats were. They couldn’t be defeated with friendship, because friends were the only way to make connections, alliances, and form trust within war. Friendship was a weapon in the same way speech was. Of course it would be used. Forming an entire ideology around it was just strange, like spreading the word of speaking when spoken to. Alas, on the surface, all seemed too well, and such positivity would do little to alter the status quo. The world would need a push into madness, into chaos, should the bubble burst. Nations weren’t yet ready to wage war upon each other, and cultures weren’t yet so blood thirsty they would require fights. The orchestrators of rebellion against the status quo of friendship had little in common, but they were there, ready, for whatever reason to do their thing. Some will be accidental, individuals of events that just happen to cause misery, while some were perhaps destined to happen, in time. Our first look into the reason that would set world tension so greatly alight, so ready to burst the bubble was perhaps obvious, and easy to fix, even with friendship. Within the high towers and the majesty of Canterlot castle was Princess Luna, the dark induvial whose life had been depressingly tragic. Friendship had its chance of rectifying this, and to an extent, it had worked. Luna had felt somewhat comfortable, in comparison to her destructive return as Nightmare Moon. Alas, a chance was a chance, and there were few instances of being given more. Luna’s comparative comfort had little but delayed the inevitable, and while her so called friends may do all they can to further extent this delay, events and Ponies of lesser love for her would not be doing the same. While harmless chatter and empty rhetoric was thrown at Equestria from nations who fancied themselves as strong as their mighty pasts, the powers that be within the leadership of Equestria saw this, in their hubris brought on by friendship, as an actual threat. No such threat existed of course. Even once war like nations were mere shadows of themselves, as the varied kingdoms and lands of the Griffons liked to unintentionally show, as their claw raising and feeble insults fell short. The threat was smoke and mirrors, but this was not obvious to the government of Equestria. They were blind to any real threat and as a result, any political and real effort was reserved for matters of diplomacy and administrative state. Princess Luna, in this void of love, was increasingly forgotten about, and the attempts from her closest “friends” were seen as nothing more but obligations. All it would take, to bring an entire society and peace crashing down, was a spark. This took the form of a simple decision. As Princess Luna, one of the two heads of state of Equestria and the very Princess who raised the moon every night, felt increasingly marginalised by society and her Ponies, she but formed a simple request to put forward to her government, her friends, and even her sister, Celestia. Luna would simply ask, as she put it, “for more attention.” A seemingly childish and nearly amusing desire to her government, they simply waved their hooves at this apparent request to fuel her self-importance. To her friends and loved ones, this was a concern, albeit more pressing to them, but not one of pressing worry. Luna could be invited to more social gatherings, be sent more letters to fulfil her. In reality, Princess Luna wished to be seen as an equal to her Sister, which she technically was, despite her millennia break of absence. Unfortunately, this was the case in all but name. Celestia had the true powers given to her, and Luna was often an afterthought. This was not her only wish however. She wished to be loved as an individual pony in her private life, to live, despite her position, as normally as she could. Her job was the stability of the nation, which could only be achieved from parity with Celestia. That was her professional life. She had no choice. In more personal times though, while Celestia seemed to enjoy her figure head connections, Luna was far more humble. Her responsibility was to Equestria, and for that, she would endure her role as Princess, if it meant equality. In any time but that though, she wished for peace. That was her definition of attention. Attention to her problems and help in fixing them. Luna wished only for a response of “We love you, Princess Luna” as subjects and friends alike took her concerns seriously. Alas, this wasn’t to be. A decision was made, and with it, the event that would burst the bubble. “We don’t have time for that.” Equestria’s long standing tradition of friendship was broken on that day, and Luna would never forget this total betrayal. After so many years of mocking that war would never change, even occur it was, in the following days, yet again, proven right. Equestria was now, at war.