//------------------------------// // Shouldn't have attacked humanity (part 1) // Story: Shouldn't have enslaved humanity [OLD VERSION] // by NoobMaster69 //------------------------------// “General Ivan, report!” President Alexi ordered as the world leaders entered one of the drone control rooms, where pilots were controlling the mini drones that were still observing Ponyville, having remained undiscovered. Ivan was the first one they had spotted, and rather than go to their generals individually, the leaders thought it more convenient to just listen to one of them explain it to them all at once. “President Alexi!” He said, saluting. “The reason you have been called here is because something disastrous is afoot. The Equestrian forces have begun rallying a large number of their troops in Ponyville. At our current count, there are approximately seven thousand pony soldiers gathered in the area, with more soldiers coming in as we speak. They have already begun getting into attack formations, with their formations being similar to the ones used during the medieval era. Their weapons and armour are primitive, with most of them being clad in gold, or gold painted armour, along with spears, swords, and bows being their main weaponry.” “And I assume you and the other nations’ generals have come up with a defensive plan?” Alexi asked. “I apologise sir, but that’s not all I have to report. There’s more,” Ivan said. “Well, go on ahead,” Alexi replied. “There are also several undiscovered species of other (presumably) sentient creatures among them, along with three additional ponies with protrusions similar to that of the pony princess Twilight Sparkle. From the information that we have gained from the pony sergeant currently in our custody, we have learned that these ponies are a combination of all pony types, having the increased strength of ‘earth ponies’, the flight abilities of ‘pegasi’, and the magical capabilities of ‘unicorns’, although the power of an alicorn is vastly superior to that of almost any other living creature. The alicorns are apparently the most powerful creatures alive that… as he put it, ‘aren’t evil’,” Ivan explained. “Okay, and what of the other creatures, what are they?” Alexi asked. “Well, there are several types of other creatures, but due to their smaller number, we believe them to either be diplomats sent by these other creatures, or their leaders themselves. It appears they are not part of the army, but rather observers,” Ivan explained, “And as for the creatures themselves, they consist of what look to be a combination of animals and fictional mythological creatures that exist only in the realm of fantasy, and I’ll show you a photo in a while. These creatures include zebras, yaks, colourful bug-like quadrupeds, mixtures of horses and birds that a mythological expert identified as hippogriffs, actual griffins, real life minotaurs, and what we can only describe as… dragons.” “Dragons?” Felix asked. “Yes sir, that’s exactly what they look like sir,” the general replied. “So, what have you and the other generals come up with? What is our defensive plan?” King Osas asked. “Well, we currently have two different plans to choose from. The decision on which option to use will be left up to all of you,” the general said. “The first option is that we use our jets to launch a preemptive strike against their forces, completely wiping out their army, along with their leaders in one swift motion; it is the safest, easiest, and most cost-efficient solution to our predicament. The second option is that we don’t attack them, we let them attack us and we defend ourselves accordingly. This option is the less efficient and cost-effective solution, because the only way we could defend ourselves from their soldiers, without risking any lives, would be to retract our soldiers and let our medium drones swarm them and do the work for us. Depending on how effective they are at combat, they might manage to eliminate hundreds, maybe even thousands of our drones. Then we have room to launch a counter attack and capture the town with little to no resistance,” General Ivan explained. “The first solution would be best if you want to go to war with these people, while the second would be best if you still wish to take a diplomatic approach. That way, once they inevitably beg for us to come to the negotiation table and talk things out, we will be able to take the moral high ground by claiming that they attacked us first, while we only acted in defense. If we attack them however, they could easily claim the moral high ground, which might significantly restrict our ability to make demands and impose sanctions upon them once this conflict has concluded,” the general added. “Why can we only use drones?” Xi Mingzhe asked, confused, “Don’t we have heavy artillery? Missiles? Tanks? Even a few jets?” “Well yes, we do. We can’t get the majority of our war machines out however, seeing as all of our artillery, the majority of our tanks, and the majority of our jets are still within the main hangar,” Ivan replied. “What about the missiles? Surely we could launch them and utterly decimate our opponents?” Xi Mingzhe asked. “That’s another problem. The rubble from the mountain we had just demolished are currently burying all of the launch points of our missile silos,” Ivan explained. “Missile… silos?” Mateo asked. He didn’t know what those were; he wasn’t a military man after all. “The little holes in the ground missiles shoot from,” Ivan replied. "Well, I think I speak for all of us, or at least the majority, when I say this, but we simply cannot attack them first," PM Jack stated. "What? Why not?" President Alexei asked, "A preemptive strike would eliminate the threat without them even coming near us." "Because, if we strike first, they'll see us as the villains of this conflict. I do not support the fact that they are enslaving the rest of our kind, but they are doing this out of fear for us, and that fear is very much well placed seeing as the rest of the human race apparently went berserk one day and started killing everything. That's also the reason they're attacking us, out of fear… or at least, that's what I think," PM Bjorn told the rest of the leaders, "But even if we aren't, what do you think is gonna happen if we strike first? Considering their relative stupidity, they might not even realise it was a preemptive strike that we launched so they couldn't attack us. They might just think that we're simply a hostile alien species that's attacking them." "And what's the problem with that?" Aladeen asked, finding the thought of being thought of as a hostile alien race quite appealing. "Utopia is currently undergoing its first impressions, and it looks like we're going to be stuck with these creatures for quite some time. We are entering the new global stage of this world, and I don't think I need to tell you why it's in our best interest to not be thought of as hostile aliens," said Felix, "Even if they aren't a threat to us, attacking them could have disastrous consequences. Whether we like it or not, these are the new countries and governments we are going to have to deal with. If we attack them, the news will spread throughout the globe. Imagine what everyone will think if we attack them first. We'll just prove to be the 'barbaric, primitive savages' that the ponies in our custody currently believe us to be for some reason, despite it actually being them who ate all those things. Hypocrites, really. From what I've seen from these creatures thus far, I completely and utterly despise them, but we're gonna be stuck with them for now. At least until they either give up slavery, or we are forced to launch a full scale invasion against their country and take over Equestria. But for now, launching a preemptive strike would only do us more harm, especially on the political side of things. And if we do end up having to invade, doing this will only make it much harder to keep control of the country since the creatures would no doubt try to rebel with much more ferocity if we did attack them." "I think we should put it to a vote," King Osas suggested, “It seems we have differing opinions, and in this situation, we must all act as one. That means that we can’t just go and do what we want using our own authority. For the time being, Utopia must act as one nation, rather than several independent nations.” “Osas is right. We must act as one body, and put this to a vote,” PM Bjorn said. “I agree. We shall have to vote,” Felix said, before thinking of something to add that would hopefully convince the others to participate and honour the results of the vote, “Of course, all of you are still the completely independent rulers of your individual nations, which means you have the final say on whether you wish to participate in the vote and honour the decision or not. Since we act as independent bodies, there is no law that states that we must vote on an action together, and I want to tell you that by participation and honouring the vote, you are not being stripped of any authority over your nations.” “Of course, if you don’t honour the vote, you and your entire nation would look like assholes, but you have the right to do so,” King Osas stated. “Well, as much as the Russians would hate to agree with the Americans, I must say that our best course of action is acting as one body,” President Alexi stated. "Very well then, since everyone else is agreeable, my main will agree to participate in and honour the final decision made as well," Xi Mingzhe agreed. "Hispanica will join in this decision making as well," said Mateo. Everyone then looked towards Aladeen. "What? You expect Wadyia to - " he stopped himself mid sentence as he noticed the stern looks he was receiving. "Fine, Wadyia will honour the vote as well. Whatever," he relented. "Excellent," King Osas said, "Now, who here votes for the preemptive strike?" Only one of them raised their hands, and that was Aladeen.  "Well, it's settled then. We will let them come to us, and we will mount a defensive assault once they have clearly trespassed into our territory. Which means, they'll have to be right on top of Utopia, or at least very near it. If they aren't, they could twist this into an argument against us, saying that we still attacked them first, which might restrict our ability to make demands as well," PM Jack advised. That was when Keifer burst into the room, running in a panicked state. "World leaders! World leaders!" He said, followed by stopping in front of them, panting. "World… leaders. We… we've overlooked s- something," he said in between pants. "T- the ponies… they h- have the ability to destroy us all," he said, recovering. "What?" Felix asked, confused, "Doctor, I mean no disrespect, but what is the meaning of this intrusion?" "We've overlooked something that could spell the end for us all. Remember the draconequus project?" Keifer asked. "Yes, what about it? The project was mostly a failure, and we know next to nothing about the only survivor," PM Bjorn replied. "Well, we know a lot more about subject Discord now thanks to the princess," he said, handing them a tablet with a detailed report of their conversation. The world leaders read the report. It detailed Discord's apparent ability to do whatever he wants with pretty much near unlimited power. It detailed the fact that he was able to shift the location of the sun and moon on a whim. It told of how he was able to manipulate the entire planet and warp it into a chaotic mess, seemingly on a whim. But the most worrying thing was the fact that Discord apparently played a crucial part in defeating the rest of humanity during the war. "You're right. This… warped version of the former Tom Brady could very well end us all," PM Mateo stated. "We must find Tom, capture him, and bring him back to Utopia as soon as possible. And if it isn't possible to capture the subject, we must terminate him," PM Jack said. "Yes, but how exactly are we going to go about doing that? From what we understand, he's basically omnipotent," Xi Mingzhe stated. "Yes, but not omnipresent or omniscient. We could attack him by surprise, without giving him any time to react," PM Bjorn suggested. "But if Tom Brady… or rather Discord, is about to attack Utopia with the Equestrians, we must go with the preemptive strike instead. We have to eliminate him immediately; if he manages to reach Utopia, it could be game over for all of us," said Felix. "World leaders!" General Ivan suddenly addressed them. "Not now general, we're - " Alexi was cut off as the general quickly addressed them. "It's the leaders of all the creatures. They're convening. I thought you might want to listen in on what they have to say," the general replied. This did pique their interest. "Show us," Alexi ordered, and the general directed their attention to the largest screen present, which was in the middle of the drone room. "Are we ready to attack?" King Steel Horn asked. "In a moment, we're still awaiting the arrival of five thousand soldiers. But, what do you mean 'we'?" Celestia asked, confused, "Are you going to be participating in the assault?" "Yes, of course I am. Not doing so would be a show of cowardice," Steel Horn replied. "But… you don't have your army with you," Celestia said, "Just ten minotaurs as an escort." "Yes, and together, we are the eleven strongest minotaurs alive," he stated in a cocky tone. "Yeah, me and my escort are gonna be joining in as well," said Ember. "Cadence and I will join you as well, though you've probably already expected that," Said Shining Armour. "There are already a thousand changelings hidden among the ponies," said Thorax, "If we don't win this battle, the changelings will foalnap and take the place of whatever First Human soldiers we can. We'll infiltrate their ranks and relay any necessary information back to you, and we'll bring them down from the inside if possible." "Hmmm…" Celestia put her hoof to her chin, assuming a thinking pose, "As much as I would like all of you to stay safe, being the leaders of the other nations and all, your participation in the battle will be extremely helpful. The help of the strongest minotaurs, along with a few dragons fighting with us during the battle will be invaluable. And the changelings would be able to tear them apart from the inside if this battle doesn't go according to plan." "But we can't get cocky either. We must fight this battle as if it's the last thing we'll ever do. Even with our numbers, the Vega Corporation… or whoever that is, will be able to mow us down with their guns. We already know those who are on the front lines will be completely slaughtered, but once we flank around behind them and surround them, we'll have the upper hand… hopefully," said Shining Armour. "But we can't forget that the First Humans have explosives at their disposal as well. Although their explosive weaponry are small in number, a few well placed missiles or artillery shots could allow them to kill us," she gestured to the leaders present in the room, "And knowing them, they'll probably immediately target us to plunge our nations into chaos." "And that's not even mentioning the fact that they have these things called tanks. They're essentially indestructible, moving, buildings. If they employ even one of these war machines, we'll be completely defenseless. We can't even scratch those things, they'll pretty much be able to freely murder us," said Ember. Now that the battle was nearly upon them, she was worried. "We should've thought this out better." "Actually, thanks to me, we do have a defense against them. I've given several pegasi carriages full of barrels of gunpowder, which they'll drop on the tanks if the First Humans employ them. This will essentially allow us to match the strategy of the 'bombing runs' that the humans used against us during that one battle. It immediately shifted the tides of that battle," said Luna. “So, how long until we attack?” King Steel Horn asked impatiently. “Patience, King Steel Horn. We shall commence the attack when the last of the soldiers arrive, which should be very soon,” said Shining Armour. “For all the participants, be ready to leave in approximately ten minutes,” the other leaders all vacated the room, leaving only Shining Armour along with the other three princesses. Cadence sighed. “What if this doesn’t work? We don’t even know if these First Humans are remnants of the Vega Corporation. They could be the remnants of one of the First Human nations for all we know. If they are, peace might be an option,” said Cadence. Celestia sighed. “If Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow didn’t steal Discord’s magic, then maybe we could’ve approached them diplomatically. But without Discord being able to put them down if they proved to be aggressive, it’s too much of a risk. Once we lose the element of surprise, it’ll be much harder to attack them if they are aggressive. Not only that, but they have, in fact, already proven to be aggressive. They’ve foalnapped the elements, killed dozens of guards in ponyville, and an additional one hundred ponies from the scouting party we sent. If we could make peace with the humans, I would. But I can’t,” said Celestia. “And even if the humans do make peace with us, the rest of the pony population would never approve of us abolishing slavery. Remember that Celestia did try to do so while I was banished, three hundred years before the war. Luckily for her, she saw that Equestria could no longer sustain itself without the use of slavery before she did so. Our economy would crash, our people would starve without anycreature working to produce any kind of goods, and our nation would probably be plunged into a civil war," Luna explained. "I know nopony in this room is an active supported of slavery, but we no longer have a choice. Stopping slavery would doom our nation," she added. "Well, that's that. We have to get ready," said Shining Armour. Cadence began getting up from her chair, alongside the other princesses and the prince. "Oh!" Cadence suddenly called out as she came face to face with a fly and smacked it away.  "Allow me," said Luna as she tried to grab it with her magic and toss it out. It didn't work. She was now staring at it intently, trying to grab it again, but to no avail.  "Umm… Luna? You okay?" Cadence asked. The final nail in the coffin was when the fly immediately tried to flee, further arousing suspicion. As the fly was exciting through an open window, Luna quickly closed it at the most opportune moment, smashing it to bits. Her suspicions were confirmed when rather than seeing blood and guts, she found a small, nearly unnoticeable, sparking metal object. She felt around the room with her magic, feeling up to twelve more objects devoid of magic. "Luna?" Celestia asked, "Why did you do that? It was already leaving." "We're being watched," Luna replied. "What?" Celestia asked, confused. "Feel around with your magic. We're being watched," Luna replied. "We're being watched!" She exclaimed in a panic, followed by her and the other princesses running out in a panic. "Attack! Attack now, before they can prepare their defenses!" Luna called out in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "Now! Attack, post haste!" "What?!" President Felix asked, "Who was piloting that drone?!" "We can either berate the pilot now or later, but there are more pressing matters at hand," said Alexi. "But rest assured," he raised his voice so the whole room could hear him, "That whoever that was will be dealt with appropriately!" "We have to talk about what we've just witnessed," said Xi Mingzhe, "This changes everything!" "They've had an encounter with us before… well, not us, but I think we'll all be able to connect the dots considering the Vega Corporation was mentioned," said PM Jack. "No wonder the owner of the corporation didn't invest in the creation of Utopia. He was too busy creating his own Utopia behind our backs!" Said Mateo. "Yes, whoever was here first might have messed things up, but that's not all we had to take from their conversation. There's something else that, although helps us immensely now, is rather… concerning," said PM Bjorn. "Yes, of course," King Osas and most of the others already knew what it was, "The fact that 'Discord' lost his magic, and that it was somehow 'stolen' by Tirek, Cozy Glow and an unknown individual." "Yes, and also the fact that they are most likely criminals. For all we know, them 'stealing' Discord's magic could mean we now have to deal with three omnipotent criminals," said PM Mateo. "Yes, so what should we do about them?" Xi Mingzhe asked. "There's nothing we can do," said Felix, "If we had our satellites online, we might be able to track them, but we don't. The best we can do is be prepared in case they really do show up, and try to put 'em down the moment their heads pop up." "There's another thing. What exactly are 'changelings', and how have they hidden amongst the ponies? And how exactly are they going to infiltrate Utopia?" Osas asked. "They're probably experts at subterfuge or something, and they've probably used camouflage techniques to hide themselves for some reason. They're most likely not a threat; we can easily differentiate between humans and aliens," said Felix. "I guess that's that for our meeting then?" Aladeen asked, getting impatient. "Actually… there's one more thing," General Ivan spoke up, "It's about the subject of taking prisoners when they attack. Or should we just kill them all?" "Well, we now know that the other creatures besides the ponies are the leaders of the other nations, along with their escorts. Killing a nation's leaders would definitely be terrible for PR with the rest of the world, so I believe I speak for everyone when I say their leaders should be taken as prisoners of war rather than killed," said Alexei, receiving agreement from everyone else in the group, "And we have to take their 'alicorns' prisoner as well if it's possible. "As for the subject of the other ponies, I would say taking fifty of each kind would be enough for us to study them and learn more about them. We can't take very many prisoners anyway, we have nowhere to house them," said PM Mateo, and the rest of the leaders agreed with him. "Now then," Alexi addressed the general, "Begin pulling our troops back into Utopia and ready the drones. Instruct the other generals to do the same." "Yes sir, we'll be ready. At their current speed, they should be here within approximately eight hours. I trust you'll be here to observe the battle?" Ivan asked. "Yes, though I think we're all gonna have to catch up on some much needed sleep. It's been a rather hectic few days," said Felix, and with that, the meeting was adjourned.