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// The Wind of Change 
// Story: On the Road to '63 
// by niBBoi 
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Orchid Garden took a swig from the cheap, store-bought bottle of KIRIN-brand dry beer held in her magical grasp. While the taste was a little unique, the mare was used to it by now. Besides, it wasn't like the revolting bottle of what tasted like a mix of rubbing alcohol, petroleum, and paint thinner she remembered she had to drink during a diplomatic mission in Severnaya. Stars knew she will never be able to live that down, and her distaste for vodka shall forever be cemented.

However, as fun as sipping rice beer and reminiscing about memories of almost irresponsible drinking for the sake of buttering up foreign officials were, it wasn't what Orchid was sitting around and waiting for in a dimly lit tea house by the ports of Hyacinth. She was in Kiria for one last luncheon at a fancy restaurant with a group of colleagues and high-ranking Kirian military officers to discuss the final details of a series of extensive military modernization packages as well as procurement contracts for a bunch of new Equestrian and Crystallian small arms, fighter jets, tanks, and artillery systems for the Kirian armed forces. Some old tea house was where they were supposed to meet up before heading out into the inner city, and though it certainly wasn't the best tea house around town, it wasn't too shabby either. Perhaps one of the officers knew the owner?

Putting the cap back on her drink and setting it aside, Orchid had to say that she was a little intrigued at why the Kirians chose Hyacinth instead of someplace like Fragrance, Sycee, Verdant, or even Blossom. For one, if she recalled correctly, Hyacinth was historically important for being the place where Equestria first opened Kiria up to the outside world after a century of crippling isolation due to the infamous Silence and for proceeding to be a bright bastion of Harmony in the country for a long while after, so there was definitely some symbolism to it. It was just a few days before the fortieth anniversary of the declaration of the triumph of modernization in Kiria since the surprising success of the so-called "Three and a Half Year Plan" over four decades ago, and the parallels between the modernization Kiria undertook then and the modernization Kiria was undertaking at that moment was not lost on Orchid.

The Kirian military wasn't the only part of the country that was taking the rocky road towards the modern world once again. As Orchid reached out with her magic and pushed open the wooden window shutters to her right, sunlight filled the room, and outside, the mare could see the telltale signs of economic growth and activity all across the Hyacinth coast. High-rises, telecom towers, and a brand spanking new deepwater port further down the shores courtesy of a joint effort between Kirian, Equestrian, and Griffonian construction companies presented themselves as the forefront of progress and development in the continent of Zebrica.

If Orchid was being honest, it was an amazing sight. She had been constantly visiting Kiria for the past couple of years, and she couldn't deny that she had fallen in love with the place. While Orchid would always be a proud Equestrian at heart, Kiria had most definitely borrowed a piece of that heart of hers, and seeing the place radically change and become a shining beacon of prosperity in eastern Zebrica again in such a relatively short amount of time was truly something else.

With that thought, a cool breeze blew as Orchid's mind stopped for a while and the mare silently stared out the window into the beautiful ocean view in front of her before a sigh escaped her lips.

Unfortunately, for as much as it was exciting to see glistening skyscrapers towering above the Hyacinth skyline, the excitement in Orchid had dissipated and had been replaced with more sobering thoughts. Change did not always bring good to everyone. Like how it had been decades before, entrenched systems in the country would have to be uprooted, and the fallout of that happening would certainly cause some trouble.

Although the Equestrian labor laws that Kiria had adapted into its own legislation would ensure that the local government would be on the lookout for any possible exploitation of their citizens, the Kirian people would still be in for a wild ride. Things had come a very long way back in Equus and Griffonia, and Kiria had lagged behind for a while due to recent economic woes preoccupying the nation.

Foreign aid from Kiria's friends in the Harmonic Alliance had fortunately brought Kiria's economy back up fairly quickly, and now, waves of fresh investments from all over the world were flooding in, but with things like satellite communication networks, unimaginably faster digital computers, and something called "the Internet" starting to become a thing - not to mention all the human influence coming through the still rather experimental interdimensional hub in Canterlot that partly made all of that possible in the first place - the oncoming tide of new technologies and ideas could prove to be overwhelming.

Orchid kept her optimism, however. It wasn't like Kiria was still a closed up country entirely new to change. They've weathered the horrible side effects of breakneck industrialization before and had managed to make up for a hundred years of stagnation in just less than four years. This wasn't their first rodeo, and now that she thought about it, her confidence in the nation's ability to pull off something like that all over again returned.

Whatever the case, Orchid could hear a small group of people make their way through the main entrance of the tea house, and she was reminded of why she was there in the first place. The Kirian military was in need of some new toys, and she and her Equestrian friends were there to deliver.

The wind of change was in the air, and Orchid smiled and watched as Kiria eagerly embraced it once more.