//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Preleude to War. // Story: Equestrian Wars: Rise of Carthage // by Wolf-Baron //------------------------------// The city of Scipio, the capital of Carthage was unusually active for this time of day. The streets were filled with citizen in their cars, motorbikes, and other transportation on their way to the capital building. Today was a special day for them. Their leader was scheduled to give a public speech today and according to the fliers that were given out to the citizens, the subject was something big and very important. The art deco buildings and factories were plastered with posters glorifying their leader and various other anti-pony propaganda. The most common of these propaganda posters was a large poster of Princess Celestia, the leader of Equestria standing like a gargantuan over a small innocent anthro couple with blood and devil’s eyes on her as she was shooting lighting from her unicorn horn at the poor citizens. Two soldiers, one human, the other a fox were standing their ground protecting the women and children with rifles and bayonets. Written in Breton (the main writing system of Carthage) were the words: Unite Together and Help Us Destroy this Mad Mare! The state building of Scipio was very very crowded as its large stadium was filled with thousands of people, both human and anthro. The stadium had its weather ceiling removed to let in the beautiful daylight in and to show the citizens a little entertainment while they waited for the public speech to begin. Their leader had arranged for the Carthaginian Air Force to perform a little air show for the people’s entertainment. The children and pups squealed and jumped with glee as the bright blue sky was filled with Me Bf 109s and Focke Wulf FW 190s performed incredible aerial stunts in the skies while soldiers wearing black armor, gas masks, and steel helmets kept order. Almost all of the citizens were cheering at the parading soldiers on the stage near the podium waving mini flags of the National Socialist Federation of Carthage. After about an hour or so, the air show had stopped and the Carthaginian Honor guard began to play the national anthem of Carthage as their leader approached from backstage to the applause and cheer of the audience. Their leader was a fifty-two year old grey wolf named Aljexandro Degrelle (pronounced Ah-les-sandro). Despite being in his middle ages, he stood proud and strong and full of charisma. He didn’t let his graying fur get in the way. He just smiled and waved to his citizens with a bright smile. Degrelle had quite in interesting history. Born in the small village of Gaul, his parents died when he was still a newborn pup. He was raised by human parents who while they loved him dearly, were stricken with poverty. As a boy, Degrelle wanted to be a writer and novelist but while he had the skills, he lacked the money to do so. Degrelle first entered politics when he was a teenager after getting his first job as a busboy for a local bar and had witnessed a political party giving a speech there. At the time, Carthage was led by an incompetent and corrupt parliamentary monarchy run by a king who used his royal army for personal gain and a parliament who abused Carthage’s old democratic system to get into political power. Degrelle joined a very radical political party called the National Radical Socialist Restoration Party. It was a very unusual group which advocated for a government composed of a combination of socialism, nationalism, and corporatist ideology. They were nicknamed “Sashas” due to the red and black sashes they wore during their political rallies. Degrelle soon discovered he was an excellent public speaker and soon began delivering public speeches for the party. He also served as a writer and editor for their newspaper, The Nationalist Reviewer. However, the party was small and spent most of its time arguing with its rivals, the radical communist party and the libertarian Objectivist party. When Degrelle was a young anthro, he was conscripted in the Royal army and served on the frontline as a machine gunner during the Great Carthage Civil war, a struggle between the Kingdom of Carthage and a group of governors who were trying to secede from the Kingdom. He was eventually promoted to Staff Sergeant and as the war drew to a close, he joined a group of Carthaginian commanders, themselves fellow Sashas, and they conspired to overthrow the king. A year after the war in the Carthage year of 1923, he participated in the failed coup d’état against the government by the Carthaginian army. While they successfully stormed the king’s palace and held him under house arrest, they were soon suppressed by parliamentary forces. Many of the leaders were executed for treason while Degrelle was sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, he continued to pursue his dream of being a writer and politician and he spent his spare time in prison writing his book The Carthaginian Struggle out of scrap paper he got from the prison workhouse’s paper mill. In this book, he described and laid out his political and philosophical believes. He advocated for unity between humanity and anthros, the replacement of the king with a head of state, replacing the parliament with a senate composed of socialists, and most importantly, his views on Equestria. In his book, he blamed the misery and suffering Carthage had been going through on the ponies and vowed that if he ever got into power, he would not only unify and restore Carthage to glory, he would also liberate the nation and the world from pony oppression. His book was a complete hit and in only a year, it had sold over one million copies. Degrelle wrote many more books too including a few children’s stories and he soon gained national attention. At the time, the Carthaginian kingdom was on the verge of collapse. King Ivan, still traumatized by the coup d’état shot himself and his son, Prince Arthur was put into power. Unfortunately, he was a horrible politician and the nation was in debt due to war damages caused by the civil war. The parliament had inflated the nation’s currency to the point that the money wasn’t even worth the paper it was printed on. Loosing public support, King Arthur gave a royal pardon to Degrelle in a desperate attempt to regain public support. When Degrelle was freed, he soon became head of the National Radical Social party, formed the Cerberus Sturm Kommando Brigade (or SKs) as his personal bodyguards and soon ran for public office. While at first he did poorly at the ballots, he was still very popular among the people. Eventually, the Chancellor of Carthage, one of the three main leaders of Carthage's government, nominated Degrelle as his Prime Minister. Degrelle soon won by a landslide victory despite the protests from the King. As Prime Minister Degrelle began issuing executive orders increasing the Prime Minister’s powers particularly the control of the military which was normally the king’s power. He also began replacing many parliament members with Sasha ones and soon advocated for disassembling the parliament all together. When the Chancellor and king planned to remove him from his position, Degrelle had his SK, which had grown to over a million troops, launch a secret purge of anyone who dared oppose him. The SK targeted politicians, communists, libertarians and capitalists, loyalists and pony sympathizers, and he even killed a few fellow Sasha’s most famously Andrea Benito who had once been Degrelle’s right hand man but had threatened to overthrow Degrelle. After a month long campaign against his enemies, he soon disposed of all his political opponents. The leader of the communist party was found dead, the Chancellor was executed for “treason”, the leader of the libertarian pro capitalist Objectivist party “disappeared”, and the king fearing for his own safety, abdicated his throne to his private island where he later died. With no one left to oppose him, the Carthage parliament gave in to his commands and Degrelle soon declared himself Caudillo, or leader, of the Federation of Carthage. “Good day my people!” Degrelle announced with charisma. His voice was loud and very booming. “Furs and humans of Carthage alike, today is a perfect day for celebration! Finally, after years of political corruption, starvation and misery, I have rebuilt this nation and our pride! Over twelve years ago, I asked for time and patience from you and you have given me that! And in my time I have complete phase one of my promises! We are now unified under one nation! Carthage has been united!” He roared as his raised his paws in the air. Everyone in the audience cheered with hysteria and waved their flags in support. Once the audience had calmed down and went silent, Degrelle continued: “And now that phase one of my plans are complete, I have now summoned you to address that we are now prepared to launch phase two! As you are well aware, one thousand years ago, we were banished from our old homeland and forced to embark on an exodus for freedom. Carthage became our freedom! However, it was not an easy start. For over a thousand years, our nation has struggled and suffered. Celestia and her ponies left us to die and be forgotten. We’ve tried multiple times throughout our history to reason with them but they continue to deny us peace! They have refused to accept us, they have denied our beliefs, and they have refused to grant us peace and we as a nation are fed up with it!” “YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” the crowd and soldiers cheered back with thunderous applause and praise. Degrelle smiled and gave the rest of his speech “Well, I have rebuilt our nation, I have rebuilt our strength, and I have rebuilt our pride! As a unified nation, we are now recovered. Our army is strong and we have decided to no longer tolerate the injustice of the pony ideology! As we speak, our military council is discussing our plans for war. There is no other option; the ponies have brought it on themselves for driving us to desperation. And it is time we show them the consequences of their actions!” he roared as he balled his paws into a fist “We will punish them for their oppression with planes that can out fly their pegasi! Tanks and war machines which will run over their magic! And millions of well trained and very loyal troops willing to fight to the death for Carthage independence!” Degrelle suddenly closed his eyes and raised his paws. “My fellow Carthaginians. I only ask of one thing from you.” He then opened his eyes and raised his fist into the air. “RISE UP AND FIGHT!!!!” he roared. By this point the audience applauded and cheered! The airplanes returned and roared above the stadium in perfect formation. The honor guard continued to play the national anthem and every man and pup raised and began waving their paws with excitement. Degrelle stood there waving at his people. He had a rather sinister smile full of pride. In his mind, Equestria’s time was over. Now, was the rise of Carthage.