Westernization, Part III
The Nineteenth Century: The Saga of Equestria
January 10, 1818
Near Washington DC, United States of America
Equestrian Diplomatic Envoy
Sapphire Flower walked forward, her head hanging low. If she looked up, she would have been able to see the “District of Columbia,” as it was called by the humans. But she did not, for despite the fact that she had not even arrived at her post yet, she was already exhausted, both physically and spiritually.
Of course, trekking across the entire continent from Canterlot to Washington was no mean feat, and, naturally, that was the origin of her physical exhaustion. However, her mental weariness had a much deeper, more primal root, and it did not come from the trek itself.
It came from what she had seen.
It came from that time she had walked into the town called St. Louis, where her party had their escort replaced by American troops. The Royal Guard was told, in no uncertain terms, that their presence was not wanted. But that was only the beginning.
It came from that time they were attacked by a mob of humans when they were passing through a town called Frankfort. Granted, nopony was hurt, but the American troops were forced to fire their guns up high in the air, to scare off the mob.
But nothing compared to just the day before, when the diplomatic delegation reached the city of Richmond. That experience, right there, almost broke Sapphire's will to keep going.
Now, she had been aware of American slavery for some time, and had in fact even seen a few examples of it on the trek. But they were rare enough that Sapphire was able to convince herself that she had seen nothing, and that all the rumors about the United States of America were false.
But when they entered Richmond, that comfortable fantasy was shattered into a billion, dust-sized pieces that were quickly blown away by the winds of sadness and despair, never to be seen again.
For when the delegation arrived in Richmond, she was treated the African slave trade, infamous in its cruelty and dehumanization, as families were torn apart and rebellious slaves whipped into submission. Every single member of the pony expedition had to take a few moments and settle their stomach as swiftly as possible. Some were successful. The majority, Sapphire included, where not.
After that experience, she insisted that the party go the long way around the city. The human soldiers muttered at that, but accepted the change.
And here they were, one day later, with most of the ponies’ wills shattered, while the American troops looked on with something between pity and impatience.
However, Sapphire looked up briefly, and saw the Sun once again rising, as it always have and, in her mind, always will. And seeing the Sun gave her strength again.
“Alright, ponies,” she said, forcing herself out of the state of depression. “We’re almost there. We cannot allow this to get us down. We are members of the Equestrian Diplomatic Corps, and it’s time to behave like it!”
The ponies slowly looked up, and more than one smiled at her. They then continued trotting forward, a little faster and with a little, barely visible spring to their step.
January 12, 1818
“I, President James Monroe of these United States of America, speaking on behalf of the government and people thereof, accept your letters of accreditation and acknowledge you as the resident ambassador from the Principality of Equestria. On behalf of the people, I welcome you to these United States, and hope that your presence here will lead to a brighter future for both our countries.”
Sapphire Flower inclined her head - she would only bow fully for the Princesses - and put forth her best diplomatic smile as she looked up and into Monroe’s eyes. “As is my hope,” she replied.
Her first proving ground was a lot closer than anypony would have guessed, as the President said, “I would like to meet with you at your embassy when we are done here.”
She was taken slightly aback with his willingness to meet in Sapphire’s embassy; such an action put the power into her hooves, so to speak. She nodded once, to signal assent then started to look for a way out.
“This payment your government wanted...it’s much too high.”
“Was it?” asked Sapphire. “Odd for you to say, as you already both signed the treaty and breached it. Under the terms, the man in question was to face an American court to answer for his crimes.”
“And he did. The treaty made no mention of presidential pardons.”
It took a large amount of self control to keep from scoffing, but Sapphire managed to muster it.
“Your country is still bound by the agreements made to the Equestrian Royal Council, and we are not inclined to re-negotiate that treaty.”
Monroe stared at her for a moment, then got up quickly, said “Very well. My business here is done,” and left.
Sapphire sighed, resting her head in her hooves. What did I sign up for?
January 16, 1818
Canterlot, Equestria
“Ready! Aim! Fire!” barked the general, and the Royal Guard obediently lower their modified weapons and opened fire. The rounds mostly missed their targets, but Celestia saw a few connect with the haystack.
“Impressive,” muttered Celestia, who had been observing this unfold. She slowly walked forward, wings spread apart with her traditional pose of regal authority.
“I must say general, I am extremely impressed with your ability to train my ponies.”
The general bowed his head briefly, and said, “Just following orders from my government, Your Highness.”
“Still, your actions are a boon to the Principality of Equestria. One that we will not forget.”
The human, named George Murray, bowed his head again. As military attache to Equestria, he had been charged by the British government to teach the Equestrias the ways of post-Napoleonic warfare.
“Your Highness’s words are most gracious.”
Murray was known in Great Britain as something of a kiss-ass, despite (or perhaps because of) his military background.
Going on, he said, “Your subjects seem eager to learn. In particular, a ‘Shining Armor’ has proven to be one of my better students. He’s always asking why, pushing for more details, and really attempts to understand the mindset of both sides of a battle.”
“Excellent.”
“And while we are talking about this, I have a proposition for you.”
“Yes, General?”
“While I am training our officers now, and a former admiral will be arriving to assist you with shipbuilding soon, it occurs to me that I will not be here and training indefinitely. May I suggest that you establish a military academy to continue training your own officers after I have gone?”
“Interesting…”
March 25, 1818
Canterlot, Equestria
“Alright, the reports are in!”
“Reports from the embassy?” asked Celestia.
“Yes,” replied Twilight. “According to this...the government of the United States attempted to renegotiate the treaty we signed for the release of the human responsible for the Manetown tragedy. They claimed that the amount of money was ‘far too high.’”
Celestia quickly blinked away the spots of red outrage that exploded in her sight, then said, “I hope Sapphire had the sense to turn them away…”
“She did.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“Nothing, aside from a request to send a flag. It appears that we forgot to send one with our building crew.”
“Really? I thought we have covered everything…” Celestia muttered. “Alright, we’ll get one sent over there. In fact, we should start sewing more flags for the Principality.”
Cadance, who up until now had been silent, looked at Celestia and asked, “Celestia, what, precisely, is the flag of Equestria? I only ask because I have seen no less than three different flags for Equestria, and none of them look the same.”
Celestia sighed. “Yes, that is something that I have really let slip. I should issue a statement clearing it up. For the record, the official flag of the Principality of Equestria is mostly white, with a pink stripe along the length of the cloth on both the top and bottom. In the center of the flag, there is an emblem with the Sun, and a crescent Moon eclipsing part of it. You may have seen a flag on a light blue background, with images of myself and Luna flying around the Sun and Moon, surrounded by stars. That is not the flag of Equestria and never was. In fact, it was never even officially a flag. Rather, was the crest of the pre-Lunar Rebellion Royal Council. After the Rebellion, though, I didn’t have the heart to have Luna stricken from it. And, over time, it became more popular than the official flag, and I let it slip.”
“In any case, we need to standardize the design of the official flag and distribute replacements for anypony that has been using the wrong one. That should be done as we move on to our next part of westernization.”
“Which will be?”
“I think that we agreed that the most important thing, the thing the humans have the definite advantage in, is the sciences. We have allowed them to stagnate for too long. With that in mind, I propose making one hundred fifty thousand bits available for pony scientists to use to develop tools and weapons, along with studying nature and whatever else they see appropriate.”
“I so approve of this,” Twilight said eagerly.
“Of course you do. In addition to rebooting the sciences, another step we should consider is changing our titles.”
“We have titles?” asked Cadance.
“Exactly my point. Traditionally, our interactions with the ponies of Equestria have been extremely informal, with the ponies allowed call us, essentially, whatever they wanted. However, Ambassador Liston tells me that in western nations, there is an extremely rigid form of address for royalty, with all kinds of titles depending on the stature of the royal. While I do not think we should adopt nearly as rigid structure, adding a little formality never hurt anypony. With that in mind, Liston has provided us with a list of titles. Please do note that often the title is bound to the type of government. As such, a title like ‘Imperial Majesty’ does not fit Equestria, as we are not an empire. Unless, of course, we want to become one. Think about it, and we’ll formalize it later.”
“Finally for today, it’s been awhile since we were in touch with our griffon friends up north. Surely they’ve heard of everything that’s been going on by now. I even have the perfect message to send them...”
April 3, 1818
Kingdom of Griffonia
The Equestrian Royal Council, with a newly-sewn flag of Equestria being carried by Shining Armor, marched towards the capital of Griffonia. The Council was marching with a three-thousand strong contingent of the Equestrian Royal Guard, armed with modified guns. It was one of the largest armies Equestria had mobilized in living memory, Celestia and Luna not counting.
As the trumpets announced their presence, King Odrynn was seen marshalling his own contingent of troops, the legendary Aerie Watch. Swift responders to any national crises, they were to Griffonia as the Wonderbolts were to Equestria, in that they were the most elite fliers of the Kingdom. Normally, that sight would have frightened the Equestrians. However, the new weapons they cradled dispelled most of their fear.
As the griffons approached the ponies, the King signaled for them to stay back. He flew forward alone and as he came within ear shot of the ponies, said, “Your Highnesses...if it wasn’t for the Equs-Grifoni Pact of 1008, I would have that you were invading.”
The four Princesses took to skies as well, and approached the King. “We come not to invade, King Odrynn, but to demonstrate a point,” replied Celestia. “No doubt you have heard of the Manetown Incident?”
“A tragedy, that was, but I fail to see…”
“Of course you don’t see the point, I haven’t made it yet,” Celestia cut off. “If you have heard of the Incident, you have almost certainly heard of our decision to westernize, as well?”
“Yes…”
“Our country has spent barely six months westernizing, and already we possess the military strength to defeat even your legendary Aerie Watch in battle. And this is with only our Royal Guard! Imagine if we had trained the Wonderbolts with these weapons. Of course, we have no such ambitions, but if we wanted to, we could conquer your entire nation right here and now with only the three thousand Guardponies we brought. Imagine if the United States brought their army to your doorstep like this.”
“Excuse me, but we don’t know that.”
“Yes, we do. You are out of your league here, and you know it. Your pride is just getting in the way.”
“Do you want me to start this ‘westernization,’ as well?”
“What do we want? We want nothing. Rather, we are demonstrating what we are capable of. This is a warning to you, King Odrynn. While we have no ambition to conquer your lands and subject your people, I cannot speak for the other powers on this continent. Equestria is more than willing to assist you in the westernization process. All you must do is ask.”
King Odrynn looked his counterparts in the eye, then said, “This westernization you speak of...surely it will involve abandoning ancient griffon ways. Even if I wanted to, my people are notoriously reactionary. I must think on this.”
“Our offer stands for as long as you want. Be warned, however. Equestria has already had troublesome occurrences with the United States. They will come to you, as well. Be ready.”
With that the Princesses turned around and flew back to the Guard. The contingent turned around, and started the march back to Equestria.
“A show of force, sister?” asked Luna. “Are you sure that was wise?”
“You can only play with diplomatic niceties for so long until you just have to give up and speak their language,” replied Celestia. “Wise? Probably not. Effective? Maybe, maybe not. One thing’s for sure, though. Talking at them was not going to make them accept westernization. As he said himself, his people cling to their traditions like nopony else.”
“And will this convince them to let go?”
“I hope so, Luna. I hope so.”