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totallynotabrony


T

"Twilight, I'm glad that you handled Prince Rutherford's declaration of war without violence, but he should have never been given the chance to make that threat."


Editing by Dai Kirai

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 65 )

Chapter 2 is entirely about how this blows up in her face, right?

...Whut.:rainbowderp:

And thus another Noodle Incident was born! :rainbowlaugh:

Don't mess with a geek. It's not a level playing field! :twilightsmile:

Get got

TNaB, still taking things to weird, extreme conclusions. Technically psychological warfare. Got it.

6253379 I suppose you must have missed the "Complete".

reading clauswitz huh?

This reminds me of a funny comic I saw on deviantart. I'd post a link to it, but they are down for maintenance. The comic was Twilight pointing out they have four alicorns, two of which controlled celestial bodies, and a god of chaos.

"He wanted to start a war, but I changed his mind."

"You talked him out of it?"

"No... I changed his mind."

"You can be scary, little sister."

"Thanks, so can you."

"Thanks..."

I like this idea.

Not a super gripping presentation of it, no, but I love the idea, and shall add it to my nice collection of headcanon.

Thanks! :twilightsmile:

“Not counting the barn, boutique, piano, and everything else they wrecked leading up to it?” Shining asked.

That poor snow... :pinkiesad2:

:pinkiegasp:

Did not see that ending coming. Bravo!

garfan #16 · Jul 28th, 2015 · · 2 ·

Not a fan. Besides disliking the ending, I also cannot discern the point Shining and Spitfire were trying to make. If they were talking to Prince Rutherford, yes their conversation would make sense. But talking about wars being declared lightly, to someone who had war declared on them, doesn't make much sense

6255713 think about their point this way someone breaks into your house threatens to rape and kill your family your response is okay do you want to have a piece of cake before you kill us. That's what their trying to tell her.

6255949 negotiations don't end until the first shots are fired.

Yeah, because the Oryal Guard and Wonderbolts have been soooooooo effective.

Wonderbolts: taken out by Spike weilding a water tower, like a bunch of noobs.

Royal Guard: flanks handed to them by changelings INSTANTLY by NMM and Chrysalis. They couldn't even stop low-level changelings which the Mane 6 took on by the HUNDREDS and held their own for a time.

Frankly, the ponies of FiM aren't fighters. Had thy been, weaponized magic would have fried the changlings like magic bug zappers.

Also... this story makes a very poor assumption: Twilight could not use a mind-control spell on the yaks. They'd need to possess minds first.
Yes, I'm racist against yaks. Screw you too. :trollestia:

I wrote a review of this story!

It can be found here.

I like this.
This is a WAY better continued ending to that episode?
:twilightblush: What's that? you're declaring war?
:twilightangry2: I'MMA POKE YOU IN THE BRAIN WITH MAH MIND BULLETS!
:twilightsmile: Aaaaaand now we're friends. Isn't that great?

6257742 Thanks. After thinking about it, I agree with your review.

6257827
You're welcome! I really enjoyed The Treaty, and I hadn't read any other story from you in a while, so I figured I might as well check this one out.

looked up a couple definitions (cause I'm stupid) and I have concluded that this is fucked up.

6254016
I liked this response in the comments even more:

"Good. Been long time since Yaks had decent fight."

Isn't it weird that Griffons are always made out to be this incredible threat, but the huge and powerful Yaks are always pushovers?

This fic in summary:

Shining:  Averting a war without violence is nice in theory, but all you taught Prince Rutherford – and the international community at large – is that he can get what he wants by frivolously declaring war on us.

Twilight:  Don't worry, Shiny.  After he declared war, I ignored the principle of diplomatic immunity and basic ethics by psychically assaulting the foreign ruler and his attendant diplomats, and I brainwashed them into taking it back and handing over their country to us.  That definitely won't set any terrifying political precedents that could ever come back to bite us, so everything is fine now. *sqeesmile* :twilightsmile:

And this is why I dislike Twilight, there's always a version of her out there with no sense of morality or common decency. Yes they declared war, but to avert it by raping their minds...jesus. :rainbowderp:

That's as nice an argument for regicide as I've ever seen.

Absolutely loved the end to this fic, don't mess with the princess twilight.

When did war get so dark? I though ponies just threw pies and cakes at whoever they were fighting.

Shining Armor & Spitfire (beginning of story): Twilight isn't taking this seriously enough. We need to point out how important something that endangers the lives of ponies like war is, and that it should be met with appropriate force.

Shining Armor & Spitfire (end of story): My/Your sister is terrifying.

6259349
I kind of see Ponies as peaceful people who love peace. Those who make war are weeds in the garden of harmony. You don't talk about ethical treatment of weeds; you rip them up, you toss them in a pile, and you burn them.

6254097 "I changed his mind."

Ohhh... I like this way to say it, it's beautifully ambiguous - it can be read either way and therefore is a perfectly save thing to say to the press without lying. Don't mess with a bookworm. The power of magic alone isn't nearly as great as when it's combined with the wording skills of a professional librarian to make people like what's being done with it.

6262387 this. so much. Equestria is practically a utopia. But every utopia follows a golden rule: What to one man is a Utopia, to another it is a Dystopia.

6255987
As has been mentioned elsewhere, those bullets flying around are simply another stage of negotiations.

Personally, I don't think the Yak civilization could exist as described in the episode. They'd reduce themselves to nomadic family herds in a few week's time, and the families wouldn't hold together long after any member decided the others weren't perfect.

6264203

it was a royal who was being so touchy in that situation.

also, once the bullets start flying in a war, it seems to me there's generally a period where negotiations are stopped, before they start up again

6263793
Oh, definitely. And the reverse is often true as well. And, yet, for all that I made the ponies sound monstrous and inhumane in their quest for peace, whole cities really have been turned to ash in our own world by those we deem heroes once it was determined that the lives of those inhabiting them were a hindrance to the war effort. A crime against peace is a real thing that people have been hanged for.

But I was getting towards the idea of an alternative Morality Event Horizon. If a guy drags a dog into a room, hacks it apart, and eats it, he's a monster and we're all on board for him suffering massively for this act of barbarity. If he drags a pig into a room to do the same, he's making breakfast and such outrage would be wildly inappropriate.

6256084

Best comment in the thread. On the other hand, we never really saw any guards fighting changelings. They may have held their own too, but were simply overwhelmed by numbers, like the Mane Six were.

6265243 Weaponized magic war-mongering ponies would be a terrifying thing to behold... just think of the horrific things you can do just with basic telekinesis and teleportation. To say nothing of Twilight turning soldiers into half oranges to squirt burning citric acid juice into the eyes of the enemy! The horror! The carnage! The vitamin C! :fluttershbad:

6265272

The massive carnage via Party Cannons... :twilightoops:

6264288
It was indeed only one royal, but he said Yaks get angry if a thing isn't perfect. Whether he was speaking truthfully is unknown.

The title of the story, "Politics by other means" is derived from a comment by Carl Von Clausewitz: "War is the continuation of politics by other means." Implying that the transition from words to bloodshed is not the ending of one thing and the beginning of another, but merely a change in the method of communication. If the Yak's basic message is, "Give us what we want or we will destroy you." then their discovering through battle that the destruction in question is impossible is a step forward in communication.

There were several ways the situation in the episode could have been handled short of actual bloodshed. It would have been quite reasonable for Twilight to have levitated the three yaks just a little bit off the ground and let them flail and scream impotently until they agreed to stop trashing the place... But that wouldn't have taught the lesson in entertaining guests we viewers were to receive. It would have taught, "Be polite to your hosts when visiting." instead.

How is this dark? I love me some badass Twilight.

:twilightblush: A nuked mind is a terrible thing to waste :derpytongue2: pop goes the weasel ?

:moustache: Microwave pop corn?

I have had too much politics and not enough sleep in my life. Twilights little explanation sounded like this to me:

"I insulted the next in line for the throne of my neighbors, so to avoid repercussions I controlled his, and his advisors minds. I sincerely hope no one has any ability to test if this has happened, or might suspect it has happened, like a spy or one of the many countless ponies who were around in the public spaces in which we held most out meetings. Maybe someone who might not be happy they are being annexed into a culture they know nothing about. If they did not only would this result in a coalition formed against Equestria, but it would create a racial divide among all the creatures of the world, inside and outside of Equestria's boarders. Not only would this destroy my credibility, but the credibility of Celestia, Luna, Cadance, All my friends as well as the unicorn race. So long as I live ponies will be considered no more trustworthy then changelings."

"Should the rest of the world take action for my act of stripping a sovereign of sovereignty, then a coalition of Equestria's neighbors will no doubt work out a way to move the sun and moon on their own, using more powerful and advanced magics, or die trying. The war resulting from my actions a will be long, as any surrender to Equestrians will not be seen as an act of comprise, but the stripping of freedom and individuals will. Any peace will be oppression. Any compromise, control. The war will last until all are slaves at least in their own minds or dead."

"We could win. Four Alicorns and Discord would be hard to beat. That is of course, if Celestia, Luna and Cadance don't work on damage control. Taking over someones mind is a serious crime. Making a town fall in love with a doll warrants the ruler of the kingdom to come and solve the situation herself. So long as I live the nations of the world would never trust me, and by extension Equestria. She could let me go, send me to an island somewhere or banish me to the moon until everyone in the world forgot and I become the next nightmare moon. This would be best as, yay for me, I get to live. Unfortunately that means all my crimes simply pass over to Celestia, as she is responsible for a criminals escape. Unlike Luna being sent to the moon, sending me away wouldn't be an act of saving the world, it would be an act of saving me."

"Unfortunately Celestia has her sibling back, and I doubt Luna would be willing to let Celestia carry any stigma the rest of the world could give me. She, already with her martyr complex, bad reputation and old fashion way of doing things would be the death of me. In a way it might be called a mercy. To die as a warning to all who want to strip the will from others, then to live as the reason harmony can never exist."

"Gee, I sure hope no one in the world can detect mind control."

I hate mind control. I hate Celestia threatening to blow people up with the sun, and I hate this belief that no one can think things through. I think I need more sleep. Sorry about the rant.

So Twilight mentally brainwashed someone and we're okay with that? She tried the same thing with Discord. Twilight's fucked up.

Also... Equestrian military...HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAhAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!

If you want to say overrated gendarmes or militarized police sure. But in no way are they military. At least not by modern definition. The best they are is some sort of advanced militia or gendarmes or however it's spelled.

They couldn't handle the changelings, a rampaging dragon, Tirek, Nightmare Moon or anything else. If they are military I'm General Zod.

Guess I must be doing something right. The comments keep getting longer and longer.

6267047

Tirek and Nightmare Moon were ultra-powerful beings with godlike powers; a military being unable to handle them doesn't necessarily speak poorly of them. Chrysalis also had incredible power at the time of the invasion (as showing by her handily defeating Celestia), and the changelings had the advantage of a surprise attack. If by the dragon you mean the dragon in Dragonshy, it's not clear if the guard/military couldn't have gotten rid of it, just that they sent the Mane 6 in first, possibly to try to get the dragon to leave peacefully before actually mobilizing some kind of attack.

The basic problem with the world of MLP in regards to militaries is that you have beings so freakishly powerful that they make any military force seem irrelevant against them.

6267339 Truth be told the way she said it I was tottaly waiting for that. I didn't buy into it.
6267726 If the wonderbolts are regarded as military ((as they were in history)) then yes it is.
Which in any case basically means that the military is woefully unprepared about whatever threat that comes its way.

And here's the thing about changelings.
iambrony.dget.cc/mlp/gif/81175__UNOPT__safe_animated_changeling_a-canterlot-wedding.gif
They were OUTSIDE. OF. A. SHIELD. The Canterlot guards were WARNED about a "threat" that would come to Canterlot. There's no excuse about their performance even with the shield sabotaged.

Equestrian "military" has experienced an era of peace for the most part. Which means they are inexperienced as fuck.

Is it odd that I find mind alteration spells like this pretty high up there on the scale of 'things that cross the moral event horizon'? Maybe because there is such a strong implication of casual oppression? I always kinda thought that Celestia would be the more 'conventional' of tyrants. Sure she can melt your face off with a solar flare theoretically, but that has more or less the same end result as a particularly flashy execution. The other Alicorns have much more subtle ways to mess with you and bend you to their will. Even more interesting is the idea that there are no laws against this sort of thing.

6268718 That's a nice username. I'm glad we're in the same...orbit.

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