Current Events/ Talking To The World
JPrincess Twilight Sparkle pays a visit to Auschwitz. She makes a speech calling for tolerance.
09/07/2021
Princess Twilight Sparkle and Undersecretary of Extraterrestrial Affairs Dr. Jacob Klein toured the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, accompanied by a delegation that included Polish President Leopold Nowak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Amit, and several Holocaust survivors.
Jacob Klein's great aunt, Rachel Tanner (nee Klein), was herself a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp and his grandfather Franz was a refugee from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. The Princess laid an elegant bouquet in front of the memorial plaque and gave a speech denouncing bigotry and hate.
"It is my sincerest hope that future generations of humans and Equestrians of all races focus on what unites our species and not what divides us," Princess Twilight said. "That we are not so blinded by hate and paranoia, that we would treat each other as mere insects."
As she left to return to the United States, Princess Twilight was said to have been deeply moved by what she saw.
United States Ratifies the Graz Accords. Joins 23 Other Nations in Extra-Terrestrial Treaty
01/08/2021
At an outdoor ceremony, President Michael Robertson was surrounded by bipartisan figures, Dr. Jacob Klein, and Equestrian Ambassador Unity Hope as he publicly signed into law the Vance-Peterson Act. Also known as the Equestrian Relations Act, it will allow travel and the free exchange of non-warfare related materials between Equestria and the United States under the terms of the Graz Accords.
"By signing this act into law," the President said in a public speech. "We can ensure that the dialogue and commerce between our worlds remains peaceful and to the mutual benefit of both our species."
The treaty allows for the free-exchange of goods and people between the United States and Equestria. Starting January 01, 2022, residents from both countries will be allowed to apply for visas to travel or immigrate to two different nations.
The treaty binds both nations to police threats and strictly control and police the sale of materials and magic that could be used in conflict...
Equestrian Pony Challenges Arrest for Misuse of Magic, Claiming the Second Amendment
08/15/2022
In a lawsuit that has attracted nation-wide attention, Equestrian Pony Dancing Flame, a unicorn and resident of Phoenix, AZ, claims that her illicit use of magic was in fact a constitutional right.
Dancing Flame was arrested last Tuesday for arson and illegal use of magic under the Vance-Peterson Act. Dancing Flame immolated Seymour Lawrence, a drunken man who attempted to attack her with a broken bottle, with fire magic. The incident was captured on a video that has gone viral.
Dancing Flame has quickly become an icon to many libertarian and 2nd amendment activists who believed magic is covered under the right to bear arms.
"This was clearly a case of self-defense," NRA spokesman Wayne Bradley said, "In Equestria, magic is used in self-defense all the time. To charge her is to destroy the 2nd amendment and our very Constitution."
Undersecretary of Extraterrestrial Affairs Jacob Klein to give historic speech at the UN to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the ratification of the Graz Accords
12/12/2022
Despite getting use to crowds, I still felt nervous as I sat in my VIP hotel suite. The comfortable leather chairs, tuxedo, complimentary booze, and gift baskets didn't reduce my anxiety, but only added to the weight I felt pushed on top of me. For the first time ever, I would be speaking not just in front of an audience, but the entire world. In a place normally reserved for world leaders.
Technically, I did lead something as Undersecretary of Extraterrestrial Affairs. Technically I did govern the State Department's offices that revolved around American-Equestrian relations. But in truth, I was mostly a figurehead in the department, with most of the work being done by State Department officials. A glorified celebrity. A face for how humanity and Equestria's residents could live in peace. The real work I did was as an adjunct professor at George Washington Universit, who were nice enough to give honorary doctorate, making me a "Dr." as well. That was swell.
I never truly held a leadership role. I was not mentally prepared to speak before what might be the largest audience in human history, despite all the help from coaches and speechwriters.
I remembered when Princess Celestia spoke before the world in Graz. Her words, though kind, carried an undertone of authority schoolteachers like me wished we could command. The tone she used made it clear she would not allow humanity to exploit her precious ponies. How could I compete with words sharpened by wisdom and pose that only centuries of experience could produce?
"Jake," I turned around and saw Mary. She came out of the bathroom and was wearing a red dress designed by Twilight's seamstress friend Rarity. Despite it being her first human dress, a pony without fingers was a surprisingly good at making human wardrobe. "Are you OK?"
"I am going to be speaking before an audience of billions. A speech that will be remembered for centuries to come," I said with some annoyance. "What do you think?"
"Jake," Mary said in a tone that combined both reassurance and exasperation. "We both dreaded life as a celebrity. We both thought we could never adapt. But we've grown into such jetsetters."
"You just like the champagne and hotel rooms," I said with a wry grin, which she returned.
"Well, it certainly helped," she said. "You've given speeches before. Just think of the audience as the school auditorium." She let out a pause. "Only a million times bigger," she finished uneasily. We both let out a chuckle at her words. Roger burst into the suite without knocking, as usual.
"Mr. Klein," Roger said. He pointed to his watch, signaling it was time to go. Mary took my hand, and we both walked out of the hotel room to what would be the most important assignment of my life.
The noise of the applause as I entered the UN General Assembly was so great that I thought I would be knocked over. It was the kind of applause you only hear at platinum-record concerts or State of the Union addresses.
"Ladies and Gentleman," a female announcer said. Soon, several quieter announcements in multiple languages followed along. "Jacob Solomon Klein!"
The applause got even louder. Time seemed to slow as I approached the marble granite podium were countless individuals have spoken before the assembly. I wonder if they felt the same pressure I did, or if their years of leadership gave them the resolve they needed.
I felt overwhelmed as the applause died down, my face appeared on the jumbotron, and I was given my cue. Time slowed further, and every millisecond felt like a year. I looked upward and saw Twilight, her fellow Princesses, her friends, representatives from other races, Mary, and my twin daughters. Their image not only gave me strength, but reminded me of the importance of my speech. I glanced at Roger, who gave me a covert thumbs up.
"Members of the Assembly," I began. "I am honored to be speaking before this body. Only a few short years ago, I and so many others could've never have imagined the discovery of other beings would ever occur within our lifetimes. Nor did I ever imagine such proof appearing before me directly." I paused briefly, giving a very small glance upward. I had a feeling the lavender pony saw it and gave a small smile. "Much has been said about my wife and I granting Princess Twilight food and shelter. While I consider our actions to have been basic courtesy, my hope is that in any future relations between our species remain guided not by greed or hostility, but the generosity and kindness that Princess Twilight has continued to receive." I paused as a brief applause overtook the assembly.
"Much has been said about the wonders of Equestria and its magic, and how it could help humankind. Equestrians in turn have been dazzled by the results of human ingenuity and how it could benefit their society. But the greatest quality of Equestria I've encountered is nothing material or tangible. The greatest magic found in Equestria is the Magic of Friendship. In the land of Equestria, the many sentient races of the land are taught to live by the principles of Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic. As an American, the greatest quality of America is not my nation's wealth and abundance. It is that our nation was founded on the principle that all men are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." I let out a short pause as the audience let out a brief applause. Through a glance at the jumbotron, I saw the Americans present were giving me proud smiles.
"There are those who say that when it comes to international relations, we must leave principles at the door. That realism must take the place of idealism. That politics and special interests must rise above virtue. And finally, those who say the virtue of friendship and liberty is mere sentimentality. But to me the principles of friendship and liberty are not merely bromides. They are not merely words you read in a self help book. They are not merely slogans meant to rally a nation. They are not merely guiding principles. They are, in fact, necessary for survival. In both Equestria and Earth, technology and magic have often been misused by those who disdained the ideals of Friendship and liberty. The result was catastrophe, terror, and death." I let out a small pause, remembering the emaciated picture of Aunt Rachel. This image gave me even more resolve.
"For when we lose sight of our virtues, when we lose sight of our values as human beings or ponies, we can be consumed by evil and terror. With technology and magic, that terror can destroy and harm an enormous amount. Over the next few decades, our achievements in technology and magic will continue to grow. While these achievements will be to the benefit of mankind and ponykind, there is also a danger that they can be harnessed toward horrible ends. It is only by maintaining our values, by committing to ideals, by avoiding the poison of hatred and greed, that we can ensure good relations between our species. Let us not merely use our spoils to improve our material wealth. As we march toward greater cooperation, let us also use our gains to better ourselves."
A brief pause hung over as I speech ended. Then I heard slow clapping, and more slow clapping. The clapping exponentially grew into a fierce applause, followed by cheers from all over the place. It continued even after I moved from the podium.
Whenever I despair over the future of Equestrian-Earth relations, whenever some malcontents attempt to disrupt the peace, I remember the reception my speech got. The warm applause, the pats on the back from all my friends, the admiration of Mary and my daughters. Despite the terrors of the Holocaust, and despite the evils of beings like King Sombra, that night when I spoke before the world taught me that majority of us are good at heart.
By keeping that in mind, we can overcome anything.
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Well, I hope you can continue. You certainly open an hot topic at the beginning of your story by asking rhetorically if humans are evil. Thanks for your philosophical view in this topic, and looks forward to your next work
I'm looking forward to the sequel, because this was great!
Human-pony interaction fics are my jam, if you write one I'll definitely be reading it.
I'll definitely read any sequel you write for this one, the interactions that can come from this are bound to be at the very least quite interesting.
Neat, thanks!
All citizens. And unless they don't have money.
Yeah, exactly! All problems are from disloyalty to our Great Ideals!
A bit of purging is in order.
I think you definitely have potential with this concept. It'd be nice to have an anthology fic that shows how this new status quo is like. I LOVED the article about Magic being covered under the second amendment.
Very well written. I’d love a se-
Screw politeness.
SEEEEEEEQUELLLLLLL I- if you don’t mind...
Not to be nitpicky but
boutique = clothes shop (as in Rarity)
You probably meant bouquet (flowers).
(There are more wrong words/typos throughout the story but maybe I shouldn't go into full grammar nazi mode... excuse the phrase)
Aside from that, great story! I would have liked at least a reference to non-ponies and any international (interplanetary?) relation they might have formed with Earth countries (I suppose USA wouldn't have been the only country to do that), but maybe that can be covered in the sequel? And yes, please write a sequel, I'd love to read it
9781480
Seconded!
SEQUEL
9782621
Oh man, that got WAY heavier than expected, and I was expecting some serious stuff. Could have used a little bit more of him and Twilight there at the end though. I have to say, a sequel would be AMAZING!
I don't think I need words for this.
9785971
You don't judge a religion so much by the atrocities it's followers commit, but by the doctrines of said religion. Every philosophy/belief system will have good and bad done in it's name or by it's adherents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Day_of_Remembrance_for_Victims_of_Stalinism_and_Nazism
August 23rd
It doesn't cover the Armenian Genocide, though. That gets commemorated in April.
Well since you used the nazi concentration camp auschwitz for the cover art
Yeah i would say were evil
10021769
10021795
So let me get this strait
I talk a about one of the worst events in history and you reply with a retarded spongebob video
This is why i have zero faith in humanity
10021915
You have 'zero' faith in humanity because you choose so.
found the subject of discussion extremely boring(its overdone), and that the characters bias towards Hitler is annoying.
nice fic though
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/525459711470993428/703053045495365693/23ea414c3befc53fb2ba46b5ea229acd.jpg
Goes to other world.
Reminds Ponies that six gorrilian Jewish people died
I'm glad I read this story.
That speech that he said at the end is motivational, good work, have a B (._.//)>
"Are Humans Evil?"
what an inane question. you might as well ask if the universe is orange.
10797934
The universe is pink with purple polka dots!
I think the idea that the MLP universe never dealt with genocide throughout it's history is just a possible assumption. Personally, I think Equestria and the ponies within it very likely understand the consept of genocide, most of all a pony who studies books of all kinds like no one else. We see throughout the show that ponies share at least 90 percent of the personality characteristics of humans irl, and we know that there was a peroid in time where tribalism and racism existed to a large degree before the unification of the tribes. Equestria clearly has a much smaller population than Earth, but any universe with human level intelligence creatures WILL have had genocide in it's history at the very least on the scale of say, a couple hundred. After all, millions don't need to die for something to be considered racially motivated genocide if the population of that minority was only a few hundred. War is not alien to the MLP universe. Although I think this fic is very good, I think if the actual Twilight Sparkle from the show read about the holocaust, she would be angry and sad, but not in pure disbeleif. You could make the argument that canon Starlight committed genocide in at least one universe, even if not on purpose. You can pressume Sombra used torture and mutilation as punishment. Twilight might be shocked, but someone of her nature wouldn't simply ignore the numurous sources in an academic textbook.
10854335
You might be right. Equestria, as we've seen, isn't free of conflict or danger.
But Twilight's reaction, as I've written her in this story, is based off this: the Holocaust, when it was uncovered in real life, instilled into others an existential terror for several reasons.
1. The visceral images of cruelty.
When reporters and soldiers entered concentration camps, the level of cruelty and deprivation was staggering. What was even worse is that despite the liberation of these camps, inmates continued to die all around them. These places weren't bad, but were museums full of walking corpses.
2. The systematic nature of the Holocaust.
The Holocaust wasn't just murder or mass murder: murder became a SCIENCE. The Nazis literally looked for the best ways to kill people. They devoted whole industries, infrastructure, and forces to the destruction of human beings. Their foreign policy goal was the murder and expulsion of 100 million + Slavs. They continued, and even accelerated, this mass murder as the war turned against them. It was the devotion of a society to wiping out an "other" that really shocked people.
3. The contrast between "civility" of the perpetrator and the bestiality of it.
What really horrified people was that Germany, the most industrious nation in the world, had committed these crimes. Japan was also really bad, but the racist views of the time meant that people weren't surprised by the horrors Japan inflicted.
But a lot of people were horrified a nation that had symbolized the greatness of Western industrial society could commit itself to such an atrocity.
It's no coincidence that racism and colonialism began to fall out of favor after World War II, because Nazism really destroyed the notion of the supremacy of Western society.
Twilight's reaction isn't just a revulsion to murder. It's the scope of the horror that makes her so shaken. Not to mention it would also challenge her belief that a more technologically advanced society would be inherently better.
10895391
Reminder that Equestria doesn't really know that much about the world they live in
10854335
I think it really just depends on what point in time this takes place in the show or what you consider canon. Season 1 - 2 Twilight would probably be in disbelief, but Season 3 - 9 Twilight wouldn't be as shocked since the lore was heavily changed/expanded. (the whole timelines thing we saw with Starlight and the Sombra war comes to mind).
Thank you for the follow and fave!
I liked how you handled these heavy topics. You really painted a pretty strong painting of what humanity is. For both bad and good.
I wasn't really expecting a once magma levels of heat in the comment section. But I guess when religion and politics are brought up, it is just a ticking time bomb.
A side note; you could've brought up Mutually Assured Distruction, but you've written the best outcome here. This fic also reminds me of "Humans are space orcs" and "Humanity f*** yeah" story subreddits. This has the same mood as their "humans are awesome" vibe.
Either way, you certainly brought out the right emotions. Nice going, Wordsmith!
complete bullshit. the arguments in defense are without foundation
Still a good read even after all this time.