On the Road to '63

by niBBoi

The Zumidian-Chiropterran Emergency

From a lecture by Professor Bright Light of the Royal Canterlot University:

"The year is 1018. A meeting is taking place behind closed doors in Canterlot Palace. A Hippogriffian envoy of diplomats and military officers urges their Equestrian counterparts to reconsider sending military forces to aid Hippogriffia's current counterinsurgency efforts in Chiropterra.

"The Equestrians are initially a little wary. While the Equestrians' new outlook on foreign affairs urges them to acquiesce to the Hippogriffians' requests especially since theirs is a nation which Equestria has had historically close and friendly relations with, Equestria is still in the middle of its post-Great War reconstruction efforts, and the Equestrians fear that sending Equestrian military forces in foreign territories would be too great of a risk.

"However, after hours of discussion and debate, they eventually relent and the Hippogriffian envoy goes home with promises of Equestria looking into the possibility of sending military forces. Later that week, the Equestrians along with various government advisors, former princess Celestia notably being one of them, meet with Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"While there is some opposition, it is made clear during and after the meeting that Chiropterra and the situation unfolding there is of Equestria's concern with Princess Luna specifically expressing great interest in the region. It is also emphasized that an ally, Hippogriffia, needs assistance, and so Equestria shall provide. Soon, Equestrian ministers met with those from the Crystal Empire and New Mareland, a plan was drafted, and after being signed by Princess Luna with the reluctant consent of Princess Twilight, forces were on their way south.

"This is officially the start of Equestria's military involvement in the Zumidian-Chiropterran Emergency, but first, we need a brief background on the events being described.

"By around 1015, the North Zebrican War ended and Hippogriffia emerged victorious. Colthage and Chiropterra were occupied with Zeshmunazash of the Coltvan revolutionaries sitting at the helm of Colthage's post=war occupation while Carrot Stick led the Chiropterran occupation and collaborated with the Hippogriffians in the creation of a Chiropterran Republic.

"While the occupation of Colthage went relatively smoothly with the swift removal of the Zarcids from power and the beginning of large democratic reforms, the same could not be said for Chiropterra. Almost immediately, Chiropterran resistance sprang up and hampered efforts to set up a democratic government as armed insurgents spurred on by radical Moonspeakers vehemently opposed to the occupation started harassing Hippogriffian and collaborating Chiropterran forces at seemingly every turn.

"By 1018, the situation was becoming untenable. While a republic had been created, the insurgency continued to cause mayhem and were convincing the public that the new government lacked any ability to reliably keep the peace. Royal Hippogriffian military forces and intelligence agencies were also getting increasingly mired in failures and dead ends with their resources being stretched to its limits. Hippogriffian and Chiropterran government intelligence constantly played cat and mouse with the insurgents all over North Zebrica with fighting sporadically breaking out in places as far as Zumidia and eastern Colthage. Chaos was becoming the norm in the region with nearby Warzena and the Zumidian mandate regularly getting caught in the crossfire, and soon, the local Chiropterran government declared a state of emergency. Thus, the so-called 'Zumidian-Chiropterran Emergency' began.

"It was at this time that Equestria began its military involvement in the region. They had already been sending aid such as money, military attachés, and the sharing of intelligence years before, but this marked a major turning point in Equestrian action towards the Chiropterran situation.

"As we know, it was in this period of history that Equestria's foreign policy began radically shifting towards a more active stance. Equestria wished to maintain and strengthen its ties with Hippogriffia as Equestria expanded its political and economic interests in North Zebrica.

"What we are touching on today concerns Equestria's interest in Chiropterra. Aside from a deep and storied history dating all the way back to Nightmare Moon's rebellion, Chiropterra had regarded Equestria as its enemy in the past with a desire to destroy the Equestrian state in line with their theocratic ideology centered around Nightmare Moon, and they were not bluffing in that department. Equestrian intelligence later on tracked, identified, and confirmed the relation of the perpetrators of the bombing of Manehattan during a rally by Princess Luna to agents working for the Chiropterran government.

"Chiropterra was an apparent threat to the safety and security of Equestria and her allies, and a successfully resurgent Chiropterra would have evidently been disastrous. Thus, the Equestrian government sanctioned the allocation of Equestrian resources accordingly to aid Hippogriffia and the Chiropterran Republic which later escalated to direct military aid.

"Princess Luna appointed herself as overall commander of the Equestrian military forces and intelligence units in Chiropterra with General Swift Wing - a veteran general of the Great War who served distinctly under Princess Celestia's wartime militarist regime - placed as the commander of Equestrian military operations on the ground. Alongside troops from the Crystal Empire and New Mareland, the military forces sent were also there to test new weapons and military theories. In summary, Equestria deployed a full division of light infantry, a mountaineer brigade, a mechanized brigade, a paratrooper regiment, military police, and most notably, army, naval, and royal guard special forces battalions, a couple strategic reconnaissance wings and fighter wings composed of early jet fighter-bombers, an S.M.I.L.E anti-infiltrator unit, and even an experimental airmobile battalion equipped with the first helicopters in history to be designed for military use.

"As help started arriving, the insurgents, who most certainly heard about the military aid, briefly intensified their operations. However, Chiropterran government forces, the Hippogriffian military, and their new allies quickly launched a counteroffensive and stopped the insurgents in their tracks.

"The Equestrians and their allies then immediately went on the attack. The S.M.I.L.E thrived despite their practically entirely new environment, and their experience and expertise gained from the Great War - especially during their clandestine operations to hinder Nightmare Moon cultists flirting and collaborating with the changelings - proved to be extremely valuable. The famed Equestrian anti-infiltrators made steady progress and had relatively little problem adjusting their tactics from focusing against changeling infiltrators to Chiropterran insurgents.

"The newly established Royal Army Special Information and Psychological Operations Corps or 'RASIPOC' and one of their 'RASIPOB' battalions dubbed 'Raspberries' also helped in disrupting insurgent activity as Equestrian, Hippogriffian, and Marelander light infantry and mountaineers combed the Chiropterran mountains and forests and flattened insurgent encampments and bases scattered throughout the wilderness with the help of special reconnaissance, ample fire and air support, and the revolutionary usage of air cavalry for drastically increased mobility through dense and rough terrain in numerous search and destroy missions. Also something of note was the sheer amount of former slaves in Chiropterra who contributed significantly in allied operations with a large number enlisting in local militaries due to a lack of money and accomodations by many after they were liberated as well as a perceived sense of justice and revenge against their former masters.

"For four years from 1018 to 1022, Princess Luna and her Equestrian expeditionary contingent savaged and eventually helped neutralize the insurgency and return peace to Chiropterra by the time the Dread War in Griffonia was coming to an end.

"With all that done, I have to mention by this point that there is a lot to be said about how 'poetic' the events surrounding Equestria in the Zumidian-Chiropterran Emergency are, and how Princess Luna's involvement in particular could have an entire lecture or two dedicated to it, but unfortunately, that is all outside the scope of our dive into the history of Equestrian foreign policy. Perhaps that is all for another time."

Author's Note:

"I wanna see it painted
Painted black
Black as night
Black as coal
I wanna see the sun
Blotted out from the sky"

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/equestriaatwar/comments/15mby1i/the_zumidianchiropterran_emergency/

Comments

[SOTANORSU]

Awesome worldbuilding as always. Hits just the spot for me.