State of Compromise: Socialist Union of Equestria

by Serov

Night in Petershoof

Author's Note:

Hi, me again back with another chapter.

I typically work on multiple chapters at a time, and they all get finished at different times so they might not be in chronological order (though all chapters have been so far). So, that's something to keep in mind for the future.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

(Reminder: the perspective character's views do not necessarily reflect my own)

Petershoof, Socialist Republic of Severyana, SUE, February 28th, 1 A.U.

“Ambassador, could you, one more time, repeat your government’s stance on recognition.”

Minister Vasiliy Wheatkin rubs his forehead. Across the dinner table from him is the Riverlander ambassador, Colna Cascade.

The purple furred Riverlander unicorn is as calm as ever. She merely takes a sip of her Deponyan wine before responding, seeming completely unfazed.

“As stated before, the River Federation recognizes the Socialist Republic of Severyana but not the Socialist Union of Equestria. We do not recognize states formed on the basis of military conquest.”

Vasiliy sighs. He drinks from his own wine glass, though it's actually full of Severyanan vodka.

I must be going insane if I keep expecting a different response.

“Ambassador, I don’t really understand how that’ll work. Severyana is a member republic of our Union, it does not have independent diplomacy. You cannot make treaties with it the same way you can’t make treaties with any state within the River Federation.”

Again, the ambassador gives a measured, prompt response.

“I think it’s quite simple, Minister Wheatkin. We will only trade with Severyana and if no treaties are possible, we will simply not sign them.”

The two ponies examine each other, Cascade waiting for Vasiliy’s response. The temporary standoff is eventually broken, Vasiliy averts his attention to the food in front of him, eating his untouched dumplings. The ambassador does the same.

This is not within Vasiliy’s job description. Within the government Vasiliy Wheatkin holds two positions. He is the director of the Economic Planning Commision as well as the Minister of Industry. The second of the two is a peculiar one for there is no Ministry of Industry in the SUE. Instead, the position gives him superior position to ministers of War Industry, Metallurgy, and all ministries that pertain to state enterprises. He is an immensely powerful pony but not the one who's supposed to deal with foreign delegates.

The reason why he’s here is due to his party position: Deputy General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party. He’s not the Deputy Premier, that would be Strawberry Snowflake, but that’s a mostly ceremonial position. No, in the SUE, the second in command is Vasiliy Wheatkin; that’s why he had taken a train from Manehatten to Petershoof to meet with Cascade.

The consulate of the River Federation is not a particularly large building. It’s one of many brick row houses along Petershoof’s waterfront. One could not imagine it’s actually the main ambassadorial complex from one great power to another. The staff is miniscule, only 8 members, including Cascade. Vasiliy knows them by name at this point.

Vasiliy, though currently frustrated, felt bad for the official eating across from him. Her position can’t be a glamorous one, being sent off to “rogue state” as the foreign press called the SUE. She seems very competent and professional, a waste here.

“Ambassador, could you pass this along to the Chancellor.” Vasiliy breaks the silence between them. Cascade perks up from her plate, still not dropping her poker face.

“Yes Minister, I suppose I could.”

This isn’t going to work.

Vasiliy doesn’t think himself to be very convincing. He never had Karamelka’s charisma or Sinister’s way with words. He’s a bureaucrat at heart, not a politician. If not for decades of political experience, he would still be a shy stuttering mess.

The stallion adjusts his glasses before looking up at the ambassador. This is their fifth time meeting, the fifth awkward dinner. Vasiliy had never been confrontational towards her, hoping the ambassador would come around eventually. However, those attempts didn’t work.

The ambassador is as composed as ever. She had never stuttered, never gave an inch and yet had never been impolite. She was simply an ambassador, nothing more and nothing less. Even her appearance reflected this, a simple suit combined with neatly combed blue mane. Compared to Vasiliy’s messy mane, worn white shirt, old brown sweater vest, and now ill-fitting slacks, Colna Cascade looked like the most put together creature on Faust.

Still, I hope this gets through with her.

“I personally never approved of the invasion of Equestria.”

Cascade looks surprised, unsure how to take the statement.

“Minister I hardly see how this is relev-”

Vasiliy continues.

“I didn’t like our interventions in the North either. Revolution should ideally be born out of a conscientious not force. When we marched south, I was against it. Crystalis was a worse threat than Equestria ever was. We should have fought together, with Equestria, against the Hegemony.”

He takes another sip of his vodka.

“I almost resigned. I had the letter written out but then Sinnie barged into my office with Lunin and Goldie.”

The Minister laughs at the memory.

“They begged me not to and I guess I’m easily pressured. The only reason why I’m not happily retired is because of them - some friends they are.”

Cascade looks more confused than anything - Vasiliy notices.

"Ah- I apologize ambassador, I'm going somewhere with this…

The ambassador gives him a look, Vasiliy can't describe it.

"Sure Minister, continue."

Vasiliy coughs to clear up his throat.

"Anyways, I'm simply a stallion who wants to do good for his fellow ponies. Genuinely, ambassador, our attempts to open our country aren’t lined with malicious intent. We want nothing more than a perfectly normal diplomatic and commercial relationship with the Federation. I promise that our government won’t stray from that goal. Our invasion was regrettable, but we can’t change the past. Even I can't convince my party to reverse the gains made.”

Vasiliy looks at the Cascade with an almost pleading look.

“Please ambassador, there’s been enough blood shed. I don’t want to create the foundations for another conflict. Some mutual recognition would go a long way for peace.”

Cascade looks… unfazed. She’s silent, perhaps weighing her odds, thinking about what to say.

“I will pass this along to the Chancellor.”

She’s angry. Vasiliy can hear it in her voice. She’s as unexpressive as ever but her words are lined with venomous resentment.

Dread comes over Vasiliy, he has failed.

“I see, thank you ambassador…”

"You're welcome, Minister Wheatkin."

The two go back to their food. Silence reigns for a long time.

“Minister, may I be slightly unprofessional for a moment?”

Surprised at the ambassador’s question, Vasiliy can only nod slightly.

The ambassador, as proper as ever, clears up her throat before speaking.

“Minister, though I can’t speak for Chancellor River Swirl, I doubt she’ll recognize the Union anytime soon, despite your pleas. Do you wish to know why?”

Vasiliy sighs at the open acknowledgement.

“Sure ambassador, I won’t hold anything you say against you.”

“We do not trust Premier Sinister in the slightest. We know his foreign policy stance and we know the only reason the Union doesn’t control the Spa Islands and the Dragon Isles is merely due to a lack of naval capability.”

Vasiliy looks up to meet a fiery mare glaring daggers at him. He treads carefully.

“To be frank, ambassador, I knew that already. But I promise I’-”

“-and we don’t trust you.”

Vasiliy pauses. Cascade looks away from the minister, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“You claim to stand for peace but where was that when your armies marched through nation after nation? Is your personal loyalty to Sinister more important than your morals?”

“I-”

“-You seem to be a good pony, Minister Wheatkin. But you should watch who your friends with and who you work for.”

Colna looks down at her plate, not looking Vasiliy in the eye.

The Minister feels…

…Well, he doesn’t want to describe it.

He gets up from the table.

“Thank you for meeting with me, ambassador. I think I’ll take my leave now.”

Colna doesn’t respond.

Vasiliy walks over to the door, grabbing his coat along the way.

Hoof on the doorknob, the stallion still has one lingering question.

“Ambassador, why did you feel the need to say what you did?”

She doesn’t speak.

Vasiliy turns the knob.

“I-I felt bad for you, Minister Wheatkin.”

That’s surprising.

“... There’s no need. Thank your chef for me, the dumplings were delicious.”

Vasiliy Wheatkin leaves.

---

Central Petershoof is beautiful. The ancient city hugs its harbor, lining the shore with richly decorated brick houses. It had not changed much since Vasiliy’s university days.

Those had been simpler times: cramming for exams, consuming far too much alcohol, volunteering for relief societies in the slums, and merely dreaming of a revolution.

Then, the revolution had come, and it had only gotten more complicated from there.

Vasiliy sighs, mostly at himself.

He knows better than to complain about inevitabilities.

The struggle is messy. It will only become more so when the scope expands.

Severyana, Equestria, Equus - each one had presented a greater headache. Now, the world is fair game, presenting the greatest headache of all time.

Still, it's cowardice to throw one's hoods up and quit just because it's complicated.

Vasiliy may have been considered a soft stallion when he’d been younger, but the ambition in him had burned brightly and had never died.

He still feels like that stupid 26-year-old: a pony with revolver in hoof, the first to charge loyalist positions. Vasiliy remembers what he said to himself, the words he muttered before he almost died:

I hope all this ends in my lifetime.

In Vasiliy’s mind, as long as capitalism exists there will be strife. Even with social democracy, the plutocrats will take over in time, reversing any protection the proletariat had. The system causes class conflict inherently, that’s why it's doomed to fall.

Even if the Equestrian experiment failed, another would surely take up the mantle, but how many creatures will have to suffer in the meantime? How many bloody revolutions will it take? How many will have to toil away to feed the coppers of plutocrats? How wonderful would it be, however, unlikely, if they get it right the first time?

A world without class struggle, where revolution isn’t necessary. A peaceful world.

That’s why Vasiliy had fought, why he’d stayed with the revolution even when it made mistakes, even when the moral complications had only given him sleepless nights. If one day he sees a new world, a better one, it would have been worth it.

Vasiliy, before he realizes, arrives at his destination:

The Winter Palace, the old residence of Severyana’s Tsars, currently an all-purpose government office building.

He looks at the harbor one last time.

There’s a ship sitting in the water, an Baltimare Class Aircraft Carrier, the UES Albion. It’s new, having entered service only last month. With enough deck space for 50 jet aircraft, a reinforced angled deck, and all the advanced electronics the Union could find, the vessel will be the flagship of the new North Celestial Fleet, a symbol of the Union’s new blue-water navy.

Vasiliy sighs, he greets the guard posted at the entrance to the Winter Palace, his name is Dmitri Bretmane. They chat for a bit about the recent local Hoofball game; then, Vasiliy is let in.

---

Colna Cascade will leave her position at the consulate shortly after.

Not long after that, the entire consulate will close down completely due to a naval skirmish involving Union and Coalition ships. Relations normalization will be put on hold for the time being.

Vasiliy will only meet the ambassador again nearly 5 years after that tense dinner.

By that time, much will have changed about the world and Vasiliy Wheatkin will only carry more regrets.

Comments

[PonyDragon]

“We do not trust Premier Sinister in the slightest."

"You see, he and his ideas are kinda sinister to us..."

[Serov]

11840502
He was doomed on this path from the start...