Repercussions
Hawkeye: War isn't Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.
Father Mulcahy: How do you figure, Hawkeye?
Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?
Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.
Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chalk full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander
- From the show MASH
"You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war."
— Napoleon Bonaparte
Berry Bridge Hospital, Los Angeles
Annabel Scott stared at the readouts. Short red hair a necessity of her job when cops brought in a prisoner or a druggie, her white garments spotless, the only color on them her blue nametag and some pens in a pocket. She rested her head in her hands, enjoying a few minutes of quiet.
“Another double shift?”
“Yeah. Third one this week.” Annabel looked up at the blonde muscular man, her fellow nurse.
“Why don’t they get someone else? You’re gonna kill yourself at this pace.”
“I volunteered. We’re short staffed and I can use the distraction.” She groaned. Where’s that coffee?
“Things still that bad, eh?” He drank out of his own mug, a horrid ‘This too shall pass, like a kidney stone.’ Written in yellow letters over a blue background.
“Yes. How’s the patient in 403?”
“Still can’t breathe on his own.” Mr. White collapsed in a chair next to her. “Is it always this hard?”
“Just wait for the full moon. Or a few hours.” Annabel taunted. “Then it gets real interesting.” She felt the stirrings of a headache. “We get backed up like none other. If you need it, go take a nap for whatever you can get.”
“I might just take you up on that offer.” He rose, taking his time as it turned into a stretch. “Twelve hour shifts are hell.”
The lights sputtered and failed, the readout to her left sparked and she heard some machines in patient rooms do worse.
“Was that a power surge?” His face was barely visible in the hazard lighting, small chemically fluorescing pieces of plastic letting out green light.
“Maybe? But if so the backups should be up by now.” The head nurse had had to read those files for her position, in case of emergency. “This can be easily solved.” She pulled a smoking slab from her pocket. Tossing the phone onto her ‘desk’ and picked up a dead landline. Annabel saw the various nurses and staff looking frantic. OK. Someone has to take charge.
“Mr. White, Get to 403 and get a bag on him. If we have no power then he can’t breathe.” She turned to one of the orderlies. “You, go outside and see if this is localized. If anyone here has knowledge of electronics or know who is, get your ass to the backup generators and find out why they have yet to kick in.” More people scurried off. “Everyone else, check on the patients and do what you can to keep them stabilized until the power comes back up.” She yelled down the hall, soon enough the nurses, orderlies and patients would be freaking out unless they kept busy.
While orderlies and nurses ran around she made for the lounge to rouse the on duty doctor. So far it had been a quiet night so he wanted to grab the couch before a “lazy” nurse could.
She threw open the door, making sure it crashed against the wall; acrid smoke from the television filled her nose, puffs of smoke still wafted from it. I don’t care how good of a doctor he is! He wants to insult my nurses he doesn’t get the nice wakeup. But the bald man didn’t stir; he was normally a light sleeper. She moved to the old doctor, shaking his arm. It flopped off his chest to the ground. The nurse picked up his hand, placing her fingers at his wrist where no pulse could be found. How? Except for that pacemaker he was…”
She hurried out the door, doing her best to not seem like she was rushing. “Has anyone seen Jaqueline Bryant?” She called, moving down the hall of rooms, antiseptic odors burned her nose. Nurse Scott moved from room to room trying to find the nurse who should have been back by now. Moving outside, was a figure sitting on the curb staring up at the bright stars.
“Have you ever seen the stars so bright?”
“You were supposed to come back in!” This is going to be a long enough night without nurses losing it already. Her nerves were frayed from the lack of sleep.
“But you can see the stars. There are no lights anywhere. It’s amazing.” The nurse sat breathless.
Annabel Scott looked at the surrounding buildings, many in the distance taller than her hospital. Everything was dark, everything. Her heart sped up as epinephrine pumped through her veins. The calm night belied its utter danger. More people will die this night. What do we need to keep the others alive? She ran lists and possibilities through her head.
“Jaqueline, I need your help with something.” Annabel waited for the junior nurse to acknowledge her. “You drive one of those old Toyota pickups if I am not mistaken.”
“Yeah. From the 90’s. You couldn’t kill that Hilux with a nuke.” The nurse was just coming out of her daze, actually blinking.
That may be a bad choice of words but hope it is accurate. “Great. Get two other nurses or orderlies with older vehicles and see if they work. I have a list of doctors and nurses with their home addresses on my desk. I need you to visit every one of them and get their asses here STAT.” She moved with measured steps while her insides trembled, stomach clenching.
The nurse followed stumbling for words, finally getting some sort of cogent thought out. “Do you know how dangerous it will get out there?? I could get hurt!” She complained.
Annabel turned, livid and lips pursed. “And do you have ANY idea how many will die HERE if you don’t?” She poked a finger into the junior nurse’s chest as the younger backed into a wall. “You have a commitment to save lives and I expect every damn person here to work their asses off for it.” Throwing her finger toward the patients and staff. The head nurse took heavy steps to her desk, ripping the papers off it and shoving them at Nurse Bryant. “Make sure to pick up Braum immediately and bring him here. He has the most experience in situations like this.” I sure as hell don’t.
Annabel’s attention shifted back to the other nurses, having heard the commotion knowing more was wrong. “We can talk about it later. The lights won’t be coming on anytime soon. We are changing to a triage ward; focus on the ones we can save unless we have the extra manpower. If you don’t know how to MacGyver something together, ask a colleague. This place will become very busy soon.”
Annabel slumped in her chair, trying to blink the sunlight out of her eyes. The night had been worse than anything she could have imagined. Braum never made it in. Jeffrey, one of the orderlies found his small car sandwich by an SUV. Somehow patients found their way to the hospital. They ran out of beds well before midnight.
The head nurse opened her eyes the rest of the way, shielding her eyes with a hand. Whoever set those mirrors up is a genius. But they shouldn’t have let me sleep. She stepped over people lying on the floor, some with wrapped and bloody bandages. No ambulances had made it in, but that didn’t stop people. She went out to the waiting room.
The cheap blue seats installed into the floor were covered in people. Off, huddled in one corner sat a family covered in blood, crying over the limp form of their son. A car crash had severed his arm. Annabel looked away, any other night his life could have been saved, but the sheer volume of people and lack of refrigeration was destroying their supply of blood. And even with threats only half of the doctors came in. She looked past the mechanical doors that had been forced open and her nurses in the parking lot attending to more patients wherever they could find space. Without shipping, we won’t be getting any new meds. How much do we have in back?
Annabel made her way back inside. I should be numb by now. Between the years working here and last night. She wiped a tear from her eye, fighting to not let any more out. Doctor Burke, an older man with an ebony complexion came up to her.
“Are you ok?”
Why have the doctors been asking me? I have enough to schedule with shifts and food procurement since we aren’t leaving anytime soon. “I’mm fine. Ask Joy if she needs any help. She should be outside.”
She watched the doctor leave, turning to watch, she tripped on the outstretched leg of someone in the hallway. Annabel turned back around after catching herself, ready to yell and stopped. He had a set of tools in front of him and was playing with the insides of a radio.
“What are you doing out here?”
“The room was needed for a broken bone. I came out here to fix this.”
“Why don’t you go home to your family, kid?” She huffed, leaving him to his work.
“I am not a kid. I am a college student. And unless you know of someone else who can fix this. You need me.” His chest puffed out, he actually seemed proud.
“Fix?” The only news she had been able to receive was what patients were saying and she doubted North Korea was seriously invading.
“Yeah. It overloaded, capacitors and transistors blew. Just need to replace them with scavenged parts.”
Annabel saw the boy; facial hair barely coming in. She couldn’t see anyone twenty years younger than her as anything but a child, his eyes had to be straining in the dim light. She lowered herself next to him, balancing on the balls of her feet. “Tell you what. You can use the lounge, at least there are candles in there and maybe a working flashlight if someone found one. There is even food. But there is a catch…”
“What’s the catch?” He stared up at her, eyes half closed in suspicion.
“You have to work just as hard as everyone else here to repair whatever you can. Tell the orderlies if you need something specific and send them to bring any friends who can help.” She offered.
“Ok. I accept. But, I am perfectly happy right here for the moment.” He went back to his work. The radio squealed as he adjusted more parts. The sound aggravated her already pounding headache.
Annabel moved on. One problem hopefully better. Now we need to set up some way to test blood for type. If we can give transfusions that should help. We will also run out of sterile supplies eventually.
Head Nurse Scott, who might as well be head administrator for the ER sat back in her chair grabbing up a pencil to write out the next steps and to figure out schedules.
One Week After Lights Out
Annabel felt a hand on her shoulder. Didn’t I just lie down? She wondered, sitting up on the couch, one of several that had been brought in. Through bleary eyes she saw the form of Mr. White. The ER had become a separate entity from the main hospital; it wasn’t her concern at the moment.
“We have an issue out front.” He said before going out the lounge door.
Annabel got shakily up to her feet and gave a solid stretch before grabbing her lab coat. Mr. White guided her to the main doors to the ER. She had expected a fight, or thieves, or some huge emergency, not this.
Outside the door stood a horse drawn carriage covered in a tarp. It was guarded by two large Equestrian guards, unicorns. And a single white pony wearing what looked like a standard medical cap.
“Is there something we can help you with?” Annabel asked, these were the first non-injured anything she had seen. In fact they were so clean as to make her realize how long it had been since she had a shower, or even had running water. Outside was a plant for distilling clean water.
“I am nurse Redheart.” The white pony took a deep bow. “We heard about the emergency in this area and brought what supplies we could.
Annabel gave the pony a curious eye, always one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she moved to the carriage which was bigger than her own dead Prius. She removed the covering and let it drop. She turned around to see Mr. White still standing by the door. “Get everyone out here NOW! We have supplies!” The man ran off and she looked through the supplies. There were antibiotics, pain medications, bandages, alcohol for sterilizing, in the bottom were even what looked like MRE’s.
“Do you have any news? What happened?”
“Just that some terrorist group attacked several places across the country at once, said it was against Earth-Equestrian alliances.
Annabel looked back to the three, specifically the two guards with sharpened spears. Nurses, orderlies and families of patients came out to help; more than a few had stayed to do whatever they could. If true then these three, or just the non-unicorn risked a lot to bring us supplies.
“Surely you could use a helping hoof. I do have some other medicines which could help.”
The head nurse, the operator of this ward finally saw the rucksack hiding the pony’s cutiemark. Even if her meds don’t work, if patients think they do it could stretch our supplies a bit further.
“Fine, but your guards can’t.”
Redheart looked to protest.
“This is a peaceful hospital. We can only help others by being such. No weapons or you can leave.”
“And if they are part of the deal to protect those supplies?”
“Then you can take them back, we can figure something else out.” Annabel saw the workers unloading the cart stop. We have started having people bring in food, to offer help. That cannot be risked.
With a flash the two guards disappeared. “Where do you need me?” The pony nurse asked.
“Find a tall muscular blonde man. Tell him to show you around and give him a list of what you can do.”
The pony gave a nod and rushed into the hospital. The cart was being unloaded again and Annabel let herself have a minute. We can use the help. God, I hope she knows what she’s doing.
Two Weeks Later
“Are you sure this will work?” Annabel moved to the back of the device, and old cathode ray tube television with its back off and wires sticking out. The huge box-like object sat on the table in the break room.
“It should. The fused or overloaded parts have been replaced and electricity returned yesterday.” Edward made a few more adjustments to the back of the television, small screwdriver sticking out the side of his mouth. “Just be prepared to pull the plug if anything starts to smoke.” A pile of books lay in a corner, marks on the side showing they came from a library.
He really came through. The radio worked, but so many stations are down. Just messages to stay indoors.
“Doesn’t there need to be a satellite to get a picture?” One of the other people in the room asked. One of only a dozen.
“We can switch between that and the antenna. Any luck some were protected by Earth’s mass and repositioned.” Edward stood up, put his hands on his lower back and stretched.
“You still think it was a solar flare?”
“That’s what the rumor says and it fits.” Edward looked about the room. “I think we are all set.”
Annabel pressed the power button and it came to life with a hiss of static. She shifted with the channels, looking for any working station. After what seemed like forever a wavy image came up, sound hissing out the speakers. The elongated face of a horse, or in this case an alicorn could be seen, its mouth moved but no sound came out.
3:26pm 6/20/2014 Oval Office, Washington
“Are you sure?” She spoke into the receiver, the responding voice contained a hiss of static.
“Positive. Ma’am. Satellites over the Northern Hemisphere are out of commission, we have been repositioning what remains to cover the holes.” The voice a General at NORAD. “How is power for the rest of the country?”
“Some spots will be without power for a few months at least. There are billions of dollars in damage. The shielding protected a few bases but most are having their comm systems repaired.”
“Thank God we got those new generators, those are miracle workers. How did the one in the White House fare?”
“It was off at the time. And I don’t want to hear about it. I was nervous enough having it on while Celestia was here. Have you heard from anymore of the bases along the West Coast yet?”
The general gave a sigh. “No. And that is the most worrisome thing yet. We’ve heard from our sources overseas and both China and Russia are just as surprised at what happened as we are. They have begun fortifying their borders. They are mirroring the same fears you have and have started burying some of their tech but they were able to confirm that it was a massive solar flare. Our scientists can’t figure out how it was severe without any warnings and the blast was very select in its target.” The man sighed again.
“Have you told them the other option yet?” The room was empty except for a few guards Tow trusted with her life. The anti-magic generator had been moved to under her office and activated.
“That it was Equestria? They wouldn’t, believe me. I don’t even believe it. A bunch of pacifistic brightly colored horses taking out, even temporarily the largest military in the world.” To the untrained ear his voice would have sounded hopeful, but there was something else there, a knowledge that he was lying to himself.
“Make sure to keep me informed and keep everything at DEFCON 1 until further notice.” And get back to me with how badly our forces are fucked. Reliance on technology. It will be years to fully recover from this, if we can. How much was lost in burnt out computer storage?
Tow had the television on but muted. There was no hope of picture returning but it was just something she did, an old habit. The image of snow cut out to be replaced by the regal face of Princess Celestia. A face President Tow wished was smiling, this was a side of the pony she had only glimpsed. The alicorn’s face stared soullessly into the camera, like she was staring at the President from the same room.
President Tow grabbed the remote off the corner of her desk and hitting the mute button to return sound. “Are you seeing this?” She asked stunned into the air.
“Unfortunately.” The voice responded.
“People of Earth.” Celestia started.
Tow felt her stomach sink as the Equestrian continued.
“Three weeks ago the United States declared war on Equestria.”
3:15pm 6/20/14 Bridal Lake, Earth
The Alicorn of the Sun stood on the soundstage, a green wall rested behind her. In front she saw various ponies moving around and being directed by a light pink earth pony. Two more ponies sat behind a desk full of levers pointing things out to each other. Celestia was not sure if she wanted to have her student here or her friends. This is only the opening salvo. They kept several bases and that one still had power.
“Almost ready your highness.” Cherry Blossom moved the camera that stared at the alicorn, moving it into what the young mare thought was the perfect position. “Thank Celestia they were on the other side of the gate.” She looked up at her leader. “Um, sorry.” Looking away.
“It is quite alright Mrs. Blossom.” Celestia gave her a small smile and nod of the head. “You truly are an expert in this.”
Blossom’s cheeks reddened even further as she moved to hide her expression. “It’s nothing Your Highness. I was in talks with that director and he was more than happy to teach me this stuff while helping with his, well, your story. And there are quite a few books on the matter.”
Celestia turned her eyes from the mare, giving her some space with her emotions. She saw on the earth pony an expression of regret as her motions slowed and became more recalcitrant, the difficulty swallowing and the brief catch in her throat. He was a friend to her, but so were many of those lost.
“Everything should work.” Blossom looked like she had minutes ago with her emotions hidden again. “The signal will go to a news company and they will feed it to their satellite you protected. They are certainly happy to get the video first.”
“They are predators first.” Celestia replied. “They would turn on each other if we offered them enough gold.”
“Then couldn’t we just pay them off?” Cherry Blossom twisted some dials on the large camera.
“There aren’t enough riches in Equestria to keep them at bay. What happens if you feed a hydra for even a day?”
Blossom looked down at her hooves. “Nothing good.”
“And some may be good but they will still follow evil orders or they will just be used as shields.”
“I understand.” The pink mare made one last adjustment to the placement of the camera. “and we are ready.”
“Thank you.” Celestia lowered her haunches to the grounds, stretching her front legs to make herself taller and feeling the muscles stretch, nodding to her cameramare to start the recording. The Princess saw an image of herself on a screen in front of her, the green behind her had been replaced by the Royal Flag of Equestria; Luna and Celestia flying around a sun overlaid by a crescent moon.
“People of Earth. Three weeks ago, the United States declared war on Equestria.” The alicorn let that sink in to the viewers before she continued. “The security staff for the human Embassy came through the portal, the humans we trusted most and talked to regularly, and they attacked our territory and citizens.” She kept her ire under control, letting out just enough to show her anger and shock.
“These four humans,” Celestia saw the image onscreen change to show two humans in black being escorted to the Equestrian Embassy by a phalanx of golden clad guards. That picture then shifted to one showing the confiscated human weapons along with devices recovered off of the houses. “and bombed Bridal Lake, a civilian population center along with the Embassy. They failed to assassinate me but succeeded in killing our Ambassador and a national hero by the name of Rarity.” The screen kept shifting, flowing, the footage Blossom had taken that night.
It started with Celestia’s room, blackened, gold running down the walls like rivers of blood. The view then shifted out of a blown out window to zoom in on the chaos of Bridal Lake that night. Houses on fire, a foal crying against the leg of a guard calling out, another pony covered in soot crying over a limp body. All of a sudden another building went up in fire, the door exploding inward with the entire building engulfed in seconds. A scene of chaos as ponies on stretchers were moved around and others looked at them, a familiar yellow pegasus helping to wrap the stump of a leg. A lavender mare glassy eyed in a corner, the scorched remains of a white unicorn. More than one foal could be seen dead.
“We came here in peace. With magic and a wish to help all mankind and this was how we were treated. At every corner we have been treated like animals. We will tolerate it no longer! The human Embassy in Equestria has been captured along with the people responsible for such an act and they will be tried by Equestrian law. However, evidence was obtained from Ambassador Marcus showing that President Tow knew about and planned this mission along with Senator Brent. Any human found innocent shall be returned immediately or given the option of amnesty if they fear a reprisal on return. Evidence we have so far gathered will be disseminated to the people and news outlets, including the confessions of several of the perpetrators.”
“On the sixth of this month the nation of Equestria declared war on the United States in fear of a second attack and more troops moving closer on a daily basis. We are responsible for the power outage and had no idea how sensitive human technology was to solar radiation and you have our sincerest apologies for any damage this caused you. I am glad that the solar radiation could be pinpointed so finely as to mainly hit the Western Hemisphere. Our goal was just to disable the military forces along the West Coast.” She shifted her position, lowering her face slightly along with the insides of her brows. “As of this moment, we have captured many of the bases west of the Rocky Mountains and destroyed what weapons of war were there. Any nation that tries to interfere will be met with the same fate and attacked with a solar flare of sufficient magnitude to render them harmless to us and the nations around them. If you persist we will attack.”
“What we want is simple, that Senator Stephen Brent and President Margarette Tow face trial for their actions and face punishment for their crimes against Equestria and take responsibility for their actions. For this, you will have your bases back along with your soldiers found innocent. We are not conquerors, we do not want land; but we are not prey for you to feed off of either. We are done playing nice, now we play by your rules.”
Celestia felt her mane ripple as she talked, magic being released and mimicking a blowing breeze.
Berry Bridge Hospital
“You lay one hand on her head and you will be out of here!” Annabel’s voice resonated through the small room.
Redheart shot her head up, to see the large human who had helped her around the hospital glaring above her. She felt incredibly small. From her vantage point she could see the television and part of Celestia on the screen. Buck. The room felt colder, every eye seemed focused on her, she felt smaller and smaller. Breathe coming faster and shallower.
“You!” Annabel called to the mare. “Come with me. Everyone else stay here and don’t talk to anyone until I get back.”
Nurse Redheart stood on her shaky hooves and followed who she had come to see as her boss. To the right she saw the practically deserted hallways, she could run, that could guarantee her safety. The guards would still be nearby, if there weren’t mobs out to get her yet they could take her back. Her hooves clopping over the linoleum floors hurt her ears as the blood pumping through them the only other sound.
The mare realized Annabel was leading her further into the hospital. To a small storage closet. The head nurse opening the door and motioned for the pony to enter.
“Fine.” Annabel sighed and entered first.
Redheart followed closely.
“Talk.” Annabel ordered.
Redheart stared at the human, feeling her hooves shake.
Annabel lowered to the balls of her feet, Redheart felt like she was more on even ground. “Why are you here?” Her voice was cool, it felt more concerned than anything else.
“I was ordered to.” Redheart backed up and felt her rear touched the closed door, she looked at the bolt only to realize it was locked.
“Were those supplies from the military bases?”
How… “Yes. Celestia ordered us to some of what she assumed were the harder hit areas. To bring goodwill.”
“For propaganda?”
“Probably, the guards were supposed to stay for when her message came out.” She hated that the human’s face was still calm.
“And yet you stayed.”
Redheart looked to her hooves. “I lost track of time. I was supposed to leave yesterday.” She had actually fallen asleep after a long day and had no way to wake herself up.
“Instead you were helping out in surgery.” Annabel seemed to lose herself in thought. “You have two choices. You can stay here and help these people, or you can go home. Which will it be?”
Redheart had to think. How many of her fellow medical ponies had been asked for something similar? Had any of them forgotten to leave? Were they given the same chance or just killed? She knew how evil these creatures could be, or thought she did. These ones so far had been nice, better than nice. She had seen how hard they worked, what they were giving up just to TRY and save another life. It does beat treating ponies for baked bads though.
“Will the other accept me?” She hesitantly asked.
“I will take that as a yes. If no then just leave before we get back to the lounge.” Annabel stood back up. “But there are a few ground rules. The patient comes first. You have any problems you bring them to me. And you do nothing to sabotage us.” She opened up the door and started walking back the way they had come.
On the walk back the pony wondered why she warned about sabotage. Look at what Celestia did. What would I do if fighting came here? Who would I side with? Redheart realized she didn’t know the answers. She would protect her patients; this was becoming her home too and she had always taken pride in her job. There were still things she was unsure about.
Annabel Scott knew the risks. The pony could inform on what they did to Celestia. Harboring a pony could lead to others attacking this place. Or worse, her own people could leave over this. She opened the door to the lounge, opening for the pony to enter. She watched the eleven people in the room, gauging their reactions.
She took a deep breathe, putting the headache which seemed to be a constant companion in the back of her mind. “I would like to introduce you to Nurse Redheart, newest member of the Berry Bridge permanent staff. She has officially been hired. Anyone with a problem can take it up with human resources, which would be me.” She had to lead. “She has been working just as hard as any of us and could have left at any time. Instead she stayed and has been just as deep into a patient as any of us.”
Annabel looked about the room, she could tell most of the staff would follow her and her technical expert already had his nose in another device. But several, including Mr. White were still unconvinced. “She may also be one of our best bets for more supplies.” That did it. She realized, letting gears turn in other people’s heads. The head nurse doubted any more supplies would be coming, and that was a piss poor reason to hire someone.
“These same rules extend to our patients. Our job is to heal, if you can’t deal with that. Well, you know where the door is.”
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Does Celestia really think the UN would sit this out.....okay maybe. And what about NATO?
I'm still waiting for the humans to strike back! With the attack she made to our society, she has neglected to even think of how we react as a species to when we are threatened. Celestia has killed thousands of people already. Historically, this had been enough for even the most bitter of enemies to band together. Just take a look at the Eight-Nation alliance.
I think this is a really awesome fic and I hope to see some human power finally realized. Even without electronics, the Equestrians will stand no chance. As admiral Yamamoto said "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass" and that really wasn't an overestimation. Nationalism is a very, very strong force and it's something to be truly reckoned with.
Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
Celestia can say she's sorry all she wants but everyone's gonna call bullshit and cite the civilian deaths. I checked and the U.S. has somewhere between a quarter million to a half million people with pacemakers. There's also at least 2000 planes in U.S. airspace at the moment and by the figures I found, totaling another half million people. So. Celestia has killed about a million people with one shot. That's more than the city busters dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Maybe she really is sorry. But no one will care. I've said this before but Celestia has no moral high ground here. Her first act can be seen as immediately going for the nuclear option and people will be screaming for blood. And there's the fact she just threatened the world with that same attack if they interfere. Celestia do you really think that will work? I certainly don't. Alliances do mean something to us.
And her demands, oh come on they're just stupid. America is not going to allow their president to be tried in another country for ordering a black op, I'm not even sure it's legal. Brent won't be given either since all the hate he kept spouting about Equestria was proven right. Congress won't let him go.
I think Celestia is so used to her demands being met that she can't concieve that they would say no and choose to continue the war.
5955117
Celestia is also acting like the world will even CARE her embassy was bombed. The US has had something like a dozen+ embassy attacks in the last decade, with just as many wounded. Granted the idea of another nation attempting to assassinate the leader of a second nation will turn some heads, but Equestria screwed itself because now nobody will believe them since they just launched a surprise attack against another nation with massive collateral damage.
Well, Celestia just shot herself in the foot. Nice going.