The Trouble With Unicorns

by CartsBeforeHorses

Chapter 19: Mollification

“King Blueblood,” said the Sergeant Major, “we shall begin firing. But I’d advise you leave the area before we do.”

“Oh? But I would love to be present when the princesses of Equestria see their folly,” he sneered, grinning.

“Well, it will be highly dangerous. For one, this barracks was built in the last decade to withstand dragons, griffons, zebras, and any other potential invading force… including unicorns. You know how suspicious Celestia was. We can’t just teleport in; this place is airtight. The walls are reinforced concrete half a meter thick. We gotta use dozens of mortars. That could take hours, and we might come under attack.”

“Very well. Come get me when we defeat them,” Blueblood ordered. He teleported back to his palace. Once he was gone, the sergeant major gave the order to fire.

A loud cacophony of explosions rang through the air as round after round of mortars burst on the concrete walls of the barracks.

“Fan out and surround it! Cover all of the entrances and exits. If you see an opening, exploit it.” the Sergeant Major commanded.

The battalion split up into several companies which headed around to the sides of the barracks. Meanwhile, the barrage at the front gates continued.

About thirty minutes into the siege, the sky darkened. The Sergeant Major and the stallions at his command glanced up above them as thousands of pegasi soldiers soared through the air, hovering over the Unicornian battalion, strafing them with machine gun fire.

“Wizards. Put up a force field!” the sergeant commanded. The horns of a dozen unicorns lit up as the battalion was surrounded by a force field.

“Return fire!”

The troops fired spells from their horns, spells which penetrated the one-way force-field, hitting several of the pegasi. Their bodies landed on the force field with a thunk, and then slid to the ground.

The hundreds of pegasi seared overhead, turning back around for another pass. They let loose bombs this time, which shattered the force field with a bang.

Once again, the battalion was left wide open to enemy fire. Soldiers screamed and yelled as they were hit left and right.

“Do not retreat. Return fire, stand your ground, and await my orders!” the Sergeant Major commanded.

The Sergeant teleported away to near the front of the line where the artillery ponies stood. A dusty pile of rubble stood fifty feet in front of them where they had been demolishing the wall.

“Corporal, give me a status report!” the Sergeant Major commanded.

“We’ve penetrated most of the way through the concrete, sir! Just one or two more shells and we’ll have a hole big enough to teleport through and begin our incursion!”

“We need to speed it up. Get all available units on it; we’re getting pounded from the air by pegasi sorties! If we don’t hurry, we won’t have any stal’ns left to MAKE the incursion!”

“Sir, yes sir!” the corporal said. “You heard him, ponies! I want every tube loaded and fired in the next ten seconds! While you’re doing that, fire energy blasts from your horns at it!”

There was a mass scramble as ponies levitated rockets off of the carts and loaded them into tubes as quickly as they could. They lit the fuses and charged up their horns, letting loose energy beams at the wall along with mortars. While the beams did not do anywhere near as much damage as the mortar rounds, the troops were in a mad frenzy to get inside and escape the pegasi onslaught.

“AAH!” Three of the artillery ponies fell onto the ground, having been hit by pegasi strafing. Thinking quickly, the corporal extended his magic to catch the three tubes before they hit the ground. His horn glowed intensely at the effort. At that moment, the mortars fired from the tube.

The wall exploded, and through the dust and smoke, the wall exploded.

“Forward! Through the wall!” the Sergeant commanded. Zaps and white sparkling flashes of white erupted all across the battlefield as the troops disappeared from out in the open into the safety of the barracks. Normally, the Sergeant would stay behind the main lines and command from the relative safety of held territory, but in this cases, the barracks was the safer territory, so he moved right along with their advance.

The Sergeant found himself in a large atrium inside the base. The ceilings were too low to allow pegasi to fly high enough to strafe, leaving the battalion safe from strafing. There were several hallways extending out from the lobby in various directions.

“They’ve lost air superiority! Now, time to use magic superiority! Fan out in all directions! Secure each hallway as you go. Wizards, cast force fields out in front of us as we advance!”

Hundreds of troops poured through the halls as a purple barrier stood between the advancing forces and whatever pegasi or earth ponies stood in the hall. They were promptly mowed down by unicorn machine gun fire and magical beams before they could shatter the force fields.

The company the sergeant traveled with reached the mess hall, which they entered as they burst through the doors.

Evidently, they had caught the troops in the mess hall off guard. Only a few of them were armed, most of whom were guards; the rest had been eating lunch. The Unicornian troops engaged in a brief firefight with the armed guards, and took the rest as prisoners.

The Sergeant headed back out into the hallway, smiling at this fortunate lucky break. He went to check on the status of the rest of the base.

“Sir!” one of the corporals yelled at him, running up to him.

“Yes, corporal?”

“We have captured over 50% of the base. There is some trouble in the armory. Some ponies are holed up in there behind the steel blast doors. What should we do?”

“They can’t stay in there forever. Just station guards outside the door until they surrender.”

“Aye, sir.”

The Sergeant stood at the mess hall until the corporal reported back to him once more, a few hours later.

“Sir! We’ve captured the princesses! We have also captured all but a few rooms of the barracks. Here is a progress report.”

The corporal floated over a sheet of paper to the sergeant. He grinned as he read it. Only 200 Unicornian troops lost, compared to 1,000 Equestrian troops. 20,000 Equestrian troops in the barracks were taken as prisoners of war, along with the two princesses themselves. The rest of the base’s contingent had fled.

“Good. I’m gonna go talk to the princesses.”

*****

The Sergeant walked into the war room where Princesses Twilight and Luna stood. “Hello, Luna and Twilight.”

That’s princess--”

The Sergeant held up his hoof. “We don’t recognize your rule anymore, and you’re in no position to bargain. We’ve captured the entire base and took thousands of your troops as POWs. Now, we’ll negotiate the terms of your unconditional surrender.”

“I don’t think so,” said Twilight.

“But you would be so foolish not to, former student of mine.”

The three ponies looked behind them and saw that King Blueblood had entered the room.

He spoke, “Excellent work securing the barracks and clearing these Equestrian invaders, Sergeant. Now, Twilight and Luna, I am here to negotiate the terms of your surrender and to sign a peace treaty that is to our mutual advantage.”

“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Princess Luna scoffed.

King Blueblood let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, how cute! You really do still think this is a game, don’t you? You somehow think you can go on and play dress up with your princess tiaras and ensembles? You think you can still go to your Grand Galloping Galas and Summer Sun Celebrations and whatever other alliteratively-named royal bread and circuses that you want to put on to try and deceive the commoners into thinking you give a damn about them? You think you can still raise the sun and moon like you own the whole planet itself? You think that you can do that and that everypony will still love you after all that you’ve done to try and marginalize and destroy the unicorn race, and that we here in the Second Kingdom of Unicornia are just a small, disorganized, ragtag group of… what did you say? Terrorists?”

“We are still the legitimate rulers of Canterlot, and all of Equestria,” Twilight insisted, “And you are a terrorist and a traitor.”

Blueblood sneered, “Oh, you’re the legitimate rulers? That’s funny. I don’t recall either of you winning your crown by popular vote like I did. So you clearly don’t derive your legitimacy from the consent of the governed. I don’t recall you having won this little battle for control over the Canterlot barracks. So you clearly don’t derive your legitimacy from strength. Other nations have recognized the Second Kingdom as an independent nation with Canterlot as its capital, so you clearly don’t derive your legitimacy from international standing. And since you apparently don’t know what the word ‘legitimate’ itself even means, you clearly can’t derive legitimacy from intelligence, either! So what, pray tell, DO you derive your legitimacy from?”

“From our respect of freedom of association and property rights. Tyranny of the majority is not freedom. Your democracy is nothing more than the unicorn majority voting to rob the earth pony and pegasi minority. If they had raided their homes with guns and stolen their valuables, it would be the same. If stealing land and property from the non-unicorns of Canterlot and kicking them out to fuel some misguided victim complex that you have can somehow be construed as ‘legitimacy,’ then so be it,” Luna responded.

“You are assuming that non-unicorn rights deserve the same consideration as unicorn rights. That is untrue. Unicorns are the more evolved, genetically superior pony race. Just as ponies in general, earth and pegasi included, are superior to talking farm animals. When you let the cows and sheep in Ponyville and elsewhere go free from their pens, you can get back to me about the tyranny of the majority and how terrible you claim it is.”

Twilight responded, “That’s a false equivalency. Ponies are all ponies. The only difference is their skillset. You can have wings or a horn or neither, but you are still a pony. Some are just more skilled at different things than others, just as there are differences in skill sets among unicorns themselves. I can do far more magic than your average unicorn, and there are some who barely know any magic at all. Am I a more superior individual to them? Do I get to take their property? Actually, since I am an alicorn and can fly as well as use magic and farm, do I get to boss you around? If we are going for a hierarchy based off of superiority, then Luna and I claim legitimacy to rule over Equestria, Canterlot included, based off of our being alicorns and having superior skills to unicorns.”

“You can not be allowed to rule this city ever again,” Blueblood answered, “Because you violated the hierarchy on a regular basis. Under Celestia, unicorns were treated as LESS than the other two pony races. Even if you don’t believe that we are superior and that we are ‘equal’ to earth ponies, Equestria as a nation failed even that standard. Celestia lowered the standard to a falsehood and even then refused to meet it. You ran a twisted, perverted government against the laws of nature. Even though you are alicorns, you are unfit to rule based off of delusions, as Luna said.

“Now, I would allow you a rebuttal, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this conversation could continue for days and we would still disagree. I am not here to debate with you, as I have the upper hoof regardless. We have 20,000 prisoners of war in this barracks, including the princesses of Equestria themselves. Our demands are simple.”

“I’m listening,” Princess Luna said.

“Your troops will be allowed to peacefully leave the bunker, and we will cease all hostilities towards Equestria if and only if Equestria recognizes Unicornian sovereignty and allows unicorns from Equestria to freely migrate here. You will also give us the Unicorn Range as well as all of the Flatlands plains from the Unicorn Range north to the Crystal Empire, East to Neighagra falls, and West to the Galloping Gorge. We need much more farmland than just the foothills of Canterlot if we want enough food to be independent of the earth ponies, and this land would be perfect. Also, most of the small towns in that area have 40% or more unicorns already, so we wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of kicking out too many non-unicorns. In exchange, the Second Kingdom of Unicornia will cease all hostilities against Equestria and agree to not attack Equestria unprovoked.”

“Unacceptable. You’re asking us to give up nearly a fifth of Equestria’s landmass,” said Luna.

“Well, I suppose that if you don’t agree, we will just keep you in this bunker forever. We’ll feed you and all, but I don’t think you will be able to raise the sun and moon too well from in here. And though the unicorns would love to have that job back, none of us quite have the experience to move the heavenly bodies just yet.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that it’s night time right now, and it will remain night time until you agree to the terms of surrender and I let you go to wherever you decide the new capital of Equestria will be. So, the night will last forever. Sort of like that little stunt you tried to pull a while back, Luna. Now, I ask, can you afford to let every living thing in Equestria die?”

“You’d die, too,” Twilight observed.

“Perhaps,” Blueblood responded, “But it’s your choice, not mine. And I just know that you wouldn’t condemn everyone to death. Sign the treaty. What’s more important: a fifth of your landmass and some bruised ego with having a new country, or the lives of everypony in Equestria as well as Unicornia?”

Twilight silently took the quill in her magic and signed the treaty. Luna hesitated for a moment, then followed.

“I knew that you’d see it my way. Now, you’re free to go.”

*****

“Citizens of Manehattan,” spoke Twilight Sparkle from behind the podium in front of the town hall, “And all other citizens from other cities who may be watching. You no doubt have heard of the recent battle of Equestrian forces with the breakaway Unicornian state. Today, I have come to announce that we have secured a peace deal with the Unicornians. This peace deal will be based on mutual respect for our sovereign borders by each side.”

“For one, we have given the northern Flatlands over to Prince Blueblood and his forces. He has demanded them as part of any peace deal, and I believe, as does Luna, that this is in the best interests of peace for our continent. These policies are meant to mollify any warlike tendencies on behalf of Blueblood or the Second Kingdom of Unicornia.

“As part of this mollification policy, we have decided to formally recognize this second kingdom as an independent nation. We shall normalize diplomatic, military, and trade relations with the Second Kingdom immediately. Again, this is in the best interests of allowing peace to prevail across this continent.

“Now, some of you may ask where the capital of Equestria will be located now that Unicornia is its own nation. You may also wonder why I have decided to give such an important speech about the future of our two nations in Manehattan. Those two questions have the same answer; we will be relocating the capital of Equestria to Manehattan.”

The ponies in the crowd gave a muted response. About half of them clapped, while the other half remained quiet. Though the population at large was not military strategists, it was quite obvious that through this peace deal, Equestria was admitting defeat against the rebels, now to be granted recognition as their own nation.

*****

The peace, as it was predicted, held. It held because of how beneficial it had proven to Blueblood and Unicornia, and because the nation of Equestria, reeling from its losses both in the battle for the Canterlot barracks as well as against the Wendigoes and the crippling droughts a few months earlier, could not afford to launch a counterattack to reclaim Canterlot. Even if they could, it was also obvious that Twilight Sparkle did not want any further confrontation.

The peace was so stable that for the next year, many unicorn ponies from Equestria freely migrated to Canterlot and Unicornia, and many earth ponies and pegasi moved out of Unicornia. Blueblood began taking steps to consolidate his power and fully enact his racial agenda, including kicking out all non-unicorns by force.

Comments

[Carpinus Caroliniana]

I smell a Kristallnacht like event occurring.

Anyways, I can't wait to see what's next.

[Cryoian]

This is a great read. You certainly have a talent for writing. I like the amount of explanation you put into the story with real world politics. (Did you have to research any of that?) anyways, I love your stories and can't wait to read the next chapter

[Emily The Annihilator]

Well, damn. Celestia's dead, Unicornia exists, and Blueblood is a king. Equestria's pretty much fucked.

[CartsBeforeHorses]

3182919 Thanks! I researched a bit of it, but mostly based it off of my own understanding of history and how the world works. Most of the talking points of Blueblood are based off of how I think it would go if this were real life.

The next chapter is actually the last one, and then there's a sequel coming out on the same day. Look for it sometime this weekend.

3182924 Indeed, it is.

[CartsBeforeHorses]

3233955 Thanks for reading!

On the contrary, the Ivory Tower Tax has everything to do with anti-unicorn bias.

HINT: What's made out of ivory, shaped like a tower's spire, and protrudes from the heads of the majority of Canterlot's residents? And what race does said feature make them?

The tax was not inspired by racism necessarily; it was inspired by geography and wealth. It was imposed in a city which just so happened to have a majority unicorn population. But that doesn't mean that the unicorns won't see it as racist and targeting them for a tax because of their race.

[BronyWriter]

Evidently, they had caught the troops in the mess hall off guard. Only a few of them were armed, most of whom were guards; the rest had been eating lunch.

What?! They've been getting shelled for the past how long, and they're still eating lunch? No, I don't care how thick the walls are, any military commander... ever would get his troops ready. Given that you said that it was 50,000 to 8,000, this battle should have been over with a resounding unicorn loss very quickly.