The Awesome Pony Rp : Equestria Divided (IC)

[Frenequesta]

OOC THREAD

Equestria, the diverse, powerful and once-expansive land of ponies, has become a patchwork of states in the wake of the Fourth Pony-Changeling War. While Princesses Celestia and Luna still control the heavenly bodies of their cutie marks (as it is a little hard to divide up the light of the sun or the gravity of the moon), their political domain has been cut down to a small piece in the center of the continent (and a tiny one on the west coast). Now they have many neighbor leaders their equals--not just alicorns, but regular unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi, and even one entity who prefers the form of a draconequus. Their ideologies are diverse, economies varied, and cultures unique.

Yet there are a small but growing number that long for the old order. Many more, however, do not want to rejoin Equestria so soon, and some believe their differences, long festering for a thousand years, prove that the old order was not workable. But some of the most prominent in Equestria do not believe it, and wish to convince them otherwise...

---

---

Ponyville

In ten years Ponyville grew from a sleepy, rural village with a large crystal castle dwarfing much smaller thatched houses as, in one critic's words, "a beautiful eyesore," to a bustling city of nearly 100,000 with granite apartment blocks and a couple of mid-rise office towers seemingly trying to reach the top of the crystal castle. Its once dirt roads were now almost fully in cobblestone, and the diversity of its denizens, already remarkable for a small town, had grown even more pronounced, with at least one small neighborhood of nearly every major species, and enclaves of artists, young professionals, and businessponies forming vibrant social circles.

The crystal castle, of course, was the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle, who as the Princess of Friendship was delighted by the town's diversity and active civic culture. Now in her early thirties, she still retained her normal build despite being an alicorn for over ten years. She also retained her optimism of the power and magic of friendship. At times she wished she had done more to stop Equestria from splitting apart over what she saw as either trivial disputes, narrow-minded ideologies, or simple raw, unreasoned animus against the Other. She had met with a few activists advocating for Equestria's reunification here and there and donated to their cause, but her work as Equestria's Public Mediator for Friendship Disputes kept her from pursuing any more action personally.

She also had her children. Though not yet married, Twilight nonetheless was the mother of a tight-knit group of seven young adults and teenagers, comprising two unicorns, Bounty Hunt and Pitch Black, one changeling, Olive Oil, one griffin, Black Hawk, one bat pony, Eclipse, one zebra, Zelenka, and one earth pony, Spot. Taking care of them was demanding--especially Bounty and Pitch, both extraordinarily talented in magic, at times even more so than Twilight, who hungered for ever more complex magical lessons as the years went on. She saw all of them through their education, their sports leagues, and their journeys in identity, supporting them and providing guidance (with the occasional discipline). Yet even in the stresses in parenting, she saw in her children a microcosm of the Equestria she wished that were.
------
One balmy early summer morning Twilight was in her bedroom checking her schedule for the next couple of weeks. Aside from the usual time slots for addressing neighbor nuisances or social awkwardness, she had a concert on Friday to the Ponyville Philharmonic, to which she never donated but still received free box seats in the mezzanine. Then on Saturday Pitch Black would go to his visit his biological father, Potter Black, a pegasus deputy in Equestria's Parliament, for a week. Black Hawk and Eclipse would come home from the Wonderbolts Academy for summer vacation on Sunday. She regretted not being able to go to the end-of-year demonstration exams, and planned a big party for what she heard were stellar performances. Spot would be off to Varsity Colt Scouts summer camp the week after that, to a forest just outside of Whinnyapolis that was supposedly very beautiful. She was still pondering whether it would be right for her to join up with him--she was especially close to her youngest son, and she wanted to see the pristine waterfalls and lakes that dotted the area, but she felt that he still needed to grow out of his homesickness and not delay it by propping him up. She had joined him in camp on several occasions, especially when he was a younger Colt Scout, and though she enjoyed it, it got tiring after a while, especially with Spot being a little on the "needy" side.

Her reading was interrupted by a belch in the next room. It was followed by a faint whoosh of sparkles--which told her several things.

But she let Spike tell her.

The small purple dragon assistant knocked on her door. "Come in!" she said, and immediately turned around from her table.

Spike opened it and walked in, carrying a scroll with a royal seal. He looked a little disoriented from the belch. "Ugh. I felt like I was holding it all night," he said, as he handed the scroll to Twilight.

"It is a little early..." replied Twilight. She then opened the seal and read the letter from not just a royal but her former mentor--Princess Celestia herself.

---

Crystalopolis, the Crystal Empire

The Crystal Empire and the Republic of Cataract were especially close allies, and President Smoky Topaz's frequent state visits to Princess Cadence's realm confirmed it. The two nations shared a progressive view of changelings (and comprehensive integration policies to match), a deep commitment to civil rights (though the Empire had a few notable exceptions), and a dedication to more equal distribution of their nation's wealth (though the Empire preferred socialism, and Cataract a neo-corporatist social market economy to achieve that). Cadence, of course, still exercised a lot of unilateral (though not limitless) legislative and executive power over her citizens, while Smoky's powers were purely executive, but the difference in political styles did not outweigh their overall outlook about their countries and their relationship with the world.

Today Smoky came to see the new supercomputer that was just installed at the Office for the Economy to help better plan resource distribution for the Empire. Her nation's engineers had built it pursuant to the Treaty of Friendship the Empire and Cataract had signed about eight years ago. Even when it was part of Equestria, the cities of Vanhoofer, Tall Tale, and Tackoma were pioneers in the still nascent field of information technology, and Cataract's liberalized regulations on the industry (having been long constrained by technoskeptics in the Agrarian and Blue parties of Equestria) and massive grants and subsidies had accelerated the development of machines with great computing power, even greater than the databases that were at bureaus in Equestria. Princess Cadence needed such power to remedy the flood of data and calculations that bureaucrats at the Economy Office warred over, and evaluating the nuances herself overwhelmed her (and she was no economist herself). For its part, the Empire would provide Cataract its military protection, freeing up billions of bits in Cataract's budget and giving the Empire military more excursion opportunities.

The two leaders were led by the Head Minister for the Economy Office, Longbasket, to a high-vaulted room with rows of cabinets filled with processor cores, its sleek metal complementing the crystal aesthetics of the room. He gave his best, least technical description of how the machine worked as he could.

"... and sometimes we'll run the allocation program in labor-hour, market simulation, and calculation-in-kind modes simultaneously, and average out all of the outputs the models suggest. I'll have to say, Madame President, your programmers have been quite remarkable and diligent in setting up the algorithms for our economists."

"Thank you," smiled Smoky.

"We haven't solved every problem, of course--innovation modeling is turning out to be a bit hard to quantify."

"Well, you can't predict what you don't know about," chuckled Smoky. "But I wish them the best of luck."

Longbasket nodded. "I do too. Well, I have a meeting coming up soon. I'd let you run a few calculations if it were up to me but of course the manual's proprietary information--and like I said, the operation's not all that intuitive." He led them back out the room, and left the two leaders for his meeting.

Princess Cadence looked back at the rows of processors, nodding in its marvels. "I'll have to thank you again, President Topaz," she said. "The Crystal Ponies take pride in their economic system, but we need to be more sophisticated in this competitive age, and I'm sure this machine will help us keep up--especially with your nation," she winked.

Smoky blushed a little. "I've always taken a win-win view of things whenever possible," she said.

"And that's what makes you such a great leader," said Cadence. "It's sad that you're going to be out so soon."

"Well, the people wanted a two term limit, and they got it," said Smoky. "I'll admit, I'm kind of jealous that you're on the Empire throne for life. But I'm sure the Cataracts will find a great successor to me."

"I hope they will," smiled Cadence. The two stood awkwardly silent for a moment, as if they realized they were getting off track. Finally, Cadence spoke up. "By the way, how are the investigations going on Baysie-Tackoma?"

"Lethe won't confirm or deny that the group crossed our borders, much less that it ordered the attack," said Smoky. "And they seem indifferent to the fact that those changelings were my citizens."

"I am not surprised," sighed Cadence. "But we shouldn't be turning a blind eye to wanton killings of changelings anywhere."

"I know. But Lethe's a real threat to us. Even Manehattan isn't going around looking for changelings to kill. It'll only be a matter of time before the All-Maker actually sends armies out to our hills and strike every colony and hive they know of."

"Well, if it does come to that, the Crystal Guard's there for you."

"Well, that's another thing," Smoky hesitated. "There's only one base in the Tackoma area, and a small one. Meanwhile there's several known sizable colonies around there, and a couple hundred Guards wouldn't be able to defend all of them fast enough. If you could send some more Guards to that area I'd greatly appreciate it. Believe it or not, one of the bigger candidates for the next presidential election is calling for Cataract raising its own army."

"I'll see what I can do," nodded Cadence. "My defense minister seems to think that an invasion of us is more likely than yours. You might want to talk to him, too." She then rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Although... we might wait until that summit that Princess Celestia's calling to see if we can't get Lethe to keep their massacres to themselves." She almost threw up upon saying that last phrase--compromise on genocide was just not tolerable to even contemplate. She knew she would do everything to cajole the All-Maker to stop calling for murder--and even that seemed like conceding too much.

Smoky frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. You think so? The All-Maker's thousands of years old; he's not going to change his ways. He's indifferent to international norms, and it's our luck he hasn't done more already. No matter what comes out of that summit, there's going to be war."

"I still have my hopes," said Cadence.

"Besides... I think that Celestia just wants to try to convince us to rejoin Equestria again. That's not going to happen on my watch, and no one I know back home wants that."

"You really don't trust her, do you?"

"She's always been a little underhooved in her dealings, as if to make up for her failings as a real leader," Smoky groaned slightly. "You remember the split-up started when she tried to sneak an exemption for the Empire in the Peace of Canterlot?"

"I don't blame her," Cadence quavered.

"Maybe, but she could have been more assertive against the Temple. I'd say they never should have been at the bargaining table in the first place."

"Well, we can't do anything about that now," replied Cadence. She didn't want to say it, but she thought Smoky's memory was clouded. Equestria had to fight both the Temple and Chrysalis' Changeling Empire, and it was just not realistic to suddenly direct all resources against the Temple, in several ways even more powerful than the Changeling Empire. Deep down, she too agreed that Celestia's compromise was a deep moral failure, but even she feared that sticking to their principles would have ended up much worse for Equestria. Ten years later, the decision was still hard to swallow.

After a moment of strained reflection, the two decided to wrap up. "I'm going to give Celestia the benefit of the doubt, and you should too. I'm sure the meeting will work out fine."

"We'll see," replied Smoky, and the two parted for the day.

[Nocturniica]

REALM OF CHAOS



During the war, Discord did not play any part at all. Although creatures fighting constantly was chaotic, the part where they all killed each other was not his idea of fun. Where's the fun when everyone is dead? Hence, he politely excused himself from participation.
Over the past years he watched as the world changed, and wondered how it would affect Fluttershy and her friends. However, they all seemed to have gotten through it pretty well, especially Twilight Sparkle. Now Discord was back to his usual routine of messing with random ponies while mainly spending time with Fluttershy and her friends. However, he was getting a bit thoughtful lately. Was there going to be another war? How would that go? Would he step in and help this time?

Well hopefully there wouldn't be another war.

Speaking of fighting, that All-Maker fellow was certainly quite fascinating to Discord. He sounded like something even more powerful than Discord, or just as powerful as he was, and Discord couldn't recall the last time someone was as powerful as him WITHOUT the help of rainbow colored elements. Although Discord wanted to meet him, he was uncertain. The All-Maker sounded like some crazed version of Discord who went from Chaotic Fun to... well... not-so-fun Chaotic deeds. Certainly Discord did a thousand crazy things in his lifetime, if not more, but killing ponies wasn't his idea of fun, much less instigating genocide on the entire Changeling Race. Hence, he wasn't quite sure what to think of the All-Maker.

"All-Maker." Heh, Discord could come up with fancier nicknames than that if he wanted to. "All-Maker"--where did that even come from? Sounds like this creature was a bit too full of himself.

As he watched the clock, waiting for the time to visit Fluttershy, Discord pondered what exactly the All-Maker was and... what the future would hold.


---


BALTIMARE, The United Duchies of Neighland.


Grand Duchess Symphonia was playing the harp to soothe her aching nerves. Her polished white hooves plucked the strings expertly, and whatever strings she couldn't reach she plucked with her purple Unicorn magic. In peace she closed her dark blue eyes and took a deep breath.

As the leader of a young nation, she often had to deal with some petty quarrel among the Aristrocracy, or fix some major economic flaw. Although she could handle things very well thanks to her head for business and patience with others, it did tire her out, and wore her down. Hence, she valued her free time very much these days and often played the harp to calm herself and relax.


As she played, the long bell-shaped sleeves on her black silken dress swayed back and forth with her movements, emphasizing everything she did as she held the large harp against her chest and played the music adroitly. Her tri-colored, green, blue and purple mane was braided elegantly and crowned her head and the back of her neck beautifully. She was aging, but she was determined to look like she was aging WELL and not aging BAD, and so far she did look like she was aging quite well.

In the parlor with her were a few of her trusted servants: a Changeling with a hard, burgundy-colored shell was sitting in a chair beside her, keeping an eye on her, in case she needed help steadying the harp while an Earth Pony adjusted the curtains at the windows on the far side of the room and a Donkey mare prepared the small table nearby for the incoming tray of tea and cakes.


Into the sublime atmosphere of the room came a knock at the door.

Symphonia stopped her playing and called "Come in."

"It is I, Conrad, Madame," A Gryphon announced himself as he entered, carefully closing the door behind himself with one of his taloned forlegs, "I have a few minor changes to the schedule to inform you of.

"Ah, then please do enlighten me," Symphonia accepted as she used her magic to prop the harp up onto the floor properly.

"The meeting with the Aristocracy has been moved from 2:30 to 3:00 due to some minor business meeting they wished to have with the newest business executives of the area," Conrad began, inspecting the clipboard he held in his other talons as he continued, "And also Green Hoof the gardener wishes to inform you that he will be unable to give you the weekly tour of the roses due to an unexpected family emergency."

"Family emergency?" Symphonia piped up, straightening herself in her chair quickly, "What sort?"

"Oh, nothing bad Madame!" Conrad quickly explained, "His daughter is having her foal!"

"Ah, that's wonderful!" Symphonia sighed in relief, "Do make a note to send a gift to her later, please."

"Duly noted, Madame," Conrad agreed as he scribbled the note onto his clipboard papers, "And also we are still not 100% sure when the summit is going to take place, I'm afraid."

"Well, summits like that take time to organize," Symphonia said as she eyed the nearby current map of the continent.

In her youth, Symphonia enjoyed the united Equestria, and to this day she could hardly believe that after thousands of years of unity and harmony one short war had torn them all apart. Of course, she had been part of that tear. When the news of Equestria granting independence to various areas reached them, the Aristocracy of Baltimare and other nearby cities gathered to discuss the matter. Symphonia sided with those who wished to stay with Equestria... until she heard that the Temple of Vision was getting their own nation as well.


Initially she had been Anti-Changeling before and during the war, but when she discovered some of her closest servants were secretly Changelings, she realized she had to change her opinion. Not all Changelings were wicked creatures, and some merely wanted peaceful lives, just like she did. Hence, she wanted the reformed and civilized Changelings to have a safe spot to run to when the Temple of Lethe got their own nation. Sure, they could go to the Crystal Empire, but it was much too far for some of them, wasn't it?

Hence, she became the Grand Duchess of the United Duchies of Neighland, a country which allowed reformed Changelings to become citizens.


Although it wasn't easy, she did manage to balance the nation's economy and helped smooth things out so that their citizens felt at home. Her late husband and her father had taught her much on managing money and corporations, hence she had done a splendid job in taking care of the young country.

Nevertheless, her heart ached for the unity and harmony of the Equestria of her youth. She knew that the Kingdom of Lethe and Nubes-Synnefo wouldn't want Equestria to be the way it once was... so she knew that total unity was currently impossible... but maybe, just maybe, some of them could unite again, or at the very least be better allies... couldn't they?

She sighed sorrowfully. For a while longer she played the harp again as she considered what she would do at this upcoming summit.



----


COLTSTANTINOPLE, Empire of Ippeia



Meanwhile, far away in a foreign nation, a Bat Pony was beating the tar out of three Hippogriffs who were starting a fight in the mess hall.

It may not be the most "professional" way to handle things, but these were teenage Hippogriffs! They needed a good beating, and the Bat Pony in question, Chilling Wind, needed a good fight to get his energy out.


His black, webbed wings carried him swiftly between the three Hippogriffs as he ducked and dodged between them, kicking them with the metal shoes on his hooves, each impact more painful than the last. Finally, the three Hippogriffs were pummeled enough to surrender and apologize.

"Yeah, you should be sorry you IDIOTS!" Chilling Wind shouted at them, "DO YOU NOT REALIZE YOU ARE SOLDIERS? SOLDIERS DO NOT FIGHT EACH OTHER IN THE MESS HALL! WE FIGHT THE ENEMY, NOT EACH OTHER! YOU HEAR ME?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" The three trainees agreed while coughing dust and bits of blood out of their throats.

"Yeah, sure, SURE you hear me! GO CLEAN UP THIS PLACE NOW!" Chilling Wind shouted, throwing his wings up in anger as he spoke. The three Hippogriffs quickly started re-arranging the battered tables, attempting to clean up the mess.

Chilling Wind folded one black wing while he used the other to adjust his blue military uniform jacket. His green eyes sternly watched the trainees for a while, and then he snorted and left the building. His work here was done.

As he strutted outside, he adjusted his ruffled black mane with one of his wings, trying to look as if he hadn't just gotten into a fight. Then again, he didn't care too much about looking neat. After all, he was a hardened mercenary-turned-retainer for a Gryphon who was a high-ranking officer of the army. Chilling didn't need to look his best for anybeast. If anybeast didn't like him, then he could always just beat the tar out of them. The blue and cyan streaks in his mane and tail showed just how much his hair swished around with his clunky movements, and the metal, armored shoes he wore clunked against the stones of the training yard with every firm step.

Indeed, he was muscular, though still rather lithe, tall, and seemed to be as cold as his name sounded and his cutie mark looked. He only showed his nicer side to his few friends and sister.

However, he wasn't always like this.

As a colt he was quite friendly and positive, but when his home colony at Hollow Shades was slaughtered by the Butcher of Cloudsdale, his outlook on life changed. Many of his friends and almost his entire family was killed that day. In fact, his sister was the only family left out of their parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and grandparents. He and what was left of his colony found safety in a cavern far from Hollow Shades, and Chilling Wind became a sentry who often fought back monsters, wild animals and sometimes even stray enemy soldiers.

After the war was over he became a mercenary, and wandered around, constantly fighting something. However, for the past two years he was serving Sigvard, a Gryphon guard, and he and his sister, Soothing Lullaby found that they enjoyed it very much. Sigvard was kind to them both, and it turns out that he was against the Butcher of Cloudsdale as well. Initially he and Chilling Wind got along because they had a common enemy, but now Chilling could say that he genuinely liked the fellow and called him one of his few friends.



Soothing Lullaby, his little sister, was quite different from her brother. Although she was tormented and shocked by the war, it actually made her into a more compassionate and caring pony than before the war. Her special talent was singing songs that lifted the spirits of others, helped crying foals sleep, soothed those who worried, and even calmed those who were fiercely angry. She was a silvery-grey color while her brother was a medium grey-color, and her eyes were light blue while her brother had green ones, yet they both had black wings and similarly colored manes and tails. Soothing Lullaby often helped calm her brother, and over the past ten years she had been like a lighthouse to him, warning him of the dangers of his life and urging him to come home safe. To this day she still reminded him to be polite and did her best to calm him when he was angry.



At first it was hard for her to adjust to life in the daylight, but now she enjoyed it very much. She loved meeting new ponies and creatures, and found the daytime to be almost as beautiful as the night, and although she sometimes still missed her birth country, she found herself calling Ippeia her new home, and was content.


Both siblings hoped that there would never again be a fierce war... but if there was one, they knew they would do whatever they could to help as many others as they could.

[Ippeia]

LAS PEGASUS

Red Feather, president of Sierra Palomino, sat on his office with another stallion, reading the letter that had arrived earlier that morning...
"So... what do you make of this?"

His companion was none other than Prince Anaxippos of the Ippeian Empire. In the last few years, the Ippeians were the closest trading partners of the young Republic. Ippeian factories had been helping the industrialization of the dry lands of Sierra Palomino, and their technology was being used to aid in the water supply... With all of this, when Crown Prince Anaxippos chose to travel to the post-Equestrian nations that were at least somewhat friendly to the Empire, he chose to begin there...

The Copper-colored stallion just looked at him thoughtfully. Then he spoke.
"I don't think this summit will do much... Unless the Princesses join in to hold you hostage, but that would most likely not work..." He replied with a sigh, looking at the president.

"Well, In that case, I better go, at least it might be of use to get some aid to avoid this... all-maker figure or, Harmony forbids, this White Knight fellow from growing more powerful..." The President added as he folded the letter, then looking at the Prince in front of him. "At least we might be able to keep the skies clear enough to get supplies if worse comes to worse..."

The Prince nodded slightly worried, then looked at him "I may not have been invited, but I will assist with you... let's say that it is of vital interest for my Father to keep himself informed about the goings of Equestria"

Red Feather sighed again and looked at the Ippeian Crown Prince "I guess I have no choice other than let you come along... let's hope things won't blow up in our faces."

Crown Prince Anaxippos smiled at that and looked "I am sure it won't... I fear for the aftermath..."

COLTSTANTINOPLE

Sigvard Sturrlasson, last of the Snjárri Clan, stood atop the walls of the Queen of Cities. Things were peaceful for now, however he knew better.

The Varygani were being mobilized. He had no idea what foe had the Emperor in mind, but whatever it was, they would be prepared...
"Maybe it will also give me a chance..." he thought to himself, remembering the wooden longhouse, the proud Jarls of the Northernmost regions of the Griffin Kingdom, his own father...

Soon he flew down, towards the Mess Hall of the Guard Castle. Hearing quite a mess as he approached, he came in through a balcony, noticing the beaten Hippogrifs. After finding out what had happened from some other Bat Pony nearby, he walked out, noticing Chilling Wind walking nearby...

Walking up to him he looked "So... anything interesting?" He asked his friend.

PONYVILLE

Fluttershy let out a soft sigh as she finished feeding a puppy, a part of her yearning for what had been before... With Ponyville's growth, her cottage was not so isolated anymore, While still not within the city limits, it was much closer to them, and most of her animal friends had either passed away or left for less populated areas...
Of course, she had not really noticed it as it happened, the War had been fought, and she spent the war caring for wounded ponies.

As the puppy barked happily, she remembered that she was supposed to have a guest today... She moved to make everything ready for him...

[Nocturniica]

COLTSTANTINOPLE

Sigvard Sturrlasson, last of the Snjárri Clan, stood atop the walls of the Queen of Cities. Things were peaceful for now, however he knew better.

The Varygani were being mobilized. He had no idea what foe had the Emperor in mind, but whatever it was, they would be prepared...
"Maybe it will also give me a chance..." he thought to himself, remembering the wooden longhouse, the proud Jarls of the Northernmost regions of the Griffin Kingdom, his own father...

Soon he flew down, towards the Mess Hall of the Guard Castle. Hearing quite a mess as he approached, he came in through a balcony, noticing the beaten Hippogrifs. After finding out what had happened from some other Bat Pony nearby, he walked out, noticing Chilling Wind walking nearby...

Walking up to him he looked "So... anything interesting?" He asked his friend.

PONYVILLE

Fluttershy let out a soft sigh as she finished feeding a puppy, a part of her yearning for what had been before... With Ponyville's growth, her cottage was not so isolated anymore, While still not within the city limits, it was much closer to them, and most of her animal friends had either passed away or left for less populated areas...
Of course, she had not really noticed it as it happened, the War had been fought, and she spent the war caring for wounded ponies.

As the puppy barked happily, she remembered that she was supposed to have a guest today... She moved to make everything ready for him...

COLTSTANTINOPLE


"Some hot-headed trainee idiots got into a fight and I had to beat the tar out of 'em. Just the usual," Chilling Wind casually snorted with a wave of his wing for emphasis, "I thought you were taking the day off, Siggy," Chilling added after a moment, looking his friend/partner in the eye curiously.

As he spoke, Chilling kept walking forward casually, the long, grey fur on his legs swishing back and forth with his steps. The afternoon sun highlighted his cutie mark: three ice-blue slashes that could either be blades, claws, or a gust of cold wind. Nopony could really figure it out yet. Either way, it went with his name and his serious personality.

However right now he was showing his warmer side. Since they were relatively alone, Chilling didn't mind relaxing around his friend, and actually grinned at him, greeting him by the nickname "Siggy." Yes, even Chilling had a sense of humor that allowed him to think of nicknames for his friends.




RE a L m oF Ch A oS ------> PONYVILLE



Just four minutes left...

three minutes...

two...

FINALLY! Discord snapped his talons, instantly transporting himself to Fluttershy's house. Before he knocked on the door he took a moment to smooth his tiny white beard and black hair.

Knocking on the door, he called, "Fluttershy? It is I, Discord! May I come in yet?"

[The Flutterlands]

Princess Celestia

Celestia sat down on her throne with a troubled mind. She supposed to be going to an extremely important meeting about the formation of yet another nation. Much have changed and over the past ten years the Equestria she once ruled as crumbled into dozens of nationstates bickering and clashing against one another. Now with a new nation breaking away from yet another, the possibility of reunification sounds like a dream not even Princess Luna could produce. Not to mention the fact that her international neighbor, the Kingdom of Lethe has become even more of a thorn in the side of the alliance. Now ot seems like war is on the horizon.

Speaking of Luna, the Princess of the Night have turned out quite sick recently. This meant that Celestia found herself unable to go to the meeting in order to look after her young sister. Sighing, the Sun Princess took out some ink and parchment and began writing a letter to her former student, Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

You are well aware that a new sovereign power has been established called Diamondgrad. I have been called to a summet regarding discussions the current situation with our Changeling Friends. However, Princess Luna has turned sick recently making me unable to attend. Could you, Princess Twilight, my most trusted friend, attend this meeting in my place? I would be very grateful if you do for it is extremely urgent that we get Lethe to cease their attacks against Changelings. There are no reasons for them to take place like this it's causing an international crisis.

I wish you good luck.

Your most trusted friend and former mentor,

Princess Celestia.

Sighing, Princess Celestia rolled up the letter and magically sent it away to be received by Spike.

---

Spot

Sixteen year old Spot, his cuite mark an assortment of animals was excited to finally be out of High School for the Summer. Now it was getting close to his return to Summer Camp with the Varsity Colt Scouts. It's been eleven years since he was the small young colt, youngest of the seven who with he first walked into Twilight's castle after their small-time 'crime spree' came to an end. Now Spot was as close as ever with his step-mother after all this time.

The young white earth colt with a splotch of black around his eye, walked into Twilight's room to check on her. "Hey Mom." he said walking in with a tao of a hoof on the door, "I was wondering if you would be going to Summer Camp with me. It is getting close to that time now that I'm out of school. Also, can I go visit Fluttershy? I've asked het if I could go help her out with the animals."

---

Zelenka

Eighteen year old Zelenka once went under the name 'Zing' till realizing that she was transgender and thst she was more of a filly than a colt. The young zebra was in her own bedroom going through applications to get herself into college at University of Canterlot. Zelenka had a great interest in potion making, especially since undergoing some apprenticeship under Zecora when she was younger. Ever since it came close for time at High School to come to a permanent close, Zelenka has been excited about going to College along with her elder brothers, Bounty and Pitch Black and sister, Olive Oil, to continue her education in potion making.

Finding some questions difficult to answer however, Zelenka got up from her chair and left the room. She headed towards Twilight's room and knocked on her door. "Mom, can I have some help with my applications?" she asked, "There are some questions I think you'd be better at answering for me. Also, can I go visit Zecora? It's been a while..."

[Fascist Russian Empire]

The Kingdom of Lethe,
Salt-Lick City

Salt-Lick City had undergone dramatic change in the decade following the Equestrian victory against the changelings; so much so, in fact, that it was completely unrecognizable from what it once was. The city had been entirely rebuilt from the ground up, with the All-Maker personally planning the layout of the new city, with the city's old modern architecture being replaced with an emulation of ancient Equestrian styles, with some added flair. Almost the entirety of the new city was built from stone and wood, and was full of monuments reminiscent of the ancient ruins scattered throughout the Equestrian jungles, with massive temples and pyramids towering into the sky. Anti-changeling propaganda absolutely covered the city, with the All-Maker having commissioned dozens of the most famous painters throughout Equestria to paint elaborate anti-changeling murals throughout the entirety of SLC, huge and intricate propagandistic scenes being visible from any street in the city (showing a variety of propaganda pieces, such as heroic pony and buffalo soldiers massacring villainous changelings, changeling colonies being burnt to ashes, and changeling leaders like Chrysalis and Razor Wing being tortured and executed). Sculptures and large monuments venerating anti-changeling figures could also be seen throughout the city, as well as religious propaganda promoting the Temple of Vision. A large (rainbow-colored) magic shield, conjured by the All-Maker, encompassed the entire city, serving the purpose of dispelling changeling illusion magic and thus protecting SLC from changeling infiltration (with similar shields being found in Appaloosa and the other Lethean settlements as well).

Of course, along with cosmetic changes, the city had also experienced a dramatic increase in influence. SLC was venerated as a holy city by the ToV, and, as such, attracted large crowds of religious pilgrims on a regular basis. It was also lavishly wealthy and full of opportunities for prosperity, attracting large numbers of economic migrants and wealthy entrepreneurs to come and live within its walls. The most important feature of the new city, though, was the fact that it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Lethe, one of the major powers in the new Equestrian political landscape, home to the All-Maker, one of the most powerful rulers in Equestria. Salt-Lick City was the seat of power for Equestria's most viciously anti-changeling figure, and, as such, was the base of operations for a multitude of anti-changeling programs. The Knights of Foresight, a large religious order of changeling hunters associated with the ToV, were headquartered in SLC, using it as a staging ground to find and exterminate changelings throughout Equestria. A number of anti-changeling activist groups were headquartered in the city, bankrolled by the Temple and other wealthy sponsors, SLC working diligently to export its ideals throughout Equestria. In fact, most notable anti-changeling organizations and figures were based in Salt-Lick City, finding it to be fertile ground for their movements.

It was a special day in Salt-Lick City. Lavish festivals, parades, and celebrations were being held all throughout the city to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Equestrian victory against Chrysalis at the Battle of Manehattan and the subsequent massacre of changelings. The anniversary was a yearly religious holiday within the Temple of Vision (named Victory Day) and was always met with extravagant festivities throughout all the towns and cities with significant populations of Temple adherents, with SLC always having the largest and most grandiose. The tenth anniversary was met with especially lavish celebration, with the All-Maker having hundreds of changeling prisoners (captured during a recent extermination mission against a small changeling colony in the countryside; Lethe didn't normally take prisoners, preferring to kill them immediately, but an exception was made for the festivities) publicly burnt alive to commemorate his victory at Manehattan. Following the executions, the All-Maker also made a public address to the crowds.

Sitting on a throne on the golden clouds above the Great Salt-Lick Temple (the largest religious building in Equestria, and the headquarters of the Temple of Vision), surrounded by vast crowds of hundreds of thousands of ponies waiting to hear him speak, the All-Maker spoke to the city, his voice loud and echoing throughout all of SLC.

"Ponies, buffalo, and all the other civilized peoples of Equestria, today we commemorate our decisive victory against the Changeling Menace and the crushing blow we dealt unto them at Manehattan. Through our labor, our hardships, our struggles, our commitment, our toil, our blood, and our strength of arms, we destroyed the army of darkness which had brought slavery and death unto the people of Equestria! Against all adversity, in a time when corruption and abomination-sympathies had seeped into every political office, in a time when the very ponies who were supposed to protect Equestria had joined forces with those who sought its destruction, we few who had the courage to take up arms against the abominations and their puppet Diarchs ultimately prevailed. We cast the vile Queen Chrysalis down from her throne, and we shattered the corrupt old-order of the abomination-sympathizers. We fought the two great evils of the time, and we triumphed against them on every front; and because of our sacrifices, our country is free and we have burnt away the darkness and corruption which had plagued us before." the All-Maker spoke, met with rousing cheers and applause from the crowds.

"Indeed, our victory, on this day, ten years ago, was among the greatest examples of heroism in the midst of adversity that history has ever shown; our victory was one for the ages, dealing a crippling defeat against the workers of inequity. I am here today to tell you that even greater victories are yet to come. We will take our victory, a decade ago, and we shall inflict a dozen more of even greater magnitude against the abominations and the abomination-sympathizers! The path to Equestrian purification has only just begun; we will continue to advance the flag of righteousness, and as we do so we will strike at the wicked at every turn! Our work will not be complete until every last abomination has been destroyed, every last abomination-sympathizer has been put to the sword, and inequity is no more! They have sown death since time immemorial, and they shall soon reap the fruits of devastation which they have planted! We shall meet the abominations on the battlefield, and we shall inflict their crimes back upon them threefold, taking blood for blood and lives for lives, delivering righteous fury on a scale never before seen!" the All-Maker continued, receiving enthusiastic cheers from the crowds.

"I call upon you, now, the civilized peoples of this land, to double and redouble your efforts in our valiant struggle against the abominations! Slay them wherever you find them, hunting them to the ends of the world and back; slay the abominations until every last one has been slain! Fight the abomination-sympathizers until transgression is no more, and the entire world bears witness that abominations are deserving of nothing but death. All who are able, take up arms to destroy the Changeling Menace; the All-Maker commands you! Truly, I tell you, whoever dies without having fought or felt fighting against the abominations shall die guilty of negligence of the highest caliber, and whoever dies as a martyr in our righteous struggle shall be entitled to the greatest of rewards in the hereafter! Those who act to destroy the abominations and who live to tell about it shall be entitled to significant rewards to enjoy in this life; I offer a bounty of two thousand bits for every abomination you destroy! Go forth, ye righteous peoples; strive hard against the workers of inequity, and be unyielding to them!" the All-Maker finished, chants of death to the abominations ringing out from the crowds.

Violence against changelings was, of course, still widespread throughout Equestria as it was; ponies hadn't forgotten the atrocities committed by Chrysalis, and continued to seek violent retribution in many areas. It was the All-Maker's intent to fuel further violence; cash rewards for the killing of changelings, combined with further escalated religious calls for genocide, was certain to encourage more ponies to perpetrate massacres against the changelings. Even the irreligious would likely gain some encouragement from the possibility of receiving large sums of money in exchange for contributing to the All-Maker's mission. Of course, he had no intention of fully relying on individual action to achieve the eradication of the changeling race; he had big plans for extermination missions of his own.

Having concluded his announcement speech, the All-Maker teleported inside the actual interior of the Great Temple, where several of his political cabinet members waited to speak with him. His government's highest positions were mostly filled by prominent members of the ToV, with most of Visionary's apostles having official roles; the only cabinet member who had never served a clerical role in the Temple was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the illustrious Chief Thunderhooves of the buffalo. Visionary himself had no active position in the government, being far more focused on theological affairs, though he had been appointed to be the designated regent of the Kingdom (and thus would formally take over the administration of the realm in the unlikely event that the All-Maker was rendered incapable of fulfilling his role as absolute monarch) and served a number of unofficial roles.

"God-King, the preparations for the extermination of the sand-changelings are almost complete; as you requested, we've taken every measure available to ensure there will be as few survivors as possible. It won't be long until we can wipe them out." said Field-Marshal Iron Rose, the Minister of Defense and primary commander within the Lethean armed forces.

"Very good; the eradication of the abominations outside Appaloosa will rid us of one of our primary threats. It's taken far longer than it ideally should have, but at least it will soon be underway. When we face the inevitable Great War against the abominations and abomination-sympathizers, it will be good for us to have preemptively eliminated the possibility of a rear attack against Appaloosa." the All-Maker responded.

"It may come with the unfortunate side-effect of retaliation by the changeling-sympathizers, I'm afraid. If our predictions about the number of sand-changelings are right, the upcoming extermination should be an even bigger blow than the massacre at Manehattan was; the alicorns will certainly take notice." Chief Thunderhooves commented.

"Oh, please, those cowards aren't going to do anything. They are like vultures, preying upon the weak but far too cowardly to even consider attacking a worthy adversary. Celestia was eager to inflict slavery and destruction upon Equestria in collaboration with the abominations when she reigned supreme, and there was no opposition strong enough to stop her, but the situation has changed. We field a formidable army, and there are many across this land who stand ready to take up arms to destroy the Celestial Diarchy once and for all; they will not challenge us on the battlefield, as they know they no longer have the means to swiftly suppress the opponents of their regime." the All-Maker said.

"Speaking of Celestial vultures, aren't they hosting some sort of international meeting soon?" Iron Rose asked.

"Indeed they are. As Prophet, I offer the following prediction; it, like every other effort by the corrupt Old-Order politicians, will be a fruitless waste of everypony's time. The fact that Celestia honestly believes she can dupe the rest of Equestria into willingly subjecting themselves once more to her criminally negligent rule is simply baffling." Visionary said.

"Vanity and hubris are the natural consequences of centuries of corruption and moral degradation. I have no doubt that she is still delusional enough to believe that the crumbling remnants of her world order still wield enough influence to bully freemen into serving her regime. Needless to say, she shall swiftly be proven wrong; the flames of the rebellion still burn brightly across Equestria, and they shall illuminate the path ahead for the leaders of the free. We will soon form a world order of our own, and Celestia will realize she no longer has the authority she once had. I'll be visiting Cloudsdale in the near future to form a pact with White Knight, and I shall strive to convince the ponies of Manehattan to join me as well. We will have an international axis joining in combined opposition to the changeling agenda, standing in unison to stop the abominations and their puppets." the All-Maker said.

"Are we not going to be attending Celestia's meeting, then?" Chief Thunderhooves asked.

"I'm certainly not going waste my time entertaining Celestia's fantasies; I have a Kingdom to run. Of course, we certainly do need someone there to ensure that our interests are represented, and to remind the international community that Celestia no longer has free reign...Visionary, you shall attend the meeting as my emissary; there is no one more suited to the task than the famed hero of the rebellion. I'm sure it will be most amusing to see the alicorns in the presence of the stallion who dismantled their old-order and brought freedom to Equestria. Feel free to take your good friend Braeburn with you; I know how much you enjoy his company." the All-Maker commanded.

"Of course, my Lord; it will be done." Visionary said, bowing.

The City-State of Nubes-Synnefo

Chancellor White Knight sat at his desk in his office, in the NS Chancellery building, seated with two other stallions from the Silver Dusk Party. On the desk were the blueprint plans for the building, alongside a folder full of data files about one of the griffin residents of Cloudsdale. A large box full of military-grade explosives sat on the ground underneath the desk.

"Has the griffin been dealt with?" White Knight asked his companions.

"The filthy bird is currently locked up in the Party headquarters; nopony saw us capture him. He'll have no alibi when the attack happens." the first replied.

"Excellent. And the incriminating evidence?" White Knight asked.

"We've taken several of the griffin's feathers to scatter around the crime scene, and we've gotten its clawprints on several pieces of bomb-making paraphernalia which have been planted in its house." the second replied.

"Very good; I believe everything is in place for the execution of our plan. You two set the explosives around the Chancellery and set them to blow in an hour; make sure to arrange for the griffin to be arrested in the area after the bombs go off. I'm going to rehearse for my emergency address to Parliament; with luck, everypony will buy the griffin terrorist propaganda and we'll be able to pass the Enabling Act unchallenged. Get to it; we need to get things underway." White Knight said, at which point his two comrades took the explosives and the files on the desk and left the room.

White Knight proceeded to quietly exit the building while his friends rigged the explosives, heading to the Silver Dusk HQ a few blocks away (walking casually so as to avert suspicion). From there, he subtly observed the Chancellery building for the next hour, watching until he saw the building go up in flames as the bombs went off. Ponies on the streets panicked after the blast, and the area was immediately filled with chaos. During the chaos, as ponies fled the area and police forces and firefighters rushed to the building, the griffin scapegoat (who had been quietly planted nearby the crime scene just before the blast) was arrested and taken into custody.

White Knight had been conspiring to abolish democracy in Cloudsdale ever since he had taken office, and his plan for doing so was finally underway. His comrades had blown the Chancellery building to smithereens, a major and high-profile act of terror, and a griffin had been framed for the crime. In the wake of the attack, he would get the Silver-Dusk dominated Parliament to pass a bill granting him unlimited emergency powers which he would use to suspend the Constitution and establish a dictatorship in Nubes-Synnefo. He had been claiming the existence of a griffin conspiracy against the state for years; a major terrorist attack perpetrated by griffins would help his case, and generate alarm among the populace which would help justify a suspension of the Constitution. While he already had the Parliamentary support to install himself as dictator, he knew that doing so without just cause would create public outrage; it was necessary, therefore, to distract the public with a false-flag attack.

Anything and everything that advanced the revolution's agenda was justified, as far as White Knight was concerned. Conspiring to frame someone for a terrorist attack might seem immoral to the average pony, but White Knight was willing to do anything to bring his goals to fruition. He would be able to not only start creating a totalitarian autocracy, but he would also have tremendous public support for major escalation of the government's anti-griffin policies in the wake of public outrage over the attack (which everyone would believe was perpetrated by a griffin). With the Constitution suspended and himself given dictatorial powers, he would be able to completely expel all the griffins from Cloudsdale and thus enact his dream of a pony-only city.

[Ippeia]

COLTSTANTINOPLE


"Some hot-headed trainee idiots got into a fight and I had to beat the tar out of 'em. Just the usual," Chilling Wind casually snorted with a wave of his wing for emphasis, "I thought you were taking the day off, Siggy," Chilling added after a moment, looking his friend/partner in the eye curiously.

As he spoke, Chilling kept walking forward casually, the long, grey fur on his legs swishing back and forth with his steps. The afternoon sun highlighted his cutie mark: three ice-blue slashes that could either be blades, claws, or a gust of cold wind. Nopony could really figure it out yet. Either way, it went with his name and his serious personality.

However right now he was showing his warmer side. Since they were relatively alone, Chilling didn't mind relaxing around his friend, and actually grinned at him, greeting him by the nickname "Siggy." Yes, even Chilling had a sense of humor that allowed him to think of nicknames for his friends.




RE a L m oF Ch A oS ------> PONYVILLE



Just four minutes left...

three minutes...

two...

FINALLY! Discord snapped his talons, instantly transporting himself to Fluttershy's house. Before he knocked on the door he took a moment to smooth his tiny white beard and black hair.

Knocking on the door, he called, "Fluttershy? It is I, Discord! May I come in yet?"

PONYVILLE

Smiling softly at one of the few things that had remained constant after the chaos of the War, Fluttershy went to the door, opening it for her friend "Hello Discord, please do come in" She said softly. They say that war changes ponies, that it does, even if they don't actually fight. But she tried to at least not lose herself in that... It seemed to have worked

"Oh! The tea should be ready" She said, heading to her kitchen as the puppy from before looked curiously at Discord

COLTSTANTINOPLE

"Nah, just on the old checking of the Walls" Sigvard replied with a chuckle "If anything, I thought you were taking the day off, you know, take up on the other part of your name and chill out?" He joked. While being on his armor, the griffin had no helmet on, and had a baton instead of his usual axe...

"Ok, drinks are on me" he finally said as they walked...

Imperial Palace

"Your Majesty, I have news from Skyros, the investigation upon the applications of the Delta-type generators are... Well, it is better for you to see it yourself Your Majesty"

As the aide spoke, Agamemnon, first of that name, Emperor of the Ippeians, was intrigued. The world knew that the Delta prototypes, some rather unstable generators with an amazing output, were a pet project of the Ippeians, what few knew, is that the same generators were also being worked upon to find possible military applications besides generating power for Warships...

"I shall see the report and so will my Protostrator... Thank you"

The aide bowed and left the room. And the Emperor looked west, towards the setting sun.

"I am sure my son will do fine..." he thought to himself, vowing that if anything happened to him, then he would correct the mistake of not intervening in the previous war...

[Frenequesta]

Princess Celestia

Celestia sat down on her throne with a troubled mind. She supposed to be going to an extremely important meeting about the formation of yet another nation. Much have changed and over the past ten years the Equestria she once ruled as crumbled into dozens of nationstates bickering and clashing against one another. Now with a new nation breaking away from yet another, the possibility of reunification sounds like a dream not even Princess Luna could produce. Not to mention the fact that her international neighbor, the Kingdom of Lethe has become even more of a thorn in the side of the alliance. Now ot seems like war is on the horizon.

Speaking of Luna, the Princess of the Night have turned out quite sick recently. This meant that Celestia found herself unable to go to the meeting in order to look after her young sister. Sighing, the Sun Princess took out some ink and parchment and began writing a letter to her former student, Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

You are well aware that a new sovereign power has been established called Diamondgrad. I have been called to a summet regarding discussions the current situation with our Changeling Friends. However, Princess Luna has turned sick recently making me unable to attend. Could you, Princess Twilight, my most trusted friend, attend this meeting in my place? I would be very grateful if you do for it is extremely urgent that we get Lethe to cease their attacks against Changelings. There are no reasons for them to take place like this it's causing an international crisis.

I wish you good luck.

Your most trusted friend and former mentor,

Princess Celestia.

Sighing, Princess Celestia rolled up the letter and magically sent it away to be received by Spike.

---

Spot

Sixteen year old Spot, his cuite mark an assortment of animals was excited to finally be out of High School for the Summer. Now it was getting close to his return to Summer Camp with the Varsity Colt Scouts. It's been eleven years since he was the small young colt, youngest of the seven who with he first walked into Twilight's castle after their small-time 'crime spree' came to an end. Now Spot was as close as ever with his step-mother after all this time.

The young white earth colt with a splotch of black around his eye, walked into Twilight's room to check on her. "Hey Mom." he said walking in with a tao of a hoof on the door, "I was wondering if you would be going to Summer Camp with me. It is getting close to that time now that I'm out of school. Also, can I go visit Fluttershy? I've asked het if I could go help her out with the animals."

---

Zelenka

Eighteen year old Zelenka once went under the name 'Zing' till realizing that she was transgender and thst she was more of a filly than a colt. The young zebra was in her own bedroom going through applications to get herself into college at University of Canterlot. Zelenka had a great interest in potion making, especially since undergoing some apprenticeship under Zecora when she was younger. Ever since it came close for time at High School to come to a permanent close, Zelenka has been excited about going to College along with her elder brothers, Bounty and Pitch Black and sister, Olive Oil, to continue her education in potion making.

Finding some questions difficult to answer however, Zelenka got up from her chair and left the room. She headed towards Twilight's room and knocked on her door. "Mom, can I have some help with my applications?" she asked, "There are some questions I think you'd be better at answering for me. Also, can I go visit Zecora? It's been a while..."

Twilight read the letter with interest. She nodded and took out a quill and parchment to write her own:

Dear Princess Celestia:

Although my schedule is already quite filled, I consider such a large-scale effort of friendship to prevail all others. I can easily reschedule any conflicts. Since I am not aware of the details of the summit, would you tell me more about it so I can plan accordingly?

I am sorry to hear about Princess Luna. I hope that she gets better soon.

Sincerely,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

As she finished it, Spot came into her room. He was still the early riser that he had always been, though not with the same energy and enthusiasm of his past. She pondered his questions. "Well, I thought that this year you should go on your own. A lot of wilderness survival is learning how to cope with not having all your comforts at your disposal--even me," she winked. "But, that area you're going to sounds like a wonderful place. I'll think about it and let you know at dinner." She gave a smile when he proposed visiting Fluttershy. "Of course you can go see Fluttershy," she said. "You don't have to ask all the time. Have fun!"

When Spot left she gave the parchment to Spike, who promptly burned it in his special messenger-fire. He turned back to return to his cozy basket, and opened the door to see Zelenka standing. He let her pass into Twilight's room.

Twilight listened to Zelenka's questions. "I'm sure Zecora would love to see you as usual," said Twilight. "But let's get to your application first. What do you want me to answer?"

---

Whinnyapolis, Equestria

It was a good crop this year.

For Cherry Gardener, farming cherries was a much less hectic job than drafting laws, forging compromises, and campaigning for re-election. It called back her youth and young adulthood with her aunt back in Dodge Junction and the farm over in Roanford, planting seeds from the pits, irrigating the fields, watching the trees grow, carefully picking the cherries from the trees, inspecting them for blemishes, and packing them for market. The harvest cycle was a source of stability in a changing world.

She boxed up the last crate and marked it "Detrot." It was about the only city in the Northeast Confederation she could in good conscience sell to--it didn't, unlike Manehattan, Fillydelphia, New Londam, and Hollow Shades, kill any changeling that stepped within their city limits or otherwise flagrantly and systematically discriminate against them. Changelings consumed her last term in Parliament, having been convinced of the sincerity of then-Prince Razor Wing's desire for friendlier relations between Equestria and his colony (and eventually others). While not seeing herself as an advocate for changelings (though others would say otherwise), she always welcomed compromise, peace, and understanding, even among the worst of perceived enemies, and believed that they deserved rights long suppressed. Her desire to maintain the alliance of friendly changelings and Equestria through the Fourth Pony-Changeling War became unpopular with the rise of the Temple of Vision, a group she hated with every bone in her body--their intolerance, combativeness, and rigidness was (almost) everything she was not, and cumulative of a corrupt, intolerant past that she had long rallied against. (Not to mention that she lost two friends to cults like the Temple.)

As she counted the boxes, a buzzer sounded. She made a last check of the inventory before putting down the clipboard and walking to the door. She perfectly expected the visitor, a donkey restaurant distributor from Detrot--one who happened to be a former colleague's brother.

"Ah, Lowell, you're just in time. The crates are back here." She led him back to the stacks of crates and, taking a box cart, set it under two of the Detrot crates, and started to lift them. As an earth pony, she was stronger than her build would suggest, but at eighty, she struggled to keep balance with the cart. She groaned a little as she tilted the crates.

"Might I?" asked Lowell.

"Sure," panted Cherry. "Just hold it tight." So Lowell, about half Cherry's age, kept to the left side of the crates and let his body stabilize the crates, moving gently with Cherry's slowed pace.

Lowell nonetheless frowned a little. "I'm surprised you haven't found someone to help you. This can't be easy on you."

"I'm fine," Cherry protested.

Lowell wasn't amused. "I mean, five years ago you looked fine, but now it looks like you're really struggling."

"And I've been fine those past five years. Never broke a bone, never fell, never chipped a hoof, never--" and, in a stroke of fate, lost her balance and fell forward, losing a small piece of her right hoof in the process. Lowell quickly moved forward to the crates to keep them from tumbling as the cart rose forward. He then walked over to Cherry, still on the storehouse floor.

"Cherry, are you okay?"

"Well, what I say and what I do. I hope so..." she then looked at her right hoof. "Oh dear..."

"Stand up," said Lowell. To her surprise, Cherry slowly got up. "Well, I guess that mean no bones broken. Why don't I take it from here?" Cherry nodded, and Lowell went behind the cart, put his teeth on the handlebar, and lifted the crates out the door and to his wagon. Together Cherry and Lowell pushed the four crates, one by one, up the inclined plane Lowell had set up beforehoof.

The goods were ready to be transported, but Cherry and Lowell were not done together. "So how's Robert doing?" asked Cherry.

"He's doing OK," said Lowell. "He's running for Mayor back home. Wants to create more dialogue among the Northeast cities."

"Oh, that's great!" smiled Cherry.

"Yeah, well, everypony's suspicious of him, being part of the Equestrian establishment and all. I'm not sure why; he didn't exactly support Celestia's polygamy measures."

"He should emphasize that, then," Cherry offered. "Always distance yourself from your liabilities."

"Well, why don't you come over and stump for him? I'm sure he'd love to have you help."

"I'm even more of an outsider than he is," Cherry pushed back. "Besides, nopony likes me anymore. I changed my name for a reason."

"That's not true, silly goose," Lowell chuckled. "I wouldn't be dealing with you if I didn't."

"Everypony outside of my business," she emphasized. "And my business isn't politics anymore. I lied about my bank accounts, my transactions with Prench companies, and my rents from Ippiean farms. I mocked Princess Twilight Sparkle for being a Princess! And I was shunned for denouncing the Temple--"

"No shame in hating those maniacs," Lowell lightly interrupted.

"Well, you get my point," Cherry snorted. "I've alienated virtually everyone that used to trust me, and their constituents too. And ten years isn't a long time, they'll still remember it all. I'm not going back into politics. My cutie mark is cherries, I first worked harvesting cherries, and I'll die harvesting cherries. Cherries are my true destiny."

Lowell chuckled again. "You ponies dwell on your cutie marks a bit too much sometimes. Robert's just last week told me how you loved the wheeling and dealing of legislating, how you always came into Parliament Hall smiling. I don't think you've alienated everyone. Besides, you're dwelling on your past too much too. Pa's always told me 'you can only grow older; regretting won't make you younger.'

"But enough of this, these cherries aren't going to pull themselves to Detrot," he finished. "I'll see you next week!" He said as he hitched himself to his wagon and started down the road.

"Good-bye," said Cherry. She sighed. Sure regretting wouldn't make her younger, but getting older wouldn't help her either. Then again, he was right. She felt her political work was more meaningful than cherries. A cherry was consumed in a day by just one, but a law was a fruit for a lifetime (or at least a generation) for many.

[Turmenista]

"Prologue" - 1 Day before the events of "Equestria Divided"
Diamondgrad, Appleoosan Mountains

The rumbling of thunder let a low, ominous growl fill the background of the otherwise silent cave, as the sound of hardened paw pads hitting the ground gradually began to fill the entrance of the cavern. The rumbling eventually began to vibrate the floor as loose rocks in the cave started to rattle in an ugly tone. The ground stopped shaking as the thunder dissipated, eventually being completely drowned out by the uniform thumping of paws on the cobblestone road, produced by the Diamond Dog's approach to the main gate. Slowing down to a halt at the end of the gate ahead of him, the figure, soaked in rain from the outside storm, took off his dark coat, sighing in relief knowing that the cave would shelter him from any further soaking from the torrential downpour outside. It rarely rained now out here in Appleoosa, especially in the mountains - all thanks to the lazy Pegasi probably off fighting or complaining about the war - but when it eventually did rain, it rained like hell, and today was no exception to this rule for obvious reasons.

The dog stowed his cloak to the side as he came up and approached the large, fortified gates of the settlement known as "DIAMONDGRAD", marked by a large sign above the first set of gates acting as an entrance. The gates were heavily fortified and guarded by a set of large rifle-wielding Diamond Dogs standing on both sides of the gate along with a contingent of smaller, more average-sized dogs standing at watch outside. All of the guards of tensed up and saluted upon seeing the golden-haired diamond dog enter the area. The figure approaching the gates simply went by the name of Rex, and was unmistakably familiar to the dogs out front due to his golden hair and a visible, ugly scar across his chest. He came alone, flanked to the sides by no other, but eyed down an otherwise average-sized, regular gray-colored diamond dog, albeit one much leaner and smaller than the others. As opposed to the other, larger guards that wore heavy armor, the smaller bunch wore much less and bore slouch hats instead of helmets, while also wielding rifles rather than spears. This seemed to suggest, at least to an outsider, that these were some sort of militia rather than just regular guards, albeit a much less formal militia.

"You lot, with me," Rex ordered, motioning to the set of militia dogs that were idling around the gates. "The two of you, keep watch. I need as many DDF as I can possibly muster up. Come." He began to stride towards the massive gate, as if he were expecting the others to follow without question which, for the most part, they did.

"What do you all think Rex is having us do today?" The dog rex had eyed from earlier asked, flanked by two other dogs assumed to be his friends as they approached the gates. He growled excitedly as he scooted over to the gate controls, rifle to the side as his friends tagged alongside him. One was a much more muscular and overall larger blue-gray colored dog, while one was a much smaller mutt, but seemed to make up for it with a much larger mouth and personality. Both of his friends excitedly nodded in agreement, with the much smaller one speaking up first. "I don't know what it is, but hopefully its more stuff on the range! Shooting these things is really fun!"

"I'm waiting." Rex said once more, expecting the gate to have been opened seconds ago. "Rover, Fido, Spot. Make yourselves useful and open up the gates for us."

Each of the three dogs instantly shut up as their leader spoke, immediately doing as they were told and rushing back over to the gate controls. They had a good reason to be so obedient to Rex. From their previous experiences in dealing with a certain band of mares from Ponyville, the three knew that they were much smarter than the dogs, but Rex was no ordinary Diamond Dog. In fact, some even called him smarter than the ponies themselves, in some situations. Rex had set himself apart from others and proven himself to be a very effective fighter and leader, especially the latter. Fighting in the fact that he himself "tied" (or rather survived a clash) with a dragon that was far stronger and far more armed than he himself was, a certain naginata-wielding young dragon which he would always remember the name of: Yang. Not only that, he held off a heavily-armed Pegasus, a former member of the doomed Canterlot Royal Guard expedition to the initial stronghold, and a trio of dragons, all in one devastating raid on the previous stronghold. He was known for being a very capable leader both militarily and in the since hypothetical realm of politics, uniting the dogs of the stronghold under one banner and spearheading the creation of the Diamond Dog Defense Force, or DDF, the settlement's first and only organized volunteer militia. It had seen its use in keeping the peace in the settlement for sure, but really took the prize in driving off the hostile creatures that were untrustworthy of, let a lone hostile, to the Diamond Dogs and their little stronghold. Ponies included, at times.


It was a miracle that the Dogs had even managed to survive like this in the first place.


The combined dragon and pony team that had raided the first stronghold not only had a heavily armed pegasus and dragon with them, but also a former member of the Royal Guard's doomed first expedition into the tunnels, who alone was responsible for setting off the explosives that had destroyed the dogs' previous home. Not only that, the three greedy dragons, Yang, Forge, and Frost, had also participated in the raid, managing to take some - but not all - of the dogs' beloved riches. That alone was enough to fill Rex, who had lost his father tragically in the raid, with vice towards much of the outside world, which would later culminate itself in the creation of the DDF, and later, Diamondgrad. But, even then, the dogs lacked the sheer dogpower and strength to embark on such an expedition like this.

That, however, was back then, where the Dogs possessed neither the dogpower or industrial strength to wage a war, let alone strike back against the dragons with equal power as they were certainly packing during the raid. These were modern times. Equestria had changed from just a small collection of various empires and city-states into one great, big, messy pile of new nation-states that popped up just as frequently as wars nowadays. The ponies, at this point, could and would literally kill for a power with the industrial power as the dogs possessed, and would waste no time in waging war with the dogs or embarking in diplomacy if it came to it. To them, both options seemed feasible.

Rex motioned for Rover, Fido, and Spot, along with the other members of the DDF outside, to follow beside him, watching as they stowed their firearms to their sides as they marched adjacent to the golden Diamond dog. The gate system worked by keeping one gate open at a time - such as the outer gate, in this case - while the second, more fortified inner gate was kept closed as the entrance let in any guests. As Rex pulled the switch to activate the other gate, he - and the other guards - stepped inside the area in between both gates in time to watch the outer gates close behind them, the inner gates slowly opening up to reveal the settlement before them.

"Settlement" was a bit of a mundane word to use as, from anyone's first impressions, the "settlement" seemed more akin to an entire underground city rather than simply a collection of shacks and huts. Rather than using torches or gas lamps, the underground was lit up by electricity and electric lights; homes and other buildings in the underground city would stay lit up even in the night, while the behemoths of factories far off in the distance would continue to operate in full efficiency, even in the darkest and deepest section of the cave. Smokestacks carried smoke from coal and other hazardous smoke safely up to the surface, while waves of workers both entered and exited the facilities, similar to waves of traffic.

Rex wasn't here to marvel about the city; rather, he was here to complete a mission: he was going to send a message, to not just all of the Diamond dogs of Diamondgrad, but also one to the world above, one which he hoped would change the course of history for both Diamond Dog and Pony kind alike. It was something that he had been working on for quite some time now - but never had he the opportunity to show it to everyone else.


Until now, that is.


Rex had his eyes set on a particularly large building off in the distance: Diamondgrad's "Town hall" of sorts. If it was the place where he worked and the place from which the DDF operated, then it would be the place that he'd use to send his message to the world. The only thing he needed now was, of course, something to write on, and unanimous approval from the DDF and Diamondgrad administration itself before he did anything else.

_____________________________________

"You want to WHAT?!"

Rex almost left the room upon hearing the response from one of Diamondgrad's "Town board" members, beginning to pace back and forth impatiently as the rest of the dogs and members of the DDF conversed his proposition thoroughly. "I can't believe I just listened to that. Are you out of your mind, Rex?"

"The only person who's out of his mind here," Rex began. "Is you, Rocky. Evidently, you don't understand what the definition of a 'Unilateral Declaration of Independence' is, do you?"

"Of course I do!" The smaller dog snapped back, before returning to his Town board colleagues. "Someone needs to give me the definition of 'unilateral', quickl-"

Rex let out a growl as he slowly dragged his palm down his face. "How is anyone even supposed to take you seriously, Rocky? Listen to me. We don't have to consult with anyone with this matter, understood? It's only us that needs to do this, no agreement of any others required. If we do this right and play our cards right, that is. There shouldn't be a major problem with this; the ponies are already occupied with drama involving this "Lethe", as well as with the Changelings that we all just generally dislike. We play our cards right, the Ponies turn a blind eye, and we'll be good to go as a our own country. Sounds simple?"

The dogs in the room slowly nodded as a grin formed on Rex's face for a split second, before disappearing. "Great. Because we've got one big problem before we can do this. Remember what I said about those "Lethe" folks from earlier?"

"What about 'em?" A dog asked from the corner of the room.

At the front of a room, Rex brought up the political map of Equestria on the board, pointing to the marked location of said country - more specifically, its centermost region near the Appleoosan mountains. "Well. We're situated directly in the center of them. Meaning that if things go sour, we'll have ponies on our doorstep before we even know it. Which is where the DDF comes in. I myself have been charting out and scouting the area, in case we need to exit Diamongdrad in order to face the enemy. As of yesterday, I planned to bring the DDF outside of Diamondgrad to train them on the outside environment should the need come, but I never got to - for one, because of the rain, and two, because I have my priorities."

"Wouldn't that, you know, defeat the whole purpose of it being called the Diamondgrad Defense Force if we're using them to train outside on the surface?" Rocky asked, the miniature Diamond Dog keeping an eye on the DDF in the back of the room as Rex assumed a poker face. "It's our soil, is it not? The mountains - nobody has claimed them, nobody lives in them, and nobody definitely calls them home, so why can't it be ours? Moreover, you seem to forget the realization that we are not a country yet. Nor will we ever be if I don't get this declaration out. I think you fail to realize that when it comes down to it - when we have to defend our home against any outside threat - that borders do not and will not matter."

The room was filled with silence once more as Rex folded his arms. "Great. We're on the same page with that one. Now, back to the pressing matter: Our independence." I've already given the messages to my envoys: anypony smart enough to read will understand what we're saying on it. Let's just hope that Celestia doesn't raze us from the earth after I send her this one. I feel as if we're already on her bad side after that fiasco with those six mares a few years ago..."

Rex's eyes - and the DDF's - were diverted over to Rover, who squinted his eyes in confusion. "Huh? Me? We weren't gonna hurt her or anything.. we just needed her help."

"Then I assume you won't be needing any help when you go deliver this message to them, right?" Rex grinned, beginning to exit the room as most everyone else followed him out of the area.

_____________________________________

In reality, the "Declaration of Independence" was nothing more than essentially just a formal message on sheets of paper. It looked nice, but it wasn't anything like a mass telegram or leaflet or anything like that. It involved sending envoys to each of the major powers of Equestria, each with a simple message to give the ponies or otherwise other species present. In short: These messages would look something like "The Republic of Diamondgrad now exists, please respect our borders and we'll do yours the same", of course in a much more formal manner than the aforementioned example was. Though he was meticulous in making sure that everywhere that he sent a Dog to would receive the message, he was still paranoid about the possibility that someone interpret his message the wrong way and take it more of a declaration of a rogue nation, rather than a free, new nation.

Of course, should that route happen, he thought, The DDF will always be ready. Always.

[Nocturniica]

PONYVILLE

Smiling softly at one of the few things that had remained constant after the chaos of the War, Fluttershy went to the door, opening it for her friend "Hello Discord, please do come in" She said softly. They say that war changes ponies, that it does, even if they don't actually fight. But she tried to at least not lose herself in that... It seemed to have worked

"Oh! The tea should be ready" She said, heading to her kitchen as the puppy from before looked curiously at Discord

COLTSTANTINOPLE

"Nah, just on the old checking of the Walls" Sigvard replied with a chuckle "If anything, I thought you were taking the day off, you know, take up on the other part of your name and chill out?" He joked. While being on his armor, the griffin had no helmet on, and had a baton instead of his usual axe...

"Ok, drinks are on me" he finally said as they walked...

Imperial Palace

"Your Majesty, I have news from Skyros, the investigation upon the applications of the Delta-type generators are... Well, it is better for you to see it yourself Your Majesty"

As the aide spoke, Agamemnon, first of that name, Emperor of the Ippeians, was intrigued. The world knew that the Delta prototypes, some rather unstable generators with an amazing output, were a pet project of the Ippeians, what few knew, is that the same generators were also being worked upon to find possible military applications besides generating power for Warships...

"I shall see the report and so will my Protostrator... Thank you"

The aide bowed and left the room. And the Emperor looked west, towards the setting sun.

"I am sure my son will do fine..." he thought to himself, vowing that if anything happened to him, then he would correct the mistake of not intervening in the previous war...

PONYVILLE:

“Excellent! As you can probably tell, I’ve been bored all day and really could use the refreshment!” Discord declared as he entered the house.
Noticing the puppy, he smiled, glad that Fluttershy made another animal friend.
When Fluttershy’s other animal friends had all died, she was quite heartbroken, which also made Discord sad. He pitied Fluttershy for having such a soft heart that grew attatched to things that died so soon. Then again, Discord was attatched to Fluttershy and she would die eventually… perhaps he was a bit soft hearted as well. Although he didn’t admit it out loud, Fluttershy wasn’t the only pony he appreciated. Over the years he had shared laughs with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, had some fun with Rarity and Apple Jack, and also learned to appreciate Twilight Sparkle for all the hard work she did. Being friends with Fluttershy taught him the importance of Kindness and how to value others. Hence, he was a bit different from the Discord of ten years earlier, although he was still… well, Discord.

Before he went to the table for his tea, he leaned over and gave the puppy a pat on the head.

“So who is this little fellow, and where did you find him?” Discord asked as he scratched the puppy’s ears gently.


COLTSTANTINOPLE

Chilling Wind chuckled.

“Well, you know me: if I sit around too long I get antsy. My way of chilling out is beating stuff up and then taking a nap, but since you mentioned you are buying drinks, I think I can postpone the nap for a while as I empty your pockets with my generous acceptance of your hospitality,” Chilling replied, chuckling again as he finished his speech, topping it off with a joking bow and outstretched wing.

In reality, the "Declaration of Independence" was nothing more than essentially just a formal message on sheets of paper. It looked nice, but it wasn't anything like a mass telegram or leaflet or anything like that. It involved sending envoys to each of the major powers of Equestria, each with a simple message to give the ponies or otherwise other species present. In short: These messages would look something like "The Republic of Diamondgrad now exists, please respect our borders and we'll do yours the same", of course in a much more formal manner than the aforementioned example was. Though he was meticulous in making sure that everywhere that he sent a Dog to would receive the message, he was still paranoid about the possibility that someone interpret his message the wrong way and take it more of a declaration of a rogue nation, rather than a free, new nation.

BALTIMARE, Grand Duchies of Neighland

While everyone was enjoying tea in Symphonia’s parlor, there was a knock at the door.
“Madame, it’s me, Silver!” A voice called.
“Come in, Silver! We are currently enjoying our tea,” Symphonia called back before taking another sip of her delicious tea.
“We have a message from the… Diamond Dogs, Ma’am,” Silver explained as he stepped into the room. As his name suggested, he was silvery-colored, and also a Pegasus who mainly handled messages but also did some butler work.

Symphonia paused in confusion.
“Did you say ‘Diamond Dogs’?” Symphonia questioned, unable to recall any time in history in which Diamond Dogs sent messages to Pony Duchesses.

“Yes, Ma’am… their messenger dog arrived just a moment ago. He left this note,” Silver answered with an equally perplexed expression as he handed her the letter.

Symphonia quickly grabbed the letter in her magic and read it. Although it wasn’t the most formal message, it was certainly civilized sounding and quite important. She was surprised Diamond Dogs could write, let alone write in such an important manner, albeit needing some proofreading here and there. In order to make sure she was reading it correctly, she read it several times over before handing the letter to her Gryphon retainer Conrad.

“Conrad, does that message say that the Diamond Dogs have declared independence?” Symphonia prompted to ensure she wasn’t going crazy.

“…Yes, Ma’am,” Conrad confirmed with a calm look.

“Well, this is quite fascinating… we shall have to talk about this at the upcoming summit,” Symphonia remarked.

“Tell me, Silver, is the Diamond Dog still here?” Symphonia turned to Silver.

“Yes, Ma’am. He was quite tired from the long journey and I had the cooks give him something to eat,” Silver explained with a nod.

“Excellent. I shall speak with him,” Symphonia decided as she rose from her chair, adjusted the ornament on her horn and the bracelet on her foreleg, and proceeded to walk out of the parlor.

[Fascist Russian Empire]

The Kingdom of Lethe,
Salt-Lick City

The extermination of the Sand-Changelings was one of the biggest short-term objectives of the All-Maker, over a decade in the making; they were the last major changeling demographic within the Kingdom of Lethe's borders (most of the other changelings having been killed or having fled northwards already), which made them a particularly important target. Plans had been drawn to eradicate the Sand-Changelings ever since their existence was revealed to the Temple's leadership; after all, a large group of their mortal enemies right on their doorstep was simply unacceptable. While all the higher-ups, the All-Maker included, had wanted to attack them significantly sooner, with the first attacks being planned during the Rebellion, their objective had been delayed as other priorities required the army's attention elsewhere. It was finally time, however, to begin the extermination and wipe out the last notable changeling population in the Kingdom.

"God-King, I've just received a message from Lieutenant-General Armored Arrow in Appaloosa; our attack force is ready to move into the desert and initiate the extermination." Iron Rose reported to the All-Maker.

"Excellent. Tell him to begin offensive operations immediately." the All-Maker commanded, but before Iron Rose could head off to relay the order the two were interrupted by Chief Thunderhooves.

"All-Maker, we have a problem that requires your immediate attention. It's the Diamond Dogs." Thunderhooves said.

"The Diamond Dogs, you say? What have they done this time?" the All-Maker asked.

"A messenger from one of their settlements in our land just arrived declaring open insurrection against our government. They have unlawfully seized territory from us in the mountains of Appaloosa, and have declared themselves to be an independent state." Thunderhooves reported.

The All-Maker remained silent for a moment, full of quiet fury at the revelation that there was yet another incident to delay his attack on the Sand-Changelings; mere moments before it was to begin, no less.

"Field-Marshal, belay that order; the abominations will have to wait, for now. Tell the Lieutenant-General to make preparations for an immediate attack against the insurrectionists on my command, and deliver an ultimatum to them. My terms are simple; they will either swear fealty to me and become citizens of the Kingdom, recognizing my authority over this land, or they will leave and settle somewhere else. If they are not amenable to these terms, I want every last one of them put to the sword. It's fortunate that these Diamond Dogs were foolish enough to declare their intentions while my army is so close to them; we'll be able to swiftly deal with this revolt, and resume the war against the abominations." the All-Maker ordered.

The land wasn't particularly valuable; there were mineral deposits scattered here and there, and the mountains were frequently used for quarrying stone for massive construction projects in the Kingdom, but it was overall of little value to the All-Maker. Regardless, the Diamond Dogs nonetheless had to be swiftly dealt with to preserve the authority of the Crown; if the All-Maker started turning a blind eye to people seizing his territory, it would set a very dangerous precedent and undermine his authority. Besides, it was only a matter of time, the All-Maker was sure, before Celestia would take advantage of any independent state within Lethe and attempt to recruit them to support her cause, which would pose a major security threat. Beyond that, independent enclaves within the Kingdom could potentially be used as refuges for changelings, which would jeopardize the state's mission to purge the land.

"I'll send a radio dispatch right away, my Lord." Iron Rose said before heading off to swiftly carry out the All-Maker's command.

Appaloosa

Appaloosa, once a small and sparsely populated settlement, had undergone significant growth in the years following the end of the War and the subsequent growth of the Temple of Vision. Being the famed hometown of the Prophet Visionary, Appaloosa was a major destination for religious pilgrims, and likewise was a popular immigration target for the same reason. Tens of thousands of new pony and bovine settlers had come to live in the once small settlement, gradually developing it into a thriving city with an ever-growing community of Temple zealots, a multitude of religious monuments being constructed to demonstrate the town's religious significance. Of course, population growth and religious veneration weren't the only aspects which contributed to the importance of Appaloosa within the Kingdom; the town was also home to a number of important military installations.

The town's proximity to the nearby Sand Changelings, a long-standing target for the Kingdom's leadership, in addition to it's central position within the KoL, made it a natural point for military development. Armories, barracks, bases, training grounds; every manner of facility could be found in and around Appaloosa. All of said facilities were very active on a regular basis, and had been for many years; the Kingdom had kept a fully mobilized standing army ever since its incarnation, always being in a state of readiness in the event of war with Celestia or the Changelings. Border conflicts and violent skirmishes between Lethean soldiers and Celestial soldiers were a very frequent occurrence, and tensions had remained boiling between the two powers ever since the fall of Chrysalis; a continuation war very nearly began immediately after the Equestrian victory at Manehattan, and the two sides continued to be in a perpetual state of near-war afterwards. Needless to say, military affairs were the foremost priority of the government, with most of the nation's (generously low) tax revenues being used to finance a large, modern, and perpetually combat-ready army.

In the weeks and months before the situation with the Diamond Dogs had developed, a sizable contingent of soldiers had been stationed in Appaloosa, making preparations to move into the desert to attack the Sand Changelings. The Lethean Army already had significant experience in dealing with changelings, with many thousands of veterans from the Pony-Changeling War serving as soldiers and officers in the military and many more soldiers having fought the changelings in extermination campaigns within the Kingdom's borders; the required preparation mostly entailed desert warfare training and preparing equipment to operate in the harsh climate conditions. Everything had been prepared and put in place for the long-awaited extermination of the Sand Changelings to begin, though it was interrupted at the very last second with the sudden news of Diamond Dog separatists raising their flag in armed insurrection against the Crown.

Orders from the All-Maker were swiftly relayed via radio by Field-Marshal Iron Rose to the commander of the Army Corps in Appaloosa (Lieutenant-General Armored Arrow) after the news reached Salt-Lick City, the local forces being quick to carry them out. Reconnaissance balloons were launched to scout out the mountains and confirm the location of the Diamond Dogs, and several brigades of infantry were deployed into the vicinity of the settlement with orders to attack in the event of non-compliance with the All-Maker's ultimatum. Though largely lacking in mountain-oriented equipment and training (the Kingdom's leaders having anticipated and planned for war in the desert, not the mountains), they were nonetheless under orders to respond immediately to the declaration of independence, with the All-Maker perceiving that there would be a much bigger threat in waiting (as Celestia or the changelings might arm and support the Diamond Dogs, making military conflict with them far more dangerous). The primary goal, of course, wasn't to actually launch a military strike against the separatists; gunboat diplomacy was the All-Maker's intended method of dealing with the Diamond Dogs, using the threat of war to coerce them into abandoning their attempt to seize Lethean territory, though he had no qualms about responding with violence should they refuse and persist in their endeavor. A military envoy swiftly delivered a letter detailing the All-Maker's ultimatum as the army got into position, relaying the message:

Insurrectionists of "Diamondgrad,"

By order of His Heavenly Majesty, God-King Letum of Lethe, I must inform you that Appaloosa and the surrounding area are part of the sovereign territory of the Kingdom of Lethe; sovereign territory which you have unlawfully laid claim to. This provocation has not gone unnoticed and it will not be allowed to continue unhindered. The illegitimate declaration of independence of the so-called Republic of Diamondgrad is an affront to the Crown and a direct challenge to the God-King's authority, a challenge which he has seen fit to respond to with swift and decisive action.

His Heavenly Majesty has issued the following ultimatum: Acknowledge the authority of the Crown of Lethe, repudiate the illegitimate declaration of independence, swear fealty to the God-King, and accept citizenship within the Kingdom of Lethe, or leave the Kingdom's borders and relocate the settlement of Diamondgrad to someplace else. The territorial-integrity of the Kingdom is non-negotiable; the land which you have seen fit to seize is the lawfully-recognized territory of the Crown and it will not be given away under any circumstances. Immediate military action will be taken unless one of the two options granted by the Crown is taken in swift measure.

The God-King is known to massacre his enemies by thousands, leaving death and destruction in his wake; if you value your lives, you'll do as he commands and you'll do it on the double.

Signed, Lieutenant-General Armored Arrow, Commander of the 4th Army Corps of the Royal Lethean Army

The City-State of Nubes-Synnefo

Chancellor White Knight stood at a podium in the Parliament building of the city; all one hundred MPs stood in the audience, waiting to listen to the Chancellor's address in the wake of the Chancellery bombing. Cloudsdale was up in arms over the attack, with White Knight's plot to frame the griffins having succeeded thoroughly in duping the general public. Griffins were already shunned by the Pegasi of Cloudsdale, after the city was razed by Philip Blackwing; after yet another attack against the city by griffins, the public was out for blood, clamoring for retribution.

"Members of Parliament, today I have the unfortunate obligation to report that our City has been suddenly and deliberately attacked by insurrectionist elements within our society. Yesterday, a sinister act of terror was committed against the ponies of Cloudsdale; the Chancellery building was sabotaged with high-yield explosives, destroying the structure and killing eleven ponies in the area, injuring thirteen more. I myself narrowly evaded the attack, having had the good fortune to have left my office shortly before the bombing occurred. The perpetrator, a griffin insurrectionist, was apprehended near the scene of the crime shortly after the attack; he was found guilty in the court of law mere moment ago, and awaits punishment for this heinous crime. Law-enforcement officials have also discovered evidence which indicates the existence of similar conspiracies and planned acts of terror against our city." White Knight said before Parliament.

"This unprovoked act of destruction and murder serves to further highlight the barbarity and savagery of the griffin race; a fact which has already been well-known to us for over a decade. My comrades and I have been warning the city for years that the griffins are nothing but trouble, always conspiring to destroy everything around them, as is to be expected of a race of primitive savages. Many tens or hundreds of thousands of ponies throughout Equestria, not just here in Cloudsdale, but in Fillydelphia as well, lay dead by the talons of the griffins and their warmongering King; entire cities have been razed to the foundation by these disgusting creatures, done out of greed and pure malevolence. Former Chancellor Lily Showers made the mistake of allowing them to continue living in our city, even after they destroyed it and brought slavery and death to us ponies, and this is how they have repaid us; by killing our citizens and sabotaging our government! Well, let me promise the ponies of our nation, today, that the griffins' crimes against ponykind will not go unpunished; we will avenge our fallen comrades, we will avenge the victims of the griffin race!" White Knight declared, applause coming from the Silver Dusk MPs in the audience.

"By my right as Chancellor, I have declared a state of emergency in the City, and I ask that the Parliament grant me the power to properly respond to the urgent threat posed by these trespassers within our land! Our very way of life is under siege, and we must have the power to retaliate accordingly, lest our home suffer the same fate it did during the war. We must deliver a firm message to all the griffin barbarians in this land that their savage ways will no longer be tolerated here!" White Knight finished.

Immediately following the Parliamentary address by the Chancellor, the MPs held a vote on an Enabling Act presented by the Silver Dusk Party, a bill which would grant White Knight the authority to pass any legislation or enact any executive action without needing the consent of Parliament, the Constitution, or the general public. The Silver Dusk MPs overwhelming voted in favor of the bill, as well as some of the more radical Conservative MPs, though, by and large, the Conservatives, dedicated supporters of democracy, opposed the bill, knowing full well the Chancellor's intentions of undermining the democratic foundations of the republic. The Enabling Act, after a two-hour long vote, passed by a margin of fifty seven in favor and forty three opposed. The passing of the Enabling Act officially granted unlimited dictatorial powers to White Knight, powers which he promptly used to enact far more extreme policies with regards to the griffin situation.

Now having absolute authority in the city, Chancellor White Knight issued a decree ordering that all griffins in Cloudsdale have all their assets and properties seized without compensation by the state and that they be universally deported, banning members of the griffin race from entering the borders of Nubes-Synnefo. Police officers and soldiers in the city eagerly began enforcing the Chancellor's new laws, thousands of griffins being driven out at gunpoint, griffin properties being forcibly seized by the state and griffin bank accounts being appropriated. Needless to say, there was widespread disorder and chaos in the streets, violent clashes breaking out between government forces and griffins resisting the forced deportation and seizure of assets; dozens of griffins would be killed and hundreds more injured in the fighting. By the end of the night, most of the city's griffin population had been expelled and tens of millions of bits had been stolen from them, thousands of now-penniless and homeless griffin refugees being forced to depart the city (many of which had also been injured during the deportation), most of whom would seek temporary shelter in the nearby town of Ponyville.

[Ippeia]

LAS PEGASUS

As they were walking off of the office, two stallions hurried to the President and the Crown Prince. A young tall stallion in civilian clothes spoke first.

"Your Excellence, Your Highness, the Diamond Dogs have declared themselves a Free Nation... right in the middle of Lethe..."

Before either could speak, the second stallion, a Captain in the relatively new army of the Republic continued "We have intercepted radio communications within Lethe... they plan to move in force against the Dogs..."

Both leaders were stunned for a few seconds. After looking at each other, the President spoke "Is the Diamond Dog emissary here? If he is, send him to my office, I need a word with him..."

As President Red Feather retreated back into his office, the Crown Prince looked at the stallions. After letting out a sigh, the copper-colored pegasus spoke "Take me to my accomodations... I need to contact Father urgently"

Meanwhile Red Feather decided that he needed a drink after meeting the Dog... It would be a long day at the very least...

CANTERLOT

Thidareik af Oium, the old professor in the University of Canterlot, was most certainly not expecting this visit.

Standing before his door was his cousin, Alreik.

"They murdered Amelind" Was all he said.

Alreik, a Hippogriff slightly younger than Thidareik, had been married before immigrating to Equestria, the old engineer had found work in Cloudsdale before the war. He had survived the sack by taking refuge with his cousin. At the time he had a 20-year old or so daughter called Amelind. After taking refuge for two months, they returned to the city, participated in its reconstruction...

With the rise of White Knight, Amelind had tried to convince her father to move... just the day after she had convinced him, the fire happened, and as she walked back home, a gang of the Chancellor's supporters beat her to death...

Shaken, the older cousin let Alreik into his house, closing the door slowly.

The two old Hippogriffs ate silently that night, not entirely sure what was the other thinking...

IMPERIAL PALACE, COLTSTANTINOPLE

It took two hours for the Crown Prince to get to his quarters for the visit, and contact the Imperial Palace through secure means. The young Prince skipped over the usual pleasantries, going straight to the point

"The Dogs declared independence... Their new nation happens to sit right in the middle of Lethe..."

Surprised by this development, Agamemnon gave a soft nod. "Well, is there anything we can do about it?" The Emperor asked, wanting to know if there was a chance of supporting the Dogs or at least weaken this unholy realm...

"Well, I fear we can't participate directly, and I doubt that our allies in Sierra Palomino will want to do so... But we could grant them support, either to keep their home, or, if we arrive to late, to recover it..."

"And will the Diamond Dogs let us do such a thing?"

The Crown Prince sighed "I will find out soon... hopefully it won't be too late by then"

"In that case make haste my son, and let these Dogs know, that they will have a friend in the Empire."

PONYVILLE

The puppy barked happily again and sat by Discord. Fluttershy smiled at that "He wandered here just after I returned" She said softly, looking at Discord before sipping her tea.

THE BLACHERNAE BRIDGE, COLTSTANTINOPLE

Sigvard laughed and shrugged "Good, we've got wine to drink tonight... for all we know, we might be off in a boat tomorrow..."

[Nocturniica]

LAS PEGASUS

As they were walking off of the office, two stallions hurried to the President and the Crown Prince. A young tall stallion in civilian clothes spoke first.

"Your Excellence, Your Highness, the Diamond Dogs have declared themselves a Free Nation... right in the middle of Lethe..."

Before either could speak, the second stallion, a Captain in the relatively new army of the Republic continued "We have intercepted radio communications within Lethe... they plan to move in force against the Dogs..."

Both leaders were stunned for a few seconds. After looking at each other, the President spoke "Is the Diamond Dog emissary here? If he is, send him to my office, I need a word with him..."

As President Red Feather retreated back into his office, the Crown Prince looked at the stallions. After letting out a sigh, the copper-colored pegasus spoke "Take me to my accomodations... I need to contact Father urgently"

Meanwhile Red Feather decided that he needed a drink after meeting the Dog... It would be a long day at the very least...

CANTERLOT

Thidareik af Oium, the old professor in the University of Canterlot, was most certainly not expecting this visit.

Standing before his door was his cousin, Alreik.

"They murdered Amelind" Was all he said.

Alreik, a Hippogriff slightly younger than Thidareik, had been married before immigrating to Equestria, the old engineer had found work in Cloudsdale before the war. He had survived the sack by taking refuge with his cousin. At the time he had a 20-year old or so daughter called Amelind. After taking refuge for two months, they returned to the city, participated in its reconstruction...

With the rise of White Knight, Amelind had tried to convince her father to move... just the day after she had convinced him, the fire happened, and as she walked back home, a gang of the Chancellor's supporters beat her to death...

Shaken, the older cousin let Alreik into his house, closing the door slowly.

The two old Hippogriffs ate silently that night, not entirely sure what was the other thinking...

IMPERIAL PALACE, COLTSTANTINOPLE

It took two hours for the Crown Prince to get to his quarters for the visit, and contact the Imperial Palace through secure means. The young Prince skipped over the usual pleasantries, going straight to the point

"The Dogs declared independence... Their new nation happens to sit right in the middle of Lethe..."

Surprised by this development, Agamemnon gave a soft nod. "Well, is there anything we can do about it?" The Emperor asked, wanting to know if there was a chance of supporting the Dogs or at least weaken this unholy realm...

"Well, I fear we can't participate directly, and I doubt that our allies in Sierra Palomino will want to do so... But we could grant them support, either to keep their home, or, if we arrive to late, to recover it..."

"And will the Diamond Dogs let us do such a thing?"

The Crown Prince sighed "I will find out soon... hopefully it won't be too late by then"

"In that case make haste my son, and let these Dogs know, that they will have a friend in the Empire."

PONYVILLE

The puppy barked happily again and sat by Discord. Fluttershy smiled at that "He wandered here just after I returned" She said softly, looking at Discord before sipping her tea.

THE BLACHERNAE BRIDGE, COLTSTANTINOPLE

Sigvard laughed and shrugged "Good, we've got wine to drink tonight... for all we know, we might be off in a boat tomorrow..."

WONDERBOLT HEADQUARTERS

Major General Rainbow Dash sat at her desk, going through boring office work. For a moment she chuckled at how in her youth she thought the Wonderbolts always trained or did something exciting, instead of boring office work and paper signing like she was doing currently. Then again, getting higher promotions meant more responsibility, which meant more boring papers to read over. However, she couldn’t stand holding still for too long, unless she was napping or chatting with friends. For a moment she longingly looked out the window and debated leaving the paperwork on her desk for later so she could go outside and train herself, or doing the paperwork faster so she could have more outside time.

Before she could make up her mind, there was a quick tap at her door.

“Enter,” Rainbow Dash ordered, straightening her tight, striped braid while sitting up straighter.
After fighting so much she took to braiding her mane and tail at all times. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she really didn’t want to cut her awesome, rainbow mane unless nothing else could be done. Hence she wore it in a braid instead of shearing it off.

“Major General, we intercepted another transmission from Lethe,” The Lieutenant reported, “Lethe is amassing their forces around the new nation of Diamondgrad.”

“Understood. I shall inform Princess Celestia at once,” She declared with a nod. The Lieutenant quickly left the room.

Opening a drawer with her wing, she grabbed a piece of magical paper and a magic lighter. Quickly she wrote to Princess Celestia:

To Princess Celestia, Head of all armed forces of Equestria,
From: Major General Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts:
Princess, we just got a transmission stating that Lethe is amassing forces around the new nation of Diamondgrad. Should we host a meeting with the heads of military to discuss this further?

With that written, she used the magic flip lighter to send it straight to the Princess. It would function the same as Spike’s fire, teleporting it straight to the Princess. Rainbow Dash made sure to address it properly and be formalish, but she still was rather relaxed in how she wrote the majority of her messages, especially to the Princesses, since she knew most of them personally.

Well, with this new transmission, it seemed that war was on the rise again. Although Rainbow Dash didn’t want another war, she was glad to have something to think about other than paying bills.


PONYVILLE:

“Well, that’s nice,” Discord commented before sitting at the table and drinking his own tea, “So tell me Fluttershy, what’s the news around here? I’m dying to know!”

To be honest, he was getting bored lately and wanted to know if anything fun was happening.

COLTSTANTINOPLE

Chilling Wind laughed at his friend.
“Well I’ll make sure at least one of us is sober! By the way, do you happen to know when Khaki Pants will be back? I think we both know Snore Factory isn’t the same without him,” He said with a chuckle.

When Prince Anaxippos was serving in the military under the fake name “Akakios” Chilling Wind met him and eventually became friends with him, especially since “Akakios” and Chilling’s sister, Soothing Lullaby, got along so well. Eventually Chilling Wind gave him the nickname “Khaki” which sometimes was lengthened to “Khaki Pants” or “Khaki Shirt” or anything involving “Khaki,” really. After he learned the Prince’s true identity, Chilling tried calling him “Anaxippos,” but eventually he reverted back to Khaki.

As for “Snore Factory,” that was a name long reserved for Soothing Lullaby, for obvious reasons.

[The Flutterlands]

Celestia

Celestia smiled as she received Twilight Sparkle's reply. Twilight had been a great student and she continues to be a good friend. The Sun Princess sighed as she got up from her throne and gave hopes that the meeting would go smoothly without her. Times have been extremely tense since the Equestrian Break Up and after ten years since the Fourth Pony-Changeling War, it seemed only a matter of time till another war breaks out.

Celestia walked through the halls till she arrived at Luna's room. Inside, Princess Luna laid in bed. Her usual dark blue coat had a sickly green tint to it and her muzzle was extremely red. Next to the Moon Princess was a box of tissues along with a trash can filled nearly to the brim. Luna turned to her elder Sister with a miserable look, but greeted her nonetheless with a terribly weak smile. "M-morning, Sister." she greeted before giving out a loud sneeze into a tissue, "Ugh. Stupid allergies..."

"Just relax, Lulu." replied Celestia pouring a cup of water from a coll basin and giving it to Luns, "Remember to drink plenty of water and wash your hooves..."

"Y-yes, Tia." Luna moaned as she took the cup from Celestia and drank it down, "Think you could have the servants heat up some soup?"

"Of course, sister." said the Sun Princess before leaving the room. On the way, however she blinked as a letter sparked out of nowhere and landed before her. Picking up the letter, Celestia read it carefully.

To Princess Celestia, Head of all armed forces of Equestria,
From: Major General Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts:
Princess, we just got a transmission stating that Lethe is amassing forces around the new nation of Diamondgrad. Should we host a meeting with the heads of military to discuss this further?

Celestia sighed angerly. Lethe continues to ever be the thorn in her side and she wished that it could just leave the other countries alone. She magically summoned some partchment and began writing her:

Dear Major General Rainbow Dash

You have my permission to conduct the meeting regarding Lethe. Unfortunately, my sister has become quite ill. If we are to have this meeting, I'd prefer we have our meeting at Canterlot Castle itself.

Princess Celestia

---

Spot

Spot smiled broadly. One could say it was a little embarrassing having his mother go with him on Colt Scout camp trips, even if she is the Princess. Some of the colts actually teased him about occasionally. However, Spot wasn't much bothered by it all. After all, it was still cool to be the adopted son of a Princess who saved Equestria more than anypony could count.

"Thank you, Mom." said Spot before turning to leave, "I'll go out after some breakfast. Love you."

The young colt left Twilight's bedroom after wishing Zelenka a good morning. After a quick breakfast Spot went out the door, leaving the Crystal Tree Castle. The young earth colt walked through town with a great big smile on his face, greeting passerbyers . Eventually, he arrived at Fluttershy's cottage which have grown over the years. Stepping up to the door, Spot gave a quick, hard knock. "Ms. Fluttershy?" he asked, "It's me, Spot. You want some help with the animals, today?"

---

Zelenka

Zelenka waved goodbye to Spot and smiled broadly as she brought her application over to Twilight sparkle. Just about all the pages were filled out and signed with her signature except for a couple pages. "Oh just some questions demanding financial information and some personal questions." she said, looking closely at some complicated questions, "Even though we are royalty, this is still going to cost money of course and there are some information that I can't seem to think of too."

[Turmenista]

"Diamond Dogs Never Die"
Diamondgrad, Appleoosan Mountains

This was bad. So very bad. If anything, Rex was obviously bound to expect a reply from Lethe like this for obvious reasons, but definitely was not expecting one of this scale. The Kingdom of Lethe had taken the Dogs' little Unilateral Declaration of Independence a little too personally, quickly resorting to using gunboat diplomacy in response to the emerging Diamond Dog nation in the mountains. With the current standings as it was, Rex was confident that the dogs would survive for one - make that two - weeks, more or less, until Lethe ultimately broke through and took over Diamondgrad from inside the tunnels. Whereas Lethe had the numbers, Rex saw the DDF in having the home field advantage, having lived in the mountains and occupying the caves for several years on end. While they weren't as armed with quality weaponry like their surrounding new friends were, the dogs made up for it in brute strength and other physical superiority compared to their equine neighbors. In addition, should the conflict eventually break out, Rex saw it as an endurance war: the longer it took for - from what he knew - Lethe's task force near the deserts of Appleoosa, the more time he has to prepare for mountain warfare opposed to more flat, desert warfare. That meant more time for them to, say, place booby traps or ambush sites, all of which would be put into use when - or, if - the fighting actually broke out.

Either way, they were still screwed. Effectively in between a literal rock and a hard place, the dogs, as far as Rex knew, had no other allies to turn to should hay hit the fan. Moreover, they were severely outgunned and outnumbered, forced to resort to a defensive guerrilla standoff against Lethe's more properly armed military forces, a fight that, despite all possible approaches, they could inevitably not win.

It wasn't the odds of the possibility of fighting battles that he couldn't win that was angering him, moreso, it was the actual ultimatum itself that the dogs were given which angered him. Lethe had sent their own messenger and a task force of their own soldiers into the mountains, claiming that the mountains of Appleoosa was Lethe's territory. Rex narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his nose upon hearing this: Lethe's territory? The Diamond Dogs had lived in the mountains before Lethe even existed, from what he knew, whether it was as a proper nation or just a collection of Diamond Dog packs in the mountains. And now, Lethe, an otherwise illegitimate country itself (In Rex's eyes at least) was claiming territorial control of the Appleoosan mountains?

We are so bucked. So very bucked, and I know it, Rex thought to himself as he headed through the tunnels of the subterranean settlement. But, maybe, just maybe, if we can get the support of Celestia and the other nations of Equestria, it'll at least save us from instantly being pummeled by Lethe. That, or we could just resort to violence and get ourselves killed...

He had called for an emergency meeting of Diamondgrad's council of Oligarchs, anticipating their arrival as he set down a large crate of ammunition by the door, and walked inside. Already, the others had gathered: Rocky, the tiny Diamond Dog that he had some differences with; Fetch, an incredibly smart but unhinged female terrier that ran Diamondgrad's economic sector; and Jojo, seemingly more of a "Diamond Wolf" than a Diamond Dog who was set in charge of foreign affairs, not to mention being one of Rex's longtime friends, a veteran just like their scarred, blonde haired oligarch in charge of the DDF.

As he arrived, Rex settled himself down into the last remaining seat in the subterranean meeting room, sighing as he placed his slouch hat on the table and fluffed out his diamond-studded flak jacket with a grunt. "As you may know already, Lethe just sent one of their messengers to Diamondgrad along with, from what I can tell in the DDF scout reports, a couple hundred or thousand troops surrounding us in the mountains. I don't know what else, but what I do know is that we are outgunned and otherwise outnumbered. Severely."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Rocky spoke up. "Yes. I understand."

"Great. Then I regret to inform you all that I will be enacting Plan Orange effective immediately."

Everyone in the room that wasn't Rex all gave each other strange looks as if they never even knew what "Plan Orange" even was. "Can... I get a quick rundown on Plan Orange Again?" Fetch asked. "I don't recall ever hearing about that, let alone - is there a Plan Red?"

"Plan Orange is where we retaliate against Lethe in the form of another letter, hunkering down, and hoping for the best. Because, in all honesty, there is no way that we are going to go with either option. This place is our home - our rightful home. We've been living in these mountains before Lethe was even considered a country, yet they just decide to call our home illegitimate? They, evidently, do not understand that we have homes - we have families down here, and they can't just take it away from us like that. If they want to just simply take away our home, just like that, then I just simply can not and will not let them do that. This is our home and, like I said earlier, I will do anything that I deem necessary to defend it, whether you are in on this or not."

A sudden silence filled the room as Jojo stood up, grunting. "For the sake of survival, I have to agree with Rex. Just look around us. We have the firearms and the dogpower to defend ourselves: This is our rightful land that we've inhabited for years. If Lethe can't give up just a little patch of land in the mountains and a cave, then I don't know what to do besides fight them off."

"You know that's going to get us killed," Rocky interjected. "The DDF ain't in no shape or form to fight against a proper MILITARY, we're a militia, for Celestia's sakes! It's simple. We're bucked. I say we just meet the demands of this stupid Lethe already.

"No." Rex shook his head. "I refuse to be ruled by a nation that just butchers changelings without question. I've heard the stories. You think they'll have the slightest amount of compassion towards us Diamond Dogs?" He grunted, picking up his hat from the table as he prepared to leave the room. "I won't abandon all that I've worked for in uniting the Diamond Dogs just for the demands of some bucking 'God-king'. You all may not be with me, but I've got a contingent of dogs outside ready to defend their homes at a moment's notice."

The room was split as more silence fell over the dogs. Eventually, Fetch sighed and stood up, eventually siding with Rex and Jojo as she eventually moved aside the golden-haired dog. "I mean.. technically.. it's our land. I got no problem with cracking a few pony skulls if they wanna just try and take us over..."

"Then it's resolved." Rex said. "We send another letter to those Lethe guys telling 'em that we'll stay right here in our rightful land. Not theirs. Unless anyone has any better ideas, this is what we're rolling with. Meeting dismissed."

As the dogs all stood up to leave the room, Rex saw Rocky let out a sigh as he scuffled out of the room. "If Equestria or anywhere else don't give us any help, then we won't be surviving this more than a week. Just saying."

"I think otherwise," Rex stated, waiting for his colleague Jojo to follow him out. As the other dogs exited, Rex turned to his friend. "I may have a plan. A plan that could get all of us killed if we do it wrong, but'll guarantee that we'll at least have a chance if we fight Lethe."

"Let's hear it, friend," Jojo chimed in.

"How much mining explosives do we currently have, approximately?" Rex inquired.

"Well over enough. We use 'em for mining, after all. What do you have planned, Rex?" Jojo paused, the realization dawning upon him. "Unless... you can't be planning that plan of action... are you?"

_____________________________________

Another messenger from the dogs was sent to their pony counterparts from Lethe following the meeting, this time in a much different tone than their original declaration of independence:

To the Kingdom of Lethe,

We regret to inform you that we will not be moving from our rightful home anytime soon. Diamondgrad is a settlement of over half a million free Diamond Dog souls, many of whom had already settled in the region well before the nation even existed. Moreover, we have occupied these caves well before both Diamondgrad and Lethe even existed, whether it be small tribes or more organized settlements, and believe that we deserve the right to stay here, as it is our rightful home. Where else would we have to take a fully-fledged subterranean city to, not to mention the half a million souls still living in the city?

We request that you immediately pull your forces away from our boundaries, for the sake of both of our countries' safety. This barren region otherwise has no value to you, so we're sure that there can be a way to resolve this issue without immediately resorting to a dangerous conflict. An occupation after years of literally living under the shadows of the above-grounders is the exact opposite of what we'd want to happen after years of living like this. I hope you understand.

Signed,
Rex, Leader of the Diamondgrad Defense Force, Member of the Republic of Diamondgrad Council.

Additionally, the Diamond Dog envoys to many of the Equestrian nation-states had also been confronted with inquiries of various degree. Fido, the dog whom had visited Baltimare, was invited after a hearty meal to Symphonia's office, the mare being the leader of the nation otherwise known as the United Duchies of Neighland. Additionally, the Dog envoys had been called into Sierra Palomino for another meeting, while Rover, a member of the DDF that had managed to make it to Ponyville in search of the Princess, Twilight Sparkle, herself.

At this point, the Dogs needed anything and everything that they could to defend themselves from the Dogs. And, judging from Rex's inquiry to Jojo earlier, they were going to do virtually anything that they could to protect their homes from the invaders, even if it meant risking their own lives.

[Ippeia]

COLTSTANTINOPLE

The Council Room of the Imperial Palace was usually filled with the Civil Minsters, however, while there was need for an urgent meeting of the Imperial High Command, it was deemed that the situation did not merit (yet) the use of the War Room... Thus, the Emperor, the Minster of War, and the Commanders of the different forces sat in the Council Room.

The meeting soon became about an update of plans regarding a conflict in former Equestria, supply routes, strenght of forces... After four hours, only one thing remained...

"Minster Kerkyron... What course of action would you recommend regarding the Diamond Dogs?"

The minster took a minute, then replied

"I will speak with the Foreign Minstry, but I would recommend diplomatic recognition and some sort of aid..."

The Emperor nodded, then looked at the Commanders

"How long would it take to increase our strenght in the region... I'd send the 2nd Steel Wings, and a Combat Wing of our Air Fleet..."

The chief of the Air Fleet, Pterarchos (Air Chief Marshal) Krounoi replied this time

"Ten days, could extend to twelve depending on the weather..."

The Emperor thought. They could not abandon Sierra Palomino, the Industrial aid to the new nation had also come with joint use of Military facilities and military cooperation... Besides that, it was perfectly located to check on Lethe, or other potential threats from former Equestria, and while it was officially directed against the Sand Hives and now the Diamond Dogs, the mobilization of the kingdom's armies was worrying.

"Then begin the redeployment" he commanded "and prepare to send aid to the Dogs, if they can hold the line, they will prove valuable allies..."

With that, the Commanders were dismissed, and the Emperor headed off.

LAS PEGASUS

Red Feather soon walked back into his office, waiting... Hopefully the Dog would still be in Las Pegasus. Then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" He called out, waiting, hopefully this would go well.

PONYVILLE

"Well, not much has happened lately..." Was all she could say. The last few weeks had been -so far as Fluttershy knew- rather quiet. "how have you been?"

Taken out of the conversation by a knock on the door, Fluttershy stood up and looked at Discord "I wonder who could it be" She said, walking to the door, smiling at the sight in front of her

"Of course Spot" She told him with a warm smile "Do you want some tea before?" She asked him, glad that he had come actually.

BLACHERNAE BRIDGE

"Last I heard, Khaki will be gone all the month, something about visiting our gallant allies of Sierra Palomino" Sigvard said, half-joking before looking at Chilling. "As far as I know, former Equestria has been a mess lately..."
With a shrug he kept walking, heading towards a nearby pub.

[Nocturniica]

PONYVILLE

"Well, not much has happened lately..." Was all she could say. The last few weeks had been -so far as Fluttershy knew- rather quiet. "how have you been?"

Taken out of the conversation by a knock on the door, Fluttershy stood up and looked at Discord "I wonder who could it be" She said, walking to the door, smiling at the sight in front of her

"Of course Spot" She told him with a warm smile "Do you want some tea before?" She asked him, glad that he had come actually.

BLACHERNAE BRIDGE

"Last I heard, Khaki will be gone all the month, something about visiting our gallant allies of Sierra Palomino" Sigvard said, half-joking before looking at Chilling. "As far as I know, former Equestria has been a mess lately..."
With a shrug he kept walking, heading towards a nearby pub.

Fido, the dog whom had visited Baltimare, was invited after a hearty meal to Symphonia's office, the mare being the leader of the nation otherwise known as the United Duchies of Neighland. …

BALTIMARE, United Duchies of Neighland



“Madame, wait,” Conrad warned before Symphonia opened the doors to her office, “From what I gather, Diamond Dogs are highly drawn to jewels and gold… perhaps you should take off your ornaments.”

Symphonia eyed the bracelet she wore and replied, “Do you… do you really think he’d try to… steal it from me?”

“Well, even though I am civilized, I still need love,” Tough Carapace, her reddish Changeling bodyguard pointed out.

“You both do offer good points,” Symphonia accepted, taking off all her jeweled ornaments and handing them to Conrad, who placed them in his bag for safe keeping.

Conrad and Carapace weren’t wearing anything golden or jeweled, although they were wearing exquisite suits as part of their stations.
Standing as tall and straight as she could, Symphonia opened the doors with her magic and entered the room. Like the rest of the house, the office was spotless and was decorated luxuriously. Thankfully, this particular room wasn’t decorated with golden-gilded vases or anything like that, so hopefully the Diamond Dog wouldn’t be too tempted. Covering the floor, a soft red carpet welcomed guests while also showing how important this rectangular room was. There was a grandfather clock by the door made of ash wood with copper trimming and a copper pendulum swinging back and forth calmly. In the rear of the room sat Symphonia’s oak desk, polished to splendor and ready for business. On the desk itself was small steel name plate that had Symphonia’s name and title, indicating that only she should sit there, while on one wall was a portrait of Symphonia and her late husband, painted shortly after their marriage all those years ago, reminding Symphonia of how much she loved and missed him. On the wall behind the desk was a grand map of Equestria before it was broken up into pieces, and the walls themselves were painted a clean white color at the top while the bottom half was beautiful dark wood. Symphonia entered the room regally and sat at the leather chair at her desk while her guest, Fido the Diamond Dog, sat at one of the cushioned leather chairs in front of her desk. As she sat down, Symphonia straighted herself again, and smiled at her guest.


“I do hope you enjoyed your meal, Sir,” Symphonia greeted him kindly as her bodyguards closed the polished wooden doors and waited inside her office with her, “I am Grand Duchess Symphonia of Baltimare, but you may address me as ‘Lady Symphonia,’ if you wish.”

Before she could say something else, there was a knock at the door. Symphonia sighed and called, “Do come in, but I am currently trying to speak with a representative!” Symphonia answered the knock with a look of annoyance.

“I do beg pardon, My Lady,” Silver the Pegasus answered, “But we just received a news report that Lethe has amassed an army around the mountains near Appleloosa. A civilian blimp flying nearby noticed it and the word spread from there.”

Symphonia’s previous smile faded. “Thank you for informing me,” she said with a nod while Silver closed the door and stood in the room beside the bodyguards.

“I do beg your pardon, but I must look something up quickly,” Symphonia apologized to her guest the Diamond Dog.


Symphonia quickly opened one of her lower desk drawers with her magic and pulled out a map of the current continental countries. Studying it for a minute, Symphonia realized that those mountains were probably the ones Diamondgrad belonged to. Knowing how fierce and unforgiving Lethe was, Symphonia had a feeling that the army would attack soon, and that could mean the end of Diamondgrad. Even though she didn’t know much about Diamond Dogs, she knew that this particular group wanted freedom and peace… just freedom and peace. For a few moments, Symphonia stared at the map grimly. If she helped the Diamond Dogs, Lethe may take it as a sign of aggression, and she did NOT want a war. However, if she did NOT do something, the poor dogs would surely be slaughtered, like the Changelings… wouldn’t they? She did not wish to be known as the Duchess who COULD have done something but did not. She looked at her guest again with a sorrowful, worried look in her blue eyes. The Diamond Dog seemed strong, but could he and his kind really handle Lethe? Then again, what could she do… Quickly, she looked at the map again and thought of what to do.
Slowly, a plan came to mind.


“Excuse me, Sir, but this mountain range here… is that where your homeland is?” Symphonia pushed back one of her sleeves so she could point to the mountains with her hoof.


Oh she was going to help them, but she was going to try to do it in a way that hopefully would not lead to more war.


CANTERLOT

Rainbow Dash quickly contacted the other commanding officers of the branches of Equestrian military to gather them into the meeting chambers of Canterlot Castle. As the Chairpony, she stood on the stage in the front of the room, sitting on a chair behind a grand podium. Beside her was the secretary, the timekeeper, a few guards to keep the peace, and also a pony in charge of microphone connections.


“All right, I showed you all the transmission, and the letter Princess Celestia sent me allowing for this meeting to come to pass,” Rainbow Dash opened the meeting solemnly, “We all know how much Lethe despises our rulers and how many times they’ve attacked us, and how many times we’ve battled them. So far neither side has declared war, but it’s clear that neither side is very friendly to the other. Now there’s a new nation in Lethe, and we must decide what to do: help them fight Lethe, and possibly start the war we’ve all been expecting, or stand by and see what happens. Let the debate begin.”


With that, she rapped the gavel once. Instantly several generals switched the lights on their desks, indicating they wanted to speak.


“The chair recognizes… General Sharpshooter of the Artillery Division of the Army,” Rainbow Dash picked the one she saw first, feeling a bit awkward. This was the first time she ran a meeting like this, and she hoped she was doing it right.


The tech pony turned on the general’s microphone, and he quickly stood up and spoke.
“I say we amass some artillery and foot soldiers near the border in question. That way we will show Lethe that we mean business without having to declare war, ,” Sharpshooter offered, “And I yield my time.”


“Time has been yielded,” Rainbow Dash continued the meeting, “And the Chair recognizes Admiral Ironsides of the Navy.”

“As soon as they are done with the Diamond Dogs, they’ll come after us! We all know it’s what they want!” Ironsides spat angrily, “I say we tell Lethe that we are gonna help the Diamond Dogs.”


At that, many others mumbled their agreement.
Rainbow Dash rapped the gavel to restore order and then called on another military personnel.


“No! We can’t threaten them! Although I’m as prepared for war as the rest of you, I think we all know that war means death. Let’s try to avoid aggression, and instead bolster our forces and wait this out. If Lethe does try to attack us, then we’ll strike back, but not before!”

Another Military representative:
“Need I remind you how much those traitors hate us? They call our Princesses despicable names and look down on us all! It’s clear that Lethe is really using this to prepare their troops without us noticing it. We HAVE to support the Dogs! It’ll show Lethe that we will NOT be pushed around, AND we will gain an ally within their borders.”


Yet another pony:
“We MUST NOT attack first! We can send supplies to the Dogs, but no soldiers!”

“Why not just attack with artillery? That way we won’t send in any soldiers to die, but we will help out the Dogs.”

“NO! Don’t attack first! Let Lethe make the first move, and then we can rally allies from other Equestrian nations and finally beat the tar out of those slanderous turncoats!”

The debate got more and more heated as time went on, and Rainbow Dash barely managed to keep them civil enough to debate properly. For THREE HOURS they debated.


Finally, one more pony spoke.


“Everypony… before we attack each other, let’s remember who we serve: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle. All three of these mares stand for freedom, peace, harmony, and balance. If Celestia were here, I believe she would want us to support the Diamond Dogs, and send in troops to help. Isn’t that what Celestia and Luna did when they fought Sombra, a corrupted king who enslaved a nation? Isn’t it easier to stop slavery from starting than to come in later and end it? Let’s face it: if Lethe wins, they will probably kill all the Dogs or enslave them, and we will go down in history as the nation that could have saved them but didn’t. I suggest we send a messenger to Diamondgrad immediately informing them that Equestria is on the way, and then send in a small battalion of mechanized infantry units, and then back them up with Artillery. Hopefully we can push back Lethe away from our borders and away from Diamondgrad without having to go to a major war, but if war is coming, then let’s not be afraid anymore.”


At that the room was silent. Rainbow Dash called for a vote, and the “yea’s” had it. With that done, Rainbow Dash immediately exited the room and ordered a messenger pony to be ready to leave to Diamondgrad. It seems that the underground city of Diamondgrad did not have proper telecommunications, so it would take hours to reach the mountains by plane, and who knows how many more hours of searching the mountains just to find the Diamond Dogs. However, that one Diamond Dog messenger was still at Twilight’s castle. Perhaps he knew a shortcut. With this in mind, Rainbow Dash zoomed through the sky to meet him herself and ask him if he could carry the message.


Meanwhile, a battalion of Infantry and another of artillery was prepared to move to the border while a radio broadcast was sent to Lethe:


"To the Government of Lethe: For many months your soldiers have attacked our borders without cause. We are informing you that we are going to support the Diamond Dogs in their cause. We desire peaceful negotiations but we will support them if you choose to attack."

BLACHERNAE BRIDGE, Ippeia


“Ah, of course. I suppose royal beasts always gotta go check on something, huh? And yeah, Equestria is a mess… heh… Being there and seeing it is worse than just hearing about it, though,” Chilling commented soberly, “I still remember what it was like before that awful war and cursed break-up. Ponies overall seemed so much more friendly and… happy. Sure that was in my colony, but I think it was like that elsewhere, too. After that horrid war, though, it seemed so… tense. Everywhere I went it just felt… not the same. I’m glad to be in a new country now. Ippeia here feels so much more relaxed than back there, and… well… you Ippeians are okay, I guess.”

With that, Chilling smirked and nudged Sigvard with his wing jokingly, “Yeah, you’ll do.”


PONYVILLE, Equestria

“Ah, hello Spot,” Discord greeted him with a nod. Before sipping his tea snobbishly, “I suppose you don’t care to see me, just here for Fluttershy, but that’s all right.”
Although he acted like he only cared about Fluttershy and maybe a few others, truth was that he had grown fond of Spot and his siblings. After all, he did see the little tyke and his siblings grow up, and Discord was quite impressed that Twilight managed to raise all those different children with plenty of love and care. Plus, they were all nice to Fluttershy, and that made Discord like them all the more.


((Note: It’s been three hours For Rainbow Dash, so Zelenka and Twilight should be done talking when Rainbow Dash gets there, so I will wait for you guys to finish before I have RD arrive.))

[Frenequesta]

Zelenka

Zelenka waved goodbye to Spot and smiled broadly as she brought her application over to Twilight sparkle. Just about all the pages were filled out and signed with her signature except for a couple pages. "Oh just some questions demanding financial information and some personal questions." she said, looking closely at some complicated questions, "Even though we are royalty, this is still going to cost money of course and there are some information that I can't seem to think of too."

Twilight took the papers and looked them over. "Hmm. I'll have to check my tax returns," she said, and opened a drawer at her desk and pulled out a large manila accordion folder, organized neatly by year. She pulled out last year's return and reviewed it. "Okay, salary... travel allowances... franked mail... disclosed gifts... aha, total gross income," she said, as she was just about to take out her abacus. She wrote down the number on the "Mother's Annual Income" line. "Okay. College attended? Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is technically a college," she said, and wrote that down. "Oh, and my official position title is 'Equestria's Public Mediator for Friendship Disputes,'" she corrected, and erased that line with her magic and wrote down that title. She then quietly filled out the other blanks in Zelenka's application, and took out a check to pay the application fee. "There," she said, giving the application and check to Zelenka. "Is the University of Canterlot the only place you are applying to? There's some good pharmacology programs at Lunar Bay University and Jacks Hoofkins." Though Jacks Hoofkins, in Baltimare, was the better of the two, she felt somewhat more comfortable sending her to a school in San Flankcisco.

---

Ponyville, a few hours later

Twilight Sparkle was quite worried about the news that the Diamond Dogs were starting their own country, and it also caused her to raise an eyebrow. Equestria certainly knew of their existence before the break-up and even extended the right to vote to them, and of course, at least tried to tax them. But they always kept underground to themselves, with the only regular dog-pony encounters to be with some miners outside Crystal City and Salt Lick City, where there were some disputes over mineral rights (which the ponies almost always won in court). They never even incorporated as a Municipality by the time the Peace of Canterlot was issued so to get a formal chance at independence, and now out of the blue they declared so to the world. She could see that perhaps the Equestrian (and apparently now Lethean) system was rigged against them and that they were fed up with it, but at the same time she had little sympathy for their lack of petition for redress. After all... a couple of them did hold Rarity hostage and into forced labor once.

All this she pondered as her legal counsel and general advisor Silver Shield briefed her on his meeting with one of Diamondgrad's envoys, a Diamond Dog named Rover.

"...I told him that you do not have any capacity to send troops or ammunition, but he was persistent," said Silver Shield. "He asked that he speak to you personally."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, and even if I could, I wouldn't-- I really don't think it would be wise to agitate Lethe more than Equestria already has. Did you ask if Diamondgrad sent anyone to Canterlot?" she inquired.

"Yes, and he didn't really give me a yes or no answer. I assume no."

"Alright, I'll talk to him. I think the best thing to do right now is offer them a seat at the upcoming summit, with Celestia's permission, of course."

"It might be too late by then," warned Silver.

"Well, if that happens I'm sure even Lethe would be willing to agree to a temporary cease-fire. It's not like Diamond Dogs are changelings," replied Twilight. "Now, let's see him," she said, and followed Silver to the main lobby. As she walked down the staircase she saw a fast rainbow streak at the window out of the corner of her eye--a pleasant surprise to see, being one of her best friends.

---

Appleloosan Mountains, Lethe, a couple hours earlier

As a young pegasus colt, Copperfield once thought that mining was an "earth pony's job," but he had long grown out of that mindset. He couldn't hide his interest now that he had his cutie mark--two crossed copper-brown pickaxes with three golden stars above them. His father's connections helped him get a somewhat more glamorous job than going into the shafts--an apprentice assayer, going out to remote places to find viable mining sites. He had only a few chemistry and geology classes at the University of Los Pegasus so far, but he felt confident enough in his skills to get results.

The company who took in him in for the University's Student Practicum program was an Equestrian company, but it had no qualms surveying the deserts of Southwestern Lethe. Copperfield did somewhat--his half-brother, Pitch Black, had Olive Oil as his girlfriend, and he was a little disgusted by what Lethe was doing to changelings. But he wanted the experience, and so he dutifully reported to the site with his supervisor's trailer.

Copperfield's supervisor, Long Prospect, was a tall, slender, gray unicorn with opaque sunglasses, whose slick black mane seemed not to respond to the currents of the wind. He looked down at Copperfield sternly, the rays of the sun reflecting off the glasses. "Alright. I hope you got plenty of water since the sun's going to get hot 'bout noon."

"Yes Mr. Prospect," said Copperfield, taking out a full canteen from his saddlebag with his wing and showing it to his supervisor.

"You're going to need a lot more than that, sonny," said Mr. Prospect. "You Canterlot slickers don't know what it's like without water. Fortunately, I prepare for un-windswept types like you," he said, and pulled out an even larger canteen from his pocket dimension, and put it in Copperfield's saddlebag. Copperfield struggled a little under its weight. "Don't worry, it'll be gone before you know it. Now, here's the plan. We've got a thousand acres to search before sundown. We'll start on the perimeter, circle around, and close in to the center from there. I'm sure you saw the orange rods coming in?" Copperfield nodded. "That's the perimeter. The blue rods indicate the interior coordinates. You'll be testing five samples from each section marked. You have your crucibles, right?

"Yes, sir."

"Well, we got something even better for them," he said, as he used his magic to pull out a wagon with a small ceramic furnace and a few bags in it from behind the trailer. "The new portable spectrometers haven't arrived yet so we're doing it old school--by fire, a lot of lime, and a little lead."

Copperfield recognized the process. "So we're actually going to be looking for gold and silver?"

"Well, just silver, really, but yes, we're actually looking for the good stuff today. And this is the real deal--this is probably the last area of Equestria not to be surveyed for it. Nopony wanted to live in this blasted place so Canterlot in its wisdom made it Crown land. The company's lobbied for years to open this place up--thank the All-Maker he doesn't care what you do on your property so long as you don't hurt anypony. Now if it were up to me you'd be out on your own but management's on my ass again for some poor kid's paper cut. So I'm going to watch over you digging and melting the ore. Any questions?" Copperfield shook his head. "No? Then let's get started."

The two made their way to the eastern edge of the plot, setting down their work between an orange pole and a blue pole labelled with a white "1." They barely spoke to each other as Copperfield picked at a rock, ground it up in one of his crucibles, and put it in the furnace. Mr. Prospect merely stood by the furnace, adjusting its temperature with his magic, and calling Copperfield to inspect the finished result. It took until a little after 11:00, at the fifteenth section, before they found any trace of silver.

"It's a promising sign," said Mr. Prospect, looking down at the small silvery drops in the crucibles. "It's not enough to be viable yet but there's more where it came from."

"I kind of figured," said Copperfield. "When I saw some galena in the sand I knew we were getting into a good area."

"Well, why didn't you tell me, sport?" asked Mr. Prospect. "You really are good at identifying rocks. Could have made my job much easier. Alright, let's go on to sixtee--wait, I'm out of water already. I'll go back to the trailer for a minute. Go on to sixteen and start digging," he said, and left Copperfield alone, hoping that he wouldn't get a paper cut.

[Fascist Russian Empire]

The Kingdom of Lethe,
Salt-Lick City

The message had just arrived from the Kingdom's forces in Appaloosa; the Diamond Dogs had officially refused the ultimatum put forth by the All-Maker. Needless to say, being a deity of his word, the All-Maker had absolutely no intentions of hearing out the insurrectionists' plea to be allowed to annex his land. He had granted perfectly reasonable terms under which they would be allowed to continue the existence of their settlement; terms which they chose, of their own volition, to reject. They were warned of what would happen should they persist in their efforts, and they chose to continue; they chose to make war on the Kingdom, to make an enemy of the All-Maker. The All-Maker was not satisfied with merely fighting his enemies; he sought to completely exterminate them, showing no quarter to those who would take up arms against him. Though he had no specific qualms towards the Diamond Dog race, this particular batch of them had chosen to become his enemies, and, like all his enemies, was therefore marked for total eradication as a consequence.

"What a shame; I had hoped that the Diamond Dogs would be reasonable and integrate themselves into the Kingdom, but I suppose you can't always expect rational decisions from mortals. Well, I gave them a warning; I gave them the opportunity to live normally as my subjects, or to walk away with their lives intact, and they chose to reject my benevolence. I suppose we'll just have to butcher them all." the All-Maker responded when Iron Rose informed him of the situation.

"It'll be a very lengthy siege; the terrain and the limited points of attack will greatly delay our forces." Iron Rose commented.

"I've already taken efforts to hasten the process. While we awaited their compliance or lack-thereof with my ultimatum, I contracted several mining teams from Appaloosa to accelerate the siege by drilling tunnels leading into the insurrectionist stronghold, opening up new areas of attack. I anticipated a lack of cooperation, you see; I knew there was a great possibility of non-compliance, and, as such, I took efforts to stack the deck further in my favor." the All-Maker said.

"But, how will they know where to drill? We don't exactly have a lot of knowledge of the boundaries of the settlement." Iron Rose asked, puzzled.

"With magic, of course; my magic, specifically. I'll personally intervene on the battlefield and, using my powers of clairvoyance, I will show the miners where they need to work." the All-Maker answered.

"Not a bad plan. The small area we're able to attack is the only real advantage these invaders have; giving ourselves more room to attack will greatly swing things in our favor. Even so, this is going to take a few days, at least; as we've learned during our extermination missions against the changelings, these mountains and caves can seriously delay an attacking army." Iron Rose said.

"A victory is a victory, regardless of how long it takes. Our attack will start as soon as the miners arrive to assist with the operation, assuming the insurrectionists still haven't complied with my demands by that point. I'll send them one final warning, telling them to submit or die, and if they still refuse to accept my demands then history will know that their blood is on their own paws." the All-Maker said, magically conjuring a piece of parchment and writing a personal letter to the insurrectionist leader.

To the one known as "Rex,"

I see that you have seen fit to continue your efforts to steal my land, even when I have made it clear that these efforts will not be tolerated. There are two potential reasons for this persistence; either you are ignorant of who I am, or you are knowingly and willfully condemning yourself and all of your comrades to death. If the former is the case, then allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Letum; I am officially known as His Heavenly Majesty, God-King Letum of Lethe, Shield of Righteousness and Sword of Justice. Most mortals know me as the All-Maker. I assure you, I have these titles for a reason; it is because I am a deity among mere mortals. To someone who has literally lived their life under a rock, I'm sure it would seem ridiculous that anyone would presume to take the title of a God, so I'd like you to witness my power for yourself. I have triumphed in battle against Celestia and against Chrysalis, wreaking Havoc against those who dare stand against me. You don't have to take my word for it; inside this letter will be an enchanted crystal which will display magical recordings of my handiwork in complete detail.

Many thousands have been slain through my doing; I have cleaved through legions of enemies, unleashing unimaginable devastation against those who take up arms to thwart me. I take no prisoners and I show no quarter to my enemies; I will butcher entire species and level entire cities to enforce my will. I make no distinction between combatant and non-combatant; I personally ensure that anyone who so much as associates with my foes will die the worst kind of death imaginable. The abominations known as changelings can testify to my strength of arms, and my unending bloodlust in battle. Nothing stands between me and my goals; I don't fight my enemies, I utterly eradicate them, alongside anyone who would stand with them. And, now, you have chosen to count yourself among my enemies.

I generously bestowed upon you the opportunity to become my subject and live under my protection; I have extended unto you, and all of your comrades-at-arms, the ability to receive the same rights and privileges as the equines and bovines, to live as a normal citizen of my vast Kingdom. You've been given every opportunity to walk away and build your little settlement someplace else; these opportunities will not be extended a second time, I promise you. This is your final chance to accept my offer and live as a citizen in my land or live independently in someone else's land. I will personally be arriving to order an assault on Diamondgrad within hours of you receiving this message; if you haven't accepted my generous offer by that point, my vast army and I will massacre every last inhabitant of your city without hesitation.

Do as I command and the rewards will be vast; defy me, and I can offer nothing but suffering and death.

Truly,

Letum of Lethe

After he finished writing the last words of the letter, the All-Maker attached a glowing purple crystal with the parchment; a magical recording device, storing footage of the All-Maker's personal actions at the Battle of Manehattan. The crystal showed, in precise detail, the All-Maker's magic powers being used to massacre changeling refugees as they attempted to flee from the city as well as him utilizing his magic (to great effect) against the changeling army. With his letter to the insurrectionists completed, the All-Maker cast a spell and magically delivered it straight to Diamondgrad; having vast magical powers certainly helped when it came to getting simple tasks done in a timely manner.

"Now that this is taken care of-" the All-Maker began speaking, only to be interrupted, again, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"All-Maker, we have another problem." Chief Thunderhooves said.

"And what, pray-tell, is the problem this time?" the All-Maker asked.

"It's the Celestial snakes; they've declared their intentions to violate the Peace of Canterlot and attack our nation." Thunderhooves reported.

The All-Maker was silent for a moment. This was an unexpected, but nonetheless welcome development; he had been waiting for years to have a justification to cancel the ill-suited peace with Celestia and topple her regime once and for all. The only reason he had refrained from declaring war beforehand was the fact that he had agreed, at the Peace of Canterlot, to an indefinite period of non-aggression. Now that Celestia had seen fit to violate the treaty by declaring her intent to initiate hostilities between the two nations, the All-Maker finally had a casus belli to take up arms to dethrone her, wipe out the changeling-sympathizers, and permanently re-solidify his grasp on the continent.

"So, the time has finally come for us to have one final, epic struggle to destroy the abomination-sympathizers once and for all. I shall prepare another address to my subjects, and we shall call all the righteous to arms to fight this menace. I'm certainly not going to back down; we will strike at the abominations and the abomination-sympathizers with everything we have, and we will fight until either every last one of them has been put to the sword or we have no-one left to continue fighting. Our time is now; the great struggle is upon us, and we must win by any and all means necessary." the All-Maker said.

"What are my orders, God-King?" Iron Rose asked.

"The siege of Diamondgrad will continue; all of our reserve soldiers will be deployed to our borders with the abomination-sympathizers. Our forces near San-Flankcisco will completely cut-off land transportation to and from the city; kill anyone who attempts to exit the area, excluding Temple members, and deny access to anyone attempting to enter the area. For the time being, we will maintain a defensive line; offensive operations will start when the process of total mobilization has finished. Now, I must address Equestria and declare my response to this act of war." the All-Maker ordered before heading to call for an emergency public address.

After a short period of preparation, the inhabitants of Salt-Lick City had gathered in-mass to listen to the All-Maker's emergency address; an address which, by the All-Maker's order, would be broadcast via radio all across Equestria:

"Civilized peoples of Equestria, today I have an announcement of the utmost importance: The Celestial snakes have officially violated the Peace of Canterlot, attacking the foundations of peace and showing their intent to bring war to Equestria. Moments ago, a message was sent to my government by the Celestial armed forces; the contents of said message were an open declaration of intent to launch an unprovoked attack against our nation and support the armed insurrection currently ongoing outside Appaloosa. These actions are a clear and indisputable violation of the terms of the peace treaty which was agreed to by both nations; terms under which the borders of Lethe were recognized and an indefinite period of non-aggression was accepted. The hypocrites in the Celestial government, who claim to represent peace while openly violating treaties and preparing unprovoked wars of aggression, are, evidently, of the opinion that the shattered remains of their Old Order still wield enough force to allow them to get away with whatever transgressions they please. They will soon learn that we, the people of Equestria, have no tolerance for these actions.

Every opportunity for peace has been granted; every action has been taken to ensure the stability of Equestria. The abomination-sympathizers have cast aside these opportunities to satisfy their insatiable hatred of all things civilized; so greatly do they despise civilized society that they will conjure up any excuse to sow the seeds of unjust destruction and death against the people around them. Nothing will satisfy these transgressors; they will find any reason to justify their unprovoked acts of aggression and destruction, whether it be the abominations or, as it is now, the Diamond Dogs. As I have been warning Equestria for years, the Celestial snakes can not be trusted; they are willing collaborators of the abominations, having no qualms about working with a race of slave-traders and mass-murderers for the sake of their own personal benefit. On this day, they have proven themselves, yet again, to be the number one enemy of all us civilized peoples, showing that they openly strive to bring about war and devastation.

Well, let me promise all the righteous people of this land: I will never yield to this great evil which has infested Equestria! This flagrant violation of the Peace of Canterlot is an act of war against my nation, and an affront to all civilized peoples; we will retaliate accordingly! By my right as God-King, I hereby declare that, ever since this declaration of intent was delivered to my government, a state of war has existed between the Kingdom of Lethe and the Celestial regime! The Peace of Canterlot, a treaty which Celestia has openly and unapologetically sought to dismantle for years, is officially repudiated! May all the people of Equestria bear witness, on this day, that I shall do everything in my power to destroy this menace no matter the cost. We shall fight the Celestial Menace in Appaloosa; we shall fight in Ponyville; we shall fight in San Flankcisco; we shall fight in Salt-Lick City; we shall fight in the fields; we shall fight in the cities; we shall fight in the mountains, and in the hills; we shall never surrender!

I call upon all the righteous to join me in taking up arms to finally destroy this pervasive blight upon this land! The prophesied struggle to purge Equestria of inequity is upon us at last; we must fight until transgression is no more! The time has come whereupon all the people of Equestria are called to arms; this is our time, when we must face the most important struggle the world has ever known, where history shall decide whether Equestria shall be free or whether it shall stand condemned underneath Celestial tyranny! History shall forever remember where ponies stood on this day; whether they chose to wield the sword of justice in battle against tyranny or turn a blind eye to the army of darkness which seeks the enslavement of us all. For those of us who have the courage to defend our land even unto death, and join the ranks of the martyrs in the highest heaven, history shall remember, thousands of years after the dust has settled, that this was our finest hour!"

Needless to say, the All-Maker's speech had immediate and drastic ramifications. Being called to arms by their God-King to fight the prophesied war against the changeling-sympathizers they had been warned of for years, the people of Lethe, equine and bovine alike, flocked to take up arms against the enemy; army recruitment stations were completely flooded with huge crowds of volunteers for the upcoming battle. Temple militias, which had long been used as both an auxiliary wing of the Lethean army and as a garrison force to protect Lethean settlements, swelled massively in size, with innumerable ponies and buffalo flocking to join their local militia.

The All-Maker had long been proclaiming the inevitable Great War against his enemies, he had long been preaching the evils of the changeling race and the ponies who sympathized with them, he had long been promising vast rewards for those who raised arms to fight the Changeling Menace, and his efforts had borne fruit. Convinced they were witnessing their God's prophesy come to life, convinced that they were fighting a great menace which sought to destroy their homes, and convinced they would receive vast rewards in the hereafter if they died as martyrs in battle, hundreds of thousands of ponies and buffalo enlisted to join the All-Maker's military. Simultaneously, total economic mobilization was ordered by the government; factories all across Lethe started the process of switching from consumer production over to military production, with production of weapons and ammunition set to exponentially increase. The entire nation was rapidly preparing for total war; it seemed evident to all that war had come to Equestria once again. It would take either a diplomatic miracle or a very powerful set of deterrents to calm the situation and maintain the peace.

[Turmenista]

Baltimare, United Duchies of Neighland

If there was anything that a dog like Fido could actually commend the Ponies for, it'd have to be in the architecture department definitely. The walk into Baltimare was filled with both literal and actual eye candy - not to mention, he'd been given quite possibly the greatest meal he'd ever had in his life, all complimentary of his hosts. He was just about to start his 6th plate of his hearty meal when he was called into the office of Symphonia - apparently, some person of high status judging by the important-looking title on her table. Despite the apparent lack of shiny things in the room - likely due to fear of the dogs stealing it, Fido felt comfortably at ease in the office room.

I haven't smelled something this good since the time when those 6 Mares came in the cave that one time.. smells kinda like home, too...

The door suddenly swung open and Fido immediately snapped out of his euphoric state, siting straight upright on the chair as a pleasant white unicorn mare entered the room. Fido was just about to panic about seeing the "Rarity" mare for a second time when he realized that this mare in question was, in fact, not the one that he was afraid of from his earlier experience. This mare was older - much older - in the sense that she must've been middle aged, and, in his eyes, had aged fairly well. These ponies had a habit for being hygenic and, as such, almost always looked "nice" compared to a Diamond Dog covered in soot or ash, and Symphonia was no different. It wasn't as if she was especially pretty to him or if he was attracted to ponies (neither of which were true). She was just... pleasant. Nothing more, and nothing else.

“I do hope you enjoyed your meal, sir,” Symphonia greeted as Fido noticed her bodyguards closing the polished wooden doors and waiting as she introduced herself. "I am Grand Duchess Symphonia of Baltimare, but you may address me as ‘Lady Symphonia,’ if you wish.”

"Uh, hello there, Lady Symphonia." Fido said, nodding his head in respect. "I'm Fido. Thank you for the mea-"

Before he could continue, a knock came at the door, prompting Symphonia to answer the Pegasus at the door with a look of annoyance on her face. Their conversation wasn't much of his business until the Pegasus brought up the Lethean army forces spotted in Appleoosa. Lethean military forces in Appleoosa meant none other than Diamondgrad, no doubt. Had a conflict already started, or was something bigger going on?

If he was to be perfectly honest, he thought that outcome number one was the one that was happening right now.

The unicorn mare acknowledged the Pegasus's statement and dismissed the guest, asking for a moment to inspect a map that she had pulled out from her desk using her magic. He could clearly tell what she was thinking just from her facial expressions - she wanted to help the dogs, whether it meant risking getting on the bad side of Lethe or not. Nopony wanted to - especially with such a reputation that the nation had - but at the same time ponies like Symphonia didn't want to see Diamond Dogs senselessly culled left and right like they were changelings in Lethe. All the Dogs wanted was a nation to live in for themselves - one that they had rightfully inhabited longer than nations like Lethe had even existed formally. Unless Celestia or anyone else had any options, the Dogs were as good as dead...

...or were they?

Fido perked up as Symphonia rolled out the political map towards him and pointed towards the Appleoosan mountain range with her hoof stretched out. “Excuse me, sir," she began, "But this mountain range here… is that where your homeland is?” Fido nodded quickly as he got a closer look at the map, tapping on the Appleoosan mountain range with an outstretched claw. "Yes. Actually, this area here," Fido made a small circle on the map around a patch of the mountain range closer to the actual town of Appleoosa, located inside the nation of Lethe. "This is Diamondgrad. We own this set of the mountains and the surrounding area, not Appleoosa." He explained. "Why do you ask, by the way?"

__________________

Ponyville, Equestria

If anything, having to talk to to the one Pony who despised the Dogs the most was probably the reason why Rover didn't want to come here in the first place. He felt as if the entire ordeal of leaving the otherwise safe and inclusive Diamondgrad, trekking across miles upon miles of hostile territory into Equestria, as well as being looked at on his way into Ponyville - not to mention also having to get back into Diamondgrad when this was all over - was all useless. All this just for her to say no, why'd I even bother?

But, he was persistent. The DDF were supposed to be that way - that was their training. Being persistent and honest was the only thing that Rex instructed them to do - it was how the Dogs that went to Canterlot, Lethe, and, despite being down one dog (Rover had unfortunately lost the other dog sent with him bound for Canterlot as they were ambushed by Timberwolves in the Everfree), Rover had otherwise completed his task and remained persistent, staying true to his mission as he attempted to locate the violet alicorn princess. Twilight's secretary or something like that of some sorts, the pony known as Silver Shield, had, for all he could care, just attempted to stall him by saying they were in no capacity to send them ammunition or troops as support, but Rover knew this wasn't the truthful answer. Rex understood how effective and quickly the Equestrians could move when under pressure - they did so with the changelings, so what was stopping them from doing it now?

He paced back and forth in the lobby, impatiently waiting for Twilight Sparkle's arrival. A flustered mix of anger and frustration filled the Dog's mind as he panted slightly, still tired from his long journey. While he was alone in the lobby, Rover figured he'd have ample time to practice his speech; after all, speaking to someone of such high status like this was very difficult, of course. Sighing, he continued pacing back and forward, paws folded behind his back as he kept a poker face deep in thought. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, please listen to me. I just cannot accept no as an answer right now. I ran and crawled across miles of Lethe, the Everfree, and other obstacles, and I lost the other dog sent with me bound to Canterlot. You've gotta understand that I didn't come all this way just to hear a 'no' from you. We need your help. I know that you're still mad at me for that whole kidnapping thing all those years ago, but we've since moved past those days. You need to understand, if nopony does anything anytime soon, we're just gonna be culled left and right, just like those Changeli-"

By the time he had turned around, he'd already noticed that Twilight - and her secretary Pony - had already come down the steps and were approaching him, likely having already heard his speech before he even formally gave it to her. He awkwardly coughed as he took off his slouch hat, straightened himself up and respectfully bowed his head at the Princess. Of course, he was still nervous about this, but at the least Twilight hadn't immediately dismissed him, which was a plus.

I wish Rex were here with me. It'd make this much easier and much less awkward if he were here. I mean, look at me! This whole situation just is really awkward...

__________________

Appleoosan Mountains, Near Lethe/Diamondgrad

It wasn't so much that Rex had lost hope about his odds, more or less, it was because of the very nice message he was sent by the All-Maker himself after refusing his offer. Effectively, Diamondgrad was marked for death by Lethe. Not only that, Rex had made himself a name - finally - but in a way that he most definitely did not want given the moment. Right now Lethe had an entire army converging on the underground city, and likely wouldn't sweat in cutting down any dogs they come across, be it civilian or otherwise DDF member.

There were hundreds of thousands of dogs underground, and only a couple hundred in the DDF. Rifles and sheer Dog strength wouldn't matter when it all came down to a simple numbers game. The DDF were outnumbered to begin with - not necessarily outgunned - but for every one dog, Lethe had at least ten more ponies to counter their losses. This was why he knew it had to be an endurance battle - they could not win so long as they regularly sustained losses, so they had to play it smart, and defensively. The Dogs still had several tons worth of mining explosives - and Rex knew that the improvisation started there with only a little ingenuity and wiring skills from his mining days. With a couple of wires, some pressure plates, and a good amount of mining explosives, Rex and the DDF had created an improvised minefield around Diamondgrad, as well as on the road - the only road in the mountains - which led coincidentally to the underground settlement. Given that only a Diamond Dog like Rex knew how to disarm a trap like this, and additionally knew where their locations were, Rex was hopeful that whatever set off any of his traps wasn't a Dog but instead an intruder. But, there was a catch with this. He had to check what triggered the traps, and where they were set off, which, from what he knew with his experience with mining explosives, was a bit of a messy job.

Until Celestia or any one of those Ponies reply, I'll do what I must to keep this settlement from being ruled by a tyrant like him, even if it means playing dirty. There's no way in hell that I'm gonna let us be ruled by someone like him.

Rex and Jojo, along with a contingent of some other DDF Dogs, left from Diamondgrad not too long after their final ultimatum was issued by Lethe. By now, there was no turning back from this. It was either kill or be killed out here, and the entrenched DDF forces were ready to die to defend their underground home. Patrols had regularly been sent out of Diamondgrad to assure that Lethe had made no advances on Diamondgrad's territory. Though, this time was different. Rex and Jojo hadn't left Diamondgrad just on a regular scouting mission. DDF scouts had reported seeing, gesturing from the reports, two Lethean scouts in the mountains near the ore deposits, meaning one of two things could've happened:

The first possibility - the one he hoped the most was true - was that Lethe had sent scouts to search the mountains - in one of the most mine-ridden areas - which led them right into his trap. Or, the second, which he feared the most: Civilians. Civilian casualties would look bad on Lethe's end as a plus, but would only just help in ruining the already low image of the Dogs. This was precisely the reason he needed to make sure that these reports were legitimate. He and Jojo and their DDF contingent left as fast as they could, clambering up and down the rocky slopes of the Appleoosan Mountains as they made their way towards the area in question. As soon as they had located the location in the report, inside a large gorge near the ore deposits the two dug in around the rocks, with Rex keeping watch on the flagged area and the other dogs moving in behind them.

Rex held his paw up to motion for the dogs to remain silent as his canine ears picked up the faint sound of hooves clicking on the rocks not too far away. Paw still up, Rex pointed towards two Dogs behind him, motioning for them to set up a perimeter around the area as he, Jojo, and the four other dogs moved in to surround the source of the sound.

Not surprisingly, he spotted a pegasus in the area. Actually, a second had been spotted, but for the most part his eyes were on the Pegasus, about a Colt's age. Were these actually Lethean spies, or just civilians in the area? Either way, Rex didn't have any time to consider any of these options. Either outcome was going to be bad, but he just hoped one of these outcomes's consequences outweighed the other.

He shifted back behind a large rock from his position overlooking them. "Two ponies. One's a Pegasus, other's a Unicorn. Both civilians, so don't shoot." He informed the Dogs. Civilians or not, they were getting way too close to the mines - the bad kind of mines - and one wrong would have all of them, dogs and ponies included - in pieces. They had to give away their position, just for their sake.

"They're getting too close to the mines," Jojo reminded Rex, who responded with "I know." immediately after he spoke. Rex let out a low growl of frustration as he sighed, turning back to the DDF taking position around the area and motioning them to stay put. Meanwhile, Jojo reoriented himself to be looking down upon the unicorn, whilst Rex locked on to the younger Pegasus currently prospecting in the area. After waiting about 30 more seconds for his window, Rex popped out of cover and raised his weapon, with his Diamond Dog brethren doing the same as they gradually surrounded the pair. Rex clambered up onto the highest rock and looked down at the pair, raising his voice as the sound of rifles readying filled the otherwise dead silent air. "Hold it right there, horsies. We're not here to hurt you. We're just here to tell you that you're treading on Diamondgrad territory right now. I'd be fine with you prospecting and all if we weren't busy trying to fortify this location against Lethe. Now, we're going to have to escort you out of this area. You're lucky that you didn't trigger any of the traps we placed, but either way, it's far too dangerous for you to be here at this time."

He tensed up as he awaited a response from the Ponies. Rex wasn't necessarily that great of a talker to their kind - most of his encounters had either been fights or disputes over mining rights, the majority of which were not in his favor. All he hoped was that these two, understanding the danger of the current situation, would just kindly leave and let the Diamond Dogs be.

[The Flutterlands]

Spot

Spot smiled broadly at Fluttershy's greeting with utter cheerfulness It was always fun to come visit her, help out with the animals and enjoy some tea. "Of course some tea would be nice, thank you." he said as the teenager came was ushered in by the yellow pegasus, and sat down "So how is Angel? Poor guy as gotten old over the years..."

Spot turned to discord and have him a concerned look. The earth colt and his siblings had admiration for the draconequus, finding him entertaining like a clown.. "Of course I care to see you, Discord." he saidm "What makes you think that I'd only care to see Fluttershy?"

---

Zelenka

Zelenka smiled as she took the applications from Twilight. It was good to have a mother who was always willing to help. She looked through the papers before looking back at her step-mother. "Sure I have been going through applications for other colleges." Zelenka said, "I'm hoping to be accepted at Lunar Bay University or Jacks Hoofkins if not at University of Canterlot. I just need to go through those applications like I have through this one.."

---

Celestia

Celestia was in her chambers when she heard the All-Maker's broadcast sent out for all sentient beings to hear. Her eyes widened in utter fear at his call to bring war once more to these once united lands after years of weakening peace. She immediatly came to the conclusion that her military's action in the Diamond Dog's territory has brought this conflict to her lands and now sought to remedy this mistake. "Bring me High Command." she told her guards sternly, "This war must be avoided at all costs. The peace we've had for the past decade is far to precious to allow to go to waste. I must order my military to back away from the Diamond Dog's land and immediately control the damage we have caused before things get worse."

The guard nodded and as he left, Celestia took out parchment and ink once more before writing to Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

No doubt you have heard the broadcast of our friend the All-Maker today. This brings us to dangerous times we have not seen in a decade. Right now I am going to try everything to control the damage that have been caused by pulling out our military from the Diamond Dog's territory. When you go to the summit this weekend at Buckmark, I want you to invite the Diamond Dogs to have a seat. I am entrusting you above all others to end this debacle we're in peacefully. Equestria can't afford to have another war in it's hands after a mere decade since the last war.

Your former teacher and trusted friend, Princess Celestia.

[Frenequesta]

Zelenka

Zelenka smiled as she took the applications from Twilight. It was good to have a mother who was always willing to help. She looked through the papers before looking back at her step-mother. "Sure I have been going through applications for other colleges." Zelenka said, "I'm hoping to be accepted at Lunar Bay University or Jacks Hoofkins if not at University of Canterlot. I just need to go through those applications like I have through this one.."

"Okay," said Twilight, smiling. "I'm pretty those schools will want the same information too. But if you have any other questions on them, I'll still be here to help."

Celestia

Celestia was in her chambers when she heard the All-Maker's broadcast sent out for all sentient beings to hear. Her eyes widened in utter fear at his call to bring war once more to these once united lands after years of weakening peace. She immediatly came to the conclusion that her military's action in the Diamond Dog's territory has brought this conflict to her lands and now sought to remedy this mistake. "Bring me High Command." she told her guards sternly, "This war must be avoided at all costs. The peace we've had for the past decade is far to precious to allow to go to waste. I must order my military to back away from the Diamond Dog's land and immediately control the damage we have caused before things get worse."

The guard nodded and as he left, Celestia took out parchment and ink once more before writing to Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

No doubt you have heard the broadcast of friend the All-Maker today. This brings us to dangerous times we have not seen in a decade. Right now I am going to try everything to control the damage that have been caused by pulling out our military from the Diamond Dog's territory. When you go to the summit this weekend at Buckmark, I want you to invite the Diamond Dogs to have a seat. I am entrusting you above all others to end this debacle we're peacefully. Equestria can't afford to have another war in it's hands after a mere decade since the last war.

Your former teacher and trusted friend, Princess Celestia.

Just as Princess Twilight came down the staircase, Spike came running to her with a scroll in his hands. "Celestia's responded," he said.

Twilight stopped briefly to read the letter. She had actually not heard the All-Maker's broadcast, but one servant who did hear it slipped her a note during her meeting with Silver Shield. But more importantly, it turned out that she and Celestia had the same solution to the Diamondgrad problem. "Hmm. I guess I've got my permission," she said to herself, and continued down to meet Rover.

Princess Twilight first frowned at seeing an adversary she barely remembered, and then smiled weakly. Ten years was enough time to forgive and forget--besides, she was acting as a representative of the Equestrian government, so her encounter wasn't exactly personal. She took a little bit of time to absorb the tail end of the little speech Rover gave to himself, and then addressed him.

"Good afternoon, Rover," Twilight began, accepting his bow. "I appreciate you coming to see me for your troubles. To start off, I am the Princess of Friendship now. I have to treat all comers equally, and I have forgiven adversaries far worse than you. That grudge from many years ago has worn off.

"Now, I understand, from what Silver Shield has told me, that your kind has decided to start a country in the Appleloosan Mountains, which is in the middle of Lethe, and you need help. Now, Equestria is no ally of Lethe; we'd rather see its ruler bound in Tartarus forever. And I certainly don't want to see your species wiped off the face of Equus; you deserve the rights of life and liberty that all sapient beings have, and even self-determination. But we also know that war with Lethe, even in defense of an ally, would cost our country many lives, and we would rather tread carefully with them. By the way, perhaps Silver didn't clearly explain this to you, but I can't send you troops or ammunition because I am prohibited by law from doing so. Fortunately, I can do something that would balance both of our interests. There is a major summit of all the Equestrian nations in Buckmark, Equestria this weekend. I am hosting it by the authority of Princess Celestia, to work out some international matters. If you like, I will offer Diamondgrad a seat at the summit so we can have a peaceful forum to work out the status of your country. Does that sound fair to you?"

---

Appleloosan Mountains

Copperfield stopped what he was doing, unconsciously dropping his cubicles and other equipment when he heard the rifles cock. He was unsure of what to make of the announcement from up in the mountains, so he figured he'd just wait for his supervisor.

Long Prospect had just come out of the trailer with a filled canteen when the announcement began. He couldn't help but quietly chuckle to himself. The Diamond Dogs have never been particularly bright, but at least they were trying to be clever now. We don't mind you prospecting, but we've got mines all over the place! Oh, and we're our own country now, so get out! It was more absurd the more he thought about it. He really didn't believe that the Dogs had planted mines, but on the other hoof, he knew that if they did, he and Copperfield were going to risk far more than a paper cut. So he walked over to Section 16 and nudged his young apprentice. "You go back to the trailer; I'll handle this." Copperfield nodded and flew back.

Mr. Prospect took out a binoculars and surveyed the scene for a closer look. One of the Dogs was clearly standing by one of his orange rods. He took out a megaphone from his pocket dimension and addressed the Dogs, remembering the procedure that his company laid out. "Good morning, sirs. I am Long Prospect, a senior metallurgist for the Foal Mountain Mining Company. I regret to inform you, despite your claims, that you are on Company property. I have a copy of the title documents at my trailer if you are interested. If you indeed do have any mines within the boundary marked by the orange rods, I demand that you remove or disable them immediately. If you do not do so within the next fifteen minutes, I will inform the authorities that you are trespassing, armed, and dangerous." He looked back and saw Copperfield safely by the trailer, afraid to move any more.

[Nocturniica]

Zelenka

Zelenka smiled as she took the applications from Twilight. It was good to have a mother who was always willing to help. She looked through the papers before looking back at her step-mother. "Sure I have been going through applications for other colleges." Zelenka said, "I'm hoping to be accepted at Lunar Bay University or Jacks Hoofkins if not at University of Canterlot. I just need to go through those applications like I have through this one.."

"Okay," said Twilight, smiling. "I'm pretty those schools will want the same information too. But if you have any other questions on them, I'll still be here to help."

[spoiler]Celestia

Celestia was in her chambers when she heard the All-Maker's broadcast sent out for all sentient beings to hear. Her eyes widened in utter fear at his call to bring war once more to these once united lands after years of weakening peace. She immediatly came to the conclusion that her military's action in the Diamond Dog's territory has brought this conflict to her lands and now sought to remedy this mistake. "Bring me High Command." she told her guards sternly, "This war must be avoided at all costs. The peace we've had for the past decade is far to precious to allow to go to waste. I must order my military to back away from the Diamond Dog's land and immediately control the damage we have caused before things get worse."

The guard nodded and as he left, Celestia took out parchment and ink once more before writing to Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

No doubt you have heard the broadcast of friend the All-Maker today. This brings us to dangerous times we have not seen in a decade. Right now I am going to try everything to control the damage that have been caused by pulling out our military from the Diamond Dog's territory. When you go to the summit this weekend at Buckmark, I want you to invite the Diamond Dogs to have a seat. I am entrusting you above all others to end this debacle we're peacefully. Equestria can't afford to have another war in it's hands after a mere decade since the last war.

Your former teacher and trusted friend, Princess Celestia.

Just as Princess Twilight came down the staircase, Spike came running to her with a scroll in his hands. "Celestia's responded," he said.

Twilight stopped briefly to read the letter. She had actually not heard the All-Maker's broadcast, but one servant who did hear it slipped her a note during her meeting with Silver Shield. But more importantly, it turned out that she and Celestia had the same solution to the Diamondgrad problem. "Hmm. I guess I've got my permission," she said to herself, and continued down to meet Rover.

Princess Twilight first frowned at seeing an adversary she barely remembered, and then smiled weakly. Ten years was enough time to forgive and forget--besides, she was acting as a representative of the Equestrian government, so her encounter wasn't exactly personal. She took a little bit of time to absorb the tail end of the little speech Rover gave to himself, and then addressed him.

"Good afternoon, Rover," Twilight began, accepting his bow. "I appreciate you coming to see me for your troubles. To start off, I am the Princess of Friendship now. I have to treat all comers equally, and I have forgiven adversaries far worse than you. That grudge from many years ago has worn off.

"Now, I understand, from what Silver Shield has told me, that your kind has decided to start a country in the Appleloosan Mountains, which is in the middle of Lethe, and you need help. Now, Equestria is no ally of Lethe; we'd rather see its ruler bound in Tartarus forever. And I certainly don't want to see your species wiped off the face of Equus; you deserve the rights of life and liberty that all sapient beings have, and even self-determination. But we also know that war with Lethe, even in defense of an ally, would cost our country many lives, and we would rather tread carefully with them. By the way, perhaps Silver didn't clearly explain this to you, but I can't send you troops or ammunition because I am prohibited by law from doing so. Fortunately, I can do something that would balance both of our interests. There is a major summit of all the Equestrian nations in Buckmark, Equestria this weekend. I am hosting it by the authority of Princess Celestia, to work out some international matters. If you like, I will offer Diamondgrad a seat at the summit so we can have a peaceful forum to work out the status of your country. Does that sound fair to you?"

---

[/spoiler]



BALTIMARE, Neighland

Fido perked up as Symphonia rolled out the political map towards him and pointed towards the Appleoosan mountain range with her hoof stretched out. “Excuse me, sir," she began, "But this mountain range here… is that where your homeland is?” Fido nodded quickly as he got a closer look at the map, tapping on the Appleoosan mountain range with an outstretched claw. "Yes. Actually, this area here," Fido made a small circle on the map around a patch of the mountain range closer to the actual town of Appleoosa, located inside the nation of Lethe. "This is Diamondgrad. We own this set of the mountains and the surrounding area, not Appleoosa." He explained. "Why do you ask, by the way?"

“It appears that area is being surrounded by Lethe,” Symphonia sighed. Turning to Conrad, her Griffon retainer, she prompted, “Conrad, how many of our mercenaries need their contracts renewed today?”
Conrad flipped through some papers on his clipboard and answered, “About one thousand, four hundred of which are Ponies, the rest Griffons. Also, three hundred of those thousand are battle medics.”
With that, a smile formed on Symphonia’s face. It was a broad smile. It was a sly smile. It was the smile of a politician who found a brilliant political loophole.
With that, she calmly took a checkbook and a pen out of her desk with her radiant magic, and casually said to Fido, “Good Sir, I would gladly donate to your cause, simply say how much money you would like. Believe me, I have enough bits to fill Neighagara lake and then build a road to there out of gold if I so desired, so please feel free to ask for any amount. If you happen to measure that amount by how many mercenaries you wish to hire, well that is quite a coincidence, is it not? And, oddly enough, we have one thousand mercenaries who need to be re-hired, and since we had so many Ponies from our own nation join the army within the past years, I think we can do without those extra mercenaries. If you happen to hire them after I release them from my services, now that is purely your choice. Furthermore, if you would like ancillary money for, say, purchasing some of our surplus supplies, such as custom armor and weapons and ammunition, well our army would simply love to sell to you! They are always demanding a bit more cash these days. Are they not, Conrad?”
“Indeed, My Lady,” Conrad agreed with a knowing grin, “They do always need extra money, and they do have quite the surplus this year. Surely they can sell some of it. While we are on the subject of money and mercenaries, we could always let go a few hundred more whose contracts are ending within the next month.”

“Why yes indeed,” Symphonia agreed with a chuckle.
Uncapping her fountain pen and preparing to write, Symphonia prompted, “Now, Mr. Fido, Representative of the… Diamondgrad Charity Fund, how much money did you say you needed for the poor, starving children?”
With that, she gave him a wink that said, Even Lethe cannot politically argue with this.
“Ma’am, what about the summit? It’s happening over the weekend. Shouldn’t we wait until then to do something?” Silver prompted with a worried look.

“I didn’t say I was sending my troops, now did I? Mercenaries may go wherever they are hired. Hopefully at the summit we can arrange some kind of peaceful agreement, but right now we cannot let the Diamond Dogs be overtaken. They MUST live. I insist,” Symphonia declared solemnly.

-----------------------

"Well, if that happens I'm sure even Lethe would be willing to agree to a temporary cease-fire. It's not like Diamond Dogs are changelings," replied Twilight. "Now, let's see him," she said, and followed Silver to the main lobby. As she walked down the staircase she saw a fast rainbow streak at the window out of the corner of her eye--a pleasant surprise to see, being one of her best friends.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle

No doubt you have heard the broadcast of friend the All-Maker today. This brings us to dangerous times we have not seen in a decade. Right now I am going to try everything to control the damage that have been caused by pulling out our military from the Diamond Dog's territory. When you go to the summit this weekend at Buckmark, I want you to invite the Diamond Dogs to have a seat. I am entrusting you above all others to end this debacle we're peacefully. Equestria can't afford to have another war in it's hands after a mere decade since the last war.

Your former teacher and trusted friend, Princess Celestia.

PONYVILLE, Equestria
Rainbow Dash zoomed onto one of Twilight’s balconies, ready to tell her the news. Holding still, Rainbow Dash took a few moments to catch her breath before looking around for Twilight. She charged through the halls until she found Twilight.
She had a feeling Twilight wasn’t going to like the fact that Equestria’s military was on the move, but if Twi had been there at that military debate SURELY she would understand. Dash figured that if Twi was mad she would just apologize profusely. Right now there wasn’t time for diplomacy; it was clear that Lethe was on the move and they were NOT friendly.
Suddenly, she heard something from a radio in another room.
It was the All-Maker’s transmission. Rainbow Dash sat down after she heard it. Within moments she was angry and leaped to her hooves. Rainbow Dash began pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do.
They clearly stated they wanted PEACE! Now what? War? Well, all the heads of military were expecting war. Lethe constantly skirmished them, insulted them, and spread negative propaganda about them. Not just Equestria, but about Celestia and Luna and sometimes even about Twilight. Then again, she didn’t want war. Then again, she couldn’t help it. Now what, though? Now what?
Again Rainbow Dash began pacing back and forth, trying not to panic or get too furious.

Finally, she rushed through the halls until she found Twilight.
She stood by and listened to what Twilight said and scoffed.
“Twi, I don’t know if you know this, but Lethe just sent out a transmission—it was a speech King Letum gave,” Rainbow Dash cut in sadly, “King Letum wants to butcher us all because we ‘sympathize with the abominations’ and he calls Princess Celestia a snake and all sorts of other horrid things. You’re gonna have to do some serious persuading if you want this to end up in peace. Believe me, I want peace, but I don’t know how we are going to have that now.”

With that, Rainbow Dash approached Twilight and Rover and added, “Twi, the summit isn’t for a few days or so, right? In the meantime, Lethe wants to eradicate the Diamond Dogs. We can’t just let them get annihilated, can we? The Military wants to support them, and we are already preparing troops by the borders. I am not sure what Princess Celestia wants to do now, but we gotta do something about Diamondgrad. If we sit back and wait for the summit, Lethe is going to kill them all, and it will be our fault for not intervening. Did you get any letters from Princess Celestia? What does she want to do? And don’t tell me she wants to wait, because the Military is fed up with Lethe and they all wanna DO something.”



FLUTTERSHY’S HOUSE

Spot

Spot smiled broadly at Fluttershy's greeting with utter cheerfulness It was always fun to come visit her, help out with the animals and enjoy some tea. "Of course some tea would be nice, thank you." he said as the teenager came was ushered in by the yellow pegasus, and sat down "So how is Angel? Poor guy as gotten old over the years..."

Spot turned to discord and have him a concerned look. The earth colt and his siblings had admiration for the draconequus, finding him entertaining like a clown.. "Of course I care to see you, Discord." he saidm "What makes you think that I'd only care to see Fluttershy?"

“Well, I know how much you like animals,” Discord shrugged. Sitting down at Fluttershy’s table, Discord signaled to the food and said, “Come on, the tea is wonderful, as always. The bread crust is for me, though.”
Discord smiled at Spot, and then began eating some of the snacks with his tail. No, really, his tail was eating now. Ah, it was so nice to relax at Fluttershy’s house.

Little did he know it was like the calm before a storm. The transmission was about to reach them too.

[Ippeia]

COLTSTANTINOPLE

"Minster Katarszes, send a message to Las Pegasus... inform them that, should they decide to take any action regarding the situation of Diamondgrad, we will support said action... I think I need to break it to the world, that from this moment, the Empire recognizes in Diamondgrad a fellow sorvereign nation.."

The foreign minster just nodded before heading off to his office, sure that this would cause him a good number of headaches... meanwhile, the Emperor headed to the press room

"By the way.... " He added before they were both out of the council room "contact Canterlot as well... we should step-up our containment"

The minster nodded at that, sighing.

"It is, as per Lethe itself alongside the rest of the nations in the region established as a precedent during the breakup of Equestria, the sorvereign right of any intelligent people, to establish a national home if so they wish. The Diamond Dogs have chosen to make good use of that right, and on the lands that they have inhabited for generations, they have chosen to establish a free and sorvereign nation.

Under such circumstances, the least of the actions that the Empire of the Ippeians can take, is to offer the Diamond Dog Nation our recognition, and offer our help towards a peaceful resolution of this crisis, or to keep their independence, if no peaceful solution can be reached."

It was soon being transmitted on radio and *television (or its equivalent) across the world

LAS PEGASUS

"Sir... the Diamond Dog representative was already gone"

"Oh... shame... I'll have to make a few calls then" Replied the president, slightly dissapointed. Soon enough he started up the secured-connection computer, hopefully the representative sent there would still be there...

PONYVILLE

Fluttershy smiled at that and served another cup of tea for Spot, bringing more snacks in the process
"Oh, Angel is getting better from a cold, he is a stubborn little bunny" She said, he was one of the few animals that had somehow remained here while she was going off as a nurse during the war.

BLACHERNAE BRIDGE, COLTSTANTINOPLE

"Yeah... but enough of that" He said as they reached the other side of the bridge, and a building along it "an old friend of mine owns this place, good food, good mead" he shrugged "shall we?"

[Frenequesta]

PONYVILLE, Equestria
Rainbow Dash zoomed onto one of Twilight’s balconies, ready to tell her the news. Holding still, Rainbow Dash took a few moments to catch her breath before looking around for Twilight. She charged through the halls until she found Twilight.
She had a feeling Twilight wasn’t going to like the fact that Equestria’s military was on the move, but if Twi had been there at that military debate SURELY she would understand. Dash figured that if Twi was mad she would just apologize profusely. Right now there wasn’t time for diplomacy; it was clear that Lethe was on the move and they were NOT friendly.
Suddenly, she heard something from a radio in another room.
It was the All-Maker’s transmission. Rainbow Dash sat down after she heard it. Within moments she was angry and leaped to her hooves. Rainbow Dash began pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do.
They clearly stated they wanted PEACE! Now what? War? Well, all the heads of military were expecting war. Lethe constantly skirmished them, insulted them, and spread negative propaganda about them. Not just Equestria, but about Celestia and Luna and sometimes even about Twilight. Then again, she didn’t want war. Then again, she couldn’t help it. Now what, though? Now what?
Again Rainbow Dash began pacing back and forth, trying not to panic or get too furious.

Finally, she rushed through the halls until she found Twilight.
She stood by and listened to what Twilight said and scoffed.
“Twi, I don’t know if you know this, but Lethe just sent out a transmission—it was a speech King Letum gave,” Rainbow Dash cut in sadly, “King Letum wants to butcher us all because we ‘sympathize with the abominations’ and he calls Princess Celestia a snake and all sorts of other horrid things. You’re gonna have to do some serious persuading if you want this to end up in peace. Believe me, I want peace, but I don’t know how we are going to have that now.”

With that, Rainbow Dash approached Twilight and Rover and added, “Twi, the summit isn’t for a few days or so, right? In the meantime, Lethe wants to eradicate the Diamond Dogs. We can’t just let them get annihilated, can we? The Military wants to support them, and we are already preparing troops by the borders. I am not sure what Princess Celestia wants to do now, but we gotta do something about Diamondgrad. If we sit back and wait for the summit, Lethe is going to kill them all, and it will be our fault for not intervening. Did you get any letters from Princess Celestia? What does she want to do? And don’t tell me she wants to wait, because the Military is fed up with Lethe and they all wanna DO something.”

Before Rover could respond, Rainbow Dash interrupted. Twilight sighed. Rainbow Dash had always been the most belligerent of the Mane Six, as well as the one least attuned to the possible consequences of her actions and inactions--not a particularly good combination. Her promotions in the military encouraged the first, but apparently didn't help with the second. She brought out the new letter from Celestia and gave it to Rainbow Dash. "Princess Celestia is already trying to stop the campaigns. With absolute power and his cult of personality the All-Maker could mobilize all of Lethe in a matter of days and any victory against them would not be easy if not nearly impossible. Moving against them is too big of a risk for Equestria to take. Besides," said Twilight, taking out a big leather-bound book from her pocket dimension and flipping through the pages, "there's nothing in international law that allows you to use force against a country for purely equestitarian reasons. We are clearly in the wrong here. You need to convince the military that it's important to follow Princess Celestia's orders. We will try to solve Diamondgrad's status peacefully before we risk falling to the All-Maker."