Peace Summit. (Restricted.)

[Greater Vandalia]

OOC:

(( GAH! Ninja'd. Can we assume she did all that... before the recess? ))

Yes. Yes, we can.

For now, everybody, let us assume that the human nations have left the pavilion, and adjourned to a sitting room of sorts inside the main complex itself, but with a view of the garden area where the meeting has been taking place.

Pony and Pony-friendly delegates remain in the pavilion.

[Urmanian]

"Yes, I do echo that, P-Princess...Whatever you say, it's very wise indeed...heh-heh."

Twilight rose from the seat, shaking from all the tension, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and started walking slowly around the table, with guards, Spike and Owlowiscious following her. But suddenly, she stopped her stumbling gait, her confused, startled expression changed to a determined smile, and she ran up to the Princess and other pony delegates with a confident trot.

[Reythan]

Bureaucrat Tved scowled "It's like arguing with the Imperialists over the causes of the Great Upheaval. Logical points on one side, and juvenile nay-saying and outdated half-points" he thought. "I am sorry, delegates of this summit, but I must leave. I have been summoned to the Primiat's chambers on business I cannot reveal. Goodbye."
Shutting the briefcase and walking out of the room, Jasko Tved called his chauffeur to the palace's driveway. Moments later, Tved entered the car and sped off to the airport.

[Princess Luna]

Pavilion

Luna looked a little sheepish, "Sorry..." she said to Toffee, as the Mornahossë began to slowly walk around the outside of the tent, speaking quietly, where they passed, communications, bugs and other transmitters somehow blocked, both above and below ground. "I know it's a presumptuous suggestion, and they'll be all over it like flies on jam... but on the bright side, they'll be all over that idea rather than talk of bombing everypony for a bit."

[Knootoss]

Road to the main complex

Alain joined Ambassador Bibek Bahadur Chhetri, Princess Missouri and other human delegates as they made their way to the sitting room of the main complex. Remaining between the pair and measuring his pace, the Knootian held his arms wide and smiled, speaking amicably: "These ponies are such.. charming people, aren't they? There stories are as colourful as their pigmentation."

He smiled between them with what seemed like the utmost sincerity.

[Hippostania]

Arttu Virtahepo was still sitting in the table. He swiped his sweating forehead with a napkin and poured a bottle of Coke into a glass and drunk it, while Toffee went to talk to Princess Luna.. ''Thank you for your help, I'm not very good at arguing.'' she said.

[Greater Vandalia]

Road to the main complex

Alain joined Ambassador Bibek Bahadur Chhetri, Princess Missouri and other human delegates as they made their way to the sitting room of the main complex. Remaining between the pair and measuring his pace, the Knootian held his arms wide and smiled, speaking amicably: "These ponies are such.. charming people, aren't they? There stories are as colourful as their pigmentation."

He smiled between them with what seemed like the utmost sincerity.

IC:

Missouri permitted herself a small grin as she led her guests through a set of wide doors in to the building, and through a short series of doors which led to a large, comfortable sitting room with a window view that included the pavilion where the meeting had been taking place. Making sure her guests were comfortable, she had some cool drinks brought in.

"I must confess," she said, as a servant poured her a glass of something light. "This is not going as I had hoped it would. There may be something which drove them through the portals, and if there was then we must know about it, or we can not understand what brought those Ponies to Hippostania. They may not be the only ones, you know. We could all be facing well-meaning 'harmonious' invasions shortly."

Knocking back a gulp of whatever she was drinking, the Princess grimaced and went on.

"If they are lying, however, and came through willingly, then that is no better, not really. Because that means this was a planned invasion, and, again, they may not be the only ones."

[Princess Luna]

"Well, I feel terrible about even proposing you leave the only home you've ever known," Luna said, seeming touched by the thanks, even if she felt she'd back-stabbed the Hippostani representative, "but I think a good clearing of the air would probably be worthwhile. Incidentally, it would probably help our case to know... is there any oppression going on? Because much as I'd hate to say it as an emissary of Equestria, it's hardly impossible for ponies to be every bit as nasty as humans. I don't want to come out of this with egg on our faces, it'd be better if you came clean on that kind of thing up front...

"Also, and I think you can probably help more here, Arttu, is it? How's the economy? I'm able to offer about a trillion dollars in aid, split between donation and bond-purchase schemes at nil-interest adjusted for inflation, and can probably put you in touch with the right people to get a whole lot of investment going." That money was obviously not from her own notional principality, but out of the rather considerable C'tani war-chests.

[Knootoss]

Road to the main complex

"You are hardly to blame for your actions, Your Highness. Your leadership in this conference has been exemplary" Alain enthused, gesturing vividly with his hands. "The only thing that may be said is that, perhaps, your expectations were a touch optimistic." He shrugged, as if that were an entirely forgiveable offence. "I hope of course that these creatures will turn out to have limited ambitions. However, the unfortunate truth is that we cannot really trust anything they say until we have verifiable, scientific data on the nature of these creatures and their portals."

[Hippostania]

''Hehe, thank you..'' Arttu said and drank the rest of his Coke. ''We'd appreciate it, we could do a lot with that kind of money, especially considering the current state of the economy''

[Princess Luna]

"I shall see to it when we're done here," she said, looking at Toffee, "I don't mean to offend with my question, of course," she said, "but I did have to ask that question."

[Great Nepal]

Road to the main complex
"Indeed", remarked ambassador Bibek "however, I would say my experience tells me that they are lying after all, if something did push them through, there would be a request for refuge rather than harmonious invasions", he said as he paused for a appropriate metaphor, "their reasons shares some serious resemblance to white man's burden argument."

[Greater Vandalia]

IC:

Missouri nodded, and this time actually smiled.

"I know," she said. "I guess I've always been a hopeless optimist. I had hoped there was something reasonable and not hostile in all of this, but it seems as though Chairman Clearlight just wants to let us in to observe how the portals work, but only if we let them control the process, and she is as vague as possible concerning how the revolution took place. This is...concerning."

Knocking back a second gulp of her drink, the Princess closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"I do not know if this situation warrants open movement on my nation's part, gentlemen, but I will tell you two things. First, there is a growing anti-non-human movement in local politics here, and this nonsense and Pony invasion after Pony invasion is not helping those who seek to stem the tide against that."

Finishing off the drink, she set the glass down on a table, where a servant appeared seemingly from nowhere to fill it again.

"Second," she said. "And this is more certain. If any portals open up here, there had best be a damned good explanation on the lips of whoever's coming through."

Reaching out to grab her glass again, the Princess paused to look at Mr. Bibek.

"Truly, that is a chilling observation, Mr. Ambassador," she said. "It is one which I had not considered before, and one which distressingly makes sense."

Looking around at her fellow delegates, she asked one question.

"Do any of you see any purpose in continuing these talks?"

[Hippostania]

''Heh heh, well...'' Toffee said nervously, ''I think there might be some anti-pony and anti-human discrimination on both sides, but I believe that it's quite rare and most Hippostanians have accepted each other quite well''

[Sol Bella]

(Wow. I...really missed a lot today.)

Pavilion

"Well....that....went better than I THOUGHT it would." Sun Shower said to anyone/pony standing nearby, wiping her forehead. She was obviously nervous the whole time, even in times where it looekd like it was calmign down. At least she was in the room now only with sympathizers and other ponies.

She couldn't believe that she just sat there, though. It was one thign to be a moderating, quiet, observing party, but to be totally silent the whole time was compeltely another. What else could she say, though? She expected to get slammed with racism, but the humans did make strong points. She thought way too much of the hatred of the situation beforehand.

....oh well. There wasn't anythign she could have added in, anyway. Really, Sol Bella's job was to encourage moderate conversation and to act as a buffer against open conflict, and there was none.

[Princess Luna]

Luna smiled a little at Toffee, believing this answer, "Just... make sure you run an equitable and forgiving judicial system there," she said, "about these portals. Do you know anything else about where you come from? And... this is rather personal,"

At this point, Sundance offered Toffee a cupcake.

"but... would you mind terribly if I were to... explore your memories a little? To see if I can learn anything? You won't be hurt."

[Knootoss]

Alain picked up a glass of clear red wine, holding it between his fingers and carefully circling it around. The red waves inside the glass were quieted when the Knootian stilled himself, attentive as Missouri addressed them. He briefly looked thoughtful, not desiring to be seen as a man who spoke the first thought that came to his mind.

"Drawing a distinction between our own non-humans and this particular species, which is certainly invasive and possibly parasitic, is key. As a multi-racial society. Knootoss deals with the same tensions. However, I can assure you that our tolerance of non-humans does not prevent us from taking a dim view of invasion."

After sipping from his wine, he went on to say: "I see no reason to abort the conference. Doing so will only arouse suspicion, and perhaps even trigger the ponies into launching a pre-emptive strike before we can adequately prepare ourselves. I intend to go in there after the recess and warmly accept Princess Luna’s approach to the issue. I suggest the two of you do the same." He gave the Nepalese ambassador a knowing look, and mused serenely: "If we are indeed resolved to take action, I suggest that the Nepalese are at least be given the advantage of the initiative. I promise, Knootoss will be right behind you."

"About ten thousand miles behind you", Alain thought. But that was the quiet part.

[Hippostania]

OOC: Hush now quiet now it's time to go to sleep
See you guys tomorrow!

[Urmanian]

"Why yes, that went better than expected. Nopony even started to shoot at us, and we didn't start a nuclear war...yet." - Twilight remarked sarcastically. Then she turned to the Princess.

"Your Majesty, listen. You know humans better than anyone in this pavilion. And you know that to believe that they ever reacted to the happenings in Hippostania because they care for humans there or because they care for some kind of international law is naive and preposterous. No, they obviously seek resources, ways to exert their influence or...whatever. Thanks, Spike." - Twilight accepted a glass of coke Spike brought her, took a sip and continued. - "I don't know much about how diplomacy works except that "Egghead's Guide to Diplomacy" I've recently read, so what I'm proposing may sound silly, but what about we just ask these people head-on: what do they want? And then, together with you and Hippostania, we'll try to meet their demands..."

She took another sip.

"All these talks are driving me crazy already."

[Princess Luna]

"Unfortunately, they probably don't want anything we can provide. They are greedy, yes, some of the nations involved are literally the worst kind of scum," she said, hugging Twilight again just for a moment, "but that's definitely a naive idea when dealing with such people, Twilight.

"If we simply offer to give them anything they want, or even, a single thing that they want, in exchange for them ceasing to threaten us and our way of life, they will see an opportunity to exploit. One group of humans have a saying, once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane. That is to say, once you give money to one bully, you will always have the bully, until you stand up to them at least.

"Some of them are genuinely motivated by fear, exactly as they say. They fear anything that is different, even more if it has abilities they do not. Some of them genuinely will be acting out of their concern for their international law.

"We must seek to allay their fears of those that are motivated by fear, satisfy their 'international law' concerns of those motivated by such things, and leave the bullies under no illusion that if they attack us, they are making a grave mistake."

"Oh, it may help your mood a little to know that my ponies recently evacuated the remaining ponies under threat in United World Order, I think some of you had heard of that. It's a shame we didn't get there earlier but... let's just say I don't think United World Order will bother ponykind again."

[Urmanian]

"I understand, Princess." - Twilight said sheepishly and smiled at the Princess reassuringly. - "I believe in you, Your Majesty. I know everything will come out fine. But all this tension, all this hatred and fear in the air...that's worse than fighting a hydra. I'm just a little filly after all. I'm not used to holding the world's fate in my hooves..."

Twilight frowned again, taking a sip from her glass.

[Knootoss]

OOC: For the record I would like to bring to the attention of the non-pony participants in this thread that the C'tan / Luna appears to have introduced complete immunity shields to all the pony players. The effects of these Godmoding devices have, apparently, only been telegrammed to the pony players. Since this is blatant godmoding of the rawest sort, I feel compelled to withdraw from the thread, unless the said pony players are willing to accept the existence of effective countermeasures against such devices.

Playing magical ponies is one thing. Playing invincible magic ponies that cannot be harmed is just preposterous and not worth my time.

[TurtleShroom]

(OOC: I work around the thirty minute limit by typing in Word and pasting.)

''Course of this revolution?'' asked Toffee. ''The course of this revolution is to teach the humans the gift of harmony. This includes honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and magic. While most people claim to know and use these traits, it is not true. We can see from hundreds of crimes committed in Hippostania that the humankind hasn't learned this yet. Our task is to share this knowledge with the Hippostanians, so we can build a better Hippostania together''. Toffee looked at Virtahepo.

''Uhmm, yes, indeed.'' said Virtahepo very quietly. ''While the revolution was indeed.. unexpected, this harmony-thingy looks pretty nice.. Magic especially, ponies have taught lots of interesting things.'' Virtahepo's voice slowly kept getting quieter until in the end it was barely audible.

“NOW JUST HOLD UP THERE A MINUTE!” Human Johnson shouted as loud as a turtle could possibly screech. Kohl was woken up, and he looked around.

“There ain’t nothin’ good to come out of black magic! Sorcery is a work of pure evil, and I frankly don’t care whatevuh deity ya’ll subscribe to, magic’s still a means to control others all unnatural-like!”

There was a pause as the turtle hissed at Toffee and caught his breath.

“Magic? MAGIC?! I thought ya’ll’s ‘Friendship is Magic’ maxim was just some sorta catchy slogan to promote yer cause! Now I know it ain’t, and I condemn it! Magic’s forty years in tha clink where I come from!”

“Human, cool yer jets!” Kohl responded, yelling at his partner. “There are tales of folks a-magickin’ in some sort of ‘white’ spectrum. Still evil, but they somehow re-route the dark sin into healin’ mortal bodies. We cain’t immediately assume they’re witches.”

Kohl joined his fingers together as he rested his hands on the table.

“I’m not sure any of ya’ll know much ‘bout TurtleShroom, but if them World Assembly liberals are ta be believed, we’re one of the least corrupt nations in this here universe.”

A bodyguard handed him a chart for the “Most Corrupt” ranking from the WA census. He pointed to the edge of the chart, where the lowest of corruption was shown.

“We’re here. We know what purity is.”

He put the chart away and stood up. He signaled to the guards that he was unarmed, and then the towering human walked over to Toffee. He held a hand over her, as she looked on with a “What on earth?!” expression.

“If these here horses are claimin’ to be promotin’ honesty, integrity, openness, and a lower crime rate, then you must allow us to monitor your entire progress, hold every document you get, and heck, give us yer ballots and WE'LL count 'em if ya'll want. These coup-thirsty horses, by sheer uuh, could oppress a people that votes against 'em. Heck, and pardon the pun, ya'll may have corralled the old head of state with yer BLACK MAGIC. We’ve been purgin’ corruption fer over two hundred years, and our people center their government around these claims you horses make.”

Kohl pushed his glasses up his nose and continued.

“Honesty. Kindness. Laughter. Generosity. Loyalty. In honesty, TurtleShroom’s government, dishonesty kicks ya to the curb, and it don’t matter if yer the head a’ state or a bureaucrat. Kindness, well, we ain’t always the nicest of folk, but hospitality and manners run deep in our people. I’d-uh shown ya’ll, but I never got the chance to meet or mingle with, or know any of ya’ll, primarily ‘cause I was late. Laughter… well, if ya’ll ever come down, we’ll show you some fun. Or a nangnang. Those are funny, too. Generosity. We give humanitarian aid and complementary weapons of mass destruction to nations too poor to feed their people and too weak to fight off imperialists. Loyalty, well, that’s like honor to TurtleShroom: it’s everything. Magic’s fer the devil, but I won’t go into that.”

“What Kohl’s tryin’ ta say is that he don’t trust you.” Human Johnson said, as Kohl sat back down. “If ya’ll were promotin’ so many of these ideals, some enshrined in Christianity and indoctrinated from birth or hatchin’ in my own country, ya’ll wouldn’t trail off like that, or keep repeatin’ the same thing. Yer hidin’ somethin’. I’m a turtle. I know what hidin’ is, and ya’ll are doin’ it right now.”

"One thing 'bot harmony," concluded Kohl, "Is that ya cain't have it without livin' with those different from you. Another thing I know 'bout governin' is power. The head of state of Hippostania isn't just WILLING to give up powah like that. You ponies mighta used some BLACK MAGIC on 'em, or hypnotism, or other witchcraft that'd land ya'll forty years in tha slammer fer in my homeland."

TurtleShroom put a hand on Human's shell.

"Humans have been with turtles and mushrooms in TurtleShroom fer two hundred years. You ponies just ran on in and went a-conquerin' Hippostania, and having lived with nothing but horses for years, how do you know harmony? With yer own kind, I guess ya'll do, but there's just somethin' amiss about someone who invades to harmonize a species with which it ain't ever harmonized before."

Lily hissed at the turtle and showed her fangs. She thought that the turtle had hissed at her queen.

Human, meanwhile, motioned his neck back to Lily the vampire, glaring past his glasses with his beady little eyes. Something about her was just horribly wrong to him.

[Sol Bella]

OOC: For the record I would like to bring to the attention of the non-pony participants in this thread that the C'tan / Luna appears to have introduced complete immunity shields to all the pony players. The effects of these Godmoding devices have, apparently, only been telegrammed to the pony players. Since this is blatant godmoding of the rawest sort, I feel compelled to withdraw from the thread, unless the said pony players are willing to accept the existence of effective countermeasures against such devices.

Playing magical ponies is one thing. Playing invincible magic ponies that cannot be harmed is just preposterous and not worth my time.

OOC:
They're just personal shields. It's not liek she hooved 'em out in bulk for military use.

Besides, what, did yo uwant to assasinate them or something?

[Knootoss]

OOC: Luna has been elaborating on their capabilities in private.

For the record, I would suggest that nobody else playing an antagonist to the ponies bother interacting with them either, if they have to be INVINCIBLE and UNABLE TO BE SCANNED as well as magical and having instant teleportation portals and all the other canon stuff.