Nothing Will Stop Our Destiny

Chapters

A Country on the Eve of War
Our Present Crisis
The Spectre of Evil

A Country on the Eve of War

Canterlot, 1939.

Foreign Minister Twilight Sparkle watched from her window as the ambassadors of Europe ran to and fro between the gleaming towers of old Canterlot. There was a sense of general alarm and chaos across the old capital as the news hit that Hitler had just declared war on Poland over the disputed claims in Danzig. Twilight Sparkle was preparing to receive the German ambassador to Equestria, Fritz Wallinberg, to formally convey the protest and anger of the Equestrian government. She certainly was not relishing the prospect of meeting the old Nazi. He, like so many other Nazi diplomats, did not seem to respect the old rules of diplomacy. At formal diplomatic dressing downs, he often behaved rude and contemptuously. The man knew only his ideology, and nothing of compromise.

In many ways the Nazis scared Twilight Sparkle. She feared them because they seemed to be so consumed by hate, so consumed by ideology, so consumed by a fanatical cult of personality. It was as if some of them were men possessed by this demonic force, so strong that any hint of free thought, or personal ethics, was eviscerated by the sheer hate and fanaticism that was Nazi ideology. She had been to Germany before, she had seen some of the Nazi rallies, and she knew, the Nazis were nothing to play with.

What was worse was that the hatred, fear, and fanaticism of Nazi Germany had begun to seep over onto the Equestrian continent. Twilight worried on an almost nightly basis about the kings of the Dragon, Griffon, and Draconqui realms. She feared their growing friendship and ties with the Fascist menace across in the human worlds. She feared that they may still be tempted, by the promise of total power, by the fruits of conquest. She feared that the war of humanity may come to haunt her own continent, haunt her own people.

Most of all, Twilight had come to fear for the future of her country. She silently reprimanded Rainbow Dash and her weather brigade for making today such a rainy, stormy day. It only further filled her heart with fear.

Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to the world of diplomacy; indeed, at this point she was a veteran. After her ascension to the title of Princess, Celestia bequeathed her the title of Foreign Minister. She told her that the lessons she had learned about the power of friendship and understanding would serve her well in her dealings with the human world, and with the other nations on the Equestrian continent. The humans had just concluded their First World War, and the world which Twilight knew as a child and as a young mare was already beginning to change. The calamities of her years as a young unicorn in Ponyville had begun to catch up to the government in Canterlot. The citizenry no longer trusted Celestia to wield power unilaterally as she always had done.

It was the Princess Cadance who was the first to speak out. It was her Crystal Empire that had been threatened by annihilation by the attacks of King Sombra, and it was she who had watched first hand as the Princess Celestia once again delegated her responsibilities to Twilight Sparkle’s clique. For her, it was the last straw. She had already watched as her husband-to-be had struggled in vain to keep the forces of Chrysalis away from the Capital, only to fail to see his own fiancée trapped by the cunning tricks of Chrysalis, who proceeded to wear away at him psychologically by disguising herself as his fiancée. She had waited and waited for Celestia, in her oh so eternal wisdom, to rescue her from her dungeon. Surely, she thought as she languished, surely the Princess will not be fooled by this changeling. She had been wrong. Once again it had been Twilight Sparkle, the young mare who had once been her charge, and whom she loved as a sister, who saved her and the Capital from the clutches of the changelings.

She heard in horror and disgust after her wedding with Shining Armor, how Princess Celestia had fallen head over heels for the tricks of a changeling! Far from trying to stop the imposter Chrysalis, she instead had lambasted Miss Twilight for her very correct suspicions!

At that point she said to Twilight “Perhaps the Princess’ judgement is failing her in old age”,

To which Twilight quickly hushed her by saying “You know that sort of talk is treasonous Cadance.”

And indeed, at the time it was quite treasonous indeed, and so Cadance bided her time. But when Sombra threatened to seize her beloved Crystal Empire, her homeland, her people, and when once again she found the Princess Celestia asleep at the wheel, she had had the last straw.

Cadance had gone to speak with Princess Luna, who agreed with her that Celestia’s judgement seemed to be failing her. Luna had always secretly held democratic, republican ideals. She was rather inspired by the examples of the Americans and the French, who had thrown off monarchs in the name of democracy and the power of the people. She had long hoped that she could serve as a check on her sister’s power, but the recent failures of her sister’s leadership had led her to realize that there needed to be further checks and balances on the power of the throne.

Indeed, Luna had come to realize that it was time for the people to have a say in their government. Celestia, however, begged to differ, and when Luna broached the issue with her she strongly declined any role for a representative body in the country. Little did she know that power was already slipping out of her hands. The people had already lost confidence in her divine judgement, all that was needed now was the spark to ignite their anger.

Cadance provided that spark. She was the princess who was not willing to take no for an answer. She was the princess who had suffered and languished in a dungeon for Celestia’s incompetence, and her people were the ones who had felt the threat of enslavement from an old tyrant as the old princess stood idly by, delegating the task to her student.

Cadance lit a fire across the nation. She went on a nationwide speaking tour, stirring up dissent and anger wherever she went. She demanded the formation of a democratically elected parliament which would share power with the alicorns. The people soon came to love her and her common touch, coming to know her as the “people’s princess”. Cadance crafted a powerful narrative of a princess who had abandoned her people to some of the worst calamities ever seen, either because she was too careless, or too weak, to stop them. She claimed that the princess’ wisdom was beginning to fail her, and that she was no longer the omnipotent, all-knowing ruler that she once had been.

And yet there were some who still whispered in the background that Cadance was increasingly becoming a puppet for Luna, a mere stalking horse for her ambitions. Some people even whispered that, in the quietest halls of Canterlot, Luna continued to plot against her sister’s power, indeed, against the very monarchy itself. The name of the “Lunar Republic” began to be whispered in the political and diplomatic corridors of Canterlot, as the high officialdom and old elite watched anxiously as Cadance went around stirring up the flames of popular discontent.

In the end, the people had their Parliament. They had it through massive nationwide rallies and protests, and even perhaps from the threat of violence. They were victorious because, when push came to shove, the Royal Guard of Shining Armor would never attack the people of Equestria, and because Shining Armor was well known to support his wife’s political plans.

The Parliament was essentially meant to function as a secondary partner in government, advising Princess Celestia of the opinions and needs of her people. In the Parliament, there was meant to be freedom of criticism and immunity from prosecution. No parliamentarian would be prosecuted for anything said within the chamber. However, the cabinet, or as they were colloquially known, the “Ministry Mares”, was to remain solely accountable to the Princess. The Parliament could pass laws, but in order to be enacted they would have to be signed by Celestia. Of course, only women could vote or be elected to the parliament, as it was well known that male ponies did not have the temperament necessary for rational thought or governance.

Celestia was still wise enough to know when she needed to placate her population, and this was indeed one of those times. And so she made a great show of cooperating with Parliament, signing many of their laws into effect, and allowing them to raise critical questions of her and her ministers. This led to political dissent in Equestria beginning to die down. The stability which the 1920s brought to the country only helped this general good feeling. A new balance had been found in the country, and most people were content enough to keep it.

But there was no doubt that the country was changing. When Twilight Sparkle ascended to the title of Foreign Minister, she was determined to bring Equestria out of its isolation. And indeed, through the lessons she had regarding friendship and general social relations, she proved more than up to the task of fulfilling this objective. But the end of Equestrian isolation brought with it other changes which Twilight Sparkle could never have predicted. For the end of isolation also brought with it the spectre of international capital, with its towering skyscrapers and conspicuous consumer goods. For a society as traditional and peaceful as Equestria was, these changes proved offsetting, and indeed, for many, upsetting.

To be certain, Equestria had always had its metropoles. Manehattan had always been relatively commercialized, and the skyscraper was nothing new to its residents. But the scale of wealth which international finance brought to Equestria in many ways proved far more upsetting to the social peace of the country than any economic event which had preceded it.

The race which benefitted the most from the commercialization of Equestria was the Earth Ponies. At first glance this may seem surprising to the reader, but acknowledge of Equestrian would tell us that it had always been the earth ponies that had led the way in Equestrian innovation and in Equestrian commerce. It had always been the earth ponies who had to rely off their own work ethic and enterprising nature in order to find their way in society. After all, it wasn’t as if they had magic or wings to make their life any easier, no, everything an earth pony had, had to be earned through one’s own hard labour, or through one’s own wiliness and commerce. Most often, it was a mix of the two.

The nouveau riche earth ponies, most exemplified by the wheeler-dealer Flim Flam Brothers or the publishing empire of the newspaper magnate Filthy Rich, existed rather awkwardly alongside the older, more aristocratic, unicorn elite. Indeed, the relationship between the nouveau riche earth ponies and aristocratic unicorn elite was often fractious, such that they rarely lived together in the same neighbourhoods, or even indeed, in the same cities. Whilst Canterlot was the abode of old titled unicorn elite, many of them working in the more prestigious rungs of the public service or diplomatic corps, or perhaps in the fashion, fine art, or culinary sectors of the country, Manehattan and Fillydelphia were the abode of the commercial earth ponies.

And with the arrival of international high capital, it was the entrepreneurial earth ponies of Equestria, concentrated in Manehattan and Fillydelphia, who reaped the most benefits. And it was increasingly the old unicorn elite who felt that history was starting to pass them by.

But they certainly weren’t going to go down without a fight. Much of the unicorn elite were used to running the country and setting the trends for the rest of population, and they weren’t going to give up that control to what they saw as a bunch of talentless, uncouth upstarts. Many of the unicorns felt like the earth ponies were beginning to step out of their place, and indeed, look beyond what was their proper station in life. They were especially antagonized when Commercial Spark, an earth pony who had made a fortune over the course of the 1920s selling new consumer goods such as telephones and vacuum cleaners, decided that she would open up her new corporate headquarters right in the middle of downtown Canterlot. To do this, she bought out an old wine and liquor store, and began to build what was to be the tallest building in Canterlot, standing far higher than any of the buildings of the Equestrian government, and most importantly, higher than the royal palaces of Celestia and Luna. Commerical Spark hoped that by building her new corporate HQ in the national capital, she could have better access to the institutions of government, thus allowing her to lobby the parliament and royal family more easily. She was hopeful that this would give him a competitive edge over other businesses on the market.

But Commercial Spark was not only interested in the competitive benefits which a Canterlot HQ could offer her. She was also interested in the prestige. She wanted to be the first pony to ever build a skyscraper in the national capital. Even more importantly, she wanted to be one of the first earth ponies to ever ‘crack’ the national capital. She believed that by building the first skyscraper in Canterlot, she could earn the respect, admiration, and deference of its primarily unicorn citizenry. Like many of the nouveau riche, Commercial Spark yearned for the acceptance of the high-class, cultured circles of Canterlot.

But that was not an acceptance they were about to give her willingly. To them, she was an upstart attempting to impose her way of life (that was commerce, wheeling, and dealing) upon their cultured, sophisticated, and conservative home. She wanted to bring the modern world to Canterlot, commerce to the unicorns, but the unicorns wanted neither of these things. The unicorns wanted the world to remain as it always had been, a world where their titles counted for something, and where earth ponies kneeled in deference to their magic. Because the fact was that commerce and international trade was changing the country that they once knew, and it was changing it so fast that it was leaving them behind.

And so it was with whispers, snarks, and glares that they watched Canterlot’s first skyscraper be built to its completion in 1927. With it, came not only Commercial Spark, but hundreds of her corporate staff from Manehattan and Filldelphia. Quite soon, these uncouth earth ponies were beginning to overrun the old city of Canterlot with rude, obnoxious behavior. For these were not wealthy or sophisticated ponies, these were ponies who had often grown up in small towns like Ponyville, or in the sleepy neighbourhoods of Manehattan and Fillydelphia. These were ponies who knew nothing of high culture and manners. They swore, drank heavily, had terrible taste in art, worse taste in wine, and no taste at all in architecture. To the unicorns, they were ruining their beloved capital.

What was worse was how Commercial Spark was attempting to take over Parliament and lobby the royal family for special favours in order to give her a competitive edge. To the unicorns, this was a totally unacceptable corruption of government, one that had never been seen in the past. To them it seemed, Commercial Spark and her ilk had no values whatsoever, no ethics, and certainly no self-control.

And so, after a year, many of the unicorns were no longer willing to stand for the change which the earth ponies were bringing to Canterlot. It all started when a few young dandies ended up vandalizing the lobby of the corporate HQ on a quiet night. The next morning, the police began to investigate, and slowly but surely, over the course of the week they began to arrest the young dandies. But to the other unicorns they were merely polite, proper-blooded young ponies with a sense of dignity regarding their city. And for many of the unicorns, it was the last straw. Massive protests around the skyscraper turned into riots which engulfed the national capital over the course of 5 days. It was about more than Commercial Spark’s skyscraper, it was the anguished howls of the unicorn race, which felt it was losing out in the new Equestria.

And the old families were still powerful enough to control parliament and the royal family. Eventually, the old families had their way, much to the resentment of the earth ponies. Parliament passed the Canterlot Architectural Ordinance, which was signed into law by Princess Celestia. This law ordered the demolition of the Canterlot skyscraper, and forbade any building in the capital to be taller than the royal palaces. The unicorns were to have their city back; Canterlot was to become an island of tradition in a sea of change. But the episode had been just one flashpoint in social cold war that was beginning to take root in the country. Earth ponies and unicorns were beginning to once again view each other with suspicion.

But the old lights of friendship held, for now. The races of Equestria remained wary of a complete disconnect from one another, mindful of what had happened the last time the races of Equestria went to war against one another. But there was no doubt that the fabric of Equestrian society was beginning to be stretched.

When the Great Depression hit, it proved particularly hard on the Pegasi. Certainly, every sector of the economy was affected by the drying up of international investment and consumption, especially from the human world. But perhaps the hardest hit were the Pegasi, as they relied upon the government for most of their employment. However, when government tax revenue shrunk in the midst of the Great Depression, one of the first things cut by the government was the weather factories. Thousands of pegasi were laid off as the parliament signed into a law a bill that severely curtailed both the number of rainbows that would be produced and the diversity of weather which Equestria was to see. Considering that the rainbow factories were almost completely reliant upon government consumption and contracts in order to function and turn a profit, the new bill proved disastrous for them.

The pegasi had been screwed by their own government. They had lost out because they neither had money like the Earth ponies, nor influence like the Unicorns. They were working ponies, and their relationship with the government was a symbiotic one. Since their main industry was the weather industry, and since the main regulator of the weather in Equestria was the government, the pegasi were by far the race that were the most reliant on the whims and good graces of the government in Canterlot. What proved even worse for the Pegasi was that, even when government consumption of weather started to pick up again, jobs were not being added back the rainbow factories. Rather, the rainbow factories began to learn to make more rainbows with fewer workers, thus increasing productivity but having catastrophic effects for unemployment among the Pegasi population.

Among the Pegasi, this led to an increasing militarization in what was already a relatively violent culture. Soon enough, a job in the army became one of the only viable jobs for thousands of young pegasi. But many of the young pegasi who ended up enlisting were angry, resentful, and ill-disciplined. Whilst they were undoubtedly loyal and patriotic to their country, this was certainly another trend that boded ill for the future.

It was this changing, increasingly unstable society that confronted what were soon to be the global diplomatic crises that would change the course of history. It was this changing society that was about to enter a war that would forever change it, and every other nation which entered it. This was the Equestria that would go to war.

Author's Note

Hey guys, so I am a new author to this site, as you can tell a bit of a history buff. I hope the story was at least somewhat enticing. Not a lot of action this first chapter as I felt like I had to set some of the scene as to why I had created the world that I had. But in future, I hope to focus in on each of the Mane Six's contribution to the war effort, as each of course would have different reactions to the war, and would hope to contribute in different ways.

This isn't purely a human-pony crossover, I really do hope to make World War 2 relevant to the lore of the MLP universe by bringing in some of the other nations on the Equestrian continent, such as the Draconiqui, the Dragons, the Griffons, and hopefully others. Certainly, the ponies will do a bit of fighting in Europe and Asia, but there will also be much fighting, diplomacy, and drama at home as well.

Anyway, do give me your thoughts as to whether or not you enjoyed or are interested in this story.

Cheers,
Historicalbrony

Our Present Crisis

Twilight Sparkle let out a heavy sigh. She had been one of the few diplomats on the international scene who had recognized early on that there would be no appeasing of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Whilst the other nations of the world attempted to appease the appetite of the madman, Twilight Sparkle had understood that at some point the world would have to fight.

Or perhaps it was merely because Twilight Sparkle had never been one to accept realpolitik. For a mare with such a fierce sense of right and wrong, compromising with evil was never an option she had wanted to entertain. But it would prove to be an option she would have to entertain.

Twilight Sparkle was far from the most influential diplomat on the European scene, but through her fierce morality and her clear moral compass, Twilight Sparkle came to find her voice on the international scene. When Italy invaded Absyinnia in 1936, directly contravening the will of the League of Nations, Twilight Sparkle gave what some consider to be one of her greatest speeches as a diplomat.

Addressing the matter of larger nations invading smaller nations to only minimal global condemnation, Twilight Sparkle took the international community to task for its failure to protect the weak and the innocent. In her speech, she asked:

“When, and why, has it become acceptable in this world, for the strong to bully the weak? For the strong to attack the weak without retaliation? For the strong to flout and spit upon the dream of international friendship, as was once embodied in this League of Nations?

Our country joined this league in the hopes that there may have been found friendship among all nations, both strong and weak. But in Equestria we have also come to the realization that sometimes friendship must be fought for. That sometimes friendship must be protected. And when the strong claim dominion over the weak, such is when friendship in the international community begins to die a slow death, suffocated under the greed and lust of the powerful.

Why will we not help Ethiopia? Is it because the problem is far enough away from our lands that we will wash our hands of it? And if we are to wash our hands of the Ethiopian people, how many more peoples will we give up to the whims of tyrants? When will this international community finally stand for the friendship of nations? When will we finally say that the friendship and peace of nations is important enough that it is worth fighting for?

And when, shall we stop compromising with the forces of evil, and instead face them head on, as is our duty not only legally under the convenant of this League, but also morally as citizens of this earth?”

Twilight Sparkle showed exceptional courage during this speech. Even as almost every diplomat in the League of Nations jeered and mocked, she continued on. She asked the questions that the diplomats of the world were afraid to ask themselves. How many more peoples would fall to tyrants, before the international community acted? When would the international community stand up for the dignity of every citizen of the earth?

Not that she received much credit for the speech afterwards. Most of the European diplomats were intensely displeased with the performance, not only for the fact that it called them out for their lack of action in the protection of Absyinnia, but also because of the fact that there was an implied critique of all colonialism to be found within the speech.

One of the British diplomats at the League, Lord Haversmith, ran up to Twilight Sparkle after the speech and informed her that

“Her Majesty’s government neither appreciated nor expected the Equestrian performance today at the League of Nations. Our government would advise the ponies not to repeat such a performance again”.

The French diplomat was more blunt “I think these ponies need to go home to their magical land of frolicking and flying lions and talking zebras, and let human beings deal with the issues of humanity. We have nothing to learn from santicimonious equines.”

But whilst the international diplomatic community may not have appreciated the speech, there were many ordinary people in the world who did. From citizens of nations that felt threatened by attack, such as the Chinese, the Czechs, the Poles, and the Griffons, to the more moralistic citizens of nations such as the US and UK, many ordinary people across the world were touched by Twilight Sparkle’s speech. Twilight Sparkle was standing alone, much like Winston Churchill in the British Parliament, as the sole voice of morality and intervention. And in the process, she gave voice to many millions of people across the world who had become voiceless.

Indeed, to many educated citizens in colonial India and Africa, Twilight Sparkle was increasingly becoming a hero. And perhaps most importantly, Twilight Sparkle was becoming a symbol of hope to Germany’s beleaguered Jewish community, in a time when there was precious little hope for the Jews to cling on to.

Almost alone among the nations of the world, Equestria began to open its borders to the influx of Jewish refugees. It was not a decision taken lightly by the Equestrian government, and it was not one that was much appreciated by the Unicorn dominated Equestrian Parliament. Indeed, the Equestrian Parliament was rather steadfast in refusing to pass legislation that would open Equestria borders to Jewish refugees from Germany and other parts of Europe. Many unicorns felt they had enough competition in their own country with the entrepreneurial earth ponies. They had heard from European anti-semites at the diplomatic and society parties of Canterlot about how the Jews had a proclivity both for money and conspiracy.

Indeed, one of the sad things that will be recalled of this era was that anti-semitism was not limited merely to the Germans or the Poles, but rather was a ubiquitous sentiment across Europe. In nations as far afield and as far removed from Germany as Canada, the Prime Minister there, Mackenzie King, was well known to hold anti-semitic viewpoints, such that he severely restricted any migration of Jewish refugees to the shores of that country. France, Britain, and America certainly had their share of anti-semites as well. Indeed, anti-semitic comment had become a somewhat ubiquitous topic of discussion in high society parties not only in Europe, but across the world.

The Jews were an easy target. Marginalised in many countries, and often being confined to ghettoes, the Jews were a race much maligned and easily subject to suspicion. This suspicion manifested itself in anti-semitic tracts such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Because of their isolation, it was easy for the less educated and disadvantaged in society to imagine that they were somehow plotting amongst themselves, and plotting against the broader society.

Perhaps that was what made Princess Celestia’s decision so amazing in hindsight. She fought through all the prejudice of the era to grant the Jews one of their few safe havens in the world. It was an increasingly rare show of leadership from the royal palace. For Equestrian opinion was certainly no more racially tolerant than any other nation’s.

Indeed, the truth about Equestria was that it had a long and sordid history of racial intolerance and hatred. It seemed as if the Equestrian ideology of friendship only applied if you were a technicolored pony. For all the other races, like the zebras, the griffons, and buffalo, and the humans, there was a huge dollop of prejudice and hate.

The zebras had seen some of the worst of the hatred which Equestria had to offer. What made their plight particularly tragic was that they, much like the Jews, were also fleeing from genocide in the Elephant Kingdom. And, much like the Jews, Princess Celestia had granted the zebra population extraordinary clemency to enter the country as a place of refuge. When they arrived, however, they began to see the ugly side of ponydom. For the ponies were a conservative and often suspicious people. They saw their country as having a sacred balance or harmony between the pony races, a balance that they believed would only be upset by the presence of outsiders. When the zebras began to arrive in Equestria seeking refuge, they were rapidly confined to ghettoes inside the major cities where they were harassed by police, swindled by the earth pony businessmen, and at times attacked by racist mobs led by unicorn firebrands.

The traditional religion, cooking, and medicine of the zebras rapidly came to be viewed as voodoo by the pony citizens of Equestria, who believed that the zebras were concocting spells and curses to harm ponykind. Movements developed to ban the zebra religion and culture altogether. Ponies began to blame calamities in their own lives and in the world around them on zebra voodoo. Soon enough, unicorn firebrands began to assemble lynch mobs to hang zebras in various cities and towns who were believed to be concocting spells and curses.

Twilight Sparkle had experienced this sort of racism firsthand against her friend Zecora. Zecora was a zebra who had fled the ghettoes of Manehattan to live by herself outside the small town of Ponyville. For many years, her only interaction with the town of Ponyville had been once a week when she entered town to buy groceries and basic supplies for herself. Whenever she did enter, the paranoid and prejudiced citizens of Ponyville would board up their doors and hide in fear of what they saw as her spells and voodoo. It was an uneasy truce between Zecora and Ponyville, one that was bound to be broken eventually.

The catalyst which almost led to the lynching of the zebra was when she was accused of having cursed Twilight Sparkle and her friends with various afflictions, including voice changes in Fluttershy and the removal of Pinkie Pie’s ability to speak. In many other towns in Equestria. Such an event would have proven sufficient for the lynching of Zecora in any other town in Equestira, and indeed, when Twilight and her friends approached the cottage of Zecora, their intentions were not kindly towards the zebra. It was ultimately Twilight Sparkle’s rationality and willingness to listen that allowed Zecora to prove that it had not been her who had cursed the ponies, and that indeed, a cure was to be found in her traditional medicine. It was a rare story of racial understanding in Equestria, and was one of the first occasions in which Twilight Sparkle proved herself to the Princess Celestia as a positive and wise leader.

It was now the Jews to which the hatred of the reactionary classes of Equestria turned toward. The unicorn classes in particular were already in a conservative mood. Feeling that their society was changing beyond recognition, the human Jews were merely another sign of the changes which were wrenching the country, and they became a rallying point for all those who just wanted to go back to the old days. The old days, when the only group which inhabited Equestria were ponies. The old days, before the human interferers had intruded upon the sacred balance and harmony of Equestria.

And once again, it was the Parliament which acted as a conduit, as Princess Celestia feared, for the worst impulses of ponydom. Whereas the rallying cry for racism against the Zebras had been the supposed voodoo practiced by that community, the rallying cry against the Jews soon became the idea that the Jews were spreading filth and disease across Equestria. For it was simply impossible for a pony to claim, as the Europeans did, that the Jews were holding an inordinate amount of control over society. It was impossible, because almost every Jewish refugee who now lived in Equestria lived in slums and ghettoes far away from the ponies and the main cities. And so the ponies came up with a way to hate them for their poverty and desperation. Soon, MPs in the Parliament and firebrands outside it began to accuse the Jews of spreading disease across the country as a result of the filthy conditions they lived in.

This attitude was epitomized by the speeches of the Unicorn MP Bastion Intolerance, who claimed in one of his speeches before Parliament that “The Jews live in some of the filithiest conditions ever seen in our country. They have no sense of hygiene, no sense of cleanliness, and no sense of self-dignity. Now I for one would be happy enough to let these filthy humans wallow in their own squalor, if but for the fact that they are now spreading their filthy disease to other ponies. Other ponies are falling sick because of these people! We now have cholera, dysentery, lice in our bodies, and a whole host of other ailments, which can be blamed on the filth of Jewry! The slums are spreading disease! For god’s sake, I ask this Parliament, and I ask the people of this country, clear out the filth in these slums!”.

Many ponies took Bastion at his word, and began to harass and attack the Jewish residents of these ghettoes. Racial attacks and slurs became a fact of life for many Jews in Equestria, as they came to realize that the ideals of friendship held hollow for those who were different.

The fact was that disease was spreading across Equestria, but it was not because of the Jews. It was because of the poverty which the Great Depression had wreaked across the landscape of Equestria. As was discussed earlier, the hardest hit race during the Depression was the Pegasi. With the shutdown of large numbers of weather factories, thousands, perhaps millions, of unemployed pegasi descended down to the ground level to beg, to squat, indeed, to just escape the wasteland that the old industrial heart of Equestria was becoming. Cities like Cloudsdale were becoming overrun with crime, disease, and starvation. The unicorns allocated precious little funding to relieve the suffering of the pegasi, preffering instead to build new monuments and commission new art within the confines of Canterlot.

The 20s had brought prosperity never before seen in Equestria, but, like many other nations, the 30s were bringing never before seen suffering to a once proud people. This suffering was brought home to Twilight Sparkle in a poignant way when her friend Rainbow Dash came to her one day sobbing. Asking what had happened, Rainbow Dash replied “they tore down Dad’s factory”.

For a pony as proud as Rainbow Dash was, it was truly a difficult thing to see the state of her old city of Cloudsdale. She was watching as a once proud race of industrial ponies were being slowly broken spiritually and emotionally, as the productive work which had once been their birthright was being stripped from them by the evils of a government that no longer saw worth in the work the pegasi did.

One pony that should have continued to be a source of pride for Equestria ought to have been Twilight Sparkle. For her bravery in facing the deceitful, calculating, and amoral world of 1930s world diplomacy was nothing short of spectacular. Twilight Sparkle had been the only diplomat to speak out at the Munich Conference against the defenestration and abandonment of the Czech Sudetenland. But her words had fallen on deaf ears.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried, far from it, she had been the only one who had tried to give voice to the concerns and fears of the Czechoslovakian nation, a nation which had not even been invited to the conference which was to decide the fate of its territory. Twilight had tried to speak with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, but she found the Prime Minister to be almost in a naïve trance, insistent upon his belief that Hitler could be reconciled with a reasonable compromise.

Perhaps most importantly, she found the French and British simply unwilling to fight and die for the freedom of Czechoslovakia. And that, she thought, was what was most shameful about the whole affair. For Twilight Sparkle realized the old adage, that if you refuse to fight for the freedom of others against tyranny, there will be no one left to aid you when the tyrant turns his sights to your people. Chamberlain may have believed that Hitler only had reasonable and peaceful intentions towards the Czechs, but he was soon to be proven wrong in early 1939 when Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia to annex the entire country, with the minor exception of a Slovakian satellite state. Chamberlain only then finally came to realize that there would be no appeasement of Hitler. But despite this reluctant realization, Chamberlain never came to the emotional realization that the time had come to fight. And so even when the French and the British reluctantly plodded off to war, they would initially prove no help to their friends. It was only when Britain came under new leadership, that she would become willing to fight.

The European crisis was far from the only crisis on Twilight Sparkle’s watch. Rumour had it that the old foes of ponydom, the Dragons, had designs upon the Griffon kingdom. The whispers in Canterlot gave voice to even darker rumours, that the mind of the Griffon queen was being corrupted from within by the malign influence of a Draconoqui, who, having been offered fortune beyond his wildest dreams by the Dragon king, had been enlisted to destroy the Griffon Kingdom from within.

Twilight Sparkle remained a master of magic, and she was beginning to feel the tempo of magic on the Equestrian continent change in a most malign way. Dark magic was rising across the land, as the desperate and the greedy turned to extraordinary means to enforce their will. She could feel in her body that the tyrant Sombra remained alive, and she began to notice signs of corruption in the various unicorn wizards tasked with protecting the Equestrian Kingdom from the dark arts.

The power of magic was a reality which ponies had had to deal with since time immemorial. In contemporary Equestria, magic was mostly a tamed force used for creativity and convenience. And yet there continued to be the spectre of dark magic and evil spells which loomed over the continent. Luna knew of the dark arts first hand, as she in our jealousy had once dabbled in that which should not be dabbled with, and in the process was consumed by black magic, becoming the dreaded Nightmare Night. Seeing the corruption of her sister, and realizing that she alone could not combat the black arts, Princess Celestia, thousands of years before the time of Twilight Sparkle, had convened the Guardian Council, a secretive, elite group of the finest wizards and mages in Equestria. Together, their task was to guard against black magic in the world, and to eliminate those who began to dabble in its use. Sombra had been a Guardian once, but realizing the power of his magical talent, he began to dabble in the dark arts in an uncontrolled lust for power, and soon became a dark mage. Needless to say, it was dark news if a Guardian was corrupted by the powers of evil. For a Guardian was powerful enough that few could stop him.

Twilight Sparkle feared this was happening to certain members of the Guardian Council, but she, and Luna, could do nothing but keep a closer eye on certain Guardians for the time being.

Twilight Sparkle knew however, that war was coming to the lands of Equestria, and that in order for the nation to survive, it would have to rally its old allies under one banner of freedom and friendship. It was for this reason that Twilight Sparkle set out with the Guardian wizard Boctath to the Griffon kingdom, in order to strengthen the resolve of the Griffon queen, Matilda. As she set forth to the Griffon kingdom, Twilight Sparkle could increasingly feel the spectre of dark magic. This was not quite going to be a social call.

Author's Note

Well, I managed to get back at it despite school being ultra busy. Hopefully I'm able to update at least with some regularity. First of all though, I would just like to thank everyone who has read the story, favourited, or given positive reviews. It is very much appreciated.

There should only be one more chapter of pre-war stuff before we hit the war itself in Chapter 4. I still want to do a bit a chapter on some of the civil discontent taking place in Equestria during the Depression, as well as of course completing this arc of Twilight Sparkle's trip to the Griffon Kingdom.

Thanks again, and hopefully you guys all enjoy this chapter.

The Spectre of Evil

It was a long and arduous journey up the mountains of the Equestrian continent to the high places where the Griffons lived. Unlike the Pegasi, who lived in the clouds above Equestria, the Griffons inhabited the mountainous regions of the continent, their thick set countenances and broad wings allowing them to glide through the harsh winds of the high altitudes. The Griffons were a proud and strong race. They had built a civilisation through harsh struggles, through hunger, sweat, and in some cases blood, to live in the high places where few other sentient species were willing to make their homes. Theirs was a nation steeped in a mythos not all that different from that of the Norse people of the human realms. They told stories of brave warriors who fought off fierce dragons, a race that had always been their mortal and sworn enemies. They told stories of giants and trolls, of fierce gods who created lightning and winds. Their heroes were those of fortitude, brute force, and courage, beings unafraid to stand up to giants and bullies. Beings who left the talking for later and the fighting for now. Heroes of patriotism and pride, for a people who felt they had much to be proud off.

They were a reserved, haughty, and in some cases arrogant people. Their friendship with the ponies was no doubt a genuine one, but it was a love-hate relationship even at the best of times. Many of the Griffons felt that the ponies were just a little too big on pomp and ceremony, and just a little too big for their boots. Many of the Griffons willfully underestimated the struggles which the Pony civilisation had gone through in order to build itself up, believing these struggles to be insignificant when compared to their own journey in the inhospitable mountains of the continent. The only race of ponies the Griffons came to truly respect were the pegasi. Both blessed with the gift of flight, the Griffons had a considerable respect for the warrior ethos and tough industrial culture of the Pegasi lands, believing it to bear a considerable resemblance to their own culture.

The Griffons, being a martial race, had also gained a reputation on the continent for their mercenary bands. Often formed with both Pegasi and Griffon members, these soldiers for hire had, centuries ago, strode the military continent like kings, garnering large amounts of money from any government or warlord that was willing to pay. Notorious for their treachery and brutality, they had played a key role in the anarchic Wars of the Races which had marked the founding of the modern Equestrian state. Indeed, it is widely reputed that the unicorn hiring of the Griffon mercenary bands proved vital in ensuring that the unicorn faction was not overwhelmed in the air war by the pegasi armies (the earth ponies had of course, created a number of flying contraptions resembling the human aeroplane to make up this deficit on their end). Many of these mercenary bands had gradually grown more specialised in the art of war, evolving into the famous assassin bands of lore. The most famous of these bands were named the Men of the Mountain, and they were led by their reclusive, ever-feared leader, known simply as the Old Man of the Mountain.

The Men of the Mountain were the assassins who went after the most dangerous, highest value targets. They killed kings and queens, commanders of armies, but most importantly, they killed the evil and insane witches and wizards that, in some of the darkest moments of the continent's history, plagued its people with dark magic.

In many cases the Men of the Mountain had proven to be the last resort of the continent's peoples against the forces of dark magic. When all open combat had failed, and it appeared the free realms of the Continent were to go down in flames to the anarchy and evil power of dark magic, wielded by this or that sorcerer, it was the Men of the Mountain who finally ended it all. Of course, Sombra was the most famous of the magician tyrants, but there had been many before and after him.

Perhaps the most famous kill of the Mountain assassins had been that of the mad witch Marvana. A prominent member of the Guardian Council of sorcerers, tasked with defending the Equestrian nation from the dark arts, Marvana had been plagued by recurrent nightmares that some speculated were brought on by the unwanted psychic intrusion of a Draconoqui (a race whose magic was equally, if not more powerful, than that of the Guardians). It is unquestionable, however, that Marvana was a sorceress particularly at risk of psychic intrusion, having suffered an unstable and at times violent childhood. Gradually, the dark presence in her mind led her across the royal library to the forbidden septs. It promised her a spell that would free her of her endemic nightmares and psychic disturbances.

To be certain, she had resisted for a time, but as she grew more mad it only became more difficult to escape the temptation of freedom. She knew the magic was black magic, but at a certain point she no longer cared, merely wishing freedom for herself and her frail pysche. And so she went in, but with the temporary banishment of the torment of the nightmares came only the hunger for power, an insatiable lust for control, a surrender to dark impulses. The spell would certainly clear her mind for a time, but when the nightmares inevitably returned, they only became more real, until she began only to see enemies around her, traitors, backstabbers. She cocooned herself, looking for safety in her dark powers, and she gradually became a lethal mix of evil and madness.

Dark magic feeds off the torment of souls, and different kinds of dark magic feeds off different kinds of torment. Discord's magic, as his name suggests, gains its power from discord in the world. Marvana's magic gained power from her own torment. Its intensity and strength gave those same attributes to her own spells, such that there were none who could stand before her in a battle of magic.

Except perhaps for one princess, Luna, whose broader awareness of the full spectrum of magic, both good and evil, made her a formidable opponent and defender against the dark forces. She of course, during this period however, had been consumed by those very dark forces which she had tampered with, and was absconding on the moon.

Celestia's magic, predicated as it was upon control and logic, could not match the sheer power of Marvana's wild, uncontrolled forces. It was clear that Marvana was not to be bested in a pure battle of magic. But it was her madness that ultimately proved to her undoing.

Knowing that the magical forces of the continent had failed to defeat Marvana in open battle, and witnessing the terror and destruction she was wreaking upon the land, Celestia realised that the only group of people who now stood a chance at defeating Marvana were the Men of the Mountain. For a foe not bested in open combat is to be bested only in stealth. But the service of the mountaineers was not to come free, especially for such a high value target. Indeed, it was to cost a figurative pound of flesh from the peoples of the continent.

Celestia undertook to lead a delegation with the other heads of the continent to meet with the Old Man of the Mountain, and to ask his price for his men's services. The leader of every kingdom, republic, and state on the continent came to the mountain as part of the delegation. The old alliances and rivalries had been thrown to the wayside in the face of a threat which seemed likely to engulf the entire world.

Which is what made the behaviour of the old man all the more amazing, for the logical among us will ask, if every person on the continent was threatened by the madness of Marvana, was not the old man himself as well threatened by her? But that is the nature of the work of assasins, their work requires an inherent disregard for life, and in the case of the most skilled assassins, that disregard must inevitably extend to their own lives.

The Old Man cared nothing for his life and nothing for the life of his men, much as he cared nothing for the lives of the countless dignitaries and notables he had killed at the hands of a dagger. Certainly, Marvana may have threatened him, but he cared nothing if he perished in her wake. He cared everything however, for money, and so in an act that must be considered one of infamy, he demanded from the suffering peoples of the continent a further pain upon their lives. He demanded a massive payment to cover the costs of assassinating Marvana, with the standard half up front, half when the deed was done.

He knew his bargaining position was impenetrable, for the mountaineers were the last hope of the peoples of the continent, and so it was that the leaders were forced to go back to their respective nations, and to demand from their people in this time of disturbance every last penny they held in their names, in order to pay the price of the assassins. And yet still, even after the privations of this extraordinary tax, even after the renewed famine and suffering it caused, the leaders still could not pay the half of the price they needed to cover the service of the Men of the Mountain.

And so the Old Man decided to put the peoples of the continent into a sort of bondage to him and his cabal. He agreed to carry out the task requested of his men, but only under the condition that the rest of his asking price be paid back as the lands of the continent recovered from the crisis of Marvana. He was to place his own men in each of the palaces of the continent, to watch each of the leaders as they carried out the harsh taxation that would be necessary to pay the price of the deed. Should they fail to live up to their obligations to the Old Man, his assassins would be ready to strike, and take in blood what the leaders could not pay in coin. The leaders were forced to agree, for they believed the liberation of the land from Marvana was priceless, worth even debt bondage to the cabal of assassins.

The Men of the Mountain carried out their deed successfully, ultimately using the negligence and chaos of Marvana's madness to their advantage. The assassins caught her in one of her fits of madness, as she experienced and was tormented by the recurrent nightmares which she faced. Although she normally cast around herself a protective spell designed to guard her from attack, during her fits of terror her magic became inconsistent as she struggled to control and maintain the coherence of its power. The perfectly honed reflexes of the assassins allowed for them to launch a surprise attack, casting a dagger doused in magic draining poison straight into her back during one of the brief periods where her cloak of protection was not in force. As she writhed in pain from this dagger, another assassin came and cut off her horn with an axe.

The horn was to be taken by the assassins as proof of the job's completion, and as a trophy to add to the Old Man's collections. The celebrations of the peoples of Equestria were muted however, with most believing that their leaders had only traded the tyranny of the mad Marvana for the bondage of the Men of the Mountain. And indeed, the Men of the Mountain were to, over the course of the next decade, exact a steep price for their services to the continent. The suffering of these times came to be as, if not more legendary, as the legend of Marvana.

Twilight looked across the mountainous landscape of the Griffon lands, off into the distance, to the legendary Mount Carvel, which was the home of the Men of the Mountain. "Celestia forbid" she said "if these times ever called upon us to use those men again." Boctath, her companion on this journey, a wizard on the Guardian Council, shuddered, for the name of those assassins had almost become unspeakable, considering the dark historical legacy they had left behind. "It would truly be desperate times that would call upon us to once again resort to such devices" he replied.

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the darkened sky. Stormclouds had formed above, and yet these was a conspicuous absence of rain as the dark clouds hung over the Griffon kingdom. Twilight Sparkle sensed the unspeakable, a disturbance in nature, a disturbance of the peace of these once proud people. She sensed dark magic, she sensed malign forces present upon these majestic mountain peaks. "Look at the sky Boctath, these are truly troubled times for our peoples. I feel something evil in this kingdom, but I can't pinpoint it." "The only real evil is the incompetence of the palace in these times of crisis, you still pray to Celestia and yet I find her guidance less and less present as time goes on," Boctath snidely replied.

Twilight Sparkle wheeled around to face him, stopping her gait dead in its tracks. "I don't think I need to remind you, how treasonous and dangerous such statements are from a wizard of the Guardian Council!", she sternly reprimanded. "Of course Princess, my sincerest apologies, merely making conversation," he backtracked. "I think we can do without further conversation, if I may, wizard, we are approaching the royal palace of Queen Matilda, so focus yourself and your abilities on sensing the environment around. There is danger here Boctath, tread carefully."

Twilight's senses had certainly not failed her, as it was indeed true that a dark spectre loomed over the Griffon kingdom. Queen Matilda, the head of a proud dynasty of warrior-monarchs, was tormented by a malign force quite similar to that force that had tormented Matilda. It was a force whose goal was to undermine her confidence and her strength, who aimed to build paranoia and fear within her, and who aimed ultimately to lay the Griffon kingdom low, and enslave it to new masters.

It was a most malign and despicable ambition, aided by the most despicable methods. By creating paralysis in the palace, this force aimed to ensure that the once proud Queen would be unable to lead her people in their hour of need. It undermined her faith in her friends and allies, it undermined her faith in her people, but most importantly, it undermined her faith in herself.

It was a force that would whisper to her day and night, at first only when she was alone, but eventually when she had company as well. The presence in the beginning was almost friendly and pleasant with her, giving new insights and sometimes even new knowledge for the queen to use in her duties. This early friendliness on the part of the presence made its turn towards negativity, fear, and threats all the more terrifying for the young queen, who began to be tormented by its constant voice within her mind. It was a voice that terrified her in her sleep, a voice that told her that her friends would abandon her, and that her real enemies lay in the Equestrian kingdom, a kingdom which he said was sure to betray her as time went on. He told her that the ponies viewed the Griffons as expendable appendages, to be discarded at their will. He told her that her supposed friends in the pony realm intended to enslave her people. He told her that that Griffon kingdom could trust no one in this time of crisis.

The presence was undermining the bonds of friendship that had united the Griffon and Pony races, at a time when that bond was never more important. For across the mountains, in the realm of the Dragons, the king of the Dragon realm, Toftir, plotted and prepared to take what he believed was the manifest destiny of all the dragons, the control of the all the high places on the continent.

The Griffon kingdom was not strong enough to withstand such an assault on its own, it needed the friendship of ponydom.

The presence, however, was more than just a voice, and it was the things which Matilda saw which terrified her even more than the voice. She saw a slithering in the night, she saw dark eyes staring upon her, she saw a form which was unstable, which would come to her one day as a man, and the next as a snake, and the next as a lion, and the next as a monster.

The most terrifying nights were when she would fall asleep, only to awake to see a presence standing above her bed, saying nothing, only watching her, relishing in her torment and struggle. For the presence loved her torment, it fed on her fear, and her pain, and her desperation. It was his unholy reward for his services to the enemies of the Griffon kingdom.

For this presence was a Draconoqui, of the same race as Discord. The Draconoqui cared little for politics, only being conscripted into the service of the Dragon kingdom for the price of the Griffon queen's torment. And yet his presence, his invasion of Matilda's sacred, royal palace had everything to do with politics. For the Dragon king was using the Draconoqui to lay the ground for his invasion of the Griffon realm. With no effective leadership, and its alliance with the ponies severed, the Griffons would prove easy pickings for the Dragon kingdom.

The people of the Griffon realm merely lived in a dark foreboding. Most of them understood that rebellion was pointless at best and folly at worst. For the Griffon people were not blessed with the magic of some other races, and so to rebel against a force employing dark magic would have been a folly of the most foolish kind. Even if the impotent, immobilised queen was overthrown in revolution, the Draconoqui would likely remain regardless, tormenting all future rulers of the kingdom. And so the Griffon people began to develop a feeling of fatalism, as if their fates and doom had already been set, and all that was left for them to do was to wait, as sitting ducks, for their eventual subjugation at the hands of their enemies.

It was this crisis in the Griffon kingdom that had precipitated the visit of the Twilight Sparkle to the realm. Alarmed at the loss of contact with the Griffon kingdom, one of the oldest and closest allies of the Equestrian nation, the Equestrian palace sent Twilight Sparkle in an attempt to rebuild the shaken relationship with the Griffons in anticipation of future conflict with the Dragon realm.

Little did she know that the coming battle of magic that she was to face would test her mettle in a way that few others would.

Author's Note

And what do you know, I managed to come back to this story. Always was hoping to do so.

Hopefully the chapter is to the enjoyment of you all!