War

“Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” –Daniel H. Pink

6:44 P.M Canterlot Standard Time
18th February, 2018
Canterlot, Equestria
Former Marine, Sweet Pea

I heaved a heavy heart as I stepped off the train in Canterlot station. “I can’t believe I got deported.” I mumbled to myself with my head held low. I wanted to cry, I needed to cry. All my hard work down the drain in one fell swoop. My house had been sold, even though I had paid it off completely. My job, my career as a marine was gone. They said I could still carry the title former marine but I doubt anypony from here or anyone from earth would respect it. My friends were refused the right to say goodbye to me at the airport and mail will not be sent through the portal at any time, any direction, ever. I’d heard of ponies who did bad things getting deported, but I never expected to see a guy with a clipboard outside my house. And to put a cherry on top of it all, my parents were meeting me at the train station. It's not like I didn't love my parents, but I didn't feel like hearing their complaints and worries about my experiences on earth.

“Sweet Pea!” There they were now. One yellow mare with green hair and a green stallion with purple hair. You can see where I get my good looks.

“Ma, dad.” I wasn't the most eager pony in Equestria to see my parents, but I wasn't the most solemn either. With a quick trot in their direction, I nuzzled both of them. It felt good to have something familiar again, something that I knew couldn't be taken away. But that feeling quickly dissipated at the sound of jet engines roaring above. I looked up in annoyance to see yet another A380 zooming over.

“Ug, that’s the fifth one this hour.” My mom complained, stomping her hoof on the ground with a ‘clop’ sound.

“Yeah, they've been shipping us out all this week, and probably all next week. They really don’t want us there anymore.” I felt a pang of sorrow at this. So many ponies having their lives uprooted. On such a massive scale too. During my flight, I found only six ponies who weren't being deported and were just headed home. Out of the 525 pony passengers, six were on the plane willingly. The humans wanted us out so bad, they built a surplus of ten A380’s for the sole purpose of kicking our sore flanks off earth. They’d been flying nonstop in and out of Baltimare Interdimensional Airport for several days, and since Canterlot is on top of a mountain, we get to hear every single poor soul fly over. The only "good" coming from this is that the humans decided to leave nine of their ten planes here for us, not that we could fly them.

“Come on Sweet Pea, let’s get you home.” My dad said, putting his hoof on my shoulder. I leaned into it and we all began the trek back home. It’d be nice to see my old room, but it’d be nicer to see my room. Goodbye Pickett, goodbye Valdez, goodbye earth.

“Don’t worry about those humans anyway Sweet Pea. This’ll all wash over in no time. Princess Celestia will resolve all this and you’ll be flying back to earth in no time. It’s not like a war is going to break out.” My mom said this with a sarcastic chuckle. At the time I joined in with her. The answer seemed so simple back then, like dealing with a dog and flea’s. Well, I’d never had a dog so I had no idea how difficult fleas really could be,

A little over a month from then, the first pony, Honeysuckle, kills a human with a gun when he shows up at her door to deport her. The outcry on both sides is tremendous, and the outcome of her trial now decides our fates.