When The Eagles Go Marching

Chapters

Third World War
Bears of Southern Equestria
The Last Mare of Mareland
The Banner Still Waves
Big Sister
The Battle of Sunset
The End of the Line
The Summit
California Dreaming
Way Back Home
Nightmares & Names
The US Navy
Reluctant President & Prison Break
The American Foreign Legion

Third World War

Author's Note

The world this takes place in is from an Equestria At War game with the Escalation 84 mod and the NCR Expedition turned on.

Third World War

One of the most important events of the century was the arrival of Humanity on Equus. Four human factions from two separate realities. The first three (the Soviet Union, United European Nations, and United States of America) were the survivors of an apocalypse of their own making.

On June 17th, 1984 of the Earth-1 Calendar a war erupted between the United States of America and its NATO allies against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Information on what exactly started the war is scarce but the most commonly accepted cause is that it was an accident. Soviet missile defense systems had experienced a severe error that caused them to depict a large-scale American first strike headed their direction. Due to the attitude of America's then president who had referred to the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' many believed this first strike was in fact real. By the time the Soviets realized their mistake they had already 'retaliated' with their own barrage of missiles. The Soviets resigned themselves to fighting this war they had unknowingly started. No way to go back now.

New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington DC were destroyed in the Soviet First Strike. Almost immediately Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces in Europe began pushing west. European members of NATO called for assistance from their American allies but their cries fell on deaf ears. The Soviet Strike, while accidental, was far more effective than anyone realized.

Sitting US President Ronald Reagan, his cabinet, and most of the US Congress were now radioactive ash in the ruins of Washington DC. A 'Provisional Military Council' was established by the highest ranking Generals that weren't at the now destroyed Pentagon. The United States was put under martial law until 'further notice' with all major industries now nationalized and a draft being started. Several State Governors cried foul but they all fell silent when the most vocal were executed for treason. The Junta, as many started to call them, were intent on winning the Third World War and they did not care what they had to do in order to achieve victory.

An immediate nuclear retaliation in Soviet and Warsaw Pact cities was ordered while the Junta prepared for an invasion of the USSR. Factories that once made consumer goods were now churning out military equipment to the US military which was fighting it out in Canada. The USA's northern neighbor had suffered a nuclear attack by the Soviets as well so they were unable to lend the support, both militarily and resource wise, that the Junta had wanted. The Junta had responded to Canada's refusal with invasion. US troops poured across the border quickly seizing Canadian mines, farms, factories, oil wells, and several military bases. The Canadian military attempted to fight back but was forced to reluctantly surrender. The surviving elements of the Canadian military were put under American command.

The international response to the Invasion of Canada was fairly lackluster due in part to the war. Western Europe who was fighting off the Soviet invasion had mostly negative opinions towards America's aggression towards Canada. The Europeans justifiably felt abandoned by the US who left them to face the soviet onslaught alone. The Junta was both shocked and furious when their European allies stopped all shipments of resources to the US citing that they were needed for the euro war effort.

Now without the european resources and suffering another smaller wave of soviet nukes the Junta could only watch as the US's war machine started to grind to a halt. Not wanting to make peace with the USSR or deal with 'traitorous' Europeans the Junta decided to go south. South America was filled to the brim with resources and 'cannon fodder' for the Junta to exploit. The Third World War was about to get darker…

Excerpt from the Third World War by Jane Goodwell. New Washington Printing Company, 1026 ALB

Bears of Southern Equestria

When I first heard about the appearance of a portal in the southern part of Equestria I like many Equestrians couldn't help but think 'here we go again'. Equestrians were no strangers to strange happenings. It seemed like every few months or so some ancient evil had returned or some other malady threatened Equestria or the world. In Ponyville things of that nature happened every other week which was a national joke. Things always went more or less back to normal after a few days so other than some initial interest I didn't pay it much attention.

As we all know it didn't go away after a few days. If anything it grew in scope. On the southern least populated part of Equestria a portal to another world had opened up. A world that had been ruined by war and turned into a barely habitable nuclear wasteland. This portal just so happened to appear near the capital of one of the more powerful states existing in this wasteland; The New California Republic or NCR as they are typically called.

After sending in a couple scouts the NCR was ecstatic at the idea of finding a pristine world on the other side. A military expedition was quickly put together and sent through. The NCR Congress went through dozens of proposals on what to do with the new world they had access to. Heavy resource collection operations, colonization, some even wanted to just abandon their old home entirely and move here. Unfortunately for the NCR their plans could not come to fruition. This 'new frontier' of theirs was already taken.

The first meeting between pony inhabitants and NCR Ranger scouts was peaceful. The one leading the scouts was Ranger Sutton, commander of the expedition. Ponies that met him that day said he had a 'hard look' and that he looked like he wished for nothing more than for them to 'go away'. For this many would try to label Ranger Sutton as a racist but there is something many forget.

Ranger Sutton was a patriot. He loved the NCR and was a strong supporter of its expansion. You must remember that the NCR was in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and was arguably the only bastion of true civilization in the land. Hostile mutants killed those who ventured out into the wastes and gangs of raiders would attack towns. In his mind the NCR needed to succeed in order for humanity to prosper instead of simply clinging to survival. The NCR’s discovery of the portal to Equestria had opened up numerous doors for them. Doors that were suddenly slammed shut when they discovered this almost heavenly land was already taken by an industrialized state no less. To him it seemed we ponies had sentenced humanity to a slow march to extinction.

The NCR was not eager to go to war. They were already gearing up for a war on their own world against a faction called Caesar’s Legion. The last thing they wanted was to be in another one against an alien power that could very well outmatch them. Not only that but the NCR’s people were growing weary of its government’s expansionist tendencies. A war in which they were the imperialist aggressor would not sit well with them.

After a quick scramble to assemble resources that Equestria would find valuable (gold, advanced technology, weapons) the NCR purchased a sizable part of Equestria’s sparsely populated southern coast. Gateway City was part military base and part city. The NCR had spent a lot of resources building it. Too much some in its Senate considered. Most citizens, correctly, believed that it was to show off and impress Equestria.

There were no ramshackle shacks or tents in Gateway City, only brick or concrete buildings with each more grand than the last. The city was powered by the few working fusion generators the NCR had and the military base had three rare VB-02 Vertibird VTOLs. These rare aircraft were taken in a fight against a highly advanced government remnant known as the Enclave and the NCR lacked the ability to make more.

The troops that were a part of this 'expedition' were the best equipped in their entire military. Every trooper was armed with brand new Service Rifles fresh from the factories in the Boneyard and the first NCR Motorized Battalion consisting of old trucks and motorcycles patrolled their new lands. All these gifts came at a cost however.

Unlike other states in the NCR the 'Equestrian Expedition' was under indefinite martial law. The NCR Military handled all criminal cases and other duties that by all rights should have been dealt with by civilian law enforcement. NCR citizens had long heard rumors of the abuses their troops would commit in occupied areas. They had brushed them off as enemy propaganda or the tall tales of Mojave & Baja natives. After living under martial law and watching how their soldiers conducted themselves the NCR civilians could deny it no longer. Their soldiers were awful peacekeepers.

The NCR Military treated them like they were junior soldiers. Citizens of the Equestrian territory were typically drafted for labor or light military service on the spot. Shop owners would regularly have their stock 'requisitioned' by the military with little to no chance of reimbursement. Crimes were punished with either forced labor, conscription, or death with absolutely no kind of due process or consistency. When discontentment began to grow among the populace the military responded with their usual tactic of cracking down further.

One prominent Gateway City resident is reported to have said "I would fight for Caesar or the Great Khans in a heartbeat if I knew this was the alternative."

Both the Shady Sands government and NCR military were becoming increasingly unpopular in the Equestrian Territories. With this rise in discontent towards their own government the people of the Equestrian Territories began to look outward. The adjacent Equestria was an eye opener for many NCR citizens. The peaceful harmonic lifestyle of the average Equestrian was very appealing to NCR citizens. Especially to the hundreds of workers who had been brought through the portal to work on farms or in mines.

Another nation that had an effect on the NCR civilians was the United States. When they heard of the arrival of the Americans many in the NCR feared a return of the Enclave. NCR military officials even went as far as to propose an alliance and coordination with Equestria’s military in order to preemptively strike at what they believe is Enclave Remnants who are here to conquer this world. While Princess Celestia was reluctant to go war she did agree to lend support if this ‘Enclave’ made trouble.

It was these horror stories told by the NCR that attributed to Equestria's reluctance in establishing diplomatic relations with the United States. Even after the Junta was deposed and it became apparent that this US was not the Enclave of their world Princess Celestia still chose to observe the small nation. It was only after the US requested to use Canterlot for a formal peace summit for the human nations and the US' liberation of Mareland that Celestia realized the US was a nation that valued Harmony.

Unlike Equestria the NCR was unable to see this. Word of ‘Enclave Remnants’ in Equestria had already spread back through the portal to Shady Sands. Debates raged in NCR Congress on what was to be done about these Enclave in their ‘New Frontier’. The more hawkish senators called for immediate war against the US. The moderates however said that the NCR was unable to wage war on that scale yet so proposed that they expand the infrastructure of the Equestrian territories in order to build a better base to attack from. This bill swiftly made it through Congress and called for the industry and infrastructure of the Equestrian territories to be expanded in order to attack the Enclave in the future. Shipyards were erected to build transport vessels to carry their troops, more advanced tech from vertibirds to power armor were brought over. Civilians were drafted to expand the territories’ garrison.

All of this build up continued even when it became apparent, to both the government & civilians, that the United States was not the Enclave. Information that this US was from the year 1984 and had absolutely no similarities to the organization so hated in NCR society. Despite this the buildup did not stop. The revelation that the US was not the Enclave was brushed over in Shady Sands with it merely being given a passing mention in the NCR Congress. It became apparent to the civilians and soldiers that their government wanted a war. Calling the US the Enclave was just a convenient excuse to take more land. This turned out to be the final straw.

Just before the Territories was scheduled to receive a new battalion of Elite Rangers they made their move. The Rangers arrived at the military facility containing their portal to Equus to see things had changed. A new flag now flew over the ramparts. The Rangers were told not to approach or they would be fired upon. As the Rangers wondered what was going on a long line of unarmed people were being sent out the facility gate. The leader of this party was Military Governor Colonel Jameson with Ranger Sutton nearby. The two of them were brought before the NCR Congress to explain what happened.

Congress was stunned as the Colonel told them how almost the entire population including many of the soldiers rebelled. He and his loyalists were swiftly disarmed and sent back through the portal after being told in no uncertain terms that the Equestrian territories were now an independent nation: The Union of Free Beings and its President David Carolla, who was the territories liaison to Equestria, while willing to form positive relations would not accept NCR soldiers on Union land.

Congress was furious at this ‘succession’ attempt and swiftly sent troops to retake the facility. This proved to be a poor decision. The NCR was fearful of other wasteland factions attempting to take the portal away from them with one known as the Brotherhood of Steel being chief among them. It was this fear that motivated them to turn the portal facility into the most fortified place in the wasteland. Machine gun bunkers, trenches, barbed wire, landmines, artillery positions with preset killzones, and legions of reprogrammed robots. Several NCR battalions attempted to take the facility and only 32 made it out of the meat grinder. The NCR Congress reluctantly recognized the independence of the Union after this mishap and the Union stated that it was more than willing to destroy the portal behind them if the NCR got close to taking the base. The Union was more than self-sufficient by this point and even if it wasn’t both Equestria and the US would not let it fall.

Trade between the NCR and Union continued though tilted heavily in the Union’s favor. In exchange for resources, which the NCR had become very dependent on, the Union would receive advanced technology like energy weapons, fusion cores, robots, and power armor. The Union then traded these pieces of tech to the other nations on Equus increasing its standing & influence. The sale of several vertibirds, suits of power armor, & robots to the United States gave the Union an entire airforce overnight with the US paying for it with 100 F-86 Sabres and 100 UH-1 Huey helicopters.

News of the Union’s independence spread through the wasteland. Many had heard of the portal but the NCR’s defense of it kept many from trying to take it. The Union declaring its independence had led many wasteland powers to attempt to establish relations with it in the hopes of securing even a small portion of its riches. Official Union policy was to have limited presence on their old world but they still heard many factions out.

First was the Brotherhood of Steel who approached the base in full power armor though under a white flag. The Brotherhood attempted to get the Union to accept Brotherhood protection in exchange for access to the portal but the Union didn’t budge. The Union had made sure to let the Brotherhood know that they weren’t something you could just knock over with power armor & laser rifles. The Union’s new UH-1s were performing patrols while the Brotherhood visited and the meeting was held in a garage where US bought Sherman Tanks were on full display. Since that display of power the Brotherhood only showed up with things to trade, usually technical data and a piece of tech they were willing to part with.

To the Union’s surprise Caesar’s Legion actually paid them a visit. Legion Frumentarii approached the gate in full uniform while carrying a white flag. Union soldiers almost shot them anyway but ultimately decided to hear them out. The Frumentarii said that Caesar had noticed how they seceded from the NCR and offered to sign a non aggression pact. As long as the Union didn’t give military aid to the NCR the Legion would not bother them. President Carolla immediately recognized this as a ploy by the Legion to the Union from giving material aid to the NCR. He still signed the non aggression pact though since he had no interest in trading weapons to the NCR. Last thing he wanted was to give the NCR more guns.

At the outbreak of the Great War the Union joined the then United Ponies Alliance, which became the Alliance of Harmonious Nations, to help defend Equestria from the Changeling hordes. Because of this Equestrian-Union relations remain quite positive to this day.

My Time Among Bears by Fireheart, Royal Equestrian Publishing, 1036 ALB

The Last Mare of Mareland

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Official Motto of Marelandia

The Commonwealth of New Mareland had suffered much in recent years. Black Wednesday has left the nation's economy in tatters. Tensions between the griffon natives and pony colonists were at an all time high. Their immediate neighbors were becoming increasingly aggressive. A section of their nation had become home to a bunch of hairless apes from another world. Throughout all of this they received no help from Equestria or the crown.

Governor Jet Set was finding it increasingly hard to maintain pro-equestrian sentiment among the population who felt betrayed. The saying ‘Celestia’s Sun Sets On New Mareland’ was becoming very popular among the disgruntled citizens. When a petition arrived on his desk with support from much of the government & populace he found his hooves tied. A few days later a shocked Celestia received word that New Mareland, due to indifference of the crown towards its plight, were now declaring their independence. Celestia attempted to find some kind of way to get the ponies of Mareland to reconsider but this attempt proved to be futile. New Mareland was leaving and no one could stop them.

Almost immediately people wondered just what path should their now independent nation take. Some looked towards the US which had been buying land off the New Mareland government which had helped the nation’s economy greatly. Some wished to form a new government based on the US. Others wished to make an alliance with the small nation. A radical few wanted to join the US and form a united human-pony-griffon government. Unfortunately none of these plans came into fruition. Instead New Mareland was about to go red.

Communism had quickly become very popular in the struggling New Mareland society. One such communist party known as MARESOC, short for Marelandian Socialism, had promised to create a society where everyone was equal. Slowly but surely MARESOC assumed control over the country. First they had Jet Set recognize Stalliongradian independence, the first Equestrian affiliated nation to do so. Next they implemented numerous reforms that placed much of the nation’s manufacturing & infrastructure under government control. Last they began replacing many elected officials with MARESOC members. The last measure was not accepted by many Marelandians who attempted to resist.

On a cool saturday morning a mob of protestors gathered outside the government building where MARESOC’s leader resided to protest the new laws. Survivors of the incident say they could see her stare out the window at them, her purple eyes uncaring & mouth in a slight frown. She continued staring as MARESOC troops supported by Bitty Simple tanks gunned down the protestors. Immediately after the massacre MARESOC removed any pretenses of New Mareland being a free nation. The borders were closed, unauthorized transport between cities banned, Jet Set was imprisoned, and a curfew was in immediate effect.

It was then the Great Purge began. Anypony that had said even the most minuscule of criticism towards MARESOC during its rise to power was executed from politicians to journalists to even civilians on the street. Fear soon gripped the country as MARESOC’s new ‘Thoughtpolice’ ensured everyone was thinking correctly.

Everyday as all traces of the old order were eradicated the leader of MARESOC, known as Big Sister, would go on the radio telling the people that she loved them and that she must be firm in order to keep the nation from falling. In addition to their long hours of work making weapons the people of New Mareland had to report for ‘re-education’. The ponies of New Mareland were ‘corrected’ on the many things they believed to be true.

There never was a ‘New Mareland’. This place had always been Marelandia. They never were a colony to Equestria. They were in fact at war with Equestria and always have been. The United States and humanity didn’t come from another world. They had always been there. It wasn’t Marelandia territory that the US sat upon but US territory that Marelandia would one day take. As if someone could take land from Big Sister! Big Sister had always been their leader. They weren’t living in poverty. Things were actually better than how they used to be! Don’t they remember?

The ponies of Marelandia weren’t stupid. They knew this was all nonsense but when under threat of being arrested by the thoughtpolice they were willing to think whatever Big Sister wanted. At first they were simply pretending to believe but with each passing day under constant propaganda more and more ponies started to actually believe. By the time of the Liberation there were barely any ponies left that didn’t become good obedient and ignorant proles.

Still not everyone had fallen under the sway of MARESOC. Cross Island & New Manehatten had both seceded and joined the US upon MARESOC’s take over. Many of New Hoofington’s residents sailed across the channel on makeshift rafts towards New Manehatten before Marelandia set up a proper coastal patrol. The native griffons were easily the biggest opponents to the new order. Unfortunately for them Big Sister wasn’t willing to take no for an answer. Those that they couldn’t deport to surrounding nations were ‘unpersoned’. All information on that person's existence from photographs, official documents, and even other people in the most drastic cases were simply erased. If an unperson wasn’t executed outright they became ‘living equipment’. Working long hours with little rest and given lower rations than the most destitute of proles. Unpersons were quite literally worked to death.

Ironically the few griffons that decided to give in to Big Sister and become good proles got to experience something that was only dreamed about in the old Commonwealth: racial equality. In Marelandia there was only the Inner Part, Outer Party, and Proles. It didn’t matter if someone was a pony, griffon, or thestral. That kind of thing didn’t matter in Marelandia, only your social class did. Many griffons actually managed to join the Inner Party and a thestral was one of Marelandia’s best generals.

MARESOC and Big Sister only ruled over Mareland for little over four years. It is for this reason most are shocked at just how much damage they did in so little time. Those that had visited the nation before Big Sister’s rise to power could not recognize the country. The American Liberation while destructive was unable to compare to the amount of destruction done under Big Sister’s orders. All of Mareland’s iconic and majestic buildings were either repurposed or destroyed. The Sunset Opera House was bulldozed and replaced with a munitions plant. The New Hoofington Museum of Fine Art was burned. Thousands of civilian homes were left to rot as their owners were crowded into massive shanty towns outside the major cities. The history of entire cities and regions were rewritten to fit the Inner Party’s narrative. New Hoofington and New Ponyland both had the ‘New’ taken out of their names. The region of Celestia was renamed in honor of Big Sister.

The United States from the moment the first MARESOC flags were raised over Mareland started making plans to invade the country. Unfortunately the US military was still in shambles at this point in time. Being more akin to a mob, though a well organized & equipped one, than an actual army the US military was barely capable of defending their home territories. Performing an invasion of Marelandia which would require multiple naval landings would require a lot of planning & preparation.

It would all have to wait though. The United States was about to undergo its own government change and unlike Mareland this one would be for the better.

Excerpt from The Last Mare of Mareland: Rise & Fall of MARESOC by Gorge & Ore Well, New Washington Printing Company, 1032 ALB

Author's Note

I honestly didn't know whether or not to have Big Sister be a real person or not. In 1984 its heavily hinted that Big Brother isn't actually real but just a face & mouthpiece for the Inner Party. Ultimately I decided to have Big Sister be the real, and somewhat mysterious, leader of MARESOC.

The Banner Still Waves

Many wonder how the Junta managed to retain control for so long after crossing the portal to Equus. Especially when you consider the fact they were surrounded by people they had wrong whether it was the Canadians & South Americans who they invaded or the American Soldiers & Civilians who they exploited & betrayed. Several prominent historians attribute the loss of Earth completely as the fault of the Junta. Their unwillingness to even attempt to make peace with the Soviets and their invasion of South America & alienation of the Europeans turned what could have been a short albeit bloody conflict into the apocalypse.

After everything the Junta did you would think they would have been lynched the moment they came through the portal. You must understand that in those early days the last thing on everyone’s mind was revolution. There was little food besides what they brought with them and the few relief supplies given by the struggling New Mareland government. People were living in tents and hastily constructed shelters. It would not be an exaggeration to say the Americans had nothing because they did have nothing. That is why the resurgence of the United States as not just a nation but a major power was considered to be a modern miracle.

The first thing on the ‘United States Provisional Government’s’, which was just the Military Junta under a different name, list was to get the millions of people under their command both fed, clothed, and housed. Due to this being outside their expertise and the sheer scale of such an operation the Junta created the Office of New World Reconstruction or the NWR. The NWR was a mostly civilian agency being made up of as many city planners, engineers, scientists, farmers, contractors, and other similar roles the Junta could find. The NWR would write up a bunch of initiatives and laws that they believed should be implemented which the Junta would reluctantly do.

The first was the reformation of the Department of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture was one of the few members of the Reagan Administration to survive the attack on DC. He then managed to survive under the Junta’s rule by not asserting his authority since by all rights the Presidency should have gone to him since he was the highest living person on the line of succession. He called for a series of ‘vertical farms’ to be built to conserve space in addition to some normal farming. Since ponies were herbivorous the waters around New Mareland were overflowing with fish. While it wouldn't fill everyone’s belly there was more than enough to keep people from starving until other food sources could be secured.

The farms were producing crops months ahead of schedule due to the NWR’s willingness to include the native ponies & griffons into their projects. When the Secretary of Agriculture learned of the Pegasus (and to a lesser extent Griffon) ability to manipulate weather he immediately began making plans to start recruiting them intent on forming his own weather teams. While it would be decades before the US had scheduled weather like in Equestrian aligned nations it would enjoy having weather teams helping improve agricultural production.

Another big help to American agriculture was the inclusion of Earth Ponies to farms. While initially skeptical farmers quickly came to love their new Earth Pony workers who greatly improved crop production by them simply being there. This is due to the natural magic of Earth Ponies which made plants grow quicker when tended to by them. It was thanks to them that rationing was able to be ceased several months early allowing many Americans to have full stomachs again.

The next thing on the NWR’s list was to form some kind of industrial base. Thankfully tools and machinery was one of the things brought over from Earth. The NWR actually entered negotiations with New Mareland to share industrial secrets if the colony made machinery for them as well though these negotiations fell through after the rise of MARESOC. In the months after the US’ arrival the NWR would establish several factories making important civilian goods like clothing, tents, blankets, cars, and other basic equipment needed for construction or living. Unfortunately the Junta demanded that several factories be set aside for making weaponry to reform the US military. While a little upset, the NWR could see the Junta’s point.

The US was surrounded by enemies on almost all sides. The Kingdom of Aquileia or more specifically its King had been eyeing the territory occupied by the humans. He heard of the advanced weaponry wielded by the humans that was decades ahead of what anyone on Equus could make. With weapons like those he could destroy his enemies! The Junta was less than amused at his offer for the US to become a vassal state of Aquileia. They politely refused the King’s generous request.

Next to New Mareland was the Kingdom of Wingbardy where Giulio Beakolini had just been made Prime Minister after his march on the capital. All Americans couldn’t help but be unsettled at the scary resemblance this griffon had to italian dictator Mussolini. If he was anything like Mussolini he would soon be eying up his neighbors and the small island populated by otherworldly beings with advanced technology would be a tempting target.

Big Sister and MARESOC were like a nightmare right out of ‘1984’. The only difference being that instead of an eternal war against other superstates ‘Marelandia’ was instead a small nation that pretended to be at war with various nations, the US included, to control the populace. Marelandian military forces would typically fire artillery at their own cities claiming it was attacks from foreign powers. The Junta did make note of the military build up that Marelandia was undergoing and knew the fake war wouldn’t be fake for long.

As the Junta prepared for war the NWR continued its mission by focusing on housing next. The city of New Washington was only a city in name. In truth it was a collection of tents, shacks, and other rudimentary shelters. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who also managed to survive, was given the task of rebuilding America’s cities. To say he had a difficult task ahead of him would be an understatement. The large expansive suburbs that Pre-WW3 America was known for would have to be avoided due to lack of space. High Rise Apartment buildings were the way forward though the NWR would have to keep them from descending into slums & ghettos.

Thus began Operation: Home Sweet Home. The NWR had crews working around the clock to construct apartment buildings, shops, roads, and other structures. Foreign and Domestic observers said it was like ‘an entire city grew overnight’. At the height of construction crews typically finished the shell of an apartment in one day. By the end of the next day it was mostly complete. By the end of the third day people were ready to move in.

The sheer speed in which these buildings were constructed did cause some to fear they were built by cutting corners. While that was initially the Junta’s plan (to save resources) it was quickly vetoed by the NWR. The HUD Secretary would go on to say that the American people needed real homes of brick & concrete not ones built with lies & empty promises. The fact that the NWR was able to veto the Junta in the first place showed that the Junta’s power was beginning to fade and democracy was starting to truly come back to the United States.

While some would try to present the return of democracy to the United States as a grand event that rivalled that of the original American Revolution or the Second Aquileian Revolution in truth it was actually a slow gradual affair. As the US slowly began to get back onto its feet the Junta gave more and more power to civilian organizations & agencies. This was done mostly for practical reasons since the Junta could not run every facet of reconstruction themselves no matter how much they wanted to. These independent groups like the NWR, Police, and even the reformed CIA all contributed to the return of democracy but the most credit went to the American people themselves.

Americans, Canadians, and Latin Americans were all displeased towards the Junta for one reason or another. For the Canadians and Latin Americans it was the invasion of their countries during WW3. For Americans it was the Junta’s harsh military rule. Unlike what many believe the ‘Second American Revolution’ was less of a revolution and more of a bloodless exchange of power. People point to the New Washington Riot and Soldier’s Protests but these two events had little to do with the Junta’s fall. This was because the democratic movement in the US was highly disorganized. Most places did not even have electricity yet let alone phones so any attempts to create some organized form of protest was a pipe dream at best.

Still the efforts of the people were not in vain however. It showed the moderate members of the Junta that they no longer had the support of the people and it let the surviving members of the US Government know that now was the right time to make their move. While the Junta were having a meeting in their headquarters several dozen armed men of the New Washington Police Department and Congress-aligned US Military approached the building. They expected some kind of fight to break out with the soldiers guarding the building but they met no resistance. The Junta was swiftly arrested on charges of treason ((though only a handful were actually convicted) and Congress immediately took control of the nation. Celebrations lasted for days as the people rejoiced that democracy had returned to their nation. Congress wasted no time in offering official apologies to the Canadians & Latin Americans for the invasion of their countries. They along with the pony & griffon natives were also given full natural born citizenship which the Junta had been wholly against.

This move ended up winning the acceptance of the natives who up until this point had been fairly distrusting of humans. They now saw the United States as their nation and began to participate more in its rebuilding. New Manehatten which had been against the Junta’s proposal of settling humans within the city now happily welcomed their new human countrymen. As the nation was reorganized into new states and elections were held both ponies & griffons ran for office and even secured a significant number of seats in Congress. Thousands of ponies and griffons enlisted in the US military with a few even gaining command positions.

While the old United States was gone, burned in nuclear fire, the United States of the Americas was here to stay.

Excerpt from The Banner Still Waves by Prof. Alexander Silas, New Washington Printing Company, 1027 ALB

Author's Note

The next two chapters will be proper story ones both concerning New Mare- I mean Marelandia. I expect both of them to be doubleplusgood.

Big Sister

Marelandia
City of Sunset
Inner Party Bunker

Big Sister gazed at the reports on her desk, her normally stoic face beginning to falter.. This was doubleplus ungood…

She shook her head. She was glad that her office was a safe space otherwise someone would have seen her broken facade. Her office was without a doubt the only place in all of Marelandia that wasn’t being monitored. There was no telescreen, hidden cameras, or thoughtpolice officer listening in. She had something no one else in Marelandia did: true privacy. Ironic that even though she could act the way she wanted in her office she still maintained her normal emotionless behavior.

One reason for that was that she honestly believed emotions held people back. If eveypony simply did away with their emotional connections then they could align themselves with something far greater: the very state itself. While the unenlightened would call what the proles lived in to be poverty what it actually did was allow them to focus only on their work. All outside distractions were removed leaving only their work. All luxuries including the luxury of a full stomach were now gone. While there were still many who were upset at the state of things they eventually accepted their role in life. They had to otherwise they would be paid a visit by the thoughtpolice…

Another reason was that everypony had a role. The Proles were to fight and work. The Outer Party handled the bureaucracy. The Inner Party were the leaders. And she served as the face of not just MARESOC but all of Marelandia. While it wasn’t fair it was efficient. Reports (actual ones telling the truth and not prole intended propaganda) say that manufacturing & production has reached heights beyond that of Pre-Depression New Mareland. Soon they would even eclipse Celestia’s so-called pony paradise.

She absolutely despised Celestia believing her to be why Equestria was so backwards and stagnant. Still she was willing to admit she was a fantastic symbol for all of ponykind to rally behind. All of ponykind, even those here in Griffonia knew of Solar Princess. There were more than a few in Equestria that treated her like a goddess who could do no wrong. That was what she wished to be for Marelandia. A larger than life figure for the populace to rally behind and in turn enhance the nation.

It was her stoic determination that encouraged the proles. It was her words of encouragement and love that made everyone keep working. It was her silent disappointment that dissenters saw last. It was the mystery around her that worried her enemies. She made sure that there was barely any info about her floating around. The Ministry of Truth had erased any information they could find on her, not that there was much to begin with. To the world at large it was like she just showed up one day and that was how she liked it. Her past was better off buried…

For the barest of seconds her eyes wandered down to her bare flanks before she caught herself. She didn’t need some kind of stamp on her butt to define who she was! As the works of Starlight Glimmer said cutie marks only served to promote division and disunity. Those with ‘superior’ cutie marks looking down on those with more mundane ones. Well now everyone did the same kind of work no matter what their cutie mark told them they should be doing. Factory work and manual labor isn’t all that difficult and doesn’t have that high of a learning curve. Even someone with a frivolous talent could be taught to be a worker, laborer, or soldier of average skill level.

She continued working when suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Enter” she said while making sure her face was completely stoic.

An Inner Party official of the Ministry of Peace came in and handed her a document. She waited until the official left before she read it. Her eyes widened. It was a declaration of war… The United States had just declared war on Marelandia! The Ministry of Truth had picked up this transmission coming from the US. Minitrue had its hooves full trying to block every single transmission coming from the US from news reports to music. Nothing could be allowed to reach the Proles after all.

She couldn’t believe this… War… The war was supposed to be fake, not real! Marelandia was nowhere near ready to go to war! Especially against a technologically superior nation! They were going to ruin everything she had built! She continued having this mental breakdown until she remembered her place. Everyone had one including her. She was Big Sister! She couldn’t be panicking like a little filly. She started to look at this a bit more objectively.

Sure the Americans had fancy guns & planes but they couldn’t have made enough to fight a large scale war. Even if they did, who are they going to give them to? From what she knew the humans had fled a world ravaged by war. She couldn’t imagine them willingly charging into another one. She also couldn’t imagine ponies and griffons fighting for a bunch of aliens. It was more than possible for them to drown the Americans in sheer numbers. They could also start planning an invasion of American held islands which would be laughably easy since their navy was a single heavy cruiser and a few destroyers which were all hastily constructed. While New Mareland’s navy wasn’t the best on the continent it was certainly formidable and they’ve only added to it in the years they’ve been in power.

What was she panicking for? This was going to be simple. She reached for her phone to call the Ministry of Peace. They were to take their naval bombers and sink the American Fleet while it was still at anchor. Once it was gone they could invade the island at their leisure. Now what was she going to do with all those human proles she’d soon be getting?

Author's Note

Big Sister is someone that believes in efficiency at all costs. The feelings or even lives of people doesn't really matter in her eyes as long as things are made more efficient. Despite the people of Marelandia living in absolute poverty lacking even the most basic of things needed to live happy healthy lives she sees it as an improvement since the country (at least on paper) is improving in all sectors.

People need to be kept absolutely miserable and have all distractions removed from their lives so they can focus only on their work. Her ultimate dream is to make it so Marelandia runs itself even when she is dead and gone. A nation where each and every citizen is simply a cog in the machine. They want for nothing because they need nothing. Work is all they are focused on because that was all they were brought up to believe in. All of its citizens worship Big Sister who represents the very idea of Marelandia itself.

The Battle of Sunset

“Alright Marines, let’s show em what we’re made of!”

Sergeant Erik Stevens tightened his grip on his M-14 as the LVTP-5 rocked back and forth. He could hear the rounds striking the hull of the vehicle one after another. He supposed he should be thankful the Marelandians weren’t shooting at them with something heavier. He should also probably be thankful he wasn’t going ashore in Higgins Boats like most of the Marine Corps.

The US military was a shell of its former self. It would take time and resources to get their industry to a point they could use all the advanced tech the US Military was known for. Until then they had to use & manufacture older equipment like the 50s era landing craft they were in. Luckily even some of their older stuff was a whole lot better than whatever the natives had. It was an advantage they needed since they were going to be outnumbered 10 to 1 at best.

The Marine Corps mission was to perform an amphibious invasion of the Marelandian capital city of Sunset. This when combined with the simultaneous landings at New Hoofington and Marebourne would leave the nation in disarray. Once they took the city they had to wait until either the Motorized & Mechanized forces from the north or the Infantry & Armor from the south relieved them. By that point MARESOC would have certainly capitulated.

The rocking of the LVTP soon came to a halt. The red light which illuminated the interior soon turned green. The ramp began to lower and… all hell broke loose.

Everyone charged out of the LVTP quickly trying to find cover. It looked like their driver had deposited them onto a beach near what looked to be a military dock of some sort. He said that because nearby there were several ships, a few transports and a destroyer, tied to the dock. The anti-aircraft guns on the destroyer were pointed skyward firing at the F-86s and UH-1s flying around. One Huey flew towards it firing a barrage of rockets at it causing the destroyer to explode in a brilliant ball of fire.

“Fuck!” yelled one of his squadmates as bits of twisted steel landed near him. “We’re gonna get killed out here!”

“What’s our orders?! Where’s the Lieutenant!?” yelled another.

“Lieutenant’s dead!” said their machine gunner as he fired his M60 towards a squad of Mareland soldiers taking potshots at them with bolt action rifles and submachine guns. There were flashes coming from the windows of the buildings directly behind those troops. Must be more soldiers inside them. If the Lieutenant was dead that meant the one in command was… him.

Everyone was looking at him now. ‘Take a deep breath Erik.’ he thought to himself ‘You’ve trained for this.’

“We have to get off the beach and start pushing into the city. Our objective is the ministry pyramids!” he said “Rawlings, keep suppressing those fuckers in the buildings. Jacobs, get on the horn! We need air support!”

Thankfully the beach had plenty of things to use for cover. The Marelandians seemed to use it as a junkyard since there were piles of rusty girders everywhere. He ducked behind one of them as a Huey flew overhead. It launched its rockets into the buildings and strafed the street with its .50 caliber machine guns. Only when the helicopter stopped firing did he peek over the girders. There was nothing left but burning buildings and the moans of the dying. This was like the Battle of Caracus all over again…

“Everyone move out.” he ordered. The squad which was originally 15 men now whittled down to just 8 slowly advanced deeper into the city. They moved slowly from cover to cover. There could be an enemy hiding in any building or behind any corner. He was a veteran of the South American campaign so he was no stranger to desperate urban combat. That was why the complete silence bothered him. The streets were completely deserted. Not a single soldier or civilian in sight. Where was everyone?

“Sarge, get a load of this.” said Rawlings as he peeked around a corner with his M60 at the ready.

“Hostiles?” he asked only for Rawlings to shake his head. His curiosity piqued he went over to see what Rawlings was talking about. His eyes widened at the sight. Every single building on the street was ablaze filling the air with smoke.

“Jesus Christ…” muttered Jacobs, their radio operator. “Did somebody call in a bombing run on this place?”

“Doesn’t look like it…” he said. There wasn’t any evidence this street had been bombed at all. No bomb craters, destroyed houses, or signs of any kind of explosion.

“You don’t think they’re setting fire to their own capital?” asked Rawlings “Scorched Earth and all that?”

That made sense. Deny the city to the enemy by burning it to the ground. Ivan did that to both Napoleon and Hitler. Hell, during World War 3 the Arabs burned their own oil fields just to keep the resource starved USSR and Europe from taking them.

“Come on.” he said “Let’s keep moving.”

They continued advancing through the city towards the massive pyramids that dominated the skyline. They happened across a few more burned streets but those paled in comparison to the unburned buildings. They had assumed the buildings near the beach were damaged in the fighting but as they explored more and more of the city they realized that those were in fact standard! Every building whether it was a home or shop was in severe disrepair. Broken windows, cracked concrete, and missing bricks. One house even had a piece of plywood nailed over what they assumed was a pretty large hole.

The state of the buildings no matter how bad they looked couldn’t compare to the street itself. Street after street was filled with mountains of rubbish & debris. MARESOC probably had no sort of sanitation department set up because every trash can and dumpster they saw was completely overflowed with garbage. Loss pieces of garbage were scattered across the streets pouring from bags that had been torn open. Some by the large & numerous rats wandering around with impunity. Others looked to have been opened by desperate proles hoping to find some scrap of food due to the presence of pots or bowls near them.

“Jesus… what kind of monster would make people live like this…” muttered Jacobs

“Big Sister is definitely a twisted bitch…” spat Rawlings as he stepped away from what looked like a pile of feces. Guess plumbing was something denied to the proles as well.

“I don’t think Command would mind if we roughed her up a bit once we capture her…” he said, earning smiles from the rest of the squad. A few of them began to talk about what they’d do to Big Sister and the rest of the Inner Party once they got their hands on them. Unfortunately they would have to continue their fantasizing at a different time. They had company. He ducked behind the rusted out shell of a car and pulled out his binoculars. Time to get a better look.

There were several dozen of them. A vast majority of them were proles. Ponies, Griffons, Threstrals, Griffons, and even a Diamond Dog. They were all wearing ratty jumpsuits or worn shirts. Each and every one of them seemed to be suffering from some form of malnourishment. All of the proles were unnaturally thin and their ribs could easily be seen through their poor clothing. Whie they seemed to be moments from passing out from hunger they didn’t act like it.

All of the proles had a smile on their face as they poured cans filled with gasoline through open doors and into windows. They would then throw in a burning rag or torch setting the building on fire. The proles all had big smiles as they destroyed their own homes and even sang what they assumed were patriotic songs while they did so. Overseeing this destruction were several uniformed ponies. They had black shirts and large hats with badges that said ‘Thought Police’. Most surprising of all was the fact that the thought police had brands of the MARESOC logo placed directly on top of their cutie marks completely obscuring them.

The thought police looked over the proles, their faces calm, and would occasionally barked out an order.

“Faster, proles!” yelled one “Big Sister says burn this American city to the ground!”

Rawlings looked over at him confused. “American City? What the hell is he spoon feeding them?”

He knew from the briefing that the MARESOC government presented itself as infallible. It constantly rewrote history trying to get rid of anything that even remotely went against government narrative or put it in a bad light. The loss of their capital to enemy forces would most certainly put it in a bad light. Unless… MARESOC rewrote history so that it wasn’t their capital…

Just then several massive explosions rocked the city. The towering Ministry Pyramids began to crumble into piles of rubble. This was insane! They weren’t even trying to defend the city! They were instead going to destroy it themselves! All just so they didn’t have to admit their capital was invaded in the first place!

Unfortunately their presence didn’t go unnoticed for long. He didn’t know whether a piece of their equipment glinted or if the thought police officer was naturally eagle eyed because he definitely saw them. What happened next was something that would end up haunting them for the rest of their lives.

“KILL!” the thought police officer yelled while pointing a hoof at them.

Instantly the proles charged at them with a few grabbing anything they could use as a weapon. He had been in the army for years and had seen some of the darkest moments of the Third World War in South America but he had never been more terrified until these half starved ponies started running towards him and his squad.

“Halt! Halt or you will be shot!” he said pointing his weapon towards the charging crowd which didn’t slow in the slightest. The eyes of the proles were feral and was a look he was more than familiar with. During the Battle of Caracus the Junta nuked Maracaibo to get the Venezuelans to surrender and hand over control of the oil fields. It only ended up making them fight even harder. For the rest of the battle it was easy to find a Venezuelan soldier who either lived in and/or had family in Maracaibo. They had the look of someone with nothing else to lose and just threw themselves at their lines.

“Halt!” he said one final time before giving the order to open fire when his warning was once again ignored. The crack of rifles and machine guns sounded and several of the proles collapsed to the ground. Those were the proles that were killed instantly. Those that were merely injured continued running towards them. More gunfire and even more proles fell but a significant number still pushed on despite their injuries. He even saw one unicorn mare, whose horn had been filed down to nothing, attempt to crawl towards them despite the four bullet wounds she had.

Soon the proles were far too close for their guns so they had to engage in melee. His M-14 had a bayonet on the end of it allowing him to stab the pony that attempted to tackle him. Another held a jagged rusty piece of metal in her hooves and tried to stab him with it. He introduced that pony’s face to his rifle butt. She fell to the ground coughing and dry heaving like he hit her in the chest. These proles weren’t in any condition to fight. They were barely in any condition to stand! Still the sheer number of them was able to give a few of his squad some trouble.

Rawlings was tackled to the ground by a griffon who managed to summon a surprising amount of strength despite her malnourished state. Rawlings held her off as she reached towards his face with her talons intent on clawing his face off. She only managed to leave a deep cut down his cheek before Rawlings managed to grab the knife on his belt and stab her in the gut. Almost immediately the griffon collapsed onto his chest retching.

Jacobs had it worse out of everyone. A gang of proles were kicking him. Other members of the squad attempted to save him but when that Diamond Dog came along it was all over. He had seen a few Diamond Dogs in New Manehatten so he knew just how strong they could be. Watching a Diamond Dog construction worker lift a steel girder like it was nothing was something you didn’t just forget. The Diamond Dog managed to get her paws around Jacobs’ neck and started squeezing. Almost instantly he turned blue and his eyes started to bulge out of his skull. He put two rounds in the Diamond Dog’s back and started to go check on Jacobs.

The next thing he knew his entire head was ringing as something hit him square on the helmet. As he stood there momentarily in a daze there were several shots. Richard, the squad medic, walked over to him and asked if he was alright. After he said yes Richard explained what happened. Apparently the thought police officers decided to intervene once they saw the proles were starting to get dispatched. He took a round directly to the helmet. Richards said he should count himself lucky the thought police officers only had revolvers on them. Anything heavier and it would have penetrated instead of bouncing.

Richards had checked on Jacobs. The man’s neck was broken and his windpipe almost crushed flat. He needed an immediate medevac if he was going to survive and he wasn’t the only one. All around them were injured proles too weak to even move. He still couldn’t believe what just happened. One word from the thought police officer and the proles attacked them like wild animals! Didn’t they know they were here to rescue them!? The Air Force had been dropping leaflets on Marelandia cities for days! It wasn’t possible for them not to know!

Could it be… that they simply didn’t care?

He had read Orwell’s 1984 in High School as part of a reading assignment so he had some frame of reference on just how awful Marelandia could be. Reading about it was one thing but seeing it for himself was another. Unlike a few people back home he had no trouble seeing all the different races of this world as people. They were just like humans despite having fur, wings, hooves, feathers, etc. So what kind of monster would do this kind of thing to other people?

Big Sister was going to pay for this…

They called some evac choppers for Jacobs and the proles. There was an old park nearby so the choppers had room to land. All of the trees had been cut down, probably by proles wanting firewood. After Jacobs and the proles were loaded up and on their way to a hospital ship parked off the coast they continued deeper into the city. Despite the destruction of the Ministries their orders still stood. Intel gathered by the CIA said that underneath the Ministry buildings was a massive Inner Party bunker. Big Sister supposedly spent all her time here from the moment construction finished never leaving once. Hopefully she would still be there.

They thankfully encountered no more resistance on the way to Ministry Square. The Marelandians were pulling out to meet up with forces in the countryside. Looking over the rubble they didn’t find much. Just piles of concrete and twisted steel. Eventually Rawlings happened across an intact stairwell heading down into what looked like a basement area. The downstairs was surprisingly expansive. Add in the fact that most of the power was off shrouding the underground halls in darkness made exploration a slow affair.

Eventually they happened across a door marked with the number ‘101’. This struck them as odd because they hadn’t seen any other numbered doors. Just doors marked with signs that said ‘storage’ or ‘maintenance’. He remembered reading about such a room in 1984 but due to it being so long ago he couldn’t remember what it was for. Rawlings peeked inside with his flashlight. A few moments later he immediately slammed the door and collapsed against the wall with his head in his hands. It took them several minutes to get him to stop muttering to himself and crying. What the hell was in there that shook him up so badly?

After Rawlings had somewhat calmed down they pressed on. They soon came across a large room with still working lights. Inside the room was a large metal blast door. He couldn’t help but impressively whistle when he saw it. The door was huge and undoubtedly thick. Upon seeing it Richards wryly quipped ‘yeah it’s definitely this door’ and he couldn’t help but agree. There was a stairwell nearby that led up to the basement of a police station turned thoughtpolice headquarters.

After radioing the location of the bunker they were told to hold onto the police station until reinforcements arrived. While waiting for reinforcements they found a few cells occupied by proles. Unlike the ones that attack them these proles were not brainwashed which was probably the reason they were locked up here. Upon opening the cells he and his squad were hugged by grateful ponies and griffons.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” said one pegasus mare “I knew you’d rescue us!”

“If you don’t mind me asking what did the thoughtpolice lock you up for?” he asked.

“They caught me reading one of your leaflets.” the mare said smiling softly. “They were just about to drag me off to Room 101 when the explosions started.”

He stiffened and he could see Rawlings do the same out of the corner of his eye. “Room 101? What’s that?”

“The Worst Thing In The World…” she says shuddering “They say anypony taken in there either comes out an obedient prole or they don’t come out at all…”

Jesus… They couldn’t defeat Marelandia quickly enough. Hopefully the other landings went just as well as this one otherwise they wouldn’t be able to hold the city. If they were successful they would slowly squeeze Marelandia before crushing them in the middle. Then they would get started on fixing this mess.

He looked over to the freed proles who were enjoying the rations given to them with tears streaming down their faces. Victory couldn’t happen soon enough.

Author's Note

Marelandia always falls ridiculously quickly. I hit them with three simultaneous landings in different parts of the country (one of which is the capital) which is more than what the AI can deal with. That when coupled by the technological gap, lack of an air force, and few starting armies makes Marelandia an easy power to knock over for the US which is desperate for land.

As for what is in Room 101... use your imagination.

The End of the Line

Marel- United States of the Americas
City of Sunset
Inner Party Bunker

This couldn’t be happening… This couldn’t be happening…

All of her hard work gone just like that! The war had only been going on for little over a week and the Americans had already taken half the country. Every hour that passed left fewer & fewer troops for the Ministry of Peace to command. She could start to see some flaws in her system at least where defense was concerned. It was hard trying to make it appear like you were winning when in truth your forces were being slaughtered on all fronts!

No! What was she saying!? Her system was perfect! They weren’t losing! They were winning! How else could they build a secret bunker deep in the heart of America?

She found herself relying more and more on Doublethink as the war went on. What was originally conceived as a way for the proles and Outer Party to better deal with abrupt changes in government narrative was now a way for her and the Inner Party to cope with these recent world shattering events. A part of her couldn’t help but find the fact that their propaganda was so effective she actually started believing in it herself a little bit ironic. A majority of her psyche didn’t see it as a laughing matter unfortunately. All their dreams of a perfect equal society were going up in smoke!

This was too much to deal with right now… Maybe she should take a nap…

She got up from her desk and walked over to a small cot tucked away in the corner of her office. Next to it was a toilet and shelf with a number of ration bars. Not the kind of accommodations people would expect Big Sister to have especially when compared to the sheer excess the Inner Party would live in. Once they beat the Americans and the nation stabilized a bit more she would introduce her minimalist lifestyle to the Inner Party. Whether they wanted it or not…

When she awoke things had not gotten better. Three divisions of Marelandian troops were overrun by American forces. She had long given the order to not surrender under any circumstances. Thoughtpolice Commissars watched the soldiers closely though this was mostly unnecessary. The Marelandian Military was her greatest success story. Each and every soldier was absolutely fanatical and more than willing to sacrifice themselves for Marelandia.

But it still wasn't enough! The Americans were either encircling her forces or outright overrunning them! They had already taken the Harvi and Hoofington regions!

No! The Americans have not taken Harvi and Hoofington! These places have always been America's. Marelandian troops didn't die defending them. It was instead American forces futilely trying to defend their territory from them.

She calmed down as those defeats no longer existed in her mind. Marelandia was invincible and she was infallible. She ordered the factories to go into overtime making weapons and ammunition for the army. The workday increased from 12 hours to 16 as proles worked to keep the army supplied. While the thought police recorded low arrests for 'bad thinkers' the equipment coming out of the factories was of poor quality. Bullets were duds, guns jammed, and vehicles typically fell apart long before reaching the battlefield.

She honestly couldn't figure out the reason why their equipment was subpar without falling into the hole of doublethink. Proles sabotaging equipment? What reason would proles have to sabotage! They're happy! American bombing of their factories and supply lines? As if the Americans could bomb Marelandia! The resources going to the factories being poor quality? Marelandian resources are the best in the world! Other countries would kill to have steel as high quality as theirs!

Since she was unable to formulate a reason for their poor equipment that didn't set off her doublethink she simply forgot about it. It no longer existed in her mind. She would forget about a lot of things in the coming days. From generals, military divisions, and entire towns & cities. Soon all that was left of Marelandia was the city of Hoovesplain located right on the Wingbardian border.

She had the utmost confidence in the City-State of Marelandia defeating the weak American nation. While they may have only a single infantry division and a handful of Bitty Simple tanks it was more than enough to deal with the Americans. A single brave Marelandian was worth a thousand of the pitiful Americans who were starving under their oppressive leaders known as ‘Congress’. The General was in combat with the Americans right now. She expected to hear of them forced to retreat in an hour or so.

When no such report came she became confused. What was taking the General so long? She tried contacting the Inner Party official in charge of Hoovesplain but her transmission didn’t go through. She wasn’t picking up any Marelandian transmissions! Just American ones claiming the ‘final’ Marelandian stronghold of Hoovesplain had fallen. She could only shake her head at such antics. Hoovesplain wasn’t a Marelandia city! Marelandia never had any cities!

BOOM!

She fell out of her chair as the entire bunker shook. Concrete dust from the ceiling now coated her desk and drifted through the air. Stifling a cough she opened the door to her office. She was now inside a large conference room which is where she met with the many members of the Inner Party to discuss the state of the nati- bunker. The bunker was quite large being home to almost 200 souls. There were Inner Party, Thought Police, Outer Party bureaucrats, and Prole servants.

BOOM!

What was that!? She walked down a deserted hallway towards the source of the loud noise. She passed by an open office door. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and slowly backtracked. Did she see what she thought she saw? She walked back to the open office door and peeked inside. She gasped silently as she got a good look at the scene before her. Slumped on top of the desk was Inner Party member Gear Forger. A pistol lay on the floor next to him and a bloody hole was in the side of his head. He wasn’t rotting and the blood was still flowing so this was fairly recent.

She couldn’t help but be unsettled by this. While she was no stranger to death, the protestors she watched be executed came to mind, this was different in the fact that she knew Gear Forger. He used to be a member of the Communist Party of New Mareland before she convinced him to join up with her. He was the first pony she ever convinced. He helped her hash out the structure of Marelandian Socialism and introduced her to other prominent communists. He could be considered the first member of the Inner Party so she was quite shocked to see him dead from what was obviously a self inflicted gunshot.

While she didn’t believe in the tyrant Celestia’s constant spouting of the ‘magic’ of friendship she greatly enjoyed Gear’s company. Normally this would be a time to mourn but…

She looked away from this… unperson. Inner Party did not commit suicide. What reason would they have to… kill themselves in her perfect society. This was probably just some prole or Outer Party member. Yeah. That was it…

She continued walking towards the source of the noise passing by other ponies & griffons performing their duties. She ignored the Thought Police officers carrying body bags out of offices. Those didn’t exist in her mind. When she reached the source of the noise and shaking her heart stopped. For the first time in years a wave of strong emotions ran through her body. It was one that she was quite familiar with having become acquainted with it when she was a starving filly: Fear.

BOOM!

Another small dent appeared on the great steel door that was the only entrance to the bunker. Someone was trying to blast their way in! All of the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and truths she had been repressing for so long resurfaced all at once as the reality of the situation finally hit her. They… She… had lost…

Tears began to flow from her eyes as she galloped back to her office not caring about the looks she was getting from those that saw her. She barricaded herself within her office. The Americans were coming for her. She would most certainly be tried and executed by them. In the eyes of most of the world her crimes were unforgivable. Being executed in front of the whole world wasn’t something she wanted to experience. There was another way...

She opened a drawer on her desk. Her eyes widened as she looked at the small revolver sitting in the drawer. She picked it up, her hooves shaking. Were… these things supposed to be this heavy… Should she go out the way Gear did? At least it would be on her terms…

‘NO!’ screamed a part of her mind. The years of propaganda and doublethink weren’t going quietly. Marelandia could not lose! Because… Because… Her mind went blank for a moment as it struggled to form a new pro-marelandian memory. It honestly couldn’t find a way to explain the current state of things without making Marelandia look bad. Eventually it finally came up with something and for the first time in decades she genuinely smiled…

Marelandia could not lose because it didn’t exist. This place has always been the United States. We have always been ruled over by the President & Congress. We have always been Americans. MARESOC did not exist and Big Sister didn’t exist either…

Sergeant Eric Stevens watched as the engineers finally started to make progress with the blast door to the Inner Party Bunker. To say that it was tough would be an understatement. It had taken them almost a month to get this thing open. First they tried blasting it open but it was far too thick. Then they tried cutting but apparently there were a few defensive spells embedded into the door keeping it from being harmed. Those turned out to be the main reason why their C4 charges caused no more than a few dents. So they had to fly over some experienced unicorns from New Manehatten to help break down the spells. That took a week because even though Marelandia looked down on Unicorn magic, going as far to cut off a unicorn’s horn, they still made sure they possessed competent battle mages.

Once those were gone the Marine Corps Engineers could properly cut through the door. He checked his equipment one more time as the engineers began cutting through the last hinge. The rest of his squad did the same. They couldn’t wait to find Big Sister and make her pay for all the suffering she had caused. As they entered the Bunker they expected to come across a number of things. Elite Inner Party soldiers, brainwashed proles, or even a simple security guard. What they found though was a morgue.

“Jesus christ…” muttered Rawlings as they saw the horror show before them. Ponies and griffons were strewn about the halls showing signs of having committed suicide. The place smelled just as bad as it looked. He tried to avoid breathing through his nose as they crept through the hallways. They came across a few survivors, mostly being scared starving proles. Occasionally they would happen across a member of the Thought Police or Inner Party who either attempted to fight them or begged for mercy.

Those that didn’t try to fight were arrested. The War Crimes Tribunal was still going on. So many Inner Party officials, Outer Party collaborators, and Marelandian soldiers to try for war crimes and crimes against ‘humanity’. Some of the stuff he heard MARESOC did would put the Nazis to shame. The only good thing to come of it was that Equestria had finally opened diplomatic relations with them. Princess Celestia despite the growing tensions at home had come to oversee the trial herself with a group of royal judges. Apparently someone didn’t think it was exactly fair to try the War Criminals under American Law or the Geneva Conventions since Marelandia wasn’t subject to either. So they would be tried under Equestrian law due to Marelania’s status as a former Equestrian colony.

They continued through the bunker coming across a large albeit messy conference room. They heard something shuffling underneath the conference table. As the rest of the squad covered him he looked underneath the table sighing when he saw it was just a mare. She wore half of a ratty jumpsuit and looked to be severely malnourished. Her eyes were filled with fear as the darted around wildly.

“Hey.” he said softly “I’m Sergeant Stevens. United States Marines. I’m not going to hurt ya. Come on out.”

The mare sniffed. “Y-you promise?” she said

“I promise.” he said, holding out his hand. The mare offered him her hoof and allowed him to help her out from under the table. She had a light white coat and a light blue puffy mane. Her purple eyes bore signs of her having cried recently. He asked her what was wrong and she pointed to a door marked ‘BIG SISTER’.

“Dr. Double Think. He’s really really angry. He shoots anyone that gets close.” she said “He tried to kill me so I hid under the table. I don’t want to die! I’m a good prole!”

“Stay here. We’ll take care of the doctor.’ he said “Rawlings, with me.”

Him and Rawlings slowly approached the door shotguns in hand. They had made sure to pick weapons more suited to close quarters fighting when they heard they would be the ones clearing the bunker. They could hear muttering on the other side of the door.

...impossible! My theories are full proof! How could such a thing happen!? I have to find that mare and run tests on her!

Opening the door they quickly pointed their weapons at the unicorn stallion pacing around the destroyed office a revolver held in his magic. The body of what looked to be a prole and a thought police officer lay near the door. The stallion was Doctor Double Think. Disgraced psychologist & neurosurgeon from Canterlot who was wanted for performing some rather unorthodox experiments in the realm of psychology and mental suggestion. There was a capture order for him so he could stand trial for his crimes.

“Doctor.” he said “You’re gonna have to come with us.”

Double Think simply stood there for a moment no doubt deciding whether he should fight, surrender, or shoot himself. Eventually though he decided to throw down his gun and surrender.

“Aw well. It was fun while it lasted.” he said as they hurried forward to slip an inhibitor ring around his horn to keep him from doing magic. “Could one of you do me a favor and collect my research notes in my office. You can publicly release them if you want.”

“What makes you think people want to know the kind of stuff you came up with, doctor.” one of his squad spat

Double Think merely looked at him and smiled. “Then I guess all the trouble I went through to get it was all for nothing.” Double Think said simply. “While I am willing to admit my methods were… cruel. The things I learned have more than made up for it. I’m positive I’ve learned more about how the brain & memory works than even your world!”

“Fine.” he said “As long as you do one more thing for me.”

“Name it.”

“Where is Big Sister?”

Double Think smiled. “Dead. Or at least the closest thing to it. Such a shame really. I really wanted to know how it happened…”

Double Think refused to elaborate further. After handing him over to the MPs outside the bunker they continued securing the place. All in all they only found 37 ponies & 7 griffons still alive. They were all mostly proles & Outer Party. Apparently all the Inner Party & Thought Police killed themselves when they heard that the last Marelandian stronghold in Hoovesplain had fallen. The bunker was filled with numerous corpses with even more having been cremated in the bunker’s morgue before the last of the Thought Police snapped. Big Sister’s body wasn’t found most likely having been incinerated. Like Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich it seemed that Big Sister’s Marelandia had ended without final justice being served to the guilty parties.

“Can’t believe after everything she had done Big Sister got to go out on her on fucking terms.” Rawlings said bitterly as he smoked a cigarette. “Pisses me off…”

“I hear tha-'' he started to agree only to feel something on his leg. Looking down he saw that it was that mare from earlier. She was no longer crying but she was holding onto his leg for dear life which wasn’t none too comfortable. Ponies while they were not as big as Earth Horses weren’t exactly small either. They ranged from half the size of a normal human to being slightly taller when standing on all fours.

“Uh… miss.” he said as the squad snickered “Could you let go of my leg?”

The mare reluctantly let go of his leg but still stayed as close as she could. “Aww.” said Rawlings “You made a new friend, sarge.”

Ignoring his squad he instead looked at the mare and asked her what was she doing. ‘I want to go with you.” she said

“I’m sorry, miss…”

“Berry. Berry Swirl.” she said

“Miss Berry. But you have to go with the other proles.” he said pointing to a medical truck taking proles to a hospital ship down at the docks. There were so many things to treat on proles. Malnorishment, disease, and they had to undergo extensive deprogramming to get rid of their prole mindset.

“Don’t worry. I’ll visit.” he said when she looked apprehensive.

“Your promise?”

“I promise.” he said to which she nodded. He waved at her as the truck started to drive off. When it was out of sight the squad started laughing.

“Geez, sarge.” said Rawlings “Already getting started on that time honored American tradition, huh?”

“What tradition?” he asked confused

“My grandpa on my mother’s side met my grandma while he was occupying Japan.” Rawlings replied grinning. It took all his willpower not to blush and slug Rawlings.

“Go to hell, Rawlings.” he said walking over to a nearby unicorn stallion wearing the uniform of the new Marine Corps Battle Mages. He tapped the unicorn on the shoulder and asked him “Hey you know about those ‘cutie marks’, right.”

“Yeah.” said the unicorn “I took a class on ‘em back in Equestria. Why?”

“That mare from before. I’ve seen ponies around with their cutie marks burned off but what about ponies that don’t have any to begin with.” he said. He noticed it back in the bunker and immediately thought it odd since he hadn’t seen anything like that before.

“A blank flank.” the unicorn nodded in understanding “It’s rare but sometimes a pony can go into adulthood without ever gaining a cutie mark. It can be a result of severe childhood trauma and low self-esteem issues. That mare probably didn’t have that good of a life before MARESOC took over! Can imagine being a prole didn’t do her any favors.”

He nodded in understanding but something still ate at him. While initially he planned on blowing it off he was thinking that maybe he should actually visit her.

The Summit

Princess Celestia initially didn’t know what to think about the human nations. They were strange looking, had advanced technology, and had admitted to fleeing from their homeworld which they had destroyed themselves! The Soviet Union was wedged between Equestria and Olenia being just across the bay from Vanhoover. A few months after its arrival it’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to Equestria for a state visit. She and Luna were a little apprehensive at having the Soviet leader in Canterlot. The Soviet Union bore much resemblance to the seperatist state of Stalliongrad and from what information they managed to gather the Soviet Union had much to do with the war that destroyed the human’s homeworld.

Much to Gorbachev’s credit he noticed their apprehension and asked what was bothering them. He took their concerns fairly well saying that he planned on implementing numerous reforms and making the USSR a more open country. She and Luna were much more receptive after that. Talks soon went towards trade, relief supplies, and local politics. Gorbachev was very concerned about the intentions of his neighbors. Chrysalis had already shown interest in the communist humans with advanced technology on her borders. Chrysalis had offered to turn the USSR into a protectorate in exchange for human technology. She was glad the USSR did not take the deal, especially once Gorbachev revealed that Chrysalis had shown a lot of interest in nuclear sciences…

Gorbachev quickly earned her respect once she learned how shrewd of a politician he could be. Anyone that could convince the stubborn King Johan of Olenia to willingly give up land and simultaneously hold Chrysalis at bay was deserving of it. Once Gorbachev learned of the exiled Queen Velvet being sheltered in Equestria he offered some clandestine assistance to her and the loyalists. Weapons, training, and supplies. When the Olenian Civil War started Velvet’s forces were lavishly equipped with Soviet AK-47s and a few T-34 tanks allowing them to make short work of the troops that sided with Johan.

When he was in Canterlot Gorbachev mentioned that his nation had once fought a country called ‘Finland’ which was very much like Olenia. The both of them found it a little funny that the Soviets and Olenians ended up becoming such good friends. The Civil War had ended much quicker with Soviet help than it would have without it. Once she was back on the throne Velvet rewarded the Soviets with a bit more uninhabited land and some trade agreements. When Chrysalis began eyeing Olenia the Soviets signed a mutual defense treaty with them vowing to defend Olenia from the ‘facist changeling menace’.

The Soviets weren’t the only human nation on the planet. Far closer to home was the Union of European Nations. They appeared a short distance away from Manehattan which was quite a shock to the ponies living in the area. While she loved her little ponies they could be quite xenophobic & judgemental at times. Even after the European Federal Council made contact with her she still got anonymous requests from Manehattan residents to ‘do something’ about the ‘alien monsters’ living near the city. She often wondered if the attitude of her ponies was contributing to the growing radicalization going on in the European Nation. There were several prominent Europeans spouting rhetoric that called for mass militarization to protect what little remained of European culture from either hostile ‘aliens’ or human enemies. She couldn’t think of a way to get them to calm down which is why she was relieved when the Americans wished to use Canterlot for a Peace Summit.

She regretted believing in the fear mongering of the New California Republic because it prevented her from forming proper relations with the US. She had the Manehattan Fleet on standby to attack the US if it turned out that they were even remotely like this ‘Enclave’ the NCR was so afraid of. She was scared too when she heard the stories of soldiers in black armor razing entire towns & villages. Of how the Enclave and their evil President plotted worldwide genocide from their oil rig fortress. It was only the efforts of an NCR hero known as the Chosen One who stopped them from going through with their plan.

This was basically where her regret came into play. She wasted so much resources watching the United States that she felt personally responsible for many problems raging across the world. From MARESOC’s take over of New Mareland to the Archon Eros VII taking control of the Griffonian Empire. If she wasn’t so focused on the US then she possibly could have stopped these events from occurring. When the US began gearing up to attack New Mareland (or Marelandia as it started calling itself) she believed it was them showing their true Enclave colors. It was only the efforts of David Carolla, who was the NCR’s Liaison, that kept her from making a terrible mistake. Against the orders of his superiors he informed her that the NCR was mistaken. This US was not the Enclave and that his superiors only continued to spout such claims so they could take the US’ land in a war.

With this new information she told the fleet to stand down and started to focus more on domestic affairs which she had been heavily neglecting in favor of watching the Americans. The American-Marelandian War lasted only a few weeks with the three near simultaneous naval landings of the Americans leaving the Marelandian forces in disarray. Her generals were pouring over as much information as they could get their hooves on, wondering if Equestria could have performed a similar campaign. Their conclusion was… less than satisfactory especially since it looked like they might go to war against the Changelings at some point in the future.

She was quite surprised when the Americans asked her to preside over the War Crimes Tribunal to bring Marelandia’s leaders to justice. After the cold shoulder Equestria had given them and the fact that New Mareland had declared independence so they technically no longer had any authority over the colony. The trial was fairly straight forward with all of Marelandia’s Inner Party or Military Commanders receiving either life imprisonment or the death penalty. Once the trial was over she helped oversee the distribution of aid around former Marelandian territory.

A few of her advisors and some nobles wished to regain control over their wayward colony. It came as a great shock to them when she revealed she had no intentions of doing such a thing. She had asked around and it seemed the opinion of Equestria was still very low among the people. They had seceded long before MARESOC took power with it being one of the last acts by Governor Jet Set, who unfortunately died in a Thought Police prison. They felt abandoned by Equestria both during the Depression and during MARESOC’s rule. Both former proles and the Outer Party were very much against the idea of becoming an Equestrian colony again. They, much to her surprise, wished to join the United States.

While upset she could understand why. The Americans were the ones that saved them from Big Sister’s tyranny. The Americans were the ones providing a majority of the aid and were overseeing relief efforts. The Americans were the ones who suffered a severe loss of life in the invasion. Over ten thousand Americans died with twice that being injured. Most of the casualties were due to dirty tricks on the Marelanders' part. Suicide bombers, kamakazie attacks, and sending in brainwashed proles to attack the Americans. She was saddened that so many had to die to not only save her ponies but fix her mistake.

In these dark days she often wondered if her hooves off approach was actually working. She wondered if a more direct and firm approach was needed to not only protect her little ponies but uphold the ideals of Harmony. She decided ultimately against it though. That was a dark path and if she went down it who'd to say if she could find her way out?

The trials were swift. A majority of the accused received either life sentences or the death penalty. That goes to show just how awful their crimes were since you had to do something really awful to receive the death penalty in Equestria. She was outright disgusted when she heard of what the members of the Inner Party had done to their own people. Willfully denying the people food, medical care, proper housing, and basic sanitation!? Torture!? Brainwashing!? Genocide!? When Doctor Double Think's numerous Crimes Against Sentience were being listed she had to call a recess lest her glare would cause him to burst into flames! The last time that happened was when she saw a group of Olenian Vikings razing a pony village a few centuries ago. A lot of Olenians today still believed that simply meeting her gaze would set them on fire...

When the trial was finished she got in a car that would take her to the residence of the President who invited her over for dinner. It was a short drive over from the American Capitol Building, which they were allowed to use for the trials. The building like most of New Washington was still under construction which was a shame. The dome would look very impressive once it was finished. Perhaps she should visit again once the construction has wrapped up. She was quite surprised to see that the residence of the American President was a simple mansion. While it was a rather large mansion there were still more than a few noble homes in Canterlot that dwarfed it.

She wondered if the American President stayed in a more opulent building back on Earth. Upon asking she learned that the building was an exact copy of the ‘White House’ that was on Earth. Seeing it here on Equus apparently gave the various humans here, even those that weren’t from the United States, hope. Personally she rather liked the modesty of it. It seemed like every nation on the planet placed their leadership in a grand palace. The most garish was tied between Chrysalis’ Queen’s Tower or Stalliongrad’s Palace of the People. She honestly thought that the humans were the same since the Soviets were building a large government complex they called the ‘Kremlin’ in Novaya Moskva.

The American President, Jimmy Carter, wasn’t what she expected. She knew that he was a kind and compassionate sort since she had spoken with many ponies and a few humans & griffons about him. They’ve done nothing but sing his praises. The election was a near landslide with many ponies and griffons being won over during his short campaign. What surprised her was his background. In the few Republics that existed on Equus the nation’s leaders were some sort of powerful influential figure. Either a general, wealthy individual, or in a few cases a former noble. Even President Carolla had ties to the wealthy brahmin baron elites of the NCR. James, or Jimmy he insisted she call him, used to be a farmer before going into politics. His down home attitude made her think that him and a certain Apple would hit it off.

During the dinner President Carter asked for a favor. It was one that got rid of any lingering doubt about the American’s intentions. He asked if it was possible for humanity to use Canterlot for a Peace Summit. The various human nations were still technically at war and it would be good as a form of closure. In order for the summit to work it needed to be held on neutral ground. She said that she would be honored if Canterlot hosted such an event.

Which brings her to today. All of the delegates had arrived. President Carter arrived first, staying here in the Castle for a few days. Just like she predicted him and Applejack became instant friends sharing stories of their farm life and getting into a rather heated debate on whether peanut butter or apple butter was superior. Gorbachev arrived next flying from the Soviet Union in a military cargo plane. Him and Carter exchanged pleasantries while also congratulating each other on keeping their people from descending into tyranny. Speaking of tyranny the European delegate arrived last.

Some rather concerning things had happened in the European nation. Several prominent individuals that had some political leanings not too dissimilar from the Supremacists that now rule over many nations across the world had managed to gain control over the European Council. They promoted rapid military industrialization and 'preservation of pure Euro culture'. While she had no proof there were rumors of ponies in their borders being mistreated or even enslaved! She couldn’t send spies because they would be noticed immediately. Perhaps she could ask the Union, Soviets, or United States if they could investigate on her behalf. Human agents honestly stood a better chance infiltrating the UEN than a pony.

The time soon came for the Summit to start. With the event being broadcasted by Equestrian radio & Human ‘television’ studios the Third World War was ended with a general armistice between all warring powers. After billions of deaths, entire nations collapsing, and a planet ruined the Third World War was officially over. Once the treaty had been signed the talks about what to do next immediately began. The Americans wished to possibly reform the United Nations though with some changes. This new UN would see their various territories in a way united. They would have a unified military command, free trade, and open borders between their three nations. They would have a single unified human currency. While they would be mostly separate their governments would also be unified on some level. Carter said this was to provide a unified ‘face’ for the humans of their Earth.

The Soviets were partially receptive to the idea but had an issue with the extent of the merging. Gorbachev said that he was willing to agree to a military alliance and a unified human currency but a unified military command & governmental structure were too far in his opinion. The European delegate refused to entertain the idea at all. He stated that he only came here to sign the treaty. He didn’t wish to become involved in any alliance that would see Europe invaded or betrayed again.

“Well that could have gone better.” remarked Carter as they watched the Euro delegate leave.

“I feel that we may need to watch the Europeans closely before they do something we all regret…” said Gorbachev

“The Europeans are within striking distance of several of Equestria’s biggest cities. If war breaks out they can quickly do a lot of damage especially with their technological advantage.” she said

“America is unable to fight a war like that.” said Carter “We were only able to take Marelandia due to it being so close. It will be a while before the US Navy is in fighting shape. We just laid down the keel of our first carrier. Any aid will only be material at this stage.”

She nodded. She was willing to accept any kind of help at this point. Several of her generals recommended that she start making preparations for a war against the Changelings. These generals were the ones who had reached their positions due to pure merit instead of inheriting it. While she would never voice it publicly the noble generals, the ones who inherited their positions, were rapidly starting to lose her faith in them.

Most of them had never been to a military academy. They just up and decided to assume a military rank either at the behest of their family or on a mere whim. The rumors of war on the horizon had led many nobles to assume military positions hoping to gain personal glory. The regular soldiers & non-noble officers hated them due to their attitude and lack of understanding of both tactics and military life. She had received numerous complaints from lower ranked officers on the actions of their commanding officers. So many that she had to get several new filing cabinets and a secretary to organize them.

An infantry division stationed near Tall Tale wrote how their CO complained about the ‘plainness’ of his tent so he had them spend over a week and an unreasonable amount of supplies constructing him ‘proper’ living quarters. There was now a small chateau in the middle of what was supposed to be a temporary military base. A military base that is woefully undefended due lacking supplies to construct fortifications.

Another infantry division located on the border with the Changelings sent her frantic pleas for help since their CO’s plans in the event of a Changeling invasion was to ‘meet them on the field of battle’. What made that so bad was the fact that he was going to have them in Line Formations! Did this noble honestly not know the difference between a musket and modern bolt action rifle!? She couldn’t imagine just how many casualties this division would take if this insane plan was put into action. Thankfully her new Commander-in-Chief was swiftly dealing with these inefficiencies in the Equestrian Army.

Luna was always popular with the troops. Before her banishment she would ignore much of her court duties in favor of making sure Equestria’s army was the best in the world. When Luna became Nightmare Moon she was glad she had defeated her so quickly. If she didn’t she was certain much of the army would have joined Nightmare Moon’s side… Now that Luna had finished her Thestral reforms she asked her if she could make sure the military was prepared. Luna jumped at the chance. All of the noble officers had learned to fear their new Commander-In-Chief who was even less tolerant of their attitudes than she was in Night Court. Luna was more than willing to give out dressing downs with liberal use of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

All of Canterlot could hear her whenever she inspected the Canterlot Garrison. Once she went into a long tirade about how some noble even functioned when he didn’t know basic military etiquette. She was meeting with President Carolla at the time and one of his guards, who was wearing a large black suit of ‘power armor’, mentioned that Luna reminded him of someone called Sergeant Dornan. If this Dornan could yell half as loud as Luna then they were a match made in heaven.

When it came to the military Luna was in her element. She found it quite hilarious that Luna, who still had trouble learning many modern topics, was able to grasp the monster that was Equestria’s military apparatus in a few short days. Watching Luna give a slide show presentation on how Equestria’s current Defense based strategies were ineffective in modern warfare and how it should be replaced with the more mobile elastic defense the Americans and Europeans use to a bunch of confused officers was the highlight of her day.

She had never been good at military matters, always preferring to find a peaceful solution. While she didn’t like it she knew that peace wasn’t always the answer. She was so glad that Luna was here. Her sister was more comfortable among Equestria’s soldiers and sailors than she was. It was in sharp contrast to her who expertly weaved through the complex diplomatic landscape of today’s world while Luna could be quite awkward in court. These differences only helped cement them as a team. Luna could do things she couldn’t and vice versa. Thanks to Luna’s success with the Thestrals who weren’t as ostracized as they used to be she was resettling into her role as princess.

Equestria has had a single princess for far too long. Time to remind everyone that it has two…

Changeling Lands
City of Vesapolis

A large and rather extravagant honor guard stood by as a single delegate and several guards stepped off a large military cargo plane. As the delegates walked down the red carpet laid out for them Queen Chrysalis stood at the end with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Welcome to Vesapolis.” she said, giving the European humans a nod. They nodded back though she could see their faces were quite restrained. What emotion was that she wondered? A quick taste told her it was equal parts disgust & fascination. Understandable. They had never seen a changeling before and they were so radically different from most races.

She did note that while it was disgust, meaning it was quite unappetizing, the emotion was quite strong. Far stronger than the ponies who were quite the social creatures. Did that mean these ‘humans’ were social creatures as well? Something that she would look into. Having an ally that could also provide them with love would be invaluable.

“Please.” she said, putting on a smile with the least amount of fang “Join me at my palace so we can make our alliance official.”

The humans followed her as several private cars pulled up. While that was happening several changelings and humans worked together to carry crates off the plane. The crates contained examples of human weaponry and several text books. FAMAS rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers, and kevlar vests. The books contained diagrams on jet engines, armored vehicles, and atomic theory. The changelings paid a hefty price for it. The promise of ceding the entire northern portion of Equestria. While they had to scrap their plan to form a ‘Manehatten Protectorate’ it was well worth it to finally gain access to the weapons of the humans.

Their spies in Marelandia told of how swiftly the Americans swept the Marelandian armies aside. They saw how Queen Velvet was able to take back her country with Soviet weapons. They attempted to steal weapons from the NCR but most of it wasn’t much better than what they had. Now thanks to their new European allies their conquest of Equestria seemed to be that much closer.

Author's Note

To Changelings human emotions are quite tasty due to us being quite the social & emotional species.

California Dreaming

July 27th, 2285 (NCR Calendar)
July 27th, 1014 ALB (Equus Calendar)
New California Republic
Shady Sands

James Abernathy frowned as his car slowly made its way through the streets of Shady Sands. The car was a Twingo though outfitted with armor plating and bulletproof glass. It was one of the few things the Euros actually exported and it sold like crazy being bought by people in more than half the world’s nations. The Union picked up more than a few to use as diplomatic cars here in their old world. While they were terrible offroad they did well enough in the tight crowded streets of the NCR’s cities.

The first time they drove these things in the NCR they were surrounded by gawking crowds. Actual working cars were rare in the wasteland and were typically requisitioned by the military. To see a brand new colorful car driving down the street was something no one had ever seen before. More than a few brahmin barons approached them offering to buy the car only to be refused. It wasn’t everyday that a baron was told their caps & NCR dollars were worthless.

His frown deepened as he watched the various signs of the NCR’s recent troubles all along the streets. Various shops and businesses being closed or bought out by wealthy elites. People being thrown out of their homes by either Military Police or Hired Guns. Then there were the dozens upon dozens of men and women along the streets. Some were injured and some were not. One thing that was constant about all of them was the signs they all held. They all said ‘Mojave Veteran’ in some kind of manner. The NCR had won the Mojave War but in a way it had also lost.

The Mojave Territory was the most unstable of all the NCR’s recent conquests. The NCR had won no friends during its war with the Legion having alienated much of the population. He heard it wasn’t uncommon for NCR troopers to be shot at by snipers while on the roads and get beaten by locals in the back alleys of New Vegas. Despite House’s death the Securitrons refused to follow their commands and violently resisted attempts to reprogram them. Add in the Three Casino Families to the mix and that made their control over the Strip tentative at best. While they could forcefully take the Casinos and destroy the Securitrons after the losses they sustained fighting the Legion any other large campaign would be unacceptable.

Due to the unrest General Lee Oliver and his right hand Colonel Moore cracked down on any perceived resistance to NCR rule. The districts of Westside and North Vegas Square were forcibly annexed despite wanting to remain independent. The Boomers despite their help at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam were now under occupation after being threatened with destruction. Their truce with the Mojave Brotherhood threatened to fall apart any day now with the Brotherhood noticing the NCR’s slipping grip on the Mojave. The various towns from Goodsprings to Novac resented their ‘occupation’ and sometimes refused to do business with NCR citizens.

There were a multitude of other problems. Like the fact Caesar’s Legion was still at large. The NCR was only able to push a little bit into Arizona before stalling out. Legate Lanius turned out to be far smarter than he let on. Everyone believed that if Caesar died the Legion would fall to pieces. Turns out Lanius was more than capable of holding it together. He had rallied the Legion’s routed armies and set up an impressive defensive line through western Arizona. A defensive line that the NCR was unable to pierce.

The thing that probably damned the NCR the most was the fact that their usual go-to guy for this kind of situation no longer wanted anything to do with them. Even after they declared their independence they still received news from their old world. Much of it was dominated by the achievements of Courier Six. The fact that the NCR managed to push back the Legion in the first place could be solely attributed to him. He assassinated House for them. He resolved crises all over the Mojave so when the Second Battle of Hoover Dam came the NCR could put all their attention towards the Dam. After the battle he was hailed as a hero.

Now with the NCR’s complete botching of Mojave relations the Courier has wiped his hands of them. He absolutely refuses to help the NCR anymore. Everyone from Kimball on down has tried everything to get him to reconsider since they believe he is the only one that could break the stalemate in Arizona. They even went so far as to pardon the Remnants, a group of old Enclave soldiers, who helped at Hoover Dam. It was far too late for that though. The moment the Remnants realized the NCR was after them they took their vertibird and flew to Fort Gateway which was where the portal to Equus was located. The Remnants were lucky they weren’t shot down. The fort’s defenders were suspicious of anyone approaching the fort unannounced, especially if they were in a vertibird. It was only the Remnants blaring pleas for sanctuary over the radio that kept them from being blown out of the sky.

The Remnants were settling pretty well in the Union. Judah Kreger retired in Gateway City, recognized by residents as a hero who did not get his just reward due to the Remnant’s participation at Hoover Dam. Doctor Henry was working with the Union’s scientists in understanding Magic. Cannibal Johnson was with the Union’s Presidential Guard protecting President Carolla wherever he went. Daisy Whitman was a flight instructor for the Union’s Air Force. Orion Moreno went to the United States the moment he could. Last he heard the old man was showing them how to use the power armor they bought off of them. As for Arcade Gannon he spent some time as a doctor in Gateway City before gaining a job with the Union State Department.

“Been a while since I was last in Shady Sands…” Arcade said from his position next to him. “Place has seen better days.”

“Was bound to happen eventually.” he said “The NCR’s reckless expansion was going to catch up to it eventually.”

“Hope this doesn’t end up starting a civil war.” Arcade said.

“If Hayes and his New World Party don’t win the next election then it just might. People are sick of Kimball and his brahmin baron friends.”

The car stopped in front of the Hall of Congress. The building was far larger and grander than it was in the days of President Tandi. It had to be due to the NCR’s expanded senate. The small town hall sized building from Tandi’s days wouldn’t do with the dozens of senators the NCR had now. In front of the building was a large park with meticulously grown trees and two statues. One was the Vault Dweller while the other was their grandchild the Chosen One. Both heroes of the NCR. Despite him turning his back on the NCR there was talk of building a statue of the Courier.

A second car, a US bought Humvee, stopped behind them containing a variety of Union military personnel. They took up escort positions around them. As they walked into the Hall of Congress they happened upon an interesting sight. NCR President Aaron Kimball was following a heavily armed man. The man had a revolver on his hip and a large rifle on his back. He wore a set of black riot gear like that the NCR Veteran Rangers wore except on the back of his duster was a black spade with a 21 in the center.

“Courier! Please be reasonable!” said Kimball desperately “With your help we could end the war in Arizona!”

The Courier whirled around angrily. “Reasonable!? After you occupy my home you expect me to be reasonable!? After you send bounty hunters and rangers after my friends who risked everything to help you!?”

“General Oliver has been reprimanded over his... rashness in attempting to arrest Judah Kreger’s squad.” said Kimball looking embarrassed “We’ve officially pardoned them for any crimes they might have committed.”

“Crimes they may have committed? Arcade didn’t commit any crimes! He was a baby when the Enclave first showed up!” the Courier all but roared “Were you really going to punish him for the sins of his father? Sins that you don’t even know actually happened!”

“I don’t know.” said Arcade “I’m pretty sure the Republic’s superb legal team will find out my dad kicked a puppy once or something.”

“Arcade....” the Courier said softly, quickly walking over and giving the man a firm bear hug.

Arcade had told many stories of his time with the Courier and he didn’t believe half of them. NCR newspapers painted the Courier as this tough as nails commando who could kill 100 men with a straight razor. Photos showed a tall muscular man who was decked out in armor, guns, and ammunition. That was why he didn’t believe Arcade when he said the Courier was quite intelligent, soft spoken, and preferred using his words rather than his guns. The Courier was apparently highly loyal to his friends. He was willing to travel halfway across the Mojave to help one of his friends. Watching the Courier hug Arcade made him start to believe the doctor wasn’t pulling his leg after all…

“Arcade!” the Courier said letting the doctor go. “I was afraid you were rotting in an NCR prison!”

“Thankfully not. After the battle at the Dam and the NCR calling for our arrest we got in the vertibird and flew to Union territory. We’ve been living there ever since.” said Arcade

“You’ve been on the other side of the portal? I’ve always wondered what was there.” mused the Courier.

“You may get your chance,” he said, speaking up. “I was just about to talk with President Kimball about possibly opening up immigration to the Union of Free Beings. Though there will be a cap on the number of people we let in, I'm sure we could find room for a courier.”

While President Kimball looked indignant at this, the Courier looked thoughtful. “Let me just talk it over with Arcade for a minute.” he said.

The two of them went outside and stood near the statue of the Vault Dweller. “So…” began the Courier “What’s it like over there? Is it as peaceful as the papers say it is?”

“Sorta. There are a lot of nations over there looking to expand their borders. The Changelings just invaded the Soviets and Olenians. The Euros have become radicalized. And the Griffonian continent is a massive fire that the United States and the Griffonian Republic are struggling to put out.”

“I only understood half of that. Olenians? Changelings? Griffonia? And what’s this about the United States?”

“I’m guessing the papers don’t go into that much detail about the political situation of Equus?”

The Courier shook his head. “Unfortunately. It’s one of the things I’m most interested in.”

“Well let’s get a bite to eat and I’ll tell you about what’s going on there.”

The both of them were now sitting at an outdoor restaurant that served delicacies like brahmin steak, corn, banana yucca fruit, and a number of packaged pre-war foods. The Courier wolfed the food down while Arcade was a little more… apprehensive.

“What’s wrong, Arcade?” the Courier teased “Has living in that fantasy land given you too refined tastes?”

“Hey! I’m not some White Glove Society member. Even before moving there I didn’t really like eating stuff that was packaged before the bombs went off.” Arcade said while eyeing the mac n’ cheese on the end of his fork.

“The Old World had some great preservatives though.” said the Courier who happily ate his Insta-Mash. “Everything is still as fresh as the day it was made.”

“One of the many things of this world we hope to sell on the other.” said Arcade

“I still can’t believe a quarter of the stuff you told me about that place. Talking multicolored magical ponies I could at least wrap my head around. But Griffons? Shapeshifting horse bugs? Viking Deer? Dragons? And fellow humans from an alternate universe!? That world of yours is filled to the brim with crazy…”

“As if you don’t have any experience with that.” scoffs Arcade.

The Courier was then assaulted with memories of dozens of strange events he had come across in his travels around the wasteland. Events that he felt were a part of some kind of cosmic joke but a joke that he did not get. Some were useful like those ‘Holy’ Hand Grenades he found in Searchlight like but most of them left him with the feeling that a reference just flew over his head.

“So any chance you want to come to the Union?” asked Arcade

“Yeah I’ve already decided I was going to. I’m done with the NCR. I just need to know if the Union has room for a few friends of mine…” the Courier said with a grin.

“Anyone I know?” said Arcade grinning as well because he quickly caught on to the Courier’s plan. The Courier didn’t answer though his grin became wider.

Several Months Later
City of Vaverfront

Vaverfront was currently the front line in the Olenian-Changeling War. The city was able to hold on for so long thanks to the efforts of the Soviets. The Soviet General recognized that Chrysalis shared many traits with Adolf Hitler so he surmised that Chrysalis couldn’t resist taking a city as economically & culturally important as Vaverfront. Thus began Operation: Linnoitus which saw Vaverfront turned into an impenetrable citadel. Buildings were turned into blockhouses, streets were walled off, and parks were now home to trench lines. The Changelings expecting to roll right over the Olenian defenders ended up walking into a death trap.

The Changelings were forced to take the city house by house which is exactly what the Soviets wanted. They wanted this battle to be a second Stalingrad where the enemy gave it their all but got nothing in return. Changeling casualties quickly reached the tens of thousands but there were problems for the defenders.

First was the fact that the Soviet and Olenian armies were poorly supplied. King Johan had been slow to modernize so Olenia was pretty far behind compared to other nations. Soviet arms factories were slowly being constructed though they haven't reached the same levels of output as American factories.

What the Soviets did have though was surplus and a lot of it. The Soviets had thousands of PPS-43 submachine guns and SKS rifles sitting in storage along with a number of late model T-34 tanks. While it was only better than the Changeling’s equipment by a few years it would suit the Soviets and Olenians until the factories could make enough AK-47s.

The Second problem for the defenders was low numbers of troops. The Olenians had to deal with a frontline that encompassed their entire border with the Changelings and routinely had to fight off Changeling naval invasions. The Soviets had even less forces. The Soviet army was made up of whatever soldiers the government was able to convince to put back on their uniforms. After coming through the portal close to 90% of the Soviet Military deserted. The destruction of Earth and the downright inhumane tactics used by many Soviet generals had led many soldiers to simply quit and try to rebuild some semblance of a life. It was only after Gorbachev began making his reforms that the soldiers felt that they should rejoin.

Gorbachev’s harmonic policies and tolerance for them had led many native Olenians who lived on what is now Soviet land to enlist. These Olenians helped form the basis for the Soviet Ski Corps who could quickly outflank the Changelings in Olenia’s snow covered mountains & hills. Despite this the Soviets still had some major manpower issues so during the early days of the war would rely heavily on foreign volunteers. US Marines, Equestrian Royal Guard, and Stalliongrad Red Guard. The most valuable volunteers the Soviets would receive is from the Union. The newly formed Spade Squad…

A platoon of Changelings made their way down a dirt mountain road. They had orders to push into the towns surrounding Vaverfront. The siege of the city was going on for far too long. If they took all the surrounding towns & villages and occupied the roads they would surround the city and cut off supply for the defenders. As the Changelings continued their march through the snow the lead Changeling raised his forehoof commanding the platoon to halt. He heard something. The Changelings nervously looked around trying to see if there was someone hiding in the trees.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and the lead Changeling fell with a hole in his head. There was another crack and another Changeling fell. The Changelings quickly scurried behind anything they could use for cover like rocks or trees. The sniper firing at them was good. Their shots were in quick succession and everytime they fired someone fell down. Just as they started to get an idea on where the sniper was firing from, more shooting started. They almost didn’t notice at first. The shots were quiet so it took them a minute to recognize them as gunshots. They heard the humans had things called suppressors that made guns a lot quieter. Were these Soviets attacking them? Even more shots started coming from the sides. Bullets from the left and bright red beams from the right.

The sniper was shooting at them from somewhere ahead of them. The suppressed shots were coming from behind them. And now they were being hit from the sides. Changeling troops typically had very high morale and were fairly well disciplined but even they drew the line at getting shot at from all sides. The Changelings forces began to break but this turned out to be a fatal mistake. Upon leaving their cover they were quickly cut down by their unseen assailants.

Now that all the Changelings were dead the Courier walked down the hill with a Light Machine Gun in his hand with Raul beside him. Down the other side came Veronica and ED-E. Walking up the road came Lily who had decloaked. She held her silenced Assault Carbine. The only one who didn’t show was Boone and that was because the sniper was quite far away.

“I’d thought these guys would be harder than the Legion but I stand corrected.” said the Courier as he looked over the fallen Changelings. “At least the Legion managed to squeeze off a few shots of their own when they’re ambushed.”

“That’s because the Legionaries have no sense of self preservation, boss.” said Raul “All they care about is killing their enemy. These Changelings at least value their own lives.”

The Courier shrugged. “Well you have a point there. Let’s check for any intel on these guys and head back to base for some chow.”

Working for the Union was a whole lot better than the NCR. They were all paid regular wages by the Union government but were fairly independent. Other than receiving the occasional order their only commanding officer was the Courier himself. They were also allowed to pursue their own forms of income like Boone and Raul typically doing bodyguard work or Cass’ Cassidy Trucking Company which was run from their base in the San Palomino Desert. Arcade typically didn’t go on combat missions, instead serving as the team’s doctor patching them up when they got back from a mission.

At first he harbored some doubts but now he knew that moving here and working for the Union was the best decision he made. He read in the occasional paper the Union would receive from the NCR that President Kimball lost his reelection campaign in a landslide. The new President Hayes of the New World Party called for massive sweeping reforms like breaking the Brahmin Baron Monopolies, repairing relations with the brothers & sisters through the portal, and ending the oppression in the Mojave. The Courier wished Hayes luck but he did not wish to return to the NCR. Like Arcade he had set his roots here. The Union was now his home and he was determined to make it work.

Way Back Home

Planet Earth
Former United States of America
Denver, Colorado

Phil frowned as he watched the glob of blood mix in with his drink. Damn it. He had tried so very hard to hold that cough in but the damn rad poisoning was getting worse every day. He should consider himself lucky. Some people looked like walking skeletons. He’d rather cough up some blood now and again than go through that. The bartender gave him a sympathetic look and slid a new glass of liquor his way.

“On the house.” the bartender said simply before walking to the other side of the bar.

‘That was nice of him.’ Phil thought before downing the glass in one gulp. Despite people barely clinging on to life it was still quite common to see human kindness. That was probably due to Denver being more civilized than most places. Outside this small settled part of the ruined city you were likely to get shot for whatever that person might want. It could be the food you’re carrying or the clothes on your back. Outside the city you had Road Gangs, War Lords, and all manner of disreputable types who wanted to carve their own personal fiefdom out of the irradiated ruins of the US.

He finished the rest of his drink and made his way out of the bar. Outside he was greeted with the familiar sight of the ‘town square’. A collection of hastily repaired shops around what used to be a park. All of the trees were long since cut down for firewood. There places taken by a variety of makeshift stalls where people sold goods scavenged from the ruins of Denver. This sight always depressed him since he could remember what this place used to look like. He began to walk back to his home now that he finished his after work drink.

He made money by doing manual labor for the Police Chief who was the de facto leader of their little settlement. Plenty of rubble needed to be cleared so they could expand the walls of the town. More people were arriving to their little bastion of civilization every day so space was starting to become a premium. They either had to expand or start turning people away which would only make enemies in the long run. He walked up the stairs of his townhouse and knocked on the front door. After a few moments the door swung open.

“Hey pa.” mumbled his youngest son as he held the door open.

“Joseph.” he said, giving his son a nod and pat on the shoulder. Ever since the war his son had been completely down in the dumps. He had lost all of his friends. He had lost his older brother to the Army. He had lost all chances of a normal future. This was a lot to put on the shoulders of a 16 year old.

He walked further into the relatively clean house quietly passing the living room where his wife was teaching a class. She used to be a teacher at the local elementary school so she spent her days teaching the children of the settlement. He walked to his study and pulled a book off his bookshelf. He was one of the few people in the settlement that still had books with most having used theirs as kindling in the days after the war. It made for great entertainment in this new age where there were no TVs, movies, or other forms of entertainment. Every other day one of his friends would come by to either borrow or return one of his books. Guess that made him the town librarian in a way.

The moment he sat down in his armchair there was a knock at the door. It was quite a frantic one at that. That better not be the Chief coming to conscript him to move some more rubble. Doctor said he had to stay out of rad hotspots for a while. He got up and went to the front door ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind. When he opened it he saw it was one of the Chief’s deputies. The man looked excited about something.

“Look I told the Chief-” he started before the young man interrupted him.

“Mr. Stevens! They’re back! They’re back!” the deputy said excitedly

“Whose back?” he asked

“The Government! Look!” the deputy said, pointing across the way.

There on the other side of the square was a collection of vehicles which was a rarity nowadays. Not only that but these were military vehicles. There were humvees, jeeps, trucks, and APCs. All brand new by the looks of it. Not only that but there were soldiers. Real honest to god soldiers! Not the 'Deserters' who wielded poorly maintained mismatched equipment and went from town to town 'requisitioning' supplies.

The government tried to keep order after the war but they all disappeared after a call on the radio told all US military personnel and any civilians that were able to head to NORAD. He wanted to take his family up that way but his wife was sick with radiation poisoning. By the time she got better visitors to the town said that NORAD was deserted and the mountain complex was locked up tight. Since then no more government messages were heard on the radio. It was believed that the government simply gave up and hid in their bunker with enough supplies to last them for decades.

“It’s a conspiracy, man!” said a hippie fellow who hung around in the bar after work. Guy was a big conspiracy theorist. Get a few drinks in him and he’d complain about the government. “First the government ruins the place then they abandon us when things get too hard! They have a giant underground city beneath NORAD where they’re living like kings!”

That kind of thinking was fairly common around. Even people he knew to be rabid patriots were less than pleased at the government's lack of help. Now he couldn’t help but notice a few of them in the growing crowd forming in the square. Better late than never is what they probably thought. He and his family went and joined the crowd since this looked to be big. He could see the normally foul tempered Police Chief conversing excitedly with what looked to be an officer. After giving the Chief a handshake the officer climbed on top of an APC with a megaphone.

“Folks” he said “I am Colonel Thomas Hill of the United States Army. I won’t bore you with a long speech so here are the major points. The US Government is alive and well. The US is also back on its feet somewhat. We have enough food, water, and shelter for everyone. We also developed medicine to treat radiation poisoning no matter how serious.”

There was murmuring throughout the crowd. This sounded far too good to be true. A return to some measure of normality? That was a dream that few had continued believing in. The Colonel went on to say that the government would remain in Denver to take people to NORAD where their new homes apparently lay. He discussed the issue with his wife that night. They both decided to go solely because of the supposed Rad Poisoning Cure the government supposedly had. After packing up some irreplaceable possessions like family photos and heirlooms they climbed into one of the many trucks on its way to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

It was a long trip even by truck. It was a distance of nearly 100 miles and while they didn’t have to worry about traffic they did have to worry about miles of old rusty cars blocking the roads. There were no bandits thankfully. The soldier driving the truck said they learned the hard way not to attack military convoys.

When they arrived at Cheyenne Mountain the area was abuzz with activity. Trucks were leaving and arriving, helicopters were flying overhead, and there were people everywhere. Not just soldiers but civilians also being dropped off by the numerous trucks. The first thing the Government did was treat them all to a meal. There were numerous vegetable, bread, and fish dishes. No other kinds of meat he privately noted. Once they had finished eating, doctors went over everyone. Those with severe injuries or illness were taken to get those treated. Everyone was also given pills that would help deal with the radiation poisoning.

Once all that was done they were taken to a large building that had been set up as some kind of auditorium. There was a stage with red curtains to the sides and a screen above it. Once everyone was seated a man in a dark blue suit walked on stage. He stepped up to the microphone and said “Everyone I am Director Franklin Hart of the Office of New World Reconstruction. The duties of the NWR were to rebuild America in our new home. Now since that goal is largely complete our focus has shifted to help those left behind in our old home: you. Now I can hear you all wondering just where this new home is. Well let me show you.”

The lights dimmed and the screen came on. The words “Project Window” were on the screen in large black letters.

“I won’t go into detail since much of it is still classified but the main thing that you should know is that Project Window was a US military project to open a portal to another world.” said Director Hart

There was a lot of murmuring around the room. Another world? Was that where the government has been these past few years? A couple of seats over was that hippie fellow from Denver. He was close enough he could hear the hippie mutter ‘I knew it’ while scowling.

“This world is called Equus by the native inhabitants.” the Director explained causing more muttering.

Natives? Did that mean they had met actual aliens!? The Director looked to the side of the stage and nodded. They could hear clopping sounds upon the wooden floor. From out behind the curtain emerged a horse. No wait, that wasn’t a horse. It was a bit too small to be a horse with it being around the same height as the Director. That meant it was a pony maybe. He had never seen a pony with light blue fur, large blue eyes, and wearing a shirt before.

“Hello everyp- one. My name is Sugar Star. I'm here to give you a quick rundown of native species, some local history, and everything that's happened since you humans first arrived."

The screen changed over to pictures of multicolored ponies. While most of them appeared to be 'normal' some had wings and others had horns. Some of the young girls in the audience cooed with wonder drawing a small smile from him. Living in a land of talking ponies was a dream come true for most girls.

"First up are ponies. Ponies are divided into three distinct races-"

Even in another world, government buildings never changed. He and his family were standing in line waiting to receive the address to their new home. They had crossed over not too long ago after spending a week at Cheyenne doing orientation and receiving anti-rad medication. They were now away from the nuclear wasteland that used to be America. Though that didn't mean they were completely safe.

This world was apparently on the edge of having its own version of World War Two. Right next door was a nation of Griffons that seemed to be a near copy of Fascist Italy with its own version of Mussolini. The US recently came out of a war with a nation that was a dead ringer for Big Brother's Oceania. Seeing photos of the things those Proles went through made him glad the Army went in and gave those MARESOC bastards a good licking.

Speaking of the army there was a chance his oldest son might still be alive. The government people said that most military personnel that were either in the US or a part of the Evacuation of South America were here when they first came over. The last letter he got from him before the mail stopped said he was being sent down south so he had some hope that his son might be here. The government said they would look into it which raised his spirits. Soon their family would be whole again.

His wife Martha was in good spirits since her rad sickness was gone and she had got a job at the local elementary school. While Joseph was still down in the dumps he was getting a little better. He just needed time to adjust. Once he went back to school and made some friends he should be right as rain.

Through the glass windows he could hear the hustle and bustle of New Washington. Cars, trucks, airplanes, and other sounds he thought were gone forever. The sounds of a nation recovered. The line continued shortening until it was his family’s turn. The one at the desk was an Earth Pony with a white coat and bluish mane. Her purple eyes were looking over the large stacks of paperwork that clogged her desk. Though he couldn’t quite see behind the desk it looked like this mare didn’t have a ‘cutie mark’ which surprised him. Orientation said that those ‘cutie marks’ were really important to ponies telling them what their passion in life was.

The mare looked up at them with a smile. “Hello, my name is Berry Swirl. How can I hel-”

She trailed off, staring at them in shock with her mouth open slightly.

“Miss?” he asked wondering what caused this reaction “Is there something wrong?"

Later That Day

Erik was glad that he was allowed to become a reservist after the war with MARESOC. The country was sitting on the fence when it came to the military. On one side were those that wanted to massively expand the military. Rebuild the air force, navy, the whole nine yards. There were even a few that wanted to build a couple of nukes. Their reasoning was sound. The world was headed straight to a war that would be just as devastating as WW2. The US had to be ready to defend freedom not just at home but abroad.

On the other side of the fence were those that believed the United States should become a pacifist disarmed nation. What used to be a position held on by peaceniks or hippies had become very popular. After the horror that was World War 3 Americans were starting to lose their appetite for war.

Congress after a rather intense debate decided to continue the remilitarization . While the US wanted peace it was unlikely the world would let them. Wingbardy was no doubt planning to invade at some point. The Archon was ruthlessly expanding the Griffonian Empire. The Second Aquileian Revolution had failed. The King maintained rule over his nation with an iron claw and was no doubt miffed at the US refusing his offer for vassalage. And that was the conflicts the US could possibly get into by itself.

The State Department despite having been recently reformed was not idle. They were cultivating new alliances all across the planet. Across the sea there were the Soviets, the Union of Free Beings, Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and Olenians. Closer to home there was the Griffonian Republic and Republic of Griffonstone. Both nations were relatively new democracies and were naturally drawn to the US who in addition to being new like them were also an old stable republic. There was talk of reforming NATO or the United Nations though that was still in the early stages.

As he lay on the couch watching TV he was startled when the door to the apartment quickly swung open. Standing in the door frame was his roommate and friend Berry Swirl. He regularly visited her at the holding camp for proles like he promised. When the ‘Prole Pal’ program was started Berry asked if she could be his prole pal. The purpose of the program was to help deprogram the proles by having them live with American families. They would be retaught all the things MARESOC had wanted them to forget like how to think for themselves.

Honestly he didn’t really have to do much with Berry. Back at the camp the doctors were astounded at how readily she picked everything up making one of the first to be considered rehabilitated enough to leave. Berry got a job with the Office of New World Reconstruction which in addition to trying to rebuild the shattered remains of Marelandia was also going back to Earth to rescue people. Despite not having a cutie mark Berry had a knack for paperwork.

“Berry!? What’s wrong!?” he asked the pony who was catching her breath. Did she run all the way here!?

‘Erik! I just met your parents!” she said pointing a hoof at the family photo, his most prized possession, sitting on a table.

Novum Europa
Union of European Nations
The Drunken Bulldog Pub

“Is that what I think it is!? Jesus Christ man, you trying to get us all killed!?”

“Give me some credit, Sean. I was one of her majesty’s premier agents. The day one of those Europe First Gestapo wannabes get the best of me is the day hell freezes over.”

“”Whatever you say, Bishop. Can your contact in Equestria make sure this gets to the Americans?”

“Most certainly. Word on the grapevine is that relations between the Americans and Equestrians have warmed considerably. My contact has put us in touch with the Royal Equestrian Intelligence Agency, American CIA, and Soviet KGB. They are willing to equip us with weapons, ammunition, and the like.”

“Is that so? I have more than a few IRA buddies itching for a fight.”

“And I know a few members of the British Army along with a few French & German chaps who have some grievances with the current government.”

“Think we have enough to stage an uprising?”

“No. Nowhere near enough. The fascist bastards running the council are covering all their bases. Any uprising we try to stage would be swiftly crushed.”

“Then what the hell are we collecting all these guns for!?”

“The borders are locked down tight but not tight enough. We gather up our friends, families, and allies along with any ponies held in these prison camps here and here. We blow through the checkpoint and cross the border into Equestria.”

“So we’re gonna blow this joint then? As good a plan as any. When do we do it?”

“One week from now.”

Nightmares & Names

A young filly trotted down a dirt road on her way back home. In her mouth was a bag containing worn books & papers. Despite the aching of her bones she was very happy. She had a very productive day at school and learned a lot. Since she had her morning shift at the factory she could only catch the last couple hours of class. Thankfully Miss. Juniper Breeze was very understanding. She was always willing to stay behind a few hours to teach her. She always helped Miss Breeze with some of her paperwork as a way to say thanks. She was really really good at paperwork. So good Miss Breeze said she might end up having a cutie mark on it.

The thought of getting a cutie mark though outright terrified her. If she got a cutie mark she couldn’t work at the factory anymore! The foreman only let her work because her small hooves were ideal for the inner workings of the more complex machines. If she got a cutie mark that showed her talents lie elsewhere she would be out of a job!

She had almost lost her job once before. When a few new ponies were hired they got really upset when they saw her and a few other kids. They were yelling at the foreman about ‘Foal Labor’ and how they would ‘report this’. Thankfully nothing came of this. The owner of the factory and the Mayor of Baltimare were really good friends. A few Strike Breakers and some cops came by to yell at them and that was the end of it.

As she trotted down the dirt road she saw a small rundown house with a few crops growing around it. Before heading inside she checked on the crops pulling out the few weeds she saw. It wasn’t much but these would make sure she and her parents had a decent meal for a month at least.

Opening the door she was greeted by a shocking scene. Their home was much to look at before but now it was absolutely trashed. The kitchen table was flipped over. Its single chair was thrown against the wall having two of its remaining three legs broken off. A small dusty shelf containing the few knick knacks they owned had fallen to the floor with its contents strewn about. Laying against the wood burning stove in the center of it all was her mother, Berry Blast.

Her sky blue coat was covered in dust no doubt from throwing everything around. The fur around her puffy red eyes was wet from tears. Several bottles of just about anything even remotely alcoholic lay around her. She rushed toward her thinking they had just been robbed.

“Mom! What happened! Where’s dad-” she said frantically only to recoil back as the bottle struck her head.

“Don’t you talk about that idiot!” her mother snarled “I warned him not to make such a big fuss! I warned him and now he- he is…”

Her mother trailed off, eyes widening as she saw the small trail of blood dripping down her forehead. Her mother then collapsed against the stove and cried.

“Berry… your father. He’s not coming back…”

Baltimare was one of Equestria’s more rapidly industrializing cities. In a couple of years the seaside city was filled with factories, railyards, and shipyards. This rapid industrialization came at a cost however. Baltimare’s working class had begun to suffer greatly as the wealthy industrialists profited from their labor. In normal circumstances the disgruntled populace would simply vote in a new mayor or council representatives that could make positive changes.

In Baltimare though you didn’t get elected to anything without the industrialists approval. Everypony from the mayor to the city council to the chief of police was wrapped firmly around the industrialist’s hooves. Strikes were broken up by police and deputized strike breakers. The city council routinely passed laws that favored the wealthy. The mayor and the noble friends he had in Canterlot made sure anyone with any authority didn’t find out what was going on. Baltimare had without a doubt become the worst city in Equestria.

There was a not so significant movement in the city to unionize and get their voices heard. Her father was one of the more prominent members of this new movement despite the constant pleas of her mother who feared reprisal. Her mother turned out to be right because one day while she was away a group of police officers came to their home and after beating her father dragged him away for ‘plotting an uprising’. He supposedly hung himself a couple days later…

Since that day she had become the main breadwinner trying to keep their already fragile life afloat. With the loss of her father her mother just… wasted away. She barely ate and simply spent her days staring out the window. She died a few years later. By that point she was both old enough and important enough of an employee at the factory that she avoided having to go to an orphanage. In those years she had become jaded and cynical. The large manors of the wealthy she had passed but on the way to and from work were once something she loved looking at. Now they only filled her with rage. Her faith in Celestia also faltered. Growing up she was told the Solar Princess was like a goddess, that she could do anything. If so, why didn’t she save them? Why didn’t she save her father, mother, or the hundreds imprisoned or even killed for daring to wish for a better life.

When the Stalliongrad revolution happened in her teen years she felt something change within her. The ideology of Equalism had always intrigued her the moment she read Starlight Glimmer’s book. The revolution and Stalliongrad’s independence proved such a system was viable! There was room for improvement though. If some adjustments were made then a perfect society could be achieved! Everypony would be happy! No foal would have to suffer like she had. She had only gone to a few Baltimare Equalist Party rallies before a few comrades warned her the cops were looking for her. Since she was the daughter of a ‘troublemaker’ the cops kept an eye on her. Her visiting the rallies was more than enough justification to throw her behind bars. The next day she was on a boat to the New Mareland colony.

Where did things go so wrong? She had no idea what point she had lost her previous convictions and beliefs. It could have been during her time in the Baltimare Equalist Parties. It could have been when she arrived in New Mareland and saw it was every bit as bad as Baltimare in some places and worse in others! It could have been when she had finally gained the power she had so craved. Power corrupts and all that. She refused to believe she was a bad pony. She wasn’t a bad pony!

She looked out the large window behind her. In the square below were the bodies of ponies and griffons. 237 to be exact. It was a number that she would never forget. She was the one who ordered their execution. Soldiers and Bitty Simple tanks were in the square as well. The soldiers were loading the bodies onto trucks. Not to be buried but strung up around the city with 'TRAITOR' signs stuck to them. Her own cruelty really sickened her sometimes.

This was a scene she had witnessed many times before. This wasn’t real. It was just a nightmare. One that she has been having more and more often lately. The first time she had it was only a few days after she moved in with Eric. She had woken up in a cold sweat feeling absolutely disgusted in herself. She tried to deny it at first but the evidence was too extensive to ignore.

It made a bit of sense the more she thought about it. The gaps in her memory. Being completely free of any malnourishment and brainwashing that afflicted other proles. The fact that she was in the Inner Party Bunker at all and she couldn’t remember what job she even performed in it. Before she started having these nightmares the earliest memory she could recall was being yelled at by Doctor Double Think. He kept calling her Big Sister and asking her what were they going to do. She told him she didn’t know what he was talking about and that her name was Berry.

Double Think looked shocked for a moment before he began to smile creepily. He said that she needed to follow him to his office. There were a few tests he wanted to run. She refused so he pulled out a gun. He then said he wasn’t asking and that she’d better be a good prole and follow him. At that moment a Thought Police Officer happened by and saw Double Think pointing a gun at her. She had always wondered why that Thought Police officer tackled Double Think and got shot for it. Now she knows…

She was Big Sister! She was responsible for ruining the lives of every inhabitant in an entire nation! She was most certainly going to be put in history books as the worst tyrant to ever exist! Not even Chrysalis had reached her level of infamy! In fact after the US liberated Marelandia the Changeling Queen had sent a public letter of sympathy towards the oppressed proles and an entire cargo ship loaded up with relief supplies.

What was she going to do!? Should she tell Eric? The human was her best friend and the closest thing she had to a family. His parents were also very welcoming. His father even joked that he came back from the Army with a girlfriend much to Eric’s embarrassment. What if he hated her when she told him? What if he reported this to his superiors! They would most certainly execute her! No! She had to take this to the grave!

Big Sister died in the Inner Party bunker. Most likely from a self inflicted gunshot like so many other Inner Party officials. That was the official stance and to tartarus was she going to dispute it. She silently thanked Double Think for not saying a word to anyone. He knew who she was. He knew what had happened or at least reached the same conclusion as her. Since her Doublethink addled mind couldn't comprehend Marelandia actually losing it decided that Marelandia didn’t lose because it didn’t exist. It never had. If it never existed then Big Sister never existed either. Just like that years of memories were gone, put under lock & key in the deepest corner of her mind. She was Berry Swirl again. An innocent young mare unaware of the blood on her hooves.

Well until now at least. Guess memories can’t stay locked up forever. She was sure if he still drew breath Double Think would be over the moon about this. Speaking of the moon she was going to have to never go back to Equestria and keep track of Princess Luna’s movements at all times. If by chance the Lunar Princess saw her nightmares she would undoubtedly want to have a word or two with her.

She glanced at the clock on her nightstand having woken up not too long ago. Guess once she started her personal musings her mind decided dreamtime was over. Maybe that was why she kept having it? Give her a chance at self reflection? She didn’t see much point in it since she was without a doubt the biggest piece of shit in all of Equus. She honestly didn't deserve a second chance but she wasn't going to squander it. Flopping back onto her pillow she tried to fall back asleep. It was 4 AM. She had work in a few hours.

United States of the Americas
New Washington
Department of the Interior

Secretary of the Interior Lemon Zest sat at her desk looking at the various proposals for New Hoofington’s name now that it had been officially admitted to the US. After the fall of MARESOC the now free proles of Marelandia had wished to join the country that liberated them. That was easier said than done. The entire country was in ruins. Most of it was due to MARESOC’s negligence rather than combat though the Air Force did its fair share of damage. Add in the fact that many proles were completely incapable of doing anything unless ordered and you had a region that would need a little work before it could join the United States as a full state.

While her department was supposed to be in charge of the country’s federal lands like national parks since they didn’t really have national parks yet they were instead tasked with rebuilding the former Marelandian territories. With much of the Department of New World Reconstruction’s assets being transferred over to her department and the blank check given to them by Congress to repair & expand infrastructure they were making decent headway. Soon several regions had progressed enough to become full states. Which led to a whole new problem. What to call the new states.

While you would think they would keep their old names the residents of these territories were of a different opinion. The names brought up bad memories or weren’t really accurate anymore. New Hoofington was pretty much gone. Several divisions of US Army Motorized & Mechanized Infantry landed both in and around the city with support from the US Navy. They had landed in a city that was an already bombed out ruin. MARESOC typically fired artillery on the city claiming it was an attack from America. The only things really standing in the city were the dockyards, munitions plants, and government buildings.The city would have to be rebuilt from scratch just like Sunset or Hoovesplain.

While it had over two centuries of history back on Earth the United States was new here. It was an opportunity for all the races to have a new beginning. A new country so they needed new names. That was why New Manehattan changed its name to Liberty City. Both as a way to look towards the future and as a nod to how many proles in New Hoofington sailed or even swam to the city in order to escape. Sure there were a few holdovers like New Washington and the state it was in being named Columbia or the Marelandian region of Celestia keeping its name.

She had already rejected a few names today but one did have some promise. A few humans, ponies, and griffons had proposed it along with a development plan. The humans were either from the American state of Louisiana or the Canadian province of Quebec. The ponies were from the Equestrian city of Prance. The griffons were from the nation of Aquelia. They had noticed the similarity of their cultures so they wished to build a community together and share it with the rest of the nation. After a short discussion they went with the name New Bordeaux.

She had heavy incentives from Congress to accept proposals like this. Not only would this keep griffons from becoming a looked down upon minority like in the old New Mareland but it would also help preserve a human culture, this being the American Francophone community. Thanks to the nuclear war many human cultures were considered to be lost. Native Americans made up less than 1% of Amercans. They were given Hoovesplain (which they had renamed Dakota City) to try and keep their culture alive. Hawaiians were given Eldoran island (which was renamed Alola). Controversially a former Caribbean dictator was given Boltaire Island on which to rule as governor. He was winning every election legitimately so both Congress and the White House let him be. Hopefully they won’t hear anything from New Tropico anytime soon.

She did have some ulterior motives. Allowing the city to be called New Bordeaux would certainly please the French citizens of the UEN or European State as they had rebranded themselves. It’s ‘Europe First’ policies were becoming increasingly worrying. President Carter wanted to de-escalate things quickly or at least hold them off until the US got on a proper war footing. Despite happening relatively quickly the Marlandian Liberation had drained much of the military’s munitions stock. Even with Marelandian weapons factories under their control it would take awhile to replenish their stocks.

The Europeans had been getting really friendly with the Changelings. They had most likely formed an alliance since a few Changeling Jaeger units were reported by Olenian and Soviet forces to possess early assault rifles not too dissimilar from the STG-44 which the Changelings should be years away from producing. What if the Euros help them build jets, modern battle tanks, or nukes next!? They needed to get the Euros to back down in any way possible and appealing to the Euro State’s French community which made up a decent chunk of the nation’s population was a good starting off point.

Now back to work. Sunset needed a new name. She was leaning toward Metropolis. Despite being a reference to a human comic book it was a quite fitting name. They were currently sending a majority of the humans rescued in the Earth expeditions there. The city was poised to become a major population center again. Besides, calling it Metropolis will certainly annoy the people that keep wanting a city to be called Gotham. She doesn’t care how many people & ponies they get for their petition. She is not naming a city Gotham!

Author's Note

Originally this was supposed to be about nothing but Berry but it was a little too short so I added the part about the US renaming its new territories. That's what I do in my games thanks to the Rename States mod. 99.9% of the renamed states is a reference to something. Why? A better question is Why Not!? 😆

I might put this on hiatus for a while at least until Escalation 84 is updated. No Step Back has completely ruined all my HOI4 mods... T_T

The US Navy

From the Atlantic to the Pacific

From Discovery Coast to the Lunar Sea

Nothing Can Stop The US Navy!

New Washington Naval Yard

Ship Shape was excited. It wasn’t just the ‘new job’ excitement either. He was going to be a part of what was to be a naval boom the likes of which this world had never seen. If you had told him ten years ago when he was a colt fresh out of university that he would be helping design the greatest navy on the planet he’d call you a liar.

Before he had gotten this job he had long wished that he returned to Equestria and took that job in the Vanhoover shipyards he was offered. Instead he stayed in New Mareland to help its budding shipbuilding industry as a Naval Architect. When the Depression hit and the yards closed he almost ended up completely destitute. Thankfully he had a fair bit of cash stored away. Not in a bank because they were the first to close during the Depression. He had it all stuffed in his mattress. While sleeping on a pile of bits was uncomfortable, at least he knew his money was safe. It was enough to live on until the government fell.

When MARESOC took over he was selected to become a member of the Outer Party as one of their naval architects. Since he had no political leanings of any kind the Thought Police believed him to be the perfect ‘empty vessel’ they could fill with as much political rhetoric as they wanted. So long as he spouted enough Pro-Big Sister slogans and kept to himself the Thought Police stayed off his back. He was a fairly quiet stallion so it was pretty easy. He still had to go through a decent amount of therapy after the Americans liberated the place. Even now he couldn’t help but spout some Pro-American slogans around police officers and had an unhealthy fear of televisions.

He had spent the past few days reading up on the American navy on Earth. From its humble beginnings of being a handful of converted merchant ships to the absolute behemoth it was before the Third World War. While he would love to help design Missile Cruisers and Nuclear submarines the US was years from having the infrastructure needed to build such vessels. So until then they had to go back to the basics.

The USS Dreadnought is currently under construction right now. Based on the famous USS Texas it was to be the US Navy’s first battleship here on Equus. It was pretty difficult to get the Navy to agree to build it from what he heard. The US Navy had moved beyond battleships focusing on carriers for naval supremacy so many admirals protested its construction. A foreign concept in this world where many still believed the battleship to be king. He once thought the same until he read how successful American carriers were in the Second World War and in the opening stages of the Third.

The Navy was currently building a couple of carriers as well. The USS Defender was captured in Sunset Harbor while under construction. It was supposed to be the twin to New Mareland’s only aircraft carrier, the Princess (which was renamed to the Big Sister by MARESOC). The Princess now lay on the bottom of the Discovery Sea after being sunk by US aircraft. The USS Sentinel was under construction in Liberty City though only its keel had been laid so far. These carriers were quite simple especially when compared to the carriers the Navy used to operate. They were just big & advanced enough for the Navy’s jets & helicopters to operate on.

There were plans in place to start construction on the second carrier generation immediately. The world was headed to war and despite still trying to find its footing the US had been thrust into the role of peacekeeper once again. The new carriers were going to be based on the tried & tested Midway-Class. When it came time to decide their names someone had proposed that the new ships be called the Princess-Class and named after Celestia & Luna. While it apparently wasn’t uncommon for US navy vessels to be named after ‘foreigners’ this was still quite the radical proposal.

Pros for this audacious plan was that it would help foster good relations with Equestria who was quickly starting to become America’s biggest ally. With the failure of the Second Aquelian Revolution the King of Aquelia has started making hostile moves towards the US who was rumored to have given discreet help to the revolutionaries. The Manehattan Fleet sailing in US waters for a ‘joint exercise’ was enough to dissuade him.

Personally he would actually like to see such a thing happen. New Mareland’s Princess had never got much of a chance to prove itself before it was sunk. These new ships would be like the Princess reborn and give her the chance to protect the ponies & griffons it was meant to and not be used as a tool to oppress them.

Getting to have a hoof in that no matter how minor was an honor he was proud to have. But carriers would have to wait for now. The US Navy had a project in the works to put them in the top ten navies on the planet. He and just about every senior shipwright in the country was brought onboard for Project Goliath. What it was he had no idea but he was happy to be a part of it.

New Washington
The Pentagon

In a section of New Washington a large pentagon shaped building was under construction. A replica of the Pentagon on Earth, it served as the headquarters of the US Military. Even though it was still under construction the military used the offices that were completed. War the likes of which this world had never seen before was on the horizon and they would make sure the US was ready to defend democracy & freedom like it had done in the past.

In one of the conference rooms belonging to the Navy a group of Admirals were sitting at a long table. Half of the Admirals, mostly humans, were looking fairly glum. The thought going through their heads was how their fellows even thought this was a good idea. The other half of the Admirals, mostly ponies & griffons, were behind the plan wholeheartedly. While many of them have been swayed to the power of the Aircraft Carrier they knew that the US still needed battleships. Not just any battleship either.

“Greetings Admirals.” said an engineer dimming the lights and turning on a projector. “We have a lot to go over so let’s get started.”

The words Project Goliath appeared on the screen before being replaced by an artist’s rendition of a large battleship. The United States was not constructing just any old battleship but a super battleship one to rival the Bismarck and Yamato on Earth. Dusting off plans for the old Montana class this ship which was to be named the USS United States of the Americas was to be the most powerful ship sailing the seas. The brainchild of a few US Navy admirals and the couple of New Mareland Navy Admirals in New Manehattan after the rise of MARESOC.

Their arguments did have merit. The US Navy for the foreseeable future was going to be heavily outnumbered both in terms of ships and in naval production. The two largest powers surrounding them, Aquileia and Wingbady, both had large navies that got larger each month. The chances of fighting them was high so the Navy needed a ship that could take a lot of punishment while dishing it out. There was also the added benefit of the ship getting the US Navy the grudging respect of the world’s navies who still believed the battleship was king of the seas and couldn't understand why the US was putting so much emphasis on carriers.

A few of the opposing Admirals upon seeing the rendition and a detailed look at the ship’s specifications started to be swayed away from the opinion that this battleship was a waste of resources and dockyard space. A reminder at how much just how close the Marelandian navy was to completely overwhelming them in numbers also started to sway many opinions. The sub and destroyer crews had their hands full trying to escort the invading troops and prevent an invasion of their island. As much as they were reluctant to admit it the Air Force was the real hero of the war having sunk a good chunk of the Marelandian navy at port while also constantly harassing their ships at sea.

The Navy wasn’t going to let the Air Force steal their thunder so ensuring they could go toe to toe with this world’s fleets was paramount.

Interlude: Voices from the Other Side I

Celestia lay upon her bed in her room reading the latest Daring Do book. Miss Yearling really outdone herself this time. She heard Chrysalis was quite furious at how the legendary Daring Do made a fool of her elite Specters. If Miss Yearling wasn’t so keen on keeping her privacy she would have awarded her several Hero of Equestria medals by now.

Her peaceful atmosphere was broken by her radio which had been playing a piece from the Canterlot Orchestra suddenly emitting static. She looked over at it annoyed, wondering what was causing it to make such a horrid noise. Through the static she started to hear voices which intrigued her enough to keep her from simply turning the radio off. Soon the static cleared allowing her to hear the voices clearly and what she heard was shocking. Was that her voice!?

-failed to protect the ponies of Equestria because I was afraid to do what is necessary! No longer! Without Order there can be no Survival! Without Survival there can be no Friendship! All shall be safe under the new Solar Empire. I ask only for your obedience, devotion, and shared sacrifice…

As the radio went back to playing static Celestia was stunned. Was that her? She doesn’t remember saying anything like that, especially not on the radio! She would never say something so… sinister. Or would she?

These past few days she wondered if she should take a more… proactive stance. War was on the horizon and there seemed to be little she could do to prepare for it. Even her power had limits and over a thousand years of red tape & tradition constantly bogged her down. Ironically it was her and Luna, the thousand year old alicorns, that advocated change while other members of Equestria’s government tried to keep everything the same expecting things to turn out alright like they always did.

Was this a version of her that did get more involved? That did get more aggressive? That slope was more slippery than she thought if she fell down it that far. The static started to clear again so she leaned forward and listened.

The Equestria Civil War has entered its third year with no significant gains by either side. President J.D. Neighvis of the Confederation of Southern States has condemned the attempt by the Solar and Lunar Empires to annex the newly formed state saying that the south will remain independent now and forever. President Thorax of the Free Changeling Hive has opened the borders to any ponies fleeing the civil war. King Sombra of the Crystal Empire has done the same yet states refugees must make an oath of loyalty to his regime…

There was a lot to unwrap from that one. A Civil War!? Between her and Luna!? Did her fall to darkness cause her sister to fall as well? Or was it the other way around? Luna had been so worried when making her Thestral Reforms. She had sunk everything into it. Now she couldn’t help but think what if things had gone wrong? Would that have caused Luna to snap?

J.D. Neighvis. That was a name she was familiar with. He was an Appleloosan politician that had advocated the southern, and neglected, part of Equestria be turned into an autonomous state. If there was a civil war she didn’t doubt Neighvis would use such a thing to his advantage.

Sombra returning was worrying. There had been rumors of certain groups in the Crystal Empire trying to bring him back. Perhaps she should take such things more seriously. A letter to Cadence urging her to look into such matters would do along with assigning an agent or two from Equestrian Intelligence.

The thing that interested her the most was this mention of a Free Changeling Hive. In wherever world these broadcasts were coming from did the Changelings overthrow Chrysalis? If so then more power to them. If there was a way to find this Thorax she wouldn’t hesitate to offer him whatever support he needed. That was something to keep an eye out for. The next thing that played from the radio wasn’t a broadcast but instead music.

I don’t want to set the world on fire~

It was obviously a human song and sounded quite lovely. She returned to her book reading while the music played in the background. When the song ended there was static for a few seconds until the radio went back to playing the Canterlot Orchestra like nothing even happened. What a rather strange event but honestly such a thing was becoming quite common these days.

Reluctant President & Prison Break

If you had told her where she’d be a few years ago Gilda would have called you a liar & a dweeb and made fun of you. As far as griffons were concerned she was fairly unremarkable, Her flight scores and general performance in school was average at best. She had no special talents or skills besides making griffon scones (which had been voted the worst pastry on the planet). Her one aspiration in life was simply raising enough bits to put as much distance between her and birth town as possible. That’s why if you told her she’d become President & Founder of a nascent Republic centered on her hometown she’d call you crazy.

Perhaps it was because she hung around ponies too much? Maybe it was because of dumb luck? Or maybe it was because nobody else wanted to run this dump? Either way she was head of the Griffonian Republican Party and de facto President of the newly founded Republic of Griffonstone! She had only joined the Griffonstonian Republican Party as a hobby! She never believed anygriff would like her speeches or opinions! She never expected them to make her the leader! She never in a million years expected them to succeed over Grandpa Gruff and the other old nobles! She never once thought that other griffins would actually depend on her…

In the early days she thought about scampering off once she snagged enough Bits and going to Equestria like she wanted. But she realized she couldn't do that. These dweebs depended on her so much that this place would immediately fall into anarchy if she wasn't here! She decided to only leave once she had delegated enough responsibility to other griffons. Unfortunately that plan went up in smoke because just about everyone in the territory administered by Griffonstone was either greedy, incompetent, or a combination of both. Those she thought might be good for a leadership position either took advantage of the griffons under their command or were unable to do the job she requested of them.

The last one was completely the fault of the dweebs. So many griffons were incapable of doing more than basic reading, writing, and math. She supposed she was lucky her mother was a teacher and a difficult taskmaster. She couldn’t simply leave the country in the claws of a bunch of dopes so she started a massive education reform. The population had to be a bunch of idiots because so many of them seemed to think her speech on how ‘education was the key to Griffonstone’s future’ was actually good! Can’t those dweebs see that she didn’t mean it!?

Well she may have meant it a little bit…? And she did feel a little bit of pride watching griffons, both young & old, crowd into the newly built schools and university. Once she started to get some competent, educated griffons she started placing them around the country. In government positions, military ones, and other key places. She thought she was done there but then her new staff brought some more issues to her attention. Poor infrastructure, few jobs, inefficient crop production, low quality & outdated military weapons, and much of the country being stuck in medieval stasis. As much as she wanted to fly away she knew she had to fix these problems.

Not out of a sense of duty or compassion mind you! It’s just because she didn’t want a horde of angry Griffonstonians knocking down the door of her new home! Only a dweeb would think she actually liked doing this!

While improving the country and bringing it into the modern era would take years she at least got the ball rolling after building new rail lines and factories. These new factories helped churn out trucks and farming machinery replacing the hand drawn carts and plows griffons in this area had used for over a millennia. They also produced a small amount of weapons for the Republican Army though it was still woefully inadequate for their needs.

The Republic of Griffonstone was surrounded by enemies. There was the Barony of Rumare in Lake Rumare who wanted to reclaim their ancestral lands. The Barony of Arantiga who wanted to do the same. Blackrock’s Bandits who routinely raided their eastern border. To the north were the squabbling states of the Griffonian Empire who were currently sizing each other up for coffins. In the south there was the Wingbardian Empire where Beakolini made several species claiming that he wished to restore the birthplace of Griffonkind to glory. Which was fancy speak for saying he was planning an invasion. With all these threats they needed guns and plenty of them. Thankfully she knew just where to get them…

The Americans were quite happy at the idea of not only helping a fellow republic but also getting an ally on the continent which they desperately needed. Despite conquering Marelandia giving them a lot of land to work with, the Americans were still in a precarious position. At the moment the Kingdom of Aquelia or Wingbardy could easily invade the United States despite the tech difference. So having a friend to back them up would work out well for them.

The Americans had plenty of weapons left over from their war with Marelandia. Bolt action rifles, machine guns, tanks, and planes. All of which was far better than what they had now. Simple military surplus wasn’t what she was after though. She wanted something that would certainly give Wingbardy pause. A quick trip to New Washington and a meeting with President Carter later and she now had a treaty promising substantial military aid to the Republic.

Thousands of small arms were currently being shipped to them by cargo plane. Not the bolt action weapons of Marelandia but the guns of the United States. While she was unable to get the CAR-15 rifles currently in service she did manage to get ahold of a bunch of their outdated guns. M2 Carbines and M-14 Battle Rifles. Guns that while outdated for the Americans were a step above what the surrounding powers possessed. Then there were the support weapons like Browning .50 caliber machine guns and M60 GPMG Machine Guns. Along with a variety of other weapons like mortars, artillery, anti-aircraft batteries, and anti-tank weapons. Speaking of tanks the Americans promised to supply those too when their tank production was in a much better place.

They did hand over the ‘Bitty Simple’ tanks they had captured from Marelandia but upon seeing them she privately wished the Americans didn’t. With corrugated steel bolted over a tractor frame and a single machine gun the only way the Bitty would defeat the enemy was by causing them to laugh to death especially if they had tanks of their own. While proper tanks would be nice to have the mountainous terrain of much of the nation and the current status of infrastructure would make using them detrimental at this stage.

What wasn’t detrimental was the Air Force. The GRAF or Griffonstone Republican Air Force had very rapidly become the most popular military branch in the country. Above the Army even though they did most of the work. Above the miniscule Navy which operated a few boats in Lake Rumare. It was even above the Griffonstone’s Order of Knights which was starting to receive training to become a modern military force like America’s special forces or Equestria’s Royal Guard. Ever since the Americans sold off some of their older jets and helicopters along with captured Marelandian craft every young griffon wanted to join up.

It was hilarious when you thought about the complete opposition that some griffons had to the very idea of an air force believing that airborne griffons or even airships could easily stand up to some newfangled machine. That was until the Air Force showed off their new equipment in an Air Show near Griffonstone. At least a half million griffons turned up over the several day long event with some even coming over the borders. The F-86 Sabres gifted by the Americans were more impressive than any other plane and the Huey helicopter bristling with weapons made tanks seem irrelevant to the casual observer. After a ride in a helicopter she wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d prefer a ride in one rather than having to use her own wings. It was a lot less exhausting to be sure.

Now that the nation was on much better footing she had hoped to sneak away once she was done grooming a successor. The Blackrock War and the War with Arantiga had changed that. First was the war with Blackrock’s Bandits. The bandits had done one raid to many and a few overzealous army commanders emboldened by their new weapons planned an offensive into the bandit nation. Since the territory controlled by Blackrock wasn't recognized as a nation by any sense it wouldn’t exactly be illegal to invade it. If they handled it correctly they would be hailed as heroes.

Unfortunately for her they did handle it correctly. Those griffons made sure their ‘military expedition’ was well organized and properly led. They dealt with resistance harshly but fairly putting down the bandits that tried to fight but also fairly tried those they captured. Griffons in the Blackhollow Territory greeted Republican troops like liberators. Blackrock herself died in a rather ferocious battle for Murkbeak. The invasion was so successful that decrying it in public was political suicide. So she committed to the operation fully.

Just as they were mopping up the last bandits she had gotten reports of hostility on the Arantigian border. The Barony had declared war on them! Unlike the bandits of Blackrock, Aratiga’s soldiers were professionals and well trained. Especially the Arantigian Knights. They rampaged through the countryside and were at the gates of Griffonstone itself when she got a rather alarming proposal from President Carter.

While it would save Griffonstone and ensure they’d never have to go it alone in a fight again it basically meant she wouldn’t be able to sneak off like she wanted. She had to make a choice. Griffonstone or herself? Boreas damned ponies… Curse them for making her like this. Everything was so much simpler before they came into her life…

The decision was a no brainer. She signed the treaty. With the stroke of a pen the Alliance of Harmonious Nations was born. American troops arrived sometime later with bombing runs from the US Air Force happening within hours of the treaty signing. After a thrust by US Marines volunteers and a Knight division they had captured the last Arantigian city and ended the war.

Her troubles weren’t over yet though. Wingbardy was still eyeing them up Alliance with the US or not. The County of Blackhollow which they had formed from some of the territory they took from the bandits needed aid. Thanks to their new territory they now bordered the communist nation of Prydwen who was also sizing them up. The Alliance of Harmonious Nations was also gaining new members which in ordinary circumstances would be good if those new member states weren’t also in danger of being invaded. There was the Griffonian Republic who was at odds with both Skyvania and the Empire. There was the Kingdom of Yakyakistan who was currently in a civil war. Worse yet was that the City state of Flowena had recently joined even though it was currently on the ‘invade & pillage’ list of just about everyone around it which included the Kingdom of Aquelia.

Stupid Americans! Stupid Alliance! Stupid Griffonstone! She was going to be president of this stupid Republic forever!

Henry Bishop peered through his binoculars at the two men in a guard tower sharing cigarettes. Below the tower near a gate were two more guards playing cards with a radio nearby. Looks like the guards of this camp were still sloppy. He looked at a hill beyond the camp where there was a small light flashing. He took out a small light and made three slow flashes. Two flashes came in acknowledgement.

Picking up his weapon he motioned for the men to follow him. They shot the guards by the gate and in the tower catching them completely by surprise. While they were using non suppressed weapons it ultimately didn’t matter because on the northern part of the camp there was a large explosion as a hole was blown into the perimeter fence. The explosion just so happened to also take out the guard barracks/administration building where a majority of the guards were goofing off in. They had been planning this operation for weeks so the habits of the guards were well known to them.

Bishop and his men went through the gate and entered the first building they came across which was a crudely built log building. The building was dark with not a single light in sight. Pulling out a flashlight he turned it on to get a proper look at the room. Their intel was correct. This room was filled with ponies.

A good 50 or 60 tired looking ponies were packed onto bunks that wouldn’t look out of place in a concentration camp. It was an apt comparison because the couple of Germans in his team cursed their fellow countryman who were willingly repeating the past. He pursed his lips as he got a better look at the ponies. They appeared to be either malnourished, with many showing visible ribs, or injured. This wouldn’t do. It was a long way to the border from here. They’d never be able to walk this distance in this kind of state. Pulling out a radio gifted by the American CIA he called the other team.

"Sean, we have a problem." He said into the radio.

"I'm guessing your ponies are in bad a shape as ours?" replied Sean "Don't worry. I sent my boys to take care of it. Luckily the trucks the bastards used to transport them are still here."

He sighed in relief. They had been seeing plenty of good fortune so far. Though that may have more to do with them having spent months planning this operation. Everyone knew the plan and were doing the best that they could to make sure it went without any problems.

“My name is Henry Bishop,” he said to the ponies. “We’re here to get you out of here.”

Almost all of the ponies had looks of hope on their faces. The few that didn’t shrunk back and shivered in fear. These ponies just so happened to be in the worst shape sporting numerous bruises, black eyes, and even a few broken limbs. They most likely thought this was some kind of elaborate trick in order to hurt them again. It took some coaxing but eventually even these reluctant ponies began to make their way to the trucks.

As the ponies were loaded onto the trucks Bishop started to get nervous. This was going on a bit longer than they had planned. Many ponies were in such bad shape that they had to be carried, slowing them down. Each passing second meant that they were more likely to be discovered and if that happened then the hammer would surely come crashing down. While they had prepared for such an outcome there were a lot of miles from here to the border. A lot could go wrong in that distance.

While he had stressed the need to leave ponies & people behind if it threatened the operation during planning he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If he left them behind these ponies would surely die.

Soon all the ponies had been loaded into the trucks allowing them to finally leave. Troops were most certainly on the way to investigate the explosion. As they started to drive off his worst nightmare became realized. An attack helicopter was fast approaching. He called Sean who was riding in the back of a pickup truck containing most of their weapons & ammo. He told Sean to ready the gift that the American CIA had lent them.

“Take this you fascist bastards!” yelled the irishman before firing the Stinger surface to air missile at the helicopter. The helicopter tried to veer off but the missile struck its side momentarily illuminating the countryside as it exploded.

“Now let’s get out of here before they send another one.’ said Sean grabbing another Stinger just in case.

He wholeheartedly agreed with Sean’s request. They thankfully had no more excitement for the rest of the night except for the border guards who they unceremoniously shot. Several teams had already made it across the border so when they drove into an Equestrian military camp they were met with much fanfare.

He couldn’t but smile as he received pats on the back from dozens of Equestrian Army soldiers and bottles of cider being shoved into his hands. All in all they had escaped from the European State with over 4,000 ponies rescued from dozens of camps and almost twice as many humans. The Equestrian press proclaimed them heroes.

The fascist council of the Euro State demanded that they and all the humans who escaped be returned to face trial for terrorism & insurrection but Princess Celestia was not having it. She now had definitive proof that the ponies that were still living in Euro territory were being mistreated despite the assurances of the Council. Almost instantly diplomatic & economic ties between Equestria and the European State were severed.

All food & resource deliveries stopped. The Equestrian Navy began to blockade the nation. A statement was released that any Euro aircraft flying over Equestrian airspace would be shot down. A threat that became easier to enforce as American & Soviet made AA began to pop up over the country. While it wouldn’t completely stop Euro visits to the Changelings they had become significantly more difficult.

Both him & Sean would go to Canterlot to not only receive personal thanks from the Princesses but also become the first humans to ever be proclaimed ‘Knights of Equestria’ which as a rare honor dating back to the nation’s founding. They were also asked if they wanted to join the Equestrian group known as S.M.I.L.E. It was originally formed as a monster hunting agency but recently reorganized into a special forces/intelligence agency under the Equestria Royal Intelligence Ministry. The Princesses wished to turn it into an organization not too dissimilar from the Special Air Service. He was an SAS man before joining MI6 and Sean… well he was sure Sean knew more than a few IRA tactics.

Besides, neither of them wished to emigrate to the US no matter how many offers the CIA made. Even in another world the Yanks were still far too crazy for his tastes…

Author's Note

Gilda is definitely Tsundere for her home. It's not like she likes it or anything its just that the faster she makes things better the faster she can scamper off somewhere else! What makes you think otherwise!? B-Baka!

The American Foreign Legion

Service Guarantees Citizenship!

- Motto of the American Foreign Legion

The First ‘New Mareland’ Division

First To The Fight…

Formed shortly before the war with MARESOC the American Foreign Legion or AFL was initially intended to be a single division of former New Mareland soldiers who wished to help reclaim their homeland but only under their own flag. This was in the early days of MARESOC’s rule where the goal of any future invasion would be liberation instead of annexation. It was only after the years went by with all but the most die hard Marelanders considering themselves American by this point and the complete lack of anyone from the old New Mareland government who wasn’t already in the US Government or dead in Big Sister’s frequent purges.

Before annexation was officially put on the table the 1st New Mareland Division was only at a few hundred members. In terms of numbers the 1st was barely a regiment let alone a division. As the years went by the 1st started to ‘Americanize’ just like their fellow ponies & griffons. Their Lila Rifles had long since been replaced by American M-14s and CAR-15s. Their old uniforms had been replaced by the camo uniforms of their human comrades custom made to fit a pony or griffon’s body. Their commanding officer, Velvet Solar, even enlisted in the new US Military Academy at Canmarea to receive what would be her first general’s star.

By the time of the invasion the division had Americanized enough that freeing their former home from the tyranny of MARESOC wasn’t their single end goal. While more than a few wished to see New Mareland restored, even more wanted it to join the United States. The US by that point was no longer a strictly human nation with non-humans making up a significant portion of its population and its government. Several Department Secretaries were ponies and numerous ponies & griffons were in Congress. New Mareland which was experiencing a severe economic depression and had willingly allowed MARESOC to get too powerful was seen as a failed state by even its own citizens.

The 1st was transferred to the Northern Front shortly after the capture of New Hoofington and its docks by US Forces. Due to the speed in which MARESOC forces collapsed the 1st only participated in one real battle before the war’s end. This would be the Battle of Hoovesplain, MARESOC’s final stronghold. The division would be the first US military unit to enter the bombed out city leading to the division adopting the motto ‘First To The Fight’.

This motto would prove to be prophetic because over the next few years the 1st New Mareland gained a reputation as a very aggressive force which paired well with the Foreign Legion’s general Velvet Solar who was an offensive oriented commander with a love of skirmishes, ambushes, and audacious attacks.

The Second ‘ENCLAVE’ Division

God Bless America and No One Else…

When the Union of Free Beings declared its independence many NCR laws became null & void. The Union readopted some like the NCR Draft though not without some tweaking. One law that didn’t see readoption was the law proclaiming all members of the Enclave to be enemies of the state and war criminals. After accepting Judah Kreiger’s squad as refugees, many former NCR citizens were finally able to get a look at the Enclave Boogeyman, the fear of which nearly saw them go to war against the United States.

The sight of a beat up old Vertibird, Follower of the Apocalypse, and a small group of old people was not what people expected. Under NCR law these people were to be executed for war crimes. Union lawmakers quickly decided that such a law was completely unethical since finding out if any individual or squad actually committed war crimes was pretty much impossible due to the total loss of Enclave records and lack of NCR reports. Not only that but the law also included people like Arcade Gannon who was an infant during the Enclave’s appearance.

So after writing it into law the Union promptly informed the NCR, who had been demanding the release of Krieger’s squad for a trial, that their law proclaiming all Enclave members as war criminals was unconstitutional and therefore would not be enforced in Union territory. The Union was completely unaware of the effect this would have across the wasteland.

Numerous Enclave members hiding across NCR territory would read about this in the papers and realize two things. One was that the Union wouldn’t shoot them on sight. The other was that there was a reformed United States through the portal in a world completely untouched by nuclear war.

Within a month of the story being released Vertibirds would start flying into Fort Gateway. Enclave members would offer everything from their vertibirds, to power armor, to crates of energy weapons to pay for either citizenship in the Union or more commonly passage to the United States.

Not wanting to wait to become full citizens of the nation they had long considered their birthright and destiny, many soldiers joined the Foreign Legion. These Enclave soldiers would form the Second Division of the Foreign Legion.

Due to already being familiar with many American tactics and weapon systems, Enclave forces required little in the way of retraining. That doesn't mean there weren't a few issues. Due to their divergent histories guided missiles and other such munitions were far less prevalent in the Enclave’s United States. Not only that but Enclave battle doctrine did not recognize noncombatants and soldiers were encouraged to target medics and other personnel that would normally be off limits.

Enclave soldiers would have to be retrained to recognize & avoid harming noncombatants along with a crash course in both the Geneva Convention and the Canterlot Accords. Once this retraining was finished the Second would become the Foreign Legion’s heaviest hitters. They would swiftly become infamous as a fast and hard hitting force due to their power armor & liberal use of helicopter assaults.

While initially aloof the Second Division eventually developed a bit of a friendly rivalry with the 1st New Mareland. The Enclave, somewhat understandably, has a not so friendly rivalry with the 3rd and 4th Divisions. Their commanding officer, a former mercenary by the name of Douglas Granite, has so far been able to keep the peace.

The Third ‘Steel Knight’ Division

Ad Victorium (To Victory)

Due to the NCR and later Union’s monopolizing of the portal to Equus there has been little interaction with the Brotherhood of Steel. The faction was officially in a state of war with the New California Republic. A war that they are currently losing. By the time the NCR began using the portal both the Lost Hills and Mojave Chapters had been driven to their bunkers by the numerically superior NCR. The other chapters across the wasteland were either unable or unwilling to send support.

After the Union declared its independence and evicted the NCR from Fort Gateway the Brotherhood made contact. Officially it was to establish diplomatic relations with a new wasteland power. Unofficially the Brotherhood hoped to strongarm the Union into handing control over the portal in exchange for protection.

Unfortunately for the Brotherhood the Union had recently signed arms deals with both the US and Equestria. The Brotherhood party of 20 power armored Knights & Paladins and 8 Scribes were met with a small yet modernized force consisting of aircraft and tanks. The now very intimidated Brotherhood instead managed to negotiate a trade deal in which the Brotherhood would trade tech for resources & foodstuffs.

Back at Lost Hills the atmosphere had become very hostile. The Union’s rapid militarization beyond what most wasteland powers were capable of had permanently put them out of the Brotherhood’s reach. Power Armor and Energy Weapons were powerful assets but even in Pre-War times they weren’t war winners. The Brotherhood had been defeated by foes in the past. Either through superior numbers which the Lost Hills & Mojave Chapters experienced with the NCR or the small Maxson Chapter of Colorado in their war with the Hangdogs. They had also been defeated by unexpected tactics & weaponry. One of the early Elders had been felled by a knick from a simple poisoned weapon and Paladins of the Mojave Chapter had been annihilated by the artillery of the Boomers in their belief that tribals didn’t have anything to defeat Power Armor.

Such incidents had become worryingly common in recent years and many had begun to see the writing on the wall. Maxson’s Brotherhood of Steel which had been founded as the best hope of humanity was beginning to die. Destined to be swallowed up by the powers surrounding it unless they adapted.

The bunker quickly began to split into different camps. There were those who wanted to adopt the ways of Lyons and start openly recruiting. There were those who saw the exiled Midwest & Texas Chapters as perfect examples saying that the Brotherhood should get in the business of nation building.

Then you had the Old Guard and Followers of Elijah. Elijah's Followers believed that all their problems stemmed from common wastelanders having tech that was too good for them. Only by reducing the wastelanders back to a simple hunter-gatherer existence like in the decades after the Great War would the Brotherhood be able to not only survive but thrive. Because without the Brotherhood humanity would surely destroy itself in another nuclear war.

While Elijah's Followers were planning the outright collapse of what little civilization remained, the Old Guard was little better. Their goal was to simply do nothing. The Codex was penned by Roger Maxson himself, it was perfect. At least until it wasn't…

All it took was for one scribe to notice something odd as she cleaned old comm logs. A series of correspondences between Lost Hills and Appalachia. She knew there used to be a chapter there. Upon listening to the logs she heard the founder Roger Maxson expressing his views. Views that too her shock was in line with those of the exiled Elder Lyons. Something that may have well been in the Codex but changed after his death. She was a part of the group that supported Lyons ideals so the existence of these tapes was to her the greatest vindication. So she discreetly put the logs on every terminal, pip-boy, and holotape player in the bunker.

Within hours every group was shouting at the other. There were many who were angry their founder's ideals were buried even if they personally didn't like them. The Old Guard was under fire for lying and trying to protect an idea Maxson himself didn't believe in. When Elijah's Followers hissed that the logs were probably fabricated guns were drawn.

The resulting fight, while short, led to hundreds simply leaving the bunker after grabbing everything of value they could carry. Some went east with either the Midwest or Capital Wasteland as their end goal. Some joined the NCR or other wasteland nations. A few went to found their own chapters. A majority however went to Fort Gateway.

They were rushed through immigration despite being clad in power armor and having arms full of energy weapons. The Union could not resist having hundreds of combat trained Brotherhood Knights & Scribes at their disposal. Unfortunately most of them would go to the United States.

The United States from this alternate universe while lagging behind in some areas was arguably more advanced than the Pre-War United States at least in a couple of industries. A Scribe when shown a modern computer chip and Sony Walkman remarked ‘how is that possible?’ while a Knight looked quite taken aback when shown footage of a battle in WW3 with guided munitions being fired by everything from tanks to infantry. While not possessing their world’s skill in AI or Robotics the sophistication of American computers could not be ignored.. Brotherhood Scribes when shown the features of a military base’s Apple Macintosh PCs (a model released mere months before the nuclear war) they immediately began coming up with ways to improve the machine.

Some of these Scribes would go on to found the Knight Computers company which would rapidly become the first tech giant of the reborn United States filling the position once held by now defunct companies like IBM, Apple, and Microsoft.

The Brotherhood’s paladins and more than a few knights would join the foreign legion forming the third division. This division would be mostly made up of power armor wearing paladins while being supported by knights in recon armor or armored vehicles. What they lacked in numbers they made up in raw offensive capability. General Jeremiah Sawyer, a decorated hero of WW3, would say that with only a handful of Brotherhood Knights there is no force on the planet he could not uproot.

The Fourth ‘Bear’ Division

Bears on the Prowl

The United States would see large amounts of immigration from the Union of Free Beings once relations between the two of them normalized and started to blossom into an alliance. When the Union began to allow people from their world to cross over it was inevitable that many would find their way to the United States. The new president of the NCR, Grant C. Hayes, looked back on the old United States nostalgically and wanted the NCR to become its proper successor. He was personally fascinated with this new US beyond the portal.

NCR Newspapers were filled with (sometimes embellished) tales of the US beyond the portal. Calling it a beacon of Democracy in the other world and haven for all who lived under its banner. Despite the change in administration the NCR was still undergoing an economic recession and some unrest among the populace. Plus there was the fact that the Pre-War United States was still looked upon with fondness by many wastelanders. Therefore it shouldn’t be a surprise that many NCR citizens wished to immigrate to the Union or United States.

The Bear division is built along NCR military lines with most of its soldiers having been former NCR Troopers or Rangers. That meant massed assaults by infantry with little motorized or mechanized support. Bears typically engaged their foes from the safety of trenches or heavily fortified positions. When they do have to go on the offensive it is with heavy artillery support while their troops move forward with slow methodical marching fire.

Out of all the Foreign Legion Divisions their casualty rates tend to be the highest which both the 2nd and 3rd divisions say ‘is typical for the NCR’. This high attrition rate is offset by the fact they are the largest in terms of numbers with many former NCR citizens wishing to fast track American citizenship with military service.

The Fifth ‘Draco’ Division

Flames of Fury!

Dragons despite being fairly isolated both globally and diplomatically still make sure they are connected with worldwide events. This is done via the large amounts of dragons present in the militaries of nearly every major world power.

While too prideful to admit it, the fact that the dragons were in a state of national poverty was no secret. In this industrialized world of guns, tanks, and planes the dragons still made due with medieval armor & weapons. With little to no economy to speak of it should be no surprise that many young dragons sought employment in other lands. With dragon culture sometimes outright encouraging aggression, many dragons found employment in mercenary organizations, pirate crews, and in foreign legions. The American Foreign Legion was no different possessing a full regiment of dragons.

The 5th are unique among the foreign legions seeing how they are technically mercenaries. Dragons sign on for a five year contract with the US Military. Upon the contract’s end the dragon would receive their pay and US citizenship to go along with it. In the event of the dragon’s death their pay will be sent to their family or spouse. It was this last stipulation that made the US Foreign Legion popular for dragon mercenaries.

It was very common for mercenaries to be denied payment in the event of death. Even when promised nations very rarely gave any money to the merc’s families. Due to the loner nature of dragons only mercenary groups with very high levels of camaraderie would raise a fuss.

Citizenship in the United States wasn’t a bad bonus especially since it extended to immediate family members. The Dragon Lands were a terrible place to live. Any dragon would admit that (though they’d get angry if a non-dragon said so). Dragon immigration was very controlled in many nations so one that was willing to give them citizenship was something not to be passed up. Upon the creation of the foreign legion the dragon population in the United States would steadily rise. Experts predict that if current trends continue in a century there would be more dragons in the US than all other dragon nations combined.

As a fighting force the 5th is a highly aggressive predominantly infantry force. They are a force that has taken the phrase ‘Attack! Attack! Attack!’ to their very heart.