Twilight wrinkled her nose as the zebra soldiers which nominally guarded the levels of The Citadel’s abutting tower which the Zebrican government reserved for its use—and were thus legally ‘Zebrican soil’—didn’t try to stop the obviously furious purple unicorn as she stormed past them on her way to ‘talk’ with Ambassador Zecora. Her position as Harmony Fortress’ commander did not give Twilight free reign to wander through the embassies of sovereign nations. The soldiers standing guard over those levels would have been well aware of that fact.

They should have confronted and stopped her, and only let her proceed if she had legitimate business with a member of the embassy’s staff. But they didn’t stop her. They merely nodded in acknowledgement of Twilight’s approach and stepped aside to let her pass.

Which meant that those soldiers had been told that she would be coming here at around this time. And since even Twilight hadn’t known that she’d be stomping through the corridors of the Zebrican Embassy until she’d seen the zebra marine’s body hanging from the cruiser’s mast five minutes ago…

Zecora had known what was going to happen to that mare.
She had known how Twilight was going to react and given notice to the guards to allow her to pass.
Which suggested that the ambassador also knew exactly how she was going to try and justify all of this to Twilight…

The unicorn’s teeth were grinding by the time she finally reached Zecora’s door. The large stoic form of the ambassador’s assistant, Grevy, was standing placidly outside. Just as the soldiers at the embassy’s entrance had done, the stallion nodded wordlessly at the purple unicorn, not seeming the least bit perturbed by her obvious ire. He rapped his hoof three times on the door before opening it and stepping aside to allow Twilight to enter.

The Zebrican ambassador was sitting in the same parlor in which she had entertained Twilight during their dinner following the unicorn’s arrival on the island. She also wasn’t alone. Seated across from her was Kapteni Trafalgar, calmly sipping at a cup of tea that he was holding in his hooves. He glanced up long enough to note the arrival of the unicorn before returning his attention back to his beverage.

Twilight felt her right eye twitch when she noticed that a fresh cup of coffee was sitting on the part of the table which was nearest the parlor’s entrance.

The presence of the cruiser’s captain further stoked Twilight’s ire. His apparent ambivalence in the face of what he’d done to one of his marines was enough to finally push the purple unicorn over the edge.

“You bastard,” she outright snarled at the older stallion. “How could you?” Twilight’s rage-filled eyes darted to Zecora next. “Whose idea was it?

“Actually, you know what? It doesn’t matter: You’re both monsters. Murderers,” the unicorn spat.

Trafalgar’s lips twitched in irritation at Twilight’s labels, but he quickly tamped down on any retort that he might have wanted to offer after taking a moment to remind himself that Ambassador Zecora was present. He instead elected to occupy his lips with another sip of tea in an effort to further disabuse himself of the temptation to offer up a retort to the purple mare.

Zecora, for her part, at least had the decency to put on a sympathetic expression and leave her own beverage untouched while in the furious unicorn’s presence. “It is easy to see how you would feel that way, Colonel Sparkle—”

“Oh, spare me your vapid diplomatic schlock!” Twilight snapped back at the striped mare, electing to push aside the trappings of their respective roles and positions for the moment. Right now, the unicorn wasn’t particularly concerned with whether or not she offended the zebra official, and would welcome receiving word of any official complaints being filed with her superiors in Canterlot.

Twilight would frame that letter of reprimand and display it with pride on her desk any time Zecora came to her office.

“How else am I supposed to feel?!” the unicorn seethed. “What else would you call what you did, if not ‘murder’?”

Twilight rounded on Trafalgar now, even though the stallion had yet to say anything. While the unicorn internally recognized that the ship captain was clearly subordinate to Zecora due to how the Zebrican government apparently worked, the excuse of ‘just following orders’ was not one that the mare would consider entertaining for even a heartbeat. “Did you even bother to talk to her first before you decided she was guilty? Or did you order her strung up the second she set her hoof on the ship?”

Trafalgar put down his tea and met Twilight’s piercing gaze without flinching. “It was not a matter of ‘guilt’ or ‘innocence’; it was a matter of duty. Of honor.”

The stallion’s words stunned the unicorn. “What do you mean it didn’t matter whether she was guilty or not?! Of course it matters! She didn’t have to die! What ‘honor’ could there possibly have been in killing her before you even knew if that mare had done anything wrong?”

“There is no greater honor for a soldier, than to give their life in the preservation of peace.” Trafalgar’s own eyes had hardened now as he stared down the unicorn that was verbally accosting him. “At least, that is what we believe. Perhaps you ponies do not feel the same. If that is so, then it is no wonder your kind fared so poorly during the war.” He turned away from Twilight now, returning his attention to his drink once more.

Twilight’s jaw worked in silence for several moments as the mare’s mind reeled in its attempt to reconcile the stallion’s words. She was trying to make sense of them, straining to make the connection between hanging the zebra marine and ‘preserving peace’.

Zecora provided the elaboration that the unicorn needed. “This morning, a Zebrican soldier killed a pony,” the ambassador began in a tone that was probably not meant to sound condescending. However, with Twilight’s current high-running emotions, it was hard for her to not interpret it that way. “The peace between our races is still a fragile one—as you well know. The wounds of our war still run deep.

“For word to get out that one of out soldiers could kill a pony and suffer no reproductions—”

“She was innocent!” Twilight blurted. “There were witnesses who saw your marine getting attacked first—who saw her holding back until she was backed into a corner!”

A sad smile touched the ambassador’s muzzle. Across from her, Trafalgar bowed his head in resignation. It was a brief thing though. A second later the stallion’s expression hardened once more. “So she said.”

Twilight’s eyes once more snapped to the naval commander, narrowing with renewed ire. “So you actually did talk to her before hanging her. How gracious of you…” The unicorn’s words dripped with scorn that she made no effort to hide.

“It is a cowardly officer who is not willing to look their soldiers in the eyes when he orders them to lay down their lives for the greater good,” Trafalgar quipped before looking away from Twilight and taking another sip of his tea.

Twilight fumed, and was about to issue a retort when Zecora stepped in again to distract her away from the stallion. “The marine’s innocence was immaterial.” This statement earned a shocked look from the unicorn, but the ambassador had anticipated that much and immediately slipped into an explanation of her claim. “The rumors were already spreading throughout the island. Many creatures—ponies especially—had already reached their own conclusions about what had happened: that the marines had attacked the ponies without just cause.

“Doubtlessly, letters would be going out on the next ships bound for Equestria making those same assertions. Your newspapers would publish articles about those assertions. The presumed series of events among ponies on Harmony would quickly become ‘fact’ among ponies in Equestria. Perhaps even the griffons and a few other races would embrace the narrative.”

“But when the investigation is done and the final report is published—!” Twilight tried to protest.

Zecora didn’t let the other mare finish. “—Few will bother to read it. And even fewer will care what it has to say.

“When the herd makes up its mind about which direction to run, there is little that can be done to steer it.”

The unicorn’s mouth closed on the remainder of her protest. A tightness was forming in her throat as she began to understand Zecora’s reasoning and motives. Mostly because she was feeling herself actually starting to acknowledge them. That she couldn’t immediately dismiss the ambassador’s rationale as being utterly ridiculous and without merit was making the unicorn profoundly uncomfortable.

Her own mind ran through several possible ways that the general public back home might react once they received word about what happened this morning. It was indeed very likely that the version of events which reached Canterlot first would be the one currently working its way through the island right now. Between the time that the fight had broken out and the time that Rainbow Dash had brought forth her two witnesses, a couple of ships bound for Equestria had already left port.

It could be many hours yet before Applejack would be able to wring confessions out of the Equestrian soldiers about how they’d provoked the marine. Another day or two, at least, before the official report could be properly drafted and finalized in accordance with the established proper protocols. It would be a legal document after all; such things could not appear rushed and needed all of the appropriate stamps and signatures if they were going to hold up under scrutiny.

They were lucky that matters were likely going to be so straightforward in this instance. It meant that there was every likelihood that they would be able to send the report out with the next scheduled official courier departure…

…In about a week’s time.

More than enough time for dozens of cargo galleons, with their crews of hundreds of ponies apiece, to leave for every major Equestrian port and beat the official findings to the mainland by many days. Which might not seem like much of a head start, but then one had to factor in how long it would take that report to make its way through the proper channels in Canterlot before its findings would actually be cleared for release to the public. Even if things progressed as swiftly as the bureaucracy would allow for, it would take the better part of a month for Captain Applejack’s report to be released to the press.

There wasn’t any way to predict whether the report would be widely publicized in the news sheets, or how deeply the report’s findings would be buried behind other, more recent and tantalizing, events.

“This way,” Zecora went on, “we are no longer trying to compete with the currently spreading narrative. Instead, we are able to shape it. The residents of Harmony have now seen that the zebra who took the life of a pony was punished harshly for her crime, and that it was carried out swiftly by other zebras.

“They will see that the Zebrican Conclave punished a killer. That we did not come to the island seeking violence.”

“Except that there wasn’t a crime,” Twilight insisted, though not with nearly the fervor that she had earlier. “That mare was innocent.”

“Your ponies would not have cared,” Trafalgar snorted.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know that I have heard many stories about how it was my marines who started the fight,” Trafalgar said cooly, “and none about how your ponies attacked first, as you just told us is the truth of the matter.

“Why is it the lie which is being perpetuated, do you think…Stripe-Bane?”

“Kapteni…” Zecora said with a hint of warning in her voice, narrowing her eyes at the older stallion. The cruiser’s captain immediately shut his mouth and bowed his head. He murmured something in their language which Twilight took for an apology and then went silent.

The ambassador took a deep breath and returned her attention to the unicorn. “None of us are happy about what happened, Colonel Sparkle. Nor was this a decision that was come to lightly. In the end, Koplo Umoya understood what was being asked of her.” There was a brief pause from the Zebrican representative. She glanced in Trafalgar’s direction. “I am told that she faced her end with great dignity.” The stallion seated across from her gave a curt nod, but said nothing.

Twilight swallowed back the bile in her throat as she imagined what those last moments must have been like for that marine: to know that she was going to be punished like that, even though she’d only been defending herself. The unicorn started shaking her head, refusing to accept that any of what Zecora was telling her was okay. “This wasn’t right…”

“It was necessary,” Zecora insisted gently, “to keep the rift between pony and zebra from widening.” There was a pause. Then the ambassador cleared her throat and locked her gaze on Twilight. “But…it is not all that will be necessary.”

The unicorn mare was frowning now. She could feel the dread mounting within her as she waited to hear what else was going to be required, on top of an innocent mare’s death.

“The report on the findings of the investigation that you mentioned; the one which will reveal that it was your soldiers which attacked our marine without provocation…” Twilight felt her stomach tighten as Zecora spoke. She already had an idea of where this was going, and knew that she didn’t much care for it. “It would be…inconvenient if the report said such things.

“If it did not reinforce that we zebras took the ‘appropriate actions’ under the circumstances—the initially reported circumstances, that is.”

“You want me to lie.” Twilight stated far more bluntly. The unicorn found that she was quickly tiring of how politicians framed things. “To help cover up what actually happened.”

“We are asking you to not undermine Kolpo Umoya’s sacrifice,” Trafalgar said soberly, not looking in the purple mare’s direction.

“Please, colonel; let her death have what meaning it can,” asked Zecora.

Twilight’s first impulse was to refuse on principle. It was bad enough that the narrative of the events that happened that morning were false…but to be asked not to refute it? To, in fact, perpetuate the lie that was being spread? To reinforce the rumors by lending them the legitimacy of an official report that agreed with it?

And…for what? So that the zebras could avoid having a poor impression of them spread through Equestria? As though the perception of zebras by the average pony could really be lowered all that much further…

She wanted to refuse. But, at the same time…

Thanks to what Zecora and Trafalgar had done behind her back, publishing the truth in the investigation’s findings would probably only undermine things for her now. Creatures would ask—and rightly so—why, if it had been the dead stallion who’d started the fight, the zebra marine had been hanged for killing him. Misleading rumors were bad enough. Twilight didn’t even want to think about the headaches the fortress could end up facing if it was mired down by talk of conspiracy.

“I’ll think about it.” The unicorn suppressed a wince as she heard herself lying now. She didn’t need to think about it; she’d already made up her mind about what she was going to do.

What she had to ‘think about’ was how she was going to explain it to Captain Applejack.

“Colonel, before Ah say anythin’ else, Ah need you to know that Ah say this with all due respect:

“Have you spit your fuckin’ bit?!”

All things considered, the freckle-faced mare was taking this better than Twilight had expected. Mostly because Applejack hadn’t bucked her desk in half. “You want me to falsify the report on a murder investigation?”

Twilight stared down at the draft of the report—the currently true and accurate one—which the head of the fortress’ security forces had delivered to her this morning. Just as Applejack had predicted, the Equestrian soldiers involved in the fighting admitted to having started the fight with the zebras once they were informed witnesses had stepped forward with evidence refuting their earlier claims that they’d been the victims. They acknowledged that Private Sage Brush threw the first few kicks, and that the marine he’d been attacking had tried to back away before being boxed in by the crowd.

The report sitting on her desk completely exonerated the young marine…

…And it didn’t matter anymore.

The purple unicorn took a breath and let it out slowly. “I need you to write up a report that chronicles the events which happened yesterday,” she carefully clarified to the earth pony. “That a fight broke out, a pony was killed, and the zebras hanged one of their marines for it.

“All of which are factual statements,” Twilight offered, wondering if those words sounded just as hollow to Applejack as they had to her own ears.

“I’m not telling you to lie; I’m just telling you not to be as detailed with your conclusions in the final report as you might usually be.”

“A lie of omission then,” Applejack spat with no small amount of contempt. Twilight could only nod. “So that the zebras get t’pat themselves on the withers for executin’ an innocent mare.”

“I’m not going to defend what they did. But, at this point, publishing findings that conflict with their actions is just going to cause more problems.”

This prompted a skeptical brow being raised by the earth pony. Twilight laid her hoof gently on the report in front of her and regarded the senior security officer. “Based on your findings in this report, I assume that actual charges are being recommended for the other ponies involved—and not just simple reprimands? Since they actively participated in escalating a fight that led to a death—to say nothing about lying to you and me about what happened?”

“That’s right.” Applejack hedged, correctly sensing that Twilight was going to somehow find an issue with that course of action.

The unicorn nodded. “And when their advocate points out to the judge that the zebras already convicted and hanged somezebra for the crime that they’re being charged with?” The earth pony was already scowling as she finally saw where Twilight was going with her reasoning. “That’s more than enough ‘reasonable doubt’ to preclude any possible conviction. To say nothing about the questions that even taking this to trial is going to raise!

“Best case—from our perspective—is that we make the zebras look incompetent or irrational for bungling the investigation so badly that they came to the exact wrong conclusion and killed a mare for no reason.” Twilight’s words dripped with resignation. “Worst case: We look like the irrational ones for ‘coercing’ ponies into confessing to a crime that somezebra else was already convicted of committing!”

Twilight shook her head, letting out a resigned sigh. “Publishing this…it’s just going to hurt us, one way or the other. I’m sorry, captain.”

For her part, Applejack was looking like she’d just bitten into something sour. She wasn’t quite ready to give up her position though. “Beggin’ yer pardon, colonel; but mah job ain’t to cover shit up fer politicians.”

“You’re right,” Twilight conceded, “that’s my job.” In light of recent events, the unicorn wasn’t entirely sure how sarcastic that statement actually was. “Your job is to lead your ponies and submit reports for me to review before accepting them.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “...And I’m not accepting this one.”

Even as she spoke, the unicorn took the offered draft on her desk and filed it away in one of the drawers. The action earned her a raised brow from the orange mare. “I’ll obviously want to retain this draft for the sake of thorough record-keeping,” Twilight said, offering the other pony a small smile which didn’t endure for very long on her muzzle, “but I’m going to need you to write up a new one which contains the minor corrections that I’ve suggested before I can forward it to Canterlot.”

The scowl threatened to invade Applejack’s lips again, but the mare managed to whittle the expression down to a deep frown. “If Ah make those changes, then those ponies’ CO won’t even be able to reprimand them fer what happened.

“You know that, right?”

That was an aspect of all of this which Twilight suspected she and Applejack were also equally unhappy about: they couldn’t reasonably punish the other ponies involved in the fighting; since the ‘official narrative’ was going to be that the zebras started everything. Sage Brush and the ponies with them were now ‘victims’. You couldn’t reprimand victims.

Not officially, anyway.

“I’m going to have Major Rarity reach out to their CO and get them to—very insistently—urge the other ponies who were with Sage Brush to put in for transfers back to the mainland.” Twilight’s horn lit up and pulled several sheets of paper out of another drawer of her desk and pushed them towards the earth pony. “If they don’t feel like transferring, these are some of the frequently violated regulations which are supposed to earn reprimands and write-ups. They tend to get overlooked because, well, some of them are pretty silly, to be honest.” Twilight admitted with a bitter look of her own.

It caused the mare some minor discomfort to admit that much. After all, rules were meant to be followed and enforced because they existed for a reason. Nopony just arbitrarily made up a list of things ponies weren’t allowed to do simply because it amused them, after all.

Which wasn’t to say that some of the rules imposed in the Equestrian Army didn’t come off as being…less-than-thoroughly-thought-out, Twilight conceded.

Why couldn’t a soldier use an umbrella while it was raining?

Captain Applejack took the offered list of obscure regulations that Twilight had compiled and started to look them over. She snorted and shook her head. “Shoot, Ah might have to write myself up on one’r two o’ these! ‘EAR one hundred dash twelve, chapter seven, paragraph three: Eatin’r drinkin’ of any kind must be performed while seated only’.

“Ah can’t enjoy a cup’o cider while standin’ up?!”

“Not according to regulations,” Twilight confirmed with a shrug. The earth pony clicked her tongue and continued to look through the list. “I know it’s not what you wanted,” the unicorn continued with a much sadder smile now. “It’s not ‘justice’; not really.”

Twilight sighed. “Honestly, getting them off the island feels a little bit like I’m just trying to sweep the last few reminders of all of this under the rug…”

“Ah’d be lyin’ if Ah said Ah felt different,” Applejack quipped, tucking the papers into her vest.

The purple mare nodded. “I would have preferred this to go differently too, captain. Unfortunately, the zebras tore the stitching out of our feed bag, and now we’re left with…this,” the mare gestured vaguely around the office. “And ‘this’ isn’t much.

“I understand why Zecora and Trafalgar did what they did—I understand! I didn’t say that I agreed with it!” Twilight affirmed quickly upon seeing the other mare take a deep breath which doubtlessly was about to lead into a vehement berating. Applejack bit down on her retort, but still didn’t look happy.

“I understand,” Twilight tried again, “but it sure made things damned inconvenient. To say the least.”

“Understatement of the millennium, that.”

“Right. If there’s nothing else, captain, you’re dismissed to go and write that report. If it’s possible, I’d like it by the end of the day so that I can review it.”

Applejack couldn’t hold back her biting retort this time. “Should Ah send Ambassador Zecora a copy for her to review too? Since we’re lettin’ the stripes dictate how we conduct business on our island—”

“Captain.”

The word hadn’t been spoken with any particular harshness. Twilight understood the security mare’s frustration, and even shared it. So she was willing to give Applejack a little leeway when it came to expressing herself in a way which might otherwise have trotted right up to the line of ‘insubordination’. Just a little though.

The military police commander’s mouth closed down tight against the rest of her cutting remarks. She cleared her throat and snapped to attention, her emerald eyes locked onto a point of the wall which lay just over Twilight’s shoulder. The unicorn closed her eyes and took a few seconds to ensure that she was also as calm as possible before speaking. She sympathized with the earth pony, and even acknowledged that Applejack had every right to be upset. But, at the end of the day, they were both officers and they needed to conduct themselves accordingly. Even when there weren’t any prying enlisted eyes.

“Just a copy for myself will be fine, captain. Dismissed.”

Applejack nodded and rendered a crisp salute with her hoof snapping across the breast of her gray vest. Twilight returned the salute. The earth pony turned and started heading for the door.

“Applejack?” The orange mare paused, but didn’t look back. “For what it’s worth; I do value your integrity. I’m sorry the truth has to take a backseat this time.”

“...And Ah’m sorry y’think it ever has to,” the earth pony said before leaving the office.

The silence which persisted in Twilight’s office once she was alone again was deafening.

The purple unicorn closed her eyes for several long moments. When she opened her eyes again, they invariably fell upon the medal propped up on the corner of her desk. It was usually the first thing that she noticed whenever she was sitting there—by design. She intended it to serve as a reminder, and it certainly fulfilled that purpose.

The problem was that, some days, Twilight had trouble remembering exactly what it was that she was supposed to be reminded of.

This had been one of those days, unfortunately.

“So am I,” she whispered to nopony in particular.

Twilight leaned on the railing of one of The Citadel’s lookouts staring out over the fortress. Despite her best efforts, her eyes kept wandering over to the zebra cruiser. The unicorn supposed that she could have gone to one of the other lookout posts that faced another direction.

She could have…but she hadn’t.

The Dominance was anchored back at its original position. It had executed five laps of the island yesterday before returning to its mooring and taking the corpse down from its mast. Cutters had resumed ferrying crew and supplies back and forth between the cruiser and the docks at a steady rate. Twilight and Rarity had made a few revisions to the suggested list of areas that the zebras should avoid. They simultaneously informed the Equestrian soldiers on the island that they were likewise restricted to those same areas when off duty for the remainder of the cruiser’s time in proximity to Harmony.

The hope was that keeping the two groups of soldiers away from each other would preclude further violence.

The mare let out a bitter laugh at the thought of racial segregation being necessary to keep the peace…on an island named ‘Harmony’, where the stated goal had been to foster an atmosphere of unity between the races.

“Dear Chancellor Fancy Pants,” Twilight muttered under her breath as her hoof pantomimed a quills’ strokes across an imaginary scroll, “my mission has been a complete and utter failure…” The mare let out a defeated sigh and bowed her head into her hooves.

“Curious…you didn’t strike me as the type to give up so soon.”

Twilight jerked and whirled around upon hearing the sound of somepony speaking nearby. She was certain that she’d been alone on the lookout platform. Years of conditioning saw the unicorn dropping into a combat stance and setting her horn aglow with a readied spell before she was even aware that she’d done anything, ready to fend off the attack—

—Only for Twilight to find herself looking at a brilliantly white alicorn that stood more than twice her height.

“Ambassador Celestia!” The smaller mare immediately doused her spell and straightened up, flushing slightly at how readily she’d dropped into old habits. “W-what are you doing here? Is there something I can help you with?”

The towering alicorn shook her head and stepped over to the railing beside the unicorn. “No, colonel; I don’t need any help. I’m just here to enjoy the view.”

“Oh. Of course, ambassador.” Twilight’s gaze darted away from the taller mare to glance further up the island’s central spire, her amethyst eyes finally landing on the mooring tower at its peak…and the airship that was moored there. Ambassador Celestia’s airship. Where only the alicorn was permitted to go. A place which the unicorn believed would have offered an objectively better view of the island and its surroundings than any of The Citadel’s other lookout platforms.

Twilight very diplomatically didn't roll her eyes at the alicorn's obvious lie.

The unicorn was in no mood to play whatever political games the diplomat was here for. She turned to leave, but drew up short when Celestia spoke again. “Would you stay a while, colonel? Unless you have somewhere to be?”

Several seconds passed as Twilight considered the possible answers that she could give. All of them would have been lies though. In her opinion, she'd done more than enough lying for one day already.

“No, ambassador; I can stay for a little bit,” Twilight finally admitted, turning back to the railing, and the view beyond.

“Personally,” Celestia began, “I think it’s unfair to rate something—or someone,” she added with a small smile directed at the unicorn, “as a ‘failure’ just because they didn’t immediately achieve success. Especially when the goal that’s been set is such a lofty one.

“Surely you didn’t expect to achieve world peace in your first week?”

“No, ambassador,” Twilight acknowledged with a mirthless snort, “I didn’t think I’d get everycreature working together in a week. I’m not a ‘failure’ for that.

“It’s the backsliding that bothers me.” Upon seeing the raised brow from the alicorn, Twilight elaborated. “The war between ponies and zebras has been over for ten years—our races are at peace! And yet…our soldiers are still killing each other,” the unicorn lamented.

“If all it takes is a little cider for our soldiers to start fighting and killing each other again…then how long is that peace really going to last?” Twilight shuddered as she calculated out a few likely estimates. She didn't much care for them; even the ones where she'd allowed for the most favorable of variables.

“The griffons and the dragons were at peace for longer than ponies and zebras; but now…”

The unicorn’s mind turned back towards the first Council session that she’d attended, and the revelation that the dragons had effectively annexed a Republic island. Of course, Ambassador Ember hadn’t used that sort of definitive language. Thus far, the dragon representative was sticking to the narrative that they were just holding the island ‘in trust’ while its former griffon inhabitants were away. Meanwhile, more dragons were being moved onto the island, and not all of them were soldiers. Civilians were relocating to Ragnar now as well.

"Experts and artisans," Ember had announced when pressed on the matter; there to ensure the gem mines remained in perfect operating condition. Plus their families, as there was no telling how long those experts would be needed on the island. A few shopkeepers and merchants too, so that those families could buy what they needed to be comfortable. Tradesdragons were thus also necessary, to make wares for those shopkeepers to sell. And the families for those shopkeepers and tradesdragons, naturally.

In spite of Ambassador Ember’s assurances otherwise, Twilight didn’t believe that the dragons would actually leave the island once the griffons finished their ‘military action’ against the kirin and returned to Ragnar. They’d dare the Republic to try and take it from them again. And if the Republic tried…

“Hmm.” Celestia gave an acknowledging nod, turning her own eyes towards the anchored cruiser. The alicorn was silent for a while. Then, “What is ‘peace’ to you, colonel?”

The little purple pony hadn’t been prepared for the question, and so she initially fumbled for an answer. “I-I, um…it’s when two races aren’t fighting, ambassador?” Twilight winced slightly as she heard the questioning tone of her answer. Judging from the expression on Celestia's face, she suspected that she hadn't given the answer the taller mare had been looking for, but she wasn’t sure how far off the mark she’d ended up.

“Is it?” There was nothing mocking about the alicorn’s tone. In fact, the larger mare did a masterful job of sounding genuinely intrigued by the unicorn’s response. “So it’s exactly like an armistice then? Or a truce?”

Twilight felt herself flush. “No, of course not; it’s very different. Those two things are temporary agreements. Peace is more permanent.”

“Ah. So the griffons and dragons were never at peace then?” The alicorn paused and considered for a moment. “If, a thousand years from now, ponies and zebras end up going to war once more, then will that mean that your two races were never at peace after all either?

“Your races each refer to the Treaty of Los Palomino as being a ‘peace agreement’. If war does break out again someday, will historians start referring to the interwar period as a truce?”

Twilight was frowning at the alicorn now. “You’re getting hung up on the semantics of the words, I think.”

“My apologies then. Would you care to explain what makes 'peace' meaningfully different from a 'truce'?” Once more, nothing in Celestia’s tone suggested that the alicorn was trying to be patronizing. Her request came across as being genuinely earnest.

“Well, with a peace agreement, the two parties try to bring themselves closer together so that a war doesn’t break out between them again.”

“Oh, I see! That makes sense.” The alicorn paused and considered for a moment. “So ponies and zebras aren’t at peace, then?”

Twilight balked, blinking in confusion at the ivory mare. “W-what? Of course we are!”

Celestia looked confused now too, cocking her head. “Oh? What have your two races done to try and bring yourselves closer together?”

Twilight’s mouth started to move…but no words were immediately forthcoming. The little unicorn had anticipated having a clear example of how ponies and zebras were fostering their relationship since the end of the war. However, the more that she trawled her brain looking for answers, the more disheartened she felt herself becoming as she failed to come up with any.

“We’ve…” She desperately ventured, hoping that perhaps something would come to her in the moment…but it didn’t. Instead, the mare was left desperately hanging onto the end of that single word until she was finally forced to concede failure. Her whole body seemed to deflate as she let out a resigned sigh. “...mostly just stayed away from each other,” the unicorn was finally forced to concede.

“That doesn’t sound like a very effective way to bring your races together.”

“No. Obviously it isn’t,” Twilight admitted with a grimace, her gaze once more wandering back out to the zebra cruiser. “On the other hoof, we also just saw what happens when ponies and zebras don’t stay away from each other,” she pointed out, adding a rueful snort.

“Maybe you were right about that treaty being an armistice after all…”

“For what it’s worth, I certainly hope not,” the alicorn offered, managing to muster up an encouraging smile for the smaller mare beside her. There was a long pause, then, “What happens when you put cats and dogs together?”

The unicorn frowned, looking up at the taller ambassador. Her response was understandably hesitant, given the conversational non sequitur. “...They fight? I mean, that’s the stereotype anyway: that cats and dogs inherently don’t get along.”

“But that’s not always the case.”

“Well, no, of course not. Plenty of dogs and cats get along with each other. Especially if they grew up together or were introduced to each other in the right way,” Twilight explained, still not quite understanding why the alicorn had an interest in the social interactions of common pets.

Celestia nodded. “So bitter rivals can be made to get along, provided they are properly supervised while initially interacting,” the ivory mare concluded.

The unicorn sighed, finally seeing where the ambassador was going with the conversation now. “So you’re saying that things might have gone better if I’d assigned trusted ponies to supervise the zebra marines and sailors? I’m not sure Trafalgar would have liked the idea of us keeping an eye on his zebras,” Twilight said, frowning slightly at her recollection of the older stallion’s demeanor at the docks when they’d first met. “He didn’t even like it when I suggested he keep his zebras away from genuinely dangerous construction zones…”

“If I’ve learned anything from my many years as an ambassador, it’s that you can get somecreature to agree to a lot they normally wouldn’t, provided you frame it in just the right way.” Celestia smiled knowingly at the smaller mare. “Offering for some of your ponies to provide ‘concierge services’ might have been well-received. Perhaps reaching out to some of the bars directly to organize dedicated receptions to welcome the zebra crews, offering them food and drinks from their homeland?

“I’m sure that the Zebrican Embassy’s staff would have been happy to help organize such events if you’d asked them to.”

Twilight winced. What the alicorn was suggesting would have been very good ideas, the fortress’ commander realized. She’d thought that she’d been going ‘above and beyond’ by putting together the guide to help orient them to the island—because the unicorn knew that she’d have welcomed such information when enjoying her own leave. However, those times had all involved her and other ponies taking leave in predominantly pony areas. She’d never really spent time off duty in a truly ‘foreign’ location.

Thinking on it now, the mare decided that she would have liked to be provided with a local ‘guide’ if she were ever on leave outside of Equestria or its territories. But she hadn’t thought to do so with the zebras while they were here. Because they were zebras and her staff were ponies, and ponies and zebras didn’t do things together; they stayed out of each other's way. That was just how things were.

Sort of like how cats and dogs fought. It was just how things were…

…But, as Ambassador Celestia had pointed out, that didn’t always have to be the case. Cats and dogs could get along, provided they were properly guided. It wasn’t a stretch to think that the same couldn’t also work for ponies and zebras.

The big question was: “Where do I even begin though?”

“While I don’t have a military background myself,” said Celestia with another of her coy little smiles, “it is my understanding that there is something which holds true for military and political circles alike: ‘leading by example’.

“Show ponies and zebras that the two of you can get along as friends by being friends with them yourself.”

Twilight was frowning again. “...I don’t think I’m going to be on ‘friendly’ terms with any zebras any time soon. Not after what Zecora and Trafalgar did.” Her frown sank further into a grimace. “Or how I reacted to it.”

Ambassador Celestia nodded sympathetically. “It can be difficult to get along with others when they make choices we don’t agree with.”

“It’s not just about me ‘not agreeing’ with what those two did!” The purple unicorn shot back, glaring at the other mare now. “They took a life! Am I really supposed to be okay with that?”

“I don’t recall suggesting that you had to be,” the alicorn countered in a calm tone. “You can be upset by the actions of others.

“What I am suggesting, however, is that others making decisions that we see as being ‘wrong’ does not have to preclude us from seeking understanding,” Celestia went on. “Through that, it can be possible to still achieve amicable relations. Maybe even a firm friendship.

“Eventually, you could even influence them into making better decisions down the road.”

“They killed a mare,” Twilight said through gritted teeth. “If they need me to show them a better way to do things that doesn’t involve stringing creatures up by their necks—!”

“You killed a town.”

Celestia’s tone remained completely neutral as she spoke.

The purple mare blanched, noticeably growing several shades paler in response to the ambassador’s words. Her mind reeled.

Twilight remembered the sight of the zebra brigade marching up the road.
She recalled seeing the column of striped soldiers encircling the town, preparing to lay their siege.
She could still see the blue-uniformed ponies in the town, taking up defensive positions to repel the assault.
They knew what they had volunteered for.
Twilight hadn’t looked away when she’d cast the spell—she’d owed them that much, at least.
It was over an hour before she could see clearly again.
Longer still for her to run out of tears to shed.

“I did my duty.”

The hollow-sounding reply was out of her mouth before she was even aware that she’d uttered them. It had been a nearly instinctive reaction, as those were the words she always silently told herself any time her thoughts wandered back to that fateful day in White Tail.

Celestia nodded. Her deep purple eyes bore into Twilight’s own. There wasn’t any judgment in the alicorn’s gaze; only pity…and a deep sadness. “I know that your government agrees with that.” Twilight’s mind immediately flashed to the memory of being awarded the medal that now sat on her desk not far from where the two mares were presently standing. “Indeed, many ponies do, I suspect.

“But not all of them. There are ponies who don’t agree with what you did.” Twilight felt herself swallowing hard at the alicorn’s words.

The alicorn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wasn’t looking at Twilight anymore. Instead, the towering mare was staring out across the sea beyond Harmony Fortress, out at the Moonfall Archipelago which lay over the horizon. “No creature is perfect. Thus it follows that, occasionally, we make imperfect decisions. Others will judge us for those decisions.

“And rightly so,” the alicorn conceded, bowing her head.

When she raised it, she was regarding Twilight once more. “But…if those decisions—even those made in error—were not born of a place of maliciousness…then surely we are worthy of compassion from our peers? Surely we can be offered forgiveness, and counsel for the future, so that we can improve—so that we can avoid repeating such mistakes in the future.

“Otherwise—if creatures should be forever shunned for making a single poor decision—what is the point of any of this?” One of the alicorn’s wings flicked out, taking in all of Harmony.

“Let us all be forever damned to Tartarus for our errors; without recourse, and without hope.”

Twilight idly rubbed one leg with the other as she chewed on her lip, mulling over the alicorn’s words. She didn’t think of Ambassador Zecora or Kapteni Trafalgar as being ‘bad zebras’. They had simply made an extreme choice which had had profound consequences—for one mare in particular. They could have all worked together to find a better solution. Of course, that would have required Ambassador Zecora to first recognize that Twilight was somepony she could reach out to for help with things like that, and the unicorn wasn’t sure if the two of them were quite at the point in their professional relationship where that was a thing.

After all, it wasn’t like Twilight had thought to reach out to the ambassador for help integrating the zebras during their shore leave…

“I understand what you’re saying, Ambassador Celestia,” the little purple mare said, “and I guess I agree, for the most part. I don’t agree with what they did; but I do think that they were trying to ‘help’.

“I’m just…I don’t know how I’m supposed to bridge the divide here,” Twilight admitted.

“I believe I already pointed out that you could try to become friends with the zebra ambassador, despite your differences of opinion.”

“But that’s just it: I don’t have a lot of experience making ‘friends’—even among ponies,” Twilight said with a sigh. “There…wasn’t a lot of time for that during the war; and what few friends I had before then—”

Moondancer’s body dropped to the ground like a puppet shoes strings had been cut—

“...I don't have most of them now.

“I sort of threw myself into my work after that,” the smaller mare soberly admitted. “I assume that making friends as a grown pony isn’t quite like it is when you’re a filly and all it takes is swapping snacks during lunch period at school?”

Celestia managed a small chuckle. “You’d be surprised, I think. But I take your meaning; it can be hard to reach out, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past.

“To that end, I’m willing to help you. If you would like?”

“After the week I’ve had, I’ll gladly take any help that I can get, ambassador—with anything!” Twilight offered a mirthless chuckle. Between the mounting tensions with the griffons and dragons, and this latest incident with the zebras, Twilight was feeling no small amount of stress. Being offered some counsel from a more experienced creature felt it had already relieved some of that emotional burden.

“Very well then; I’ll send you a message in the near future when I’m ready to begin our first lesson.” Celestia informed the unicorn, smiling at the smaller mare warmly. “In the meantime, I have a prior engagement to get to.

“We’ll speak again, Colonel Sparkle,” the alicorn issued a slight bow of her head towards the purple pony and made her way back inside The Citadel.

Twilight mirrored the respectful bow. “I look forward to it, ambassador.” Then the unicorn was alone on the lookout. Her gaze invariably returned to the zebra cruiser anchored off the shore.

She thought over what Ambassador Celestia had said: about how Twilight might have been able to do more to mitigate the chance of something going wrong while the ship’s crew was visiting. In hindsight, that was obviously true. Of course, the unicorn hadn’t been able to see it at the time. In her mind, their two races were at peace; the war was long over. That meant that there shouldn’t have been any issues.

That wasn’t how creatures worked though, it turned out—be they pony or zebra.

The zebras were still ‘stripes’ to a lot of ponies. She was still ‘Stripe-Bane’ to a lot of zebras. The treaty between their races hadn’t done anything to mend the scars left by their war—not really. And why should it have? How did a few words and signatures on a piece of paper do anything at all to make up for all that had been lost during the war?

Had anycreature even apologized for any of it? Not to Twilight’s knowledge. Equestria certainly hadn’t offered any kind of apology or reparations—and why should they have? The zebras had been the aggressors during the war! Of course, the zebras hadn’t said much since ceasing hostilities either. They’d offered a bare-bones peace settlement that asked for basically no concessions from Equestria at all and the ponies had jumped on it without a second thought. Those invading armies had left just about as quickly as they’d arrived, and that had been the end of it.

At least, where the war itself had been concerned. Obviously things weren’t ‘over’ in the eyes of the common pony soldier.

Absolutely nothing had been done to mend that rift. By anycreature.

…What have your two races done to try and bring yourselves closer together?

Ambassador Celestia’s words rang loudly in the unicorn’s ears. “Not nearly enough,” Twilight sighed under her breath. “But it’s long past time we started doing something…”

Author's Note

Peace can't be enforced by a piece of paper.

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