31st day of the 5th Moon, 6 ALR: Manehattan City Hall

Twilight looked out before the table all the world leaders, except for the Italian delegation, were seated and ready for the second round of negotiations.

“Things may have been a little rocky and I apologize for my outburst yesterday, but I look forward to cordial discussions today,”

“I would like to apologize on be’alf of l'Entente for our conduct yesterday, your Majesty,” announced Emperor Charles.

“I apologize for myself and Secretary Chase for the scene we caused,”

“I word rike to apologize as well,” added Minister Hataka.

“The Grand Alliance would like to issue a formal apology to this Summit for the events that transpired yesterday,” added King Albert.

“Should we discuss embassies?” Twilight then gestured to the Griffins and Deer, “We can start with the delegation from the Eastern Continent”

“Ja, I will have ze noblez appointed to ambassadorial postitionz, we also invite you humanz to come and visit Griffenheim to select un Embassy location,” stated King Grover as he looked at the Human leaders.

“Ve extend ze same offer to you, yor Majesty, Berlin would be happy to host a Griffin Embassy,”

The leaders of Equis and Earth continued to discuss ambassadors and bilateral negotiations between each of the nations until the guards opened the double doors of the hall. Italian Foreign Minister Capotondi walked into the room clutching a document in his fist, he was visibly uncomfortable as he approached the Ottoman delegation and handed the documents to Minister Pasha. The room went deathly silent as the Ottoman minister looked over the documents. Pasha chuckled as he set the papers down,”Zis is utterly ridiculous what do you mean we have been targeting Italian business? If you want war so badly, don’t try to hide behind zis laughable excuse for pretext,”

Twilight's heart sank, she knew she had messed up, she had pressed too hard, but she had not realized just how bad it was, the humans were going to war and it was all her fault. She was nauseous and heating up, Cadence noticed, placing a hoof over hers, placing her other hoof to her chest, and then extending it out as she exhaled. Twilight copied Cadence’s breathing techniques calming herself down before paying attention to the scene unfolding before her.

“You are playing a dangerouz game!” Exclaimed Kaiser Friedrich as he pointed an accusatory finger at Emperor Charles and Tzar Nicholas. “Ze Reich is prepared to crush ze scheming Entente,"

“Calm yourself!” Exclaimed King Albert as he reached out in front of the German Emperor. He then turned to the Russian Tzar, “I pray you do not plan to follow Italy’s lead for the Royal Navy is prepared to maintain the balance of power,”

“Jou throw around accusations as if ve are responsible for dis. Le Entente ‘as not pressed Italy to do any of dis!” Responded Emperor Charles.

“Zen explain ze mobilizationz, ve are aware of ze mobilization of 400,000 Russian Troops! You plan to dismember ze Turks and flood ze Balkans wiz troops to surround ze Vaterland,”

Twilight winced, most of Equis' leaders were shocked, 400,000 soldiers was an unfathomable number. The Equestrian army only fielded 50,000 guards, and during the Great Griffin Wars Equestria had only ever fielded an army of 250,000. She had read of the massive wars that the humans had fought but even then the possibility of so many lives potentially lost sickened her.

“We may have mobilized da Troops but we have no interest in escalation,” responded the Tzar.

“How does that make any sense? Mobilizing troops is by definition escalatory!” replied King Albert.

The other leaders of Equis sat in stunned silence as the human leaders threw accusations at one another. Twilight as in horror as she thought to herself; this may be all my fault, but I could still fix it, I had to. Taking a deep breath she spoke, “Please stop,”

Unfortunately, it had little effect. The tension in the room was at a boiling point as the Tzar replied, “Der might have been some mobilizations. However, we plan to make a commitment to peace, was I not the first member of the Entente to commit?”

“Zat vas after ze members of ze Grand Alliance komited!”

“And you have not mobilized 200,000 men as well!” retorted the Tzar as he gestured to the Kaiser.

After letting the argument between the Great Powers unfold, Minister Pasha finally gave a direct response to the Italian Ultimatum, handing the document back to Minister Capotondi, “De Turks welcome dis foolish attack by de Italians. You westerners underestimate Turkish resolve and you will be so utterly…

“STOP! Please, we can work something out. Minister Capotondi, Minister Pasha, May I please look at the document?”

The two Ministers looked at each other before the Italian Minister began walking over to Twilight, who lit her horn and levitated the papers out of his hand. Reading them over, it was clear why the Turkish Foreign minister had reacted the way he had, the Italians were clearly demanding Ottoman territory. “Spike can you bring a map of the human nations,”

“Your Majesty, I a understand that you are a trying to a help, but I am afraid dat der is no a convincing His Majesty,” responded Minister Capotondi soberly as Spike scurried up to the table and unrolled a large map of the world across the table.

“Because King Emanuele is za wretched opportunist!” Declared Minister Pasha.

“Wait! There has to be something to stop this bloodshed!” exclaimed Twilight as her eyes hovered over the map noticing just how expansive the human empires truly were before finding Tripiolitania, “The Italians want to take Tripolitania away from the Ottomans, which the Ottomans clearly don’t want to give away. Minister Capotondi this ultimatum mentions grievances among Italian businessmen, well…”

“Your Majesty, we know that you mean well but British intelligence has known of Entente's plans to invade the Ottomans for the last six months. Something tells me you feel personally responsible but this has nothing to do with you,” interrupted King Albert before turning to look at the Entente Powers again, “The Entente desires to destabilize Europe by taking to the Turks like a pack of hyenas, tearing the Empire apart limb by limb in the hopes that we come to their defense. For the Tzar has his eyes on Constantinople and the Turkish Straits, the Emperor yearns for Alsace, the Rhineland, and Sudan, and his Italian Majesty looks towards North Africa!”

“Le Entente condemns de Italian attack, we wish only for peace,”

“PLEASE! We can’t let this spiral out of control!” Exclaimed Twilight as she fought hard not to use her magic to freeze the human leaders, “There is a great deal of suspicion surrounding the relationship of your nations. Even if the war against the Turks and Italians is inevitable, we can stop it from boiling over into a greater conflict! Can we be transparent about each other's intentions?”

“I will a be a taking my a leave,” announced Minister Capotondi before turning to Minister Pasha, “I will a inform his a Majesty of your Sultan’s decision,”

“But what about the negotiations?” asked Twilight.

“Like I a said, there is a nothing to a discuss. I a simply came as a courtesy to inform da a Turks of an Italian attack,”

Twilight's face darkened as the Italian Minister began to walk away, Cadence holding her back with a hoof, “Can we discuss the raising of troops? Your Majesty, why has the Russian army raised so many soldiers?”

“Well der might have been de intention to participate in a joint invasion of da Turks, but with da appearance of da Equestrian continent we are willing to demobilize da raised troops should da British and da Germans commit to not intervening in the war,”

“Great Britain can not tolerate the slow dismemberment of the Ottoman State. We can commit to not getting involved militarily, however as an obligation to the Grand Alliance, Britain will provide aid to Constantinople,” stated King Albert before turning to Minister Pasha, “ However, to prevent any unintended hostilities, all aid must be transported via Ottoman flagged vessels,”

“I would like to reiterate dat le Entente and le Bourbon Government condemns any Italian attack. ‘Owever, le Germans have mobilized several divisions, it would not be wise for Russia to demoralize without assurances dat le Germans to do da same,”

“Die Reich will demobilize ze newly raised troops with ze guarantee of a Russian demobilization and the assurance zat Italy is not military supported in itz war,”

The Grand Alliance will commit to a policy of military nonintervention and the safety of all Entente-flagged ships excluding the Italians, should the Entente agree to do the same. Should the Entente not comply with its obligations in this agreement then the Royal Navy is prepared for a reprisal,”

“Dat seems reasonable,” replied Emperor Charles.

Kaiser Friedrich turned to King Geórgios, “Zis is not an opportunity to bring about chaos in die Balkans,” He then turned back to the Emperor and the Tzar, “Keep your Balkan allies at bay, Ottoman Rumelia must stay intact for zis deal to stand,”

“Da Entente will ensure da stability of da Balkans,”

“So are we in agreement? The war has been contained to Italy and the Turks?” Asked Twilight.

The human leaders nodded. It was a strange feeling of relief considering a war had broken out despite her efforts, but at least a potentially globally devastating conflict had been averted. “Spike, can you please get me some parchment?”

Spike flew off to the cabinets at the edge of the room as she conjured up an imprinting spell she had learned to make it easier to prepare tests for the School of Friendship. Once Spike had returned with the paper, she cast the spell, immediately willing the parchment with the contents of a nonaggression treaty. Twilight then poofed several freshly dipped quills into existence and levitated the treaty to the center of the table for all the human leaders to sign. The Humans looked at the Princess incredulously and carefully took the arcane quills in their grasp. Once all the humans had signed and the quills poofed out of existence, Twilight flew out of her chair and cast a duplication spell, handing each leader a copy of the agreement, except Emperor Charles who got two. Flying back to her seat, Twilight turned to Emperor Charles as she tucked in her wings, “Please send his Italian Majesty a copy, your Majesty,”

“Yes,”

“I believe that each of our nations can continue one-on-one conversations through our new diplomatic agreements. Considering the global situation, I sense we are all in agreement that we must return to manage the affairs of our states. There will be one last banquet held at 6,” Twilight turned to the human leaders, “I would like to thank you all on behalf of Equestria for attending the Global Summit,”

The global delegations began to disperse, with the Ottomans moving especially quickly to return to Constantinople. Cadence smiled at Twilight as she got up from her chair, and she gave a meek smile in return, she was exhausted. After a couple of minutes only the Equestrian, Crystal Empire, and British delegation remained in the hall. King Albert walked up to Twilight, “I would like to thank you. Tensions have been incredibly high, Italy is not your fault, it has been an issue that has been festering for the last decade and was on the Brink of boiling over into a serious conflict before Equestria suddenly appeared in the middle of the Atlantic,”

Twilight frowned, “But my big mouth pushed King Emanuelle over the edge. I had an opportunity to stop it and I failed, that was the whole point of this summit. To bring the nations of the world together,”

Albert chuckled, “You pretty much succeeded, I’m afraid that had it not been for this summit, the Entente and the Grand Alliance would be at total war right now. Thanks to you we negotiated a deal to prevent further escalation,”

“Thank you,”

“Your Majesty, I would like to issue you a formal invitation for a State visit to Great Britain in July. I understand that you are interested in human technology and a tour of our shipyards, industrial complexes and our libraries will serve that aim,”

“Thank you, your Majesty. I accept,” replied Twilight as she performed a small bow reciprocated by King Albert.

The British delegation soon left and the girls surrounded Twilight. Fluttershy gave her a hug, “Twilight, King Albert is right, you may not have achieved what you wanted but if what he said is true then you are a hero,”

“It just feels like everything that could go wrong went wrong,”

“At least you didn’t go ballistic like yesterday,”

“Rainbow!” Scolded Applejack before turning to Twilight, “Sugarcube, sometimes ya may not get what yer’ lookin for but ya gotta take what you can get,”

Twilight noises in reply and the group began to walk to the exit, but as they were about to leave, a flash of gold erupted in front of the ponies and Twilight suddenly found herself wearing an oversized hat with “#1 Diplomat” printed on the front. Everyone else had massive foam fingers on their right forehoves or claws and Discord was resplendent in a cheerleader costume.

“How is my number one negotiator doing?”

Fluttershy grimaced and gently shook her head while everyone else gave an unimpressed frown.

“What? I am just showing my congratulations to her Majesty for a successful summit,”

“Discord. Um, now is not a good time,” voiced Fluttershy.

“Have I struck a chord, did something go wrong?”

June 10, 1910: Port of Tripoli

Lieutenant Colonel Hafez Balik knew that Tripoli would fall, it was just a matter of when. The city garrison was already withdrawing, his artillery battalion was left behind to man the forts and delay the Italian landing for as long as possible to give General Kaplan of the Libyan Army enough time to regroup and muster a suitable defense. When the declaration of war was issued ten days ago the harbor had been mostly evacuated, with mines laid along the coast. A small fleet of four torpedo boats and the cruiser Mecidiye provided Balik with a diversion and minimal artillery support. In the forts, a force of 950 men and 100 guns were under his command, but the vast majority of these guns were outdated Ottoman pieces that would do nothing against the approaching Italian fleet. Only 36 German Krupp 150 mm SK L/40 naval guns making up 6 batteries could provide a suitable defense.

Out on the horizon, the exhaust of the Italian fleet marked their imminent arrival. Through his binoculars, Balik could see 3 battleships, 4 armored cruisers, and 5 torpedo boat escorts. It was worse than he expected, the Italian fleet before him was more formidable than the entirety of the woefully neglected Ottoman Navy. He turned to his Lieutenant, “Raise the flags, I want every fort to have the guns loaded and prepared for engagement,”

“Yes sir!” Replied Leiutenent

The flags signaling general quarters were hoisted up on the flag post of the fort and soon the rest of the port's fortifications raised flags in reply. In Balik’s fort, a battery of 6 German guns was positioned, teams of men hoisting shells and powder bags out from the magazines and up onto the battery. Crews then loaded the guns, a pair of men opening the breech of each gun while another pair slid the shell and the powder bag into position. As each gun finished loading the gunners raised their flags to signal that their gun was ready.

Balik walked up to the parapet of his fortress where a rangefinder had been prepared. It was a metal tube that lay horizontally atop a foldable tripod, inside the tube a series of lenses that would pinpoint the general range of the enemy by how many degrees the rangefinding dial was turned. Captain Ilken stood next to Rangefinding Officer Saydam, who was operating the device. The Captain turned and saluted Balik followed by Saydam who got up from his chair and stood to salute the Lieutenant Colonel.

“Sir, Officer Saydam has calculated the enemy fleet to be 20 km away. The battery is ready to fire and the guns are being trained to fire at the positions the enemy is predicted to be when they come into range,” Announced the Captain.

“Good Captain, inform me when the Italians come into range of the guns,”

“Yes sir!”

“At ease,”

The two officers turned back to their posts as Balik returned to his position, the signal flag office marching up to him.

“Sir the battery captains of the other forts have their guns prepared and are ready to fire at your command,”

“Excellent,”

RN. Napoli

Admiral Faggioni looked out from the bridge of the RN. Napoli, the Port of Tripoli just 20 km away. His orders were simple: send out his fleet and destroy any Ottoman defenses in the harbor so that General Bianchi could land 20,000 troops and secure the city. Under his command were three battleships, his flagship, the recently commissioned RN. Napoli of the Regina Elena Class, and the two battleships of the Regina Margherita class, RN. Regina Margherita and RN. Benedetto Brin. The armored cruisers RN. Pisa, RN. Varese, RN. Giuseppe Garibaldi, and RN. Francesco Ferruccio, along with five torpedo boats.

As his fleet approached Tripoli it was clear that the Ottomans had some naval forces defending the harbor. The torpedo boats posed the greatest threat, While the outdated Turkish Cruiser served as a simple nuisance. Faggioni turned to Lieutenant Luciano, “Have the flags raised to order general quarters and stop the capital ships. Order the torpedo boats forward to engage the enemy boats,”

“Yes Sir!” Replied the Lieutenant with a salute before he walked out of the bridge towards the signal mast. Captain Giordano already had his officers set the engine order telegraphs to stop, the telegrams dining with the engine room’s response as the battleship began to slow. The Captain had also reiterated the order through the ship’s voice pipes. The console showed gun readiness lighting up as the secondary and primary batteries were loaded.

As the cruisers and battleships slowed the torpedo boats surged forward. The Turks advanced in kind, the enemy boat flotillas closing the distance. After five minutes the Italian boats opened fire, 47mm guns exchanging fire as the boats zigged and zagged through the water. Columns of water shot up into the air as shells missed and plunged into the depths, obscuring the battle in a fine mist.

“Order all capital ships to slowly close the distance to 14 km. Have all bows pointed to the enemy torpedo boats and have all available primary batteries ranged out to maximum available range and fire upon the forts,”

“Yes sir!”

“What about the Turkish cruiser sir?” asked Captain Giordano as the officers set the engine order telegrams to the slow position.

“Thank you, Captain,” Replied Admiral Faggioni before turning to the Lieutenant waiting at the doorway, “Signal the order for secondary engagement on the cruiser,”

“Yes sir!”:

As the ships approached the shore, an explosion ripped out amid the obscured torpedo boat battle. Suddenly the distinctive trails of torpedoes were racing toward the fleet.

“Evasive Maneuvers!” Cried out the captain as the helmsman frantically turned the ship's bow between the torpedo trails. The officers slammed the telegrams to full, the increased speed allowing the ship to turn faster.

“Damned Idiots, they were supposed to sweep away those damned Turkish torpedos,” Complained Faggioni under his breath as the Napoli just barely weaved between the torpedo spray. Unfortunately from the corner of his eye, he could see the bow of the armored cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi enveloped in a column of water.

Port of Tripoli

Although obscured by the mist of the torpedo boat battle, the men cheered as torpedoes emerged barreling straight toward the Italian feet and striking one of the armored cruisers. Lieutenant Colonel Balik for his part realized that in the chaos of the successful torpedo strike, the Italians had unknowingly closed into range of his guns.

“Aim!”
Men quickly jumped into action turning the hand cranks that rotated the guns to aim at the enemy fleet. Unfortunately, as the guns were being trained, the mist of the torpedo boat battle finally died down revealing the ruined Turkish boats. While they had sunk two enemy torpedo boats and struck an armored cruiser, the damage seemed minimal and the Italian capital now had free reign to rip apart the lone cruiser and Balik’s forts. Once the guns were trained the gunners once again raised their flags and the Lieutenant Colonel gave his order while covering up his ears, “Fire!”
The roar of the guns was deafening as the first major salvo of the battle rang out. The shells peppered the waves and threw up massive columns of water around the Italian ships. Immediately the gun breaches were opened and shells loaded as the gunners fine-tuned their aim. After 30 seconds, the guns fired once more, but failed to strike the enemy. As the third salvo was being loaded the Italian battleships finally opened fire. Massive 306 mm shells threw up soil from the shore and tore through the piers, but failed to make contact with the forts.

Balik was at a disadvantage, his 150 mm guns were incapable of penetrating the thick armor plating of the Italian battleship’s hulls or turrets. To deal any damage he was forced to fire upon the superstructures of the ships and hopefully burn them down. His third salvo demonstrated this perfectly as his guns stuck one of the battleships but the shell bounced off the turret with minimal damage. He also could not move, the fortresses fixed in place, their tall sandstone walls an easy target for Italian gunners.

First, the Turkish cruiser burst into flames and exploded in a hail of fire from the Italian armored cruisers and the secondary guns of the battleships. Then the first 305 mm shells found their mark pulverising the 17th-century sandstone walls that had never been intended to withstand such firepower. Despite the plumes of sandstone dust and debris, Balik’s men kept firing their guns, by the 5th salvo shells finally found their mark, striking the superstructure of one of the Italian ships and setting off an inferno on its upper decks.

Despite the victory, more 305 mm shells rained down on their positions, a shell punching into the magazine of the battery to Balik’s west. The fortress erupted into a massive column of fire, guns blown out of their mounts and crashing down to the shore below.

“Sir, we must surrender! We are all going to die here!” exclaimed one of his men, as his soldiers wore faces of terror looking upon the smoldering wreck that was the western fortress.

“We must hold the line for as long as possible, we must give time for a proper defense to be prepared! God will reward us for our bravery here today! Continue firing!”

“Yes sir!”

The guns continued to roar as the Italians closed the distance yet again, the capital ships turning broadside to bear all guns on the remaining forts. Now the 203 mm guns of the armored cruisers and the secondary battery of the Italian flagship remained down on the forts. Shrapnel tore into his men and soaked the floor with blood. Turkish guns had managed to set a few more fires on the superstructures of the Italian ships, but enemy gunfire would not relent. With every fire Balik’s guns would light, the Italians would quickly suppress it and each passing minute would see an additional gun lost.

After another 5 minutes of constant fire, another fort was lost to a violent magazine explosion. Guns, shrapnel, and the torn limbs of his men flew up into the air before raining back down on the harbor or the city behind them. This explosion lit a massive fire that consumed the buildings and piers around the ruined fort. At this point, Balik’s 30 modern German guns had been reduced to a mere 12.

He could no longer stand, his right leg had been blown off by shrapnel from a direct hit to one of the guns in his fort. He was now propped up on an empty ammunition crate. His belt now tied to his thigh as a makeshift tourniquet. On the rear corner was a pile of dead or dying men, their moans sounding at any pause in the gunfire.

Italian fire intensified as the Turkish reply died down. Another 305 mm shell slammed right into one of the three remaining guns in the fort. The blast threw the men like rag dolls in every direction, metal shrapnel from the now nonexistent gun tearing through flesh and spraying more blood across the scene. The pain was excruciating as fragments of the obliterated gun sank into Balik’s torso. His guns fell silent as the confusion of the blast bent the mounts of the two other guns. As he lay there bleeding he could hear the blast of another terrible magazine explosion. Despite the raging fires around the forts, Balik felt cold, his consciousness slipping away. He could no longer hear any of his guns returning fire; instead, he looked up at the still-standing flag post, the red banner of the crescent moon, the banner of his nation slowly descended, replaced by a tattered stained white flag. Finally, there was black, there was peace.

RN. Napoli

Admiral Faggioni was impressed, he had wrongly assumed that the Turks would roll over and immediately surrender at the sight of his fleet. Instead, two of his torpedo boats were sunk, the armored cruiser RN. Giuseppe Garibaldi had its forward compartment flooded by a Turkish torpedo strike, and all the ships in the fleet except for Varese had some form of superstructure damage. Reports were still coming in but on his flagship, the Napoli, 62 casualties had been suffered with 6 fatalities.

The bridge itself had suffered minimal damage, but smoke from the ship's exhaust was still looming over the room. During the battle, the Turks had almost managed to kill the Admiral with a shell missing the Bridge by only 5 meters. Unfortunately, while the shell had missed the bridge and the forward mast, it had smashed into the side of the forward funnel. The ensuing blast toppled the funnel, which fell down the side of the ship dragging several of the ship's boats into the Mediterranean. With mangled sheet metal, being all that was left of the funnel, thick black smoke of the forward boilers loomed on the decks of the ship, choking the men of the Bridge and on the decks. Captain Giordano had rapidly ordered for the boilers to be shut off, to not suffocate the men, however by the time the order had reached the lower decks a dark acrid cloud loomed over the Bridge.

To provide some relief the officers held handkerchiefs up to their faces to filter out the soot. Not being directly part of the ship command, Faggioni and his staff had moved out to the bridge wings to escape the smoke, but to also have a better view of the city before them. Looking out to the ruined fortifications of Tripoli and the inferno consuming the city, the Admiral turned to Lieutenant Luciano, “Signal for the torpedo boats to probe for mines at the mouth of the harbor and perform minesweeping operations if necessary,”

“Yes sir!” Replied the Lieutenant before saluting.

As Luciano climbed the ladder up to the base of the forward mast to raise new signal flags Faggioni turned to Lieutenant Ramuelo, “Have a telegram sent to General Bianchi, inform him that Tripoli will be clear and ready for a landing by the time the transports arrive,”

“Yes sir!”

Ramuelo quickly scurried into the bridge and after a few more moments outside Faggioni walked into the bridge to speak with Captain Giordano. Smoke still clouded the room but the Captian had stayed in his position now reading damage reports that his subordinates had given him. The Captain had served as Faggioni’s flag captain since his promotion to Admiral back in 1903 when his flagship had been the RN. Emanuele Filiberto, Italy’s second pre-dreadnought battleship. Giordano was a competent and dutiful officer and offered Faggioni the opportunity to bounce around strategy.

The Napoli was the newest ship of the Italian Royal Navy and today had been her baptism of fire. Serving as flagship for the last four months, Faggioni would have the “privilege” to work out any kinks of the ship's design that had not been discovered during her shakedown cruise and sea trials. During the battle the Turks had managed to hit the ship four times, the aforementioned strike on the forward funnel, a hit on the bow above the armor belt, a strike on the turret face of the forward main gun turret, and a hit on the port side amidships twin 203 mm turret.

“How did she hold up Captain,”

“Quite well, despite the nuisance that was the loss of the funnel, the ship held up admirably. The Forward turret is already back in action and the secondary turret while jammed, the guns themselves are undamaged,”

“The General staff will be glad to hear of the performance of the vessel,”

Lieutenant Ramuelo returned from the wireless room and stood at attention next to the Admiral. Faggioni turned to face the Lieutenant before asking, “Yes Lieutenant?”

“Sir, General Bianchi has replied that his forces will be arriving in the morning. The final casualty report has also been received, across the fleet we have suffered 430 casualties including 48 fatalities,”

“Thank you, Lieutenant, you are dismissed,”

Ramuelo saluted and marched off to his post, the Admiral walking up to the windows and putting his binoculars up to his eyes. Out in front of the harbor, the torpedo boats were commencing their minesweeping operations. The large metal explosives floating up to the surface in the wake of the boats, just barely visible with his binoculars.

June 11, 1910: Tripoli

The landing for the most part was uneventful. The remaining torpedo boats of Admiral Faggioni cleared away the mines without incident as the residents of Tripoli put out the inferno. By morning General Bianchi and his 20,000 men arrived at the charred remains of the port. A good 10% of the city had been burned and all that remained in these areas were the sandstone structures, their interiors gutted. More than a thousand burned and mangled bodies were discovered in the ruins of the forts and burned the city. Most had survived the initial bombardment injured but were unable to escape the inferno or had barricaded themselves in their homes before the city was set alight.

As Italian troops began to march into the city, the residents left the streets mostly deserted, and buildings across the city had widows and openings boarded up. Only the few Europeans that had stayed after the harbor’s evacuation, and the Jewish and Christian population of the city still went about their day. The non-muslims even began cheering at the occupying Italian army, believing that the Italian occupation would give them more rights than under the Muslim Turkish government.

General Bianchi ordered the army to begin trench works around the city to defend against any Ottoman counterattack. Artillery had been brought by the transports, and the men began preparing mountings for these guns. Salvage efforts had been made to recover some of the Turkish guns, unfortunately, Admiral Faggioni’s bombardment and the subsequent fire had left the German Krup guns irreparable. While some other guns were still serviceable they were so outdated that they were left in the ruble.

Now the Italian Army paraded through Tripoli’s central square except for 5,000 men left to garrison the defensive positions around the city. European, and North African Christians and Jews lined the perimeter of the square holding up flowers and waving small Italian flags provided to them by the army or that they had fashioned themselves. The soldiers were resplendent in khaki uniforms and pith helmets, while the officers wore a similar uniform, but sported feathered hats. Makeshift stands had been prepared from which General Bianchi, Admiral Faggioni, and the senior most officers of the army and fleet looked down on the parade.

Soldiers surrounded the central flag post from which still flew the red banner of the Ottoman Empire. They then stood at attention as the military band stopped playing. Two officers then began to lower the crimson banner as another pair of officers marched in with the colors of the Kingdom of Italy. The Admiral, General, and senior officers in the stands stood as the flags were switched. As the tricolor flag rose up into the air a chant began.

“Evviva il Re!”

“Evviva il Re!”

“Evviva il Re!”

The trumpets of the band then blared as the band began to play the Marcia Reale D'Ordinanza. When the band was finished riffle men shot blanks and General Bianchi came down from the stands to personally inspect his troops. Italian marches played as the General walked down the line of soldiers shaking hands with the officers lined up in the first row. Admiral Faggioni had followed Bianchi, out of earshot from the troops the Admiral whispered into the General's ear, “It seems that our assumption that the locals would hail us as liberators was unfounded. The crowds gathered here today are alarmingly small for a city of this size,”

“A bunch of lowly hard-headed peasants, they won’t pose a threat to his Majesty’s plans. I will have the soldiers round up weapons to prevent any uprisings,”

“You really think 20,000 men is enough, the barracks clearly show that at least 5,000 troops left the city, should they rally an army of Muslim conscripts we could be in serious trouble. The artillery brigade that defended the city put up a serious fight, I lost two torpedo boats and many of my ships will have to go to port for repairs,”

“You worry too much, I will have Tripolitania under my thumb by the end of the month, you said it yourself, the Turks ran away. You concern yourself with coastal bombardment, and I will deal with the situation on the ground,”

Faggioni relented and let Bianchi walk ahead of him, the band continuing to play Italian marches. The display would go on for another half an hour, soldiers fixing a large portrait of King Vittorio Emanuele on the central building of the southern end of the square. Ultimately, Tripoli had fallen firmly under Italian control. 350 years of Turkish rule came to a close and after nearly 1,500 years, Rome would once again rule over North Africa.

12th day of the 6th Moon, 6 ALR: Canterlot Castle

Twilight and Spike were enjoying breakfast as the guards opened the double doors of the dining hall. An aging cream-colored stallion sporting a red tailcoat and long gray mustache walked into the room and approached the princess with his notepad and a rolled-up newspaper.

“Good morning your Majesty,”

“Good morning Lord Spike,”

“Good morning Kibitz,” replied Twilight, she had tried to get Princess Celestia’s former Chief Aid to address her by her name rather than what she felt was a stuffy old title, however, as a Stysllion of tradition, he refused. So, after a week of trying she gave it up.

“Thank you. Your Majesty, I have gotten access to the human newspapers as you requested,” answered Kibitz as he leveraged the Newspaper to her. Enveloping the paper in her raspberry magic, Twilight unfurled the paper and read the headline.

Italian Victory at Tripoli! Turks put up a gallant defense. Tripoli razed! Casualties are mounting, but over 1000 dead and hundreds more injured or missing!

Twilight's heart dropped, how could so much blood be shed in a day? Her eyes were rapidly moistening as she quickly turned the paper over and set it down on the table. As her voice trembled she managed to let out, “Th… Thank you Kibitz. Every pony… p… please l… leave,”

The guards opened the door and Kibitz and the servants in the room left, leaving Twilight alone with Spike. Twilight slammed her face against the table and began to sob, Spike got up from his chair and walked up to the lavender alicorn, embracing her from behind.

“Twilight, you can’t keep doing this, it's not your fault, you agonized over this every night of the summit,”

“It's... it’s just th... that… Oh Spike, Look at this!” replied Twilight as she levitated the paper up to the dragon’s face. Spike's eyes widened as he read the headline.

“Tell me that this isn’t terrible… One day Spike. One day!”

“But… But it isn’t your fault,”

“Does it even matter at this point,”

Author's Note

Happy New Year everyone!!!
https://youtu.be/twdeohesk0g?si=0tydt68ECHxJVaEl