Tales from the Unification War

“At first, we didn’t have any plans of actually invading Nokshire once we had pushed King Bridrick’s forces back out of Equestria. Princess Celestia’s terms of surrender called for Nokshire to reduce its military capabilities by one-third. This would have allowed them to maintain a credible defensive force, while at the same time, preventing them from engaging in future aggressive action against Equestria. But King Bridrick rejected those terms. Even then, the plan was only to invade the borders of Nokshire, and push as far as we needed to until he realized he couldn’t win the war, and agreed to the terms. But I don’t think any of us were prepared for what we found once we got into Nokshire.

Poverty and disease were everywhere due to heavy taxes and undernourishment. Most of the food produced by the farmers was being confiscated to feed the king’s army, and the people were being heavily taxed to pay for the war effort. They had very little freedom, and were highly oppressed. When word of the conditions these people were living in got back to Princess Celestia, that’s when she made the decision. We were going all the way to Nokshire Castle, and we were removing Bridrick from power and freeing the humans of Nokshire from the tyranny they were living under. The option for King Bridrick to surrender, was no longer on the table.” -- Captain Stormhoof, Supreme Commander of Nokshire Invasion Forces, Her Majesty’s Royal Equestrian Guard.