Set six years after season 6, Occupied Equestria presents an alternative history where the Changelings have conquered half of Equestria, while a former Equestrian colony - soured to Princess Twilight's notion of harmony with all creatures because of their encounters with griffins - Invaded and took the other half. In Baltimare and the Equestrian Southeast, the magic of friendship has weakened, as Communists, Changeling infiltrators, Fascists, gangs, and corrupt creepy politicians threaten the city. This role play is based in large part upon the Equestria at War mod for Hearts of Iron 4, and uses D&d 3.5e mechanics
In the North, in Bales, Brie has just aquired a carriage with which he shall make the journey into the Changeling Occupied Zone, alongt with Spark and Onyx. In Baltimare, Dark Star recouperates from injuries sustained in a near fatal encounter with a Changeling opperative. Silver helps treat two traumatized orphans, and Iron examines ancient secrets in the Jungles
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>>104101Silver looks at the two colts. "When our group finally found where you were being kept, and broke through locked door, we saw you two on one side of room, and changelings caged on other side. While all of my companions went to aid and free you, there was nopony left for changelings." Silver pauses while he recollects himself. "I did not have good encounters with changelings prior to this. I may have been too old for draft, but I still fought as mercenary for Equestria in Great War. For entirety of war, and since its end, I have considered Changeling Hegemony as my enemy, as
our enemy. It is not hard to expand that to whole species, even if it is unjust to lump them all together. But still...I could not just leave them there. They were clearly scared, trapped...hopeless. I did not see them as changelings, as what had up until then had been our mortal enemy. I saw them simply as two beings in need of help. So, while my comrades took care of you...I helped changelings. With additional help of later arrival, we broke locks on their cages, cut straps on their harnesses. I even let them feed on me so they would have strength enough to continue on, even with threat to my health such prospect held. I also gave them shelter in safe place where they would not be under threat. They are gone, now: one of group took them somewhere to 'get help', where from and what for I do not know. But I got to know them while we were together. I could communicate with them using their native language, Wechselbalg, and in doing so I learned much about them and their people. Wesley seemed to take particular interest in me. His favorite disguise looked little bit like Pegasus version of me, almost like one of my actual foals."
He particularly looks at White Orchid for the next two sentences. "Believe me or not, it is your choice. But I would not lie to you, not about this. When you truly get to know them, changelings are not so bad. They can seem almost like ponies, when you get over their insectoid appearance and...unusual diet. It just takes getting to talk with one another."
>>104103White Orchid says nothing, then blinks, then again goes on saying nothing
Mint Marine:
“YOU TOOK CARE OF CHANGELINGS INSTEAD OF US?!”
>>104104For his part, Silver stands firm against the onslaught, resolute in his decision. "What would you have had me do? Leave them there to rot until police arrived and discovered those two changelings? They had gone through just as same as you had, and then some. Out of six ponies, five had rushed over to see to your needs while completely ignoring them, one of five in particular rushing ahead of others to see you two safe back to orphanage as quickly as possible. Had I not been only one left, it is very likely I would have gone to your sides instead. But that was not case." He gets down to Mint's eye level. "Put yourself in their horseshoes: you are changeling. You are minding your own business when suddenly you and your brother are captured by ponies. You are torn from your family, your home, everything you had ever known and loved, captured by race you had been taught to hate and distrust. They put you in dungeon, do horrible things to you that should be done to no one. They force you to take on disguises against your will, many that are unnatural to you or that cause great strain to your body, especially when combined with what these bad ponies do to you. They beat you or shock you when you complain, when you object, when you try to resist or do anything they do not want you to do. They starve you and do not let you eat, and they beat you and shock you even more when you try. You become so hungry it is hard to think, hard to feel anything except all-consuming hunger. To make things worse, when they are not doing things to you, they put you in cramped cage like animal, cage you are restrained in at that. And across from you are two, life-saving sources of food, always just out of reach, as if your captors are taunting you. This happens every day, until you begin to lose hope, until you believe that you will never escape, until all you wish for and wait for is embrace of death to take you away from horrible place. Imagine being changeling, when you suffer for so long like this, when suddenly door to where you are kept is torn down, and large group of ponies rush in. Imagine seeing all of them rush to aid of ponies in room...all but one." If his expression wasn't dead serious before, the one he gives Mint now certainly is, so much so it seems to bury itself into his mind. "Object all you want. I did good by helping them, and I will stick by my decision to very end of my life. I have no regrets over it. It was first good thing to happen to them in very, very long time. And just as much as I would help them, I would help you in turn. They are good changelings, much like you are good ponies.
Both of your lives matter. Even if their lives do not matter to you personally, they matter to others out there."
>>104105I get that you're bored, but this particular kind of third-person commentary is really not appreciated. >>104106White Orchid is, once again, still. Mint however....
"Yes! You should have let them rot! They were going to eat us if they were not in a cage! I can no more put myself in their hooves than I could put myself in _______'s place... .... There are some evils that need to be purged from the world... Unnatural, evil hunger... Unnatural, evil... desires... Need to be put in a cage. Or shot..."
>>104107At the very least, Silver has found the foal that would take the greater liking to Dark Star. Meanwhile, Mint's speech has done little, if anything, to change Silver's expression. "Unnatural evil, like calling for wholesale extermination of entire sapient species? Killing families?
Foals?" He stands up. "What that stallion, what those stallions did, that is true evil, and even if we will never fully remove it from this world we will be damned if we will not struggle against it. But as for changelings...only evil I hear about them right now is coming from you. You can not solve this problem with genocide, just as Chrysalis can not solve this problem with subjugation."
>>104108Tears were already coming down Mint Marine’s eyes. Now, they come down in broader streams. His forelegs tilt to the left, and turn in place on the pavement with a definite sound.
“I am no pony’s food. No pony has the right to do that to me.
No one!”
>>104109Silver sighs in a much softer tone than before, a tone that is matched by a softening of his expression. Now, he just looks...tired, and regretful for having brought Mint to tears. He'd hug the poor colt but he has doubts it would be accepted. "No, nopony has that right, little one."
>>104110Mint Marine lifts a hoof, placed it down only an inch from where he picked it up, then turns lightly to the right, and lays down in place. He folds his forelegs over his muzzle and eyes, and starts crying in place
A passing mare stares at the scene, but continues waking by, staring
White Orchid speaks, but with a detached voice. He is sitting down, head partly crouched down. His eyes look like they are focused on some sight a half mile away, even as they are aimed at the ground fifteen feet in front of him
“That’s not what he meant...”
>>104111Internally, Silver wonders what else besides the two EXTREMELY obvious meanings Mint could have had. Externally, Silver is faced with the realization that he wasn't very good with dealing with this level of emotional trauma in the first place. From what little he does know, he tries to keep the colts' focus in the real world by clicking a hoof against the ground and speaking in a resonating voice. Or at least, as resonating as he can manage with his still-recovering throat. "Little ones."
Where in the hell did a friendly visit to the zoo and a conversation about vampires turn into this? >>104112No response from either, although White Orchid does at least turn his head that way
>>104113"Focus on me, you two. I am here, I am real, we are in present."
>>104114Refer to what I wrote only an hour ago in >>104106 >>104119Okay, so Dark Star was receiving a description from Sea Breeze about some task the civilian government has been putting off, and has now become more pressing after a complaint by the Governate of Manehattan
>>104120Talking to the civilian ponies?
>>104121No, the alleged creature traffickers
>>104122Right.
"is there a Particular time that the drop them off?"
>>104123“Is there a particular time creatures are dropped off? Not quite, that we know of. Unusual Griffins or Zebras have been seen in a few areas of the neighborhood tending towards a grouping of buildings along the waterfront. There have been two reports of small boats leading out from ships entering the nearby freight docks, and heading to what seems to be a subterranean entrance under buildings.”
>>104124"Boats Huh? Did AnyPony say they heard a motor?"
>>104125“No motors. Rowed by oars at night. It’s the sort of boats stored on larger ships, and used to make landfall.”
>>104126"Dinghies? that's strange. how would they move the Animals on such a small craft?"
>>104127“The craft are designed to move creatures. You can move quite a number of creatures, six or so at a time, if you have enough time. Enough for an invasion.”
>>104128"Do you Think The Changlings are involved,Sir?"
>>104129“It’s a possibility that absolutely cannot be ruled out. If they are, I think they might be in violation of their non-aggression pact.”
>>104130Dark Star's Expression Turns Grim
"Let's Hope They Aren't involved then. if i find any evidence that says they are i will let you know as soon as possible,sir."
>>104132Dark Star Stands up and Salutes SeaBreeze.
"was there anything else you wished to discuss,sir?"
>>104133“Dark Star, I am not convinced that I adequately addressed your concern earlier. That the corrupt Baltimare government will not be removed just yet”
>>104134"Oh.it uh,its ok,Sir."
Dark Star's face betrays him
>>104135“Dark Star. I want you to know that yesterday, Comte was inducted, and arrested by the civilian government. We are now looking into charging his associates, and exposing to the public the full extent of what their leaders have been doing, and what the philosophy of ‘accepting ponies for who they are’ inevitably leads to.’ The public needs a chance to smell the rot and decay for them themselves before we can remove it. We just have to expose it to the air and bring it into the light”
>>104136"That is Fantastic,Sir. I'm Ecstatic to hear that. the boys will have their justice soon."
>>104137"Yes. Be advised that although Comte deserves to be taken to a ditch and shot for the crime of being an elected Social Democrat alone, that will not happen in this case. No. Shooting is too clean. It removes the stain, out of sight, out of mind. That would be good for the social liberals, great even for the social liberals, but no good for Baltimare as a whole. Rather, the public must see every detail. Every gruesome detail of what a loosening of social mores inexorably leads to. Comte and his associates will be given a fair and very public trial. And in that trial, which will be performed to the T by the procedures of Equestrian Common Law, Equestrian society will understand that it isn't really
Comte who is on trial, or even the Social Democrats, or Liberalism as an idea - a horrible, Griffin invented idea. It is the
Public who will be on trial. They will be on trial for allowing ponies like this to govern over them for so long. And thus we might even ask you to protect Comte from any assassins who will try to kill him before he has the chance to dominate the newspapers for the next several months... before he has the chance to talk about his associates"
>>104115White Orchid moves his head slightly over towards Silver's direction. An ear flops down briefly, but his eyes move towards Silver. They do not focus on Silver, but rather somewhere far behind him.
Mint Marine does not move, laying his belly and muzzle firmly on the ground, his ears down, and his forelegs crossed over his face as he sobs.
>>104141"Well, you will not be assigned personally, then"
>>104143"No,Sir. I Can Do It. If it will help me people see the truth."
>>104142Thats the Animal smuggling mission, i think >>104140Silver puts a foreleg on White Orchid's shoulder, his voice taking on a more urgent tone. He's not sure what else he can do to try to snap at least one of them out of it. "White Orchid! Mint Marine!"
>>104144"Well, we'll look into that later. But Dark Star, one more thing."
He pauses for a moment
"Your mother was killed by a Griffin, yes?"
>>104145White Orchid looks to Silver, and now focuses on him.
Mint Marine:
"You are not my Father!"
>>104146One of them is a start, at least. "White Orchid, are you okay, are you with me?"
>>104148He nods. Very slowly
>>104147“Griffins... like the sort that killed your mother, or Zebras like the sort that took your farm, are who are being trafficked in. The operation must be stopped. Not necessarily today, but sometime”
>>104149"Even though i'm injured i feel like i need to start on it today."
>>104150He nods
“This task should not be treated lightly. You can expect them to be very dangerous. You will likely need help.”
>>104149"Good. Keep focused on me, little one. I am here, I am real, I am in present." He turns to Mint, a bit more worried for him than White Orchid at the moment. Silver puts a forehoof on Mint's shoulder, and gives him a shake. "Mint Marine!"
>>104151"I Think i know some guys."