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Goals of the AAR
Well it's too late for regrets. I suppose some of my goals are a bit easier to lay out in hindsight, but oh well!
Become a Great Power-COMPLETE
Currently fluctuate between 4th and 3rd in the world.
Claim all rightful Equestrian Lands-Extended
Extended by The Equestrian Empire event, and later by Maneifest Destiny.
Spread Friendship and Love to as many as possible-In progress
Most of South America lies within the Equestrian Sphere and Alliance, expansion will resume sooner or later
Be a dominant Industrial power by endgame
Currently Equestrian Industry places it around 2nd and 3rd in the world, until end game though the position isn't secure.
Try to avoid a Great War
Simple enough, gotta wait and see.
Become a major power in the Asia-Pacific realm-In progress
The Annexation of Hawaii and Alaska, along with Baja California make this more feasible, expansion into Oceania from Hawaii will be key.
Prove Equestria to be more prestigious and interesting then Human nations-In progress
Equestrian Prestige is mid-level, placing it again in a shifting 2nd through 5th place, until end game this is also in the air.
So here you can see laid before you my humble goals and aspirations, at the very least I'd like to keep Equestria stable and prevent government collapses, as this is the 19th Century and it IS still a monarchy, gotta cling to power, ya know?
1830's-1836
This is how North America looks in the year 1836. It is not as our maps remember, and it will not ever be that way thanks to the fateful discovery of the nation of Equestria in the year 1816, after countless years of remaining luckily undiscovered by western explorers and missionaries.
The unique situation that the ponies of Equestria found themselves in were quite good actually. The multi-race species had three different, highly productive sub-species living within their boundaries. The stubborn and ingenious Earth ponies, generally relegated to farming and manual labor. Unicorns, the academic and cultural heart of the Principality. And the Pegasi, the militaristic race of the clouds, always up for a challenge and also in charge of controlling the weather for the Earth ponies benefit. The spread of industrialism and liberal ideas would shake the empire and potentially fray the Unity normally displayed by it's inhabitants. But Princess Celestia, and albeit a bit less enthusiastically, Princess Luna, were going to try and see out the storm and bring Equestria to the forefront of the world stage.
1836 began with a flurry of activity in the fledgling nation. In the name of maintaining cultural homogeneity and preventing the potential racial issues that would stem from humans settling in the Principality, Celestia decreed an indefinite ban on human immigration until further notice. Humans already in the Principality were granted exemptions and permitted to remain on their property and maintain their previous rights(1). The international fallout from the decree was nearly immediately felt at the court in Canterlot, as the Austrian, Spanish, and Swedish diplomats all formally closed their embassies in protest, and the British, French, and Russians all lodged formal complaints with her majesty. The implications for the Equestrian state were dire, and all efforts were made to attempt to assuage the inflamed passions of the western powers, Celestia was not willing to become the next international pariah so soon after becoming a modern nation.
The main focus of the Principality was one Celestia personally oversaw, the technological progress of the fledgling state. For in her journey to Europe in the years prior she had learnt just how much power knowledge contains, and the world altering power the secrets of technology held. Her first royal decree on the issue of technology was the decision to pursue more modern and easier methods to extract the precious minerals that were buried deep underground in the Valmansas territory, not yet fully accepted as a state due to the lack of governmental structure in place(2). Her hope was that due to their ingenuity when it came to ways to ease the workload, that the Earth ponies would be able to contribute greatly to the development of Mechanized Mining machines and equipment.
At the end of 1835, the first ever national census was held in the Principality and completed nearly a month before the new year. However, the information was compiled and then processed for nearly two months, leading the census to be released a few days before 1836. The results were rather dull, most had expected the census to not turn up a whole lot of important data or unexpected facts. The population was nearly split 30/30/30 but the Earth ponies, being the ones who grow and handle the food had edges out a small majority in the overall population records. The true minority, the Buffalo people of Valmansas and Springdale edged in only 1.5% of the entire population of Equestria, and with their number shrinking it is only a matter of time before their culture may disappear entirely. The religious portion of the census was no shocker, aside from the Buffalo, every single respondent was identified as a Celestian follower, seeing as any attempt by a western missionary to spread a faith was quickly sweeped out of the nation. Most of the ponies were identified as Conservative, with small Liberal and Reactionary leanings among the population, showing a high level of satisfaction for how the Twin Sisters had ruled so far. Aside from the large amount of farmers, artisans were the other main profession at the time, taking nearly 20% of the population in small cottage industries and such.
The budget at the start of 1836 was a bit more complicated. The few years of international trade that they had been involved in had taken a toll on her economy, as the Principality quickly ran up a decent trade deficit, losing nearly 100 Bits a day from this alone. In the interests of protecting Equestrian goods and services, and hoping to stem off the quickly growing deficit, Celestia raised the national Tariff to nearly 50% on all imported goods, coupled with the tax hike from all classes this essentially yanked the economy from the brink of a debt cycle that would surely be exploited by the western nations to validate an attack.
The state of the army was much better. The Equestrian Armed Forces were a strong, modern force standing in 1836 at around 32,000 soldiers, of whom around 6,000 were enlisted as militia mostly for the sake of border patrolling and additional policing if needed. The estimated limit for enlisted ponies was said to be nearly 90,000 soldiers without straining the meek supply and armaments system in place, and if necessary another 90,000~ ponies could be mobilized from the fields and mines to take up arms. This made Equestria out to be a major competitor to the United States and even to an extent Great Britain on the continent at least. The navy, not the Equestrian strong point, was modern but not strong in numbers. The current Generals are Shining Armor, a bit of a dashing, young lover pony, and Osric Velvet, a quiet and admittedly, a bit incompetent at her role. The Royal Fleet contained 4 ships of war, 3 of which were Frigates accompanied by 1 Man-o-War, All under the command of Rear Admiral Lyra Star Bright, an inspiring leader but a bit of a hoof-licker to higher-ups, making it a bit hard for her to organize well. As another royal decree, Celestia willed that 9 new divisions were to be raised from assorted provinces and that the shipyards of Canterlot, Fillydelphia, and Manehatten should begin the construction of more ships for the navy.
The other main point of concern for the Principality was the Pacific Northwest. Inhabited almost entirely by Griffons, the area was now being contested by the United States on the grounds that it was their 'Manifest Destiny' to claim the continent coast to coast. Of course, Celestia knew this claim was bogus, so to ensure that the Equestrian settlers would be safe and able to claim the region and bring the Griffons safely into the Principality where they would be treated much better then the USA would treat them, she issued orders to the Royal Guards to move to the area referred to by the Americans as Oregon while the Royal Border Patrol was detached from it's normal duties to march north into what was known as Washington and safeguard the settling of the pony population. Of course the move was expected to elicit a negative response from the United States. The troops began their marches, and Equestria stood by patiently, prepared to take action if needed to defend their rightful claims to the Northwest.
(1) In truth, there were nearly 0 humans in the Principality at the time, perhaps 100~ of the 2.73 million beings in the Principality were humans. The additional text was meant to attempt to placate the western powers, but it did not have the effect desired.
(2) Many claim the real reason behind the denial of statehood was the Buffalo minority, and that many wished that more ponies could be moved in before any move toward real statehood were made.
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So, I hope this can be taken seriously...
Questions? Comments? Hate? Post any if you got any please...
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