Anon fights segregation

Prompt:
>"My shop is for ponies only. NO humans allowed."

Apparently, segregation exists in Equestria.

What do?

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> Start organization dedicated to the advancement of non-pony species.
> Gather griffons, diamond dogs, zebras, and other nonpoonies to your cause.
> Early efforts at protests are small, but prominently staged in Canterlot.
> Until they are quietly and brutally put down by unsympathetic guard.
> Faced with the reality that protest is not going to change anything, your actions turn darker.
> Stones replace signs.
> Molotov cocktails replace stones.
> You are declared a maniac and forced to go underground.
> That's okay.
> The dogs have plenty of places to hide.
> And your griffons are worth five pony guards each.
> A year down the line.
> You make your first move.
> Your rioters hit hard and fast.
> Dozens of shops in manehatten trashed, looted, and burned.
> The worst offenders - those who did not merely ban ponies, but revelled in their racism.
> It's to much, to soon.
> Nearly a third of your raiders are taken prisoner.
> But you learn from your failures.
> Your loot will be traded on the black market - sold for bits that will fund your efforts.
> The next targets are smaller, more widespread, less defensible.
> But now, you have a PR problem.
> In the eyes of the common pony, you're raiders, thieves, criminals.
> Degenerates lining their own pockets, not revolutionaries supporting the cause of equality.
> Counter-groups, seeking to 'protect the noble citizens of Equestria' from the 'degenerate pillagers' spring up.
> Racial purity groups in disguise, but worryingly popular.
> And then a golden opportunity falls into your lap.
> Appleoosa had long been one of the most open towns in Equestria.
> Buffalo, ponies, and others living in relative equality and peace.
> A choice for which they are now made a target.
> Your front's ears catch wind of an impending attack on the town, to 'drive out the bringers of disharmony and all who would support them'.
> Ponies included.

> The guard will, of course, arrive far to late.
> It's going to be a massacre.
> One of your agents approaches the sheriff.
> He agrees to accept your help, so long as your militia behaves itself.
> You agree.
> Two days before the raid, you kidnap reporters from three of Equestia's foremost newspapers.
> A rough decision, but they have to see the truth.
> When the would-be 'purifiers' descend on Appleoosa, they instead find an ambush of well-armed, battle-hardened militia.
> They are disorganized, approaching one group at a time.
> Intended casual butchery turns to total rout.
> And all through it, the newsponies record everything.
> When the story breaks, of course, their tales have been twisted.
> But the kernel of truth is undeniable.
> Your forces were the ones protecting the town, not trying to level it.
> Doubt begins to form.
> Word begins to spread.
> The name Anonymous, long since forgotten by most ponies, becomes a household word again.
> Now you have a working plan.
> Those who accept true equality, you aid and protect.
> Those who refuse, you pillage and loot.
> Discipline becomes the norm, rather than a luxury in your ranks.
> You receive shelter from sympathetic ponies across Equestria.
> The guard is not fast enough to catch you. They've never dealt with anything like this.
> Instead they try and strike at the source.
> Your supply caches.
> How they find them is never entirely clear, although you have your suspicions.
> What is clear is that in two days, nearly a half of your resources across Equestria are lost.
> With the political climate in Canterlot at the moment, there is only one outcome in the trials of your captured allies.
> Guilty.
> Imprisoned.
> But amid the pain of loss, an unexpected boon.
> The thestrals of the Night Guard are already viewed with suspicion by many.
> When they see how your captured are being treated, the first cracks appear.

> Two weeks after the trials conclude, you receive your first defector.
> The next, eight days after that.
> The next, three.
> Most are returned to their positions, to feed you information on the guard's activities.
> It doesn't take the royal guard long to try another massive raid.
> This time, you are waiting.
> Now you have prisoners too.
> And in contrast to the almost total silence in which the guard has held your lost, the prisoners you take are allowed to send word back.
> Popular opinion begins to shift.
> You are no longer boogeymen, burning shops in the night.
> Less than a month later, a force of royal guard and your militia quietly meet at the bottom of a valley.
> Prisoners are exchanged.
> Tears are shed.
> Another battle is won.
> A tense peace falls across Equestria in the following months.
> Your militia skirmishes with a few self-proclaimed 'purification squads'
> But there are no more major raids, no more massive guard operations.
> The final boon you need comes nearly a year and a half later.
> The Changeling hive had been in a state of near-social collapse for ages.
> They had finally reached out to Equestria to seek peace, but the nobles' council in Canterlot, hardened by anti-equality sentiment, refused.
> Total civil war occurs in due time.
> Your organization opens its arms to the fleeing changelings.
> They can have a new home, one that does not fear them.
> It is not a popular decison.
> Two major fragments of your group break away.
> One is crushed by the royal guard.
> The other rejoins after its leadership suddenly develops a severe case of blade-in-throat syndrome.
> When all is said and done, there are now suddenly several thousand dedicated new recruits to your cause.
> You have soldiers, government, territory where the 'purification squads' and 'Equestrian nobility' fronts dare not roam.
> You are a state in all but name.

> You can be denied no longer.
> Word is quietly sent to you from Canterlot.
> The princesses are willing to negotiate.
> They offer a total pardon for you and any who operate under your banner.
> And a promise to begin ramming through legislation to make species-based segregation and assault illegal
> In return, they seek the disarmament of your organization.
> It's a fair offer, from their standpoint.
> But, do you dare?
> The purification squads and angry voices will not disappear - not even when the new laws come.
> Especially not for those such as griffons and changelings.
> This fight will not end with mere ink in a book.
> Do you dare to give up so much of what you have won?
> Do you accept the risk that you may place more lives - non-equine and pony alike - in danger?
> But, do you dare to refuse the best offer to end this half-war you're likely to get?
> Do you dare?


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[At this point I left the thread for several hours. Although the ending to the above had been meant to be rhetorical, people started suggesting courses of action. I wrote alternate endings for the options suggested.]

> You stared at the message long and hard.
> You spent days in consultation with your highest lieutenants.
> You did your best to gauge the popular sentiment towards all the options among your varied subjects.
> No, not subjects.
> Citizens.
> Griffons, diamond dogs, changelings, zebras, even sympathetic ponies.
> Some had families or friends in Equestria.
> Some had lost families or friends to Equestria.
> No choice would satisfy all of them.
> A week later, with a heavy heart you touch pen to paper and begin writing your response.
> You only hope it is the right choice...

Multi-ending mode, go!

> Ending 1A: Inclusion, good end.
> Your answer to the princesses is short and to the point.
> Their idea has merit, but a total disarmament at this point is not possible.
> Instead, you offer a compromise.
> A proper, negotiated ceasefire between your militia and the guard.
> Celestia and Luna would begin pushing the legislation through.
> For every step forward you saw, you would begin drawing down more of your forces.
> It is not a solid plan.
> It requires trust.
> But if there is to be any coexistence in Equestria at all, trust is going to be necessary.
> Where better to start than at the top?
> The princess' reply comes indirectly.
> An announcement that the first legislation making it illegal to discriminate against a law-abiding subject of Equestria in matters of public property and resources.
> For a first step, it is a small one.
> After all, most of the nobles' court regards you still as lawless brigands.
> They cannot bring themselves to even consider the idea that you might some day be a lawful subject of Equestria again.
> Probably presume that they will merely bring their citizens back from your influence.
> But the princesses have trusted you to play along.
> And so you do.
> Of course, small steps are met with small steps.

> Your first disarmament takes place in regions that are already well under your control.
> But the announcement that your militia will cease activities in certain regions comes as a total surprise to the nobles' court.
> Celestia's proclamation that militia members who lay down their arms will be given full pardons comes as a double slam.
> By the time they realize what they have begun, they have already passed two more bills making segregation increasingly illegal.
> Now the pressure is on them.
> For the first time, however unwanted, they are producing results.
> Now it is our turn to trust the princesses.
> Your militias still walk the streets, but instead of wielding blades they call on the guard.
> The efforts are not without incidents.
> Lives are still lost.
> But each of you take of your own sides' failures, and correct them.
> For the first time, they work with the guard - not against.
> The nobles' court tries to halt all further legislation until your militia are 'properly punished'.
> But the avalanche is already begun.
> The vast majority of Equestria's subjects and yours alike are tired of fighting.
> Twenty years later.
> All is not yet well.
> Bigotry still holds steady in some regions.
> But tonight, you face the culmination of your efforts.
> You are the guest of honor at a party in Canterlot tonight, to be recognized for your efforts in resolving a long-simmering conflict.
> Your honor guard - changeling and griffon, minotaur and pony - face the gold-clad royal guard.
> Both lines raise varied limbs in salute.
> And for the first time, you bow to a princess with a smile.

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> Ending 1B, inclusion, bad end.
> If there is ever to be coexistence in Equestria, trust is to be necessary.
> Where better than to start at the top?
> If only that trust had filtered down.
> When the first orders to disarm came down, there was grumbling.

> Inevitably, success was not universal.
> In some places, the guard still sided with those who would support 'purity'.
> The second set of disarmament orders was met with open arguing.
> Some branches outright refused.
> Blood being spilled was only a matter of time.
> Still you drove ahead, stubbornly determined to see this to its end.
> Success was never instantaneous!
> If they would only hold out long enough, progress would be made!
> The nobles' court was passing more laws, however grudgingly.
> All you needed was more time, and things could change.
> The third set of orders was the breaking point.
> Assault by guards, conflicting opinions between races, and sometimes near-starvation had failed to break your organization.
> The drive for peace did.
> Two, three, four subgroups broke off.
> Refusing to stand down, staking their claim in various regions.
> You drive ahead, praying that they would turn to the cause of peace when you brought more results.
> Twenty years later.
> You resided in a manor in Canterlot.
> Along with the remainder of your loyalists, you had received pardons for your actions.
> But you had lead less than twenty percent of your once-subjects to this 'victory'.
> Six separate successors to your organization had not chosen to follow your steps and receive a pardon.
> In you opinion, most of them did not deserve such.
> Without you guidance, your resources, your contacts in the Equestrian government, none had come as close to peace as you had.
> They had nearly all devolved to their roots - wild raiders, robbers and pillagers.
> And in turn, the efforts in Canterlot to shift the national opinion had slid back.
> Why should they tolerate, when the other races continued to attack them?
> You and your peace-seekers were barely accepted, staying to certain regions that still remembered the goodness you had brought.
> And every night, you looked out the window and wondered.
> Could you have done better?
> Could you have brought peace?

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> Ending 2A: Seperatist, good end.
> Your reply was delivered to Celestia in due time.
> It was also delivered to four of the most prominent of the Equestrian newspapers.
> A declaration of independence deserved to be public, after all.
> And that was just what you were delivering.
> A declaration that however noble the princess' intentions were, they could not force the will of their entire country.
> Only by standing strong and standing together could you survive.
> And so that was what you did.
> You stood together.
> When the guard was mobilized to stare down your militia in the territory you had declared your own, you stood together.
> When Equestria fell to the bare rim of civil war, you stood together and stood strong.
> You opened your gates to all who would seek refuge.
> Equestria danced close, but never fell.
> The guard was called off.
> You made your second announcement:
> That conflict with Equestria was not your goal.
> So long as they would not halt those who sought safety with you, peace was and acceptance was all you sought.
> To be treated as an equal - if not as a person, then as a nation.
> The first few years were a terrible trial.
> Food was short, and refugees many.
> But you persevered.
> Barely any of your citizens could use magic.
> Science replaced it.
> Steelworks and shipyards sprung up.
> Griffon knowledge of the winds, changeling engineering, minotaur metallurgy.
> All combined to bring you life, and then prosperity.
> And when your newborn nation failed to turn into a haven for murders and criminals, public opinion in Equestria began to shift.
> How evil could you be?
> Your citizens were not slaughtering each other in the streets.
> Perhaps your choices had a logic to them?
> And slowly, grudgingly, the nobles' council begin to catch up.
> Began to accept.
> Equality, true equality, began to come into law there as well.
> Twenty years later.
> Equality was making slow, painful progress across Equestria.

> Especially with so many dedicated supporters coming to your lands, it would be many years before it came in truth.
> But that was a thought for later.
> Today, you had visitors.
> Some of the Equestrian nobles were nervous to be coming to your new capital.
> You could understand why.
> A faint simmering of resentment still hung just out of sight.
> But as they entered your Hall of Law and saw the ranks and ranks of guard - your guard - saluting them, you could see their fears fading.
> These were not the ragged militia that had once ravaged their lands.
> These were a proud, dedicated force that aimed to do what the Royal Guard had been meant to do.
> Protect their citizens.
> All of them.
> As the princesses enter the hall, you rise and bow to them in greeting.
> And for the first time, they bow to you in return.
> As equals.

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> Ending 2B, Seperatist, bad end.
> Celestia's error had been keeping your negotiations secret.
> When your proclamation hit the streets, the nobles' council had been infuriated.
> Legislation was quickly run through severely curtailing the princess' power.
> Your only true allies had been gelded.
> When the guard was called out, you stood strong and together against them.
> Equestria's guard was dealt twin shocks that day.
> One, when your militia held the bloody ground against the once-invincible guard.
> Two, when they were ordered to suppress Equestrian subjects protesting the unprovoked attack on you.
> You were hardly surprised.
> It was just this suppression that had originally driven you from protest to take up arms.
> Protests turned to riots.
> Suppression turned brutal.
> The guard crumbled under the strain.
> For the first time in living memory, civil war came to Equestria.
> Brother against sister, daughter against father.
> Inevitably, some true criminals chose to take advantage of the chaos.
> Inevitably, it was blamed on you.

> Again you held the line against the second wave of Equestrian guard.
> You fought them with minotaur steel and griffon cannon, changeling ichor and even pony magic.
> By the end of the year, it was clear that no true progress would be made against you.
> The guard retired to lick their wounds and adapt to this new threat.
> In the meantime, the reformed nobles' council continued to secure their power base.
> Which meant pandering to their harshest 'purity' elements.
> Those years were the toughest.
> Refugees flooded across the border to your lands.
> Dodging Equestrian guard patrols however they could, lest they be imprisoned for aiding the enemy.
> Your forces aided them as best they could, but it was never enough.
> Food ran short.
> Somehow, you survived.
> Twenty years later.
> You rest in your room far above the hall of law in your new capital.
> The report in your hand casting strange shadows on your desk in the light of the guttering candle.
> The nobles' court was cranking up the rhetoric against you.
> The Equestrian guard was mobilizing again.
> Another war loomed on the horizon.
> Of your victory, you had no doubt.
> The first series of repeating rifles were being rushed to your troops to make ready for the inevitable invasion.
> They would hold the line.
> But you wondered.
> You wondered, staring out into the pouring rain beyond the glass and feeling a wetness on your cheeks despite the windows being closed.
> How much more blood was to be spilt?
> How many more lives would be lost?
> Could you have avoided this?
> Could you have done better?