-----------------------------------------------------THE PALACE OF NATIONS, GENEVA--------------------------------------------------------
It was now around 3:20pm in Geneva. The ponies were amazed at just how large the main lobby of the Palace of Nations was. It was much bigger than the main lobby of Canterlot Castle and the Crystal Castle. There were multiple human soldiers standing guard, and they could see some reporters outside. But they decided to continue forward. "Celestia, we will first be meeting the American President and the British Prime Minister. But before that, an exhibition showing Earth's history has been prepared for you, just ahead. We'll take a look at that before we meet them. Is that fine?" asked Wood.
"Yes, Mr. Wood. I wouldn't mind seeing Earth's history before meeting up with your leaders." said Celestia.
The ponies then went off to the specially prepared exhibition, showing all of Earth's histories. The second the ponies entered the exhibition room, they could see a lot of parallels with Earthly history. The first section was that of medieval history. The countless wars in Europe, such as the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, reminded Celestia of a war that had taken place, 650 years earlier, between Equestria, and Gryphonia after a trade dispute, which had lasted for over 250 years, before Equestria finally won.
The similarities became even more apparent as they were nearing the end of the 18th century section. The American Revolution, where the US got their independence from Britain, was tragic. For the ponies, it was truly awful to see how many innocent lives had been lost in America fighting for independence and democracy. But what really hit Celestia and Luna hard was the French Revolution. Why, even France's flag was similar to that of Prance pre-revolution. Celestia couldn't really blame the French for revolting, considering how their King, Louis XVI, who reminded her a lot of Ponise XVI, was a tyrant. But what was surprising was that was where the similarities ended. The way the humans had described it, they thought their history would be pretty much a copy of that of Equestria's. But the difference here was that after the Revolution, Prance's new government had caused the end of the empire, whereas here, after one more tyrant ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, the country of France was still around, and their leader was here, at the League of Nations.
When they entered the 20th century section, there was another shocker for them. The Russian Revolution, reminded Celestia of her bad memories from the Ponysian Revolution, such as the execution of Psar Ponylass by the Ponysian locals. It reminded Celestia of how she was forced to flatten the Ponysian empire with a large chunk of Moon rock. However, here, it was nice to see the country of Russia had successfully united themselves as the Soviet Union, albeit under communism.
But the most shocking one of all was the Great War. It had occurred as a result of political and social factors from years ago, such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire (which reminded her a lot of Saddle Arabia), Britain's old practice of avoiding permanent diplomatic relations, and the wars in the Balkan areas of Europe. These wars reminded Celestia of the wars of the Ponkans, over 1,200 years previously, where she and Luna had to bring Equestria in to end the Ponkan Wars. However, unlike in Equis, where it had been avoided, here, the wars had continued, sparking the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, leading to the Great War.
The Great War shocked the three princesses. This had apparently been Earth's first industrialized war, making use of new technologies, such as tanks, aircraft, and other such weapons. The death toll shocked Celestia. Close to twenty million humans dead, both civilians and military, and twenty million more wounded. Thankfully, that had been twenty-five years earlier, in 1914, and the war had ended after only four years. Celestia hoped there would never be another war like that.
Another shocker was the Great Depression. It pained the ponies to see just how some stocks crashing lead to such a large economic depression that had affected both the United States and the rest of the world. But with the statistics they had been given about the American economy, it was hard to believe that the Depression had occurred just ten years earlier, and how well the US had recovered.
After getting a little up to date on Earthly politics, the ponies were finally off to meet the leaders of the US and Britain. They had walked into an area not accessible to anyone except diplomats, world leaders, military personnel, and reporters. However, there were none of the latter category here. The only people here were military personnel, wearing American and British military uniforms.
They entered the room where they were supposed to be meeting the first two world leaders. Since the room wasn't too big, most of the scientists would stay outside, while only a few soldiers would join the three princesses, Twilight, and Shining Armor inside. They were waiting, when an old British man of about seventy, with black hair going white, and a large moustache, walked in, escorted by three British soldiers. "Good afternoon. I'm Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom of Britain." said Prime Minister Chamberlain, offered his hand to the three princesses.
"Ah, you're the British Prime Minister. I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, and this is my sister, Princess Luna. This is my protégé, Twilight Sparkle." said Celestia, her and Luna shaking Chamberlain's hand.
"I am Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire." said Cadance, also shaking Chamberlain's hand.
"And I am Shining Armor, the commander of the Royal Guards of Equestria." said Shining Armor.
"Welcome to the League of Nations, your Highnesses, Twilight, and Shining Armor. We hope you will enjoy your stay here." replied Chamberlain.
"We definitely will, Prime Minister Chamberlain. It is so nice to finally be visiting an Earthly city, and one hosting an organisation such as the League of Nations, at that. From what we saw, your planet is definitely highly advanced." said Twilight.
"Ah, we aim to please, Ms. Sparkle. Now, let's settle down and discuss things." said Chamberlain, motioning for everyone to sit down.
"Wait, a minute, aren't we waiting for the American President as well?" asked Luna, when an American man, in his late fifties, with white hair, came into the room, being wheeled in a wheelchair, escorted by two American soldiers.
"Sorry I'm late, I had problems getting down the stairs, but I'm now here. I'm Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States of America. I am very pleased to meet you, your Highnesses, Twilight, and Shining Armor." said Roosevelt.
"Ah, President Roosevelt. It is so nice to meet you at long last. Your ambassador, Mr. Rockmond, speaks very highly of you. Also, I'm just wondering, are you injured, since you are in a wheelchair?" said Celestia.
"Ah, I am also finally happy to meet you at long last, your Highnesses. As for me being in a wheelchair, I have suffered from a disease called polio, since almost twenty years now. It has left me unable to walk properly, therefore, I use the wheelchair. Shall we begin our discussion now?" asked Roosevelt.
"Oh, I see. Yes, let's begin the discussion." agreed Celestia, as they all sat down to begin the discussion.
The first thing they discussed about was the opening of diplomatic relations and the opening of American and British consulates in Equestria and the Crystal Empire. The princesses offered land in the Crystal Empire, Canterlot, and Manehattan for this purpose. In fact, they also discussed the openings of Equestrian and Crystal Empire consulates in London and Washington D.C.
Next was the economic integration of these two countries with Earth. The problem was, the world's currencies were all linked to the value of gold. Since both Equestria and the Crystal Empire used gold as their main currency, if they used their current gold based currency on Earth, it would totally wreck the world economy. Roosevelt asked the princesses to shift their countries onto a currency note-based economy.
At first, the princesses were a little apprehensive of using paper-based money, as they were worried about forgery and inflation. Roosevelt explained that new currency notes included special codes to prevent forgery, and as for inflation, it mainly occurred if a country printed too much, such as Germany did back in 1923. They also told the princesses to melt down all the gold coins and turn them into gold bricks in case of economic emergencies, such as inflation or economic depressions.
Then Twilight asked about the export of new human technologies such as cars, radios, aircraft, powered ships, and television sets to Equestria and the Crystal Empire. They both replied that exports of such technology would begin, and they would also send human experts to help them set up infrastructure such as power grids, road networks, airports, etc. They also agreed to exchange Equestrian and Crystal Empire experts with the humans to generate new magical technologies, such as advanced electronics, aircraft, and medical treatments, including ones that could treat Roosevelt's polio, and Chamberlain's cancer, which he revealed he suffered from. That was when Shining Armor asked, "What about military technologies? I want to set up modern militaries for Equestria and the Crystal Empire, you see. Army, Navy, Air Force, all the works."
"Ah, we do plan to export military technologies such as battleships, tanks, fighter aircraft, and such to your countries eventually, but we'd like to get to know you better first, you see." explained Chamberlain.
"I understand, but I'm just a little worried, considering there still seems to be some amount of political unrest between a few countries." replied Shining Armor.
"Can't blame you for that."
The discussions continued, and they realized it was past 4:00pm. Thankfully, snacks were delivered to their room, including some British cuisine specially tailored to the ponies' dietary needs, such as Yorkshire pudding, Shepherd's pie without beef, fries (chips for the Brits), and other such dishes, which everyone enjoyed. After lunch, they decided to leave for the main assembly hall of the League of Nations, to declare their intentions to the other world leaders. Chamberlain and Roosevelt had already gone there, to let the other leaders know they were coming soon.
At exactly 4:15pm, the ponies walked into the large League of Nations assembly hall. It was large, with seats for all sixty-nine world leaders attending the meeting, the leadership of the League of Nations, and room for the media as well. All the world leaders she had seen when they took a look at Earth's current affairs were here. There was the Soviet Union's president, Joseph Stalin, the king of Britain, George VI. Getulio Vargas, the Brazilian president, was also here as well. But it was the German dictator who looked the most fearful. Adolf Hitler, with the caterpillar-like moustache. The ponies had seen reports of how his cult that ruled the country of Germany worked, and they felt something evil about the man the second they saw him.
A woman in her mid-forties, with blonde hair, was on the stage, speaking on the microphone. She was Anna Schmidt, head of the League of Nations. "Now that we are all here, I think we can get started. Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, we are honored to welcome you to the League of Nations. I am Anna Schmidt, head of the League of Nations." said Schmidt, as the other world leaders were watching with their escorts. One of them was a certain spirit of chaos, disguised as Corporal Herman.
"Ah, it is an honor to be here as well, Ms. Schmidt. We would like to really admit something to the world, about our intentions." said Celestia.
"Yes, I request your Highnesses to take the stage and do so." replied Schmidt.
"Alright then." said Celestia, as she, Luna, and Cadance walked towards the stage. Celestia stood next to the microphone. She could see all the humans in the hall were a little tense. Celestia couldn't blame them. This was their first time seeing aliens, after all. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have something to say. We know that you have been on edge since our countries arrived on your planet. We know you feel that we are enemies. But the reality is exactly the opposite. We come in peace. We wish to open trade and diplomatic relations with your countries, and exchange technology and expertise."
The ponies heard quite a few world leaders sigh in relief when Celestia said these words. Even Discord sighed in the audience, thanking his stars that it was all going exactly according to plan. That was when Schmidt said, "Well, your Highnesses, we are all willing to welcome Equestria and the Crystal Empire to Earth, and we are also willing to let your nations join the League of Nations. We will begin the signing of agreements in a few minutes."
"Ms. Schmidt, Equestria accepts your offer for us to join the League of Nations."
"The Crystal Empire also accepts the offer to join the League of Nations." said Cadance.
"Alright then. Shall we sign the first agreement then, the one that enables Equestria and the Crystal Empire to do so?" asked Schmidt.
"Yes, let us sign it then." said Celestia.
The ponies and Schmidt walked to a table, where the agreements had been kept ready for signing, along with a fountain pen for signing. "Just read it, and if you find it okay, you may sign."
Celestia, Luna, and Cadance lifted the papers up with their telekinesis, which awed everybody in the hall, including the media, who was busy taking pictures and video of this event. Finding the terms and conditions to be satisfactory, the three princesses signed their agreements, officially making Equestria and the Crystal Empire part of the League of Nations.
The agreement signing continued all day and finally ended at around 6:30pm. An agreement was signed with the Americans to provide technology like cars, aircraft, and electronics, as well as technical support. Agreements were signed with the British for cars and electronics, as well as their technical support as well. They were also to provide raw materials such as cotton, jute, and crops to Equestria and the Crystal Empire. An agreement was signed with Brazil to import rubber and steel from them, so the Equestrians could build large buildings, and start up industries. Many other agreements were signed with Russia, France, Canada, China, and other countries.
As the day turned to night outside, the ponies were sent up to their rooms, where they were taught to use the television and radio. Celestia and Cadance struggled with the TV, but Luna, Twilight, and Shining Armor were able to understand it and successfully put on the TV. The news reports were all plastered with the headlines of the diplomatic agreements of the Equestrians and the Crystal Empireans, and most of them seemed to be saying good things about them. There were two or three claiming that they were crazy murderous psychopaths faking their friendly nature, but most of the people seemed to like the Equestrians and Crystal Empireans, and Earth would be peaceful under them, owing to their nature.
Little did they know that in less than twenty-four hours, a war would be started, by an evil entity originating from their lands.