//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: Equestria: World War II // by The Unseen //------------------------------// 4TH SEPTEMBER 1939 --------------------------------------------------------------------MANEHATTAN----------------------------------------------------------------------- It was now 6:00am in Manehattan. The princesses had been making visits to the HMS Nelson every now and then, to check what was going on in the war. They were just six hours in, and already, the toll was shocking. Already, around 1,500 people had died, mostly German soldiers, but British soldiers and civilians were also part of the fatality toll. Celestia knew, that she would make good on the vow she had made at the League of Nations, to stop Discord, and avenge all the innocent people who had died because of him. In the meantime, she was listening on the radio to the news, which was broadcasted over the radio on Earth. She heard as the newscaster announced the news, on how the war was going, and encouraging everyone in Britain to join the military, as they required soldiers. Celestia sighed as she listened to the broadcast. She knew that war was never easy, and that it would take its toll on everyone involved, both physically and emotionally. She couldn't help but wonder if there was a better way to resolve conflicts, other than through violence. But for now, she had to focus on the task at hand. She turned to Luna, who was also listening to the radio, and said, "We need to do whatever we can to support our allies in this war. We must send aid and supplies, and offer any assistance we can." Luna nodded in agreement. "We also need to prepare our own kingdom for any potential attacks. We must increase our defenses and be ready to defend ourselves if need be." "Thankfully, British equipment is rolling off their assembly lines at fast pace, thanks to how well the humans have pioneered mass production assembly lines, and Shining Armor confirmed that the first of the training equipment for our militaries will be here soon, as British demand is also high." said Cadance. "Good. What about base construction? How is that going?" asked Luna. "Our training bases for our Army, Air Force, and Navy are under construction, thanks to the assistance of the human engineers who came in. Construction of those should be completed within the month, and they should be operational within another two or three months, once all the equipment arrives, and some ponies are trained as instructors." replied Celestia. "Same here for our bases, equipment, and instructors." said Cadance. "Alright. Also, how are we locating and defeating Discord, since two of Elements of Harmony have also joined the military?" asked Luna. "I don't think we can use the Elements of Harmony this time. We used them to defeat Discord last time. He'll be prepared for them this time. We need something more powerful." said Celestia. "You are right. We need something extremely powerful, something made of the purest magic of harmony, to defeat Discord this time. Also, we must imprison him in such a way that he can never return to Earth." "I'll look in the library and archives. I might also try to contact our mother again. She might know what we are looking for." "That's a good idea, although it may take a while. Hopefully it doesn't take a thousand years this time." "Hopefully not. I'm off to the archives. I'll ask Twilight for help as well. Hopefully, we can find something powerful enough to defeat Discord once and for all." said Celestia, quickly teleporting away from the docks. In the meantime, Luna and Cadance decided to go and see how well construction was going on the bases. They reached the first construction site, at the Manehattan Airstrip, soon to be Manehattan Air Force Base. It would be turned into a military airbase, which would handle mainly fighters and transports. Pilot training would be conducted further inland, near Ponyville. "How is it going?" asked Luna. "Very well, your Highness." replied Robert Frost, the British expert who had been sent in. "We have begun construction of the main barracks, the aircraft parking areas, and hangars. We will also build a second runway, which will be paved. Once that is constructed, the first runway will be upgraded from plain old dirt to paved asphalt as well. Once the other infrastructure is operational, and a supply chain is set up, the first Equestrian aircraft can be stationed here." "Thank you, Mr. Frost, for updating us." said Luna, as she and Cadance walked off. They would later watch the arrival of the RMS Queen Mary carrying the ponies to the British military, live on television. Already, thanks to the RAF's transport planes, 200 ponies had arrived in Britain, but their training would not begin until the 6th of September, so to get them adjusted to life in a human country. They decided to then go and have lunch at the nearby Black Palace restaurant. The Americans had shown them the pictures of their 'White Castle' restaurant chain, which was popular in their country, and the ponies had to admit, it looked highly similar to Black Palace, except that Black Palace was not a chain, like White Castle was. The menu items of White Castle were also highly similar to those of Black Palace, except they used meat as well, instead of just vegetables. --------------------------------------------------------------SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY----------------------------------------------------------- It was now 8:00am in Germany, which meant it was round 6:30am in Equestria. Discord was happy. He had been watching the war updates on the television and radio, and he was happy that all was going to plan, despite it being only Day 1 of the war. He was also happy as the first stage of his experiments would finally begin. He and his team of scientists had been hard at work figuring out the formula for their serum, which would essentially create super soldiers, which obey the orders of the Nazis, to fight Britain and France. He knew some things would go wrong in the initial stages, but you couldn't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Discord was putting on his lab coat, which he had hung on the door of his cupboard, in his room. Originally, the plan was to first test the serums on animals, but Discord had told the scientists that they would use the serums to enhance humans, not animals, so why inject them into animals? Hence, they would start directly with human trials. They didn't really care if their subjects lived or died, since they were the one thing the Nazis hated. So what if they mutated into monsters, or dropped dead? They didn't give a shit. Discord left the living quarters and walked to the lab. The scientists had been hard at work, as they had found some flaws in the serum, and were trying to fix them. Discord was hoping they had fixed them, or else, he would not be happy. He walked into the main lab, where multiple scientists, all dressed in white lab coats, were hard at work. "Good morning, everyone." said Discord, with a sly grin. "I hope you have something good to report." "We have some promising results, Herr Discord." replied one of the scientists. "We have fixed the issues that we encountered the previous day, and we believe that we can begin testing on human subjects." "Excellent." said Discord. "We will begin with human trials immediately." The scientists quickly got to work, preparing the serum and selecting their first human test subject. Discord watched with a menacing gaze, eager to see the results of his experiments. The first subject, a young Polish woman, only in her late twenties, was dragged into the test cage. "Please! Leave me alone! Don't do this to me! PLEASE!" pleaded the woman, with tears in her eyes. The scientists still dragged her into the test enclosure, which was enclosed by extremely tough glass on all four sides, so the scientists could watch the experiments live. It even had cameras on all angles, which would film all the experiments, so the scientists could review footage later. The scientists dragged the helpless woman into the enclosure, and while the remaining scientists left, one last scientist stayed back. He grabbed a syringe full of greenish-yellow liquid. The first version of the serum, to be known as Erweiterung in German. Without hesitation, he jabbed the syringe into the woman's arm, and injected in the Erweiterung. Then, with the empty syringe in his hand, he quickly ran out of the test enclosure as the door began to close. The scientists watched as the woman's muscles began to convulse and bulk up, and bones cracked. Within seconds, she had become a super soldier. At first, the scientists were happy, but then watched as the experiment went wrong. The woman's body began over-inflating like a balloon with too much air, and she continued screaming. Seconds later, her body suddenly exploded, and the scientists watched as blood, organic fluids, brain matter, and other gory things went flying all around the test enclosure. Instead of being saddened, they were horrified by the gruesome sight. Even Discord was taken aback by the unexpected outcome. The room fell into a stunned silence as they all stared in shock at the remains of the experiment. Discord's face twitched with anger, his eyes narrow and filled with fury. "You imbeciles! How could you let this happen?" he boomed, his voice reverberating throughout the lab. The scientists stammered, trying to come up with an explanation. "W-we... We d-didn't anticipate such rapid cell division, and we weren't expecting, well, THAT to occur." one of them managed to say, pointing at the gory mess in the test cage. "You fucking dolts! When I said an experiment, I said get good results, not a bloody mess!" shouted Discord. He waved his hand, and the gory remains of the woman disappeared, and the whole enclosure looked like what it had been before the experiment. He stormed out of the lab, leaving the shaken and horrified scientists behind. Discord knew that setbacks were bound to happen in any experiment, but this was a particularly disastrous one. He would need to regroup and figure out what went wrong before continuing with his plans. As he walked down the empty hallways of the research facility, Discord's mind raced with thoughts. He knew he needed to find a way to stabilize the serum, to prevent any more catastrophic failures. He also needed to find new test subjects, ones that would not result in such explosive outcomes. Discord returned to his room, slamming the door behind him. He paced back and forth, thinking of his next move. He contemplated whether he should continue with these experiments at all, considering the risks and the gruesome results. But he couldn't simply give up now, not when he was so close to achieving his goals. After a while, Discord made up his mind. He would continue the experiments, but with more caution and thorough testing. He would make sure every aspect of the serum was carefully examined and refined. No more lives would be lost in vain. But first, he needed a new plan. He needed to find a way to gather more suitable test subjects, ones that could withstand the effects of the serum. Discord knew that the war provided plenty of opportunities in this regard. There were prisoners of war, captured soldiers, and even willing participants who would volunteer in exchange for promised rewards. Discord knew that he couldn't afford any more failures or setbacks. He needed to succeed, not just for the Nazis, but for his own ambitions as well. The war had just begun, and he knew that chaos and destruction would be his allies in achieving his ultimate goals. With a wicked smile on his face, Discord set his plan in motion. The war had only just begun, and he was prepared to plunge Equestria and the rest of the world into darkness.