(around twenty of the first and forty of the second)
15TH NOVEMBER 1939
-------------------------------------------------------THE SOVIET-FINLAND BORDER-----------------------------------------------------------
It was around 9:25am here. Commander Thomas Niemi and his contingent, of around 80 men, were standing watch from their bunkers, drinking hot chocolate to get relief from the biting cold. They had been stationed there two weeks ago, ever since intel had come to the Finnish Army that the Soviets were planning to annexe Finland, like how they had done to Poland. As part of Joseph Stalin's plans for the Soviet Union, he had demanded that Aimo Cajander, the Finnish Prime Minister, give up substantial border territories around Finland in exchange of land elsewhere.
Apparently, the Soviets wanted this for security reasons, mainly the protection of Leningrad, which was just twenty miles away from they were right now. But Cajander had apparently refused, and due to which, Stalin was extremely pissed, and he had left Helsinki a day earlier, after he had met Cajander about this. The rumour he was planning to give Finland the Polish treatment, and the Finnish did not want that.
Hence, multiple Finnish Army units had been dispatched to prevent any Soviet invasion, and they had been feeling useless, when Stalin decided to ask for formal negotiations. But now that Stalin had called them off, they were feeling like something big was going to happen soon. Plus, the tensions between the Soviet Union and Finland gotten worse in the last two days, due to the shelling of a Soviet border post near the Finnish town of Mainila, resulting in the deaths of four Soviet soldiers, and Stalin was blaming the Finnish Army for this, but the Finnish Army was denying the allegations of such a thing, and they felt that there had been an accident resulting in a shell exploding at the post itself.
As they continued looking out at the endless white sheets of snow, they suddenly heard the roar of engines. Aircraft engines, and a second later, they began to see the aircraft come into sight. Multiple Soviet Polikarpov I-153 biplane fighters, along with some Polikarpov I-16 monoplane fighters.
(around twenty of the first and forty of the second)
Niemi and his troops watched horrified as some of the planes began dropping bombs, and one of the bombs managed to land of the bunkers, and watched as pieces of bunker, human body parts, weapons, and other things were thrown everywhere in the huge explosion. Absolutely none of the men inside could have survived that. Niemi quickly spoke into the radio in Finnish, "Come on, my men! Take down those planes! Avenge our troops!"
"Roger that, Commander!" replied one of his men, as they began firing the lone anti-aircraft gun they had with them, and within seconds, two I-153s and an I-16 had been shot down. That was when they heard a roar of a different kind of engine, one of ground vehicles. As they looked towards the lone gravel road that passed through this border crossing, they noticed them. A large convoy of Russian T-26 tanks, were approaching them, at a speed of around 15 kilometers per hour. There were quite a few of them, at least ten of them, and they were all coming, accompanied by infantry.
(around twenty of these with the Soviet Red star on the front)
The Soviets began firing at the Finnish, who fired back. The Finns retaliated brutally, killing three Soviet soldiers for the death of one Finnish soldier. However, the Soviets had the T-26s, which instantly fired at the Finnish soldiers, and within twenty minutes, a quarter of Niemi's contingent was dead. The Finns quickly destroyed a pair of the T-26s with the three anti-tank guns they had. It was now around 10:25am. The soldiers also had a radio to keep themselves updated on the progress of the invasion.
As they were fighting, they heard an emergency news report come over the radio, and they all listened to it as they fought. "Attention, all citizens of Finland. At 9:35am this morning, the Soviet Union has declared war on Finland. Our capital, Helsinki has been bombed, with the deaths of at least forty people, and at least a hundred injured. Our forces so far have prevented the Soviets from advancing further into our country. Everyone, please evacuate, hide in the bomb shelters, and do not come out unless it is safe to do so. To our forces fighting to us, good luck. Please keep our country safe." said the radio announcer, signing off.
Empowered by this announcement, Niemi ordered his crew, "My men! The people of Finland are counting on us! Do not stop fighting! Continue until all of the Soviets are dead!" shouted Niemi into the radio. "Do not let them give us the Poland treatment at all costs!" Bravely, the soldiers continued fighting, taking down multiple Soviet soldiers. In fact, some of the Finnish soldiers had decided that if they would die in this battle, they would take some of the Soviet bastards with them. They would charge forward, until the very end.
As they continued fighting, more tanks were destroyed, and more Soviet soldiers began dropping. However, the Soviets were starting to call in serious backup, including some more aircraft, and began to give the Finnish soldiers a pounding. Niemi quickly called over his radio to headquarters, "This is Commander Thomas Niemi here! Me and my battalion are under heavy fire by Soviet troops! We need air support!"
"I'm sorry, Niemi, but the closest air support is currently engaged. You're on your own for a while." came the reply. Niemi wasn't surprised at this, as the rather small Finnish Air Force had only 62 aircraft, of which only 46 were fighters, and the remaining were bombers. As Niemi continued fighting, and no sign of air support anywhere, he knew this might be his crew's final fight, so they would go out in a blaze.
"Alright, my men! Listen up! They might not get air support out here for a while, and by then, we might be dead, so I want you all to give it your all, so that if we don't make it, we don't die in vain!" shouted Niemi over the radio. The men continued fighting more, empowered to make a final stand. 42 minutes later, as the ammunition begin to run low, and hope began to falter among Niemi and his men, that was when the Soviet side was bombed. Multiple of the T-26 tanks exploded, and the body parts of multiple Soviet soldiers went flying everywhere. All of the Finnish soldiers looked to the skies, and noticed them.
The Finnish Air Force had arrived. Two of their Bristol Blenheim bombers had arrived, and were raining down Hell on the Soviets. A message came through Niemi's radio, "Commander Niemi, this is Razors 1 and 2. We've got your backs." came the message from the pilots of the Blenheims. Niemi and his crew continued to fight, while the Blenheims continued circling, occasionally dropping a bomb or two on the weakened Soviet forces.
(two of these)
It was now close to noon. As Niemi and his crew continued to fight, they knew that this would be a long war, but it would be worth it, to keep their beloved country safe, and to stop the charge of the Soviets.
-----------------------------------------------------------------CANTERLOT CASTLE------------------------------------------------------------------
It was around 8:30am in Canterlot. Celestia and Luna were eating their breakfast, and checking up on everything with their assistants. Equestria and the Crystal Empire were progressing fast, in terms of modernisation and the opening of diplomatic relations with the Earthly countries. They had sent a team of Equestrian scientists to Britain, where they would be creating new medical treatments, new scientific discoveries (including the propertied of Material Z) and other such things. Both countries were also beginning modernisation.
The military bases for the new Equestrian and Crystal Empirean militaries was nearing completion, and would soon be operational. One was near Canterlot, one was near Manehattan, one was near Ponyville, and the other two were near the more rural towns of Equestria. The Crystal Empireans' two bases were also nearing completion. The naval bases on the coasts of both countries were also under construction, and one would soon be receiving the HMS Nile, the training ship which had been leased to the Equestrians by the British Royal Navy.
The airbase in Manehattan was still undergoing expansion, but most of the infrastructure was near completion, the only things still being built were the new runways and taxiways. Construction of airbases that could jointly be used as civilian airports were also being planned for Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire. Power plants were also under construction in marked out industrial zones near all of the major parts of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, and plans for power grids, road networks, and other civil amenities, such as a postal network, telephone exchanges, etc. were being drawn up, and plans were being executed.
As the two sisters pondered just how well the two countries were beginning to modernise, when a letter teleported into the room, right in front of Luna. A little annoyed at this interruption, Luna picked up the letter, and unrolled it, and when she did, she was surprised by the contents. "Huh, that is odd." said Luna.
"What is it, Luna?" asked Celestia.
"It seems that we have to clear our schedule. Apparently, the League of Nations has called an emergency meeting in two days, and since Equestria and the Crystal Empire are now members of the League of Nations, we have to go." said Luna.
"Why? Why would the League of Nations call a meeting on such short notice? Also, how will we get there?" asked Celestia.
"Apparently, the Soviet Union invaded the country of Finland this morning, in an act of unprovoked aggression, and the League wants this meeting to decide their fate at the League." said Luna. "The ambassadors again want us to meet with them at the ships. It will be like this until we get telephone exchanges, radio, and television set up here at Canterlot Castle."
"I see. Luna, we're leaving in ten minutes, tell Cadance to meet us there in twenty!" said Celestia.
"Actually, the ambassadors say that a copy of this letter has been sent to Cadance as well, so she will be meeting us there." said Luna, getting up from the table, as did Celestia. The two sisters quickly freshened up again, and by 8:50am, they had met Cadance in Manehattan, and were walking up the gangplank of the USS Colorado. They walked into the same cabin, that they had gotten used to at this point.
"Ah, your majesties." said Rockmond. "I'm assuming you saw our letter?"
"Yes, we did, Rockmond. You said that the Soviet Union invaded the country of Finland?" asked Cadance.
"Yes, they sadly did. Thankfully, the Finnish people defended their country bravely, and so far, Finland has stayed unoccupied. Their capital city, Helsinki, was bombed by the Soviets, with the deaths of around 80 civilians, and so far, the Finnish side has lost a total of 425 men, whereas the Soviets have lost around 1,300 on their side. Take a look." said Wood, switching on the TV. Again, at this point, visuals of war were now pretty much familiar to the two sisters.
But this time, it was different. The damage to the urban areas was lesser, compared to the pictures they had seen of the destroyed Polish cities at the League of Nations two months earlier. The Finnish soldiers had truly fought back bravely. However, she couldn't believe that the Soviet Union had indiscriminately bombed a city full of civilians like that. The damage to Helsinki was not that little either. Quite a few buildings had been destroyed, but most were relatively undamaged, albeit with some shrapnel or fire damage.
They were also shown footage of the battles between the Soviet and Finnish militaries, which the Finnish had mostly won. However, the Soviets had also won a few of the battles, and taken small parts of Finland near the Soviet Union-Finland border. Celestia instantly knew that this was all Discord's plan. They really needed to find the Destroyer of Discord, and soon, before Discord plunged the whole of Earth into chaos.
It was now around 9:40am. As they continued talking with the ambassadors, they continued to write up an itinerary for their next League of Nations visit, not knowing that someone, specifically a certain American and his organisation, was going to gatecrash it.
---------------------------------------------------------ENA HEADQUARTERS, CHICAGO---------------------------------------------------------
It was night time in Chicago, and while most of the city was asleep, some people remained awake. Some of those people were at Bret Stiles' compound just outside the city. ENA had gotten the news of the fact that there would be a League of Nations meeting on the 17th, and that the Equestrians and Crystal Empireans would both be attending this. This was the perfect chance to take their revenge for Edward, their man who had died after being run over by a car carrying two Equestrians.
Stiles was plotting how to assassinate one of the Equestrians or Crystal Empireans. They were definitely not going to kill their rulers, as that would start another war, which would further lead the world to ruin, with the geopolitical scenario already having two wars going on, which had been started by the Equestrians. China-Japan had restarted only after their arrival, and now, the Soviets had invaded Finland! All this ever since the Equestrians had arrived on Earth. Earth was for humans only!
As Stiles and his thinkers plotted how to get into the League of Nations with a smuggled weapon to carry out this assassination, when Stiles' deputy, John Jones, came in. "Ah, Mr. Stiles, one of our members wants to meet you. He says he can carry out the assassination at the League of Nations." said Jones.
"Really? Send him in!" said Stiles, wondering what this member had to offer. Jones sent the person in. He was a young man, in his mid-30s, with black hair, wearing glasses, a pale blue shirt, and cream-coloured pants. "Ah, young man, what's your name?" asked Stiles.
"My name's Thomas Hill." replied the man.
"Well, Thomas, you said you can carry out the assassination at the League of Nations?" said Stiles.
"Yes, Mr. Stiles. I can, and I can easily access the League of Nations as well, even though I am not a diplomat." said Hill.
"Wait, what? How?"
"Well, as my day job, I happen to be a news reporter. I appear to support the Equestrians on the outside, but in reality, I despise them. Earth belongs only to humans, and hence, I support your organisation, Mr. Stiles."
"Ah! Well said, Thomas! But how will you conduct the actual assassination? Knives are too slow, and guns would be of no use, unless you can safely smuggle them in." replied Stiles, impressed by Hill's words.
"I will use a gun. I am a skilled marksman, and I like to hit the shooting range on my off days. In fact, I have a Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol, and a few big guns at my house. I plan to use the M1911 for this."
"But how will you bring the gun in?" asked Stiles.
"Well, I will smuggle it in pieces, hidden in different things. One or two parts will be hidden in my luggage, and the remaining will be scattered through the camera and microphone equipment that we will use. That way, they won't detect a gun hidden in there. Similar thing for the ammunition as well. When I go in before my attack, I will conceal the gun and ammunition with a long coat. I know the fast draw, so I will do that, and then begin my attack. I might die, but it will show everyone that ENA does not accept aliens in our society." explained Hill.
"I'm impressed, my boy! Here's a thousand dollars, to buy all the ammunition you need, and that coat you need, if you don't have one. We will help you as much, but you will have to go it solo at the League of Nations, alright, kid?" said Stiles, handing Hill around 1,000 dollars.
"I know, Mr. Stiles. I thank you for your support in this mission. I will prove ENA's cause to the world. I promise you that. Watch the news of the League of Nations visit on TV on the 19th. Goodbye, Mr. Stiles." said Hill, as he left the room.
"Goodbye, Thomas. May you be successful in your mission." said Stiles, bidding goodbye. The whole room began clapping. This would still remain a secret, and hopefully, soon, the Equestrians would be terrified of the might of ENA.