//------------------------------// // Chapter 40 // Story: Equestria: World War II // by The Unseen //------------------------------// 22ND JANUARY 1940 ------------------------------------------------------------------CANTERLOT CASTLE----------------------------------------------------------------- It was 4:30am in Canterlot. Despite this early hour, most of the castle was still awake, as it was an important day today. The princesses would be flying to London to inaugurate the first Equestrian and Crystal Empirean embassies, which would be located in Belgravia, a district in Central London. Equestria and the Crystal Empire were rapidly modernising. The electricity and water infrastructure was finished and was getting ready for operation, and the military bases had started receiving equipment, and would be operational within a week as well. All in all, the first phase of Equestria and the Crystal Empire's modernisation was almost done. Soon, the second phase would begin, with the building of road, rail, and aerial networks throughout both countries. Key industries were also beginning to be set up as part of this, such as food, iron and steel, fuel, etc. As the princesses got ready for the trip, which would include a visit to the British Prime Minister's residence at 10, Downing Street, and also to Buckingham Palace, the British Royal Family's residence, Luna voiced her concerns. "Sister, the ENA have a large presence in Britain, especially in London. How do we know they will not try a repeat of the League of Nations attack?" "Well, Luna, I spoke with Ambassador Wood about this, and he said that the British authorities will do everything to prevent another attack on us, and they have already arrested a few ENA members on suspicion of this." said Celestia, reassuring her sister. "If you say so, 'Tia. I'm still keeping my guard, after the League of Nations attack." said Luna, who was just finishing packing up. "I know it's been two months, but if ENA was behind the attack at the League of Nations, you and I both know they will stop at nothing to kill us." "I know, Luna. But so far, Bret Stiles has vehemently denied that the ENA is behind the attack, and we don't have definite proof that ENA is up to something. Plus, we still have to find the Destroyer, and stop Discord. We still don't know where he is." said Celestia. "Well, sister, that is why as part of diplomatic relations with Britain, we will send a contingent of agents from S.M.I.L.E. to work with S.I.S., the British intelligence agency, to keep a tab on the ENA, and also to begin an operation to figure out where Discord is." said Luna. "Well, while they try to find Discord, we will try to find the Destroyer of Discord. We know that our mother split it in half. I have one, and the other half was split into four pieces, and scattered across Equestria and Earth. That's all we know about the Destroyer's location so far." said Celestia. "Don't worry, sister. We will find it, no matter what it takes, and we will defeat Discord." said Luna, as the two sisters finished packing up. Soon, they were getting ready to leave the castle, along with the diplomats who would be assigned to the consulate in Britain, including their newly named Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Duke Moon, a gray unicorn with a bluish mane. At 5:00am, all of them teleported to Manehattan, and walked to the airbase. They would be using the leased 307 Stratoliner for some time, until they got their hands on new aircraft of their own. As they walked by the docks, they noticed the large warships docked there, now a familiar sight, alongside the Royal Navy's training ship, the HMS Nile. It was actually called the Conway, but Ambassador Wood had accidentally called it by its old name, Nile. The ship had temporarily been leased to the new Royal Equestrian Navy, which would begin operations soon. The Conway reminded Celestia of Equestria and the Crystal Empire's now-obsolete sailing ships, just a little larger. There was also another new visitor, a large British cargo ship. Some of its crew were doing some sightseeing, while most of them, with the help of some ponies, were unloading the vessel. It was carrying arms shipments, of weapons, and vehicles, for the Army and Air Force bases. The initial batches would be imported until all the factory infrastructure was set up, which wouldn't be for a while. As they reached the airbase, they could hear the drone of aircraft other than the Spitfires. As they reached the airbase, they saw the new aircraft. The first set of aircraft for the Royal Equestrian Air Force had arrived, which comprised of around thirty Miles Magister advanced trainers, twenty Miles Master fighter trainers, forty Slingsby Kirby Cadet gliders, and ten Airspeed Oxford bomber/transport trainers. Not all of these aircraft were at Manehattan's airbase. Half of them were parked at another new airbase in the Crystal Empire, which had finished construction recently and had been opened to military aircraft operations. The ones here had Equestria flags, while the ones there had Crystal Empire flags. As they reached the VIP terminal of the airbase, they were met by multiple news reporters, who were trying to get more information. However, they were instantly pushed back by the pony security guards, who had increased their guard after the attack at the League of Nations. The reporters continued asking questions. "Your Majesties! When will our modernised militaries begin operation?" asked one. "Your Majesties! When will our nations go to war?" asked another. "Your Majesties! Is this a good idea, sending our citizens into unfamiliar environments, to fight in a war of the kind they've never seen before?" asked another reporter. "Your Majesties! How will diplomatic relations between our nations and those of Earth proceed?" asked another reporter, as the princesses and their retinue all went into the VIP terminal, where the doors were closed, and the noise of the reporters was blocked out. The princesses felt a little guilty on the third reporter's question, as they were indeed sending their subjects into unfamiliar environments, to fight in a war. Some would die, that was for sure, but it was the only way to stop Discord, by having human and ponies fight together. As they passed through passport control and immigration, the ponies were rather enthusiastic, and waiting to reach London. So far, the only human city they had visited was Geneva, and they hadn't seen much of the city there, as they had mainly been only between the Palace of Nations and Geneva Airport, so seeing the city of London would be a new one for them, as they would also be visiting some of London's iconic monuments. Once passport control and immigration were dealt with, the ponies walked to the boarding area, where they would soon be boarding their plane. The leased Stratoliner was waiting outside their window, and the American flag on the tail had been replaced temporarily by two flags, one of Equestria, and one of the Crystal Empire. It didn't have an Equestrian or Crystal Empirean tail number, however. It still wore an American tail number, and would do so, until Equestria and the Crystal Empire acquired its own aircraft. Soon, it was boarding time, and at around 5:50am Equestria time, or around 6:20am Britain time, the ponies boarded the plane, and by 6:10am, it was in the air. As the plane climbed away from Manehattan, the ponies felt that this was going to be a good trip. ------------------------------------------------------------SOMEWHERE IN HAMBURG------------------------------------------------------------- It was now 7:00am in Germany, which meant it was now around 8:00am in Britain. Discord was at the almost finished U-boat base in Hamburg. He knew about the Equestrians' visit to London today, for which the SS had sent spies to London to monitor. They would monitor the visit, but would not attempt an assassination or anything. The last thing the Nazis wanted was for them to cause a global crisis. This U-boat base would not only construct, work on, and modify U-boats, it would also build modified U-boats under the Erweiterung program. However, Discord knew the threat of Allied spies would be there. Which is why he had a little surprise for spies who tried to come into this facility. As he walked deeper into the underground part of the facility, the purpose seemed more dark, and more gruesome. As he reached the deepest part of the facility, it was very quiet down here. A large amount of soundproofing had been installed, to hide the noises from here to the rest of the place. This was a jail cell, or in actuality, a torture chamber. This was how they would deal with spies, and inside the torture chamber was another cell, separated by two sets of doors from the torture chamber. This was not a cell, more of an extremely strong enclosure. What the enclosure contained was a monster. In this case, the monster woman created during the failed test of the second variant of the E-serum. Discord looked through the second door's viewing window. The first door was manually controlled, while the second door was automatically controlled. Discord watched the monster, currently asleep. She had a rather human looking face, but her skin was a scaly emerald green. Her fingers were claws, and out of her back sprouted leathery bat wings. Whatever she had become, Discord had witnessed what she could do a couple of months ago, at the main Erweiterung facility. She seemed to have lost her humanity, and primal animal instincts had taken over. Whatever was left of her brain had turned her into a wild beast. Discord smiled at that, thinking how gory it would be once she had torn up some spies, and walked back towards the main facility. As he was about to close the door, his form suddenly flickered, and for a few seconds, his true form was visible, before he went back to his human form. Thankfully, no one was in the facility, which was good, otherwise, Discord would have been chased out as a monster. This only meant one thing. Not enough chaos was on Earth, since his magic, fuelled by it, was starting to dry up. Well, the time was soon coming to start another war. ----------------------------------------------------------20,000 FEET ABOVE THE ATLANTIC---------------------------------------------------- In the confines of the Stratoliner's pressurised fuselage, the ponies were getting ready for their arrival. It was now 9:00am in London, which meant they would be on the ground in just under an hour. The excitement was high for this visit, and it wouldn't be dying down for a while. As the ponies were finishing off the breakfast service, the flight attendants came around to collect the plates. At 9:35am, the announcement came on the plane's PA system that they were descending, and would be on the ground in under twenty minutes. The ponies could feel their ears start to pain as the aircraft began to descend, due to the changes in cabin pressure and altitude. At exactly 9:50am, the plane began its final approach over London, towards Gatwick Airport, which had been temporarily taken over by the Royal Air Force as an air force base, but still handled civilian flights. Soon, the plane touched down, and began slowing down. The plane taxied off the runway, and headed towards the military side of the airport, RAF Gatwick, where it parked up next to a few RAF planes. As the engines shut down, a large convoy of cars pulled up outside the aircraft. As the doors of the aircraft were opened, the ponies walked into the rather gloomy weather of Britain for the first time. The ponies wondered if they could use pegasi in Earthly cities to change the weather, so that way, it didn't always look gloomy. The only thing is, they would have to do their work away from airports and flight paths, so that they didn't get hit by planes, but if they could get approval, it might work. The ponies walked away from the plane towards the main cars of the convoy, in which they would be travelling. These were five large black Rolls-Royce Phantom IIIs, which would be the cars assigned to the princesses, diplomats, and some of the guards. The other vehicles were all black Rolls-Royce Phantom IIs, assigned for the remaining guards. (around five of these) (around ten or fifteen of these) Soon, at 10:20am, once all the ponies had gotten in, the cars began driving towards the Prime Minister's residence at 10, Downing Street. Since the airport was outside the city, it would be around an hour and a half of driving to get to Downing Street. As they left the airport, the cars drove onto a modern roadway, of which a few lanes had been closed to accommodate the large convoy of vehicles. Celestia decided to grab some shut-eye before they reached the city. Around thirty-five minutes later, Celestia woke up. At this time, they were on the A2 motorway, passing through the suburbs of London, and Celestia could see a large amount of modern villas and houses. All of their inhabitants seemed to have woken up to come see the Equestrians, despite the rather gloomy weather conditions. They were swarming the tops of flyovers to see the Equestrians, despite them being on the highway below, and police seemed to be having a hard time holding back the crowd. As they continued through the suburbs, they saw large commercial complexes, schools, shops, cafes, restaurants, pubs, and other establishments. It was a pretty amazing sight. They also passed by a police station, which was pretty modern, compared to those in Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Some time later, they were driving through the city of London, passing through its streets. They were driving through a large residential area, with apartment buildings this time, instead of villas. These buildings were still rather small, with only about three or four floors. They also passed under a large railway bridge. They asked the driver about it, who informed them that it was part of London's large local railway network, which impressed them. He mentioned that it led to the nearby London Bridge Station, which was a large station. Soon, they were approaching Tower Bridge, which passed over the River Thames. As they passed over the river, they noticed multiple cargo barges sailing on the river, along with ferries full of tourists and vehicles. They passed underneath the bridge's two towers, from where the hydraulic controls of the bridge were operated, to raise or lower it, every time a large vessel passed underneath. However, they would not see that in action today. As they approached the end of the bridge, they noticed the Tower of London, a large castle that had been built by the British Empire more than 500 years earlier. They continued passing through the city, towards Downing Street, passing by multiple underground train stations, and past St. Paul's Cathedral. They passed by the Middle Temple Gardens, Somerset House, Charing Cross Station, and Trafalgar Square, before the cars turned into Whitehall, for the last part of the long drive. As they drove into Whitehall, they noticed the buildings belonging to the Ministry of Defence, as the cars turned onto Downing Street. While the roads were empty, the sidewalks were full of pedestrians and reporters, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Equestrians. However, they were held back by police. The convoy arrived at 10, Downing Street, a large, terraced building. It was more than 250 years old, and had 100 rooms. The crowd here was lesser, due to the presence of more military and police. The gates of 10, Downing Street opened, and the convoy drove inside. As the last car drove in, the gates closed. They had arrived at the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As the cars stopped, the ponies began getting out of the vehicles, and looking at Downing Street. London was a city that had truly enjoyed them, and it was pretty amazing to be visiting the home of the head of state of a foreign country for the first time. As they ponies walked towards the door of the building, the princesses knew, that this would be a pivotal first step, in the opening of diplomatic relations with the rest of the world.