12TH MARCH 1940
-----------------------------------------------------------------CANTERLOT CASTLE------------------------------------------------------------------
It was 4:00am in Canterlot. Today was a big day for Equestria, as the country today would be hosting its first major event since it had arrived on Earth. Today, the leaders of Finland and the Soviet Union would be visiting Equestria, to participate in peace talks meant to end the Winter War. A large amount of preparations had been made for this event, as it had to go well, to attempt to end the Winter War. This was the just the first step to hopefully stopping Discord's plans. The modernisation of Equestria had sped up a little for this.
The brand-new Canterlot Airport was now to open to operations, with a new VIP terminal. The dedicated passenger terminal was also in the final stages of construction, so soon, Equestrian airlines would also start operations. It was located far from the main city, since the main Canterlot City was built into the side of a hill. The plains surrounding the hill on which Canterlot was built were perfect for suburbs, and infrastructure like an airport. That was where the airport had been built.
The passenger terminal at the Manehattan Airbase, now called Manehattan Airport, had also been finished. Passenger terminals had also been built at the airports in Ponyville, Fillydelphia, and the Crystal Empire. Soon, the two countries would have passenger air travel for the wealthy. A new rail network was also now operational, with British LNER Class A4 high-speed locomotives being imported to run the new and improved Friendship Express, which ran to towns that didn't have airports. A new road network was also finishing construction, with all the main cities connected, and only the connections to small towns still under construction.
All in all, the future of the modernised Equestria and the Crystal Empire looked good, if they were able to stop the wars and make sure Discord was defeated for good. Celestia and Luna were already awake, preparing for the event. Already, Canterlot was awake, preparing for the arrival of the foreign diplomats. The reporters who would be covering this event had already arrived via the newly-modernised Friendship Express or by planes sent by their governments. They were being hosted in a large guest-house built for such events in Canterlot. Celestia and Luna were revising their speeches for the event.
The discussions about the terms of surrender would probably take the most time to discuss in this event, as the Soviet Union wanted Finland's territory, but Finland wasn't willing to cede any territory to them. That would probably take hours, or even days of discussion. Cadance had also come in from the Crystal Empire to join them. She had been invited to this talk officially as a guest.
The whole world, except for ENA and Discord, were extremely excited about this big event. Soon, the embassies of Britain and the USA would soon be completed, and the large warships that had served as temporary embassies since their arrival on Earth would no longer be needed to be docked all the time at Manehattan. The inauguration of the embassies was another event coming up soon.
As Celestia was rehearsing her speech, she heard a distant horn in the distance. It was the horn of the modernised Friendship Express. The modern locomotives had loud horns, and Celestia planned to put a few sound-deadening spells over Canterlot to reduce the impact on her citizens' sleep. The train was delivering the final load of reporters before the event. After this delivery, all train services would be suspended for a few hours, until the diplomats were at Canterlot Castle. This was for safety reasons, as they had intel ENA members might be coming to Equestria to stop the meeting.
Plans were also being made of taking human exchange students at prestigious Equestrian and Crystal Empirean schools and colleges so that they could study magic, to create magic-enhanced technology and such things. However, this plan was vehemently opposed by Chancellor Neighsay, the head of the Equestrian Educational Association, or EEA. The rest of the EEA were open to this idea, however, Neighsay had opposed it. He felt that Equestrian schools should give admission only to ponies, and not to humans at all.
His ideology was that Equestria and the Crystal Empire should have no contact with humans at all, as he felt that the Equestrians and Crystal Empireans were a better, more peaceful, superior species than the humans, who he said were barbaric and brainless. Well, this had gotten him kicked out of the EEA, and the new head of the EEA was willing to take humans as exchange students in Equestrian schools. However, Neighsay had formed a new organisation, called Humans Not Allowed, or HNA: a blatant ripoff of the ENA. Apparently, they were trying to find a way to send Equestria and the Crystal Empire back to Equis, and remove it from Earth.
Good luck with that, thought Celestia. Faust would never allow that, and she would have made sure nobody could copy whatever spell she used to transport Equestria and the Crystal Empire from Equis to Earth. Still, the HNA only had 50 members as of now, a mere spot compared to the ENA. They were not a threat as of now, so they were not keeping an eye on them at all.
Celestia continued rehearsing her speeches, as the train pulled into the station. Soon, the peace talks to end the Winter War would begin.
------------------------------------------------------------SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY-------------------------------------------------------------
It was now 7:30am in Germany, which meant it was now around 5:00am in Equestria. Today, they would inject the first of Germany's new enhanced soldiers with the E-serum. This would be the beginning of the black side of the German Army. The black operations. These would all be off-the-books, and they would be the beginning of the Allies' defeat. Discord now had an official alias in the human world. His name as a human was Abelard Möller, an Obergruppenführer, a senior group leader in the the Schutzstaffel, Adolf Hitler's paramilitary organisation.
Under this alias, he had a large villa in the city of Berlin, near the Reichstag, and controlled not just the U-boat facility in Hamburg, but also weapons factories in Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Bremen. Being a high-ranking officer, under the Erweiterung program, which was now an official part of the German military, he could run stuff like this. The program was now working on a new weapon, a concept suggested by one of his engineers. It was essentially a guided projectile, which flew like an airplane as it was guided towards its target.
It was soon time for the peace talks to end the Winter War. He couldn't ruin this one, since the Soviets were there, and Germany couldn't afford to lose the support of the Soviets just yet. But soon, they would have to backstab the Soviets, before they got a little too greedy. Else, it would mark doom for the Third Reich, and Discord's plans. Discord smiled, as he got ready. This year would be the beginning of two more wars.