Canterlot 1990, or The Biggest Disaster That Struck Equestria.

Taken from the files of the JTSB, or Johanian Transport and Safety Board, written by Master Investigator Johannes R. S. Vanbuylen. Written on May 5th, 2012, Johanian Times.

JTSB Report about Canterlot 1990.

Pre face, The World Before The 1990's.

Greetings, dear reader, and before you say something, yes, I'm actually writing about something that isn't quite a happy one. Some of you may also think that this tone of writing isn't really a thing that's 'custom' for something official like this, but I got to write about this. It's the better that somebody, or somepony, reads about what really happened. Some of you guys may think that the Disaster in Canterlot happened in the way that the Italians were in fault, or that the Equestrians were in fault, but let me tell you, there was no one in fault. It's was just a stupid translation error.

But for the occasional reader who isn't known for what happened here, I'm not going to tell you, you have to read that for yourself! But I can give you a full story of what happened. But let us begin at the beginning.

First of all, the world of where I'm writing about, isn't Kansas anymore! Your now officially on Earth! Or Johania to be precise! Johania is actually quite like Earth, the difference is that Ponies are walking around in this world, and Equestria is a world that is in this world's vicinity. For some of the readers who probably are confused at this part of the story, Equestria is a part of the world itself. Equestria is a country in this world, I hope this is clear enough for you, guys.

Firstly, this little pre face shall provide enough information of what happened before, and hopefully will place the incident in full context.

1945, The Destruction of The Third Reich.

While it is true that in Real Life, both the Soviets and the Allies stood on the ruins of Hitler's Berlin, in this world, it was the same. The difference here, of course, was that the Allies and the Soviets weren't the only one's that fought towards Hitler's Reich. The nation of Equestria, also got a visit from ol' Dollie's Boys and all made a Big Party out there, like Pinkie would have said. Hitler's forces invaded Equestria way down in 1940, right behind the backs of the Brits and the French. Like in Real Life, this time in the war was called the Phony War but instead of only fighting in Norway and Finland, Hitler amassed a big army and attacked the fertile lands of Equestria, a force that would only rival the Real Life mass of troops in Real Life Operation Barbarossa.

Hitler told the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia that the Germans had no business down there in Equestria, but you know the lies Dolfie did spread, wouldn't you? So in the early morning of April 12th, 1940, Hitler unleashed Operation Discord. The Equestria of this world, isn't comparable to the Equestria in the show, but the difference here is that they had no kind of aviation, since the Pegasi do the flying for themselves. The battle in the first days of the war raged very quickly 'cause Hitler's Blitzkrieg didn't missed it's effect on the Ponies who rarely see any kind of war.

The war in Equestria lasted long. It's comparable for some to the Real Life war with the Russians on the Eastern Front. ,Just like in the Real Life Second World War, when the Soviets searched for help, Celestia searched for help in the form of the Allies.The Allies already had three nations who were fighting off the Germans. The United Kingdom, The United States of America and The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. They were more than eager to add the Kingdom of Equestria upon their ranks.

The Equestrian Army isn't the Royal Guards like in the show. And here Ponies can carry rifles, fire guns and drive tanks. The only difference here is that they had no mechanized Air Force, because the Pegasi do all the flying for them. In 1941, like in the Real Life Second World War, Germany invaded Russia, but Hitler forgot the Equestrian Front. The Equestrian front had already become the biggest front on the war scene, and with the invasion of Russia they had a bigger problem on hand. The Equestrian winter isn't like the kind of the Russian, but German soldiers didn't quite had a paradise back there, either. Many a Pony fought in that war, and the Mane Six, or The Elements of Harmony as their official name is called, weren't a exception. The two Earth Ponies of the group, Applejack the Farmer and Pinkie Pie the Baker, were both Infantry. One was a Tank driver. Applejack drove a C-72, one of the biggest tanks on the battlefield during the whole war. And Pinkie was Support Infantry, carrying a F-12 Anti-Tank Rifle, quite able to destroy German tanks.

The two Unicorns on the battlefield were Artillery, and the two Pegasi were in the Air Force, although the files are quite scarce about the Yellow one.

The war on the Equestrian soil had it's fair share of battles, and the battle that changed the outcome of the war was the Battle of Stalliongrad, a far more bigger affair than the Battle of Stalingrad on the Russian Front. Hoofshoes, the Pony equivalent of Kursk for the Real Life readers, was the battle that drove the war towards the German main land. In the spring of 1945, with the amassed forces of Equestria, Russia, England and America, planted their banners on the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin.

After the war, and with the trials of Nuremberg, the Soviets had troubles with the Allied way of thinking. After a long discussion, they split off from the Allies. Celestia decided that it was for the better that she, too, went her separate way. So began the Cold War, with three factions instead of two.

1948, The Berlin Crisis.

In 1948 Berlin began to heat up.The Allies had the West side of Berlin, Soviet Russia had East Berlin and Celestia, in revenge for the horrors of the previous war, claimed the South East of Berlin.The Russians were trying to take the Industry of East Germany away, and heated the conflict. This was the time of the Berlin Air Bridge, where Equestrian Pegasi and Allied commercial planes flew over the city to help the Berliner children in need.

There were moments were they were afraid, such as that time where a Russian MiG almost shot down Rainbow Dash, but that's a story for another time.

Eventually, Celestia came to Berlin to resolve the crisis, and put Stalin back into place.

1950-1953, The Korean War.

When the heat finally setled in Berlin, the North Koreans wanted to settle an old issue from the past. Instead that the Japanese had occupied the Korean Peninsula, had the Southern part of the Korean Peninsula,  defeated the North in older wars. The Northern part of Korea wanted nothing more than to settle the score, once and for all. On behalf of the Chinese Army, they invaded the South on March 25th.The Soviets, for once, wasn't a cause in this war. Again, Equestrian soldiers were fighting here, but that was the same, also for Soviet, Almerican and soldiers of other nations.

Some of the biggest battles in this war was the Battle of Hill 284, a bigger battle than the Battle of Hill 282. American, Soviet and Equestrian troops fought here against Chinese and North Korean soldiers. Even today is this hill named as 'Equestrian Hill', because many a Pony had left this hill, dead.

1953, The Death of Stalin.

The death of Stalin came as a shock all around the world, and Equestria wasn't an exception. Celestia had troubles contacting the Equestrian Embassy in Moscow to bring her further information about this sudden news.

Celestia had good relations with Stalin, and the death of him came as a shock towards her. Rising Horseshoes, the Equestrian ambassador in Soviet Russia had his hooves full, already with the NKVD. Not that he was responsible for the death of Stalin, but they wanted to hear something about his thoughts about the death of him.

1961, The Cuban Missile Crisis.

For some in this world, still thé moment where the world could be inflicted into Total Armageddon. This was the first time that Celestia stood behind the Russians in the Cold War. The reason was simple; Celestia had made an alliance with the Soviets, and the Equestrian Army was one of the biggest Armed Forces back then. The Equestrian Navy was the greatest of the army, and Celestia took it to the world in Cuba.

Kennedy tried it's best to both appease Celestia and Khrushchev, but the situation in the United States wasn't a great one. But let's not focus on the Americans, you came here to read about Ponies, isn't it? Okay, that out of the way, I do like you to tell that, that both the Equestrians and the Soviets were prone for reconnaissance flights deep on American soil and that Rainbow Dash was deployed with her wing in Cuba. On the 27th of June, she and her flight flew with a flight of Soviet Tupolev Tu-16's in a reconnaissance flight deep enough to fly over Forth Worth and Dallas. Not many American radars had spotted something that day.

Equestrian submarines sailed through the waters alongside Soviet submarines, and a Equestrian Unicorn, listening to the name Olive Mix is responsible of saving the world. On the evening of October 12th, was a Soviet submarine supposed under attack by American planes, so in retaliation, an Equestrian sub had to launch a Second Strike nuke towards Washington D.C. The responsibility for launching the nuke came on Olive Mix, but she calmly refused the order when it became clear that there was a system failure in the codex machine.

Eventually, the crisis was resolved, and the Soviets and Equestrians all went back towards their respective countries.

1964-1975, The Vietnam War.

A war that is still in the eyes of the people of Equestria, a big mistake.

This war was started by China and was supported by China. Again, the Soviet Union can't be thrown a blame. North Vietnam became independent after they received financial aid by China, and then attacked the Allied and Soviet

Supported South. Both America and the Soviet Union send military aid to fight off the NVA and the Viet Cong. Celestia was still uncertain to send of help in the South Asian country, but because she had made an alliance with the Soviets, she couldn't back down. So, from the summer of 1965, the Equestrian Army fought in 'Nam.

But, the Ponies who fought there, would never be the same. No pony had even heard of the Tropical Rain forest, except the ones who lived with the Zebra's in Africa. For some readers who don't know what this is, let me tell you here. In Equestria, there is a part of that world - Equestria is a independent world, but is a part of this world - and it looks like Africa, and it is named Africa. The reason for this, is because this part is named after the Latin naming of Africa. So the most of them were downright afraid when they walked trough the forests. The Viet Cong spared nobody, may it be Pony or Human. The summer of 1968 brought down the Tet offensive, a joint operation by Soviet, American and Equestrian hand. But it was only the beginning of the end for the war effort in that country. It did, for the untrained eye, look like that the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong were being intimidated and scared away, but that was only false hope. The next 8 year, the Soviets, Americans and Equestrians only fought a war to keep the war being fought. In 1975, both the American army, the Red Army and the Equestrian army had to flee and leave the city of Saigon for the taking.

The scars of that war are still to be seen in Vietnam, a beautiful country, but scorched forever by a war unrivaled today.

1980-1988, Soviet and Equestrian Involvement in Afghanistan.

The 1980's shall always be remembered as the times that the Equestrians and the Soviets fought in Afghanistan, a speck of land that's always being twisted since the dawn of time. The Alliance with the Soviets and the Equestrians was for live, so, again, Celestia had to send soldiers to fight down into a war that the Soviets started this time. But Chinese troops were in this country first. The Soviets only retaliated.

The outcome of the war wasn't any different. The once so Glorious Red Army had to retreat once again, and Celestia pulled her subjects out of it when things really started to go south.

1990, The State of The World.

1990 was the date that everything changed. The Soviet Union, China and America put aside their differences and began to start dismantling their Nuclear Arsenals to a minimum. The Soviet Union didn't have any internal problems, the nation haven't stood better than before!

And with this Pre face I'm going to tell you how this is going to be told. I have, in this report, thousands and thousands of Eye-Witness accounts, but going through all of them isn't a good idea, so, I'm going to write the story of how it evolved. From the great show that followed before, to the moment the disaster happened! The story shall be told via the eyes who have seen it.

I hope you have a good read, and I hope you guys learn a thing about Canterlot 1990!

Johannes R. S. Vanbuylen.