Chapters Canterlot 1990, or The Biggest Disaster That Struck Equestria.
Preface; The World before 1990
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.
Canterlot 1990, or The Biggest Disaster That Struck Equestria.
Chapter 1; The Summit at Bonn.
Canterlot, Celestia's castle, February 10th, 1990.
After Celestia had risen the Equestrian sun, she walked back into the castle for her daily breakfast. While she walks through the halls of the castle, she thinks about the things these halls had to go through. The Second World War, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis etc. Even the Hall of Heroes hadn't enough window space to tell the stories of the heroes of these wars.
Her sun shone through the stained glass windows and told their stories. There were copies of the one where her protege and her friends destroyed Discord again, but there were also other windows, that told other stories. Such as that brave battalion of Unicorns that fought on that Godforsaken hill in Vietnam. Celesita cringed. They had brought her the bodies of the soldiers that died during that battle. The faces of them still kept her awake.
Her walk through the halls came at an end when she entered the dining room. Luna was still awake. Normally she would have left already to go to sleep.
'Luna, why are you still awake?' Celestia asked.
'Because, dear sister, today we are expected in the city of Bonn.' Luna spoke.
Celestia could throw her hoof into her face if she wanted to. How could she forget the summit? Today was the day where all the greatest nations of the world would come together to decide the fate of the world. The Cold War was running on it's last legs. The Soviet Union and the United States of America weren't in fight no more. The same counted for the other nations of the world. Celesta's kingdom, who had played a major role in the Cold War, was asked to come to the summit, also. Celestia sat on the table and decided to eat something. Luna was still trying to cook with the new cooking equipment, and at the looks of Celestia, did quite make a good impression. Her cooking skills were improving.
Luna had made for her sister and herself, to begin with, a simple bread. Celestia took a bite from the bread her sister made for her. This is one of the finest things I've ever eaten! she thought. After that, she regained her formal self.
'Luna, are there any guards who are supposed to come with us?'
'Yes, dear sister, We have scheduled the fine soldiers and the leader of the guards. The fine brother of Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armour.'
Celestia still hated that Luna spoke in that old, ancient language. She had seen the old world crumble beneath her feet, Luna not. Every time she spoke in that language, the catastrophe of the destruction came back into her head.
'Luna, what did I have told you about the Royal Canterlot Voice?'
'I'm trying to adjust to the new world, 'Tia, but it isn't easy.' the dark Alicorn mare spoke, gently, more in tears than anything else. The younger sister of the ruler of Equestria was now at day, and she was more weaker at day than at night.
Celestia took her younger sister under her wing and reassured her. 'It's okay, Luna, there's nothing to worry about.....'
The rest of the morning was nothing more then the preparations for the trip to Bonn....
***
NAVO Headquarters, Bonn, Western Germany. February 10th, 1990.
Celestia and Luna weren't flying in their chariot, but instead they were driving in their own car. A Cadillac Series 75 with an own chauffeur. Celestia had bought this old machine from the president of the United States after he got old of it. Behind the Royal Limousine drove a couple of other Cadillac's. Those were the cars where the guards sat.
While the car drove, Celestia was eating a piece of cake. Luna, on the other hand, was busy with filing through a bunch of files. They were telling about old Soviet secrets. The West German highways were beautiful and well maintained. Celestia was already thinking of ways how she could improve the Equestrian highways for the plan that she had in mind. At the end of the road, the driver of the car took the exit of the highway and drove towards the NAVO Headquarters in Bonn. The car stopped at the entrance. While she stepped out of the car, she could see that the presidents of the United States and the prime minister of the Soviet Union had entered the building already.
Celestia and Luna were greeted by the prime minister of Germany, Helmut Kohl, and a band playing the West German anthem, Das Deutshchlandlied. The two alicorn princesses were delighted with this song. After the song was over, they, escorted by the guards, walked over to the main conversation room.
Shining Armour and his guards placed themselves at the front of the room.
Celestia and Luna walked in the conversation room, and were greeted by the leaders of the world. The first thing that was on the agenda, was the fate of the world's Nuclear arsenal. Celestia had nuclear weapons, but she would never even dare to use them.....
***
NAVO Headquarters, Bonn, Western Germany. February 10th, 1990. 20:30 PM Local Time.
Celestia and Luna were both resting a bit in their room. The first day of this four day summit went quite good. Celestia had come to make amends with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet prime minister. The reason for this was that Celestia had to withdraw her troops out of Afghanistan when the heat was too big. At the point of writing, the Soviet Union had suffered it's biggest defeat since then. Celestia had explained against Gorbachev that in Equestria the memories of Vietnam were still in the minds of the ponies that inhabited the land.
Celestia had fought in Afghanistan with the Soviets, but Celestia didn't stayed long in the fight. Celestia pulled her troops back in 1987, three years after that the Soviets left the land. Now, the two princesses were resting a bit, because later on the night was a formal diner scheduled. The rulers of state were given a few hours to rest and to get dressed. At the time of writing, the two pony princesses were ready to go to the dinner.
After the sisters left their rooms, Shining and his guards wanted to get some sleep themselves, but they were invited by a group of four Soviet soldiers. They went in on the invitation. The four soldiers were Spetsnaz, ultra elite Soviet soldiers and all four had fought both in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Right after that, they got their bottles of vodka out. The ponies don't quite knew what do to, but Shining knew about the Russian beverage and drank a glass.
The whole night they talked about their stories and their adventures during the war.
Later that evening, Shining decided to speak to the group. 'You see, fellas, I remember a story from Vietnam. I fought in the battle for Hamburger Hill.......'
***
NAVO Headquarters, Bonn, Western Germany. February 14th, 1990.
Thursday February 14th was the last day of what was already a successful summit. Now, they just had to fill in the loose ends. China regained part of the border that they lost of the Soviets back in the Border War in 1969, and the US regained Florida, after loosing it from the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961. For the rest of the day, there wasn't really something interesting to mention.
During the afternoon break, though, Celestia threw the idea that she had in her minds for quite a long time. A feast, to celebrate the ending of the Cold War and new found friendship between the nations of the world.
'Then let us hear that, Princess Celestia.' said the ambassador of the United Kingdom, Sir John Walladay.
'I have planned, for a Flight Show, for three days, with my nation's Pegasi and your nations greatest aviators in their planes! The field for this show, is the old Canterlot Airfield, which was already beginning to decompose. Let me hear your ideas.' said Celestia.
After that, every nation thought about this idea, and everyone gave her their thumbs up. The plan for Canterlot 1990 was set in motion, and also the great crash that would involve this joyous occasion......
Canterlot 1990, or The Biggest Disaster That Struck Equestria.
Canterlot Airfield, Canterlot, Equestria. February 21st, 1990.
Celestia looked over the old abandoned airfield of Canterlot. During the wars she had fought in her life, this was the place where the Pegasi fliers would take off and fly towards the designated battlefields. In the past was this the biggest and busiest airfield that Equestria had ever seen, but now, it's defunct and derelict. Celestia walked through the ruins of the hangars and the terminals. She walked in the main building, and kept on walking until she stopped in the main atrium. Oh, how I remember that I had stood there and told the fliers what was going to happen. she thought to herself. And how many young fliers that had never come back.
She didn't let her bother that, and kept on walking to oversee the workers readying the area for the celebration of the Cold War's end. Here and here are there some modifications be made, and here has to be build a new stand, she thought. She kept on walking through the old abandoned ruins of one of the greatest monuments of the Equestrian war efforts, until Luna came flying off.
'Dear sister, what are thoust doing?'
Celestia still cringed by her old speaking ways, but she knew that there was no other way to tell that to Luna. The old mare has been stuck on the moon for a thousand years, so telling to her that her speaking ways were ancient, was like saying that she was old and obsolete.
'Just looking around for the Air Show.' Celestia said.
'Air Show? Dearest sister, why haven't you told Us of this before?'
'I think I've told you already, Luna. At the summit I've told you about it on our room?'
Luna knew that Celestia was right, although she couldn't remember her ever saying anything about an Air Show before.
'So, dearest sister, what have thou seen?' Luna asked, trying to change the subject.
Celestia sighed. 'Well, some of the hangars need a little repair, the main building needs quite a bit of renovation, some new stands need to be build, we need to construct a couple of extra runways... I think it's better that I write a full report of what's needed to re-build this.'
'We would think that it's better to do that, dearest sister.'
Celestia thought that maybe it would be a good idea to give Luna language lessons, just to update her Equestrian a bit.....
***
The Skies of Ponyville, Equestria. February 28th, 1990.
Rainbow Dash swept through the sky, ecstatic that her dreams had finally come true. She was now a full pledged Wonderbolt! She had dreamed of that day her whole life and it was finally upon her. The reason for this was because she had proven herself so well during the wars that Celestia had fought with the Soviets and the Americans. On the time of writing, Celestia still had an alliance with the Soviet Union, but Rainbow Dash didn't cared about that political issue.They meant nothing for her. The sky was her home, and that's where she intended to stay.
The reason why she was in the sky, was that she was trying her new Wonderbolt uniform out, all while she was giggling with glee. After she had flown through the sky, she flew back to her cloud home, and landed on the porch after she saw her home. Rainbow Dash took her uniform off and gave something to eat to Tank, her pet tortoise. While she was climbing out of her uniform, she heard the mail mare dropping some letters through the box. Luckily for Dash's home, it wasn't Derpy. She trotted down to read the mail. The first letter that came to her attention, was a letter from the Wonderbolts, given to each Pegasi flying by the Wonderbolts.
They had a Air Show to prepair! Dashie tried her best not to fly around and break stuff in her house, but she couldn't hold her enthusiasm.
***
Canterlot Airfield, Canterlot, Equestria. March 2nd, 1990.
While the nation of Equestria slowly got informed of the plan that Celestia had made to celebrate the end of the Cold War, the small airfield of Canterlot slowly got transformed into a big airport. Rainbow Dash flew around with the rest of the Wonderbolts, and her friends came over there to support her on one of her first training skits. While a couple of worker Earth Ponies and Pegasi were busy with renovating the main lobby of the airfield, flew Dash and the three Wonderbolt fliers over in formation. Instead of the regular trail of clouds and lightning bolts of Spitfire and Soarin', there flew a Pegasus with a Rainbow colored trail. The five other ponies who were cheering her on, sat on a newly build stand. After that Dashie flew over, Twilight trotted down from the stand to talk to her older brother, who was overseeing the construction with his guards.
'Shining!' she screamed and ran down the stand.
'Twily! I haven't seen you for a month! How's going?' he asked while Twilight flew around his neck.
'Haven't got any better! Excited for the Human planes that will fly over?'
'Of course, Twilight! Though, I have a bad feeling about this.... It's troubling me for a very long while.'
Twilight remembered that. The last time that this happened, was at the wedding and that threw whole of Canterlot in war. The Soviet Union came to help, and banished the Changelings and Chrysalis back from where she came, but luckily Chrysalis haven't made a new army to invade Equestria. No, there was something different. Twilight told her brother not to let him bother that and to enjoy the thought of the Human planes that would come to soar through the Equestrian skies.
***
Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria. March 2nd, 1990.
Luna was trotting through the halls. Celestia did the same. They were waiting for the first representative of the air forces that would come down to talk about the thought of the air show. The first nation they had invited were, without a doubt, the Soviet Union. Celestia was a mare that always came down her promises and alliances, and the alliance with the USSR was one that she was proud of the most! Unfortunately, the ambassador of the Red Air Force was late. Really late.
But after a while, did came the ambassador of the Red Air Force, and he was greeted with the highest Equestrian regards. Vladimir Korsakovich Zaitsev had come down to Equestria to talk about the representation of the Red Air Fleet. He knew that Celestia was one that paid her debts, but that Zaitsev received the highest Equestrian honor of bread and Zap Apple jam and a welcome in the Hall of Heroes, was something he never would have expected! So, while he walked down the isle of the Hall of Heroes, he saw the stained glass windows of the greatest moments in Equestrian history. The defeat of Nightmare Moon, the defeat of Discord, the wars of Celestia, they were all there!
After he walked down, he shook hooves with Celestia and Luna, and came down to business.
'Dearest Celestia, which planes do you want to see from our fleet?' he said.
'Give me your newest planes, and your famous planes.' she said.
'Then it shall be the newest of the new of the Soviet Air Force, and some Cold War planes.'
'Excellent!'
After that, Celestia guided him to one of the rooms of Canterlot Castle, and ate some of the Zap Applejam and bread.