Author's Note

The photo is just a reference to describe what is on the flag in the film, the scene around it is irrelevant to the story.

The source where this pic originally came from is: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/world-war-ii-russian-volunteers-recruited-into-a-german-news-photo/92423773?adppopup=true

All credits for the photo go to Roger Viollet via Getty Images.

Chapter II: War Breaks (Rewritten)

May 7, 1937 - At the Castle during the start of day court, in Celestia's room

Celestia looks to Luna after she finishes raising the sun and lowering the moon with her sister, feeling anxious to visit the other world, hoping to learn what has happened lately before day court begins after noon today. She then pulls the necklace out and sets it on the floor, "I wonder what has happened in the other world lately Lulu, we haven't visited much since January. Are you ready for our visit to the United States, I will even let you pick which state we visit. So where will you choose?"

Luna looks to her sister with a smile, "I think that we should go to New Jersey Cece, you and Cadance haven't gone there before right?"

She shakes her head and smiles back, "That is a wise choice indeed, and you are correct. Let us be on our way then so we can return by the time day court begins, it would not be wise to not be there to hear our citizen's petitions." She then takes a seat and waits for her sister to assist her with focusing on the location.

The princess of the night sits down and works with her sister to focus together and send their conscious minds to New Jersey, feeling herself being sent into the location and opens her eyes, "We are at our reference point in Jersey City sister, let us walk around and learn what we can."

Celestia nods and follows her sister, looking around and sees people gathered outside of some stores along the street with their hands covering their mouths as they look on in shock at whatever has their attention, "Let's find out what has their attention Lulu, perhaps the tension between the nations in Europe are easing."

As Luna and her sister make their way through the people, they see a massive object on fire as a device in the store delivers breaking news about an airship disaster. After hearing of the fires rapid acceleration and the lives that were lost when the ship fell from the sky while burning, she looks to her sister with tears in her eyes, "Let us not build airships until they are completely safe, we can then avoid such disasters as this terrible one was."

She watches the screen and nods her head solemnly, "I agree with you on that sister, let us explore more of this city to find out what has happened since our last visit." She then leads her sister away from the store, heading further into the city.

Luna and Celestia spend the rest of the morning exploring the bustling city, learning a few things that took place in other states. Sighing as she has had enough of hearing about the Hindenburg airship disaster, she looks to her sister pleadingly, "Can we head back now Cece, I was looking forward to learning new things in this city, but the only thing the citizens are talking about is the Hindenburg and the lives that were lost. I think that with this many people shocked at what happened, no one will ever want to be in an airship."

Celestia looks at her sister sadly and nods, "I think that would be a good choice Lulu, my mood is not improving with what we are learning here today. I do share your opinions regarding airships, we shall keep researching them until we can build them so they are safe for our ponies. With that said, let us return dear sister."

They both stop the spell and return to Celestia's room, with Luna getting up and quickly heading to her room. She stops before the door and looks back to her sister, sighing sadly, "Goodnight sister, I need to try to get some rest. I hope something good happens today in Equestria to improve both of our moods." She then exits the room and closes the door behind her, then makes her way down the halls to her room.

She then looks at the door and puts the necklace back in its box, then heads out of her room to tend to day court. She has a peaceful walk through the halls and arrives at her throne and starts day court, deciding to deal with the paperwork early when a guard comes running through the doors.

The guard races through the mostly empty room towards the princess, "News from northern Equestria, Your Highness." bowing before her and removing his helmet.

Celestia watches as her attendants leave her side, "Yes?" She wonders at what this news could be, and stares at the guard expectantly.

The stallion lowers his ears and takes a breath, "I am simply to tell you...It...has returned."

She gasps in surprise and turns to a guard on her right, "I need you to find Cadence and Shining Armor." She watches as the guard and two others race out of the room before starting a letter to Twilight, "My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once..."

Two months later in Ponyville, at Canterlot

Celestia looks through her room for an empty journal to record their findings on Earth, when she comes across a book by Twilight's favorite pony named Star Swirl the Bearded, "I have forgotten all about having you, I wonder if my student Twilight is ready to discover her destiny yet. No better time than now, I will send this to her as a test. I hope you are ready for what lies ahead of you my faithful student..." She then begins to write a letter to her before sending it to her through a spell with a soft giggle.

Twilight reads through the scroll that her mentor sent her with a book and looks at the spell it mentioned, deciding to cast it and looks at it one more time,"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out, alone fulfilled." not realizing that the elements right behind her are acting up with hers starting to shine brightly, "It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't even rhyme." After nothing obvious happens for a few seconds, she yawns and then heads to bed.

Seven days after Twilight's ceremony announcing her as a Princess to all of Equestria in Ponyville

Twilight struggles to learn how to fly from her friend Rainbow Dash as she crashes spectacularly in the dirt, leaving a good sized hole in the ground from where she landed, "I need a break from these flying lessons..." She then listens to what ideas her friends have and follows them to Canterlot.

Celestia walks through the halls after spending some time with Princess Twilight, when she screams at being suddenly grabbed from behind by something and carried away under the ground. She then feels the vine around her start to wrap her up and tries to fight it off to no avail as it fully encases her in layers of vines and sighs in defeat.

For what feels like eternity of being imprisoned by these foul vines, they slowly begin to disappear as the Tree of Harmony glows white as it destroys the vines that have overtaken Ponyville. Seeing her student run up to her and throw her hooves around her happily, she smiles in return, "We know how difficult it must have been for you to give up the elements, it took great courage to relinquish them."

Twilight breaks the hug and approaches the tree, watching as lines rush from the elements towards the center as the tree glows brightly. Shortly after that, a rainbow colored line runs down the tree and illuminates the sun and moon elements. She watches on as it then continues to the base of the tree and stops at one of the roots and sprouts a bloom. Curiosity gets the better of her and she touches it with a hoof and it opens to produce a chest of some kind, "What's inside it, how am I supposed to open it?

Celestia looks at it for a few seconds curiously, "Six locks, six keys." She then stretches her wings out a little bit, "I do not know where they are, but I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone." She then watches as Twilight heads out of the cave and returns to Canterlot with her sister for the Summer Sun Celebration.

September 13, 1937 - Canterlot castle, in Celestia's room

Celestia sits in the room talking with her sister after they both attended the rally in Nuremberg, celebrating the lowest employment rate there has been for Germany since the Nazi's rise to power, "I wonder if now would be a good time to consider building mirror portals since things aren't getting any worse?"

Luna looks at her sister and thinks on it for a few moments, "I think it would be wise to wait another year before deciding on doing something that could affect our world negatively if something bad were to happen."

She then considers her opinion and nods her head, "I agree with you sister, a little more time and caution wouldn't hurt us. We shall wait for another year to pass before making our decisions." She looks out the window, seeing that it is time to raise the moon and lower the sun and looks back to her sister, "It is time to raise the moon and lower the sun sister, your watch is starting now."

The dark blue alicorn smiles and raises the moon while her sister lowers the sun for her watch and heads out of the room, "Goodnight dear sister, may your dreams be filled with happiness." heading out of the room to hold night court.

Celestia sleeps peacefully until a nightmare intrudes on her dreams, showing her a pony being drained of his magic, then the face of his attacker as he laughs evilly after his success. She wakes in fear when she sees her sister throw the doors open to the room.

Luna makes her way towards her sister worriedly, "Sister are you alright?!"

She breathes quickly and tries to calm herself down, "I just had the most terrible dream..."

The lunar princess walks a little closer and stops, "Why do you think I'm here? You know as well as I that this was not a dream, but a vision."

Celestia rises from her bed and starts to head towards the window, "Then we haven't much time. The stronger he becomes, the more we are all in danger."

Two weeks after Tireks defeat, on the road to Ponyville

Twilight and her friends make their way back to Ponyville as Twilight looks at Applejack and says, "Oh I am so glad that the villagers got their cutie marks back as well as our own. Do you think that we will face Starlight again someday?"

Applejack turns her head to look at Twilight and nods, "I guarantee we will...someday, but for now, let's enjoy the trip back to Ponyville and try to have some fun on the way. As long as we have each other, we will never fail to protect Equestria when it is in danger."

March 13, 1938 - In Celestia's room at Canterlot, just before sunrise that morning

Luna wakes Celestia up for their visit to the other world to learn what is going on recently and to look for a good place for the last mirror portal to this world, having already decided to use a statue's podium in New York as the first one as Luna's decision, "Cece, it is time for us to start our visit to the other world to find the location for the last mirror portal, you get to decide where this one goes. We are going to have to raise the sun in an hour anyways, so it is time to wake up."

Celestia rises out of bed after stretching her body, "Thank you for waking me up and reminding me of our plans for finding the location for the last portal site today, let's go have an early breakfast. I have a feeling that this will be a long day for us, let's head to the dining room."

The two eat breakfast together and quietly discuss the latest news from Princess Cadance and Shining Armor as Celestia giggles while leaning towards Lulu's ear, "Oh Twilight is going to be in for one marvelous surprise when she figures out the clues they will leave her."

The night princess shushes her, "Not so loud, we don't want anypony around us to overhear the news..." She then clears her voice and then looks back to her sister, "We need to get back to your room so we can raise the sun and lower the moon, let's get going Cece."

She follows Luna down the halls to her room, once entering the room she looks to her sister, "I think I know of a decent spot for the mirror portal, just outside of Brussels at an abandoned farm. Do you really insist we separate the mirrors from each other? It is not very convenient..."

Luna sighs and shakes her head, "It is not, but it is the safest option for us and them. The only thing I wish we could reduce is the 2 hours the portals remain open once they are activated, at least they both use different phrases to activate."

Later that day, around noon in Ponyville

Pinkie Pie is in the bakery decorating cupcakes when Mrs. Cake comes in talking about something she can't believe she is seeing and smiles then approaches her with a smile, "Pretty impressive if I do say so myself." She then listens as Mrs. Cake asks her to mind the counter so she can go to the supply room for a very special order that needs to be perfect, "Okie-dokie-lokie." as she then thanks her and rushes off, accidentally losing the paper she was holding. Curious as to what is in the letter, Pinkie picks it up and reads it quietly, "A baby? Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are having A BABY? This is the best news ever! I can't wait to tell Twilight!"

Mrs. Cake smiles sheepishly at hearing Pinkie discover the news, "Oh, and Pinkie? It is a Top Secret surprise, so shhhhhh!"

She then smiles nervously at having to keep such a huge secret and blinks a few times, A Top Secret Surprise? That means I have to keep the exciting news...to myself!"

Back at Canterlot that evening, in Celestia's room

Celestia returns to Equestria with her sister Luna after getting a portal mirror built at the farm, trying to learn a bit more about what is going on, "After waiting and finally building the mirrors, something finally happens. At least war hasn't broken out over Germany annexing Austria, it is just like how we made the Crystal Empire part of Equestria."

Luna then looks at her sister with concern in her eyes, "Perhaps, but I advise that we still remain cautious. What should we do if another conflict breaks out and we are attacked, the only way we have to defend ourselves is swords, shields, crossbows, a handful of cannons and magic. We are not at all prepared for any form of warfare if it should ever break, all Equestria has to defend itself is the Equestrian royal guard, which has only a few thousand ponies in it."

Celestia looks back at Luna with a soft smile on her face, "I understand your concern sister, I am confident that those nations will pay us no mind as long as we do nothing to antagonize them. Besides, there is no chance that they will ever find the portal locations or know when they will be open. If they do attack us, our magic will overpower them. As for the warriors, the crown can issue a 100 bit incentive to any pony over 18 to join the guard. What is your opinion on the matter, Lulu?"

She ponders on what could be done to assist Equestria, "Perhaps we can make a military with different branches such as they did over there, Pegasi and any other creatures that can fly can be the Air Force. The Army and Navy can have Unicorns, Pegasi, and other races in them, but what do you think we should do for the specialized tough branch called the Marine Corp? We also need to decide whether to start recruiting now or if it would be more important to have the research department focus their efforts on making progress in the wartime category."

The white Alicorn looks to her sister and sighs, "I think that those are great ideas, and we shall begin doing that at once. Let us think on it for awhile until we can come up with something. For now, we shall keep Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Princess Twilight and her friends from knowing what is happening over there."

October 5, 1938 - Later that day, at the castle in Canterlot

Discord makes his way into the castle, requesting to meet Princesses Celestia and Luna regarding important and sensitive information they need. Seeing a couple of guards run off to go let them know, he decides to wait there as the guards have requested him to. He entertains himself for a little bit by going through a few photos in his album, remembering how six young ponies changed his life for the better and hopes to do the same today.

Celestia and Luna wait for the guard to bring Discord here, wondering what sort of information he has to give them. They watch as Discord pops into the room with the guard chasing after him, as Celestia shakes her head, "Discord, must you always pop into my room instead of knocking on the door like everypony else does?"

Discord smiles at Celestia, "I have no idea what you are talking about Celestia..." when another Discord knocks on the door and walks into the room, allowing the first Discord's image to dissolve into sparkles and return to the other Discord.

After the last of the sparkles return to him, he smiles and chuckles, "Oh but I did knock, my apologies for popping in unannounced. I was hoping to speak to you about a rather sensitive matter...alone with your sister."

Luna is curious at what the sensitive matter might be and looks to the panting guard in the room, "It is alright, you may leave us guard." As the guard leaves the room, she looks back to Discord, "Okay Discord, what is it that you wish to tell us?"

The Draconequus then closes the door behind him and gets closer to them, "Well, let me tell you how my day went..." He then proceeds to tell them about the days events where he was just spending time with his friends in Ponyville when Twilight suspected him of putting them under a spell, "I then asked them if somepony wants to tell me what's so hilarious, but none of them would answer me. Spike then told me that I would have to had been there to understand it, so after Twilight produced an orange before my eyes with a spell. I then finally understood what was so funny and picked them all up in a hug, after the hug was over I went back to my realm for a bath when this fell onto my side table." He then brings out the thick paper listing all of what happened that year and sighs, "I have been receiving these papers for 7 years, I enjoyed reading about all the chaos that was happening where ever the places are at first. As I continued to stay informed by reading the papers, they got less and less funny. Could you perhaps tell me why I don't find the chaos in these papers funny anymore?"

Celestia stands and looks at Discord with a shocked expression on her face, "Show me the papers you have received so far Discord, we will then tell you what we think is going on."

Discord nods in compliance and snaps his fingers, bringing the seven other thick papers into Celestia's room and landing with a heavy thud, "Okay, here you go Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The first one I received is on top, I think I am starting to question if I am losing my grip on humor..."

Luna moves next to Celestia as she hastily pulls the top paper off the stack and reads through it, moving to the next one after finishing the first one. She tries to read as fast as Celestia, struggling a little to keep up, "Some of this we already know, who gave you these papers Discord?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "I'm sorry I don't know who is giving me these papers, they just appear in my realm somehow during the year near the end. Can you tell me what is going on and why you are so into those papers?"

It takes an hour for Celestia to speed read through every paper in the pile until she gasps at a few things that have happened in Europe, "Discord, do you solemnly swear to keep what we tell you an absolute secret? Should you tell anypony, I WILL PUT YOU WITH TIREK IN HIS CELL!"

Discord looks at Celestia, then quickly does a Pinkie Swear, "I also solemnly promise on my own life that I will not tell any creature about whatever is going on, now can you please fill me in?"

Luna looks at her sister and nods her head, "Okay, you know that story about our planet's origin? About seven years ago, Princess Cadance brought news to me that she was feeling sad and she did not know why. We investigated it with the aid of an old necklace, and found the galaxy of our origin, The Milky Way. The sadness drew us to a blue planet we later learned was called Earth, our consciousnesses landed on a rough field. The feeling Cadance was having went away after we learned that the field was actually an old battlefield from just over a decade ago that had seen heavy fighting and heavy casualties in the hundreds of thousands due to chemical weapons that were used. We have been studying that world for some time, and from what we learned on that world leaves us waiting and hoping for an opportunity to find peace for the nations on that world. The trouble is, however, things are not abating like they should... they are slowly getting worse. Everything in those papers is the truth Discord, so please either destroy them or seal them away somewhere." She then looks to her sister and sighs sadly, "Unfortunately, it appears that with this 'Munich Agreement' giving ancestral lands back to Nazi Germany, Czechoslovakia is cornered. Europe is starting to become more of a powder keg each passing week, I just hope things calm down before some person over there strikes a match and a new World War erupts in Europe."

Celestia looks at Discord as he quickly sends the papers somewhere safe with a finger snap, "You are not losing your sense of humor Discord, you are just simply realizing that these events are no longer something to laugh about for you. We were going to go visit Earth but after reading those depressing papers, but how about we find something fun to do in the meantime? Just the three of us."

He smiles and claps his hands together happily, "Oh most definitely, what do you think we should do princess?"

April 28, 1939 - Inside Twilight's castle at Ponyville

Twilight lets Spike sleep as she continues working through the night on the speech she must deliver to Celestia's magic students tomorrow, not realizing it is dawn when she finishes it. She then transfers the speech onto notecards to study, "Spike, it is time to wake up, I need your help with getting this speech perfect."

Spike wakes up slowly, yawning and then nods, "It is good you finished your speech, now I will get to hear what you wrote before the students arrive later in the morning." He then gets onto her back to get to the school so she can practice her speech.

After practicing her speech a few times before their arrival, she reads off her speech as she scans the audience. Thinking she spotted Starlight Glimmer in the group, she scans it again before continuing with her speech. Not seeing her in the audience, she finishes her speech. She thanks them for listening to her long speech and makes her way back to Ponyville, feeling a little concerned that she was sure she saw Starlight in the audience.

Later that day, in Celestia's room

Celestia and Luna return from a visit to Germany, learning that Hitler renounces the naval agreement with Britain and the non-aggression pact with Poland. Sighing heavily as things are continuing to worsen, she spots a scroll from Twilight Sparkle and smiles, "I sure hope that this letter from Twilight has some good news after the day we just had sister..." She picks it up and reads it, "She has successfully reformed Starlight Glimmer! This is most definitely the best news we could have gotten today."

Three weeks pass by as Twilight compiles a list of lessons for Starlight glimmer as her friends plan out their visit to the Crystal Empire, "Oh this small list here is just the A's by the way, the B's are over there by the table. Perhaps I should pare them down a bit before we go through them, but let's go join the others in the throne room. They're planning our trip to the Crystal Empire when Shining Armor and Princess Cadance have their baby."

Starlight Glimmer nods her head to Princess Twilight, "Throne room, got it." and takes off through the open doors before stopping and poking her head back through the doorway with a sheepish smile, "Umm, which way is the throne room by the way?"

Later that afternoon after the ceremony

Celestia and Luna smile at the baby alicorn, happy for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor when Cadance hands Flurry Heart to her husband after nuzzling her filly and makes her way towards them. Watching her as she gestures off to the side somewhere away from the others, they nod and then head away from the crowd of ponies.

Cadance smiles briefly for a few moments, "Thank you both for doing what you could to keep the storm at bay, we would have been in big trouble if not for you two."

Luna smiles and nods, "You are quite welcome Cadance, for what do you wish to speak to us about."

She sighs and drops her smile, "How are things developing on that other world?"

Celestia looks at her with a stern look, "You and Shining Armor have suffered enough with what you learned last time, we shall not let you suffer even more from knowing what has been going on there. Live a peaceful life with your family Cadance, you deserve happiness."

Cadance presses the matter and glares right back at her, "Please tell me what is going on in that other world, you leaving me out of the loop may leave you at a disadvantage should something ever happen and a new war starts. We are your allies Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, therefore, it is imperative that we know what is going on. So, with that said, please inform me about the events."

Luna looks to her sister and nods her head, sighing, "Very well then, things have gotten worse since you last visited Earth with my sister." She and Celestia both inform her on what has been going on lately, shocking Cadance and drawing a tear to her eye at the worse parts of it.

September 3, 1939 - Just over four months later, inside of Celestia's room in the castle at Canterlot

The princess sits in her room, writing in her journal about the recent progress that is being made in the other world while waiting for her sister to show up for their visit to Earth. She then closes it after hearing a knock on the door, "You may enter."

Luna enters the room, closing the door as she hangs her head, sighing heavily, "It upsets me that relations are not improving at all between the nations, there is a portal near Germany who seems intent on increasing their strength to rule the world. The other leads to the United States that is slowly starting to recover, and to make matters worse it is not interested in what is happening in Europe." she then looks down at the floor.

Celestia walks over to her and wraps her wings around her, "Worry not sister, for we shall continue trying to find a way to help this other world find peace." She then releases her after a few minutes to go get the necklace to begin their session, then sets it down between them and takes her seat, "Are you ready to begin our visit to the other world sister?"

After the princess places the necklace between them, she places her hoof onto the necklace and focuses on where they are going. Arriving in London, she looks to her sister and sighs, "Let's find out what is going on in Europe sister." She then begins to head in a direction after seeing a few people getting papers from a young child.

They stop nearby as the crowd hurries away with their papers with the young boy holding a paper high above his head, a smaller stack of remaining newspapers in a wheelbarrow as large as him yelling, "Extra, extra! Read all about it, Second World War breaks as Nazi Germany refuses to remove troops from Poland, causing England, France, and three others to declare war on the Third Reich!"

Upon hearing this news, Princess Celestia and Luna both look at each other in shock as sadness starts to take hold over them, "We failed to prevent this from getting worse, now many more people are going to lose their lives." They both fall silent and quickly embrace each other in a fierce hug as they sob, allowing their tears to run down their faces.

After taking some time to hold each other and calm down, Luna backs out of the hug first, "I wish we would have made first contact with them much earlier, I don't think that we should remain here. Let's return to the castle to think of a new way to gather information on Earth, since the citizens are starting to complain about the several day court dates that were cancelled for our visits." After having said that, she and her sister both return to Celestia's room in the castle.

Celestia looks to her sister and facehooves herself, sighing heavily, "I can't believe another large war has started, this will be very costly to those involved in it."

The dark blue princess rests a hoof on her shoulder and looks at her, "Sister, do you think it would be in Equestria's best interests to inform the citizens of the unfolding events on Earth?"

Celestia's eyes dart to Luna's and narrow slightly, "And ruin the happiness in the lives of Equestria's citizens? NO! I will not inform them of what is going on in that world. If we are forced to act, we will notify them then. However, it would be good to send some ponies there undercover secretly, under orders to gather whatever useful information they can about the different nations and their people. Could you help me create a plan for our spies?"

Luna nods and smiles at her sister, "Of course I will help you with the planning, though this will take time you know."

A few days later, in the dining room at Twilight's castle in Ponyville

Twilight is having a peaceful visit with Princesses Celestia and Luna when they all hear Rarity panic about something being wrong with Spike, running into the room holding a glowing young dragon in her magic, setting him on the cleared table as she approaches her assistant, "What's wrong?"

Spike scratches his scales, "I don't know! All of the sudden, my scales just started glowing and burning."

Luna looks at the young dragon, "Little is known about dragon culture, but this is a phenomenon we've seen before. It is the Call of The Dragon Lord."

Celestia then turns to look at him, "Dragon's glow whenever the Dragon Lord has need of them in the Dragonlands."

He looks at Princess Celestia and continues to scratch, "Great! How do I make it stop?"

The night princess stands beside her sister, looking at Spike sympathetic to how he must be feeling, "The only way to end the summons is to answer it. You must journey to the Dragonlands and see what is expected of you.

Rarity then worries for Spike and looks to Luna, "But the Dragonlands are full of... dragons! They are also ghastly creatures! Oh not you of course, Spikey Wikey."

March 18th, 1940 - Inside Discord's Realm of Chaos

Discord is taking a shower when yet another thick paper pops into existence and lands on the side table, getting his attention. He gets out of the shower and dries himself with a snap of his fingers, after picking up the paper and sitting down on a cloud to read it. He finishes the paper and sighs at what is in it, putting the paper away before snapping his fingers to appear at the throne room in the castle at Canterlot to hand it to the princesses.

Princess Celestia sits in the throne beside her sister when she sees Discord appear at the back of the room, wondering why he came here today, "Next pony please."

He waits for the last pony to make their request and leave the room before approaching the princesses, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I have came here to deliver something that has just arrived today." He then brings out the paper and holds it out for them to take it and read it.

Luna watches Celestia take the paper and then read it, finishing an hour later when they learn that Italy has joined the Axis Powers and sighs heavily, "And another nation joins the war, what will it take to end this fighting?"

Discord shrugs his shoulders solemnly, raising his hands into the air, "I apologize princess, but I wish I knew the answer to that question. I do enjoy chaos, but it stops being funny when there is loss of life. I have never found a corpse to be funny."

Celestia looks at Discord with sadness in her eyes, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention Discord, although it is not good news, it does inform us of what has happened recently. Please put this with the others, you are dismissed."

He snaps his fingers and puts it away, then snaps again and returns to his realm, "So, what shall I do to entertain myself today... Oh I know, I will go to Ponyville and see what is going on." He then snaps his fingers and walks around Ponyville, finding it peaceful before making his way to Fluttershy's house.

Flash Sentry approaches Princess Celestia after she handles the last few petitioners of that day, stands at attention and salutes her, "Your Highness, the recruitment posters have been sent to all the cities in Equestria as ordered. Permission to speak, Your Highness?"

She looks at him and smiles, then nods, "That is good news to hear, permission granted Captain Flash Sentry."

He looks up at her and then softly says, "Is there trouble somewhere that Equestria must prepare for?"

Celestia sighs and then slightly shakes her head, "It is nothing to be worried about Captain, just some precautions due to a few issues with the Griffon Empire is all." She then dismisses him, sending him on his way. Turning her head to look at her assistant, "Raven, have you located any ponies that would be suitable for the duty I told you about?"

Raven Inkwell moves in front of her in the now empty room, bows then nods, "I have indeed found twelve Unicorns and Pegasi that would be best suited for the detail you mentioned, how shall I call them in your highness?"

She thinks for a moment and sighs, "Call them in teams of two, for security reasons. Have the devices I tasked the R&D department to create been finished?"

The assistant nods her head, "They have indeed Your Highness, they just finished removing the last few issues with the spells on the hoof bracelets yesterday."

Celestia nods and then says, "That is good, now let us begin this last task for the day so I can go on an overnight tour of Yakyakistan with the girls."

Raven brings in several saddlebags containing an information packet, a map, a compass, notebooks, quills, inkwells, and bracelets, she then sets them down beside the throne steps, then looks at her list, "Big Dip and Dork Fish, you may enter!"

The two ponies walk through the doors as the guards open them, letting a few chuckles filter into the room. They walk forward and stop at the base of the stairs, then bow in respect to the princess.

The princess looks at the two ponies, Big dip is a dark brown Pegasi mare with green eyes and a pair of binoculars for a cutie mark. Shifting her eyes over to the other pony, he is a light bluish grey unicorn with two buck teeth hanging down over his bottom lip, a light yellow left eye, the other being dark blue and a rainbow colored beanie with a propeller on top. She then clears her throat, "I have requested your presence for a very important task, you both are Team Gray and your restrictions are as follows: 1. You are not to discuss your assigned duties with other teams or contact them. 2. You are not to be noticed or speak to the inhabitants. And 3. Do whatever is necessary to avoid being captured by them. I am going to be sending you to a new world that has been discovered, it is a world that has a large conflict occurring right now involving multiple nations. Memorize all of the information in the packets as well as the instructions to the bracelets, then destroy them. Your mission orders are to seek out information regarding the nation, its land and people. You are to avoid the homes of citizens not connected to your task, so stick to the public and political buildings as much as possible. If possible, learn more about the planet. The best chance to gain that information is in libraries, it will be up to you to locate them. The nation I am assigning to you two is Germany, it is declared a hostile territory and its military and political members are cruel to others. Unfortunately you will have to find food on your own. In the bag my assistant will give you two, you will find a map of the land you shall arrive in. On it you will see a few red areas which you are not permitted to walk through, as the land there is dangerous with toxins and devices that will end your life. One more thing I should warn you about is that you will see some terrible and horrifying things during your time there, so brace yourself when you see things that are worse than what you could ever see in this peaceful world. Some situations may be too dangerous, and will require the two of you to plan an approach to gather the information you seek. The mirror you shall be going through can be activated with the phrase, 'Glory to Equestria' and will remain open for two hours until it deactivates. The town you will be close to is in the land of Belgium, it is called Brussels. You are to report back what you have learned every two weeks, I wish you good luck on your journey Team Gray. Please collect your saddlebags from my assistant and follow Princess Luna, she will lead you to your departure point."

The two collect their saddlebags from the assistant and then follow Princess Luna to the room, head inside and then listen as she instructs them to wait inside until the others arrive to use the same portal.

After a half hour of assigning the six teams to their nations, she ensures that the two teams assigned to the United States go different directions by having one team cover one half of the nation and the other team covers the other half. She then sighs miserably and dismisses her assistant, watching her exit the room before looking to her sister, "It feels like I am sending them to their deaths unprepared, do you think I am doing a terrible thing Lulu?"

Luna looks at her sister with a soft smile, "You are doing the best you can sister. It may not be the honest way of gathering information, but it is the only rational choice we have at the moment."

Celestia sighs and then nods her head slowly, "I appreciate your honesty Lulu, but this guilty feeling just won't pass."

The princess walks up to her sister and hugs her, "I know how you feel Cece, I still feel guilty for being so selfish a thousand years ago. Don't worry, we will get through this."

May 10, 1940 - A couple months later, Inside Celestia's chambers

Luna and Celestia prepare for their visit to find out what is going on in the other world, choosing to visit Brussels this time. Hearing thunder in the distance, they soon hear whistling coming from above their heads. They look up into the sky, but see nothing. Seconds later, a loud explosion draws their attention as civilians begin to run to shelters, screaming in panic as debris begins falling down upon them.

Celestia gets an eye full of gore as an explosion happens sixty feet in front of them, catching fleeing civilians and blowing them to pieces. Scattering their entrails all over the ground, with a head landing at her hooves that has its brain exposed. Her eyes shrink to pinpricks as her heart begins to race, and her mane falls flat against her neck, "Th...thi......this is...horrible, I feel even guiltier for sending the teams over here." She looks over to Luna and sees her staring at the head at her feet, her mane is flat against her neck, and her eyes are the size of pinpricks.

She stares in horror at the head, its terrified expression stuck on the face. Suddenly her rump collapses to the ground as she lifts her head and starts screaming into the sky at the horrifying scene of gore. Her mind loses focus and stops the spell as she continues to scream when she returns to Celestia's room. Upon noticing the change in scenery, she stops screaming and looks around the room frantically trying to figure out where she is and fails, "Where am I? I do not recognize this place." She then looks to the other pony in front of her, "Excuse me, do you know who and where I am?"

The princess pulls her into a hug as she gets her freakout under control, letting her tears fall from her face freely, "Calm down my dear sister, calm down. Your name is Luna, you are an alicorn. My name is Princess Celestia, and you are safe here with me inside the city of Canterlot. You are safe here, nothing is going to harm you."

The Alicorn's eyes return to their normal size as she calms down and remembers who, and where she is, as well as what she saw in the other world. She then starts to tremble as she breaks down, throws her arms around her sister and cries at seeing the citizens blown apart like that, taking a breath in between sobs, "Th-thank you Cece, that was so horrible to see. Ho-how are we going to have any hope of bringing peace to those people when they destroy each other with such savagery... I-It would be best to bring those ponies we sent over there back or they may fall victim to it as well."

Celestia holds her crying sister tightly, sharing her grief at the terrible sight. She then takes a deep breath and sighs, "It would be a wise choice, but we know so little about that world. Those that were assigned to that world are very smart ponies who know how to avoid danger, I trust them in their capacity to gather the required information needed about the different nations."

The door then bursts open as four royal guards storm into the room and begin searching for any danger as the captain of the group steps forward, "Princess Celestia, we heard a scream and came running to protect you. Where's the danger, Your Highness?"

The princess stops crying and looks over to Captain Flash Sentry and shakes her head, "There is no danger present, our consciousnesses were visiting another land when my sister saw something scary during our reconnaissance trip and screamed as our focus was lost. No assistance is needed Captain Flash Sentry, please return to your duties."

Flash Sentry salutes Princess Celestia, turns around, and then leads the guards out of the room. He then walks down the hall wondering, 'I sure hope that Princess Luna will be okay, she has never screamed like that before.'

Celestia returns to holding Luna, and continues to let her tears fall, "We shall refrain from visiting that world for awhile and let the agents gather what information they can from that world."

Luna settles down and exits the embrace after several minutes of crying, "That would be the best course of action for the time being, since open conflict has started. I need some time to regain control of myself, good day dear Cece." She then turns around and takes her leave, with tears still running down her face.

June 23, 1940 - One mile outside of Brussels

Team Gray races towards the portal to deliver important information to the princesses, "Big, shake a hoof! We were not supposed to be noticed, so now we have to lose that SS before we report to the princess! If the Nazis find the portal, Equestria is doomed!" Dork Fish looks over his shoulder and sees the officer get off the motorcycle and start searching the area, bringing a sigh of relief to Dork Fish, "He lost us and is searching the area, let's keep moving so we don't jinx our luck."

The two change their directions and take a longer route back to the portal, arriving a half hour later at their destination. Big Dip steps forward, and takes a good look around them, "Glory to Equestria." After it opens, they both walk through it and hurry out of the room to make their delivery.

Pinkie Pie is setting up a movie projector for a couple's anniversary when she hears something crash into the table with the couple's wedding video on it, making her investigate the commotion and walks over to them when she sees it is Big Dip and Dork Fish, "Hey you two, are you both okay? What are a couple of pranksters like you doing in the castle? Did you put a laxative in Princess Celestia's cake again, didn't you learn your lesson the last three times?"

Dork Fish laughs softly and says in a deep husky voice, "Yes we did, and we are on a mission for the princess. Speaking of which, we should really be going. Sorry about the mess, have a good day Pinkie Pie." He then hastily grabs the canister he thinks is the correct one and stuffs it back into his saddlebag and races through the room to get to the princess.

She giggles and then picks up the mess and notices something different about the canister containing the couple's wedding film, "What are these strange markings, I haven't seen these before. I do need to make sure that the projector works, so let's watch the film." She then loads the film into the projector, pulls up a chair and turns it on. She watches strange creatures stand beside a wide road as other strange creatures march down the center of the road, with three other creatures in strange uniforms raising their right arms as the marching creatures pass by them. She continues watching as several large things roll down the road, with some type of cannon attached to the rear or the front of each one. A few moments later, she watches as many more large things roll down the road with creatures in the back of them. After a few minutes of watching them pass by, the location changes with a flag being raised above a building. She looks closely at the flag to try to identify it, but doesn't recognize the design.

After watching the end of the film she turns off the projector, rewinds it and returns it to its canister, "I need to show this to Twilight to see if she knows what those things and creatures are!" She then places it into her saddlebags and trots on down the hall after leaving a note on a table explaining that an incident misplaced the couple's wedding film.

At the private conference room in Canterlot Castle an hour later

Celestia looks at her sister briefly before turning to the two ponies of Team Gray, "You may begin reading your report now, one of you speak while the other prepares the film."

Dork Fish looks to Big Dip, "You are the one who somehow managed to get your hooves on that film, so you do the talking while I prepare it."

Big Dip nods and then begins her report, "We have not been able to report back for a while due to the increase of hostilities around the portal. Earlier this year, Nazi Germany has began a wide scale shock and awe campaign called a Blitzkrieg or Lightning War in English." She then begins to list off the changes that have happened in the past few months when she reaches last weeks events, taking a big sigh before continuing, "On the 3rd of June, the German air force called the Luftwaffe, began bombing Paris. A week later, Norway surrendered to the Germans. The 14th had the fall Paris, followed by the fall of Verdun the next day. On the 21st, France signed an armistice with the Germans, leading to France now being occupied by the German forces. That is all that has happened since we arrived, would you like to hear what we learned about the world itself Your Highness?" She looks at her, waiting for a reply.

Celestia is in complete shock at hearing the beautiful cities of Paris and Verdun falling to the Germans, allowing a few tears to run down her face and fall off the tip of her chin, "P-Paris...fell......Oh all those poor people..."

Luna then looks at her sister and sees that she is in total shock at the latest developments, then looks to Big Dip, "What importance is this film you have found, to this disturbing information?"

Big Dip looks at the lunar princess and clears her throat, "It is a film taken by a camera crew as their military marched into the city of Paris, it shows what they look like and what they have for military equipment Your Majesty. Would you like to watch this film before hearing the rest of the information we gathered, Princess Luna and Celestia?"

The solar princess recovers from her shock and sighs, "Yes, we will watch the film first before you continue delivering the information you both gathered."

Dork Fish then nods to Big Dip, who turns the lights off and starts to play the film. He immediately notices that it is not the correct film due to there being ponies in it, "This ain't the film you grabbed Dip. Where could that film be, unless...uh oh...oh no, oh no that is not good at all."

Celestia narrows her eyes and stares intensely at Dork Fish, "What...did...you...do?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the portal near Brussels

The SS officer examines the area one more time, finding a trail of strange hoof prints clearly not belonging to any horse he has ever seen. Being almost a perfect circle and the size of a normal horse's hoof, but not as deep as it should be. Deciding to follow the tracks, he slings his MP40 over his shoulder. He then heads towards his motorcycle, then gets back on it and slowly drives beside the trail to find out where they lead to.