Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

7TH APRIL 1940

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It was now 7:00am in Canterlot Castle. It was a heavy day for everyone at the castle right now, since it was reported that the first Equestrians had unfortunately been lost on the battlefield. A unicorn had been lost when his RAF Vickers Wellington bomber had been shot down near Denmark, and his body had unfortunately washed up, along with those of the other crew members, who were all human. Two Earth ponies had unfortunately been killed in Norway by the Germans.

As if that wasn't enough, three were also missing. A unicorn, Thunder Wing had gone missing in Norway after he had ejected from his RAF Hurricane when he had been shot down. An Earth pony, Golden Harvest, another RAF pilot, had also been lost in the same area. Rumours were coming in that they may have been captured by advancing Germans. So far, three were confirmed dead, and two were missing. Celestia really was hoping that Golden Harvest and Thunder Wing were still alive.

As she thought about what she would have to say to the families of the dead, one of Celestia's assistants came in. "Your Highness, the plane carrying the remains of our fallen warriors will be landing at the Canterlot Airport in an hour. Are you ready to leave for the airport? We and their families will be there to bring them home." said the assistant.

"Yes, we'll leave for the airport in five minutes. Get the cars ready." said Celestia, as the assistant left. Celestia sighed, and got ready for the amount of crying, as well as what she would have to say to console the grieving families, as she went off to meet Luna in the new Canterlot Castle garage. It held their recently acquired Lincoln limousine, which had been acquired freshly from the USA. It was similar to the one that the US President had, but painted in the sky blue of the Equestrian flag. It was called, 'The Sisters' Chariot.

As Celestia was walking towards the garage, she suddenly saw a flickering form. It was Discord, smirking at her. As Celestia charged her horn, as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared. Celestia thought it was just a trick of her mind, since she had been so stressed lately, and it was probably just an illusion made by her mind, as she continued heading towards the garage. As she arrived at the garage, Luna was waiting there. "Sister, are you ready for this?"

"I am, Luna. It's going to be sad, but I have to be strong, to bring our fallen home." said Celestia, as she and Luna climbed into the limousine. The Crystal Empire had also lost two soldiers, who were being brought back home today as well. Their bodies would be on another plane, that was heading to the new airport in the Crystal Empire. The limousine, followed by its bodyguard vehicles, began driving out of Canterlot Castle.

As they drove out, all of the citizens of Canterlot, on seeing the sky blue Lincoln, began waving at it, knowing the Princesses were inside the vehicle. Despite the waves, there was a sombre nature about them, knowing what they were going out of the city for. It was a relatively short drive to the airport, which was just thirty minutes from the city. With the new roads and the fact that there were barely any other cars, they reached in just 20 minutes.

As they arrived at the gates of the airport, they were advised that the plane carrying the fallen would be arriving in 35 minutes, so they would have some time to prepare. The grieving families were already inside the airport, so they were advised to be ready for them. As the cars drove into the airport grounds, towards the tarmac, they could hear the loud sounds of crying and mourning.

The cars drove up to the VIP terminal, where the families were all waiting. Most of the families were all crying and bawling except for two of them. The cars stopped in front of them, and the Princesses got out of their limousine. The families, albeit still crying a little, bowed down respectfully to the Princesses on seeing them. "Your Highnesses, why did you send our sons to war? They're dead because of you!" shouted a mother, attempting to lunge at Celestia, but was stopped mid-air by the guards.

"They knew what they were going into when they enlisted. They knew the risks, and gave up their lives in the line of duty." explained Celestia.

"This was your fault! YOU made our two sons go into a battlefield, on a planet which was not familiar to them, and now they're no more! This was your fault!" cried the grieving mother, as her family took her aside, so that she didn't get arrested by the guards.

Then, a father from another family came to Celestia. "Your Highness, we are actually quite proud of our son, which is why we are not mourning."

"Why is that so? Did you hate him?"

"No, your Highness. We were given the details of how he died. He bravely gave up his life to save some wounded soldiers. We are happy and proud that he died bravely in the line of fire, trying to save his friends, not like a retreating coward. We are proud of him for this reason." said the father, trying to hold back tears.

"He must have been a really good and selfless person, for him to give up his own life to save his friends." said Luna.

"He was. And we wouldn't have it any other way." said the father, as the plane, an RAF DC-3, came into their sights in the distance. They watched as the plane smoothly touched down, and taxied to its parking spot. As the engines stopped, the pallbearers, in luxury hearses, pulled up next to the plane, and got out of the hearses. The plane's doors opened, and the pallbearers walked inside, and lifted the coffins. As they were loaded into the hearses, a band began playing a funeral tune, sombre and sad.

As the band stopped, a two-minute period of silence was observed, in honour of the fallen warriors. Then, once that was done, the doors of the hearses were closed, and the families hopped into the vehicles which had been provided for them, as they began driving out of the airport, to the graveyard, where the final rites and burial would be done. This emotional farewell for the fallen warriors made the twin sisters' eyes tear up as the hearses began leaving the airport, when an assistant ran up to them. "Your Highnesses! We have received word of an explosion in Fillydelphia!" said the assistant, panting.

"What? An explosion in Fillydelphia? What do you mean?" asked Luna.

"Yes, it levelled a whole building, a large shop. At least four ponies have been reported dead, as well as two human reporters who were checking the shop out. Some people saw a pony running out of the building just five minutes before the explosion. It was former Chancellor Neighsay."

This shocked the Princesses. The HNA had just committed a terrorist attack on Equestrian soil, and had killed six innocents, four of them probably being collateral damage. This was an important matter. "We're going to Fillydelphia, right away! Prepare the plane!" said Celestia. She was going to see the scene, and just hoped that someone had survived to tell the tale.