Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

8TH MAY 1940

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It was now 10:00am in Equestria. It was now spring season, and summer would soon start by the end of the month. Today, however, it was a cloudy day. Since the weather team couldn't control the weather on Earth, it would be weird for Equestria to once more face extreme weather conditions.

The schools would also start their summer vacations, and would start again, with an all-new curriculum. It had included certain subjects known to humans as well, such as Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, but now, with human concepts. In Biology, for instance, they would be learning about both the human body as well as the Equestrian body. They would also learn about human history as well as Equestrian history, so they would also be learning about things such as the Great War, the Hundred Years' War, etc., as well as the Ponysians, and what not.

The Princesses were busy inside Canterlot Castle, dealing with a lot of things. Rules had finally been drafted and implemented by the operation of aircraft for commercial and private purposes in Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Under these rules, Equestria had finally got its first airline, called Air Equestria. It was run by Filthy Rich, in collaboration with an American carrier named American Airlines, who owned stock in Air Equestria. It operated a few DC-3s, entirely different models from the military ones used by the Royal Equestrian Air Force, and currently only operated domestic flights within the main cities of Equestria, and a lone international flight to the Crystal Empire.

As the Princesses got ready to meet with an American diplomat, suddenly, a British diplomat came in, yelling, "Your Highnesses! The British Prime Minister is resigning!"

"What? Prime Minister Chamberlain is officially resigning?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, your Highnesses. The Norway debate, which started the day before yesterday, ended in the House of Commons in London, and the Parliament have decided that Chamberlain's government has not done a great job in the conduct of the Norwegian campaign, and that he has to resign. That, and his health isn't getting any better. His cancer is getting worse, and he wants to deal with his health first and foremost. Hence, he is stepping away as Prime Minister." said the diplomat.

"But who will be his replacement?" asked Luna. "Britain's government can't function without a Prime Minister, and the monarchy no longer has power in Britain itself."

"Well, Chamberlain will resign today, and his replacement will be sworn in tomorrow. His replacement is Winston Churchill, the leader of the coalition government. The man is a former soldier. He served in the Royal Army for more than five years. However, we don't feel that Churchill is a good choice as the Prime Minister."

"Why not? A former soldier seems just like the kind of man to lead a country in the midst of wartime."

"Well, your Highnesses, Churchill's accession to the premiership was at best the equivalent of an abrupt wartime marriage. He probably could not have won a majority in any of the political parties in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords was completely silent when it learned of his appointment. He isn't that great a choice as the Prime Minister. However, he was the only choice, so we had to take it." said the diplomat, rather glumly. Luna guessed he was probably a member of the Conservative Party, which was Chamberlain's party.

"When will Chamberlain be resigning?" asked Celestia.

"Today afternoon, your Highnesses. He will be delivering his final speech as Prime Minister at 3:00pm London time, and then, tomorrow will be Churchill's swearing-in ceremony. It will be broadcasted all over the world."

"I see. We shall see the swearing-in ceremony on television. Also, how is the status of the arms factory being constructed in the industrial area outside of Ponyville?"

"The gun factory is around 75 percent complete, your Highnesses, and it should open later this year. The munitions factory is around 65 percent complete, and should also open this year. Now, the five County-class heavy cruisers that have been leased by your Navy have also been delivered, and we are currently doing a few crew familiarization and training missions with these vessels. The first five of the new K-class destroyers have been delivered as well, and the remaining ships are all still under construction. The shipyard in Fillydelphia is also working overtime to get the ships out. All of the remaining vessels should be delivered by October next year."

"I see. Hopefully, they should strengthen our Navy. Also, how is the joint S.M.I.L.E.-S.I.S. operation against the HNA going?"

"Well, your Highnesses, we have conducted a deep investigation, and we have figured out that the HNA is involved in the kidnapping of four Equestrian scientists almost two weeks ago." said the diplomat. Celestia head heard about the kidnapping of the four scientists from the team that was investigating how Equestria and the Crystal Empire had been transported to Earth. The police had been searching for them since to no avail. All they could determine was that the ponies had been abducted from their houses, all within half an hour of each other, and had been taken somewhere.

The kidnapping of those scientists was extremely puzzling, as no ransom demands had been made or anything of that sort, yet, they still hadn't been returned to their families. "Why would they take those scientists?" asked Luna.

"Your Highnesses, the S.M.I.L.E. team found that these scientists were researching portals. Specifically, ones to go back to your home planet, Equis. They had made a lot of research on how to build a prototype large enough to send some ponies home. Those notes were also stolen by the HNA."

This statement shocked the Princesses. The HNA had abducted four ponies, just so that they could go back to an Equis which was now much different compared to the Equis they had left behind during their transportation to Earth. Faust would never let that plan work, but if the HNA did succeed in having the portal built, it could destroy the whole of Earth. "We need to step up our investigation, fast. Those ponies' lives depend on us. We cannot let the HNA finish their plan. They need to pay for what they have done." said Luna.

"Yes, your Highnesses. It is already done, and we are working on finding their location. Trouble is, they could be anywhere in Equestria, or even in the Crystal Empire."

"I know, so we have to launch a manhunt for the HNA members first, and then finally deal with Neighsay. Start with all known HNA locations, and get them to confess. If they do so, we may find Neighsay and the scientists' whereabouts, as well as the identity of the mole."

"On it, your Highnesses. We will stop the HNA, no matter the cost." said the diplomat, as he began calling the S.I.S. officer in Equestria, to let them know the new plan. Celestia and Luna sighed, knowing that it would take a while to catch Neighsay, and stop his plan, but they had to be dealt with. Discord was also still on the loose, and they had to deal with him. But eventually, both of them would slip up, and that was when the Princesses would catch them.

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It was now around 2:30pm in Germany. Discord and the men at the Erweiterung facility were working on a new project, but this one was different from the others. It was a military project, but not related to weapons in any way. It was not a gun, tank, or aircraft, or anything of that sort. It was a new form of cipher, an improved version of the Enigma machines currently used by the Nazi Army.

Through their intelligence sources, the Nazi Army had uncovered the horrifying secret that the Enigma machines were not as secure as they thought, and the Polish had cracked their code almost a decade earlier, back in 1932, using the bomba method. The Lorenz cipher was also not as secure as they thought, as they had figured out that British cryptologists were working to decode it.

Hence, they were working on a new cipher, one based on the Enigma, but in reality, was an entirely new code and machine. This version of the Enigma, which would be called the Enigma M3E. This version would be the ultimate cipher, giving it a total of four rotors, and encrypting messages even more. Discord had heard of an operation going on at Bletchley Park, a large mansion located in a small county town in Britain, which was on to decrypt the German ciphers. That wasn't going to work, especially once the new Enigma M3Es had rolled out.

Also, the Thaumic energy generator/extractor that they had been using to get the magic out of the pony POWs was currently full of Thaumic energy, aka magic, which he would soon try to put in humans, and create humans with superpowers, in a way. That would be exciting, thought Discord, as he continued working on the new Enigma. The thought of world domination was always therapeutic for him.