Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

----------------------------------------------------------------------MANEHATTAN---------------------------------------------------------------------
It was now almost 8:00am. As the convoy of the world leaders' cars departed the Manehattan Airport, in the main city, a nasty plot was being put into action. Near the Western Bank of Manehattan, Neighsay, Slick Shady, and some other HNA members were waiting for the right moment, to rob a certain item they were looking for from one of the bank's vaults. They needed a rare magical element called Aetherium, which was found only on Equis. Now that they were no longer on Equis, they no longer had access to it, as all the mines were on Equis, outside of Equestria and the Crystal Empire.

More than 200 years ago on the planet of Equis, Aetherium had been used in experiments where scientists had attempted to open rifts to other worlds. It had even managed to open a Rift from Equestria to a barren desert planet for almost three hours straight, but that was as far as this went before the program was shut down by Princess Celestia after an accident where a scientist was cut in half when the rift became unstable and sucked him in. Thankfully, Aetherium was usually a stable element, unless it was activated in such a device.

If the Aetherium was not kept in a certain stable state, it would become unstable, and the consequences would be catastrophic. The failed experiment 200 years earlier had been a result of that. Plus, the Aetherium had to be calibrated using a special instrument, which enabled it to be able to open a gate to a specific world. This instrument was also stored in the vault with the Aetherium.

Normally, Neighsay didn't like to do the grunt work himself, especially after he had planted the bomb at Nightlights' Shoppe in Manehattan, but Shady had convinced Neighsay that if they let the lesser members of the HNA go ahead with the robbery, they would probably be captured, and would give away their location and ruin their plans. Hence, Neighsay had agreed to it. He and the other HNA members had come up with a plan to rob the Western Bank of Manehattan.

As they prepared, they knew that the amount of police and military near the bank would be less, as this part of the city was not as heavily protected today as much as the area through which the human delegates would be heading through on the way to the showcase, which was taking place somewhere outside the city. The HNA didn't care much about the showcase venue. All they wanted was to accomplish their goals, by getting that Aetherium to build the Rift Gate.

They knew that while there wouldn't be as much police to deal with, they would still have the security guards at the bank to deal with, and despite the fact that most ponies had probably gone to watch the showcase, some would probably be taking advantage of the calm on the streets to go to the bank and get their business done. As Neighsay, Slick Shady, and the others headed towards the Western Bank of Manehattan, they knew that the bank had a security spell on it, to prevent anypony from bringing a weapon into the bank, such as a gun. It would also make sure that they didn't use their magic to commit crimes inside the bank.

However, Slick Shady knew a way to disable such spells to commit the robbery, and he was preparing to execute it. If the spell was executed perfectly, they would be able to steal the Aetherium. As they headed towards the bank, Neighsay spoke. "Gentleponies. Are you ready to execute what most would consider a crime, but something that we are doing for the greater good?"

"Yes, Supreme Leader Neighsay." said Slick Shady, smirking a little at Neighsay. All of the other ponies with them nodded, indicating they were ready for the robbery.

"Good. Put on your masks. It's time to get that Aetherium." said Neighsay, as he and the other HNA members put on masks to hide their faces, and pepped themselves for the robbery. They had also made a pact to carry poison capsules with them, so that if they would be captured by the police in case things went wrong, they would use the capsules to kill themselves, so they would not give up any information, and die as martyrs of the HNA's cause.

As they ran towards the entry door of the Western Bank of Manehattan, Slick Shady began disabling the security spell. They knew that from the moment the spell was fully disabled, they would only have a few minutes before the police would arrive, as the police would receive an alert automatically when the spell was disabled. As Neighsay, Shady, and the HNA members entered the bank, the partially disabled spell had enabled them to bring knives in, and they brandished them as they pushed the security aside. "THIS IS A ROBBERY! PUT YOUR HANDS UP, AND GET ON THE GROUND!" shouted Neighsay, as he brutally stabbed one of the bank security guards who attempted to stop him, which made the receptionist in the bank scream.

Neighsay ran to the manager's cabin, and dragged the unicorn out, holding his bloodstained knife to his throat. "If you want me to spare your life, take me to the vault where the Aetherium is kept!"

"I can't do that! Only a few ponies have access to it, and you crooks are not one of them!" said the manager, as he screamed, as Neighsay brought the knife so close to the manager's throat that it was touching him, causing the manager to scream.

"If you don't want to lose your life, take me to the vault where you have kept the Aetherium, or else I WILL kill you!" said Neighsay.

"Alright, alright! I'll take you there! Just don't kill any of these people!" said the manager, as he began taking Neighsay towards the high-security vaults. As he did so, Neighsay signalled to Slick Shady and one of the other HNA ponies to follow him, while the remaining were to keep an eye on their hostages, and to make sure no police officers were heading their way yet.

As Neighsay, Shady, their comrade, and the manager headed towards the vaults, Shady let Neighsay know that the security spell on the Western Bank of Manehattan was fully disabled, and they only had around ten to fifteen minutes before the police showed up. "Hurry up, you slow oaf, we can't take too long!" said Neighsay, purposely kicking the manager, to make him get to the vault of Aetherium faster, and within another minute, they were at that exact vault. "Open it." ordered Neighsay, as the manager, despite being extremely scared, twisted the combination lock, to open the vault.

As the large vault door swung open, it revealed what the HNA was looking for. Surrounded by glass enclosures were a few metal cases. Although they couldn't see the contents of the cases, they knew what they contained. Aetherium. Their goal was here. "Quick, everypony! In the vault. Let's get that Aetherium." said Neighsay, as he and the other HNA members began securing the cases of Aetherium. Neighsay himself turned his back to the others for a second, to grab a couple of the cases.

However, as he was grabbing the case, he suddenly heard a loud bang, and Neighsay shouted in pain, as he saw blood appear on his back, and the Supreme Leader of the HNA fell to the floor. As he looked up to see what had happened, despite his vision beginning to go dark, he saw all the shocked HNA ponies staring at one of them. The masked Slick Shady. He was holding a gun in his magic aura. The fact that Slick Shady, one of his most trusted members, had betrayed Neighsay, hit him like a cold slap.

"Shady... quomodo potuisti!?! How dare you give us away to the Princesses!"

"Oh, no no no, Neighsay. I'm not giving the HNA away to the government. I'm just making sure you don't do it. You're too weak for the cause. I regret it." said Slick Shady, without any remorse, as he shot the horrified manager, killing him instantly. "Come on, HNA, we still have to leave with what we come for." said Shady, coldly, as he and the other HNA members, despite being shocked by this, continued to take the Aetherium cases. The mortally wounded Neighsay could do nothing but watch as Slick Shady took over his whole organisation, and soon, the lights went out.

--------------------------------------------------ROYAL EQUESTRIAN ARMY PROVING GROUND------------------------------------------
It was now almost 1:00pm here at the Royal Equestrian Army Proving Grounds, located around four hours from the city of Manehattan. The showcase had begun around 11:00am, and was going well. The Royal Equestrian Air Force had just finished demonstrating aerial combat in their Hawker Hurricanes, and now a few brand new Supermarine Spitfires were showing off their moves as well.

The Princesses were enjoying the amazing show that was taking place before their eyes, and so were their guests. Their chief guest, Winston Churchill, was carefully watching the display, checking their tactics to see how effective they would be in a real battle. As the simulated battle continued between the Spitfires, one of Celestia's aides came up to her and whispered in her ear. "Your Highnesses. There has been an emergency situation in Manehattan that requires your immediate attention."

"Is it that important?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, your Highness. I wouldn't be interrupting you in the middle of such an event if it was so important." said the aide, as Celestia and Luna instantly got up, excusing themselves, as they went off to wonder what had happened. As they reached the room where the aide had guided them to, they were surprised and shocked to see Master Metal, the head of the CBI, or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"Your Majesties, I truly apologize for dragging you out of the showcase like that, but we have a crisis on our hands. Just around four hours ago, a robbery took place in the city of Manehattan." said Metal.

"A robbery? Is that so concerning to the CBI?" asked Luna, a little annoyed at first.

"It usually wouldn't be, your Majesties, but the place that was robbed was the Western Bank of Manehattan, one of the biggest banks in the country. A group of nine thieves somehow disabled the security spell, and brought knives into the bank. During the robbery, they took something very rare that was stored in one of the vaults. They took cases of Aetherium."

This horrified the Princesses. They immediately realized who was behind the robbery. It was the HNA. The scientists the HNA had kidnapped were working on an idea to build a Rift Gate back to Equis using Aetherium. Ever since the original portal experiments back on Equis more than 200 years earlier, the Aetherium had been closely safeguarded, and had been kept in the Western Bank of Manehattan ever since they were transported to Earth.

"The HNA were behind this, weren't they?" said Luna.

"Yes, they were definitely behind this. Unfortunately, two ponies were killed during the robbery. The bank manager was murdered, shot in the head, and the other victim was one of the HNA members. In fact, it was actually the pony who we've been looking for. Take a look." said Metal, as he took some crime scene photographs out of a file and showed them to the Princesses.

They were horrific, showing that the vault had been totally emptied of all its content, which was around twenty cases of Aetherium. They also showed the bodies of the two who were killed in the robbery. The first body was that of the bank manager. He had been fatally shot in the head, and had probably died before his body had even hit the ground. However, the body of the second pony shocked the Princesses. It was that of former Chancellor Neighsay. He had been shot in the chest, and had probably bled out on the floor. The leader of the HNA was dead. But who had killed him?

"Did the police kill Neighsay?" asked Luna.

"No, your Majesties. By the time they got there, the robbers were gone, and we had found the dead bodies of the manager, the hostages, and that of Neighsay. Looks like one of his own people betrayed him."

"But who could have betrayed him?"

"That is what we are trying to figure out. However, we did some forensics on the bullet that had killed him and the manager, and we found who shot him. It was the traitor."

"What?! You've figured out the identity of the traitor?"

"Yes. The bullets were custom-made, and had his name engraved on it. It was Slick Shady. He was also the one who disabled the security spell. However, since this morning, he seems to have gone dark. He has not come home, and he is nowhere to be seen."

This shocked the Princesses. The fact that Shady, who was one of their most trusted diplomats, was the traitor, hit them like a cold slap. They had let him privy to their conversations. They had given him access to the classified information. And he was working with the HNA all along. As the Princesses comprehended this, they realized that from today onwards, it would be a whole new game.