Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

15TH OCTOBER 1940

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It was now 9:00am here in the city of Canterlot. The Princesses were rushing around the castle to their next meeting. Ever since the end of the Italian invasion of Egypt, a lot had occurred in Europe. Germany and Italy had helped Bulgaria take back Southern Dobruja from Romania, which had been more than one-third of Romania's territory. This area had been part of Bulgaria until the Second Balkan War in 1913, during which Romania had wrested it away from Bulgaria. However, the two Axis nations had forced Romania to sign the Treaty of Craiova, which had given Southern Dobruja back to Romania.

This combined with earlier losses of Romanian territory to the Soviet Union and Hungary had led to a large number of riots in Romania, and King of Romania, Carol II, had been forced to flee the country, and he had sought asylum in Equestria, which had been granted by the Princesses. The monarchy in Romania had been replaced by a military dictatorship, led by Marshal Ion Antonescu, who was pro-Nazi, and wanted Romania to have good relations with Germany.

In the meantime, the pony death toll and the number of ponies who had been deployed to the battlefields by Equestria and the Crystal Empire had increased so much that at least one pony was dying everyday in the battlefield. That toll had now risen to 4,200 in the last month. The total toll of the war was still stagnant at around 10 million, but that had increased lately with the Germans starting to bomb cities in Britain. In fact, German planes had been able to reach London and reduce a decent number of its buildings to rubble. Of course, the RAF were able to try and stop German bombers, but multiple civilians had died due to the incessant bombing. This had enraged the Princesses. How could they bomb a city full of civilians for no reason, without any reason? They had been at it for a month now, and it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

In fact, the REAF had temporarily sent a small unit to London to help the RAF defend themselves against the nonstop aerial attacks by the Germans. In fact, in some time, the Princesses would soon make another state visit to London soon, postponing their planned visit to New York City by sometime. This would be their way of showing support to Britain during the war, and they would also visit a base on the frontlines as a gesture of goodwill to thank the soldiers who had bravely helped defend the Allied nations during the war.

In their own country, the demands from Our Town were starting to get more frequent and demanding. The small town had a population of only around 900 ponies, but they wanted to break off and start their own country, which would be governed under their principle, which was essentially the system of communism which was used by the government of the Soviet Union. Of course, the Princesses would never let that happen, as they had heard reports through the intelligence services of the Allied nations how miserable life really was in the Soviet Union under communism, and they did not want the same thing to happen to their ponies.

As the Princesses turned their attention to the most important thing on the platter since the year began, they looked at the newest report from the CBI for the hunt for Slick Shady and the HNA. They were still looking for a potential location for where Shady and the HNA could be, and a location that had previously been dismissed by the CBI had now resurfaced: the old house that Shady's late brother had owned near the Neigh Horseleans swamps. Recently, a biologist who had been doing some research in the swamps had reported hearing a loud noise, as if there was a large crowd. This had been near the location of Shady's brother's old house.

They had sent a plane over the area, but they couldn't see anything due to the thick forest. As there was only one road that passed through the area, and the sound of vehicles would also probably alert them, they had planned a covert operation to secretly take down the HNA, which would start very soon, in less than a few minutes from now. They were in place for the operation. If this was the place, this would hopefully be the end of the HNA, and they could seize the Rift Gate.

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In Clumsy Honest's old room, Slick Shady was again reminiscing, the last few conversations he had with his twin brother before his death. He remembered the day that he had gotten the news of his brother's death, the day his whole life fell apart. All his life, his brother was the only constant. Their parents had died years ago in an accident, around 60 years earlier. They had died when the Friendship Express had derailed after someone had deliberately placed a rock in the tracks near the city of Fillydelphia. The train driver had not noticed it until the last moments, and despite his attempts to stop the train, it was going quite fast at the time, and had derailed, killing the driver along with 26 other ponies, including Shady and Honest's parents.

Despite the fact that Shady and Honest were twins, they were both only around 12 years old when their parents died, and were placed in an orphanage. They were ejected the second they turned 18, and until Shady joined a university, Honest was like an older brother to Shady, and took care of him with the meagre earnings that he got at his job as a baker's apprentice in Fillydelphia. The second Shady graduated from university and joined the Equestrian government, he started doing the reverse, and started supporting Honest.

The other thing he started doing was trying to figure out who had killed their parents that fateful day by derailing the Friendship Express for no reason. The perpetrator had never been found, even after 60 years, and Shady had been angry about it. Despite the fact that Honest had told him not to fixate on this, as it had been decades since that fateful day, Shady had persisted in his quest, and had found the pony's identity, but knew that he could not have him imprisoned without evidence, of which there was none, so he had to take matters into his own hands. That was when his brother was killed by the human barbarians, and Shady joined the HNA, then headed by Neighsay.

At that time, when Neighsay was planning his attack to terrify Equestria and the Crystal Empire to stop them from collaborating with the humans, Shady had discovered that the pony who had derailed the Friendship Express had been planning to visit Nightlights' Shoppe in Fillydelphia. The same city where he had murdered their parents. How poetic it would be if he got his justice there. That was when Shady discovered a group of 5 human journalists would also be there, and suggested to Neighsay that they bomb the building. With the help of the Nobel-808 he had stolen, he had been able to have Neighsay destroy the building, and take the lives of 18, including 4 of the 5 human journalists.

However, he had not managed to kill the pony who had murdered Shady's parents, despite the fact that he was in the building when the bomb went off. However, he had managed something better. While the pony had survived, he had lost his three grandchildren and one of his daughters in the explosion. Shady had heard a radio interview featuring him, where he had been lamenting and crying that his life was over with the loss of so many members of his family, and he didn't want to live anymore. Shady had laughed during that, having gotten his revenge. However, then he had lost faith in Neighsay.

Neighsay had decided to construct the Rift Gate, but had decided to leave Equestria and the Crystal Empire on Earth, because he believed that they should suffer slowly on Earth, but Shady wanted to be a savior and return them back home to Equis. It was due to this disagreement that he had killed Neighsay in the robbery at the Western Bank of Manehattan, as he didn't want to be a savior, and had also driven Neighsay's name into the mud among the HNA by calling him a traitor.

Now, as he reminisced over all he was doing, meanwhile, not too far from the old house, the Commander of the Royal Guards, Shining Armor, and his men, were getting ready to storm the building. Shining himself was disguised as a truck driver, driving a large mail truck down the road. His men were in the back, all kitted out, and ready to use invisibility spells the second they jumped out of the vehicle. They were about to storm the compound and take out Slick Shady, to save the experts and stop the construction of the Rift Gate. Shining's second-in-command was sitting next to him, also pepping himself up.

Shining Armor normally didn't participate in CBI operations, since he was a Royal Guard, but their Tactical Squad had specially asked for him today so he could lead this operation against the HNA. They were essentially police special forces but with military-level clearance and weaponry, and today, they would be conducting a raid against the HNA. The plan begun very soon, with Shining Armor and his colleague in the passenger seat posing as postmen on the way to the nearby town to delivery mail and priority packages. While the truck was actually carrying some boxes, they were mostly loaded with bricks, and most of the men in the back were 15 CBI ponies, dressed in full tactical armor, having guns, ready to take down the HNA.

There were two other vehicles on the road, a goods truck supposedly owned by a toy store, and a bus owned by an intercity operator. All these vehicles were carrying CBI Tactical Squad ponies, making for a total of around 60 men to raid the HNA compound. They were all going to capture Shady, or even kill him if necessary, to save the scientists he had captured and stop his plan to destroy Earth. All the vehicles had been driving near the property for some time now, and had all found parking spots near the building. They knew the HNA couldn't escape with the swamps nearby, and this was the only good road, they pretty much had no means of escape.

Shining turned off the truck's engine, and opened up the hood so that if anyone saw the truck, they would think that it had broken down, and the driver had gone off to fetch help. One of the soldiers would stay back posing as a postman so that the HNA would think that he was trying to figure out what was wrong with the truck if they saw him. Meanwhile, Shining walked to the rear door of the truck and opened it, and as he did so, all of the soldiers inside put on invisibility spells, that they would take off only as they entered the HNA compound.

The raid began, and Shining Armor also put on an invisibility spell, as he was leading the raid into the place. From the old plans they had been given, they had known that there was only one gate in or out of the compound as well, so it would be easily to keep the HNA inside. As the ponies ran towards the compound, making very little noise thanks to sound suppressing spells as well as the invisibility spells, they were able to see the compound, which was very heavily occupied by multiple ponies, around 40 of them. In addition to the main house, temporary barracks had also been constructed and built here out of wood, to house the other HNA members, and they could see that a few more were also being built, probably for more new members.

As they got ready to raid the place, they all cocked their guns, loaded them, slid a bullet into the chambers, and began running towards the compound, intending to take them by surprise, similar to the tactics that Germany was using in their civilian aerial attack against Britain, surprising them in a large mass coordinated attack, and overpowering them. Hopefully, the HNA wouldn't attempt anything to try and kill them.

As the CBI Tactical Squad began heading towards the compound, in a true surprise attack, as they entered, they deactivated the invisibility spells, and Shining Armor shouted, "Attack! Get Shady!" as they charged into the compound, to the surprise of the HNA ponies, who were shocked at how stealthily the CBI had snuck up on them, and how they had found their location. As the CBI Tactical Squad charged in, guns at the ready, the HNA ponies started charging at them, to try and stop them.

Meanwhile, from his room in the big house, Shady heard the loud noise, and looked outside the windows to see the horrifying sight of the CBI Tactical Squad storming his compound. He was surprised that they had been able to find him, given that he had hidden so far away from civilisation, but he had prepared for the eventuality that they would trace him here. He couldn't run away from the compound due to the surrounding swamps, and they would probably be caught before they tried to reach the road, which was quite far from the compound, so he had another plan up his sleeve.

He couldn't use teleportation to teleport the Rift Gate and all of the HNA members away from his brother's old house, so he would only use it to teleport the Rift Gate, the experts, a few others from the HNA core circle, and himself to a new isolated location where he had already stocked items for that very purpose. The spell he would use was untraceable, so the Princesses wouldn't be able to find him. As for the other HNA members? He wasn't going to let them give him away, so he had a final surprise for them, thought Shady, as he grabbed his things, and ran along with the select members to the area behind the house, where the Rift Gate construction was progressing well. However, of the four kidnapped, one was missing. Riftweaver Spark and two of the others were there, cowering due to the loud gunshots. One was missing.

"No time to find him, we need to get out of here so we can conduct the Return, else our plans will go to waste!" shouted Shady as the rest of the HNA inner circle hog-tied the remaining experts. The trap was set, and soon, it would be triggered. Thankfully, he had told the other HNA members that their lives didn't really belong to them, but to Faust, and she could take them away at any moment, so they would be more than willing to give up their lives fighting.

Meanwhile, in the large melee at the front, Shining Armor and the CBI Tactical Squad were caught up in the large number of ponies who were trying to beat them up, to stop them from getting to Slick Shady at all costs. They had initially tried to be non-lethal, trying not to use their guns, which they had at their ready. Majority of the time, they tried to use the butts of the guns and stunning spells to fend off the people, but one of them had fired shots at an HNA pony after that pony had come at him holding a large sword intending to attack him, and had ended up killing him, and now, all of the HNA members had grabbed shovels, knives, and other items that could be used to deadly effect, leading to Shining Armor authorising the team to use their guns, and hence, the shots had been fired. Already, 5 of the HNA ponies had already been killed, and one pony from the Tactical Squad had been seriously wounded.

As Shining and his soldiers charged towards the big house, he was able to find an opening through the crowd towards the house. "Guys, we can get in through there! CHARGE!" said Shining, as he and around 10 of the Tactical Squad ponies ran through the door behind him, and blocked it off with a half ton of items to try and slow down the HNA ponies chasing them, while they tried to find Shady. As they searched through the house, they were met by a suspicious smell of almonds coming from the ground floor corridor, but they climbed the staircase first. As they climbed through the three floors of the house, they were horrified as they saw open cupboards, and empty drawers, as if the occupants had hastily packed up and left. They had to find them, fast.

As they ran towards the back door, one of Shining's men saw something that horrified him, calling, "Commander! We need to get out of here NOW! They're going to kill us all!"

"What?! What is it?!" said an alarmed Shining Armor as he looked at what the soldier had seen. Blocks of green clay-like material lined the walls, timers attached. The remainder of the stolen Nobel-808 plastic explosive that had been used in the bombing of Nightlights' Shoppe in Fillydelphia. There was a timer that indicated that the bombs were going to go off in exactly one minute. The entire ground floor was lined with bombs. He was going to level the entire place and kill them all! "EVERYONE, GET OUT OF HERE!" shouted Shining Armor over the radio as the soldiers ran towards the back door. As they stepped out the door, they saw what they had been looking for.

Shady and the remainder of the HNA, alongside three of the missing scientists, were here, standing next to a large lead structure that Shining Armor guessed contained the Rift Gate. Shady's horn was glowing, and it encompassed himself and all of the HNA members, along with the scientists and the Rift Gate. He instantly guessed what Shady was about to do, and instantly fired a beam of his magic at them, trying to stop the teleportation. Unfortunately, he was a split second too late, and he could do nothing but watch in horror, as they teleported away, and the beam of magic hit a random tree behind the compound.

Unfortunately, all that was left for Shining Armor and the CBI Tactical Team to do was to get their team out of here before the bomb went off, there were only 30 seconds left before they detonated. They quickly ran around the side as fast as they could, as in his panic, Shining and the soldiers had forgotten that they could teleport, albeit with a lot of exhaustion afterwards.

As they ran, they saw some of the other HNA ponies, who had gotten into the house, stay inside, having seen the bombs and preparing for impending death. He wondered why the fuck they were doing, not running away to try and save themselves. Most of the CBI Tactical Squad had retreated by now, and only some were still fighting, waiting for Shining Armor and his men to reach them before leaving. They were willing to die trying to save their commander. As they saw Shining, a large explosion knocked Shining Armor, the team, and the HNA ponies off their feet. Barely even two seconds later, before they had even hit the ground, more explosions were heard, and everything went orange, as more shockwaves sent them flying into multiple objects, such as trees, rocks, and fences.

A few minutes later, Shining Armor and some of the other HNA ponies opened their eyes to look at a scene of utter devastation before them. "No...." was all Shining Armor could say looking at it. The big house was on fire, burning to cinders, as was the entire HNA compound, including the barracks used by the other HNA members. The bastard. Shady had probably planted bombs there as well, so that no one would escape, and tell the government about Shady's plans. Multiple bodies were lying on the ground, some burning, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Some of Shining's own team members had been killed as well. He was wounded, as some fragments of shrapnel had hit him, but the adrenaline in his veins made sure he couldn't feel the pain just yet.

As the other soldiers began to get up, they saw a lone pony stumbling towards them, terribly injured. He appeared to be the fourth scientist, who had not been seen when Shady and the others teleported away. Despite his own injuries, Shining Armor ran to him right away, and saw a mortal wound, from a large piece of debris sticking out of his stomach. As he collapsed, covered in blood, Shining Armor grabbed him, and watched as he tried to say something. "S-S-Shady, h-he, tried to k-k-k-ill us. I-I-I escaped, but he-he-he will kill t-the others..." said the scientist. This sentence was forever left incomplete, as he suddenly coughed up a large amount of blood, and took his final breath.

"NOOOO!" screaming Shining Armor, as he gently put down the body of the now-departed scientist. He had just lost more than eight of the ponies had been asked to guide and protect, failed to stop Shady, and now, he couldn't even save an innocent scientist. As the pain from his injuries also began to make itself known to him, Shining Armor collapsed. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the burning HNA compound, as his men looked over him, trying to get him out of there.