//------------------------------// // 6th November, 2015 (Edited) // Story: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité // by Ponelover //------------------------------// Charles de Gaulle airport, CET 12:00 AM Nicholas Petit is tired after a full day working as a bus driver. After some 8 hours of driving the bus and thinking whether or not it’s a good idea to let the bus careen a bit to have some fun at the job, his performance have deteriorated enough for a 30 minute break and eventually a good night’s sleep in his apartment. Damn airport’s too busy he thought and for good reason, as the main hub of transport for Paris to the rest of the world and being Europe’s second busiest airport. There is no shortage of work to be found in Charles de Gaulle, much to Nicholas’s displeasure. The airport does have it’s own charms of course, Terminal 2 for example was used in U2’s Beautiful Day as it’s background and there was the most unusual case with Mehran Karimi Nasseri living in the airport for 17 years. But right now, all he could think of is his apartment in Belleville and a good night’s sleep after a hard day’s work. Now out of the gates of the airport, he could feel freedom at last. He took out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, and as a good Parisian light it up and puff some smoke into the air. As he felt the familiar smell of tobacco and nicotine overtaking his sense of smell, he saw his friend Bertrand Alexis coming out of the terminal doors. “Rough day eh?” Nicholas asked, “Isn't it just like everyday?” Bertrand replied as he pulls a cigarette and light it up, “Yeah the same old bs, so how’s the family?” Nicholas asked, knowing that the relationship between his friend and his family currently vacationing in the Bahamas is difficult. “Don’t ask me that crap Nicholas. Do you want me to hang out with you or do you want me to punch you in the face?” Bertrand replied, a hint of acid visible in his tone. “Eh whatever floats your boat, I just wanna be a good friend that’s all.” Nicholas puffs his cigarette once more. “It’s ok Nicholas. I’ve known you since we graduated from Sciences Po, just don’t ask me about my family ok? It’s too much to ask, even for you.” Bertrand replied, knowing full well that his friend is just genuinely helping him. Bertrand still remembered the day when they met at freshmen year at Sciences po. They were assigned rooms to each other and quickly became best friends, through thick and thin they waded through the complex maze that is called University and through some miracle of god, managed to graduate with flying colors……...only to get a job as bus drivers at Charles De Gaulle Airport. And to think that Nicholas wanted to be a high ranking civil servant when we first graduated. Bertrand thought as he remembered the days they shared at Sciences po. With his cigarette finished, Nicholas was about to say goodbye to his friend when it happened. “The hell?” says Nicholas as his eye moved up to see the sky, a bright white light was suddenly descending throughout the airport. It looks like an aurora but didn’t Auroras have multiple colors instead of just one big white blob? He quickly pulls out his smartphone from his pocket and snaps a picture, knowing full well there are others in the airport doing the same thing. As the white light descends into the airport, Bertrand does the same thing and also pulls out his smartphone. He was about to take a picture of the white light when he realized that everyone is either taking pictures, or staring intently at the white light. He silently hoped that it wouldn’t interfere with any flights coming in and out of the airport. The white light took a full 5 minutes until it dissolves into nothingness. Nicholas then asked the question. “What the hell happened?” “I...I have no Idea Nicholas” Bertrand replied. “It’s not everyday that you see white lights descending on CDG, you got any explanations for this?” asked Nicholas. “N..no Nicholas, but I know that a lot of instagram pictures are going to be shared come morning.” Bertrand replied, which is met with a chuckle from Nicholas. Knowing full well that Bertrand is not interested in continuing the conversation, NIcholas bides him farewell and enters the metro station. The trip back to Belleville was relatively quiet. It is 12 o’clock at night as he waited until the train reached the appropriate station. He walked out and into the usually quiet neighborhood of Belleville, he was expecting silence because of the time but was met with a crowd of people asking questions to each other. Nicholas was confused, did they see the white lights as well? he thought as he approached a relatively young college girl to ask questions. “Hey, did you see the white light? It’s all over TV5 right now!” the girl suddenly notices the older man approaching her, knowing what question he’s going to ask. Her eyes glued into her smartphone as it is streaming TV5 Monde. “W..what? I thought it was only in CDG international” replied Nicholas as he watches the stream alongside her, “Nononononono it’s all over Paris! Some sources even say that people as far as Toulouse are reporting white lights in the sky!” the girl responded to Nicholas’s inquiry. “Toulouse?!? But that’s a million kilometers from Paris! How the hell can the entirety of France be suddenly blanketed in white light?” Nicholas’s tone was getting higher by the moment. After exchanging some brief conversations with the girl, Nicholas decided that rather than overtaxing his already drained brain right now. He’s going to think about the whole thing tomorrow, he reached for the keys of his apartment and opens the door. He’s lucky he landed a relatively stable job as a bus driver at the airport, it’s hard work but the pay’s good as the interior of his apartment shows. Wooden floors, bookshelves, a small tv, full heating and even unlimited high speed internet. A perfect home for the average young Parisian (although he admitted that someday he’s going to buy this whole apartment instead of renting it, landlord’s too much of an ass to talk about). He slowly changed his clothes and goes to sleep. Not knowing that from this day forward, his life and the lives of millions of French people are going to change forever. Edge of the undiscovered west, 1:00 AM Daring Do narrowly misses being squished as the stone door closes behind her. Her expedition to reveal how the famous griffon raider Severus the Terrible raided unguarded pony caravans in Whitetail woods 500 years ago has born fruit as she foundthe abandoned hideout of Severus the Terrible and his compatriots after years of research. She was just about to unlock the riddle on the front door when Ahuitzotl jumped on her, that slimy little dog monkey thing always tries to ruin her expeditions just to get a few bits. Daring couldn’t help but smirk a little as she manages to escape the now trapped Ahuitzotl as he yells ‘Daring Do’ once again in a show of frustration she’s not going to miss. After being captured, she agreed to help Ahuitzotl find Severus’s hoard of course, comfortably not mentioning the legend she heard from a certain zebra shaman she met that if you stole Severus’s hoard, you’re going to pay the price of being trapped in your own greed for 1000 years as the treasure consumes you and everything around it. After that everything was a blur, Daring Do had been running and flying for over two straight days now. She manages to reach the shore but there are times when she feared that she’s going to tire herself into submission, as she landed on the beach she catches her breath for a minute, being a Pegasus meant that she was used to long, sometimes strenuous flights. She would be lying if she told herself that the escape was not exhausting to the extreme. Constantly running and flying for over two days had really drained her strength and she was more than happy when she reached the edge of the undiscovered west, the supposed meeting place between Daring Do and her ‘extraction’. She checked her saddlebag as she sighs in relief that her valued treasure: the Sword of Severus is safe and intact. She was wondering where her extraction was when she heard somepony speak. “Hey” as she hears a very scruffy looking stallion approach her, “You must be miss Daring Do correct ?” his manehattanite accent gives away that he is her hired extraction. “Y……y…yes Captain Rough Waters” Daring Do manages to form a reply, definitely showing signs of fatigue now from the distance she travelled to meet him and his crew. “Hh calm down miss Do, we all have our rough days.” he says a he lifts the fatigued mare onto his back, trotting to his ship: The Damned Explorer. Oh it wasn’t a good ship by any standards, but after Daring looked at his records and especially his……exceptional services as captain in the Equestrian Navy, she knew that Rough Waters was fit for the job. As the ship departs the still unknown coastline of the undiscovered west (Well undiscovered to most ponies, some of the veteran mariners in the taverns throughout Manehattan and Vanhoover will give you some useful info about the ‘undiscovered’ west for the right amount of bits), Daring manages to get some rest after all those hours just running and flying into the edge of the peninsula (who knew that the undiscovered west is actually a peninsula!), Daring reaches her living quarters and after some good old shower she was about to go to sleep as the door slams open. “Daring, we got a situation.” The captain’s tone clearly indicates that something has gone wrong, was the ship ambushed? Did the ship encountered a wild storm? Daring’s mind raced through the various probabilities but the captain snaps her back to reality with a whistle before she could go any further. “What happened ?” Daring asked, fearful about what might happen in lands beyond Cloudsdale’s weather authority. Daring knew from experience that expeditions beyond Equestria can be very risky by the simple fact that no one controls the weather, especially in unknown territory like the ‘unknown’ west. The captain shuffles uncomfortably but he manages to say something, “There’s this bright light over the horizon, too bright to be the sun and the crew’s mighty scared, you might wanna get out and see it for yourself.” The veteran mariner walks out the room. Knowing Rough Waters, Daring Do walks out from her room, she saw something that seems indescribable. Just over the horizon, a very bright light could be seen. The light appears white and looks magical in origin. Daring looked confused for a moment but felt liked she could watch the whole spectacle forever, it felt alluring in a disturbing way but also compels Daring to ask the captain to move towards the light. It looked magnificent and Daring felt almost disappointed when the lightshow was over. As Daring came back to her senses, she knew that something was happening over the Horizon. “I need to go there..” she uttered the words that is going to become not only the opening line of her best selling novel yet, but also open contact between France and Equestria. Silently, Daring walks towards the Captain of the Damned Explorer and utters the magical words. “Captain, I need to go there” asked Daring, she doesn’t care if she needs to pay the captain twice the amount she agreed upon during the start of her expedition. She needs to see what is happening over the horizon. “You realize you will be paying me twice the amount if you want to go there right?” asked the captain, he's going to find out what in the world just happened over the horizon. Might as well earn some extra bits on the way. “Yes yes you will be payed twice. Now get going!” as Daring responded. The captain needs no more motivation as he orders his crew to get back to their senses and start moving towards………whatever’s waiting for them over the edge of the horizon. Edge of the Pierre-Pfimlin Brücke bridge, Strasbourg, France, 3:00 AM Brigadier Camille Dubois is utterly dumfounded at the sight she was greeted after the “white light event” as TV5 Monde would report it. The Strasbourg police was on high alert following the white lights, the event proved so bizzare that even the French Gendarmes were being deployed throughout the countryside. But back to business, road blocks are in place preventing anyone from crossing the bridge to the Rhine Ocean? (The Rhine after the event was suddenly transformed into a massive ocean for some reason) And it is rumored that President Francois Hollande is going to make a national announcement soon. “How the hell did the Rhine transformed into an ocean?” Camille asked her partner, the junior Gardien de la paix Thomas Moreau. The new guy was in his late twenties and she could tell that he is a keeper for the Police, he knows how to break tension between labour unions and bosses when things are about to get heated (how he managed to do that she has no idea at all) but knows how to fight when things gets tough as she remembers the time when he tackled and cuffed someone who’ve taken too much beer outside the bar in that one incident. Damn bastard was messing around, good thing Thomas acted quickly, could’ve ended really badly she thought as she eyed the formless ocean in front of her. “I have no idea Camille, probably related to the white light event three hours ago. Any word from the station yet?” he asked his superior as to what to do next, after the white light event and with reports coming in that the Rhine has transformed into an ocean. The station originally sent in a couple of squad cars just to investigate, ten minutes later the station was at full alert with the police fully deployed to the Rhine to prevent any accidents from happening. The fact that most of the internet suddenly vanished spooked the station even more so, now with the whole country practically at full readiness for what looks like a potential conflict, he wonders why the hell are they still sitting here. The damn Rhine (or whatever’s left of it) is already blockaded, might as well get some shuteye before tomorrow. “Station’s damn scared Thomas, the chief doesn’t want any slipups and probably for a good reason. Just wait until further orders” she responded, she admitted this assignment is boring as hell. It’s already half an hour and she still sees nothing but unfamiliar stars in the night sky and the Rhine Ocean. But when the chief gets spooked she knew that it would be better to just follow orders, the Eurocorps based here after all and after the events of tonight, she damn well knew that both the Eurocorps and the Strasbourg police would be spooked right out of their beds. And as a result, she’s here, just watching what’s going to be the Rhine Ocean from now on. “I know but this is frankly bullshit Camille” Thomas replied, he knew that he needed to uphold the standard of French law enforcement and be a good example for the ‘good’ city of Strasbourg to follow, but being woken up from his beauty sleep two hours after his day shift ended really did wonders for his mood as he remembered begrudgingly putting his police uniform back on and riding to the station. Damn white lights, why do you have to be so annoying? Gardien Thomas grumbles. Nothing ever happens in Strasbourg, and by the looks of it nothing ever will. Oh Strasbourg is a wonderful city no doubt, rich history, politically important place for the EU, all that jazz. But other than that it’s just some city straddled on the Franco German border, and by the looks of it the Germans aren’t going to be mounting an invasion anytime soon. “Ugh, can’t argue with the station by the looks of it, understandable really. When a random white light appears out of nowhere and covering the whole nation, everyone’s gonna get spoo…movement spotted!” as Thomas grips his binoculars and sees something approaching the bridge. It looks like a sailing ship with it’s huge masts but it’s unlike any other sailing ship he’s ever seen before, or at least in the museums he’s been to. “I’ll go contact the station” Camille grabs the police radio and starts asking for reinforcements. She damn well knew that if something’s approaching the city, only the French Police and to a lesser extent the Eurocorps would be responsible for the protection of Strasbourg. “The…ship is approaching maam” one officer said as Thomas keeps watching the ship that is quickly approaching Strasbourg, more specifically the Pierre-Pfimlin Brücke bridge. The Damned Explorer, 3:15 AM “Land! I see land!!” utters the spotter pony as he sees a very strange city appearing. This is odd, very odd indeed. None of their charts show that there are any land here. “What did you see?” uttered both the Captain and Daring do, their small detour might be worth it after all. “Uhhh captain…I don’t know what I just see. It looks like a very strange city.” the spotter pony responded A strange city? This might get interesting Daring thought. “Strange you say?” captain Rough Waters walks in front of the ship and takes out his telescope and sees a very odd sight indeed. It looks like the average equestrian town but there’s something off about the whole thing. There are these weird and huge buildings throughout the entire town and a very weird bridge connecting the city to what might have been another city, on one of the bridges he sees what appears to be flashing lights and more flashing lights coming in from behind. Are the inhabitants of the town holding a party? he wonders as he sees what appears to be the creatures living in the town. In the name of Celestia, what are those things? As Daring sees the city with her own telescope, the city looks like some weird fusion between your average town and the future, it really is a jarring sight to behold. “Captain Rough Waters” Daring asked the Captain. “Yes Daring” The Captain replied. “Can you dock your ship on the shore? I’ve got a feeling we’ve made a new discovery” as Daring’s mind runs through what this could imply. Land across the Lunar Ocean? How come none of the Mariners I asked in Vanhoover and Manehattan knew about this? The discovery of new land could land me in the front of the history books and newspapers throughout Equestria! Such an exciting prospect, a novelist and an adventurer, who knew I could be both Daring ironically thought. “You don’t have to ask me twice” Replied Rough Waters. He’s already getting double the pay and now he will be remembered as one of the few ponies that managed to find new land, what a time to be alive. Little did both sides knew, but this meeting would change the history of France and Equestria forever.