//------------------------------// // 14th November, 2015 (Interlude, Edited) // Story: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité // by Ponelover //------------------------------// Canterlot Castle throne room, 10:00AM, +7 Days after event “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she saw Daring Do just appearing in front of her, she never thought that Daring Do was a real pony! And the fact that all her stories are true just multiplied Daring’s awesome levels by 100%! “I can’t believe I’m meeting the real Daring Do! How did you escape Ahuitzotl’s grip in the the quest for the Griffon’s Goblet? How did you find the forbidden city in the clouds anyway? How…..” Daring Do tuned out Rainbow Dash’s questions as she realized that the Element of Loyalty is just another fanfilly. Eventually she realized that she’s going to continue yapping if Daring didn’t do something. So the thing she did is block Rainbow’s mouth and simply said “Why don’t you ask me more slowly this time huh Dash?” Daring said politely. “Oh….yes...yes of course Daring, anything for you!” Dash exclaimed, now asking her questions more slowly this time and allowing time for Daring to answer her questions. “I just can’t believe it Princess, a whole new species from another world? I need some pretty damning evidence if I want to believe it” Twilight Sparkle cautiously inquired. With Dash leaving to the Wonderbolts flightcamp in a couple of days and Princess Celestia’s invitation for ‘a meeting with a new species’ Twilight was simply stressed and tired out. “Oh don’t worry Twilight, they’re just preparing to meet you, I just personally requested the delegation to bring in aspects of their culture, lifestyle and history that might intrigue you, it is their first meeting with the Elements of Harmony after all.” Celestia responded. “Oh I would just love to see how they made their fashion choices, being furless would obviously mean that they must create clothes as a necessity. Just imagine how many clothing designs and concepts these humans would have developed!” Rarity excitedly squeals. “I want to know how they make cake! I hope they have rainbow cakes, and wedding cakes, and cheesecakes, and cupcakes, sprinkly cakes, sparkly cakes, huge cakes, rock cakes, small cakes, mpfmhlashghds!” as Applejack stuffs Pinkie’s mouth with an apple, which she then happily devours and starts talking again. “Well….it would be nice to see some of their animals, oh I hope they have cute bears and wolves, I always loved furry animals.” Fluttershy excitingly wondered about the possibility about discovering new animals and make a contribution towards ecology and biology. Being the Ponyville caretaker for animals is good and all, but making a contribution to further help the cause of nature makes her really happy inside. “Well what you expect is nice and all, but what ah wanted to see is how they harvest their food. How do you grow food without magic? Sure you can grow them but it’ll take too long a time to wait” Applejack wondered about how France’s agriculture was capable of sustaining itself. “Well worry no more because I’m here to answer it all.” as the Ponies turn they see a sharp looking creature enter the throne room. The reaction of the ponies was mixed, Fluttershy’s reaction was one of wonder, Rarity was one of excitement, Applejack and Rainbow Dash was one of anticipation, Pinkie Pie is just happy to see potential new friends and Twilight is inquisitve. “Oh there you are Julien, took you long enough” Daring then stopped answering Rainbow’s questions and flew next to Julien. “Everypony, this is Mr Julien Thomas of France. He is the head of the Diplomatic team representing France and a good friend of mine” concluded Daring. “Thank you Daring, yes after multiple encounters with her by my side. I can safely say that Daring is my friend. But that’s not why we’re here are we?” as Julien opened his briefcase and starts powering up his laptop. “Now I believe that these are the ‘Elements of Harmony’ correct?” as he pointed the six mares. “Yes we are Mr Julien, what is that machine you’re holding. It looks sophisticated.” Twilight inquires. “Why yes it is a sophisticated machine, this is called a laptop, a machine that allows humans to store huge amounts of information into a compact space.” as he begins preparing for a presentation signifying France’s official introduction to Ponykind. “Let’s start shall we? Celestia?” Julien nods his head to Celestia, only for Celestia to silently nod back and pulls in the curtains, covering the room in darkness. For a moment everyone but the Princess, Daring Do and Julien are confused. But then a bright light appears in front of what appears to be a made up screen. Then they hear Julien talking. “So uuuuuhhhh, welcome everyone to a formal introduction to the Republic of France!” Julien triumphantly proclaimed until he uttered the words “I suck at introductions” before switching slides into a set of options such as ‘History’ ‘Economy’ ‘Society’ ‘Fashion’ and a list of other things that is formally presented by the French government. “Now this won’t be your usual presentation where I will boringly talk in such a straightforward fashion. Instead, I’m going to let you guide the presentation until we all agreed that this cultural exhange is more than enough and call it a day.” The Ponies are dumbfounded about the series of options like kids in a candystore. Eventually Rainbow Dash broke the tension and said “Uhhh let’s just start with Aviation heh?” “Okay then, Aviation” as Julien clicks the appropriate box and the ponies are greeted with an image of an Airbus A340 flying at a very high altitude. “Wow” exclaimed Rainbow Dash “What is that?!?” as she pointed on the image of the plane. “This, miss Rainbow Dash is a commercial jet liner, this is a very common sight on our world and this is also the chief transportation option for most people if they want to cross into other countries.” Julien calmly said. “So…..you’re saying travelling between other countries is common?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Why yes it’s very common.” Julien replied. “But how!? How did the average human gain so much disposable income to travel to other countries!? The only ponies that have the ability to travel to other countries, let alone by air are the merchants, nobles and the Princesses themselves! How!?” Twilight loudly asked. Clearly not used to the level of economical and technological advancement France has achieved. “Oh I guess you haven’t seen the average disposable income of a Frenchmen hmmm?” Julien Thomas quirkily responded. “This is the average income of a Frenchmen in the last 200 years, adjusted to the value of bits I was informed” as he handed over a small sheet of paper for Twilight Sparkle, she took the paper with great care and starts examining the data. Only seconds later she was later seen in a catatonic state muttering the words ‘impossible’ and ‘how could they be so rich?’ “Umm is she usually like this?” Julien asked what appears to be Twilight’s friends “Oh don’t worry yourself sugarcube, Twilight’s usually like that when her experiments don’t go the way she wanted. She’ll be fine ah promise.” Applejack responded “Okay then, now back to the plane itself” as his presentation about planes went on, boring some ponies but not Rainbow Dash surprisingly enough. At the end of the presentation she was seen staring at the windows of the palace halls muttering the words ‘how?’, ‘sonic rainbooms with machines?’, ‘those planes are too good’ and ‘the French are awesome’. Clearly this simple presentation is more than enough to shock these ponies to the core. So before he moves on to other segments such as agriculture or fashion, he needs to talk to them about the ‘reactions’ he received during presentation. “Uhh are you sure you gu...ponies could handle the rest of the presentation?” as he asked the rest of the Ponies assembled. “I do admit that your level of technological sophistication is amazing if not a bit disturbingly efficient darling, but please do go on” Rarity replied. So oblivious to the fact that all the ponies assembled in this room is going to have the culture shock of their lives. “Meh yer knick-knacks are cool and all, but let’s talk about some farming! Ah always wanted to see new farming techniques done by other species, and this is the first time ah got to see a species harvest food without magic! So jump right into the presentation Mr Julien!” Applejack happily exclaimed. “Okay then, if that’s your wish then so be it” Julien nonchalantly responded as he opened the section called agriculture. The first image that was shown shocked Applejack as it reminded her of the Flim Flam brother’s machine she saw awhile back. Immediately Applejack regretted her decision and prepared for the worst. “Okay so this is a machine called a ‘combine harvester’ It’s main job is to harvest wheat and other agricultural foodstuffs in an efficient manner, it is a very efficient machine that combines cutting, threshing and cleaning in one process” which is then followed by a video showing a combine harvester harvesting wheat in northern France. Applejack could not believe her eyes. What she saw was agriculture, a proud line of work where Ponies team up in high spirit to feed their local towns, reduced to only a bored looking human using a machine which does all the work for them. Applejack cannot feel the hard work and satisfaction of bucking an apple tree if she was in a machine, and so naturally Applejack reacted. “What is this?” Applejack loudly exclaimed in a very defensive manner which shook the whole building. “You replaced darn farming to such hearltess chores! T’aint natural I’m telling you! There’s no passion! No energy! No enjoyment or fulfillment of work in whatever fancy machine you’re so fond off, where’s tradition in here!? Where’s life in here!? Where’s everything that makes farming meaningful in here!?” As Applejack loudly asked Julien, clearly dissapointed in the mechanization methods the French used in harvesting grains and other produces. “What are you talking about?” asked Julien, “Without these machines France would starve! We have over 67 million people living in this country right now and without those machines…...how are we going to feed all of them!” That single statement put the entire room into shock. Applejack stared at shock, the dissapointment gone from her face as she sinks in the new information. 67 million she thought, Equestria wouldn’t even have half the Ponies as France would have humans. Silently Applejack curled into a fetal position, and just like anypony who was presented, muttered the words ‘impossible’, ‘how?’ and ‘t’aint natural’. Realizing not to completely broke the rest of the group. Julien decided to end the presentation right here “So okay then, that’s the presentation regarding France. I hope you will enjoy the rest of your day, hopefuly” as Julien, accompanied by Daring departed off the room. “Well that was…..something” Rarity was the first to break the tension “Their species are certainly….interesting to say the least” Celestia added “WOW!! 67 Million people!? They must be living like ants in that country!” Pinkie Pie further added to the shock of information these Ponies received, and the presentation isn’t even finished yet. “I don’t even know how animals would live in that country. Oh they must be so cramped right now” Fluttershy further added to the aura. For a moment everything was silent as the rest of the group who is not in a catatonic state slowly took in the information. Eventually it was Celestia who broke the tension. “Why don’t we go freshen ourselves up in the dining hall, I’ll contact Princess Cadence and Shining Armour to handle this……..mess” as Celestia saw Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack looking like they’ve been off multiple wars already. ****** Francois Hollande’s ‘shock budget’ bill passes National Assembly, in it France has put in an emphasis on improving it’s export sector by encouraging mass investment to Equestria and the Kirin Empires in order to stimulate growth in France itself. The Banque de France has issued new regulations for the circulation of the Euro. In it the bank has set new limits for Euro circulation and highly advised any private investor to use items with ‘real’ value like gold or silver if they want to invest into other countries such as Equestria or Amaterasu. The bank also states that stable exchange rates are to be the immediate first priority for the Bank and advise investors to start limited investment before exchange rates are established. Recent data shows that French citizens, especially in the ages of 21-35 are having more babies than usual. Researchers agreed that the probable cause is the political and economic uncertainty which convinced people to band up and start producing babies in order to secure their future.