//------------------------------//
// 28th November, 2015 
// Story: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité 
// by Ponelover 
//------------------------------//


Changeling Hive, Badlands, 7:00AM, +14 days after event


General Hivemind is not having a good day. 2 days earlier she was meeting with the Queen talking about how are the Changelings going to rule over the Ponies when Chrysalis’s army marched into Canterlot and put Celestia in prison, it was during the same meeting when she heard the reports coming in, initially like everyone both Chrysalis and Hivemind laughed it off and told the guards to have the scout put to prison for slander. But when she heard no reports coming in from Carapace hours after the scheduled time she became a bit worried that the Scout is right. Accompanying Queen Chrysalis in her carriage during her speech would be a perfect opportunity for Hivemind to investigate what is going on. Unfortunately the speech never happened as Chrysalis herself went to investigate why she haven’t heard any reports and came back looking like she’s seen the entire Alicorn army marching into her the Badlands. 

Is she ever saw the embodiment of despair, Chrysalis would fit that image perfectly when she returned after her ‘preliminary checks’. Before she retire to her quarters that night she meekly said to her that she would be handing over general responsibility of the swarm to her. She initially said no but after some convincing that Chrysalis isn’t fit to lead the swarm anymore she eventually bowed to her Queen’s orders and took the throne just this morning. 

“Let’s get down to bussiness shall we?” she ordered her court
“Of course Queen Hivemind, first off the list is the war with Equestria” A noble pronounced Equestria very grumpily
“I think the answer’s obvious isn’t it? if these ‘French’ wanted to mess with the hive, then they deserved having the swarm unleashed upon them!!” A notably hawkish noble roared to the hawk clique
“But nobledrone abdomen, haven’t you’ve seen the Queen’s report? these French utterly destroyed Carapace’s army in a matter of hours!! if the we don’t negotiate with the French then there would be slaughter!! slaughter I tell you!!” another noble loudly rebutted which is met with some nobles calling him ‘traitor’ and some supporting him by stamping their hooves
“Bah you meek Changeling! Carapace is a worthless general who get his honour by knocking out weak hivemembers. If we want to see our swarm rise again to new heights, then we must do so with blood and armour!! do not bow to these French and even moreso to the Equestrians! they wll destroy us from the inside!” Nobledrone Abdomen replied
“But aren’t you being unreasonable here Nobledrone Abdomen! you are the one that asked Chrysalis to infiltrate her army into Canterlot and look where that got us!! you asked going to war with Equestria and look where that got us!! are you here because you care for the swarm abdomen!? or are you just a traitor in Changeling exoskeleton!?” The reasonable nobledrone replied which is met with rage from Abdomen
“Oh and you’re suggesting that we should bow ourselves to the Equestrians aren’t you! I care for the Hive and are willing to go to great lengths as well as risks to see it’s prosperity, don’t call me a traitor again and you would experience the beating of a lifetime” the nobledrone responded, knowing that a brawl’s about to broke out
“make me” the other nobledrone replied.

“SILENCE!!!”

the room suddenly went from namecalling and mocking to near silence as the newly crowned Changeling Queen roared.

“I know that nobledrone Thorax made a good point about being a reasonable party, nobledrone abdomen should be expelled from his job and be excommunicated for 2 months for his foolhardiness. But giving an unconditional surrender would be utterly foolish and would bring more harm to our hive in the long run than good. So why don’t we try negotiating with both the Equestrians and the French at a neutral location?” The Queen said to her court, which is met with begrudging yesses from the hawkish side and more reasonable yesses from the other side.

“But my Queen, if we want to negotiate with the Equestrians and the French, we need to meet up in a neutral location where one side cannot bring their full weight on us. Do you know a land where Changelings raiders haven’t raided recently?” a nobledrone asked

“Why yes I do know a place” the Queen responded
“Where?”
“Saddle Arabia” the Queen said which is met with silence. The Changelings and the Saddle Arabians are not good friends by any means, but so far, outside the currently collapsing realm of Griffonstone. It is one of the few places where Changeling raiders haven’t ransacked and pillaged…...yet
“Are we in agreement court?” The Queen asked, which is met with an overrall yes. “Good then, I shall write a letter to the Sultan of Saddle Arabia and the Royal Sisters, court is dismissed” she said to a court knowing that this might be one of the last chances the Changelings got to a workable peace.


Canterlot Castle, 9:00AM, +14 days after event


“And these Changelings wanted a negotiable peace?” Daring asked the Princess. After the first phase of operation Alarme, mr Julien has been really busy coordinating events between the Paris and Canterlot to ensure that fluid communication exists between both parties. It got so intense that mr Julien asked Daring Do to represent Equestrian interests in Canterlot because he is receiving so many emails he simply cannot get out of his seat before a situational update arrived on his inbox. Also she learned about the internet that day.

“It appears so Daring, apparently there has been a leadership change in the hive and the now Queen Hivemind wanted to enter peace talks in Saddle Arabia. Why don’t you be a dear and forward this message to mr Julien would you?” Celestia responded in her usual motherly tone. She was predicting this would come eventually, after the results of operation Alarme was forwarded to her she nearly cried at the amount of Changelings that died in such a short time. They may be her enemies but Celestia still cared for the future of the Changelings, and it looks like Celestia and Queen Hivemind are seeing each other eye to eye this time.

“Definitely your highness” Daring replied as she flew out of her room. When Daring was informed that she was offered the job as official liaison she thought that it would some boring job with lots of free time in the middle for Daring to write her books. Turns out this job is just as challenging as finding the Griffon’s goblet because she needs to fly (running is out of the question for her) and send messages between Mr Julien and Celestia, thank heavens that the French delegation set up shop not far from Celestia’s throne room.

“Message from Celestia Julien, it’s about the Changelings” Daring says which is met with immediate interest as mr Julien grabs the letter before she could hand it out. Julien is slowly turning out to be a mess as he needs to coordinate so many things and to make things worse, his assistants are vacationing in Ibiza when the event happened and the foreign ministry needed a few more days before replacements could be send to Canterlot.

As Julien slowly reads the letter, he sighs in relief knowing what the letter meant and took a picture of it from a camera. “I’ll send it to the president, good job” he replied as he plugged the camera into the PC and sends the image into the PC files, only to be sent via Email to the Elysee palace, specifically Hollande’s official Email.


Elysee Palace, 9:00AM, +14 days after event


The president of France was about to start his day when a new email appeared in his inbox. As he slowly reads the contents of the message his eyes widened as he reached his desk phone. “Bring me Fabius and le Drien here, right now” he said to the secretary as he knew the contents of this letter is going to be either make it or break it for the Changelings.

Soon enough, the foreign minister and the defense minister was in the Murat room alongside the President as they start reading the contents of the letter.

“Mr President, I regretfully inform you. But for your own safety you cannot come to this meeting, this is too high of a risk and we need to send someone less important than you” Laurent commented on the letters.

“We also have no formal relationships with Saddle Arabia as well mr president. I propose that we send the ambassador of France in Equestria to represent our interests” Laurent Fabius further added.

“But wouldn’t attending the peace process hurt my approval rating? the French apparently loved me that I decided to help the Ponies”

“I can conjure something up like we don’t know the Saddle Arabians as an excuse. You don’t have to worry about that” the defense minister replied. The president looked at his options, the first one is out of the equation because it involves France refusing to negotiate with the Changelings, the second option is to send one of his ministers into the negotiation (which they won’t take because it’s an unknown risk), thirdly he can send Mr Julien into the negotiations and he is expendable enough to be mourned as a national hero if he fails/dies and celebrated as the person who brought peace to the war if he succeeded. In the end the President chose the third option.

“Tell mr Julien Thomas that he’s going to be assigned to the peace talks, inform him that an escort squad is going to accompany him throughout the talks in Saddle Arabia and he’s also going to hitchike an airship ride with the princesses” Hollande commands Mr Fabius and dismisses the meeting

I pray to god that he’ll be safe, he’s been a lynchpin in French-Equestrian relations. I hope he doesn’t get killed, this smells like a trap the president thought as he dismisses the meeting.


Aquitaine class Frigate Provence, Chuoko, 10:20AM, +14 days after event


Captain Justine Faure was presenting to the empress about the capabilities of the recently procured Aquitaine class frigate. Her ship was on tour in the Indian Ocean when the event happened and ended up somewhere near Toulon. His ship was reassigned to Brest after the shock died down and now she’s touring the empress of pony japan about the capabilities of her ship. And just when I think it couldn’t get any weirder she thought as the group finally entered the engine room.

Empress Otsune has been constantly amazed by the level of mechanical sophistication this ship has to offer, before entering the engine room she’s been led to the combat information center which simply blew her mind. The amount of information these 'radars' and 'lidars' could reveal about the enemy is simply staggering, if the Empress were to get this many information. She could take down the Kirin empire of Da Long in just a few months.

"And now we've reached the engine room" as the Captain of this ship proclaimed
"So I guess this is what powers your ship?" The Empress asked
"Of course milady, this engine is called the MTU series 4000 that allows this ship to have a maximum speed of 27 knots"
27 knots? that is faster than our light bunes the Empress thought as she nodded.
"This allows the FREMM to have increased agility while still maintaining it's full payload, allowing for better versatility when it comes to maneuvering and mission deployment, as you have seen in the boat launching facility and the helicopter hangar" the Captain says
"Yes, these are extremely fascinating. But can you please proceed into the weapons bay and end it there?" The empress says. Sure these engines are massively powerful but she needs to see what these French can really do if angered.
"Of course Empress, follow me" The Captain replied as they walk away from the engine room, a couple of minutes later they eventually reached the weapons bay and the Empress is confused
"Umm excuse me captain, but I don't see any weapons stored here?" The Empress replied in confusion
"Yes Empress, that's because the main weapons for the Provence is stored here" as she puts her hand in the weird tube looking thing.
"This is a VLS cell, stands for vertical launch system. This VLS cell allows the FREMM to launch in long range weapons called missiles into enemy targets. One of these weapons called the Storm Shadow has a range of 560 kilometers and is a very effective land strike and naval strike weapon, please refer to the list for a converted metric to your native range of measurement" as the Captain explained the VLS cell.
She looked at her list and looked for the number 560, When she reached the number and traced it into Kirin Dael she just dropped the list and wondered how could these weapons engage in such long distances.
"and what is the payload of these weapons captain? fuel? explosives? firecrackers?" the empress asked
"sort of, you mentioned firecrackers yes?" which is replied with a nod. "Well imagine a far more powerful version of the firecracker that have been perfected by centuries of warfare" the empress didn't take that mental image well. Firecrackers if used correctly could burn an entire house down, imagine if these French were able to make a specialised version of the materials taken from the firecracker for the explicit purpose of killing! It would bring death on a scale unimaginable! just how violent can these species get? thought the empress because the French apparently need this kind of firepower at their disposal, imagine the enemies they might be fighting against if these weapons are required.
"very well then. I think i've seen.......enough" the empress stalled the word 'enough' because these French are simply too powerful for her comfort
"oh, then thank you for granting us the honour of touring you into one of our most prestigious ships! our guards will escort you out to the deck" Justine replied as he gives the marine a nod and the empress was then escorted of out the ship.


Appleloosa command center, 11:00AM, +14 days after event


Colonel Sebastien de Roux of the 1st Chasseur regiment and Colonel Chloé Dupont of the 110th Infantry regiment was looking at the message they received while getting some rest from their routine patrols.

“Oh...it looks like we’ve beaten the shit out of them enough for them to talk” Chloé responded
“Yeah, after Appleloosa I think the Changelings would hammer some sense for themselves. No point in continuing this conflict, they practically lost their entire army” the Colonel responded as well
“I’ll inform the rest of the regiments to stop advancing, put on a defensive line throughout the mild west all that jazz” Chloé said as she walks out of the command center and radioe’d in the rest of the task force to stop their advance until further notice from the Hexagon. A couple of minutes later and barb wires, overlapping artillery firing emplacements and Machine gun nests litter a defensive line stretching from Appleloosa to Dodge city. Making it near inpenetrable to any advance done by the enemy. Especially bugs both Colonels thought as they oversaw the entire construction by themselves.

Once he has thought that the defenses are enough, Colonel de Roux returned back to the command center, more specifically the containment centers where Changeling prisoners are being held. It turns out that from the reports given to him from the the Equestrian files, creatures with magical properties will have a hard time propagating their magic if items with copper forged into them (or straight up simple copper rings) are inserted into their horns, and that is exactly what most of these Changeling's horns are inserted with when they are put here. He entered the containment facility only to simply see a not nice but not horrible looking prison laid in front of him. He walked to the end of the hallway seeing desperate and fearful faces as these Changelings have experienced by themselves what happens if you fight a human. He reached the end of the hallway and staring in front of him was the Earth Pony mare he just captured a couple of days ago. It turns out that the evacuation of Appleloosa and Dodge City were not thorough enough as any attempt to convince her to turn back into her native Changeling form was simply met with a meek 'ah'm not a Changeling' response the Colonel is now used to.

He brought a chair so that he could talk to her why she haven't evacuated and starts the questioning session.

"name?"
"uhh, Apple Fritter"
"Occupation?"
"Ah work at the Apple Orchard with Braeburn"
"Okay then, why were you still here when the wonderbolts and the Equestrian royal guard announced the evacuation?"
"ah didn't, the last train was too jam packed and ah couldn't tell them you're missing out on someone when it left, there are also no self drawn carts so Ah was stuck here. Changelings caught me and did.......things to me that ah won't tell ya. But then they started retreatin sayin something about these 'French' who are mighty strong, ah was about to ask what happened when a rain of fire descended of Appleloosa. Turns out it was the opening strike before you guys started movin here and killed every last one of em"
"That is a very believable tale Ms Fritter, not many people survived their evacuation to Britain when France fell, is there anything more that you want to tell us?"
"No mr Human, Ah know that you deserve the right to be suspicious about me and Ah can respect that. Just don't treat me and these Changelings like dirt, Ah hate them too for.......yeah, but Ah still have mah good conscience to not descend to common savagery ya hear?"
"Yes I heard that very clearly ms Fritter. Thank you very much for cooperating with us, high command have decided that after constant good behaviour, you will be freed from the cell and are allowed to walk freely around Appleloosa while under observation"
"Oh thank you mister human. But if ah'm free, then why ah'm still under...observation?"
"Because we have no way to confirm whether you are a pony or a Changeling yet ms Fritter. Not until the first Unicorn royal guards reached this town"
"Ah can understand that mister, thank you very much" Apple Fritter replied which is met with Colonel de Roux pulling out the keys and opening her cell. She can move freely now with obsevation but she does understand the concerns of these French people, it's just ah bit weird to be under observation, but what can ah do? they have no way to confirm ah'm Changeling or not, wouldn't blame em she thought as she trotted out of the command center and proceeded to trot back to her Orchard.


Canterlot Palace, 1:00PM, +14 days after event


Mr Julien was hanging around, resting from a very hard day at work when a message from Laurent labeled: urgent shows up in his inbox. Oh great another ‘urgent’ message Julien thought as he opened the mail and read it’s contents, his eyes widened as he further read the message and by the end of his message he slumped into his chair, knowing that he’s going to another country France have yet to discover in order to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Changelings.

Might as well inform the princess Julien thought as he rose from his chair and walks into the Canterlot throne room, trying to look his best and failing in the process. Great he thought when he opened the doors to the Canterlot throne room and saw Princess Celestia doing some paperwork. The Princess saw him and dropped the paperowork into the nearby table as she greeted him. 

“Hello there mr Julien, spare me the formalities. Are you here to talk about the peace negotiations in Saddle Arabia?” Celestia asked
“You just read my mind, yes I’m going to be sent to Saddle Arabia as the chief representative of the Republic of France. You do realize we haven’t made any formal diplomatic relationships between France and Saddle Arabia right?” Julien responded
“After what you’ve done to help my country, I can assure you that Equestria is going to protect your men during the peace negotiations in Saddle Arabia. As for the Saddle Arabians themselves……...they are very friendly once you get to know them but let’s just say that you need to pull out a lot of  favours in order to gain their trust” Celestia said
“Favours is my nation’s specialty Celestia, don’t worry about that” Julien responded as he continued to other important subjects such as transportation.
“How about transport? I was told that Equestria have airships right? are you going to Saddle Arabia with airships?” Julien further asked
“Yes I will be traveling via airship, are you comfortable with airship rides? they are not as loud as your gyrocopters but travel to Saddle Arabia could take hours if not days, depending on weather condition” Celestia responded
“I can handle a few days Celestia. When are we going?” He asked.
“Tomorrow morning”

“Okay then, any further info I need to know about this kingdom?”
“Sultanate, but essentially it is a kingdom established on a desert and are very prideful of themselves. Admittedly for good reason, their empire stretches almost as far and wide as Equestria, but don’t fear them really, we have established really good diplomatic relationships with them 200 years ago and maintained it since” Celestia replied
“Ah, are they more conservative than your principality?”
“A bit, but not much of a difference really. Just in Equestria, the mares and stallions of saddle arabia have equal rights, and they do have a say in their government unlike us” Julien noted that Celestia’s tone dropped a bit when she said ‘unlike us’ 

“Okay then Celestia, thank you for this very productive meeting. I’ll see you tomorrow” Julien finally concluded their meeting with a handwave as he left the throne room.
“I’ll see you in the airship hangars” Celestia waved her hoof in goodbye as he left her throne room.


Al Qafr, capital city of Saddle Arabia, 3:00PM, +14 days after event


Sultan Rabin ur Rashid of the Saddle Arabian Sultanate was sitting on his seat as the letter he was forwarded via dragonfire from Celestia finally arrived. He has just finished reading the letter and was indeed interested in settling the terrible conflict between the Equestrians and the Changelings. But she said that a third party, these ‘French’ are coming along. 

“And she said that these ‘French’ might benefit the sultanate greatly…..we shall see about that” as the Sultan agreed to host the talks between Equestria and the Changeling Swarm as he signed the dotted line.

“Amira? Haakim?” he called upon his son and daughter
“Yes father?” as both of them appeared from the side of the halls
“Saddle Arabia is going to host peace talks between the Equestrians, Changellings and the French. Now you know that it is standard practice for Saddle Arabians to spy on it’s enemies so I expect you and your agents to be scouring and capturing Changelings yes?”
“Of course father” Amira responded
“now I want you to just observe these ‘French’, if they were as powerful as Celestia told me than you should just observe and watch every move they make for it is not wise to antagonise people you haven't met. Have you read the letters Celestia gave to me?”
“Of course father, every message sent by a delegate is always magically copied and sent to our room” Haakim replied
“Good then, prepare your spies and yourselves. There is much preparation to do in the coming days” as Sultan Rabin dismissed his offsprings and begins to survey what room in his palace is appropriate for the peace talks.


Kourou space station, French Guiana, 5:55PM, +14 days after event


“Start measurements” director Jean asked as the Guiana space center is going to take in more detailed readings about an anomaly found during twilight and dusk. Ever since the displacement, observation and weather satellites have reported that during 6AM and 6PM morning and night. The planet seems to be moving a little bit faster than usual. 

“Satellites are in place mr Dordain, we’re taking measurements…...NOW!” as they calculated the speed at which the planet moves at 6PM, the initial results are filtering in and the answer is very clear. The planet is definitely moving faster at twilight but there is also something odd coming from Canterlot, apparently at every dusk and twilight, there is a massive spike of gravitational energy coming from the Canterlot, someone living in Equestria is interfering with the movement of the planet and now the ESA have tracked it down to Canterlot. Why this anomaly is located in the Equestrian capital? nobody at ESA have a clue for the moment

eventually the measurements ended and the director knows what needs to be done, “send an Email to mr Julien, ask him to ask Princess Luna about the event” as he knew that the Equestrian nightcourt is about to start. He could accept the concept of magic and CERN labs are even drafting experiments concerning magic, but magic powerful enough to move the planet slightly faster every dusk and twilight will put Jean into questioning how powerful magic can be. If magic turns out to be this powerful, we might need advancements in the sciences unlike anything we’ve ever seen before just to catch up, thank god the event happens just every dusk and twilight Jean went into deep thought as he sent to inquiry letter to mr Julien.


******
Queen Hivemind wanted a peace settlement with Equestria and France, proposed to hold peace talks at Saddle Arabia

Princess Celestia about to visit Saddle Arabia for the peace talks

Kourou Space Station have detected and measured an anomaly everytime Equestria is at dusk or in twilight. Thinks that the center of the anomaly is in Canterlot, asked the ambassador there to find out what's happening.

Kirin empress tours the FREMM Frigate Provence, amazed at what she saw