Equestrian Royal Guard training camp, Canterlot, 5:00AM, +15 days after event
“Man what a bummer” said Rainbow as she was about to get her daily dosage of coffee from Pony joe’s
“Eeyup” Big Mac replied as they both entered the doors of the Canterlot diner and ordered donuts as well as the strongest Coffee Donut got. It appears that both these unfortunate ponies have made the wrong decision at the wrong time, because although both Big Mac and Rainbow Dash volunteered themselves to join the Royal Guard in a time where Equestria is in crisis. The sudden appearance of the French and the French intervention has thrown a monkey wrench into their supposed moments of bravery and loyalty, now with their main purpose to join the royal guard null and void. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac are heavily considering whether or not they should just resign and return to Ponyville.
“So Big Mac, you know that we originally signed up to protect our friends right?”
“Eeyup”
“and now that with France intervening and French troops deployed all over the place, doesn’t that make our original purpose to join the royal guard null and void?”
“Eeyup”
“So do you wanna resign or what?”
Big Mac stumbled at the unexpectedly direct question, he was expecting Rainbow to go for more questions before asking the big one, but here he is. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“E...E….E-yup” Big mac says nervously
“What? thinking that you’re just wasting your time here?” Rainbow Dash asked
“Eeyup”
“Well you can waste less time if you stop training right now and get back to the farm. I know what i’ll be doing once office doors are open” Rainbow responded as she finished her last donut
“Well see ya aorund Big Mac, nice seeing someone I could relate to in this big city” says Rainbow as she hands over a bunch of bits to Pony Joe. Big Mac was about to do the same when Pony Joe says
“Uhhh she pays for your food as well Mac, really nice of her. You her coltfriend or somethin?” Pony Joe asked
“uhhhh Nnope” Big Mac responded, he really doesn’t like where this is going
“oooh you stuttered there! are you sure you’re not interested in Dash?” Pony Joe was really pushing the issue now. Clearly intent on finding whether or not Big Mac likes her, he was again stuck between a rock and a hard place. So like any other wise pony, he decided to bolt out and get that resignation letter finished.
“Good bye Pony Joe” Big Mac says as he runs towards the nearest Royal Guard office
Upper hive living Quarters, the badlands, 6:00AM, +15 days after event
“Abdomen, why do you invite me here?” Captain Athropod asked, clearly very wary about uppper hive politicians and how they can be very brutal. Captain Athropod was on the very edge of his nerve when Nobledrone Abdomen called him into his upper living quarters.
“Why isn’t it simple Captain Athropod, I simply want to say congratulations!” Nobledrone Abdomen said that in a very sinister way that makes the Captain very anxious. Is he calling me here just to say congratulations? I think not, there must be something behind this Captain Athropod reasoned
“uhhh thank you sir. But you do realize that I haven’t done any valorous duties lately right?, I am not selected for participating in the Mild Western campaign nor have I been selected for the Canterlot infiltration as well. So why are you here congratulating me?” The Captain ask, his hoof is on his spear because if he says something wrong, he could easily end him right here right now.
“Oh but congratulations anyway Captain Athropod, for you have been a new piece of the puzzle to overthrow Queen Hivemind” Nobledrone Abdomen replied, “You see, Queen Hivemind unlike our great ruler Chrysalis has…..differing interests against the rightful representatives of the Changeling swarm. So we nobles finally agreed that we must overthrow Hivemind in order to bring greatness back to the Swarm” the noble replied nonchalantly and cruelly
Captain Athropod tensed after those words, overthrowing the Queen!? is he mad!? the Captain thought. “I’m sorry sir but I cannot take part in this conspiracy, Queen Hivemind is the new ruler of the Swarm and I cannot betray her trust”
“Oh but you have no choice Captain” the noble said as he signals the other conspirators to come in, spells ready. “If you don’t want to join then…..you die”
“Not on my watch!” replied the Captain as he throws his spear at the traitor noble only to be blocked by a shield spell. “Cowards!! all of you!!” the Captain taunted as he charged into his bodyguards and killed one of them with a stab in the chest. His training proved to be exceptionally deadly in close quarters as he carved a path of death and suffering on the Nobledrone’s guards.
“Traitooooorrrr!!!” He yelled as he was about to stab Abdomen only to be unexpectedly impaled by the side, he urked in pain as he saw that it was his twin brother, Lieutenant Arachnid that stabbed him. “Sorry brother, but the Swarm needs to prosper” his twin brother says as he finished the deed by pushing the spear deeper and deeper until his brother died by the wounds he caused.
With the dead body of the Captain being dragged away. The lieutenant saluted to the noble and begins preparations to don his now dead brother’s armour….and prepares himself for the coming coup. for once it's good that my brother have the position as one of Chrysalis's bodyguards, I always wanted to experience what being brother will be like Arachnid grinned selfishly as he prepares to depart with the Queen of the hive
Al Qafr, capital city of Saddle Arabia, 6:00AM, +15 days after event
“Okay move it over there!” Amira commanded the Saddle royal guard as they prepare themselves for the coming peace talks between Equestria and the Changelings. Things have to be perfect Amira thought as hs brother Haakim was busy managing the kitchens.
“Okay! the table is set milady” The Saddle guard bows as he backs down. Saddle Arabia has changed in the last 200 years, 200 years ago Stallions are in a disadvantegous position as Mares completely rule society as a whole, Stallions have minimal rights and are often prosecuted and being taken for granted. Things got especially bad during heat season when famous ‘Stallionhunts’ are organised by noblemares and even peasants where they will find hiding Stallions and essentially copulate with them without their consent. Ugh, don’t wanna think about our past again thought Amira as she let her mind wander aimlessly for a second.
“hmmm, okay that’s good” as she returned to her job seeing that the table is set, the proper decorations are laid in and everything else is in good order as well. “Might as well check on Haakim” as Amira walks down to the kitchen to see her brother busy managing the royal chefs for the occasion.
“hmm it’s good, bring it to the table” Haakim says as he taste tested each and everyone of the native Saddle Arabian cuisine he personally chose to be the main course for tomorrow’s lunch. Each one of them has been put on a preservation spell and will be presented to the Equestrian, French and Changeling delegation once the delegates finished their meeting.
“How’s the food going Haakim?” Amira asked
“It’s going pretty good sister, food’s mostly ready. I just have to prepare for the deserts” Haakim responded
“Oh okay then, I’ll inform father that you’re almost ready” Amira says as she leaves the kitchens and eventually enters the throne room where the sultan and his advisors are about to start the day by finishing some daily paperwork before opening court.
“Oh Amira! please come in dear daughter, I trust the spies are ready yes?”
“Of course father, all necessary preparations for spying and observation are being placed in. Haakim is about to finish preparations for the food and the tables are set” Amira reported
“Good, good. Now go on now, you’re free to do what you wish” Sultan Rabin says as she dismisses her daughter, effectively giving her free time.
Canterlot Airship Hangars, 7:00AM, +15 days after event
“Make way for the Princess!” a royal guard yells to the arriving princess and the French delegate. Hours before the Princess’s arrival, the royal airship crew was already busy preparing Princess Celestia’s personal airship: The Sol for immediate departure for Saddle Arabia. This airship is the newest breed of the ‘design 15’ airships originally made by Canterlot’s Airship Bureau as the Princess’s personal airship, and it really shows off the power of Equestrian engineering and magics when it comes to airship design. The design itself, despite being nearly 80 years old still holds true as the premier airship for the Princesses and is projected to last some 120 years until a new design would be made to replace the ‘design 15’ airships.
Capitaine Emma Caron observed the airship with awe. Although she has seen the pictures of airships like the hindenburg and how large it is, she is shocked that this airship is going to transpert her platoon, the delegate and the liaison into Saddle Arabia. Admittedly she is a bit peeved when the Princess said that the journey will take a couple of days, but she did also say that there are showers and a laundry pegasi taking care of your clothing in case the airship ran into bad weather and pegasi guards have to push them out.
“It’s amazing isn’t it” she was suddenly shocked by the question asked by Mr Julien. “When I thought that the airship is going to be big I never thought it's going to be like this!!, this airship by the looks alone looks larger than the Hindenburg!! I guess magic does come into play when the ponies make these things but this is still a pretty impressive feat” commented Julien.
“Well I do admit this airship is pretty awesome” when she suddenly heard the hangar doors being opened as light enters the still darkened airship hangar. “But I fear that if disaster strikes, this will simply be a larger Hindenburg and that’s not good for my health and wellbeing sir” as she saw the Princess talking to he captain of the ship. Probably about the flight she thought as she eyed the Sun Princess and the Captain of the airship.
“Well it’s a good thing we have moved to planes now don’t we?” Julien responded
“Definitely sir, definitely” Emma responded as well. Knowing full well the risks if that airship explode. Plus it doesn’t have a good carrying capacity as well she further thought.
Minutes later the Princess returned from the preliminary flight checks and greets both the captain and the delegate with a gentle nod.
“Captain, Julien” Celestia politely greets them
“Hello there Celestia, I trust that preflight checks are complete?” the delegate asks
“Oh Certainly, we just need a couple of minutes before the hangar doors are fully opened. You can come to the airship if you want, I can show you the sights!” as Celestia invites the French Delegation and their escorts for a tour of the airship.
“Yes of course Princess, I think a tour would be most beneficial for us accommodating to the Ponies’s expectations and sensibilities”
“Splendid! I’ll see you inside” as Celestia flapped her wings and flew into the bridge of the airship.
“I need some getting used to that, it’s not just everyday that you have magical horses flying around” Emma commented on the Princess’s sudden flight to the airship
“Meh i’ve been used to the Princess’s shenanigans. It’s honestly no big deal, c’mon bring your men and your baggage, we’re doing a preflight tour!” Julien says as they both enter the airship. Inside the airship is what you would expect from a monarch who have ruled this country for more than 1000 years. Ornaments of every kind litter the hallways and there are occasional glass panels potraying ancient combat armour likely used by Celestia herself. When they reached the bridge they are greeted by the Princess and Captain of the ship.
“Welcome to the Sol 15” Celestia said with pride. “This is the fifteenth airship made specifically for the transportation of myself and my sister Luna into faraway places such as Saddle Arabia. This ship was constructed in the year 920AB (After Banishment) by the Royal Canterlot airship Bureau, still the governing body responsible for the creation of official airships such as these. We used to have combat airships immediately after Luna’s banishment but the eventual spending cuts have reduced the design bureau to only designing airships for diplomatic purposes only” as Celestia describes her airship with a hint of pride inside of her.
“Now let’s start the tour shall we?” Celestia said which are followed by a bunch of nods from the French delegation. “Don’t worry about your baggage, my staff will take care of it” as she nods to the Capain and the captain yells on a loudspeaker about maids and whatnot, soon after their baggages are carried away, Celestia starts the tour on the bridge, “this is the bridge of the airship, nothing much to see here except for that bust over there” as she pointed her hoof in the bust of a weird looking alicorn, she approached the bust and simply says “This is the bust of the first Captain of the Airship, Commander Easyglider”
The French delegation looked at the bust of the commander with mild amusement, it looks like someone just took the main character from top gun and transformed him into a female pegasus pony. Captain Emma was about to let out a snicker but was cut out by Mr Julien with a simple shake from his head.
“Now let’s go into the first hallway. We can see here that we have multiple historical paintings of famous figures of Equestrian history” As Celestia and the delegate walks through the long hallway. “This is the famous picture called ‘harbinger of death,’ It is a famous painting done by Leoneighdo and romanticises the banishment of my sister to the moon, I was about to put this painting into the trash bin but then Luna stopped me for some reason. Claiming that it is a part of our history and we shouldn’t discard it just like that” Celestia said as she presented a romanticised painting of Celestia using the elements of harmony against Nightmare Moon.
The meeting would continue for a couple of hours and would convince Julien that Celestia was better at politics than tour guides, she is incredibly meticulous about every single detail of EVERY SINGLE PAINTING that by the time their tour is finished. The airship is already in the air and was just arriving at Manehattan before their long journey to Saddle Arabia.
“Never again” Julien said as she entered the room and flopped himself into bed.
Strasbourg Harbour, 8:00AM, +15 days after event
The CMA CGM ship ‘Arizona’ has finally arrived into the hastily makeshift harbour of the newly reformed Strasbourg port authority. The port does have the capacity to handle large container ships with it being one of the largest river ports before the event, but the sheer amount of Equestrian merchant ships bringing in Iron ores, Copper ore and foodstuffs overwhelmed the organization branch or the port. Strasbourg was about to be completely overwhelmed with traffic before the French transport minister personally intervened and ordered the transport of crew and cranes from non essential harbours like Cherbourg, Calais and Dunkirk into Strasbourg immediately.
“Strasbourg port authority, this is CMA CGM Arizona requesting pilot service over” the Captain of the ship asked the Strasbourg central control.
“CMA CGM Arizona, this is Strasbourg port authority, standby for pilot boat. Over and out” the central control replied. Immediately after that fateful meeting a couple of days ago after the displacement. CMA CGM was one of the first companies to make headway into the local workshops and mines in nearby Vanhoover (still the only Equestrian city open to trade as Los Pegasus is still too much of a risky investment because of the war and the other major cities like Canterlot and Manehattan doesn’t have a direct sea route into France yet) and offered their services for them. The blacksmiths and managers, once realizing how much profit they could make selling their ores into France happily agreed and the ship CMA CGM Arizona was the first ever French trade ship to enter Vanhoover harbour for commercial purposes only.
The loading process was incredibly awkward as it took 5 unicorns to lift a single container out of the ship. But after an arduous process taking some 2 hours of lifting the container, filling it with ores and Iron products and lifting it back to the ship. The ship was eventually filled with cargo and finally made it’s way back to Strasbourg harbour, where the Iron is about to be transported into many destinations as companies like Arcelormetal with it’s reopened Steel foundries needed as many Iron ores as possible. This is also followed by the rapid reindustrialisation of France in general, with Iron and coal mines thought long forgotten are reopened and massive recuitment drives to man the mines underway. The overall economic report for France might be a recession, but many economists predict that 2016 will be a year of record French economic growth unseen since the industrial revolution because France needed to produce it’s own electronics and items which is currently not being manufactured by either Equestria nor Amaterasu, filling many jobs and reducing the unemployment rate to near zero.
The Arizona was eventually docked safely into harbour and the gantry cranes starts the process of unloading the containers which will be transported into said reopened industrial sectors. This is the scene of the entirety of the port as CMA CGM is making a record killing committing half of it’s ships to trade with Equestria and the other half preparing for the greenlight from the government to trade with Amaterasu. This will be the main story of so many companies in France that day, cut off from a mature but very saturated market only to find a market unknown to them but has incredible potential to be capitalized, inadvertently powering the French economy as a result.
Toulouse ATV control center, 10:00AM, +15 days after event
“So not only do we need to revisit the old designs of the ATV, but we need it to be fireproof as well?” asked Francois Spoto, the project manager appointed to the revival of the new ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle. While contractors and boardmembers are overseeing the new layout of the new ESA general operations headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
“I know this is a very tough order and we need to revisit the drawing boards multiple times regarding about the issue. But do note that French Guiana is much closer to France than their current position on Earth, so it would be pretty easy for you to test prototypes determining what’s right and what’s wrong” flight operations director Herve Come responded. He knew the increase of the ESA’s budget from France is a very big deal because France wants to keep their absolute superiority in space, period. But the budget increase also allows for what remains of the ESA to be far more flexible with their funding and create new spacecraft designs. There are even talks about putting men on the Equestrian moon of all things!
Putting a man on the moon ha!!! with this new budget we can do it on the same timescale as NASA did if not faster!! we don’t have to rely on archaic navigational equipment anyways Herve thought as Francois pulls out the blueprint for the ATV and shows potential problems if they were to build a manned, heatproof ATV.
“So the main body of the ATV is fine, we can simply add some carbon composites and ceramic to form the heatshield around the body of the spacecraft. The main problem lies with protecting the solar panels from any form of destruction, and this is where it gets tricky” he said as he outlines the solar panel that power any form of in flight generation. “In order for the solar panels to survive reentry, we need to form some sort of protection when the solar panels are put back into the belly of the spacecraft. We can do this by a heatshield door which I heavily recommend but there are other alternatives” the project manager said
“What alternatives? you mean the alternative where we ditch the solar panels on reentry. NO way, no way at all are we going to do that Francois. Build the door and report to me immediately once the new ATV is done” Herve replied as he concluded the meeting as well.
“ugh fine fine Herve, don’t be such a dick about it” Francois groaned as he wrapped up the ATV blueprint and commences the rebuilding of France’s own Spaceship
******
The ‘Mild Line’ is created, a relatively new but extensive defensive line stretching all throughout the mild west in order to repel any Changeling attack
The French Economy is in massive contraction because they are cut off from Earth’s global trade network. But Emannuel Macron has commented that 2016 will be a “Golden year" for France, as trade agreements set up between France, Equestria and Amaterasu will take full effect in 2016.
The peace talks between Equestria, France and the Changeling Swarm are about to start
France will be the sole builder of the Automated Transfer Vehicle/ ATV for the moment