The Southern Expedition

by Ponelover

20th June, 2018

After Celestia’s arrival, activity on the base went to normal. Almost too normal for Celestia’s tastes.

Sure the French fleet has been engaging Alicornian incursions for a while now. But after the lafayette incident things has been…..uneasily quiet. There are no other major incursions other than the occasional spat with Alicorn scouts and although the battlegroup is still at full combat readiness. There is a sense of incoming dread, a sense that maybe the Alicorns are preparing something the French might not know of.

And that’s why she’s now in this boardroom, knowing full well that something might happen, command decided that it would be smart to hold a meeting in the base. With more troops landing at Port Aux Francais and coming aid from Amaterasu, they’re going to decide on whether or not a counterattack is feasible to do right now.

A bit ambitious, but nonetheless an interesting plan. These French know their logistics and they should be able to attack Alicornia with minimal casualties, let’s see how this meeting goes Celestia thought as the rest of the French command staff finally arrived.

“Ah it’s good to see you again Celestia” she heard a familiar voice from the kerfluffle as each officer took a seat.
“Captain? Is that you?” Celestia responded as the chaos quietly subsided and there he is. The Captain of the Charles de Gaulle himself, Jacques Rousseau.
“It’s always good to see the Diarch of Equestria again Celestia, let’s hope this meeting will end productively.”
“Me too as well Jacques, me too as well”
“Okay now, let’s start the meeting” she heard the Admiral bringing order as the chaos died down
“Now before we start this meeting in full, does any one of you have concerns that needs to be raised?”

Silence

“Okay then, now let’s start. As you see here” the Admiral points out to the projected image of Alicornia “We have a bit of a problem, satellite imaging reveals that the Alicorns are possibly fielding a new type of weapon as seen in the tarp covered object moving into this warehourse.” she said as she points the lazer pointer into a warehouse on the Alicornian Port

“The sun gun” Celestia silently muttered hoping that no one would hear her say it, but the silence of the room makes the silent mutter hearable to the whole room
“Is there anything you want to say Celestia?” the Admiral moves her head as she hears what Celestia just said
“It’s called the Sun Gun, a weapon I designed back during the early-early days of the Empire. This weapon is very ancient, created even before the Equestrian-Zebrican conquests and was never used outside the wars of unification”
“While some historians might be interested in what you just said Celestia, can you explain to us what this might mean to our operations?”
“Definitely Admiral, this weapon fires an artificial ray created by myself, as for the power of the ray itself. Let’s just say that it’s more than capable of leaving a sizable dent in your ships”
“Then we must destroy it then shouldn’t we Celestia?”
“Immediately, it’s either destruction or recapture. Your lazer guided bombs might do the trick but I think you need to destroy the Air Guard first”
“Understood, Celestia is going to asist our battlegroup and we are leaving tonight, prepare for combat operations immediately!”
“MA’AM YES MA’AM!!” the room replied

Celestia admitted that addressing a female admiral seems….odd, in her line of work. Mares usually hold positions of power yes, but the military is usually exclusive to stallions while other branches of government is usually Mare dominated. Indeed, ma’am yes ma’am doesn’t sound the same but I digress, she is a competent admiral she thought as she entered her armoury and checks in on her armour.

With she herself leaving tonight, she wants to make sure that her armour is in tip-top shape, “Always essential to check on armour” she muttered as she checks on the locks and lights her horn as well. Only to reveal that all of the enchantments and runes in her armour is still in good condition and therefore combat ready. Ancient runes and enchantments aside, I hope this armour won’t hold me down, that incident with Sombra is NOT something I want to relive again.

Celestia doesn’t want to remember it, but that incident where her armour was used against her was something she immediately rectified by designing this new armour, let’s hope that the same won’t happen she thought.

Caballeron is having a really good day

The police haven’t figured out their plans, the terrorists are cooperating amicably and everything is going incredibly smoothly for an operation with such scale. It is a wonder how these humans possess such technology and expertise if they’re this incompetent. Of course they are, no one is as competent as Caballeron of course and where is my darn food!!

The answer arrived when a waitress finally arrived on scene bringing in a hot cup of coffee and what looks like croissant from afar.

“One hot coffee and one croissant” she said as his food arrived
“Ah excellent, thank you very much” he replied as he takes a sip at the excellent French coffee at least they know how to make coffee he thought as he takes another sip.
“Ahhh nothing short of a good coffee to end your day” he said to himself as he reclined on his chair and enjoyed the scenic view of Paris in the afternoon.
Suddenly he feels a bit sleepy and his eyes fluttered weakly “Huh? But it’s coffee” he said to himself as the stallion tries his hardest to stay awake.
“Oh crap, it’s anesthetic!!” he sleepily said as he groggily tried to escape from the coffee shop. He knew this must be the drugs affecting him and he didn’t want to be vulnerable to whoever dosed him.
“Gods be darned”

As the stallion collapses in front of the café, black cars arrived at the scene and proceeded to secure the area, as the door opens, men in suits move quick and efficiently. First collecting Caballeron and after making sure there were no witnesses, the black cars escaped as fast as they arrived.

The waitress seeing the whole scene could only smirk in success, mission accomplished she thought as she decided to leave the cafe she’s ‘working’ in early.

The Hexagon Balard, a couple minutes later

Darkness

There is only darkness for Caballeron. He doesn’t know where he is but when he woke up he can only see that, darkness.

Crap he thought, it appears I have underestimated these French, turns out it’s just a ruse to lure me into a sense of false security. Dammit!!

Suddenly he heard the door being turned and the clinking of shoes can be heard. The darkness was suddenly replaced with a pristine interrogation room with a sharp looking man in front of him.
“Hello there Caballeron” the sharp dressed man said
“Who.Are.You?” he replied
“Why I’m from the DGSE of course, we got tipped off from immigration about you here and we’ve been monitoring you ever since, let’s just say that we are not really pleased with what you’re doing here.”
“Oh spare me your rhetoric agent, what do you want!!” he replied in anger, he doesn’t like the condescending tone the agent is giving. Sounds like these French thought they have all the cards in their favor, we’ll see about that agent he thought
“First of all, please calm down. I don’t want to dump another bodybag again. Second of all, I’m here to give you the opportunity of a lifetime so you better listen up or shut up.”
That did the trick, Caballeron, knowing full well that he’s at a disadvantegous position reluctantly shuts up. I’ll show them…..I’ll show them!! he silently thought as the DGSE agent continued the interrogation
“So, Mr Caballeron. It seems that you have two options laid out in front of you. One, I kill you and dump your body in the lunar oceans, or Two, I don’t kill you and you will tell us exactly what you and your cohorts are planning.” he stoicly said
“Ugh…….why can’t you just leave me alone! FINE!! If you want me to snitch then so be it!!” Caballeron spat as he took the offer reluctantly
The agent could only smirk, “Good then. Now just to make sure that you won’t betray your word” and Caballeron could feel a strong sting on his neck
“Oww!…..what was that for!?” he spat
“To make sure that you will keep your word. We’ll be monitoring you from the tracking device implanted in your neck. Do. Not. Take. It. Out. Understood?” the tone in that last sentence was unusually happy, Caballeron didn’t like it one bit.
“Fine fine I’ll play by your rules, now get me outta here!!” he screamed

The tree of harmony, a beacon of hope in the face of the chaotic everfree forests. Is dying.
The once bright light that Illuminates the cave is now dying, retreating and letting the darkness overtake the cave slowly but surely. It seems sure that the tree is about to die, Twilight’s out decoding ancient artifacts, Celestia is fighting her own race and Luna is to busy at Canterlot to do anything.

Suddenly the ground begins to crack and the tree flashes off in a brilliant display of light, Illuminating the cave again.

It is time.

Although the sun has past falling at this point, under the guise of floodlights and sparks construction of the second carrier Suffren was still underway. Despite the overtime and the constant influx of coffee these workers ingested, their hard work eventually paid off. The Suffren is ready to leave port in a couple of days and the foreman in charge of it’s construction couldn’t be happier. Morale is damn low though and frankly outside of a clear French victory, a strike is pretty possible.

“Hey watch out!!!” the foreman shouted at a worker that’s just about to move in a bunch of canisters. Damn amateurs he thought as work continues on the ship.
With the final piece of the ship arriving by tomorrow, the Suffren should be able to undergo sea trials in three more days if need be. They have worked multiple overtimes just to complete the final stages of the ship and it shows. Squadrons of Rafales have landed at the airport and are ready to transfer on the ship at a moment’s notice and missiles as well as other forms of loadouts from the smallest rifles to the biggest rocket launchers are being moved as fast as possible. The defense contractors sure know what they’re doing the foreman thought, he could remember the day when the people from both the Thales and DCNS arrived at the dock and proceeded to outfit the new carrier with it’s wiring and electronics, “Like a damn well oiled machine. I still have no idea how the hell they could finish the wiring so fast. Damn contractors.”

He must admit that this kind of progress is kind of unsettling, it’s like we’re preparing to slide back into imperialism again he thought as he saw the giant of a ship being welded, wrenched and bolted in place. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from behind him.

“Umm Mr Montcalm sir?”
“Yes what is it Marie?”
“We got a message from Nantes sir, the timetable for the Napoleon is sped up to September sir. It appears the overtime wage increases are working”
“Good then. I’ll E-mail the president right away”
“Oh and one other thing sir”
“Yes what is it Marie?”
“The chief Admiral has also requested us to build more ships in a 7 year timetable sir, the list is already at your office”
“Okay then Marie, good job. Keep it up” the Foreman responded as he rushed back to his office.

The office itself is relatively clean for a foreman in charge of France’s premier military shipyard. Blueprints are stacked in rolls, multiple computers on sleep mode and a wooden table decorated Mr Montcalm’s office like a mesh of everything an engineer loved.
“I need to clean this up someday” he silently said to himself as he took a seat in his office and flipped the pages of the report.

“Okay now let’s see, ‘Dear Mr Montcalm’-yup skipping that part…..Ah! Here it is!” he exclaimed as a list of ships with diagrams and specifications is laid out in front of him. And upon reading it his eyes immediately widens and his breathing grew heavy as well.

“What...the….hell?” he said as the list reads out

2 Horizon class Frigates by 2020

2 FREMM class Frigates by 2022

10 Patrol boats by 2025, list is shown below
4 Gowind class
4 Flamant class
2 Batiment Multimissions

First downpayment for the Horizon class will be received in the shipyard’s account by August 2018. That’s some 100 Million euros.

For more information, please call Admiral Bernard Rogel at the details shown below. Thank you for your cooperation

And he can see the good Admiral’s contact number at the bottom of the page. “France is really going to war…….why would anyone provoke FRANCE to go to war!?!? Those Alicorns are either dumb or super ignorant. Fine then Admiral, I’ll take your contract, we’ll show those Alicorn bastards what happens if they provoke France!” he said as he left the office to supervise the construction again.

“This is Mont Blanc flight, we’re taking off” as another group of Rafale’s took off from the Carrier’s deck.
“Okay then that’s all the Rafale’s bring in the Super Etendards!” Captain Rousseau commanded which is met with a bunch of ‘Roger’s’ from flight leaders as the group of admittedly older planes line up no the catapults. He was about to coordinate further with his flight when he was suddenly interrupted by a tap on his shoulder, he turns around only to see Celestia in full armour accompanied by the Wonderbolts in their flightsuits as well.
“Captain”
“Celestia”
“We are about to deploy, I have mindlinked ourselves with all flightleaders and we are awaiting your command to launch.” Celestia said, that definitely felt awkward. It’s been too long since I accepted orders from someone
“You are clear Celestia, go down to the landing strip and launch immediately. Commando teams are also being deployed from the subs so you should join them by the time they hit the Sun Gun. Goodluck Celestia”
“And goodluck to you to Jacques. Wonderbolts! We deploy now!” She commanded as her group left the ship’s bridge and out into the platform of the Charles de Gaulle.

What a sight” she said as the platform of the carrier is rife with activity, Super Etendards are launching left and right, crews and support teams making sure that nothing goes wrong and general organized chaos around her.
“Alright then. Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot? Are you ready to meet the other ‘Princesses’?” she asked which is met with a hearthy laugh.
“Oh spare us the humor Princess. We’ll do that once we concluded the mission alright?” Spitfire responded in her usually rough raspy voice.
“Oh alright then Spitfire. We’ll just wait for the command and-”
“Goddess flight, you’re clear for takeoff”
“NOW!” Celestia screamed as her group ran across the runway with full speed, gaining more momentum as they approached the end of the runway.
As the runway starts getting shorter and shorter, all 4 ponies extended their wings and flapped as powerfuly as they can, gaining more and more height.

Celestia and her escorts left the Charles de Gaulle already at 500 feet and they’re about to meet the rest of the carrier’s squadron at 5000 feet.
This is Celestia to all goddess flights.
Soarin here.
Spitfire here.
Fleetfoot here.
Good, are your solar staffs ready?
Affirmative Princess Soarin replied as a staff is lowered from his back a golden staff filled with solar magic capable of shooting beams of concentrated sun magic at anything that stands in his way.
Good then, we’ll join the rest of the group shortly.
Understood Princess.

15 minutes later

I see it, I can see the Rafales over there Princess!
Roger that Fleetfoot. All Goddess flights, assume wedge formation and join with the rest of the group. We’ll maintain formation until we reach the battlefield.
Understood Princess as goddess flight swerves into position, joining the group of Rafales and Super Etendards in formation. Eager to drop bombs and make life in Alicornia a living hell just for a little while.

“Contact!!” she heard from Buckeye 1, “Enemy approaching at 100km’s! engage engage engage!” and from that point on, everything turned into a frenzy as multiple Rafale’s fired off their Meteor missiles to atack the enemy beyond visual range.
“Splash 1!”
“Enemy down!”
“It’s a miss, standby to fire second one”
“Splash 1 as well!”
“I got one!”
“Miss, dammit!”
The Alicornian reply is the typical one as beams of powerful magic streaked off the sky, forcing the Rafales and Super Etendards to conduct evasive maneuvers and responding with more missiles being fired. The brightly colored armor of the Princess as well as electronic rcognition software installed on their suits immediately identifies Princess Celestia and the Wonderbolts as friendlies, saving them from any potential friendly fires.
Wonderbolts! Take evasive maneuvers immediately, I’ll deal with these myself she commanded and her horn charged up and a bright pillar of solar magic bursts from her horn. Yes! I got one! she silently cheered as she can see the beam hitting an Alicorn air guard in the chest.
Immediately she fired a second, and a third, and then a fourth blast from her horn. Hitting targets one by one as the beyond visual range combat moved into visual range combat.
“This is Magic flight 1, I got Winchester.” she heard from the radio chatter as a Rafale downs an Alicorn Air Guard.
“This is Buckeye 4, Fox 2! Confirmed Hit!”
“Magic 2, Winchester!!”
“Fox 2…...splash! Target’s going down!”
“Dagger 3 here, can’t..shake it off-gah!! I’m pulling out!”
“Dagger 4 here, I’m going down!!”
“Goddess 3 here, engaging enemy in melee combat. Please assist.”

The last immediately got Celestia’s attention. She moved quickly having no problem detecting Fleetfoot with her enhanced senses. Once realizing the Air Guard is having an easy time fending off her attacks, she quickly pulled off her sword and thrust her way to the Air Guard.

“Hah!! not so fast tyrant!" the guard replied as he evaded her thrust, "You think that your mechanical friends can fend us off but mark my words. We will defeat you and bring glory back to Equestria!!”
“Not on my watch wench!” she responded as the two Alicorns engaged, sword clashing with sword on the background of Rafales and more Alicornian Air Guards
“Who do you think you are? thinking yourselves ruler of those...ponies, Nes’kledan would surely bring back order and progress into your wretched domain.”
“Don’t do this Air Guard. Nes is nothing more than a serpent, he-”
“Spare me your sentiments Princess!” the guard responded with a quick slash from his sword that is easily blocked by Celestia’s shield, and after that the two fighters refused to talk to each other and let their swords do the talking.

A single slip, c’mon just a single sli-aha! she quickly spotted the Air Guard’s briefly opened defenses and moves her sword in a quick thrusting motion. Piercing his weakened shield and strikes his chest, immediately she could feel the magic draining itself from the wounded Alicorn as he staggers around for a bit, coughing blood
“T….Tyrant!!” he screamed briefly, only to be silenced as a slash came to his neck, leaving the already wounded Alicorn choking for his life.
“Might as well finish it” Celestia said as she thrusted her sword again to his chest. Striking more deeply into the Alicorn’s chest until it lay there lifeless and unmoving, she quickly disposed of his body and moved on to her second objective now that the battle have moved to the city of Alicornia itself.
Thank the heavens that this is not Manshira. It’s anyone’s guess right now for what sort of defenses the old capital possesses she thought as she swooped down to the city, avoiding spells and beams, finally arriving at the city square to a raucous scene.
She heard gunfire and spells all around the city as French Commando Marines have engaged Alicornia’s garrisons, and although they are doing a fine job laying down crossfire into the Alicorn garrison, teleportation is hindering the operation and Celestia knew what must be done.

“Let’s pray this old scroll works” she silently said as she quickly ran to the city center and pulled off a scroll containing a disabling spell. Her horn flowed with ethereal energy and suddenly the entire city is filled with a bright light. The garrison knew what that spell is and they didn’t like it.
“This is Captain Firewing to all forces, withdraw from Alicornia immediately. Celestia has us beaten….move move move!!!” he screamed as the remaining garrison realized what the spell is and conducted their retreat immediately.
“Now to destroy the Sun Gun.” She said as she galloped towards the docks, the location where the sun gun was last located.

“Fireteam Bravo to Fireteam Delta, the warehouse is in sight.”
“Roger that Fireteam Bravo. We’re moving from the back now.” the leader of Fireteam Delta responded as the door on the back of the warehouse is kicked down. The battle itself is rather eventfull with the leader counting 6 downed Alicorn guards already.
“Fireteam Bravo where are you?” the leader asked which is met with silence
“Fireteam Bravo do you rea…....” and he saw a sight that he would remember for the rest of his life.
Fireteam Bravo is still alive and combat active, but he could see the reason as to why the leader is not responding to hails.
In front of the fireteam, a bloodied Princess Celestia appears. Looking more like the god of death instead of the Princess of Equestria
“Oh...your highness..I-I see that you-you have arrived”
“Yes Commando I have, and I know I look rather frightful right now but I can assure you that this is the blood of my enemies, not mine. Now let’s blow this thing up shall we?” Celestia responded as she casted an illumination spell, turning the once dark warehouse into the brightest sight in the city
“Right. C’mon boys! Plant some C4 up this bastard’s ass!!” Delta leader commanded as the commandos unpacked their bags and put C4 bricks on the gun itself. A couple of minutes later and the Sun Gun was littered with C4 bricks ready to explode.

The warehouse itself bursted in a great fireball as the leaders of Fireteam Bravo and Delta are already exfiltrating the area with Alpha and Charlie right next to them. “I’ll see you back at the base!” Celestia exclaimed as the submarines pulled back from the harbour and vanished into the depths. Time to get out of here myself as Celestia flapped her wings and flew back to the air battle, the battle itself is mostly over as she could saw the Rafales and Super Etendards flying back to the carrier following the destruction of the local air guard and she could see that her escorts are mostly fine as well…..mostly fine.

“Soarin! C’mon you dolt don’t do this on me!” Spitfire raises her tone in concern as a nasty gash was seen on his chest.
“He will be fine Spitfire, c’mon bring a cloud over here and move! Alicorn reinforcements could arrive here anytime now!” Celestia commanded as Soarin was lifted onto a nearby cloud and hauled back to the carrier, ending the opération itself.

******

Opération Guerrier confirmed a success, the Sun Gun is destroyed and local Air Guard casualties estimated at 50-60%

Lieutenant Soarin is heavily wounded, currently being treated in de Gaulle’s infirmaries

Orders for warships increased as French war efforts shifts to high gear

Joint concerts are being planned both in France and Equestria to earn additional support from the populace, confirmed acts include Countess Colorautura, Sapphire Shores, The Canterlot Royal Orchestra, and the French band Daft Punk