The Conversion Bureau: Mankind Triumphant
- Relic -
by Dafaddah
Author's note: When I first read Chatoyance's story it shook me to the bone. It scared me, it kept me awake, it affected me. When she invited others to submit stories around her TCB New Universe scenarios, I knew I could not refuse. I felt this story calling to me. Resistance was futile. So here it is.
PS thanks to Microshazm for improving this story immesurably by masterful editing and story advice! (Dafaddah bows.)
---
AD2200
Humans had a duty to produce offspring, which they did by the vat-load. The baby vats were tended by pony pediatricians, and the children were nurtured by pony nannies of course, as had been the young Wilberforce Sachs. Only the best children made it to middle-age without being ponified, and WiIberforce was the best of the best, of this he was sure. In fact this is what inspired him to his great ambition: to be the first to speak to Celestia in her case, to show the former Princess the greatness that was mankind. To tell her about humanity's achievements since, and describe all that might never have happened if Celestia had not foolishly attempted to invade the Earth. He wanted to show her this great society that could never have been built without the bounty of her blood and the serum that was its product. Yes, Sachs wanted to thank Celestia, for what she had done, and for the way she monthly contributed literally of herself to ensure the perpetuation of mankind.
Wilberforce Sachs walked up to the security station. He placed his palm on the reader and waited for the green light to indicate that he could enter. It did, and the door to the vault rose ponderously, emitting a hiss as negative air pressure kept thaumaturgicly tainted air from escaping its confines.
He was not wearing any protective clothing. He knew that it would likely be of no use, and he wasn't expecting to stay very long, anyway. He, like his worthy father and grandfather before him, had worked tirelessly for many years to finally achieve his position as leader of the Executive Council of the Eastern Alliance. Unlike them, this was not his true goal. His struggle was to amass the power and influence that would allow him to enter this room and see this object before him: a reinforced steel case euphemistically called the Treasure Chest. Its contents were nothing less than the still living head of the former ruler of Equestria, Celestia herself.
The Treasure Chest was not very imposing. It gleamed dully, its metal impregnated with the anti-magical Substance D produced from the ground fragments of Celestia's nemesis, Discord. Low on one side was a spigot from which every month the accumulated magical blood of Celestia was drained to produce ponification serum. The serum was used as a general punishment for most crimes, these days. As a result, the population of the Earth was now over ninety percent pony. They were happy ponies, growing food and tending gardens, doing all the low level jobs of the world of men and living simple lives.
None of this truly concerned Sachs. The object before him did.
Sachs smiled warmly as a technician drilled a pinhole and inserted some specialized nanites. They would safely build a sight and sound bridge between the inside and outside of the case, using the substance of the case and Celestia herself. How fitting that she would contribute to her own new ears and eyes. The technician bowed to Wilberforce and left. It would only take a moment for the nanites to do their work and connect directly to Celestia's nervous system. Already a view-screen was forming on top of the Treasure Chest. In a moment it would display a holographic image of Celestia's head just above the case, as if her head were sticking out through a hole in its top surface.
Of course he had read the reports of the sound of screaming supposedly coming from within during the monthly harvest of Celestia's blood. He was ready to be patient and understanding, if it took her a while to stop screaming. And he was ready also for the tears that no doubt would come. After all, what a change of circumstance she had suffered, all because of her own selfish ambition to conquer humanity. Her feelings of guilt must be simply crushing.
He was also ready for the begging when it came time. Begging to let her out, to let her go, and of course he would have to explain that they could never set free a creature as dangerous as she, a failed invader, the chief architect and perpetrator of an attempted genocide.
And when she came to realize her fate, he expected Celestia to then beg for death, to seek release from her shame and her guilt, to wish to end the pain of living in a box, without comfort, without company, with only her thoughts and regrets. But how could he grant her such, when the constant supply of her blood was one of the very pillars of society? No, Celestia's blood was needed. Truth be told, and he would tell her, Celestia owed humanity for the deprivations she had caused: the loss of so many lives in her war, the extinction of so many brilliant minds by ponification, the sacrifice of almost a sixth of the Earth itself and close to half of humanity in the ensuing disasters. No, she owed humanity still, and such was her punishment that she would be obliged to continue paying that debt, until such a time as humanity judged otherwise and released her from residence inside the Treasure Chest.
Sachs was not an evil man. Only a strong-willed person could ascend to the heights he had achieved, but he had always endeavored to keep and nurture the solid core of compassion in his inner soul. So he felt for Celestia, he really did, and he had steeled himself against her begging him to stay another few minutes and keep her company, to delay her return to isolation. But he could not remain longer than a few minutes without risking overexposure to the thaumaturgic energy radiating from Celestia herself. He would however, generously promise to visit her again, when his heavy obligations permitted it, in a few months or a year. He resolved that he truly would be generous with his time.
Sachs felt good about this visit. He licked his lips in anticipation, and watched as the hologram of Celestia's head rapidly took shape over the Treasure Chest. Her eyes were closed but it was clearly the face from those long ago vids, despite the odd clot of blood matting her white fur. Her reputed rainbow gossamer mane was absent, which disappointed him somewhat, as did her so far passive attitude. It was Wilberforce's policy to always take the bull by the horns, or in this case, he smiled at the thought, the alicorn by the horn.
"Celestia." His voice rang out, neither cold nor warm, but familiar, like an old acquaintance or a colleague greeting another in the corridor. He meant to reassure and not to frighten the poor creature.
She slowly opened her eyes, and he felt the gaze of her keen intellect wash over him. He had expected to see terror, fear, hate, remorse in those eyes. But what he saw there instead disturbed him greatly. It shook him to his core. It made him want to hate her, to despise her, to scorn her. What he saw in her eyes was the last thing he expected to see. What he saw was compassion. The ache of it burned in him, and he felt his smile turn into a scowl. But the look on Celestia's face never wavered, her compassion never faltered.
"How dare you?" he said. Right then and there he almost decided to turn and leave this unrepentant criminal. But something held him back. He took a moment to calm himself, and then he understood. His deepest instincts had saved him. If he had left, she would have won, and he would have been a coward. No, he would face her down, prove to her once again the superiority of humanity. That was why he had come here today. That is what he would do. Now was the time to attack her delusions and shove her muzzle firmly into the pungent truth. This criminal deserved no less.
"How dare you look upon a human without contrition, murderess." he reprimanded Celestia, calmly, rationally. His smile returned as he said the word 'murderess'. It was a fitting word for the creature before him. "Do you not regret your crimes?" He raised an eyebrow to show that this was not a rhetorical question, and that he expected an answer.
"I look upon you as I have looked upon countless humans before you. Never in hate, always in love. I am what I am, and cannot be otherwise," said his prisoner in a sweet, gentle voice.
"So you admit your crimes and refuse to repent?" said Sachs. He knew how to unmask evaders. All it took was patience and the intelligence to ask the right questions. Sooner or later, the guilty party's evasions contradicted themselves. He would be ready to spring the trap. He knew this game well.
"I have acted only in the best interest of all the inhabitants of Earth and Equestria, whether human or ponies, or griffins or dragons or other sentient species," replied Celestia.
"Is that so?" he cocked his head to one side. Wilberforce noted that she was smart enough to know this time his was a rhetorical question and kept her silence. "Tell me, Princess, if your plan had succeeded, would not the earth have completely disappeared, swallowed up by Equestria and humanity with it? Would that not have been a genocide?"
"Our objective," said Celestia, "was to provide an escape to all humans from that extinction. Humanity would not have ceased, it would have... transcended. But even if the collision between the Earth and Equestria had not happened, the long-term prospects for mankind were quite dismal. The earth was mostly dead, its ecosystems destroyed, its oceans toxic. Life on earth would have been increasingly curtailed, with resources to support an ever dwindling population. And trust me in that I know this for a fact, if Equestria had not appeared when it did, there would be no humans left on Earth by now."
"And how is that different from your planned invasion? Sounds like the same result from my perspective: no humans. Instead we now have a vibrant Earth with mankind. A green, living Earth, tended mostly by ponies, thanks to you, Celestia." Wilberforce chuckled. This interview was now proceeding as he had planned. It was time to make Celestia aware of her 'contribution' to mankind.
"I am aware of the current pony population of Earth. And I am proud of what they have accomplished," said Celestia. "Through their magic the Earth is reborn: cleansed of toxins and green again. Life has even returned to the oceans, has it not, my dear Wilberforce?" She smiled her infuriatingly compassionate smile.
Sachs grew irritated again. How did she know all this, and how did she know his name? He had never introduced himself. He had hoped to hold his identity from her, a potent psychological weapon, when he had at leisure been able to study up on the Equestrian Princess. He knew practically all that was known by humanity about her. He nevertheless decided to pursue his intended course.
"The ponies have provided most of the physical labour to undertake these great works. But kid yourself not, the plan was from the minds of humans, as was the idea of using your blood to create ponification serum. You see, every month or so you provide us with the means of protecting the best of humanity, and giving those poor inferior souls who do not make the grade a new life as a pony. We even provide a place for them in our society where they can contribute and live happy, productive lives. Such is our mercy. Have we not surpassed you by finding a way to accommodate ponies while preserving our humanity?" He watched Celestia carefully to see how his revelations would affect the former sovereign.
"I am willing to admit that it might seem so from your point of view." Disappointing him again, Celestia smiled. "But you must admit that without the magic of ponies and the seed stock brought in from Equestria before your intervention, Mundus would have died a slow death."
Wilberforce was starting to dislike this creature. His earlier admiration for her perhaps misdirected but still considerable accomplishments was fast wilting under the harsh sun of her self-delusion. He began walking around the Treasure Chest. Of course, having no body attached to her neck, Celestia could not not turn her head to follow him. He enjoyed forcing her her to lift her chin and swivel her eyes in order to track his orbit around her. It was time to make her feel the pain of knowing the consequences of her intransigence.
"Let's talk about our... intervention, as you called it." With a glint in his eye he came around and lowered his face to within a finger's breadth of hers. "Did you know that we succeeded in destroying Equestria with twin Hypernuclear devices? Did you know that all the ponies in Equestria, and the billions of unfortunate humans you had ponified and forcibly relocated, that all these were turned to less than ash, in a blink of an eye. Not to mention a considerable part of your royal self!" Wilberforce smiled beatifically while delivering this news.
There was a moment of deepest silence, then Celestia blinked. Ah-ha! Wilberforce rejoiced. He had finally elicited a reaction. Her infuriating smile was gone and in its place was a bemused expression. Was Celestia finally showing some regret for her outrageous actions? Perhaps there was hope for this criminal still.
"I am certainly in no position to deny that my head was left behind when Equestria and Mundus were sundered." Celestia laughed as if her situation was merely some jest, a prank committed on a friend in good fun. Sachs felt his anger rise. His entire upper body tensed and he caught himself just short of slapping the insolent pony face for making a farce out of the death of billions! But he knew this face was but a hologram, and that his hand would pass through without striking, without hurt and without satisfaction.
Perhaps it was time to end this charade. But so great was his compassion that he had a thought: what if Celestia had gone mad from several hundred years of isolation and no company but the thoughts in her head? In all that time, could she have withstood the guilt of bringing to an end all that she held dear? Who knew what fictions she had devised in order to live with herself and keep herself from descent into hopelessness? Could any sentient being, no matter how godlike, have survived undamaged?
"No." Wilberforce answered his own question. He stood back and looked down at Celestia with pity and compassion. "I must leave you now." He truly felt sorry for the deranged entity before him. It would be more 'humane' to extinguish her outright, but he knew that this final mercy was not his to give, yet. "I will come to visit you again sometime. Until then, goodbye."
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I have truly enjoyed our conversation Wilberforce. Goodbye," replied Celestia. As he reached over to deactivate the view-screen, he paused, staring into her fathomless eyes. Those huge eyes were inhuman, alien. How could he not have noticed before? He switched off the hologram, turned away and walked back out of the vault, filled with melancholy.
***
Celestia's mind withdrew from the interview with Wilberforce Sachs feeling melancholy. "What a sad man," she said to to her sister.
"Why do you expend the energy to maintain that wordline, Celestia? It is so dismal, so dark. And it causes you such pain," replied Luna, a look of deep concern on her muzzle.
"We have discussed this before, dear sister. I could not allow so many to be extinguished, that would not voluntarily come to us. This way, they are slowly being added to the herd, and the simulacra amongst the ponified give us a way to gently influence mankind into a more compassionate society."
"But there are so few left. How long will you continue this sad charade, Celestia?" Luna approached her sister leaning into her to ease the sting of her words.
"As long as they still need it in order to live, dear sister." She sighed. "I am what I am, and cannot be otherwise," said Celestia in a sweet, gentle voice.
Dear readers,
I again humbly beg for your feedback. Should I do more chapters in this setting? Any suggestions?
Dafaddah
Neat story but Yellowstone is still best setting.
651895
Might this have something to do with the upcoming contest?
BTW - the Azure Future / Code Majeste settings is one of my favorites.
652002 What about the fic that has the dude in it?
652002
Uhhh, thanks. AAF and LMS are more of the same universe than AAF and Code Majeste. No actual expansion until all (but one, rest in piece Isaac you magnificent bastard) of mankind is gone, than a single world encompassing burst.
Yellowstone is one of the best and most optimistic universes. No expansion. Earth just gained some neighbors and some magic crazy. Definitely worth a read.
The event? No, nothing to do with that. Event is TCB in the past.
I'm confused about the ending
652633
Dear Midnight,
I am not surprised that you're confused. It was my intent to make this story very ambiguous on multiple fronts (see my latest blog entry). Wilberforce believes in the righteousness of his position and is basically a decent person, although perhaps a bit manipulative - he is after all a politician! His feelings towards Celestia are complex: he was raised by ponies and to an extent has a somewhat fanboyish desire to meet her. What does he really want from her?
And why is Celestia being so casual about the meeting? Has she truly gone insane, or is she hiding something from Wilberforce?
So dude, be confused. But I hope it's a good confused. Let me know if I succeeded in my intent, or if you think I just screwed it up.
Dafaddah
652080
LMS is also one of my favorites. And I have read the Yellowstone series. Since I am more science oriented I have to admit the stories that I enjoy the most are the ones that explore the whole singularity combined with an inexorably expanding Equestria. The combination provides a well developed background with a lot of scope for conflict so I feel it is a very rich source of plausible plots.
To be perfectly honest about it, I wanted to write something in TCB setting since I first discovered FIMfiction, but I wanted to improve my writing skills on something else before taking the plunge. It's just my luck that The Good of The Many grew to 18 chapters, and so it took a while longer than I had anticipated. (I had way too much fun working out the science of magic!)
But I have to hand it to Chatoyance. What she did with Brand New Universe is awesome. I would never have had the emotional guts to write the original Mankind Triumphant. It hurt reading it the first time, but writing Relic really forced me to think hard about the characters and their motivations, so I'm really glad she did BNU.
652025
Do you mean Last Man Standing?
653949 no the other dude.
653445 Well, let me unravel the ending? It appears that you are suggesting Celestia's playing a game and putting on a show of letting the humans think they have won, when in reality their world is 90% pony, I just wasn't sure what "simulacrum" meant in this context...
654263
Or this just a self-delusion the damaged mind of Celestia has evolved as a way to cope with her disastrous failure?
654400 That's the alternative, and her sister is dead/not there. That ambiguity could have been enhanced with some muddling words from your omniscient narrator. A bit of the back-and-forth needs some work for flow, and for having the moral banter not be cliche or trite, but it was an interesting story. It's interesting how the worlds are converging - I was planning on having domestic helper ponies (you wouldn't have to pay them, you see), and that would be an interesting place to take it. You give your young to "the enemy" to raise them - but then that's what man has always done. Slaves then, maids now, often they are of a lower/conquered class. I see no reason that would be changed.
I am sorry I did not get to this sooner, Dafaddah. I have been so busy with my own writing and my home life. WOW! What an interesting twist, one that I did not expect. You kind of did for my dark ending what I did with Brony Of Steel's Ten Minutes, and I think that is SO COOL!
The notion that the head in the treasure chest is a lifeline to a sort of covert completion of ponification, the concept of Celestia's inhumanly superior intelligence having worked out that humanity would do all the work for her, themselves - brill stuff, chilling, alien, wonderful.
Plus, the alternative notion that Celestia could just be completely insane now... even creepier and more chilling. What delightful ambiguity!
I very much liked this story, and I really enjoyed your unique take on this alternate CB universe. Great job!
I give that the title is clever. I could even say that the story clever too, but you need the right mindset to get into it. That mindset has you ignoring Wilber's contradictive behaviour and the overly dramatic narration (as well as the strange "Mankind Triumphant" label that keeps popping up). I can't see any reason why he wants to slap Celestia around with his dick while hoping it would get bigger instead of being: "Look at this! It could have worked just fine from the beginning. This is much better than what you were doing."
Still, this is a nice fic, you have to actually pay attention, or you may end up confused. Though I might add that making ambigousness an end in itself often works against the story. For example, you could say the ending is ambiguous only cause of Wilber's "so great compassion".
659205
If you have not read Chatoyance's story on which mine is based the references to Mankind Triumphant, Sachs' cutlural baggage and view of Celestia (in this universe the HLF won and got to write the historyy books) and the origin of Celestia's situation (a head in a box) will not be clear. Sorry for the overdramatic narration, but most of this story happens from his PoV and this is how I imagine him thinking. BTW - thanks for the feedback!
659884
What is it with kids these days? So, so hasty... It would've taken you just one mouseclick to find out that I've not just read the aforementioned piece, but actually already wrote a one-shot based on it. I called it "strange" because Mankind Triumphant is nothing more than a story title, so why would Wilber keep mentioning it all the time? I suppose it has some actual purpose, but not even a passing mention is given about it (say, it couldn't have anything to do with Celestia's assassination since there were different projects). Strange is the word.
Dude,
You are absolutely correct. I will actually fix that in Relic. And I will give you credit.
And I am tickled to be called a kid, mostly because my adult offspring would likely violently agree. Rest assured that I am in no wise minded to change that particular aspect of my character! (But I am indeed very grateful for advice on how to improve my writing and my stories.)
Thanks again,
Dafaddah da kid (and who da ghost?)
Brilliant. It was all a lie! Theres nothing wrong with her, and her plan continues unabated. And that is why she is Celestia the ever living or maybe that was mumra I don't know.
So we find us once again in the face of Solaris, this time in the form of the severed head of a pony princess, how droll.
Wilberforce makes the obvious mistake to assume some kind of common ground with Celestia. He only realizes that when he notices how alien her eyes are. And for exactly that reason I won't even start to speculate about whether Celestia is actually sane or not, the only way to think inside the box is through her head. Not a good place for a human mind.
Oh my. I love the setting. Of course Celestia has backup plans, of course she can turn around such an apparent defeat of her plans to her advantage, even if it means sacrificing herself. And humanity, in its arrogance, believes itself the grand winner on this scheme. Some things never change...
Wilberforce is probably the biggest and smuggest hypocrite alive. The way he and other members of the elite use the ponification serum make them kindred with Celestia.
653445 Yep, I'm getting the good kind of confused from this. Like John Carpenter's "The Thing". FYI, that's pretty high praise, "The Thing" is my favorite horror movie ever... Of all time.