//------------------------------// // Chapter XLVIII: War On Humanity // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Setting Things Right // by kildeez //------------------------------// The first sign that anything was wrong came when a stallion failed to salute Shining Armor as he returned to his control room, having just made it back from Japan. In fact, the stallion didn’t even seem to notice him, instead fiddling with his phone, repeatedly hitting redial, then growling in frustration when he only heard a recorded message about network capacity. “C’mon, mom and dad...c’mon...” the stallion growled as he slammed the redial button so hard the plastic casing gave a stressed creak. Shining made a mental note to get in contact with the mobile carriers about expanding Equestria’s network when he finally reached the small room. He took one look at the first screen he could see, and his eyes widened. His brain rocked with panic before he reeled it back in with the thought that this had to be a movie. Yes, his subordinates must have seen he would be gone for the day and decided to slack off, that had to be it. Thing was, the room wouldn’t be in a panicked uproar if that was true. The king stared in horrified shock through the haze of second-hand smoke at what appeared looked like an asteroid impact. His jaw dropped as the mental gears turned and he realized that no, this was not a movie, his subordinates weren’t slacking off, and they were all here watching a horrific explosion turn one of the most important facilities on the face of the Earth into a miniature volcano. Smoke poured from the titanic crater and out into the atmosphere, the vague outlines of sparking cables and melted catwalks that had once been a very expensive billion-dollar facility barely visible among the smoldering wreckage. He knew he had to act, had to move, had to consolidate resources and prepare press releases and evaluate readiness and contact the UN and a million other things that would ensure his people’s place in the new and horrifying world that had just been released, but all he could do was stare at the blinding streak of light rocketing into the stratosphere. Only when the smoke on the screen had started to clear and the streak was a pinprick of light mixed with a fading spot in his eye did he finally find his voice again: “H-how long ago was this?” “L-less than an hour, sir.” The mare at the console stammered. She pulled a cigarette from her lips and tapped the ashes out into an already-full tray on her desk. “We would have told you sooner, but you were still on the sub back from Japan, and…” She didn’t need to finish that sentence. And he’d been on radio silence to run the UN patrols. He needed to talk to Twily… “What assets do we have in Japan!?” “Way ahead of you sir, and…more bad news…” another mare gasped, quickly pulling up a screen that showed a refugee camp in flames, a CNN camera focused on a bloodstained UN helmet in the middle of the road before the twisted, smoldering ruins of a front gate. Shining fell into a chair, head shaking, jaw dropping, eyes wide and transfixed. He’d needed to evac Japan and fast. The movements of Equestria’s sovereign could only go undetected for so long…but what the hell had he missed during his hours under the ocean? When his eyes finally broke free of the screen, he realized everypony in the room was looking at him. No, not just looking…waiting for him to do his damned job. His eyes hardened, his mouth clamping shut. There wouldn’t be much time to act. “What do we have left in Tokyo?” “A few agents with surveillance drones...” Shining cursed through clenched teeth. “Alright, have them put eyes on the compound. I want to know where the VIPs are now, you hear me? And I want to know where they’re gonna be.” His eyes rolled back to another screen, another channel showing the smoldering crater that used to hold her prison. “Also get in touch with every surveillance program we can. We need to know where that bitch is headed. Put the UN on high alert if they’re not already.” He suddenly stood, turned to walk out of the small room. “Sir?” A pegasus stallion asked as Shining started out the door. “Where are you going?” “There’s nopony she wants dead more than me,” he replied, nudging the door open with his snout, not looking back, unable to keep a tremble from his hooves. “Everypony within any sort of proximity to me is in danger.” The stallion’s ears folded down, his wings giving a ruffle. “Your highness…” “Sir, you might wanna belay that!” The first mare gasped, her eyes huge, transfixed on her monitor as she scrolled rapidly through the small mountain of data coming through. She eased herself back, head shaking slowly, pupils retracting. “The...humans already found her.” Shining rocketed to her side. His fear seemingly forgotten, he started scanning the screen. “Who found her? The CIA? FSB?” “No sir,” she whispered breathlessly, not even turning to look at him. “NASA.” That gave him pause. His head swiveled to the mare, then back to the screen, then back to the mare, and back to the screen. He lingered on the screen. Behind the scar tissue, his eye twitched. “Oh my God…” he whispered. “…full-blown panic in the streets of Moscow today, much like every other major city on the planet, with multiple space agencies confirming a new direction for the path of Ceres V…” The screen flickered. “…it appearing that in this new phase of the war against humanity, the being formerly known as Princess Celestia has hijacked the trajectory of the comet and redirected…” One more time, the screen flickered. “…a full-blown extinction event that will result in the end of life as we know it, similar to the crater known to have triggered the death of the dinosaurs…” With the click of a button, the screen went dark. Lisa gazed into the black mirror left behind while lowering her arm. In it, she watched Andre and Francis hugging, she saw Chen staring blankly into its blank depths, she saw Akshat watching with silent tears, and Felipe simply curled up on one of the cafeteria tables, huddled into a ball. Somehow, despite all the pain she found in the eyes of those around her, the two empty seats in the vacant cafeteria hurt the most. “So…that’s it then.” She whispered. “The bitch escaped, and now, we lose.” “N-no…” Chen shook his head. “No, it’s…the UN’s been talking about a nuclear strike, it…” “Oh, get real, Chen!” Felipe shouted, lifting his head up from his knees. His red, puffy, tear-streaked face greeted them all. “Don’t you get it!? It’s a planet killer! Even if they somehow manage to nuke the bitch, we’re still dead.” “N-no…they will crack it in half and…” “And then we’ll just get hit by two halves of a giant fucking rock, along with some radioactive magma,” he bellowed, curling up again. “We all starve to death in nuclear winter instead of just getting blown up by the atmosphere igniting itself. Goodie.” “It…can’t…” Chen looked around, desperate, his wire-rim glasses hanging off one of his ears. “It can’t end like this, after everything…we were gonna petition the UN, get Celestia out, cure the Newfoals, save the world…” “Save the world? Us?” Felipe scoffed, and curled up again. “Didn’t you hear anything the Admiral said? That wasn’t our job, not even close.” “So we give up?” Lisa hissed. “That’s how you wanna honor Anton? After everything he gave up to make sure we’d know the truth, you wanna just crawl away and die?” Felipe rounded on her, dark eyes blazing with that old rage. “Woman, you are treading in a place you shouldn’t, I’ll…” he cut himself off with a breath. “You’ll what!?” She snapped. “Lisa…” Akshat started, reaching for her, but she brushed him off with ease. “No, no! I wanna hear what he was gonna say!” She shouted, her voice rising over the din of the television. “You’ll fucking what, you little ponce!? You’ll--” And then there was a knock at the door. Despite themselves, all eyes turned to it, widening as it opened. David stood there, though he was hardly recognizable. His hair was a tousled mess, and week-old stubble infested his face. He was clad in a filthy hospital gown, and in his hand – his remaining hand – everyone could see an IV stand. He wheeled it in ahead of himself, seeming to need it almost as much for the support as the life-giving nutrients being siphoned into his bloodstream. But most of all were the eyes. He had never held a look that screamed “joyous” or “childish innocence,” but they had always been sharp, and at least held some amount of humor. Now they were just...blank. Blank and tired. He stumbled for a second as he walked into the room, and in doing so brought his arm up to regain his balance. They could all see now: see where his arm simply ended in a bandaged nub, and the moment he looked up he could see what they all saw. And somehow, even more light left those eyes. Lisa didn’t look away, knew breaking her gaze would make it worse, and prayed that she held no pity in her look, no awkwardness, no fear. Prayed even as his shoulders sank all the more. David was a defeated man, and he clearly knew there wouldn’t be time to try and put the pieces back together. He finally stopped in the middle of the room, halfway between the group and the TV mounted on the wall. He slowly turned, neck craning back to drink in the TV, then slowly returned his gaze to the group at the tables. He gave a weak little smile, and hooked a shaking thumb over his back. “You believe this shit?” He rasped. “Same thing on every channel. And they wonder why nobody watches cable anymore.” A weak chuckle passed by his lips, which quickly turned into a coughing jag. Akshat and Lisa tried to follow up with their own laughter, but it was forced even to their own ears. In fact, Lisa had to stop herself from rushing up to help the American, only pausing short of rising from her seat when his eyes opened again and glared right at her. “’I’m leaving,” he mumbled. His breath wheezed in and out of his chest. It seemed to be taking all of his effort just to keep from crashing to the tiled floor. “Don’t wanna die on this tin can.” He said this with some finality, then turned, trudging back towards the door. This time, Lisa did get up. “David…” she whispered, a hand reaching for the sleeve of his gown. “Wait.” He paused. His shoulders rose and fell. “There’s less than a month left, Lisa,” he sighed. “What do you want me to wait for?” She stood there, clearly expecting words to come, something to encourage them, inspire them all to take action. When nothing of the sort came, he continued his trudge. “S’been nice,” he managed, and he shut the door behind him.