Mankind Triumphant - Relic

by Dafaddah

AD 2200 part 7 - The Walls of Jericho

Conrad looked out through the window as the van pulled up to a rather shabby looking building on the edge of the financial district, of all places. For some reason the HLF men had pulled off the bag from over his head just before arriving at their destination. Gun in hand, Discord motioned Conrad to exit the van and precede him inside. His father and Billy stood waiting next to an unattended reception desk. A half empty coffee mug gave evidence of recent occupation.

Discord greeted his dad with a big smile. “Willy! I told you it wouldn’t be so long. And I’m glad we were able to come to terms. You get the boy back, and I get to visit the Treasure Chest. Everybody wins! Shall we?” he pointed with the gun at the open doorway into the next room.

Conrad could see his dad was quite furious as he led the quartet around the reception desk. They followed a corridor left and then right, and ended up before a rather imposing vault door. To its left stood a security station. His father pressed his hand to the reader, causing the vault door to rise, and led them inside.

Beyond the entrance was a bare concrete room, fifteen meters square, with institutional lighting. On one side was a rather plain wooden bench and in the middle a square box, set on a short metal stand. Near one of the box’s lower corners was a metal spigot, and on top a simple push-button on a three-d video emitter.

Discord looked around in disgust. “WorldCorp didn’t spare any expense on this joint did it, Willy?”

Wilberforce ignored him and went to the box, pressing the button on its top. An image of Princess Celestia’s head formed. Discord approached and leaned over until his nose was practically touching hers. “Why, Celestia dear. I swear you haven’t aged a day since last we met!”

“Hello Discord. You, on the other hand have a whole new look. It must be easier to buy suits now that all your parts match, and I doubt the rank and file of the HLF would take orders from a draconequus,” said Celestia with a wary smile.

“Oh, my! You are quite well informed for a prisoner in solitary confinement. And you even managed an interesting reparté for once! I’m quite impressed.”

“Discord, I suspect this isn’t a social call. Why are you here?” asked Celestia.

Discord straightened up. “Hmm. Well that was short lived.” He looked back towards Conrad’s dad. “Were you aware that our dear Celestia has been meddling in human affairs for years?”

“She’s been completely isolated here for over seventy years, General,” said his dad through gritted teeth. “Her first contact with the world outside that box was with me only days ago.”  

“Are you quite sure about that, Willy ol’ pal? Then how do you explain this?” He made a dramatic flourish towards Conrad and Billy.

Conrad felt something shift, and he saw that Billy had resumed his true yellow and maroon pony form. With a sinking feeling he turned to his dad. From the look of horror on his face, Conrad concluded his simulacra spell had also been turned off. He swallowed. “Dad, I...”

“Who are you? And what have you done to my son?” raged his father stepping forward.

Conrad felt his world fall apart. “I am Conrad, dad, I swear! It was the attack by the HLF. It succeeded dad, I was converted.” He looked down in misery, his ears drooping. He glanced back up at his father. “Dad, it’s me. For real...”

His father froze mid-step, hurt and anger both evident in his expression. He looked into this purple pony’s face intently for and moment, and somehow, he recognized his son. “But son, you were fine. The doc AI even gave me his report.”

“I was already a pony then, dad. Princess Celestia sent Billy to try to warn me the HLF were coming. But I was too stubborn to listen. I stuck to the security protocol instead of running, so they got me in the gardens. In my conversion dream Princess Celestia gave me a spell to make me look human so I wouldn’t be killed. And Billy taught me another spell to confuse AIs.”

“Conrad, why didn’t you tell me?” there was definitely more hurt than anger in his father’s question.

“Ahem!” said Discord. “I hate to step into the middle of a touching family moment, but the clock is ticking here. Willy, do you want humanity and all its wonderful technological toys to be destroyed in a nanite plague, or would you rather cry over spilt conversion potion?”

Wilberforce Sachs turned his gaze back to Discord, eyes suddenly hard. “Is that why you wanted the diplomatic pouches? To spread a nanite plague?”

“No I didn’t, Willy. I just wanted to get rid of the ponies before it was too late and your sweet Celestia took over the planet. The HLF’s goals aligned pretty well with my own, you see. Humans are much more fun and chaotic than ponies, and they are becoming rather thin on the ground if you ask me.” His smile was replaced by a wince. “However, it would appear that our main sponsor, the Lizard had different plans. I was only today able to discern the Lizard’s true intent by drafting your son’s truly remarkable ability to befuddle the poor AI.” He smiled at Conrad. “Good going, junior!”

“He’s telling the truth, dad,” said Conrad. “I used the same spell we used on the house doctor. The Lizard thinks the Earth is ready to become a self-regulating ecology again. Now it wants to get rid of things that could disturb the system and the original agents of the ecological collapse: humans and their technology.”

“He’s indeed a bright boy, but he needs to loosen up a bit, if you ask me. So now that you have the picture, Willy, all I want is to get back what’s mine and leave this mess in your capable hands.” He took off his jacket and extracted a cylinder from an inside pocket. “This is insurance that you won’t come after me.” He draped his jacket over the treasure chest, cutting off the hologram of Celestia’s head.

“Wilberforce, get out of here!” he heard Celestia shout.

“Ta-ta dear sister. I’m sure ol’ Willy’ll find you a nice new box to live in.” Discord reached down and touched the surface of the Treasure Chest. The box’s edges became indistinct and it seemed to melt. Discord gradually got bigger, apparently absorbing its mass. A purple glow issued from beneath the remains of the Treasure Chest and the jacket.

Conrad’s focus narrowed. His father stood, transfixed by what was happening to the Treasure Chest, ignoring Celestia’s warning. Without further thought he tried levitating his father, but was only able to drag him for a few feet before they both crashed to the floor. He looked back at the Treasure Chest. Now only the jacket remained, covering a large L-shaped lump that moved spastically. A glowing purple liquid leaked from under it.

As his father struggled to get back to his feet, Conrad placed his body between him and the now glowing jacket. “Dad! Keep me between you and the thaumatic radiation.” Over his shoulder he saw the writhing lump, and Discord walking out. “Dexter! How can you leave her like that? Help her!”

Discord froze, his face became a mask of fury. He raised a hand as if he was going to strike Conrad, who shrunk down over his father. “Don’t ever call me that name again, boy!” Discord  paused a moment, looking at Conrad trying to protect his father and sighed. After a moment he turned, went to wooden bench, flipped it over and dragged it to the center of the room, pushing the wood under the jacket. For a moment Conrad thought nothing was happening. Then he noticed that Discord had shrunk very slightly. The lump under the jacket has risen a bit and the wooden bench was wrapped in a glowing magical field.

Discord nodded once and made his way back to Conrad and his father. “You two look perfectly silly on the floor. Willy, get up but stay put. I put up a thaumatic radiation barrier before any of it leaked out.” He pointed an accusing finger at the senior Sachs. “I don’t want you dying on me. Your job is preventing the Lizard from killing humanity and ruining my party.” His glance shifted to Conrad. “As to you, The only reason I did this was because I owed you one for cluing me to the Lizard’s plan. Consider us even-steven.” He walked out of the room twirling the cylinder of nanites.

Both Sachs looked towards the glowing jacket in the center of the room. There was a bright flash of light, and then a young woman stood next to the Treasure Chest’s empty stand. She was in her late teens or early twenties, wearing crisp blue jeans, a cotton t-shirt, and Discord’s discarded jacket. As soon as she opened her eyes Conrad knew her identity. He bowed to his princess, as did Billy.

“It’s now safe for you in this room, Wilberforce Sachs. I can contain the thaumatic energy within me.” said Celestia.

Conrad’s dad approached, his complexion getting darker with each step. “So now we know,” he accused. “You’ve been playing us all along. Tell me, is it your plan to eventually turn all of humanity into ponies?”

“No, Wilberforce it is not. I tried that once, you will recall, even though I was reluctant to do it. You know full well what it cost me. No, turning most of humanity into ponies was the Lizard’s plan.”

“What?” Sachs sputtered. “Why would that AI want to do such a thing?”

“Because it was programmed to do one thing: restore the Earth’s ecology to its natural state from before Homo Sapiens became the dominant species. For almost one hundred years the Lizard has been plotting to rid the Earth of humanity. Ponies were just a conveniently useful by-product of the process. At each step of its plan, the Lizard used both humans and ponies to further its goals.”

“You can’t be serious,” said Sachs, sounding uncertain.

“Look at the facts, Wilberforce. Who could convince the old national intelligence agencies to attempt something as incredibly dangerous to humanity as Judgment Day was? It was at best a very foolish gamble. There was no assurance that igniting a nuclear holocaust in Equestria would in any way stop the barrier from gobbling up the Earth. And even if it did stop the trans-dimensional convergence, the potential for global annihilation was very high.

“Only some agency that didn’t care about humanity’s survival would have risked it. An agency that had all the genetic material it needed stored up for when conditions were ripe, and that had an infinite amount of patience in executing its plans. An agency that cared for no outcome other than preventing the Earth’s real-estate from being absorbed into Equestria.”

“But humanity wasn’t annihilated on Judgment Day,” intoned Sachs.

“No it wasn’t. And the Lizard was prepared for that eventuality as well. The whole capture of my head was a ploy to remove my power from within Equestria at the critical moment, and possibly to force my sister and other powerful entities into protecting my head and thus the surface of the Earth around the barrier’s perimeter. That gambit worked perfectly, and as a bonus humanity now had my head in a box.

“The third act of this tale is even more insidious. Having my blood available for ponification gave the Lizard a way to significantly accelerate the healing of the Earth by using earth pony magic. The Lizard even used humanity’s own ambitions to perpetuate his scheme, and mine to accelerate the healing. He played us all, Wilberforce, and he did it brilliantly. Today was to be the culmination of the program, a nanite plague to remove humanity and technology from the picture.”

“And why didn’t this list include the ponies?” asked the elder Sachs, still angry.

“Because they’re sterile, dad. They would just eventually die off, continuing to heal the Earth until they died. Looking at it from the Lizard’s perspective, it was a pretty effective plan.”

Wilberforce pointed to his son and Billy. “So how do they fit into this plan?”

“They don’t. The Lizard, and the WorldGov and WorldCorp don’t know about them. They’re my rescued foals, Wilberforce. The ones that would have been killed if found because they were converted in attacks by the HLF. The HLF only had access to the original generation of nanites used for ponification, the one that produced not only earth ponies, but pegasi and unicorns, all retaining their full mental faculties and quite fertile, I assure you. Did you fail to notice that both Conrad and Billy are unicorns? Tell me, what would your own police do to them if they were discovered?”

Conrad’s dad glared at Celestia, looking both resentful and embarrassed. “I’ll have to think this through. Perhaps I was a bit hasty accusing you. But now I need to stop this plague from killing my people.”

“Our people, Wilberforce.” Celestia raised a hand. “Let me assure you, this body is not an illusion. It is who I am now, Celestia, a human woman. I will not let humanity die. In fact I have already resolved the problem.” She smiled, and it was the same enigmatic, mysterious and infuriatingly pleasant smile as in all those vids of the Equestrian Princess from long ago.

“What do you mean, already?” asked Wilberforce.

“Conrad, were you there when the HLF expedited the diplomatic pouches?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, I was. Er, it was picked up by a courier service, if I recall,” replied Conrad.

“Indeed. In fact by a courier company I own,” said Celestia. Wilberforce’s eyebrows rose. “Call Pony Express, and it’s there!” Celestia’s laugh was bell-like. “Except for this time. I'm afraid the Lizard's packages have all been intercepted and the nanites destroyed.” She noticed the elder Sachs’ unhappy glare. “I have a lot of economic interests I haven’t told you about, Wilberforce. But then, being locked in a box does not encourage one to be trusting.” She stepped forward and offered Wilberforce her hand. “Shall we leave this dreary place?”
 
The elder Sachs looked at the proffered hand. “Celestia... you know I can’t let you leave here, you’re a prisoner.” He looked abashed.

“What!?” Conrad blurted out. “Are you serious, dad?” His mane and tail bristled. “Discord’s on the loose and you want to keep the only person on Earth that could defeat him in jail!?”

“Son, I...”

“Don’t you ‘son’ me!” He poked his father in the chest with a purple hoof. “She’s the only reason I’m still alive!” Poke. “And didn’t you hear that she just saved the Earth from a nanite plague that would have killed everybody and all technology, you included!” Poke. “And you already know that she didn’t even invade the Earth in the first place!” Poke.

His dad grabbed the offending hoof. “Now, that’s enough! We’ll discuss this later when...”

Conrad poked him with his other hoof. “... what do you mean later? Before or after the police shoot me and Billy for being unregistered converts, unicorns, with brains and balls!” Poke, poke, poke, poke!

“Conrad,” interjected Celestia. “That is quite enough. Your simulacra spells will work again now, and your father will be busy tonight anyway. He’s calling a meeting of the Eastern Alliance Executive Council, with me as the guest speaker.”

The elder Sachs was now beginning to look a bit green around the gills. “And just why would I do that?”

“Ahem,” said a voice from the doorway. It was a young stallion wearing the Pony Express uniform. “Delivery for Mr. Wilberforce Sachs.”

The elder Sachs raised his hand. “That’s me. And this is supposed to be a secure facility.”

The delivery pony ignored Wilberforce’s complaint and pulled a package out of one of his saddle bags with his mouth, giving it to him. He lifted a hoof and a vid-window appeared. “Please sign here, sir.” Wilberforce gestured over the window. “Thank you, sir.” The pony glanced at Celestia as if noticing her for the first time. He swallowed and bowed, and then trotted back out.

“He was efficient, effective and polite,” said Celestia looking pleased. “Our delivery ponies are very well trained and it shows. Please open the package, Wilberforce.”

The elder Sachs sighed and did as he was bid. In the package were a sheet of paper and a cardboard tube about the same size as the cylinder Discord had left with. He took out the sheet of paper.

People of Earth,

The Earth is healed. The forests again are green. The prairies roll with seas of grass. The oceans once so close to death now team with life. And the sky once more is blue.

For over seventy five years, humans and ponies have worked tirelessly to reverse the damage due to centuries of ignorance, neglect, exploitation and war, and to restore what was lost to this beautiful world. Of this great achievement we can all stand proud as we proclaim to future generations: this good Earth is our legacy, and our promise, and your birthright. Let none ever try to take it from you again!

It is also the time for all sentient beings on this planet to work for a common future in equality, liberty and harmony. Henceforward, all sentient beings, whether human or ponies will be declared full and equal citizens under the law. Conversion will be on a strictly voluntary basis and may no longer be applied as a punishment by the criminal courts. Ponies will be free to seek their fortunes and happiness as they see fit, and enslavement of ponies or humans will henceforth constitute a crime.

The change from the ways of the past to this new society of man and pony will not be easy or simple. As a pledge and a first step towards this new era of harmony, there will be a general amnesty extended to all parties that have engaged in these practices in the past, as only in the light of forgiveness may this new Earth prosper and avoid being chained by the legacy of history to the errors of the past.

For indeed our future is bright, as one people. Together we have brought life back to a world that was at the brink of death. Together in equality, liberty and harmony we can build an even better place for the generations to come.

Celestia, a princess of Earth

Wilberforce stopped reading. “These are noble sentiments. But why would the ruling corporations agree to this? Many face ruin if what this document proposes is implemented. There is also the undeniable fact that most ponies lack the intellectual faculties needed to take care of themselves.”

“Oh, I don’t think the corporations will mind as much as you think,”replied Celestia. “I already own all eight of the main pony conglomerates worldwide and most of the smaller ones as well. As to the intelligence of the ponies, that should pretty much have changed by tomorrow morning.” She pointed at the cardboard tube. “I took advantage of the opportunity the Lizard provided to globally distribute my own little nanite plague instead of his. It removes the intelligence limiters on ponies inserted by modern conversion potion. It also reverses the infertility of stallions who have undergone the less invasive gelding process that I instituted when I took over the pony management companies over forty years ago.”

Wilberforce stared at Celestia, eyes wide as saucers.

The princess leaned in closer. “Gotcha!” whispered Celestia with a lighthearted laugh, but then her expression became earnest. “Wilberforce, if I harbored any ill will towards humanity I could have taken my revenge a thousand times over by now. Since waking up in that box I have only worked towards realizing the vision I’ve expressed in that letter. This was done in the shadows, which is where I would have remained for a number of years still, but for Discord.” Celestia smiled again, but this time it was tinged in sadness.

“So what do you expect he will do?” asked Sachs. “Try to set himself up as ruler of Earth?”

“Perhaps. But you need to understand that Discord doesn’t seek to rule.” Her expression grew sadder still. “He seeks to unrule, to destroy order and harmony, to bring chaos. It took my sister and me almost a thousand years to repair Equestria after his reign. He mustn’t be allowed to do the same to this world.”

A look of grim determination replaced the sadness in Celestia’s face. “So Wilberforce, I offer an alliance, in defense of this society and the Earth. What do you say?”

Wilberforce Sachs met Celestia’s ageless gaze. Still alien, he thought. Every possible emotion seemed to war for his face. Finally he took a deep breath. A wry smile split his face.  “You don’t make short term plans do you?” He offered Celestia his arm and walked with her out of the vault and into the light of day.

Discord entered the HLF headquarters and went to a special set of doors only he and one other knew about. He activated the same spell he had observed Conrad Sachs using earlier that day. The door opened to reveal a series of low tables on which sat four plain metallic boxes approximately the size of bread toasters. Each was connected via a set of fiber and power cables to the hypernet connections imbedded in the walls.

“Hello Lizard,” said Discord.

“General... why are you here?” the Lizard’s voice was laced with static.

“Oh, just tidying up a loose end,” replied Discord. “You see, I’ve learned a very distressing bit of news. It would appear you were playing the HLF, me, and pretty much everyone else for fools.”

“Have the vectors... been delivered?” asked the AI.

“I suspect not. But that’s not why I’m here. To answer your question, I’m here because I’m really quite cross with you, Lizard. So cross in fact, that I’ve just activated my trusted agents in all HLF offices around the world and ordered them to destroy all your datalinks, secure nodes, storage and backups. I’ve also confined your processing capability to this set of boxes for the moment.”

“... How... Why?” The questions were almost drowned out in white noise.

“As to how, well, I ran into a spot of luck today. I was able to finally get a bit of the old magic back, courtesy of my dear sister Celestia. She had more than enough to spare, and I did help her in a tight spot, so it was a fair trade. And I've been dying to try out an interesting bit of magic I learned form a little unicorn today. It confuses AIs like you to no end. Fancy that!

"But let's discuss the why. I did this, dear Lizard, because I hate having someone around who's more dangerous than I am. Oh... and also because you pissed me off.” Discord tilted his head to one side. “Say goodnight, Gracie!” He snapped his fingers. Blue lightning engulfed the boxes until smoke rose from each one.

Discord turned on his heels and exited the room.