//------------------------------// // 9) Heartbreak Hotel // Story: The Conversion Bureau - The Return of the King // by Dan_s Comments //------------------------------// The Conversion Bureau - The Return of the King Heartbreak Hotel by Dan's Comments Disclaimer: My Little Pony is the property of Hasbro, Inc. Godzilla is the property of Toho Company Ltd.         Offloading the people was a chore. The iceberg boat was a lot more massive than anything else on Equestrian, even me. So getting it close was the best I could do, and then I cut a 'raft' loose to ferry people across. Having Godzilla act as a tugboat had the little ones in stitches. The medics treated the wounded, and the seasick. How does anyone get seasick on a 300,000 ton 'boat' on a glass-smooth ocean I don't know, I thought.         I left the ponies to get acquainted and situated. I took the ice-tanic out of the shipping lanes and dragged it onshore to melt of its own accord. I noted several pegasi making high-altitude overflights. I briefly considered knocking them down, but decided against it. I wanted to keep the full range of my abilities secret for now. Hitting them now would reveal my maximum range and accuracy. ------------------------------         The summons to return to Canterlot had come by pegasus courier. Pinkie had decided to 'Spike' them there. The entire pile of them arriving like a letter in the middle of Celestia's court had the expected effect.         "Ouchie," Pinkiecord complained, "Applejack, my nose is caught in your leg."         "Sorry," Appleling said, disentangled herself and transformed back into Applejack. "I like being able to fly, but I really want to go back to myself."         "We can never go back," Rainbow moaned and curled up on the floor.         Appleling sighed as she looked at her. "The princess will fix it," she told her.         "We are lost, we can never go home," Rainbow said.         Twilight Breezy had fluttered around and pointed out the elephant in the room. "Where is everypony else?" She looked around the completely empty throne room.         Unicorn Spike and a love struck Rarity dragon headed out of the room. "Over here!" Spike called back to them.         The others charged to where Spike left Rarity, as he went to collect Twilight-Breezy. "Come on, you can do it Twilight!"         She growled at him as they rushed back to the door Rarity stood beside.         "You can't fight in here!" Luna shouted, "This is a war room!"         The group rushed in to find Luna physically between Celestia and Discord pressing her wings against the two growling combatants. While the Imperial General Staff hid in the corners. All three of them stopped as they looked at the newcomers.         Celestia and Discord finally found common ground. "AHHHHGUGH!" they shouted as they retreated to the far end of the room. Luna stood where she'd been, her mouth agape, staring at them. Until she looked at Fluttercorn, then her wings poofed.         Fluttercorn raised a hoof. "Um, hi."         "AHHHHHGUH!"         Appleling facehoofed.         "What happened to you?" Discord said as he appeared next to them, then looked over Pinkiecord and Fluttercorn, "Not that it isn't an improvement."         "Where are the Elements?" Celestia asked as she approached much more warily.         "Uh, they were still on the airships," Rarity-dragon said.         "And Godzilla took them," Unicorn Spike added.         "We could ask for them back," Fluttercorn offered, glanced at Luna's lascivious expression and hid behind Appleling.         "And let the fool know he possesses Equestria's trump card in his paws, never," Celestia said.         "Princess Celestia, what about us?" Twilight Breezy asked, "We can't really help you or serve as Bearers of the Elements like this."         "Unfortunately, you'll have to stay in the castle in isolation," Celestia told them, "We can't let the others know that the Elements are no longer available to us."         "Or let them see that the potion works on ponies?" Discord asked.         "The potion was a mix of failed experimental types," Celestia retorted sharply, "It should have had no effect on ponies."         "But it did," Discord said.         "Enough," Celestia said, "A team of commandos will be sent to recover the Elements, and the Bearers will be kept here for their own safety."         "But my farm!" Appleling protested, so distraught she lost her disguise.         Celestia shied back in disgust. "Is your farm more important than Equestria?" Celestia asked.         Appleling changed back into Applejack and bowed her head. "No ma'am."         "Then with that settled," Celestia said and turned back to the table at the center of the war room. "What of these other rumors of uprisings, Newfoals flocking to the coast?"         "Highness," Twilight Breezy said, "Princess Celestia, what about us? Changing us back?"         "Twilight, you failed your test, and lost the Elements of Harmony," Celestia said without taking her eyes off the table. "You have much to think about."         Twilight Breezy let Unicorn-Spike collect her with his tail, as guards collected the rest of them. Pinkiecord transformed into a breezy next to Twilight and hugged her devastated friend. ------------------------------         Pinkie looked at the glass of chocolate milk rain and set it aside with a frown. "This isn't as fun as I thought it would be." The rest of the group were lounging around the palatial room, although Spike and Twilight had locked themselves in a closet. Rarity dragon sat just outside the arc of the door, staring at it.         "Rarity, it cain't be that he's that FABULOUS!" Appleling said, "And Rainbow, either snap out of it or go ta sleep."         Rainbow Dash began softly snoring.         "That's jist weird," Appleling said and shook her head.         "That's very weird," Rarity-dragon said as she approached, "But you're wrong, he is scrumptiously fabulous!" She let off a Fluttershy-esque squeak at the end.         Fluttercorn, Appleling and Pinkiecord all stared at each other.         "Anyhow, what are we going ta do? Wait, fer the Princess' commandos ta get the Elements back?" Appleling asked.         "We could talk to him," Fluttercorn said, "Not tell him about the Elements, just ask for the airships back."         "How in tarnation is anypony gonna talk to a giant, fire-breathing lizard?" Appleling asked.         "I can," Fluttercorn said, "He's actually trying not to hurt any pony. He just wants the Newfoals to have a nice place to live." She looked at the stunned expressions around her. "Uh, he's not a lizard, he's a dragon." That seemed to satisfy all of them.         "Saaaaaay," Pinkiecord said, and transformed into a sneaking suit, then transformed into Pinkie Pie wearing a sneaking suit, "More practice. Why don't we go get them!?"         "Pinkie," Appleling began, then looked around at the shoreline they'd reappeared on, and the suit she'd found herself in. "Pinkie, this is a bad idea."         "Why?" Pinkiecord asked, "Rarity and Spike can talk to any guards. You and Fluttershy can sneak into the town and search for the Elements. I can search the airships, and we'll all be gone before anyone notices."         "How are we gonna do that?" Appleling asked.         "Silly," Pinkiecord giggled, "You go in as some other Apple. Fluttershy transforms into some random pony." She looked at Fluttercorn as Pinkie Pie, in Pinkie's trademark pose. Pinkiecord facepawed. "I need an adult."         Fluttercorn giggled. "I'm not sure I want to go back. I like to be able to fly, but I never felt my connection to the ground so strongly before."         "Yep, it is kinda nice," Appleling said, "Not sure how I feel about being a Changeling, but I guess that really means I can be any pony."         "Although, I don't like the looks a lot of ponies are giving me." Fluttercorn became Lyra and looked herself over. "This should work. Even if they realize I'm not a Newfoal, Lyra was always interested in humans."         "Whatever happened to her?" Pinkie asked.         Appleling considered. "I don't remember. I kinda remember asking, but I can't remember if I ever got an answer." ------------------------------         I thought of it as 'the king's walk', letting the people see me. A big part of me was revolted by the implications. But another part understood and accepted the pageantry some felt comfortable with. The need for something greater than oneself. I could understand it, without agreeing with it. The very world we inhabit shows where such thinking takes you. What the ponies make into 'better' shapes destroys any semblance of what was there before. And the ability to exist on its own anymore, I thought as I walked and let them cheer.         The Newfoals are just the latest example. The ponies destroyed the natural weather patterns, so they have to do the work themselves. The species called 'Breezies' cannot survive without pony interventions. Evidently the sun and the moon cannot move without pony action.         All that ponies have touched, they destroy. All in the name of 'preserving' and 'helping' it. This is the ultimate result of 'we must protect the children'. Where those best able to trumpet their weakness and the unfairness of those who have more, or do more with less, are the rulers. So it is here, the low-level bullying and 'pranks' that would get corrected in a healthy society are ignored here. And should you dare stand up for yourself, you are worse than the perpetrators. This is not a place Oscar Wilde, or Giger, or Stephan King would flourish. Nothing to shock the senses, nothing to make one think, nothing to make a pony uncomfortable. And therefore nothing to goad one into making progress. Without natural selection, without the effects of random chance and the pressure that Earth directed at all her children, the ponies too are dying out. Rumors and half-heard conversations reveal that the human race for all their warlike tendencies, have created billions. Yet, in a pony driven paradise, there are only tens of millions, and the numbers are dropping, I thought and looked at all the kids among the throng screaming 'Godzilla' and all the various songs written for the character.         It is clear to me, Celestia invaded Earth and ponified everyone who wouldn't simply die, because she would have been ruling a necropolis within a few more generations. When the ponies failed to replace themselves. Because to raise children, you must to some extent become an adult. Even If the parents do not, the police, the older generations or others must. But none of that exists here. So they avoid the decision by not having children.         Sort of it makes it clear why humanity had to be destroyed. Because humanity proved one thing the Celestia and those who support her could never accept. Magic is unnecessary and destiny is irrelevant. Both are childrens' fantasies. Adults, humans, can create without magic, needing only imagination and persuasion. If you can dream it, and convince a few others to help you build it, a human can create great things. Here, if you don't have magic, even just to make the ground flourish, you can do nothing. Here, if you don't have a destiny in accord with your dreams, you cannot succeed.         I can almost understand why they would have such an existential dread. A race at odds with all they've been taught is important, out doing them in every way they can measure. But I also realize that Celestia has already selected their replacements.         I saw around me, many children and their loving families. More than you would see in a similar-sized pony community by several times.         Celestia had grown tired of 'her little ponies" foibles, and decided to replace them. I wonder if the ponies who followed Celestia so faithfully, committing unimaginable crimes to keep her love, realize that they were ushering in their replacements. The Newfoals are the improved model. Incapable of feeling more than token outrage at their mistreatment. Yet they have proven even more faithless than the ponies. My presence here highlights that. I am here as a counter to Celestia. They intended I cut a bloody swath through the ponies to lay open Celestia on her throne. Yet even I refused my destiny, seeking victory another way. Even in my attacks on Celestia, I personify what ponies truly fear.         Speaking of fear, I thought as I neared the end of my 'walk' and approach the harbor. I thought the awe versus terror reaction would come in handy.         I scooped up the two ponies to paralyzed to act, and head off into the harbor.