//------------------------------// // 14) Love Me Tender // Story: The Conversion Bureau - The Return of the King // by Dan_s Comments //------------------------------// The Conversion Bureau - The Return of the King Love Me Tender by Dan's Comments Disclaimer: My Little Pony is the property of Hasbro, Inc. Godzilla is the property of Toho Company Ltd.         The tasks, if they were done, were done in a desultory fashion. The few 'prisoner/defectors' were allowed to walk amongst the regular people, and except for their reaction to him, were indistinguishable from the Newfoal populace. The Ballad of El Dorado had arrived with a few newcomers, and the shock of the events depressed everyone.         Godzilla carved on a flat piece of stone. The quote by Richard Boone from John Wayne's The Alamo seemed appropriate. Odd, I wonder if Discord knew that I'd feel this way, and that Richard Boone voiced Smaug in The Hobbit cartoon?         He finished carving and carefully made his way toward the center of one of the major parks. What energy there was in the town, was expending itself in angry exchanges over whether the 'government' should have sent aid to the 'El Dorado' siege. Ignoring the fact that their sole military asset had been fully involved defending refugees.         The people scattered at his angry growl. Even they were loathe to face their defender in anger. He carefully placed the stone between the 'government' ponies, and the protesters. Then he pointed to it, insisting both sides read it.         I hope they understand that the decision . . . the decisions, that each side made, had a rational reason in the calculus of war, he thought as the ponies looked from the stone, to each other, then to him. The crowds came forward and then dispersed.         'Tomorrow, when your troubles make you whine and bellyache, you tell them that a hundred and eighty-five of their friends . . . neighbors . . . fellow citizens, holed themselves up in a crumbling fortress in the Equestrian Badlands, buying them this precious time. I hope you remember. I hope Humanity remembers " ------------------------------         Rainbow hadn't attended the gala welcome for the Princess and the returning army. The number of ponies who'd turned out to cheer for all of them left a sour taste in Rainbow's mouth. She knew better than most how harmless that pack of Newfoals was.         And Celestia just stomped on them like a poisonous snake in her baby's crib, she thought as she walked through the prison cells.         "Hey Fleetfoot, long time no see," Rainbow said to the despondent pegasus in the cell.         "Here to gloat?" Fleetfoot said, then stared, "What happened to your wings?"         "Same thing that happened to your aggressiveness. Potioned right off," Rainbow said, and wished she could feel the bitterness that such a loss deserved. "All you can feel is happy, or empty. Not much of a choice. But I'm still a war hero, so they let me in to taunt the prisoner. Hooray me."         "Is this what's to happen to anyone who doesn't hoof the line?" Fleetfoot asked.         Rainbow fished through her mane. "You want to stay and find out?" she asked as she held the key to the cell.         Fleetfoot's eyes widened. "We'll never get past the guards. Even a war hero."         "Full marks," Rainbow said, "You already figured it out?"         "We're both Newfoals, there's only one place left for us."         "Okay, I've got a question for you, from the same guy who told me how to get out of here. 'Are you more loyal to what Equestria is supposed to be, or who embodies it? Are you willing to struggle to prove a lie, or are you going to insist on the truth?' Sometimes the guy is so random he goes through the other side and comes up in profound," Rainbow said.         "If you mean, do I want to live the lie that Equestria, and ponies, are about love and friendship, yes. If you mean, do I want to strive to make it the truth, versus what we really have been, then yes a thousand times," Fleetfoot said and approached the bars. In her eyes was a fire Rainbow envied with her entire soul, for there was nothing like it in her anymore. "They came. Ponies who were trying to kill them. They came in their thousands on the word of me and a couple of other pegasi. The whole crew of that airship would have died. But they wouldn't let it. People who'd been out to kill them, and they wouldn't let them die. You better believe I want to be part of that. That's not being a Newfoal, they have a spark that ponies never have had. Maybe that's what frightened Celestia about them so much. There was danger to other, and they charged towards it! They didn't faint or panic, they charged!"         "Okay, I get it," Rainbow said, "But keep your voice down." She unlocked the cell door.         "How do we get out?" Fleetfoot asked.         "They'll catch us if we go the way I entered, so instead we go deeper in," Rainbow said, "Discord promised we'd be needed."         " 'Needed', in the catacombs, what could be in there?" Fleetfoot asked as she trotted beside Rainbow.         "Something besides celebrating ponies," Rainbow said as they followed Discord's paw prints, and walked into the darkness. ------------------------------         Discord burst into the apartments the Mane 6 had shared. Twilight Breezy and Unicorn Spike were the only ones in evidence. "Ah, no disguise magic, can't have the others Equestrians learn you aren't a pony anymore," he said.         Spike stepped up. "Discord, not now. Haven't you done enough?"         "Mou? I didn't potion bomb hospitals. I didn't mastermind the brilliant idea of setting up 'safe zones' that were then crushed under the full weight of the Princess' forces." He brushed Spike aside and towered over the distraught Twilight. "I didn't skip out on my own brother's wedding, just to ensure the Smithsonian Institute was destroyed before its treasures could be evacuated."         Twilight cringed at that. All of them had begun to remember what they'd done during the war, and more importantly how they'd felt about doing it. "What do you want?"         "Oh, just to remind you of why neither your brother nor his blushing bride have any time for you," Discord said, "And, just maybe, to offer you a chance at redemption."         "Why would you do that?" Spike asked.         "Because I'm a great guy!" Discord said, and then his eyes narrowed, "And I rather enjoy showing you 'morally superior' ponies what monsters you are when the cultural restrictions come off. Your big sis has bloodied her own hoovseys far beyond anything I ever did. With just her rather minuscule powers and sense of righteous poniness, all in only a couple years. So yes, I enjoy rubbing their noses in the fact they haven't evolved from the ponies who obliterated their old home with war and ice. For all their claims to the contrary. Harmony might be a wonderful thing, but cancer doesn't fight itself either."         "What do you want me to do?" Twilight asked.         "Same thing I asked Rainbow Dash when I sent her on her mission, are you more loyal to what Equestria is supposed to be, or who embodies it? Are you willing to struggle to prove a lie, or are you going to insist on the truth?" Discord asked, "Same for you, Spike, although you actually do live the lie, of peace and friendship to alien beings." Discord made a disgusted face.         "I lost my mother a long time ago," Spike said quietly, "All I have left are my friends." He looked over at Twilight. The Breezy was almost literally running in circles as she struggled with the question of Equestrian ideals, or Celestia.         Finally she looked at Spike. "I'll go with you. I - I can't abandon all Celestia taught me, but she's lied about so much, I can't know what's right and what's wrong anymore."         Spike sighed and stared at Discord. "I don't trust you, but I want to rescue my friends."         "Good enough," Discord said and extended a paw. Spike buffered Twilight in the coils of his tail, and took Discord's paw with his hoof.         They were instantly plunged into darkness.         "Discord!" Twilight squealed.         "My bad."         "Is someone out there?" came another voice. A faint light appeared around Discord, illuminating the area.         "Princess Cadence!" Twilight shouted and fluttered free of Spike's tail. "Cadence, it's me, Twilight! Twilight Sparkle!"         Cadence looked at Discord. "Is this a trick?"         "Yes, but not on you," Discord said, "Just a reminder of what you giving up has cost the world."         Cadence hung her head. "What else was I to do?"         "Take Celestia off the damn pedestal you all put her on and start living as if she didn't matter," Discord said, anger and frustration tinging his words, "You see evil, but unless Celestia approves of the crusade, you all stand around to be mowed down. Stand on your own for once."         "Then they'd stand up against you," Spike said.         "What do you think I wanted!?" Discord shouted back, "Do you know how tedious it was making my own fun all that time?"         Spike shut his mouth with a snap and just glared at Discord.         "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake," Twilight said, and grinned as Cadence seemed to come to life. The pair nuzzled.         "It is you," Cadence said.         "Ah, heartwarming," Discord said, and made gagging gestures.         "If I could still breathe fire, I give you heartwarming," Spike said.         "Ah, good, honest hatred," Discord said, and kissed Spike, "You don't know how I've missed that. And, so wonderful that none of you has said 'we have to tell Celestia about this', because you all suspect she not only knows, but approves." He grinned as all of them looked at each other in dismay.         "You are correct. What now?" Cadence said, "I've explored the entire cavern, there's no way out they haven't blocked."         "Patience. Try not giving up, this time," Discord said and put a paw to his ear.         Twilight was about to say something, when Spike waved a hoof at her. They all listened.         "Why'd I ever trust him, this is the stupidest, ewww! spider webs!" came a very familiar voice. "Yeah laugh, you're just lucky there's no spiders in them." A door opened about 20 feet from them, "What -?"         " 'Whatever made me trust Discord?'" Discord said, "I add a little spice, a little adventure to your lives and all you do is complain." He pointed at the stunned Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot who'd arrived through a hidden door in the cavern wall. "What you do, is follow the intrepid explorers, back down the corridor, through the maze of spider-infested corridors, to a branching tunnel where . . . eh, who am I kidding?" He snapped his fingers.         The entire group was standing beside a wall of ice, which wasn't so intimidating as what occupied the rest of the vista. The ponies, and once-ponies looked up, and up and up.         The growl they heard was not encouraging.         "Yo, G-ster! Can the D-man deliver or what?" Discord asked.         They were treated to the sight of the latest nemesis of Equestria doing a face palm.