• Published 9th Jul 2014
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The Conversion Bureau: Tiberium Wars - Jack of Tales

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Act I

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

-Albert Einstein


ACT I

No Man's Land
Somewhere between France and Germany
2 months after the start of the war
Yellow Zone


Two of Goliath APC's came roaring over a small hill, running over Tiberium crystals, long rusted vehicles and other artifacts from when the area was abandoned long ago from Tiberium spread. Each of the vehicle’s mighty six-wheel axis protected the vehicle against the Tiberium crystals growing there as they ran over them like road-kill. The lead APC fired wildly at any and all NOD forces unlucky enough to be in its way as inside of the second APC GDI infantry checked on their equipment before deployment. Armed with the GD2 rifle, the rifle squad prepared for their latest battle with Nod, to defend their homes in the Blue or Yellow Zones against the violent terrorists, or die trying.

"Drop-off in two minutes!" Shouted one of the drivers over the sound of bullets hitting the Goliath’s armor. The squad was surprisingly calm going into such a violent situation, save for one trooper in particular who was fidgeting in his seat, dropping a few magazines in the process. Some of the troopers took notice of this and decide to ignore him, expecting the rookie to be killed the moment he hopped out. One jetpack trooper that had hopped into the APC before it left the base, a lieutenant by the bars on his armor, still kept his gaze on him and pushed the magazines back to the private with his boot.

Armed with the new assault railgun carbine and Kevlar5 body armor, Lt. Anderson was ready to tear Nod a new one and was the picture of calm and focus. He still kept his gaze on the nervous trooper, shaking his head at the others as none of them moved to give the young trooper some courage. After a minute of silence, the commando spoke. "You nervous kid?"

The young trooper looked at the commando. "Yeah, a little, sir." He said, forcing a smile and trying to look less afraid

Anderson smirked under his helmet. "Well then just stick with me son and you'll be fine, I’ll watch out for you if I can."

"Drop-off in ten seconds!" said the driver of the Goliath before turning roughly and nearly shaking the other soldiers as he avoided a NOD RPG that had come out of a building.

"Alright! Listen up," Anderson yelled. "We're going to be in the eye of the shit storm here. We are gonna break through the Nod lines and kill as many bastards as possible and send them back to Kane crying! When this is all over, the drinks are on me. HURA??"


"HURA!!!" The troopers screamed just as the APC finally stopped. The ramp opened and the commando went out first followed by the infantry men. The young trooper went out last, swinging his rifle and scanning for Nod insurgents before stopping at the scene before him. The chaos was unlike anything he could imagine.


A large battle was waged between the two sides with tracer rounds slicing through the air, screams and explosions slamming against the young soldier’s ears. Two Banshee fighters roared overhead, engaging an Orca fighter that was trailing smoke behind it, only to be shoot down by a GDI missile squad.

Wolverines mowed down Nod infantry as they entered the battle, killing them before they had a chance to realize they were under attack. Titans were engaging in a one-on-one battle against Scorpion tanks to keep them away from the infantry. Black Hand units however were burning any unfortunate GDI infantry in their path, proving why they had such a fearsome reputation. Mammoth tanks with their railgun upgrades sliced through some Avatar mechs like butter. The Avatars that were not killed were using Tiberium upgraded particle weapons to obliterate the Titans.

The soldier was left staring at the scene in awe, not even flinching as a few stray rounds passed near him and past his helmet. The only thing that awoke him from his trance was a heroic shout.

"HI HO SILVER!!!!!!" Lt. Anderson jet rocketed over the battlefield, landing behind enemy lines. The trooper just looked at him like he was on drugs or something.

"That guy has more brawns than brains sometimes." A disk thrower trooper said. The young trooper checked his magazine one last time before entering the battlefield with a battle cry as Anderson had already drawn most of the enemy fire away from the rest of the squad.


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Far from the battlefield, the Nod base sat upon a large round flat hill, surrounded by Tiberium, save for several paths for vehicles and infantry. The base was heavily guarded by patrolling Nod militants and some Shredder and Stinger turrets. The base was also guarded by one of NOD’s deadliest defenses, an Obelisk of Light, a laser defense tower used originally during the First Tiberium War. A laser fence separated the Nod base and the battle waging below. The base was bustling with activity, troopers running left and right to their assigned duties while others were checking the defenses in case of any GDI counterattacks.

Past all of the support structures like a Hand of Nod and a couple of humming Tiberium generators, the Nod Operations Center sat in the middle of the base with two Black Hand soldiers guarding the entrance. Inside of the center, a single man sat before a large screen that showed him the combat display from a drone. He watched and through a keyboard in front of him moved a cursor around, telling units where to move and what moves to make, the rest was up to them. His hair was black and wavy, almost looking like it had been done by a skilled barber. His green eyes shone brightly despite the red tinted lights all around him and his black NOD officers uniform was blacker than obsidian.

This was Commander Kaiden, otherwise known as the ‘Legendary Insurgent'. He was infamous in reputation for his work against GDI in hit and run assaults, as well as being able to disappear and pull his units back just as quickly as he could assault from anywhere.


Commander Kaiden was seated patiently in a large leather command chair, his fingers dancing gracefully along the console as if he was orchestrating a major symphony. He smiled cruelly as he directed his troops into battle and provide whatever support they needed, which usually lead to the deaths of many GDI dogs. He was alerted about a jetpack trooper somewhere causing trouble along with a rifle squad trying to breach his lines all on their own. It didn’t worry him in the slightest. After all, he had done this a hundred times before.


It's no secret that Kaiden is somewhat of a hero to Nod, like Anton Slavik had been before in the Second Tiberium Wars. Before the start of the Third Tiberium War, Kaiden had seen some action in Honduras and Jericho, successfully routing GDI forces from Central America. He was even rumored to have been in the Rio Insurrection. He was just a small time commander back then. His actions in Washington and in the Brazilian campaign had earned him the attention and praise of Kane himself. Now he is the bane of every GDI commander on the battlefield. His strategies have never once been questioned by anyone under his command and with good reason, he has never been defeated so far. Some even dared to whisper that he was to become the Prophet of Kane.

"How are we holding up HADES?" Kaiden asked out loud, his voice being picked up by sensors over the noise of the technicians around him.

A deep, metallic voice replied "The frontline is stable for now, but increased attacks from a GDI base to the east could turn the tide of battle".

"Hmmmm..........." Kaiden was deep in thought as he watched the GDI soldiers move and assault his units in patterns that almost seemed familiar and yet atypical of their style. Normally GDI would turn tail and run from his army, but this was different. No one in GDI’s list of officer could hold out for this long and still attack his army. It was as if---


"Him." Kaiden’s hands closed into tight fists when he realized who was behind the counterattack. His arch enemy, Commander Andrew of the 5th division, also called the ‘Steel Eagle’. He was unlike any GDI commander he'd seen. He would stand his ground till the very end instead of running away. Just the very mention of his name would boost GDI morale and make them fight to the last soldier. Kaiden respected the commander and would very much like to shake his hand if he didn’t want to personal drive a bullet between his eyes. Regardless, he had a mission to do and he would succeed in fulfilling that mission for Kane as well as humiliating his enemy.

Kaiden looked at the big screen in front of him. "How long until our nuclear arsenal is ready?"

A Nod officer replied "Sir, our arsenal should be online in 19 minutes."

"In the meantime, we must catch GDI by surprise by launching a counterattack if we are to succeed. Long range Scanners have indicate that there is a ridge next to the battlefield. I recommend diverting some of our forces to the location and taking the high ground."


"Do it." He look at his screen again on the battlefield that is raging outside. He smirked "I do enjoy our little game of chess, Commander. But as they say 'I have one last trick up my sleeve'.


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"ATHENA, how are we doing with our forces?" A young but confident voice called out. Commander Andrew Coulson was young and looked to be possibly nineteen or twenty years old, with blond hair and yellow eyes. He looked like a child sometimes that had tried to impress his father by dressing up in his GDI uniform. But in reality he was the youngest to graduate at West Point in 2046. His skills in directing troops in combat were cunning to say the very least.

When the Philadelphia went down, Nod launched an attack on the American East Coast, nearly pushing GDI forces into the sea and stamping out any resistance. But after defending the Pentagon from one of Nods attacks, he rallied his forces and took back Washington from Nod. After this victory that inspired many more, Andrew went on a secret mission for Jack Granger, the current general of GDI forces, to North Africa. There had been unconfirmed rumors that Nod had access to WMD's and was shipping them out to Eastern Europe for another assault on Blue Zones. This was proven to be true after a successful raid in Cassabad led GDI to Nod’s chemical weapon factories. But it was just the tip of the iceberg. Nod was creating a Liquid Tiberium Bomb, a new weapon that could cause a chain reaction in any nearby Tiberium deposit and could destroy an entire region in the blast.

Commander Andrew had destroyed the main shipping port in Alexandria in hopes of finding the bomb, but it was never there. Before he could pursue the cargo across the world he got a call from General Granger to defend Portugal, a Blue Zone in Europe, from an invading Nod army that had killed nearly all of their local defenders. He had wanted to argue that the bomb was still out there, but the General informed him that a Nod aircraft carrying the bomb was shot down over Slovenia. This relived him a little bit and he soon accepted the mission gladly. Andrew was always eager to give Nod another beating and send them back to their hidey holes like the worms they were.

At the moment he was currently inside a command post at his base, standing over a large blue tinted holo-map and touching holographic images of his soldiers before touching the part of the map he wanted them to go to or touching holo-images of enemy units. Officers on duty around were directing GDI troops on the battlefield based on his direction. Engineers were placing defense towers like Vulcan Towers beside the walls of the compound in case an attack were to happen.


A feminine voice replied to the commander. "Our forces are currently engaging with Kaiden's army. It is difficult but our forces are beginning to make progress against the insurgents."

Time has come for this Nod bastard to face GDI justice.’ Andrew thought and stared at the holographic image of the Nod HQ like an Eagle about to snatch up a fish.

"Good, send in some more Mammoth tanks and some Titians. Oh, and order some Firehawks to do some bombing runs on those Black Hand platoons."

"Affirmative, Commander. Relaying orders now."

Andrew turned to one of his officer. "How long until the Ion Cannon is online?"

"In 5 minutes, sir" he replied. “If I may ask, sir, what are you planning to do?"

"Simple, fire the Cannon on the battlefield when I have Nod surrounded." Andrew answered.

The officer stuttered in shock and surprise. “But..but sir don’t you think that is extreme for such a small Nod force? We almost have them on the run. You might hit our own troops.”

“Nod always has a way to pull out, and killing this ‘Legendary insurgent’ “ Andrew said while doing air quotes. “Will put a huge bleeding hole in Nod’s command structure, and I will have it on low power so it won’t hurt our boys.”

He returned to his screen, looking over the battlefield. "They won't know what hit them. It’ll be like Thor’s hammer coming down to bitch slap them."


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Far from the prying eyes of GDI and Nod, to the point where the explosions and weapons fire sounded like distant thunder, eight creatures watched the battle below from atop a large hill with a long dead tree upon it. Their expressions ranged from fascination to disgust to contempt. They all resembled horses from the nature preserves or Zoos in the Blue zones, except two of them who resembled beings from ancient legends with their wings and two of the others had horns. There were even two horse-like creatures that carried both wings and a horn and had a regal appearance about them. These creatures weren't infected with Tiberium, nor were they even from Earth.

A Banshee fighter swooped past them, creating a gust of wind as it flew low and fast before dropping its payload on some unfortunate GDI vehicles. A white equine with elegant curls tried to hold its hair down. She soon said something in what would be a British accent. "How rude of them. They messed up my good hair."

"Rarity, now's not the time to worry about looks." A winged horse with a cyan coat and rainbow hair said in an annoyed tone while shaking her head at her friend who was winning about dirt.

The white horse glared at her. "For somepony like you it's no big deal, but if we're doing this right, I simply must look my best.”

The cyan horse mumble something under its breath in response.

A regular horse with a pink coat and pink puffy hair came up behind the cyan horse. "Cheer up Dashie, after this is over we can throw a 'Welcome to Equestria' party." Her voice was a happy one that seemed so out of place with the bloody scene below them

A purple horse with a horn turned its head to the regal horses. "Are you sure we can convince them, princess?"

The white horse with wings and a horn said in a motherly tone. "Of course we can, Twilight." She soon gazed upon the battlefield.

"We will make them an offer they can't refuse."




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"WARNING! Unknown energy detected." ATHENA cried out and alarms flashed all around the command center.

Andrew spat out his coffee all over the Holo-map and had to wipe it with his sleeve. "Is it an Ion Storm?"

"Negative. Energy signatures do not match any Ion Storm in this area, nor do they match any known GDI or Nod weapon."

"Where is it originating from?"

"Scanning.................It is originating from the center of the battlefield, Commander".

"Patch it on screen." The screen changed to one of the helmet cameras on the battlefield and what he saw shocked him to say the least.


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“WARNING!! Unknown energy signature detected. “

Kaiden slammed his fist down onto his console "Where?"

"In the middle of the battlefield."

"Put it on screen"

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A bright light shone upon in the middle of the battlefield, the flash was blinding to everyone in the vicinity. Like a UFO, it descended slowly to the ground. Some troopers on both sides backed up a little while some prepared their guns for what was to come. The light finally touched the ground without a sound and slowly began to dim. Everyone was scared shitless, except for the Cyborgs, since they had their emotions carved out of them, cementing their undying loyalty to their messiah. The light finally faded completely after several seconds, revealing the ponies inside.

"Awwww. Look, I think their puppies." A militant said an began patting his leg, calling to the ponies like they were canines, right before a Cyborg Reaper smacked the militant in the head for his stupidity. "Ow!!!"

Just then, one of the creatures, a navy blue horse with a wavy midnight hair, shouted. "ATTENTION HUMANS!!! WE HAVE GRACED THEE WITH OUR PRESENCE AND WISH FOR A PARLEY WITH ALL. WE HAVE REALIZED THINE PLIGHT AND WISH TO HELP YOU."

Everyone cringed at the shouting, even the strange aliens. Some visors of soldiers closest to the ponies cracked from the sheer volume.

"AAAHHH!!!! For the love of God, stop" A random GDI trooper said, his ears were actually ringing just as hard as if a grenade had exploded nearby.

Apparently, the creature didn't stop. "WHY!? THIS IS OUR ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE. WE USE THIS WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS! IT IS A SIGN OF RESPECT AND HONOR TO BE ADDRE-“

Before anymore damage could be done, a mutant with a white coat and wavy hair that seemed to have mastered perpetual motion tapped the other mutant on the shoulder. "Luna, what did I tell you about using the voice?" She says in a motherly tone.

The blue mutant blushed under her coat. "Sorry, we are not used to using our voice. It has been a while." She said before twitching her head for a second as if a bee had buzzed by and her head ached for a moment.

A devout Brotherhood Militant stepped out of the line of other Nod soldiers and said "Who's in charge here? In the name of Kane, the one true messiah, reveal yourselves."

The white mutant soon spoke "I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna and these," she pointed a hoof at the six equines " are the Elements of Harmony. We are called ponies that come from a place called Equestria, which is now residing in what you call the 'Pacific Ocean'." A few mummers erupted from both sides. "Do not worry, we come in peace. In fact, we come to make you an offer that I think you’re going to like."

Before she could say anything further, A Black Hand member also stepped out of the line. "At long last, beings from another planet have come here to spread the glory of Tiberium, just like Kane promised all those who believe in the glory of Tiberium." He turned to GDI. "In your face, GDI swine." He said with a smile and held up his middle finger at the GDI forces while several of the more devout Brotherhood member got on one knee in prayer.


"Hey, we haven't even started this damn war yet." Another GDI trooper said. Both sides were now shouting at each other, saying blasphemes things like 'Imperial Dogs' or 'heartless terrorist' while one guy said 'I like trains.' for no other reason than because he could.

Luna had apparently had enough of the arguments and soon shouted. "SILENCE!"

Everyone cringed at the volume of the voice and had apparently stopped talking. Princess Celestia soon spoke. "We are not here to spread this 'Tiberium', but to spread peace."

A Militant soon shouted vehemently "PEACE THROUGH POWER!"

"No, not that kind of peace. I'm talking about peace through conversion."


Everyone was soon confused about what she meant by that. One Confessor opened his Kane approved holy text and began searching for wherever it said anything about Conversion. “Nope...I don’t see anything about conversion. I don’t think the Codex of Kane approves.” He said, closing his text and shaking his head side to side.

Celestia sighed. "You humans have raged war on each other for centuries. You have destroyed civilizations, burnt down forests, and killed millions without the slightest emotion. I breaks my heart to see you this way. But there is an answer to this madness." She levitated a purple type liquid out of a saddle bag on Twilight’s flank. "When you drink this serum, you can become a pony and come live in Equestria in peace and harmony."

"Now wait just a dog gone minute." LT. Anderson rocketed out of Nod's line, blood covered his armor and helmet. "You mean to tell me that you come all this way, appeared on the battlefield with your fancy little light show, then tell us to drink some potion so we can become some pony and live in Equineland?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, that is it and it's called Equestria."

A pink pony came out of nowhere and hopped to the commando. "And when you do convert into a pony, we can throw a 'Welcome to Equestria' party." She said, bouncing in front of him like she was on a pogo stick.

Everyone was silent after this. Neither man or machine made a sound.. This went on for 5 minutes. The equine’s faces were filled with hope that they would accept the offer without question.

.......


........


........


Then they all laughed. It began at first as a chuckle among a few of them and soon broke out into full on laughter among everyone, even the vehicle drivers.


Everyone, from Nod Militants to Zone Troopers, to Titans and Avatars. The Cyborgs were at least attempting to laugh to enjoy the moment despite not feeling anything. That's right, everyone laughed on the battlefield, except for the equines, who had a confused look on them. Though the pink one looked ready to join in the laughter as well.

"Hey, what's so funny??!!?" A blue pony with rainbow hair and wings said in an angry tone.

"Why would we want to become equines?" A Brotherhood trooper said.

"Yeah he got a point, I like my humanity." A GDI solider said.

"Same here." Another trooper said.

“I wanna be a Griffon or something cool like that.” Said a Militant standing beside a GDI medic he had been ready to kill minutes before.

"But-but--" The purple pony was interrupted.

"Now listen here," Lt. Anderson said, daring to point a finger at the ponies. "Just 'cause you promise peace and harmony, doesn't mean that we can turn into a dog-horse for that. I mean, who wants peace anyway? That's like say you don't want an ice cream sundae with hot warm chocolate and some crush Oreo cookies." At this point, the pink pony was drooling. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm keeping my humanity. We can find some other way of making peace like our forefathers did, with lots of backstabbing and sex. Just like that Game of Thrones thing on the retro channel. So you can take your potion and shove it up your ass."

The ponies winced at the profound language while a GDI trooper sniffed "That was beautiful, sir."

"God damn I'm good." the Commando said.


Celestia, after recovering from her shock frowned and said "How adorable, you think you actually have a choice in this. I was hoping that we could resolve this peacefully, but now you force my hooves. I am going to say this once: surrender now or be destroyed and converted by force."

A brotherhood Militant laughed. "Oh yeah, you and what army?"

At that moment, a blue glowing circle appeared in the middle of the battlefield then there was a bright flash and a blastwave that knocked many of the humans down with a gust of stormy winds. Ponies clad in golden armor rushed out of the portal, with weapons like swords and spears and even crossbows. Some even had horns or wings like the first ponies the humans had seen. They marched in two single file lines in perfect unison, their armor clanking along with their equipment, making it sound as if there were thousands of them coming through the portal. Princess Celestia soon said with a cruel smile. "That army."

Everyone was silent, until a Brotherhood solider said "Hey guys? I think we should maybe start sho---AUUGHHH" The trooper was hit with the serum from above and began screaming loud enough that his throat almost faced injuries, crying out about how he was burning and it hurt, until suddenly he shrank down and in a moment transformed into a yellow unicorn with a red mane and tail and a star tattoo on his flank. The pony opened his eyes and said "Praise the Sun."

"Traitor!" A militant shouted, firing his rifle at the unicorn and it dropped dead. Soon every GDI and Nod soldier and their vehicles fired at the ponies. This proved more successful than the soldiers had thought initially for killing the Earth and Pegasus ponies, but it was the unicorns that where giving them the most trouble. They were forming forcefields and firing lasers from their horns that sliced the Human weapons in half or left soldiers with holes in their bodies. They killed off several soldiers and a couple of vehicles.

A Wolverine fired its twin gatling guns at the ponies as it strafed side to side, trying to take the attention off of the retreating Nod and GDI infantry who were falling back to better defensive positions. The ponies struck by the wolverine’s fire nearly exploded as a rain of high velocity rounds punched through their armor and bodies, ripping them apart and turning a few unlucky ponies into clouds of red mist. But the brave Wolverine was soon destroyed by a barrage of laser fire from a unicorn squad, which struck in the gut of the machine and it exploded in a miniature mushroom cloud. A Black Hand infantryman roasted a line of ponies with its flamethrower, spouting about his loyalty to Kane as he stomped one pony to death before smashing another’s face with the butt of his flamethrower when he saw it charge him from behind, but the Black Hand was gutted by an earth pony with a sword as it was teleported behind him by a unicorn.

“I..die for..the Brotherhood!” Was the last thing the Black Hand said before the Earth pony swung his blade a second time and removed the man’s head from his shoulders.

Both sides started to retreat from the battlefield after taking too many loses. Pegasi dropped serum on the retreating soldiers and transformed them into ponies. One militant got a lucky shot at one of the Pegasus ponies before submitting to the transformation.

At the same time there were just too many ponies coming through the portal, some soldiers were simply swarmed by the mass of ponies charging at them in a suicidal assault. They had no time to reload and were forced to pull out their side arms, firing their pistols as they ran back to another defensive line while the air units provided cover.

Three Firehawks screamed over head as they dropped their payload on top of the invading ponies, giving both the GDI and Nod troopers time to fall back, though it was difficult to tell who was going where as some of the soldiers were mixed in with each other. A GDI medic held a Nod militant on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry as the Nod trooper fired his pistol at any ponies.

On the other side of the battlefield a Nod scout on an attack bike ran over a unicorn as he was about to potion an injured GDI engineer. The scout then grabbed the engineers hand and, seeing it was female said to her. “Come with me if you want to live.” Before he swung the engineer onto his bike and put it at his top speed back towards the base and joining a convoy of other retreating Nod vehicles and troopers.

Both factions regrouped at their respective bases, with a few of their rival’s hitching a ride to safety. Flak and missiles filled the air above both bases hitting the Pegasi before more damage could be done and buying the Humans precious time.

Counterattacking was no longer an option, the enemy attack was too strong and their numbers were increasing faster than they could be killed. Evacuation was on both the commander’s minds. Kaiden retreated on the Montauk, being recalled to Temple Prime for the time being, while Commander Andrew retreated to his Kodiak, hoping to warn GDI command about what was going on, if they didn’t know already.

Princess Celestia looked over the battlefield, dead or converted humans littered it and a few were even holding their arms up in surrender. A malicious smile adorned her face as she watched the prisoners be converted. She soon looked over to the horizon and saw two large Human vehicles fleeing in opposite directions. She knew it must have been the faction’s military generals trying to escape and warn their superiors of what was to come.


"There is no escaping from what is to come. Soon all you humans will know the true meaning of peace and harmony and it will prevail over all of you. Peace…through...Conversion!" She said and smiled at her ponies who chanted their new battle cry after their first victory over the Humans.

Author's Note:

Handsome Jack here,



I may need some proofreaders here. Any takers?

EDIT: Proofread by Sneaky Breeze