The Conversion Bureau: Setting Things Right

by kildeez

Chapter XLIII: Prisoners

As far as captures went, Celestia had been through worse. Sure, this was a level of mortal danger she wasn’t quite accustomed to, but it’s not like she’d never been here before. Her initial battle with Nightmare Moon came to mind, and her more recent battle with Chrysalis at the Royal Wedding. There was another thing: a loud truck bumping along as she was left to languish in chains, surrounded by gunmen, was still a marked improvement over that awful pod Chrysalis had shoved her into. Here, at least, she wasn’t forced to bathe in her collected bodily fluids along with whatever that changeling goo was. Yeah, see? Not so bad.

She tried to keep that in mind to still her racing heart, and to keep quiet despite the bonds around her neck and the blindfold tied tightly around her head. She didn’t know how badly they needed her, after all. She could be one misstep away from a summary execution right here, in the back of this truck, surrounded by dirty metal and heavily-armed strangers.

...maybe she shouldn’t think about that if she was trying to keep calm.

She immediately honed in on the details: the smoke from the small, white sticks hanging from a couple sets of lips which hung heavy in the air, the jostle of the truck on every bump through a pothole, the roar of the engine as it occasionally revved then fell off, the acrid smell of gunsmoke she now recognized so well, drifting off recently-fired weapons just waiting to end her with a twitch of a finger...

She caught her breath. Inhaled, exhaled. Perhaps it would be best to try and empty her mind.

The truck jerked, another left, making for five so far. Her ears perked, but again she couldn’t hear anything outside over the steady rumble of the engine. She didn’t need to worry long. With a jarring thud, the truck jerked to a stop, and then a boot prodded her rib cage. She pressed herself to her hooves, trying desperately to hold back the tremor in her legs. She was jerked along by the collar, and then she was moving, forced into a trot by the steady pull at her new leash.

The ground went from metal, to gravel, then quickly to metal again. Cloth tarpaulins waved around her and whispered against her coat. And then the jeers started: savage woops and hollers, men’s voices ringing out and reverberating against the walls.

“We got ‘er! We got her!”

“Fuckin’ suck on that, bitch! Fuckin’ whore!”

“This is for Detroit, cunt! For all those people on the bridge!”

“Welcome to the HLF, you evil bitch!”

The calls faded behind her as she was bundled down a long, twisting hallway, her hooves echoing against concrete. They paused just long enough for the sound of a door opening, then she was bundled through, where the process repeated. Finally, they stopped. There was a mild jerk on her leash, and the click of a padlock somewhere nearby. She suppressed the need to gulp, knowing that would just irritate the collar against her skin. A hand clamped against her spine and pushed her down on the rough concrete, pressing her down harshly before lifting off suddenly. Boots shuffled away. And then…nothing.

She shifted uncomfortably. “Pardon me, but…what is going on?”

Something small and round pressed against the back of her skull. “We don’t answer to you, bitch, so sit there and shut the fuck up.”

The faintest whimper escaped her throat despite herself, she could only pray they didn’t hear it.

Finally, a door slammed open. Scraping sounded: not combat boots, something more casual on the concrete. No, wait. Two sets of footsteps. Two newcomers.

They stopped in front of her. After another moment, there was a low chuckle. “Well, well.”

The blindfold pulled away, and she found herself gazing into the eyes of a wrinkled old man, a great, big smile showing his yellowed teeth. Not a kind smile, though, it never reached up past the purple bags under his eyes to wrinkle the crow’s feet near his graying temples.

“I can’t even begin to describe how badly I’ve wanted this moment.” He said in a raspy, but firm, voice. “To see you here, right now, under my heel.”

Celestia swallowed. “I’m…I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are.”

The old man chuckled. “No, I expect you wouldn’t. Generals rarely know the names of every soldier they throw into battle, just like gods can hardly be expected to remember every ant they crush. But that’s the thing: sometimes, those ants come together, and they can bite.”

She swallowed again. “No, I-I’m afraid I’m not who you think I am. I couldn’t know you.”

He chuckled at that, shaking his head. “Oh, I’ve heard that old song and dance before, sweetheart. Lemme tell ya: the smurfs might be willing to believe it, but I sure as hell don’t.”

He stood, glaring down at her.

“I remember the promises she made. Global peace and prosperity, harmony with all creatures, and magic…oh the things magic could give us.” He shook his head. “No, I’ve lost too much to listen to anything you might have to say.”

After a moment, Celestia let out a breath. “I’m…sorry, for what she did to you.”

At that, the old man’s eyes blazed. A combat-booted foot lashed out against her rib cage, knocking the air out of her. Pain lashed up and down her barrel. “You’re sorry!?” He bellowed, another kick smashing into her side. “My wife, the woman who helped raise my boy, is dead, and you’re sorry!?”

Wheezing, she tried to catch her breath, the pain feeling like a ring around her lungs, squeezing them. Panic rose, suppressed only by her indomitable will, as a part of her wondered if something had been injured inside and she was now minutes from suffocating. But the pain ebbed and her wheezing slowly fell off as her breathing evened out.

“Sorry,” the old man rasped. Then, that grin rose once more as he turned to the young black man at his side. “You hear that, son? She’s sorry.”

The black man nodded, meeting the old man’s eyes, but not matching his rage. The old man didn’t seem to notice as he turned to grin down at Celestia again. “That’s m’boy, James. Adopted him after we learned ‘Lisbeth – that was her name, by the by, Elisabeth – couldn’t have none a’ her own. She figured if we couldn’t have one ourselves, we might as well give a home to a little one what needed it.”

Panting, Celestia nodded, keeping her head low. “She sounds like a good person.”

The old man huffed, breathing steadily, grin fading. “She was,” he said finally, motioning for the two guards to leave the room. “That she was.”

As the armed pair left the room, the old man turned to a small, metal cart in the corner. “See, I’m not like you, Princess.” He rasped. “Everything I had, I needed to build with my own two hands. I wasn’t just handed a crown on a silver platter, see.”

She had a moment where she thought to make a rebuttal, but thought better of it when the black man surreptitiously raised a hand and shook his head.

“Most people I know, they’re the same way. We humans have to earn our way in this world, we can’t just sing a few songs about friendship and expect everything to fall into place.” Shuffling through a pile of tools on the cart, he retrieved a pair of forceps and a scalpel, which he set aside. “Thing is, losing everything the way I did...when I looked into those big, empty eyes that used to be my wife’s...saw the technicolor abomination she’d been turned into...”

The old man paused, steadied a tremor in his hand, and continued his search.

“I lost her then, knew it before everyone else.” He turned, locked those wrinkled eyes on her as he advanced with a tray covered in medical supplies. “In a way, I’m lucky. She was one of the first, see, and the Potion wasn’t perfected yet. My ‘Lisbeth got to shuffle off her mortal coil and return to the hereafter as a proud member of Homo Sapiens, before the shit really settled in and took anything left of her. And me? I wound up finding a group of people who thought like I did. That things never should’ve gone as far as they did. That just because the bitch was locked up and Equestria got turned into a parking lot doesn’t mean shit was over. The bleedin’ hearts were already callin’ for fair treatment. ‘Equestria is an occupied nation,’ they said. ‘It oughta be rebuilt like one,’ they said.”

He leaned in close to her ear, coffee-laden breath wafting over her. “Damn fools, I said.”

He pulled back, fingers fumbling along on his tray. “Lucky your kind were so damn cute. Made most people wanna forget the war, move on, instead of finishin’ the job. Our numbers’ been in the low hundreds these past few years...”

“Y-you said you lost everything?” Celestia found herself interjecting.

The scalpel came up, faster than his trembling hands would have had her believe. “I did.” He hissed through yellowed teeth.

“Wh-what about your son?” She gasped, feeling the cold steel through her coat.

The grin wavered, but remained strong. “Yeah, you left me that, girly. At least you left me that.”

She glanced to the black man, who seemed suddenly interested in his shoes. Something else was going on there, most certainly.

“Why...why are you explaining this to me?” She asked quickly.

He paused at that. “I’ve dreamt of little else besides this moment since I lost my wife, princess,” he grumbled, yellowed teeth baring. “I’ll savor it however I damn well feel like.”

“Or maybe you just want someone to listen?” She whispered, her voice still somehow booming in the concrete room. “After all that time of being ignored, shouting to a void, maybe it’s better now you have a captive audience?”

He paused, that empty glance still locked on her. The corner of his mouth trembled. His gaze rose to her along with a trembling hand, holding up the scalpel. “Don’t think you can figure me out so easy, bitch.” He hissed, advancing with the weapon.

A strange stillness filled Celestia’s chest, her ability to fear simply overloaded. She let in a slow breath, letting it whisper out her nostrils. “I am...sorry.” She whispered in her new clear-mindedness.

That got him to stop, hand dropping to the side. His eyes narrowed. “What?”

“You’ve lost much, and had a long and painful road because of this...other...” she shook her head. “You need an apology from somepony, and she will never do such, if half the things I’ve read about her are true. I’m sorry.”

He paused for a second. Blinked. He clearly wasn’t expecting that. For a second, just for a second, she thought she might be able to talk him around. Then, he frowned, and continued with the scalpel. “Nice acting, bitch. Almost believed a real, decent being was in there,” he hissed, now towering over her.

“It’s...it doesn’t have to…” she trailed off as he shrugged suddenly, his shoulder giving a tiny flex, and a lance of pain traced along her forehead. Celestia winced, not sure what had just happened, and then a few streams of red cascaded down over her eye from her brow.

“Jeez…” the Old Man sighed. “Still got the speed, but damn if I lost the accuracy.”

He leaned in close, his breath washing over her as the blood flowed into her vision. “That was supposed to take one of your eyes.”

She couldn’t help it. A sudden burst of tears flooded into her vision, blurring her gaze further but washing out the blood. “I-I’m sorry, this...we just wanted to help.” She whispered, barely managing to keep her voice from trembling.

“Aye, I believe ya,” he raised the scalpel again. “Just wanted to letcha know how much your help is appreciated.” He whispered, grinning his yellowed teeth at her.

In that moment, Celestia prayed. She prayed for strength, for endurance. And deep in the back of her mind, where she didn’t want to admit it, a small part of her prayed for rescue.

---

A bead of sweat dribbled down along Dave’s back as he peered through the dirt-streaked window. Just across the street, a pair of thugs in dirty t-shirts and ripped jeans stood guard at the mouth of a construction site, plastic tarps waving in the wind behind them. They wouldn’t look so out of place in the ruins of old Tokyo if it wasn’t for the militaristic way they stood, eyes scanning the streets, darting back and forth every few seconds; or for the new, sleek black rifles in their hands.

“Well?” Lisa pressed, pushing in at his side.

“Not good,” he grunted. “It’s an old construction site, probably from the first relief wave. So a million miles of twisting corridors and dark corners, with just as many hidey-holes and booby traps, if I’ll guess.”

“A modern fortress...” Anton huffed. “Very wise. Not even UN could break into there, not without long siege.”

“Yep...” Felipe scowled. “So how are we expected to do it with seven people, some scavenged weapons, and a powerless princess?”

Ignoring him, Twilight poked her head up alongside the other’s, peering over the windowsill. “Who are they?” She whispered.

David let out a breath. “Human Liberation Front, probably came all the way here from my neck of the woods, judging from the accents. They were the first ones sounding the alarm about Prin...uh...” he hesitated.

“Call her Xenolestia,” Twilight insisted. “Trust me, I’ve worked that out.”

David turned to her, eyebrows rising. “Alright, Xenolestia. These are the pricks who were first sounding the alarm that something wasn’t right about all the flowery words that one was spittin’ out.”

“Really? I would think they’d be somewhat more...rational.” She said, leaning forward through the window before he shoved her back down roughly.

“Purple stands out around here, in case you didn’t notice,” he hissed. “And you’d think so, but no. After that one was put on lockdown, they quickly cemented themselves as crazies by saying we oughta finish the job started by the nukes.”

She turned to him, confused only for a second, then she drew in a breath. “Genocide.”

He nodded.

She leaned back against the wall. Her eyes widened. Her breathing turned shallow.

“So….what do we do?” Andre asked. He still held Francis’s hand, the pair seated along the far wall of the small room.

“I say we call it a day.” Felipe shrugged. “We did our best, but this is impossible. It’s time to call it quits and wait for reinforcement.”

“You know we don’t have time for that.” Lisa hissed, glaring at him. “They’re probably setting up to broadcast the princess’s execution right now, they so much as glimpse a blue helmet she’s as good as dead.”

“Then what do you suggest!?” He shot back, teeth bared. “That we assault a stronghold that’s almost certainly prepared for us!? Take on a long siege by ourselves against an enemy that has us outnumbered ten-to-one!?”

“We don’t know that...” Dave started.

“Oh, don’t you start now! We all know we’re stupidly outnumbered here! Trying to break through is suicide! At least if we give up now, more people don’t die today!”

David finally stood. “So we just walk away!? We let the only chance of getting the Newfoals back die with those maniacs!?”

“Better her than us!”

“Is it!? We just saw the first glimpses of hope a place like this has had in five years, and we’re just gonna walk away!?”

“You want to die!? That’s fine! Have fun!” He shouldered his scavenged rifle, stepping towards the front door. “I won’t get in your way, you stupid idiot! Just--”

He paused at the door as a high-pitched keening filled the room. All eyes turned to Twilight, still slumped under the window, tears streaming down her lavender cheeks, hooves wiping desperately at them. “It’s too much...” she whispered. “I should’ve been the one taken, not her, Equestria needs her, it’s too much...”

“Twilight...” Lisa laid a hand on the mare’s shoulder as it shivered in her sobs.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but it’s just too much,” she moaned. “There’s all this hate and pain and anger and...and I wish we’d never come here. I wish we’d just stayed on the boat. I wish...I wish I didn’t know what a starving child looks like, I wish I didn’t know what someone who’s clinging to one last shred of hope that someone they loved could be saved looks like, I wish I didn’t know what the Newfoals look like, and I wish I could take all the pain away but I can’t, I can’t, I can’t...”

The hand on her shoulder pulled her into a full-on hug, Lisa allowing Twilight to sob openly into her shoulder. She looked up, helpless, but the others just looked around awkwardly, David included. The closest thing he had to experience in emotional support was helping Chen during his sobbing fit in a London pub bathroom during one of his attempts at a drinking contest with Anton, and even that had only lasted until he passed out on the floor. Something told him there wouldn’t be much overlap between that long night and this much longer day.

“I-I’m sorry...” Twilight shook her head once she’d managed to regain a little control of herself. “I’m just used to having my friends when I have to deal with things like this, or at least my magic.”

“S’alright, dear,” Lisa dabbed at her oversized eyes with the ends of her sleeves. “Shouldn’t need t’worry about that, a lot of us wish for things we’d never hafta see. You got good company here.”

More than any of the others, Anton and David nodded.

“You can blame the Tachyon Inhibitors for your magic at least,” Anton pointed out at the mention of his name. “That’s one thing we know.”

“Tachyon...” Twilight mumbled.

“Yeah, they’re spread out all around the island, nobody here wanted to deal with magic, after...” David stood again, peering out the window with an awkward clearing of his throat. “Anyway, yeah. Odds are they managed to get their hands on one.”

“Probably someone high-up sympathetic to their bullshit.” Lisa sighed. “You never know who’s a nutjob deep down, is the damn problem.”

“Could just be they bribed someone for one,” Anton shrugged.

“Nah, I think the sympathetic politician route’s more likely...”

“That’s it!” Twilight gasped, turning away from the window with a smile lighting up her face, just to be pulled down by the tail again. She smiled sheepishly, tears still drying on her cheeks. “Sorry…but that’s it! If we stop the Inhibitor, I’d get my magic back!”

Lisa sighed, at least grateful that the alicorn wasn’t crying anymore. “Twilight, sweetie, I know you think that helps, but did you miss the part where they’re dug into an area surrounded by God-knows how many maniacs with rifles?”

Her ears still perking, unfazed, Twilight turned to the window, her smile leveling into cold determination. “Then we’ll have to sneak in there and turn it off.”

“Sneak?” Felipe chuckled. “We are an international group of dignitaries, how do you think we’ll sneak anywhere?”

Twilight didn’t respond. Instead she kept that glare up on the plastic tarps whipping around in the wind, on the gunmen scouring the streets for any sign of enemy. Her look didn’t change even when she turned to the others.

“I have an idea. But you’re probably gonna hate it.”

Felilpe seemed to know what it was already, as he turned his gaze upon her, something flashing in his eyes. “No.” He said under his breath.

“You know what would be even more tempting for them than one alicorn prisoner?” She asked, turning back to the group. “Two.”

“No!” Felipe stamped his foot. “Hell! No!”

“Young lady,” Akshat said, finally standing from the corner where he and Liu had been quietly playing cards. “Have you forgotten that just a few hours ago, that same group tried to execute you in a dirty back alley?”

“Yes, but do they specifically know that?” She gestured to the pair still standing guard at the door, obediently lowering her head when Dave motioned to her. “I mean, they wouldn’t advertise to everyone in their ranks what the plan was for us, right? For all they know, capturing one more high-value target can only help the cause!”

Silence reigned in the room, interrupted by Dave drumming his fingers along the rotting wood of the table. “It would let us get close…”

“And what!?” Felipe hissed, glaring at him. “Then they let us just walk right up to their Inhibitor and blow it up!? And I suppose at that point we all ride out on princess-back in time for dinner and drinks back on the ship, eh!? How do we even find the damn thing!?”

“I...can sort of feel the strength of it,” Twilight pointed out. “As we get closer, it feels more...cold. Empty.” She shrugged, letting out a breath as her gaze sank to the others. “That’s the only way I know how to describe it, but I will find it.”

When this was met with thoughtful nods, Felipe raised his hands. “Okay. Think, everyone, just think. Say it works out. Say we make it to the Inhibitor and pull the plug or whatever it has. That’s still just one unicorn with magic, and us surrounded by a hundred terrorists! We’re supposed to believe she’ll tilt the scales by herself!?”

“Sir, I was the youngest unicorn to be accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” Twilight said, glaring back at him. “Back home, I represented the very Element of Magic itself. I formed a bond with a small group of friends that has saved Equestria numerous times from numerous enemies of all shapes and sizes. I can tilt the scales.”

The group all fell silent again, if only for a second. “Well, wonderful for you.” He spat, heading once more for the door. “If anyone wants to let me know funeral arrangements before they go, now’s the time.”

“That’s what you said about coming out here.” Lisa pointed out. “You still came.”

He paused at the door, hand rising to grip the knob. He leaned forward, looking as though he were seconds away from just barreling through the door and being done with it, but Twilight took over. “You did it for your friends, didn’t you?” She asked.

His hand slipped on the knob. He paused, arm lowering slowly to his side, as if it had suddenly become too heavy to hold up.

“You did it because you knew your friends would be in danger, and needed your help.” She smiled now, leaving the window to trot closer.

Felipe didn’t turn around. He already knew what he’d see: the others, looking back expectantly, waiting for an answer he knew the angry tears on his face would give away. And that would be so, so much worse.

“I don’t know a lot about this world,” Twilight continued. “That much I’ll admit. But I do know I’m a fast learner, and over the past few years I’ve had a lot to learn about friendship. Look at what it’s allowed you to do. That friendship you have.”

She turned to the group, spreading a hoof over all of them. “Allowed all of you to do! The strength to travel halfway around the world, and stand up for what you thought was right! Then, to turn a situation that seemed hopeless completely around and get out where nobody else possibly could, you did that all together! You made it this far because of eachother!”

Finally, she turned back to Felipe, who was still trying to glare holes into the door. “You’re not going to turn your back on something that special, are you?”

Felipe still stood there. His breath heaved in and out. Anton seemed like he was about to move, but he paused after just a couple steps. Finally, David took the initiative, laying a hand on the Brazilian’s shoulder. “C’mon, Felipe,” he said with a smile. “One more time, for your friends?”

He turned, glared at them all, at Lisa and Akshat and David and Francis and Andre and Chen and…

His look darkened. He pulled Dave’s hand away. “Okay,” he said, looking over the group, his gaze softening. “Not for you though. I do it for me.”

The group nodding, Twilight stood. “Alright,” she said finally, picking up a splinter of wood with her hoof and drawing in the dust that coated the floor. “Here’s how we do this…”

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Damn, there a chapter dump

[JAYMATTHEW]

Three chapters in one day!?
I feel spoiled.

[sykko]

Military commander book horse? Color me intrigued.

[faren455]

Why do you insist on writing the HLF like hick stereotypes? it's very distracting. Everytime they do anything I wonder how this yellow-toothed slur happy old man and his posse even managed to get all around the world, did they f-ing drive to Japan?

The least you could do is describe them as japanese,you kno the people who are local and would have the most reason to hate ponies. The fact that they all have newfoals close to them when the biggest thing to happen to japan was basically a super nuke (Also early chapters made is sound like japan was wiped off the map, and the japanese people didn't exist, not that tokyo was magic nuked).

Another bothering thing about how you treat the HLF is that people, the main characters, are more likely to kill human HLF members than newfoals... So I am starting to think you have a bias against the HLF. I noticed this ever since london, when the story went from no deaths to... very explicit and gory deaths for the HLF.

[MatTheBook]

“You know what would be even more tempting for them than one alicorn prisoner?” She asked, turning back to the group. “Two.”

WHAT!!!!? You GONE INSANE!?