I. Paper Mail
“Authorization: successful. SibZone Prime Administrator Frank Miller, please come in”.
The armored door rolled aside, letting a stocky middle-aged man enter his study. The barely-audible hum of ventilation stepped up a notch, fans struggling to filter out particles of dust and smoke, while he took off and hung his coat. Walking around the desk, he first stopped at a coffee machine, starting it up, then approached the window and leant at the heavy frame, observing the city below him.
His city… The man cringed at the thought, still absent-mindedly eyeing the picture, while a completely different scenery unfolded in his imagination.
In my city, there weren’t that many of these multi-storey concrete hives. God, these skyscrapers’ midget cousins sticking out here and there literally scratch my mind. No, there was a high-rise city centre, then a district of cottages, and then… then the favelas, yes, which descended all the way to the sea. Anyway, trying to get to the coastline was pointless and dangerous, but sometimes, you could feel a bit of marine salt and a hint of iodine over the slumber stinks. I remember hearing old-timers say that palm trees used to grow along the boulevards before the Green Collapse. I can believe that.
And it is all long gone by now.
He shook his head, dispelling the vision, once again seeing a frozen ocean of snow-clad roofs, trenched by streets and yards. No matter what, this city could never have palm trees. It couldn’t have favelas either, at least no longer than for a season – till winter comes.
A soft sound of a bell alerted the Administrator, drawing his attention away from the window. He actually expected the signal to come from the coffee machine, but the green light above the doorpost proved otherwise.
“Frank? You’re here? We need to talk in person, it’s urgent, I-I think we might have a problem,” came from the speaker. The man frowned a little, pondering the implications. At this time, Maria was usually immersed in her terminal, sorting through morning mail; even in case of some grave incident, she’d have contacted him via the holonetwork. This must have been something else if she decided to break her routine and run straight to him. Still, it wasn’t like he was going to keep her waiting on the threshold anyway.
“Steward, let the lady in.”
“Door unlocked.” Fortunately, the machine managed to make sense of the vague command.
As soon as the door slid open for about an elbow’s length, a slim black-haired woman squeezed herself through. Her progress, however, was initially hindered by a large folder she carried under her arm. Having finally pulled the unwieldy object into the study, she turned to face Frank.
“…And good morning. Sorry, completely forgot about that.”
“Morning, Mary. It’s nice to see you at any time of the day, no matter what brings you here. Take a seat, please,” he gestured at one of the chairs. “Now, whatever…” He was interrupted as the buzzer rang again, though this time it really came from the coffeemaker.
“Oh, right. Coffee.” The women threw a quick glance at the unit, which Frank could easily track.
“Here, have mine.” He quickly showed the cup into her hands. “I’ll make another one for myself. “ Pulling another chair closer to the table, he seated himself as well.
”So…What is this problem you were talking about? ”
The smile which stealthily crept onto Maria’s features while she was savouring her drink suddenly evaporated. She put her cup down and reached for the folder she’d carried along.
“We’ve got some unusual mail.”
“Ow?” he could see the anxiety in her movements as she opened the hard cover.
“Yes. For one, it came to our common mailbox, but it is addressed specifically to you. Secondly, I mean the physical mailbox. It is written on paper.”
Wasting pricey materials like paper and toner in such a way actually wasn’t a normal occurrence.
Speaking of toner, by the way… “Written?”
“Aye, not printed. At least the address is. That’s the fourth strange thing about it, by the way, though this one is quite logical. Why print the text out if you can send it over the Net? If you cannot, though...”
“And what’s the third oddity, then?”
“See for yourself.” She finally handed in the thick tan envelope.
On the upside, he indeed saw the address, drawn in clean, neat handwriting; below it, a line that read “To Prime Administrator Frank Miller, Head of the Interim Independent Government, personally” was added. He shrugged and turned the envelope over.
Now that was a sight that took his breath away for a moment. The envelope wasn’t glued shut, it was sealed with wax, and upon this wax was imprinted an emblem. A stylized capital “E” inside an upwards-facing semicircle, to be exact.
“Well-well-well …” He exhaled through gritted teeth. “Is it not what I think it is?”
Maria silently nodded.
“All right,” Frank reached out to break the seal, but then halted abruptly and gave the woman a quizzical look.
“Ah! Yes, it’s been through the scanners, I checked out the logs. Nothing harmful in it, no devices, no chemicals or materials except for ink and paper,” her voice faltered. “Unless… Unless it’s undetectable by our means.”
The Administrator wistfully turned over the envelope once again.
“No backwards address?” he asked rhetorically.
“No, and the entry point is untraceable either. For all the machines know, it could have appeared right inside the system”.
“I suspect this is exactly what’s happened. Okay, let’s do this nice and slow, just in case.” He opened one of the desk’s drawers and rummaged a pair of scissors out of it.
“Frank, wait! Let me try! Or, maybe we could use a robot…”
The man shook his head dismissively “Provided this letter is genuine, we’re in for a little fire show if something or somebody other than me tries to open it. I’ve seen similar things before. We’ll have to take this risk.” Pulling a pen out of his pocket, he glowered at Maria. “And surely I’m not letting you touch it!”
Pinning down the envelope with a pen using his left hand, Frank carefully operated the scissors to break the seal. As it finally gave in with and audible crack, he quickly dropped the stationery and took a few steps backwards.
Nothing happened.
“Fine,” he muttered, now taking the scissors by their blades and using the plastic grips as improvised pincers to open the envelope and pull several sheets of paper out of it. All of them were completely blank.
“What the ..?” Frank picked up one of the sheets and immediately dropped it back, as its whole surface suddenly turned an intense violet. Lying on the table, the layer of dark ink began to flux and move, compressing into the same neat cursive they’ve already seen on the envelope.
“Damn, still managed to catch me by surprise,” he cursed. “Very funny, Celestia.”
“You think this is her doing?” the woman called out.
“I highly doubt this document is signed “Princess Luna”,” Frank snorted. He took the letter up again and quickly skimmed through the text.
Maria gave a little cough.
“Good news: this isn’t some PER-forged booby-trap, after all,” announced the man. “As for bad news… Just read it yourself,” he walked up to her chair and handed over the paper.
Dear Frank,
First, being rulers of a neighbouring state, we wish to express belated congratulations to you and your associates on officially establishing the government.
Unfortunately, news about Earth tend to arrive a little late to Canterlot. It is only now that we are able to properly recognize you as a political body, and for that we are offering an apology.
To facilitate the establishment of proper diplomatic relations between our countries, and also to make up for this blunder, it would be of greatest pleasure to us to visit your Capital as part of an Equestrian embassy. We would be most pleased if levels of diplomatic protocol were kept at those befitting of a private visit, however.
Enclosed with this letter, you will find several clean sheets of enchanted paper. Incinerating them over any source of open flame will result in immediate transportation of applied text or graphics directly to our Court. Please use them to let us know you’ve received this message, and come to terms on the time and date of our arrival.
Sincerely,
Royal Pony Sisters of the Realm of Equestria.
P.S. It is very likely that you might find our timing questionable, and indeed it must be less than convenient, considering how busy you probably are. However, there are several pressing matters we need to discuss and settle as soon as possible. I am inclined to believe you understand the necessity, as I do. – P.C.
The lower portion of the paper was adorned by an Equestrian coat of arms. Unlike the rest of the text, which now looked just like ordinary handwritten script (though no hands were obviously used in its creation), the half-crescent/half-sun emblem continued to slowly rotate, with no apparent intention of stopping.
“Well, I’ve been half-wrong about the signature,” admitted Frank. “My point still stands, it must’ve been composed by Celestia, or else I’m eating my hat!”
“You know, you probably should be more careful with words. Make sure to ask her if you get a chance. I‘ll bring some salt and sugar, you wear a hat – try to find a natural felted one, just in case.”
The man briefly chuckled, and then stared at Maria intently, now wearing a dead serious expression.
“You do understand what this means, right?” he asked.
“The whole letter is a warning that says 'You’ve been noticed. You’ll be dealt with soon.'” The woman nodded.
“Yeah, precisely. And don’t forget the post scriptum, which basically reads “Prepare to face the consequences”. He sighed. “Hell, if I knew that’s what they were waiting for, I’d had delayed formally breaking up from IHSA at least for half a year more.”
“We’ve seen it coming anyway, be it sooner or later.”
“Well, I guess now is as good as ever.”
They locked gazes for a full minute. Then Frank made a sharp turn on his heels and loped to the desk.
“Alright! We’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m calling a special session at 10 a.m. For now, you are tasked with relaying this to the cabinet. Don’t yet tell them what all the fuss is about, use only protected channels with no record keeping – I don’t want this to leak out just yet, though it will anyway. If they aren’t responding – don’t leave a message, send someone dependable to drag them out of whatever they’re up to; I don’t care, but everybody should attend – in person – including you, of course. ” He settled down at the table, bringing his own terminal to life with a few finger touches. “Meanwhile, I’m engaging the additional security protocols, and then I’ll go fill Indrik in on the situation.”
“So you’re doing the sitting part, while I’m doing all the running?” she pouted mockingly.
“As usual,” he smiled.
“Roger that. Will do, sir.” She marched to the door, but then stopped at the exit indecisively. “Frank?”
“Yeah?” He peeped over multiple interface and console windows already floating in front of him.
“Maybe you could warn Alexander yourself? You know how seriously he takes the “chain of command” thing and besides, he always has a tight schedule; he may not like me ordering him around.”
“And so what?”
“He won’t hesitate to contact you directly, but…”
“…The mainframe room is isolated, right.” Frank rubbed his chin musingly. “Listen, if he starts to fret, just tell him… tell him… tell him it’s Signal 'Holy Horseapples'!”
“What?!”
“Well, we never actually agreed on this one, but I bet he’ll get the pun.”
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Oh, by the way, did I mention that's my first-ever published fanfic?
So if you're reading this... my condolences, there's a fair chance it'll suck))
Then again, maybe it won't.
So, this is going to end bad for these humans isnt it?
538795
Nu-uh, I'm not disclosing plot details yet))
Besides, your mileage on good or bad may vary...
I mean like this
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CantArgueWithElves
I'm kind of hoping for something like this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScrewYouElves
538795
it ALWAYS ends bad for the humans (and remember there IS an exception to every rule... except rule 34, there is NO exception...)
although most TCBs tend to hide the fact that it ends badly...
however.... a speech that is completely anti-human, the fact that Equestria almost always emerges by itself and is in 99.9% of the cases lethal to humans OR keeps humans out (which means theyll get crushed once the barrier fills up the entire planet) and the fact that Conversion serums are ALWAYS from Human to Equestrian (sure that explains when the barrier acts as a barrier, but not when the barrier acts as a field that keeps magic from killing us) instead of human + refined magic to create some new genes....
yeah it'll end bad for the humans...
and this particular fic has the Dark tag.... it'll end REAL bad
538840
Rule 34 is more of a universal law, one that not even Pinkie Pie has been able to break. :\
538853
yeah.... just like the law that makes the speed of light in a vacuum stuck at almost 300 000 km/s? (canadian, I don't use the Imperial system)
538867
Hehe, Ikr!
ugh, you suck. i thought I'd READ all the conversion Bureau's. then you went and published this. *SIIIIIIGGGGGHHH* *begins reading*
Clever. Waiting for more, and I don't get it why someone dislikes this, it's actually quite decent, even pretty good for a first story.
538795
Sadly, most of these stories always do.
Oh my. It seems I've over-edited the Princesses' letter up to a point that I accidentally
a whole line. And the one which was connecting it to the next chapter, no less. Or, rather, I've altered it in such a way that the beginning of Ch.II no longer makes sense. Will fix right away... That was really embarrassing.
This is not too bad, at least not yet, which is why I don't understand all the thumb downs. Certainly it can't be because the humans we have met so far are actually likable (and leaders in government too!), which seems to be anathema in general CB stories. I have to wonder why it always has to end badly for humans too, why Equestrians and their magic and Man with our technology can't work together to find a solution to this "expansion" which does not end in the latter's demise , or why magic has to be lethal to humans or why we can't immigrate to their land when they have no problem passing between the barrier. I have too many questions, but I suppose I should expect no forthcoming answers regarding a universe whose premise is genocide porn; I'll just have to hold out for the day somebody turns it on it's head and writes a thorough deconstruction. Anyway now that that is out of the way, I thought this was a decent effort, and one that hints at a possible better portrayal of mankind, and for that I will follow.
This is probably a stupid question but... What happened to the track button? As far as I can tell, I never saw any info on the subject
)
Now I have to put everything in my favorites if I want to "track" them.
(not that it's particularly bad on the authors part
539030
Thanks. I understand why people tend to have a certain prejudice against TCB stories, and believe me, I'm trying my best to avoid mimicking Chatoyance or Midnight Shadow. Of course, that's exactly the thoughts of any beginning author)) Let's see if I manage to pull off that.
539095
Thank you, too. Don't expect Ch.II to come out too soon, however. According to plan, I've got to introduce three (maybe four) new human characters, further develop the two you've already seen, give some background for the whole IIG thing, move the plot up to embassy's arrival and, perhaps, finally let in a few ponies on the scene - some 4k words from the beginning, it's about freaking time for a ponyfic!
I'm certainly intrigued. I look forward to seeing where you go with this.
It seems like the ponies are pretty much evil in casses like these.
Haven't read the story yet. Just wanted to clarify a few things. So the point is mankind is can choose between joining Equestria and have a new life. Or remain it what is left of humanity as it quickly dwindles to nothing as well as there technology, traditions, culture, history and etc. And there is group of humanity that will not give up without a fight?
Because if this is the story it sounds REALLY damn familiar, yet I can't place my finger on it.
539894
I believe nobody has yet tried the, errm, perspective I'm using.
539139 I think it was just that (when they asked why people kept tracking finished stories) no one was using 'fave' and people were using track for both 'I want email on this when it updates' and 'I'll read this later and decide', so they changed it to the 'read later' list and 'fave w/ optional e-mail' thing that's there now.
539948
Well I've seen this idea SOMEWHERE! I just can't remember from what. Whether it be from a fanfic, book, TV show or movie...and it's bothering me greatly.
Oh and i found fight even if there are no chances of winning. After all better to go down fighting then give up. After all fighting against impossible odds is what makes it fun and exciting.
Interesting. Not sure about this fic yet, but I've definitely got my eye on it. There's potential here.
Hmm. Interesting take on the CB-verse where the Human characters are actually likable.
Hopefully, this will partially serve as a deconstruction of the CB-verse.
This is not bad so far, but giving my knowledge of TCB fics, I'm not holding out much hope. I'm sure Celestia is going to demand that they convert, but I could just be jaded after reading other TCB fics.
I do have this on watch though, and I hope that it turns out different for the humans. but we'll see.
539369
Well, you're looking at them through human eyes, and in this Universe they've got a lot less reasons to be enamoured with candy-colored horsies than we do, dontcha think?)) They even might be reading between the lines things which aren't really there, or at least not quite in the way Frank and Maria worded them. The characters' attitude towards ponies, the Princesses & Equestria will be further clarified in the next chapter.
By the way, guys, I read all the comments, and if I don't reply to some of them, it is generally because an honest answer would be too much of a spoiler. Sorry