Interstitial I - World of the Elements

The Conversion Bureau: A New Age, A New LifeInterstitial I - World of the Elements===== ----- ===== ----- =====

        The last 3 months were quite eventful. One of the biggest developments in the progression of Celestia and Luna's great vision of renewal, was the forging of an alliance with some members of the Elite, lead by Richard Edwards. This new Human-Equestrian Alliance began to start construction and furnishing of the prospective Bureaus. The rest of the Elite, unsurprisingly, took this as direct offense, and began the normal means by which they would shut anything down by some rogue Elite activist, freezing them out financially and socially. However, this usual method of doing things did not work on Edwards for a number of reasons.

First of all, he had so many contacts in the financial sector that the other Elite had little to no leverage to freeze his assets or anything resembling such. Secondly, since the land that was being purchased was outside of the Domes, most of the real estate sector saw no reason to block the land sales since the land being brought was mostly useless to them. Thirdly, the nanomachines could fabricate all but the most rare of materials, and the base materials would be furnished by Equestria anyway. Foruthly, the market was so awash with electronic equipment of all kinds, there was basically no way to stop the HEA from being able to outfit the centers at least ten times over. Finally, Edwards frankly cared little for socialization outside of maintaining his business contacts; and the Elite-allied politicians had no way of stopping him either, due to decade after decade of stripping the ability of the governments to halt activity on privately held land.

        As weeks and months went on, the other Elites believed they could press their media advantage to turn the masses against the Human-Equestrian Alliance, by portraying President Aguillar and her reformist allies both inside and outside the U.S. as traitors to the human race. However, most of the public cared little for the socio-political pronouncements by the Elite, and those who would pay attention already disregarded them as collectively selfish assholes. For the first time in a long time, the elections were actually in doubt, as no one could accurately gauge who'd vote in the coming elections around the world.

        In Equestria, goodbyes were being exchanged in various locales, as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were to take up positions as the Head Administrators in six of the American Centers. Twilight Sparkle was to head to St. Louis, the figurative center of the country, population wise; Spike following her there of course, if for no other reason than to be there for her if she got in over her head. Rarity drew New York City, the cultural hub of the Nation before the time of the Domes. Rainbow Dash drew Chicago, city famous for getting knocked down, repeatedly, but always getting back up. Fluttershy drew Seattle, one of the few remaining cities with any sense of pride in the environment outside of the Domes. Pinkie Pie would head the center for Los Angeles, and everyone prayed to whoever that nothing would explode in the time she was there. Applejack was to head the center in Austin, one of the only places in the South of the United States that was in any way hospitable to the Equestrians, then again Austin was always an odd duck in that regard.

        Luna and the Doctors Isegawa were putting the final touches on the Multi-Boxes responsible for mass-producing the runic-nanites.  Dubbed the "Black Horse Box" by Dr. Hayato, it would be able to function independent of any Unicorn Magic; only needing to be recharged every so often by exposure to thaumatic radiation, which would easily be provided by the New Light Bridge Gates being constructed at each Bureau and specified terminal points in Equestria proper. They also designed a failsafe to where the transformation could not trigger unless a critical mass of the serum was consumed within a minute, which was 250 ml (roughly 8.5 oz.). The New Light Bridge had also grown larger, the circumference now about 50 mi across. This stability allowed the transport of all manners of material, only limited by the power of the Unicorn doing the transporting.

        Celestia also had a hand in the programming of the runic-nanites, and she and Luna added another tripwire. Any human undergoing the transformation would first speak to an Astral Fragment of herself and her sister. She wanted to compile and learn of the reasons why people would be taking advantage of her offer, and she had to be on the lookout for four people in particular. Herself, Luna, and the Six Bearers of Harmony all were having concurrent visions. The Four Objects that Twilight mentioned at one time were now starting to come into some kind of focus, and that ancient voice told all of them: The four shall be re-awakened. The six shall seek them out. If their Will and Power are combined, a New Age shall be forged.

        The friendship between the Four Amigos, as they began to refer to themselves, grew more and more solid over the same weeks. Ethan and Natasha were very much grateful for the time they were able to spend together, although they both denied that they were anywhere close to Ethan proposing or anything. Kyoko and Andre seemed even more hopeless in the romance department, both trying and failing miserably to hide the fact that they had some strong feelings for each other. Andre in particular seemed hard-pressed; he really wanted to pursue something stronger with Kyoko, but it was as if there were something in the back of his head holding him back. He really didn't know what it could have been, he had no attachments in Baton Rouge aside from the usual pride of where you were born. He could follow his sports teams wherever he lived, it wasn't like he had to be there live (if he could have afforded it somehow). So the question was nagging him over these last three months - what was preventing him from feeling that he could pull anchor whenever he wanted to and just move? He suffered under the weight of whatever that anchor was, wondering if it had something to do with his parents...