The Conversion Bureau: The Palladium Wings

The Conversion Bureau: The Palladium Wings

Chapter 10

Interview I

The following interview takes place two weeks after Shining Armor and Cadence came into the Chimera and became official crewmembers.  Due to Cadence’s curiosity, she has recorded a series of interviews inside a magic crystal. Bold will be Cadence, Italic will be Nikolaos.

Thank you for doing this Captain.  I really feel this is important. Shall we begin?

Sure.

Can I have your full name?

Nikolaos Anastasio Drakonakos.

I must say, your name is very interesting. What does your last name mean?

Drakon means Dragon and –akos means Strong, so it would mean Strong Dragon in my language.

Human languages are fascinating.  Do you speak any more?

speak my native Greek, English, and some Spanish. Not the European Spanish, but more of the Mexican Dialect. I find it useful to cuss out the Colonists and the Newfoals when raiding the Latin American colonies. Believe it or not, most Newfoals retain the language they were raised in, kind of a second language next to English.

Speaking of raids.  Why do you raid the Colonies?

*Sound of a heavy sigh and anger*  You see Cadence… about 10 years ago. Your Aunt Celestia declared that any nation with a high pony to human ratio was officially an Equestrian colony.  Of course, fighting broke out and the Sky Fleet came in to enforce the kick outs. Millions were displaced and we all blame the Conversion Bureaus for that.

Conversion Bureaus?

They were places that Equestria opened up all over the world to convert humans into ponies. Celestia said it was the only way for a human to permanently stay in Equestria without a tourist visa. Many started to convert, and when the pony to human ratio in the world was balanced, Celestia gave another speech years later. Saying that all human governments, constitutions, religions, they were all nothing but lies and deceit. That humanity is corrupt by nature, that we’re all monsters and that Ponification is our salvation…

*awkward silence*

But why would my Aunt do that?

There’s many rumors. One of them says that the Equestrian populace was struck with some disease that killed off most of the populace and Celestia needs the Newfoals to restore the population numbers. Others say Celestia is after our very souls, that when a Newfoal dies, their souls do not go to neither heaven or hell, but into Celestia’s body.

That’s such a cruel and vicious rumor. Spells focusing on stealing souls are dark magic, and highly shunned.

There’s more to the rumor:  Celestia believes that if she acquires more souls, she will bypass evolution.

Bypass evolution?

She will become more powerful than she is. Not even a gun would wound her.

*Cadence chuckles* You humans have ways to spread fear amongst your kind.

We do, we barely have intelligence about her. So we don’t know much about her.

*Cadence clears her throat* I was always curious…those yellow flags with the two headed eagles?

*Nikolaos chuckles* The double headed eagles represent the Christian Church,  the West which is in Rome. The East which is in Constantinople… the dispute dates back from 1054, when the Church split in two. The West became the Roman Catholic Church and the East became the Orthodox Church. Both claim to be the real church founded by Jesus Christ himself.

The human messiah. My Aunt enjoys making a mockery out of Him

.

A mockery? *anger seeps into the man’s voice* Has she no….respect?

She believes the human religions are nothing but excuses to kill, loot, and destroy. That all human faiths are false, just books written by the power-hungry to keep the masses drugged.

Sounds like the many atheists I knew... some were good friends but…

But what?

They were persecuted heavily, then the PER came along.

The PER?

Ponies for Earth’s Rebirth.  They were a cult-like organization who believed all humans must be converted, saying we have no right to exist. They persecuted many people, they targeted everyone.  Senior citizens, young, and even children, they didn’t care. We were all just monsters that needed to be converted. The governments demanded answers, but Celestia denied the incidents like nothing.

Horrible…

What was horrible was the Saudi Arabia Attack of 2015. When the Moslems would do a pilgrimage to their holy cities of Medina and Mecca. The PER managed to infiltrate the two cities sacred to Islam, it was all planned out.  Months of planning came into fruition when the Hajj came.

What happened?

The PER planted two massive Thoughtbombs full of serum.

Thoughtbombs?

By what a few Unicorn defectors told us, Thoughtbombs were the ultimate weapon. It’s a hollow bomb-shaped composed of pure magic. It can be filled with anything. I believe the PER might have a few unicorns capable of conjuring the weapons.

I see.

When midday approached, the bombs went off, spreading the serum in a gas form across the two cities. About 60 million souls converted that day. It was horrible to many Muslims, their sacred cities were defiled and blasphemized. It drove them to insanity, they all wanted a holy war. A lot of the clerics began issuing religious orders to kill any Equestrian, convert or not for the attack.

*Sound of Cadence sighing*

When Celestia found out about the declaration of holy war, she ordered the Sky Fleet to patrol the Middle East. To the Newfoals and Migrants, it was a sign of relief, but they the people didn’t like seeing those massive airships. Violence broke out against the ponies.  That was a fatal mistake and the beginning of the end.

*Nikolaos takes a drink of water*

The many battleships patrolling the skies were loaded with Thoughtbombs. North Africa, Persia, parts of Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Iraq, and the Jordan were bombed until 90% of the populace in those countries was converted by force.  Celestia did the unimaginable: She persecuted Islam, defiled their holy cities, and broke its might, never to be restored.

*Sounds of Cadence getting the urge to vomit*

Somehow it had its benefits.  India managed to send settlers to Pakistan in hopes of annexing it since the split up of 1947.  Most of the religious minorities in the Middle East took this as a chance to be free from Moslem rule but they weren’t liberated just yet. They were the next targets for the Equestrians.  The Palestinian dispute ended, allowing Israel to annex the West Bank and Gaza, fearing an invasion or bombardment by the Equestrians. Nationalism rose after that… but it had its consequences.

What consequences?

After the attack on the Middle East, a group known as the Human Liberation Front rose.  They started out as a common street gang, but they targeted mostly Equestrians, Newfoals, members of the PER and anyone who sympathized with ponies… but…

But?

*Sound of a heavy sigh*  The Human Liberation Front did more damage than good.  See, several branches attacked not only ponies, but attacked their own people. The Greek HLF branch took it out on the Cham Albanians and the Slavic community, accusing them of being traitors and sell outs.

That’s horrible! How can your kind be so cruel to peoples who co-existed in the country for years!?

Nationalism is one hell of a motivator. Whenever the majority feel threatened by an outside force, they start making rallies, make racial speeches, and attack the minorities who lived for generations. Surely there are minorities in Equestria who were victims of lynches by nationalists.

There were a few occasions. When one time, the Kingdom of Skiri was threatening to invade a few disputed islands essential to Equestria, many Gryphon-Equestrians were violently attacked, accusing them of being spies, saboteurs, infiltrators.  Many were lynched despite them being Equestrian citizens for generations.

Nationalism…

You sound very distressed.

Cadence, what I saw when I was young changed me.  I was 16 that day. My father was an arms dealer, he sold weapons to rogue nations, militias, gangs, all the scum who are willing to kill. When the HLF rose, these people were murdering not ponies but others. In Serbia, the Serbian HLF killed the Croatians, accusing them of stirring old hatred and yelling out USTASHIE!! USTASHIE!

Ustashie?

And old Croatian movement, which believed that all Serbs are inferior and must be killed.

Oh dear…

In America, the mess was bigger. In there, you have the White Nationalists, Hispanic Nationalists, Black Nationalists, Asian Nationalists, you name it. Violence was common, the law was powerless to stop it as the whole country was plunged into near-total anarchy…

Just why… why do you humans have so much pride on your countries? What makes you think one country is above the other?

I ask you the same; why did the Pony Tribes acted like Nazis to one another?

*Silence*

Even your history is full of nationalism and racism.

*Cadence sighs*

Celestia made her move again, this time by sending the migration capsules years later, declaring the now ravage lands as Equestrian colonies. They had two choices: Convert or leave. Despite that many were dead, some fought till Death for them. The last of the human nations reorganized and began to hand out Letters of Marque to anyone who captured an Equestrian airship. The government would pay for the refitting of the ships if they, the newly formed privateers would raid the colonies for money and hijack Sky Fleet vessels to be repurposed.

I see.

Several industries fallen, such as computers and the essentials. Those technologies are hard to come by, along with the people who know about them.  This happened in a 10 year span. It’s huge step backwards. We still have radio and television, mostly reruns or original works, along with using it for communication.

Sad to see humanity’s achievements being thrown back.

We’ll recover, that’s our spirit. We never give up and we won’t back down.

Thank you Captain for your time.