The Conversion Bureau: The Palladium Wings

JUST KEEP ON TRYING

KEEP ON FLYING

I WILL BE THE LIGHT

[Celestia gives a poisonous smile as she fires off a spiral of golden light. The camera moves away, revealing the massive flagship flying hundreds of battle banners.]

If we think of the dawn

as one beginning

[The sun rises in the horizon, several pusher configuration figthters break formation and fly off to different directions. Several pegasi pass by them. In the ruins of Persepolis, Cadence looks at the skies, Shining Armor runs towards a unknown direction. Doves fly away from his path, scattering feathers everywhere.]

If we think of right now

As the time to come

[Pegasi look at each other and begin to perform several aerial moves such as the Scissors, the Immelmann Turn, and Pugachev's Cobra.]

Together with you its a Cloud Age Symphony

In the direction where the light shines beyond the sea of clouds

[Rainbow Dash stops to look at the various explosions dotting the Equestrian skies. Many human-flagged ships return fire.  The scene changes to several Sky Fleet vessels escorting a migration capsule to the new colonies.]

Oh, can I have a moment

That is just like magic?

In exchange for a cold night

[Several unicorns run towards the edge of the ship and prepare for close range combat. A Mexican warship sailor prepares his bolt-action rifle and runs towards the edge of the ship, opening fire. Cadence fixes her beret and orders all guns to open fire. Cannons of all sorts open fire. A squadron of pegasi perform aerial manuvers across the snowy Siberian skies.]

The two of us

flap our wings

[A Equestrian battleship goes down as explosions surround it. A stray shell hits the middle portion, tearing it in halves. A massive Alliance Fleet begins to punch through the Equestrian fleet, showing no mercy to any ship that dares stop them.]

And grasp hold of eternity towards our journey's end

[Several bombers begin to bomb a Equestrian colony town. The ponies panic as they flee the destruction that came to them. Somewhere in the skies, a aircraft lands on the deck of a privateer airship.]

The Conversion Bureau: The Palladium Wings

Chapter 11

Make Advantage

Spitfire whistled as she saw the Old Equestrian Battleship back in operating condition.  Despite the attack a few months ago and spending a lot of their hard earned Escudos, it worth seeing the Crimson Lighting being able to fly again. The ship’s sirens wailed all over the island of Bermuda, announcing the crews it was time to leave.  Many finished up whatever they were doing, and returned to the ship. Roll call was taken.

“Engineering!” Spitfire said over the ship’s phone. “We are ready for takeoff.”

The Unicorn Chief Engineer began to turn several knobs. “Engines are on. Powering the turbines.” A soft roar filled the portion of the airship. Pulling several levers, the Star Swirl Unit came to life, giving off its rhythmic heartbeats.   “Lunastium levels are at 10% and rising.” A meter began to fill up with a milky blue liquid.  “60% and rising.”  The gauge was full. “Lunastium levels are at 100%. Pressure is normal and the Unit is functioning, no anomalies detected.”

The air battleship took off for the skies.

“Where to Captain?” The Helmsman asked.

“Set course for French Polynesia. We’ll meet up with the other Captains as well.”

“Aye-aye ma’am. Plotting a course for French Polynesia and keeping her steady as she goes.” The Helmsman rotated the ship’s wheel a little to starboard.

Canterlot

“Princess Celestia.” Gold Scroll said nervously. “I come to bring you unsettling news. There seems to be riots that have broken against our embassies in the Kingdom of Skiri and the Scylas Federation. The Griffons are demanding that Equestria either help or prepare for war.”

Celestia gave a laugh. “War? They? I control the Star Swirl Units on their ships. If they try anything funny, I will detach them.”

“Princess, we shouldn’t undervalue the gryphons. They may turn their weapons against our Units.”

“Their weapons are slow and not very dangerous, unlike the human ones of course.” Celestia added. “Gunpowder is such a potent force, the gryphons may have found ways to create explosives or propel a lead ball to great distances, but compared to the human weapons, which can fire rapidly without being reloaded is something to consider.” The large hovering crystals appearing, giving the Sun Princess a view of the events of the two Gryphon Nations… she gave a cold glare, seeing how they were lynching ponies. “Gold Scroll, send the 5th, 9th, 17th and 36th Fleets. Remind them who the masters of this world are.”

“Princess…”

The white alicorn shot the goldenrod Earth Pony a look. “Do I detect defiance on your tone my little Prime Minister?”

“As you wish Princess… it will be done.” Gold Scroll said with a submissive voice.

“And now to more pressing matters: The human that escaped from our grasp not long ago. Was the body found?”

“We are still searching Princess. We believe he couldn’t survive the fall. Even if he did, his bones would be broken now or be dead by hitting the water of the Great Lake.”

“His presence would be an utter blasphemy, polluting our sacred waters with his body.” Celestia said. “Two months ago and he hasn’t appeared? How is that possible?”

“The human is a veteran of what he calls the Second Chechen War.” Gold Scroll answered. “He is well versed in the art of warfare.”

“Then we’ll intensify our searches. He couldn’t have gotten away that far.” Celestia said.  “And with the closest town being Ponyville… he’s pretty much trapped like a wild animal. I want him brought back alive with no damage, we still have questions to ask.”

“So why did you save me from drowning, even though I could of potentially hurt you?” The Russian asked. “You saw me snap those necks and kill your guards in the most brutal way possible, yet, here I am two months later in a winter retreat in Canterlot. Just why… ?”

“Because we believe in hospitality, even to our enemies.” Luna answered. “It is a dishonor to us to not help out in any way we can.”

The man began to reflect about what a few veterans of the Soviet War in Afghanistan told him. The Pashtuns has a very complex code of honor. If one committed a crime and escaped, a tribe would shelter the person in question and even defend him. So maybe these ponies had that sort of honor, despite having a little to no history of warfare or occupation by a foreign power.

“All this reminds me of what a few friends told me back home… when they served in during the Soviet-Afghan War of ’79, how they the Afghans would shelter an enemy, give them their hospitality.”

“What has become of these Afghans?” Luna raised eyebrow with curiosity.

Grozny sighed. “Your sister wiped them all out, including the majority of the Middle East and Central Asia. Millions of souls transformed into ponies. She denies that the Ponies for Earth’s Rebirth were following her orders, but they were all converted against their will. This wasn’t just a simple persecution, it was mass genocide so that Celestia could declare those lands Colonies.”

Luna’s lips began to tremble.

“A genocide were blood wasn’t spilled…Celestia has all the land she wants.  How much more does she need?”

“I…”

“Do you know how many people were kicked out of their lands? Their countries, their cultures, their lifestyle, their very blood and sweat demolished.”

The Night Mare felt she was going to cry.

“She destroyed the ruins of Babylon, Egypt, many of the Greek ruins, Persepolis, the many great tombs of military leaders across Central and Southeastern Asia.”

Luna’s eyes bursted in tears.

“All because your sister thinks we built it all on war, slavery, destruction. This isn’t genocide on were many die, it is also a cultural genocide.” The Russian continued.  “We humans left all these achievements to give the generations of the future what we did and what we stood for.  We have fought against disease, the weather, predators,  against powerful oppressive regimes who want us to submit and live in fear.”

The man looked at the Night Mare in the eyes. The tears… those very tears, hot and flowing out slowly.

“You fear Celestia. You regret being Nightmare Moon but you still can’t shake the fear of being banished to the moon for 1000 years.  Inside, you’re afraid and paranoid. You hide it with a confident and ruling appearance, but that doesn’t fool me at all.” He continued. “You could of stopped this from the start, but that fear only made Celestia stronger, knowing no one can oppose her. I’ll be honest, if Celestia feeds off that fear and she’s unchecked, then there’s a name for that kind of people.”

Luna looked at the man.

“In my world, there’s people who feed off the desperate emotions: Anger, hatred, despair, vengeance. They come when they know you’re going through a hardship or difficulty. They say they want to help but you just feel they’re sucking the life out of you. Do know what we call those people?”

Luna nodded.

“Vampires. VAMPIRES! They don’t give a care about what happens! They’re all saying that they’re trying to help but all they do is make things worse.  All they want is you going through that stage so they can feed off the drama and make whispers and slander? Why? Because that’s what they’re good at! Freaking parasites that attach to you and suck all the life until they had their fill, let you recover and BAM they’re back for more. Celestia here is the biggest vampire , she saw our nature,  so she feeds on it, and then when she had a taste, she wanted MORE of it. And then the Bureaus opened…  and it would be over right? Oh no, she still wants more, and she’s not going to stop feeding on those emotions until we’re all dead or converted.”

The man’s hands balled up, shaking. “Nothing but a real kelpie.”

“A what?”

“According to the Celtic myths, the kelpie is a horse or pony that offers people to ride on their backs. If a person rides it, the coat becomes sticky and he or she can’t get off.  Then the kelpie goes to the nearest lake and drowns whoever was unlucky to ride it.”

Luna felt sickened.

“Oh that’s not the bad part, once the kelpie has drowned the victim, it begins to feast on the flesh.”

The Night Mare’s face turned green.

“The Scots, Irishmen, and Welsh use it as a slur on Equestrians, Defectors, and Newfoals…  fearing getting converted or anything. They have a name for you two: Queen Kelpies.”

“We…do not…feast on human flesh. Why dost humans make such things?”

“Because we humans are pretty much crazy, if we can’t find a logical explanation, we’ll make something up to explain it.” Grozny’s face plastered a wicked grin, then to seriousness. “Luna, there’s still hope to stop the genocide of the human race.  There are a lot of ponies here in Equestria who oppose this.”

“But…”

The Russian frowned. “You are weak and helpless. You will live in fear of your sister, and as long as you give her fear, she will use it to intimidate you. Stop it alright! Stop giving the vampire a reason to mooch on your very own life and stand up to her. Stop letting her bully you.  If Celestia succeeds in wiping off the human race, who will be next?”

“Sister mentioned doing the same thing with the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs.”

“Convert or die huh…” Grozny felt rage pumped to his veins.  “We need, no, YOU need to stand up against Celestia. You need to declare a rebellion.”

“WHAT!?” Luna shot. “Pony VS Pony? We can’t see the reason in that.”

“It always comes down to the brother VS brother thing.” Grozny explained. “But across human history, we had to turn against our own for many reasons: Economic reasons, a change of government, demanding peace, or overthrowing the rulers of our very own country.”

“But that will upset the balance of the world itself.”

“Who cares if you raise the moon and the kelpie on the throne is going to convert whole peoples into ponies against their will. This is a call for war. Not a war of expanding, it’s a war to defend what is most dear to us: Our lands, our culture, our way of life.”

“But Celestia did it for peace.”

“A peace that was forced? A peace based on kicking millions out of their homes? A peace based on a herd mentality? A peace based on genocide of not only my world but in your world as well?  You are letting your fear get a grip of you.”

Luna’s head began to hurt. Inside, two voices were fighting to make her reason. She screamed as she dropped to the floor.  The whole room was full of blood-stained feathers, the illusion changed of her being crucified to a large Persian saber against a green sky with 6 moons. Down below was a massive armada of Sky Fleet vessels. Celestia was wearing a military uniform while surrounded by three unicorns, two humans from Yucatan, and a gryphon. The Bearers of the Elements bowed to Celestia, they all agreed of her plan for peace.

And all she could do is scream.

Blasts of magic fired out from every corner of the ships. There was a deep moan of pain… the land was screaming as everything was being killed.  The blasts killed old, young, and the newborn… all humans. Whatever survived, the serum was dumped into them, converting them into Newfoals.

And then the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs… they screamed as the airships began to fire down on them.  All the hard work, all the things they did to make a name for themselves… destroyed under the banner of peace.

Ten years ago… Grozny’s voice rang in her head. 10 years ago… she stood there watching us die as many converted and SMILED! She stood there watching everything from the sky… and SMILED! She saw how the Human Liberation Front murdered their own kind following the beliefs of racist men and SMILED!

Luna turned her head, she was on the flagship… but how?  The large hovering crystals were showing her all the death and chaos spread. She gasped, watching how members of the HLF began to kill men, women, and children. One of them showed Serbians killing innocent Croats while they yelled that dreaded word. “USTASHIE! USTASHIE!”

The Night Mare gazed at another crystal.  African-American members of the HLF placed blindfolds on Newfoals and men of different ethnicities.  The guns cracked several times, the blindfolded dropped, blood pooling next to the cadavers. Another one showed angry Greek HLF hanging many Newfoals, along with Albanians, Macedonians, and Bulgarians.  One switched as the Japanese HLF murdered Newfoals and immigrants alike, while the words “Traitor”  “Sell Out”  “Spy” and “Celestia-fucker” was written in blood.

Luna turned pale.

And then Celestia turned to face her. She gave a venomous smile. Her horn gave a glow, levitating a bouquet of black roses.  “Peace. Prosperity. Order. Stability.” She chanted.  “It’s all for peace Luna. The humans must be converted or they will be destroyed. After the humans, the Gryphons follow, and then the Diamond Dogs.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

A golden light began to shine, and enveloped everything.

Luna opened her eyes. She looked around, the Russian man stared down at her and extended a hand. “So what now Princess? Will you give those who rebel against Celestia a banner to fly? Or will you let her get away with all the pain and suffering?”

Luna placed her left foreleg on his hand. The fingers wrapped around it and she was back on her legs. “We are going to stop all of this.”

“Good.” Grozny said and began to walk, thinking. “For now, what we need is forces. Regular and irregular.”

“The Night Guard have sworn allegiance to me and no one else.”

The man began to think. “Mercenaries. We can hire mercenaries for doing the dirty work of your rebellion.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Soldiers for hire, freelance commandos, private military companies, free men not bound by a flag, nation, or ideals. They will fight for whoever can pay them the most.”

“We have heard that the Skirian Azure Guard was disbanded, but roam the world looking for adventure.”

“Mercenaries.”  Grozny summarized.  “Contact them, tell them you are willing to pay what they demand plus a bonus.” He then looked at Luna. “I need you to confirm me this: Did the Sky Fleet capture pirate vessels?”

Luna nodded.

“Then chances are that Celestia is studying the weapons to give the Sky Fleet personnel and the Royal Guard the training on what to do when facing a gun-totting enemy.  But we’ll give them to the Mercenaries. I know a few spies in the Royal Guard who will pull the strings.”

“Pull the strings?” Luna blinked.

“They’ll smuggle the weapons out of Canterlot, but we need a safe place we can meet with the mercenaries.”

“We shall take care of that.”

“Princess, this is the start of a wonderful friendship.” Grozny quoted a famous movie.

French Polynesia

“The time has come to raid Equestria.”  Nikolaos said to Cadence and Shining, watching his crews train from below.

“But all the training would be for nothing.” Shining commented.

“Not unless we have the Elements of Harmony.” Cadence added. “If we could get them, we can really threaten my Aunt.”

“The Elements of Harmony…  Ah yes… the six ponies.” Nikolaos rubbed his chin.

“Twily…” Shining sighed.

“I guess it’s time to tell the ancient Mysterio of Harmony.” Cadence closed her eyes. Opening them,  she now knew them. “Captain, memorize these words, they will allow the Elements to obey whoever knows them.

Nikolaos turned to face the alicorn.

The Sun and Moon

Fire and Water

Earth and Air

Sky and Ether

The Elements that created the World

Each one co-existing in harmony.

The blue Skies give the Waters its blue surface

The Ether blows out the Air, carrying the leaves and pollen across great distances

The Earth nourishes life as Fire burns through all

Destroying all it crosses but purifying everything in its wake

The Sun gives out the warmth of day

A golden light that flows, and dyes our land gold

And the Moon the cold of night

A white light that shines on the land below

Scaring away the chaotic darkness that threatens to consume all

The Elements in Harmony

Harmony that breathes life to the world

“What a strange poem.” Nikolaos commented.

“It is a very old poem, passed down for generations.” Cadence responded.  “Now that the Elements for this generation exist, there is a chance for Equestria’s surrender.”

“If Celestia surrenders… but I doubt she will be given a fair trial.” Nikolaos looked to the many crews training for the big day. “Many of us want her dead for all the pain and suffering she caused to us. Many want her and all Equestrians to suffer what many of us felt when we were kicked out of countries for years.”

Cadence and Shining felt uneasy.

“Regardless, we all want Celestia to pay for converting millions, kicking people out of their homes, and to pay for all the suffering she caused.”  Nikolaos summarized.  “With the maps distributed to the nations, we have a chance to cross the Pegasus Corridor and into Equestria.”

A young man wearing a green uniform entered and saluted. “Captain Nikolaos, we await you at the meeting room.”

“I’ll be there shortly.” He replied.  “Let’s go.”

The two ponies followed.

The meeting room was full of men, women, and strangely ponies.  To Cadence and Shining Armor, this was very strange.  The light pink alicorn recognized the Wonderbolts here, why would they the mercenaries be here?  And these ponies, did they become pirates too? Or mercenaries? Or  Treasure Hunters?   A pony inserted something into a projector. The lights were turned off; a large paper screen was lit with the map of the Corridor.

It was all translated into English. It showed the two globes and their continents, oceans, and seas in perfect detail.  Up above them were many arrows pointing back and forth. The arrows formed a strange midsection that resembled the neck of an hourglass.

An Armenian man came up.  Cadence and Shining recognized him. He was the one in charge of the study back at Grozny’s place. “Before we start, I would like to thank Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armor for providing us the original map which Grozny translated.”

The room was full of claps.

“Now to move on, ladies, gentlemen, Defectors. At long last we possess the map to Counter-Earth.  The tubes that you see in front of you contain a copy of the map. Your navigators shall pick the route which has the calmest current of air to smoothly navigate it.”

Everyone opened the tubes, revealing copies of the maps.

“What is this Star Swirl Triangle?” Captain Hiroshi of the Onyx Dragon Privateers inquired.

“It’s an area in the Corridor that will shut down any Unit.” Cadence answered. “Never go through it. It looks tempting to make a bypass through, you can see Routes 1 and 6 and the Triangle looks like the easy way to bypass but it’s a trap. Go through it and your Unit shuts off and no hope of turning it back on.”

The Japanese privateer bowed. “I thank you for the information.” He sat down.

“Now, the task comes on picking out the towns to raid.” The Armenian continued. “There’s a multitude of towns, we don’t know if there’s a Sky Fleet presence or not. Or if they’re building a new class of warships.”

“They only have a huge presence on the main shipyard towns. Stalliongrad being one of them.” Spitfire said.  “Smokey Mountain is another one, followed by the Neighara Falls, and the clandestine Oneighcron-27.”

“Oneighcron-27?” The Armenian eyed Spitfire.

“A closed city.” Cadence said.

“Ah, like the closed cities of the Old Soviet Regime.” Captain Ivan huffed.  “Tell me, why is it closed off?”

“A state secret, not even Shining could enter even if he had all proper authorization. Only my Aunt can enter.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll get to the bottom of it.” Captain Ivan said. “Just tell me where the city is and we’ll raid it to oblivion.”

“Ah’ll take Appleloosa.” Annabelle placed her feet on the table.

“Los Pegasus will provide a fine raid.”  Captain Korsakov said.

“I’ll take Ponyville.” Nikolaos said.

“Canterlot shall be dishonored by my crews.” Captain Hiroshi declared.

“Now,” The Armenian cleared his throat. “The various representatives of the last human countries have agreed that the Wonderbolts, the Dark Firebirds, the Zmey, and other mercenaries to transport them and their cargo to the Scylas Federation, the Kingdom of Skiri, and the Diamond Dog Confederation. We will try to form an alliance with them, once that set, we’ll have a powerful fleet enough to make Celestia and Luna surrender to avoid any bloodshed.”

Everyone nodded.

“This is how you make advantage.” Nikolaos whispered to the two ponies.  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The two looked confused. How does one make a friend out of an enemy?

“I’ll explain it when the meeting ends.”

Across the islands, several Heavy Polish Pusher Fighters were engaging in mock dogfights with the pegasi. If they were going to raid Equestria, they needed to know how to attack, evade, and pull out when the time needed. As the name said it, these pusher planes sacrificed speed and maneuverability for heavier armor and weaponry. Twin 12.7mm machine guns provided the main armaments, along with rocket pods located next to the heavy Lunastium engines found on the wings.

In another part of the sky, helicopter gunships practiced a V-Run as their cannons fired blanks in the mock town.

Several dropships landed in another island, the crews exiting and practicing on the false town.

In another island, riflemen began to practice the ship capture course.

In another island, several of the highly modified ships began to engage in faux duels. One side pretended to be the Equestrian Sky Fleet and the other the privateers and mercenaries.

Another island was full of the Treasure Hunters, ponies and humans began to look around for valuables, once the raids were over.

In the shooting range, many practiced their firing.

“One month’s worth of training will pay off once we get to Equestria.”  An Armenian rifleman said. “I can’t wait to burn it down.”

“We will.” An American totting a shotgun reloaded.

“Aye, me family will be happy to hear that I killed them damn kelpies.” A tall Scotsman reloaded his customized M4. “Fucking bastards, they think they can just come and convert us? Well not under old Magnus’ watch.” He fired at a Princess Celestia target, destroying the head. “Watch out Queen Kelpie, we’re coming for you.”

“Whatever ya say Scots.” The Armenian fired off his AK-47.

The meeting was adjourned.

Everyone left to their respective areas.

Nikolaos and the two ponies continued to walk across the hallways.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Shining raised an eyebrow. “How does that work?”

“An old saying.” Nikolaos explained. “Three factions are fighting it out in battle, until they realize that both have a common enemy. So they join forces to rid themselves of that enemy.  Scylas, Skiri and the Confederation may have their issues with Equestria, so do we, so the enemy:  the three nations, of my enemy:  Equestria is my friend: Humans.”

Two Weeks Later

Private Island Residence, Dragon’s Maw Island chain

The gryphons clad in azure armor looked at the Night Mare curiously. She explained of her rebellion against Celestia and promised them a hefty reward for their services plus combat pay, sick pay, and other benefits. The gryphons were interested, seeing how many months ago, the demands for mercenary services were on the low. But supporting a rebellion?

“And of weapons.”

“No, that won’t be necessary Princess.” The leader pulled out his custom flintlock pistol. “We have what we need.”

“I am afraid by our standards… that is an antique.”  A voice said.

The gryphons began to look for the source of the voice.

Grozny stepped in.

Their beaks lowered. The stories were true. They did exist!

“Like I said, those guns by human standards are antiques… just collector’s items.  We have better equipment.”

The gryphons murmured to each other.  They all looked at the human curiously, and then to each other.  Nods followed.  “If you human say you have better equipment, then show us.”

“Follow me.”

The gardens of the mansion were decorated with pony-shaped targets. The gryphons looked curiously as the man pulled out a Howa Type 64 assault rifle.  The man shouldered his rifle, and then fired two well placed shots into one.  Flipping the selector to full automatic, the gun roared as the casings were quickly ejected. A loud click was heard, then the gun was lowered.

“Impossible! What sorcery is this? No musket can fire that fast. Even a trained gryphon musketeer can’t fire several shots like that.” One of the Azure Guards said.

“There is no magic involved, just the advancements of human kind in the art of war.” Grozny explained. “What you saw with your eyes was a demonstration of an assault rifle.”

The gryphons looked at the human amazed.

“If you wish to accept this contract, then let me show you how to use these weapons. Those crates are full of them, courtesy of Princess Luna.”

The gryphons began to hunt for the new weapons.

Grozny began to explain the concept of the assault rifle to them. It was the beginning of the end of the Equestrian superpower…

Equestria will break. Thought the man as he continued to instruct.