The Conversion Bureau-Night Terrors

As Mexico City prepared for the celebrations that were to come with the Element's arrival, fireworks flashed across the night sky. Through the inky darkness, four Switchblade gliders went unnoticed. Landing on a Skyscraper across from the Plaza Tierra Hotel, where the Elements were staying, the Spectres unloaded their gear.

Wingsuits for the jump between buildings...

Gecko-3 Gloves, allowing the Spectres to climb the hotel walls…

And finally, a prototype serum that nullified the ability to use magic or fly by short-circuiting neural connections, complete with tripwire dispenser.

Travis sighed and pulled on his mask and loaded his Honey Badger. Cooper tapped him on the shoulder before the Spectres activated their Wingsuits. Soaring across the gap between buildings, they landed ten stories below their objective, the Penthouse.

"Move up." Adam said. As the Spectres climbed, Travis growled. Reaching a balcony, Adam mantled over the railing and cut through the glass.

"In here." he said through the radio. The Spectres found themselves in the Security Room, with monitors displaying Security Camera feeds throughout the hotel all around. Adam set to work looping the feed, while Jason shut down their communications relay.

"Travis, Cooper, get the targets. We'll hold here." Adam said. As the two brothers rushed outside and began to climb, they soon reached the penthouse. Travis saw through the window that the Elements were all asleep, bunched together on a couch.

"Night, night." Cooper said, picking the door lock and slipping the serum trap inside, setting it to a minute length fuse.

"Targets are tagged." Travis said.

"Good work, Spectre 1-4. Hold position. We've got guards incoming towards the penthouse. If we get heat, go loud." Jason said.

"Got it, 1-2."

Cooper nodded to Travis, and the two of them banged three times each on the balcony door. Swinging themselves so their upside-down faces could see into the room, they saw the lavender one brush herself and a small lizard on two legs awake and walk over to the door.

"Twi? What's up?" Rainbow asked.

"I heard a noise." Twilight said. As she walked over to the door, the fuse hit zero. As the white gas spread throughout the room, The Spectres watched as their forms collapsed, tranquilized.

"Targets are down." Cooper said.

"Confirmed. I'll radio the Jayhawk." Adam said.

"Bag and tag." Cooper said to Travis. As they slid into the room, they then noticed their lack of equipment to transport the elements.

"Spectre 1-1, bring Jayhawk to our location. We can't move them."

"Roger that."

Travis and Cooper cuffed their legs, and stacked them on the balcony. The lizard was tougher, but Cooper simply took a piece of cable and made do. Soon, Adam and Jason climbed up, and took positions by the door.

"Spectre Alpha, this is Jayhawk. We're here."

"Confirmed."

As the form of Jayhawk approached the balcony, the Elements were loaded on. Then, they heard a door open.

"Princess? You there? The speech won't give itself."

"Shit!" Travis yelled. "Let's go!"

"Punching it."

As Jayhawk roared off, a stray firework illuminated the sky around them, revealing their presence to the fifty-odd guards on the rooftop.

"SHIT! WE'RE EXPOSED!" Travis yelled as tracer rounds filled the air around them.

"Pilot, GET US OUT OF HERE!" Adam yelled. As Jayhawk soared out of range of the small-arms fire that filled the sky around them, the Guards in the penthouse stopped shooting.

"Radio Canterlot." The Guard Lieutenant said. "We lost them."

===========

As Jayhawk merged with Motherbird, several US Marines bearing stretchers took the Elements to the brig, and the Spectres followed. Jackson was on the radio with General Thomas Lindon. The elements were uncuffed and left in the room, while Travis pulled down a Murphy Bed for them, along with a table and fold out chair. Travis and the Spectres left, just as Twilight's eyes flickered open.

==========

Twilight groaned and stood up. From what she could tell, they weren't in the Mexico City Hotel Penthouse. They were in a drab, dull room, with a folded out bed and table.Her friends and Spike lay unconscious beside her. She stood up shakily and attempted to teleport out, only she found she couldn't focus her magic.

"Buck." she swore.

"Is that a pony swear, or do you mean Fuck?" said a voice. Twilight turned towards the screen near her. It flickered, and five humans looked back at her. One was clad in army fatigues. The four others wore black and grey spec-ops gear, and their faces were obscured by masks emblazoned with roughly drawn white skulls. The one in fatigues laughed at her grimace.

"Welcome aboard." he said.

"Who are you, human?" she spat.

"Colonel Lee Jackson." he said. "The Gentlemen next to me are the Spectres. And Princess, you and your entourage are prisoners of war."

"You kidnapped us." she said.

"All's fair in love and war. Ever hear that?" Jackson asked. "The plane we're on is flying a course straight towards Washington DC, where you'll be spending the rest of the war. We would've sent you to the Sierra Angelo POW camp in Houston, but the orders for your transfer to DC came from the very top."

"Define "very top"." Twilight asked.

"The President of the United States, John Bowers." Jackson said. "He's expecting us tomorrow in DC. You as well. I would advise getting some sleep. You'll goddamn need it." Jackson said, walking out. Three Spectres followed. Twilight noticed one sit down with his back to her. He opened a hatch, and slipped a Granola Bar through.

"Eat up." he said.

Twilight gave it a tentative sniff, and she ate it ravenously.

"Why are you helping me?' she asked.

"I'm not helping you." the human replied. "You may be a lavender-colored pony with a horn and wings, but I see you're just as confused as me."

"Why's that?" Twilight asked.

The human sighed.

"I don't understand why this war had to be fought. Frankly, every day I pray that I'll get answers. So, now that you're here, might as well get it from the horse's mouth. No offense."

"None taken." Twilight sighed. "It wasn't Celestia's intent to start a war."

"Then why have on in the first place?"

"Parliament saw humans as weak, as animals, as everything they despised." Twilight said. "Frankly, they practically staged a coup of their own with all these wartime doctrines. Drafts, rationing, the whole nine yards."

The human sighed.

"And you, a Princess of wherever-the-hell-you-come-from, just...went along with it?"

"I had to." Twilight said. "Parliament made it law to go against the war effort in any way."

"They're trying to silence you." The human replied. "You just can't see it. If your leaders are willing and able to stop any opposition to a war most don't want to fight, then they really are stupid as hell."

"I see what you mean." Twilight said. "It never made sense to me."

"Amen to that, sister." the human replied. "Anyway...I'm not a heartless bastard like Colonel Jackson, but don't expect many more favors. I have orders."

"Can you at least tell me your name?" Twilight asked.

The human sighed, and was silent for a few moments.

"Travis Brooks." he said. "Just...don't spread it around. I don't want anyone besides my CO and my squad members knowing. Anyway, I'd best get going."

Travis walked out, gave a brief nod, and was soon gone. Twilight sighed, and slumped to a resting position.

"I see it now." she said bitterly. "We really are stupid as hell."