Salvation Through Destruction

Chapters

Chapter 1 + Prologue
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Final Chapter: Salvation Through Destruction
Chapter 9
Epilogue

Chapter 1 + Prologue

Salvation Through Destruction
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by: RoflLuxRay
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

The world… is changing. It’s changing, it always is. A few years ago, no
one ever suspected that those small creatures that called themselves “ponies”
were nothing more than an anomaly for biologists to study. Their “magic”, their
habitat, their lifestyle… They detonated mankind’s curiosity like that bomb the
U.S threw on Hiroshima over sixty years ago.

As time went on, a group of Russians discovered a
way to enter their world, but are yet to find the way back. The so called land
of Equestria, where they inhabit peacefully, quietly, away from the wars, the
famine and the deceases that hunt mankind every day.

Them Russians reached an agreement with the ponies,
and are converting people into ponies and placing them safely in their worlds.
Seems like a perfectly good idea, except for the fact that once “ponyfied”, as
they call it, you abandon who you were. Keeping only fake memories those ponies
plant on you so that you blend in perfectly to their rainbow colored nirvana.

Humanity was quick and firm in their actions, the
UN forbid ponification, but yet maintains somewhat “formal” diplomatic
relationships with the pony’s ruler, Princess Celestia, through their envoy,
Twilight Sparkle.

This pony stands for free, deliberate ponification.
“It should be everypony, I mean, everybody’s choice!” she said on TV the other
day. I agree with her to some degree, it’s just that I can’t get to trust those
creatures. I feel they have plans on their own for us.

I’ve been doing some research on them ponies,
especially on Twilight Sparkle; quite a name she packs. Apparently they have
long life spans, my math says that she’s around her eighties, and she seems
quite young and fresh. That horn in her head seems to be the source from her
magic, I mean, it flashes whenever she uses her telepathy and telekinesis.

I’ve also intercepted some interesting intel on
some anti-ponies groups that target her and have a bounty on her head. If
Twilight were to fall, humanity might follow.

Ponies might have a way to save humanity if we live
our lives through their ways… Our salvation through destruction, how clichéd is
that.

I am not a superhero, nor a pony sympathizer. But I
do reckon that Twilight Sparkle must not die, not today, not tomorrow. Not
ever; if ponies do ever die. I will do all in my power to stop them, to find a
way to make all of this right. To make up for mankind’s mistakes and those I’ve
made on my own.

Twilight Sparkle is attending a meeting tonight in
New York, where a trap is set. She’s supposed to arrive on a black SUV,
protected by at least ten escorts in five sedans surrounding her in strategic
positions. But one of them has gone rogue. He’s signed a juicy deal with
senator Adam Chambers for the purple pony’s head. This… man is one of the
reasons why ponies are so hated in America. He’s got one sweet mouth that son
of a bitch.

If my data is correct, then this rogue escort
should plant a bomb on Twilight’s car during her speech, set to detonate upon
her departure. But if they were to get caught, they can always shoot her like
Lee Harvey Oswald. I must be precise, swift… I can’t fail.

Chapter 1

I stood at the edge of the building, looking at the
Mandarin Oriental Hotel. As I analyzed my way inside a shiver ran down my
spine, forcing me to tighten my grip on the pillar next to me. With the help of
my binoculars, I took a closer look on the street ahead of me and saw five
sedans neatly aligned around a black Hummer.

“That’s my target,” I muttered as my hand stretched
for the sniper rifle next to me. The gap of thirty meters between me and the
hotel’s balcony did not scare me; I was used to handle myself at high heights.
Without hesitation, I leaped into the void; the cold winter wind struck the
parts of my face unprotected by the balaclava mask. With a firm grip on my
zip-line, I slid across the glowing streets into a balcony in the twentieth fourth
floor. I was careful enough to avoid crashing straight into the glass window,
even though it was the second time I used a zip-line and was the longest one
too.

Once safe, I took my binoculars again and saw the
caravan even closer now, just a few blocks away from the hotel. I zoomed in and
tried to locate any signs of rare activity. Nothing, the polarized windows,
aided by the glowing streets of New York protected any passengers inside from
any curious stranger, including me.

I gazed down at the hotel entrance, where a bunch
of leeches that carry the ID of a reporter awaited her, hoping to get her next
story off the misfortune of an innocent pony. I could see that expectancy grew
on the crowd along with the noise they made as the caravan was in their line of
sight. It was in that moment when I took my PSG-700 and scoped down the SUV.

Once in front of the red carpet, a henchman opened
the door and I saw it. Though it was more like her, a young woman in a purple
dress gracefully descended the vehicle in such fashion. Her long straight
bi-colored hair, dyed in purple and pink ran all the way to her back. Anyone
could swear that was a woman if it wasn’t for the horn that shot from her head.

“So that’s what Twilight Sparkle looks like…”
I muttered and removed my eye from the sniper rifle’s scope, “Let’s not
get you killed,” I reached for my vest and pulled my binoculars again, this
time to focus her escorts. One of them took control of the vehicle and drove it
towards an underground parking lot west of the main entrance.

“Bollocks!” I scolded at myself “How could I have
forgotten that they have an underground parking…”

As the SUV vanished into the darkness of the
underground parking lot, I removed my mask and began taking my stealth clothes
off; luckily, I had foreseen the event of me walking into that fancy party by
wearing a black tuxedo under my apparel. Makes it harder to move, but it does
keep you warm though.

Once my clothes were completely different, I broke
into the room behind me by picking the door. Blinded by darkness, I desperately
inspected the walls for a shutter, and with a sudden click, the glass
chandelier above lit suddenly, revealing a cozy, warm suite.

I stared at the mirror in front of me and
remembered why I was once married in my late twenties; no one could ever look
away from a man with deep hazel eyes like mine. I approached the mirror to
inspect my clear brown hair closely, trying to take it into a better position.
With thirty seven years on my back it was harder to find a comfortable position
for my slowly vanishing hair. Once done, I took my small briefcase and pulled
out a Glock-19 and a P229 pistol, hiding them in my ankle and in my jacket.

As I finished my preparations, I heard footsteps
closing into the room. I quickly took everything and hid it under the master
bed, shutting the lights off just in time before a couple of henchmen equipped
with MP5-K entered the room. Their bulletproof vests were barely recognizable
from where I stood, but it was easy to tell they were fully equipped.

I gulped while hiding behind the long curtains on
the far side of the room, hoping the darkness would cover my exposed shoes.

“There is no one in here, I told you chief Bartoli
is crazy,” one of them said with a voice that rattled in the room, closing the
door shortly after.

“That was too close,” I sighed in relief and
carefully stepped outside the room, into the fancy corridor, lit by candle
lights to fit the occasion. I strolled down with caution to avoid being seen
before I arrived at the grand hall; where a party before the speech was going
on.

After wandering around the hotel for five minutes,
I finally ran into the elevator. I pressed the down button and patiently
awaited it. As I did, I heard a voice that seemed similar to me.

“Good night, gentlemen,” it spoke as I turned to
face it. My body shuddered when I noticed the two henchmen were behind me with
their arms locked and loaded.

“Good night,” I replied politely, hiding my fear
under a relaxed tone of voice, “what’s with the firearms? Expecting trouble?”

“Hopefully not. We have one big guest today, so
security is a little tighter. Sorry if we are making you feel uncomfortable,”
there was something in his voice that calmed my soul.

“Don’t worry gentlemen, I’m sure everything will
turn out just fine,” as I finished my phrase, the elevator door opened. Inside
the clear metallic walls reflected everything around me.

“Hold on,” one of them said as I stepped inside, I
gulped and prepared myself to quickly draw my pistol, “We still have to clear
the east wing, Mason.”

“C’mon, Sullivan. There’s nothing in here,” the
other one ranted.

“Gentlemen, I know it’s not any of my business but
I think it’s better if you check the east wing. I saw a man acting too rare
around room 2476,” I interrupted in the most polite way I could. Both man
glared at each other, until Sullivan gave in.

“Alright, let’s head off to room 2476,” they turned
and walked away towards the east wing, right from where I was standing. Once
inside the elevator I pressed the button that was supposed to lead me to the
party level.

“Okay. So I’ll slip to the underground level to
survey her car, then return to the party level to cover Twilight Sparkle”, I thought while the elevator descended slowly.

Eric Johnson’s ‘Gem’ wasn’t enough to stop my heart from beating so fast. I’ve
done coverage tasks, breaking and entering, assassinations and yet I was never
this nervous.

When the elevator opened, I saw a large, golden
hall filled with white tables with fancy, expensive decorations and people all
around me talking. The noise was overwhelming; you could barely hear the slow,
sonata music over the sound of people talking about how lovely is the weather
or if they find pony fashion attractive.

I slid my way through the crowd, avoiding any contact
with people other than the casual ‘evening’ with a somewhat drunk blue collar
individual. I eventually reached the back garden, where security was guarding
the entrance to the parking lot. I approached the henchmen slowly as I searched
my pocket for the parking ticket.

“Excuse me, gentlemen. I forgot my mobile in my
vehicle, may I retrieve it?” I pulled the ticket out of my pocket; one of them
took it and stepped aside after looking at it for a couple of seconds, “Please
hurry, we are making small repairs on one of the vehicles.”

I nodded and walked into the asphalt of the parking
lot. It was darker in there, only small places were lit. I pulled out my P229
and approached the walls, where it was darker. Despite the party was quite
close, it was quiet enough to hear people’s footsteps at a distance.

Eventually, I was able to hear people mumbling in
the distance. I walked closer and saw six people around Twilight Sparkle’s
Hummer. A briefcase was visible next to one of them; it emitted a flashing red light.

“Strap it under the car. The programming in it
should take care of the rest, hurry up before someone sees it,” one of them
desperately implied while handing over the briefcase to a man under the car.

“Crap… If I kill these guys it should alert the
rest of them, making them take the option of shooting her guns blazing,” I stepped back and turned around towards the party “
I think it’s better to let them think their plan is working.”

“Did you find your cell phone, sir?” the henchmen
asked, I carefully took out my blackberry, “Yeah, just a couple of missed calls
from the kids,” I said with a huge, honest smile. Lying was something natural
on me, a bad habit I learned from my times during college.

“Alright then, enjoy the party,” I walked inside
again with one thing in mind. Get Twilight Sparkle out of there in one piece. I
strolled around the party looking for her, I eventually found her behind a
thick layer of people.

I pulled out my Blackberry and traced her cell
phone using a chip tracking program, sending one message after I obtained her
number. I was able to see when she read it, her face turned white in fear.

“You are not safe in here; meet me in the bar as
soon as you can. Ask for a dry martini,” was the message. I went to the bar, sat and asked for a glass of wine.

“Are you waiting for someone?” the bartender asked
in a nice tone, he was cleaning a cup as he approached me.

“Yes I am,” I took a closer look at him and noticed
a ring on his left hand, it had the symbol of the all England lawn tennis and
croquet club, “You seem like a man who knows the ways of the British gentlemen.
That’s one ring you have in there.”

“Oh this,” he blushed while glancing at his ring,
“My father was a Wimbledon umpire. He handed this down to me when I turned eighteen.”

“I see-“

“One dry martini, please,” a woman’s voice
interrupted our conversation; I turned to see her standing next to me. She was
taller than I thought at first, around one seventy five, her lavender eyes
shone above the rest of her face.

“Miss Sparkle?” I politely asked. She turned to
face me with a scowl, “I know you must be a little surprised from my statement
on the message. But I was merely speaking the truth.”

“What’s with your accent?” she asked while
continuing her cold glare.

“Pardon my Scouse, Miss Sparkle. We can discuss the
matter of my accent later on, for I have important news to share with you,” I
took a sip of my wine and asked her to sit.

“Well you better be fast, my speech is about to
start,” she disdainfully sat next to me as the bartender served the drink she
ordered.

“I have discovered that you are the target of an
assassination,” I calmly said as I pulled a note from my blazer and placed it
on the table.

“What is that?” she grabbed the note and read it.

“It’s an e-mail from one of your escorts to John
Antonin, head of the American anti pony society. As you can see, he signed a
thirty million dollar bounty with senator Chambers for your assassination.”

“This can’t be right,” she said surprised “this man
is my security chief, Carlos Bartoli. He’s using an alias, this is his e-mail.”

“In that case, then this situation has become far
more complicated than I anticipated at first,” I took another sip from my wine
and continued, “I’ve spotted how some of your security planted a bomb on your
car. You must use another exit. After your speech, I will be waiting for you
here to take you to a safe house.”

“I can’t believe this” her face turned white from
fear, again, “A.J was right. They are going to kill me.”

“Nobody is going to kill you, Miss Sparkle. I’ll be
protecting you during your speech. Be quiet though, for my cover may be blown
if you show signs of weakness,” I placed the empty cup in the table and stood
up.

“This is so kind of you sir, but why should I
believe you?” she asked as I walked away.

“You don’t have any reasons to not believe me,” I
vanished between the crowd and headed towards the second floor, to save a good
spot for her speech. From there, you were able to see the tables, the people,
the stand, everything. Preparations were being finished for Twilight Sparkle’s
speech, and people were already gathering around to wait it.

I wandered around the second floor, looking for a
good spot to witness the speech that also happens to be apart from the crowd. I
found it on the far right corner, with a good sight of Twilight Sparkle’s left
flank. Minutes passed on and a thunderous applause received her on the stand.

The horn in her head began glowing in an intense
white color, lifting a bunch of paper into the air and gently placing it in
front of her. The applause stopped as she cleared her throat.

“Thank you all, for coming tonight. It is an honor
to have you here, listening to me for a minute,” she giggled for a moment,
“Now. The purpose of this is to make some announcements regarding the matter of
ponification. First, I am glad to announce that, after long discussion, we have
reached an agreement with Japanese technology developer Sony, to assist in the
development of a technology that would allow a most efficient ponification,”
the crowd interrupted with an applause.

“Also, it is my pleasure to announce you that
progresses are being made with the UN to legalize, in a certain degree,
ponification. It is well known that people are being sent to our world
illegally, even though Princess Celestia does not encourage the practice,
anypony who wants to become an Equestria citizen is welcome to join us. Once
the legal matters surrounding human immigration have been solved, I’m sure
humans and ponies can co-exist in a peaceful way and learn many things from
each other.”

During the respective applause, I noticed a man
from between the crowd constantly approaching closer to the stand, something
wasn’t right about the way he pushed his way in between the crowd

“As a final announcement, I am proud to announce
that Princess Celestia is attending this year’s Human-Pony Relationship
Congress,” during the applause, I saw this man pulling a pistol from his
blazer, he had to be stopped. I pulled my P229 and took the shot.

Chapter 2

Salvation Through Destruction:
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau, by: Blaze
Chapter 2

A scream paralyzed the crowd as the man fell into a pool of blood that poured from his head. Twilight’s security henchmen quickly withdrew her from the awful scene.

“I’ve got to move, even though I had a silencer someone could have picked up on me pulling out a small pistol,” I thought was I ran back to the stairs, blending with the startled crowd that rushed towards the nearest exit.

Suddenly, a text message appeared on my blackberry.

“This is Twilight Sparkle. They are taking me
to the parkin-“ it read. Once I reached the first floor, I dashed to the parking lot. However, the entrance was blocked by the same henchmen from before.

“I’m sorry sir, but this route is blocked. Please, head to the main evacuation route,”
they said in a rude tone as approached at full speed.

“You’re not stopping me,” I drew my P229 and delivered two clean headshots before they
could even aim down their weapons. I ran past their bodies into the parking
lot, where security was heavy around Twilight Sparkle. Her complaining about
the vehicle was clearly audible.

“Bartoli, I demand to be transported in other vehicle, for my security,” she said on a
bossy tone.

“We’re sorry ma’am, but this is the only vehicle that’s suited for your needs, please
step inside,” a man in a white tuxedo pushed her inside.

“When a lady says she’s not comfortable with the ride, I suggest you fulfill her
demands,” I yelled from afar, walking calmly towards them with my pistol behind
my back.

“Sir, please head towards the main evacuation route or we will open fire towards you,”
the man in the white tuxedo said with the hands behind his back, every single
mercenary next to him instantly pointed their weapons at me.

“Please, I was just heading for my car. I want to get out of here as much as you do,” I
slowly walked towards a blue Nissan Tsuru next to me, “but I can’t help myself,”
the sound of a metallic object that landed on the floor was heard, “the lady
does not want your ride,” I kicked the flash grenade on my feet, it slid from
under the car as I covered my eyes from the sudden flash of light. Moaning and
groaning filled the air as I ran towards the SUV, executing those who dared to
point their firearms at me.

“What the hell are you waiting for, kill him!” Bartoli shouted furiously, but just before
he could pull out a pistol from his jacket, I placed the cannon of my P229 in
his neck; he shuddered and raised his hands.

“Don’t!” Twilight punched the pistol away from his neck an instant before I could shoot
him. I turned to scowl at her.

“You’re lucky the lady doesn’t think you’re worth pulling the trigger,” I struck him
with the pistol on his neck, knocking him unconscious; afterwards, I offered my
hand to help Twilight Sparkle descend from the SUV.

“I hope I am placing my trust on the right person. You just killed half my security squad,”
she said while readjusting her hair.

“Please, Miss Sparkle. If I wanted you dead, you would be by now,” I grabbed her hand
and ran towards my car. The alarm turned off as we closed in, I spun my head
wryly towards the stunned men and saw the flash grenade was losing its effect.

“Step in, the doors are open,” I opened the trunk of the red car and pulled out an M16
assault rifle, equipped with armor piercing bullets.

“Are you kidding me, I can’t drive!” she yelled to me, staring at the driver’s seat.

“It’s a European BMW, the passenger’s side is on the other side,” I replied in the same
tone as her while loading the rifle. Some of those men were already on their
feet, and some were already pointing their guns at my car.

“What the hell are you waiting for? Get inside!” she shouted at me while opening the door, I ignored her and opened fire against the helpless henchmen in front of me. The
firefight scared those who weren’t killed under the bullet storm from my full
automatic M16.

“Just finishing some tiny details,” the insides of the car were completely original
and well preserved, for a car that’s from the early century. “Engine, start!”
the car’s road echoed in the thick walls as it blasted off into the streets of
New York.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked while glancing outside.

“To a safe house. I’ve been planning this for a couple of weeks; you will be away from any harm until this whole mess cleans itself up,” I replied in a mechanical way, as
I reached bubblegum from my pocket.

“Just one, please,” she took the small pack of green bubblegum, “you know, you already
know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

“My name is Leighton McRae, I am from Knowsley England; if you were wondering why I speak like this.”

“Pardon me, Leighton. I’m not from around here and all those places you mention sound weird to me,” her voice reflected all her concern. It was easy to notice from her
body language and that she could not stop tapping her fingers on the window.

“I know they sound rare. After all, you were born a pony. I would not be amused if you
told me that having fingers and walking on two legs is something you find
awkward,” I teased while turning left towards the nearest exit of town.

“It is, believe it or not. I’m still learning from you humans. Your traditions,
beliefs, politics…” she sighed “for that I’m glad Princess Celestia sent me
here.”

“It’s not your fault that mankind sees you ponies as a way out from out chaotic world,
let me tell you a little about mankind that everybody sees and no one admits,”
she instantly turned her face towards me and stared with her eyes wide open.

“Humans are greedy to a fault; we carve in lust and enjoy living on other’s demise. We see your kind as a threat to us, not because we can’t understand you, because we
can’t exploit you. You are apart from out chaos, safe from our wars and
deceases, we are jealous of you.”

“I… haven’t thought of it that way,” she turned towards the window, “ponification must be legalized. There is too much at stake.”

“I… have something else on mind,” my statement caused her to give me another of those
cold looks, “don’t misunderstand me, Miss Sparkle. I don’t stand for
anti-ponification. I am actually looking forward to the legalization of
ponification, that’s one of the reasons why I must keep you alive.”

“If that’s the case, then what are your motives? Who are you working with? The FBI? The Interpol?”

“I am working all by myself, no one is behind my operations,” I calmly answered.

“Then, why are you wasting your precious time protecting a pony?” the frown on her face turned towards a more sarcastic one.

“I am a resourceful man with a mentality that is long extinct among humans; I’m doing
this to ensure mankind’s continuity.”

“Doing what? I’m just trying to soften up the tensions between your politicians and my
Princess, I’m not a messiah. Keeping me alive will, maybe, only get the
ponification legalized on earth, nothing else.”

“Miss Sparkle-“

“Oh for the love of Celestia,” she shouted in a burst of anger “just call me Twilight.”

“Alright then, Twilight,” I cleared my throat and continued, “I am also somewhat of a
researcher and mathematician. My calculus indicate that the current human
population in Equestria is no enough to repopulate Earth for over six
generations.”

“What’s with your fancy numbers, Leighton?”

“Humanity faces extinction, no one admits it. We are dying faster than we can breed, and
those who are born, are rapidly killed by deceases we unleashed on ourselves.
If we can save at least six percent of the earth’s actual population it would
be sufficient to generate enough variability to maintain a working population.”

“So you want to save them by placing those humans on Equestria,” she teased with a
blank look in her eyes.

“Exactly; but it’s not just placing six percent there, let mankind kill itself and
re-populate at once. It’s a slow process, humanity’s fall will not happen
overnight. We must keep those humans on Equestria, and when the time is right,
return to repopulate earth.”

“You sound kinda crazy, you know?” she continued to look at me with those blank eyes.

“I am not afraid of the prejudices that are bestowed upon me. My points of view are
extremists to some, I do not blame them. However, I have staggering evidence
that if illegal ponification remains for the next six months, the estimated
flow of people into Equestria will not be enough to save the required people
before deceases and war overcome humanity. Upon our arrival at the safe house,
I will share this information with you.”

“I have to tell you something, Leighton,” her eyes now changed with concern, I was
relieved that the blank stares and intense glares were over.

“Go on,” outside, the interstate highway darkness created a great atmosphere for a long,
exquisite talk.

“Humans do not keep their memories upon ponification; I doubt that through the generations ponies would ever want to repopulate your earth.”

“That is why I must find a way to preserve memories upon ponification too, which is
another reason why I must keep you alive. You see, humanity is not only rich
because of the nine billion people that walk on the face of earth. Our culture
and traditions are something tied to our identity, and it differs from place to
place. If mankind is to be preserved, so must be the identities of every person.”

Her gaze turned ahead on the road, “how far is this safe house?”

“It’s a thirty minute drive from New York. Using this console,” I pressed a button next
to the steering wheel, “you may send e-mails, make phone calls or simply watch
TV. Please, be my guest.”

“Thanks, Leighton,” she said with a smile, and after that she went silent. Apparently,
Law & Order UK entertained her enough for her to drool all the way to the
safe house.

“Twilight, wake up. We have arrived at the safe house,”
I shook her shoulder trying to make her snap from the deep sleep she
fell after fifteen minutes of watching Law & Order UK. Her eyes opened
slowly along with some senseless mumbling that came from her mouth, followed by
a huge yawn.

“Only thirty minutes eh?”

“Humanity’s TV shows are boring for you, eh?” I countered with a blank look as I helped her descend the car. She gazed at the two story cottage ahead of her that barely
appeared from in between the darkness.

“When you said safe house I thought you meant a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere.”

“As I said, I am a resourceful man. And I need comfort as well. Now, please,” I walked
towards the white main door, the lights turned on as I approached revealing a
beautiful porch decorated with glass chandeliers and fine chairs. A golden key
allowed me to enter the house, the door made cracking noises as I opened it.

“Wow…” Twilight’s jaw dropped, “I have never seen something like this in my entire
life.”

“British seventeenth century decorations, please, don’t drool on the rug. It costs a
fortune to clean it,” I offered her a seat on my red colored couch, “Tea?
Anything to drink?” she glanced at the porcelain tea set on the glass table in
the middle of the living room.

“Do you have any of this sour, black colored beverage you humans drink every morning?” she asked with a smile on her face.

“Coffee?”

“Yes, that. Do you have any?”

A grin spread across my face, “Yes, I do. Feel free to roam the house as I prepare
your drink,” she stood up and ran towards the bookshelf across the living room.
I had never seen someone so interested in books in my life; luckily for her I
had all sorts of them. Biology, physics, chemistry, medicine, philosophy,
modern and classic literature, I had almost every important book mankind ever
wrote in that shelf.

“Where did you get all of these books? They are amazing!” she said with the smile of a
child with a new toy.

“I acquired some through auction sales, some others are gifts. Feel free to grab any of
them, just don’t scratch them.”

“I wish I could take these to Equestria. It would teach us a lot from you,” she glanced
at the pages of Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’.

“Indeed,” I placed her mug on the table as I sat on my white wing chair, “that one you have in there is the keystone to modern biology. Our literature and knowledge is
something that must also be preserved, hence the collection I gathered”

“You really thought this through, didn’t you?”

“I do not take this matter lightly. I believe mankind has to be saved, and so I will,” I
took a sip of my green mug.

“That’s one big mission for a single man, don’t you think?” she sipped her purple mug and coughed, “do you have any milk?”

“It’s in the glass next to your mug. And if I don’t, who is going to? The UN is too busy
in solving the differences between Arabs and Americans, let alone the Chinese.
Every citizen out there is afraid of its government, democracy died with the
last war the U.S unleashed on the Middle East. I don’t blame humanity for being
humanity; I blame the actions the wrong people made. We had values once, I want
that back for my kind,” I said with calm voice, but my words seemed to startle
her however.

“I want you to explain me, what do ponies have to do in this entire plan of yours?” she
leaned back on her seat with her mug in hand.

“Your kind lives in an alternate dimension to ours, safe from all of the wars and diseases
that attack mankind every day. Your people are noble, gentle and dislike
conflict, opposite to the conflictive, paranoid nature of humans. My plan is
relatively simple, yet very complex because it covers almost every flaw I
detected during two years of dedicated study. You see, by co-existing with
ponies a daily basis, under your rules, humanity can regain the founding of a
peaceful, working society. We transfer roughly six hundred million people to
you lands along with all of our culture; books and traditions, you name it.
Wait until mankind falls, then repopulate.”

“That’s a lot of people to handle, I’m not sure if Princess Celestia would allow that
many ponies,” she placed the mug back in the table and crossed her legs, her
dress slid on them revealing thighs that overcame my expectations for those of
a pony.

“That is another reason why I brought you here. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, then your
land is still vast and remains widely unexplored. We could establish new
settlements for humans to inhabit, avoiding the overpopulation of cities like
Manehattan and Fillydelphia. I believe that requires the approval of Princess
Celestia, and I would like to ask for it.”

“Hold on there,” she snapped and pointed her finger at me, “you kidnapped me to take you to Equestria.”

I burst into laughter after I drank a sip from my coffee, “of course not. If I wanted
to be ponyfied like everyone else I would have gone to Russia to get the job
done. My interest is genuine, I would like to meet her and display the
situation to the only flaw in my plan.”

“Princess Celestia is your only flaw?” she asked with a big frown

“Ultimately, the success of my plan depends on her to agree to accept a minimum of three
million people.”

“What about the other five hundred ninety seven million people?” her gaze turned sarcastic.

“That is the enough amount of people to preserve a decent gene pool through the time to, via genetic engineering, revive mankind to an stable population in one hundred
generations,” I finished my coffee and placed the empty mug on the table.

“And if Celestia does not agrees?” she implied while crossing her legs back.

“Three million more ponies is the population she would have on her hands in two years
from now. She will agree to three million people,” she looked down meditating;
silence fell in the room for a minute.

“It’s your lucky day, Leighton. I believe you. I’m scheduled to report my speech tomorrow at noon. I know a spell to avoid your loss of memory upon ponification.”

“Excuse me, Twilight,” I said with a nervous grin, “ I did not ask for ponification.”

“You have no choice; there can be no humans on Equestria. Upon changing dimension you turn into a random kind of pony, but will become human once you return to the
earth though,” I nodded, the nervous grin slowly changed for a confident one.

“Alright then, Twilight. Go get some sleep. I must prepare for this,” I stood up and so
she did after me. I asked her to follow me upstairs to show her the room where
she would sleep. The candle in my studio was going to be lit one more night.

Chapter 3

Salvation Through Destruction:
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau, by: Blaze

Chapter 3

“It’s fifteen past eleven, she should be awake
by now” I thought to myself with a big bowl of cereal in my hands. The small table next to the living room was lit by the morning May sun. The TV was filled with brainwashing
crap, so was the radio and the newspaper. Every morning was a quiet one for me in
that cottage, one of the reasons why I bought it with the sole purpose of
hiding Twilight Sparkle.

With every munch I took, I went all over again over the checklist for my unexpected visit to Equestria. I had foreseen it, but not so sudden.

“Laptop, check. USB flash disk, check. Projector, check. Pony attire, check. Briefcase, check. Documents, check” repeated over and over in my head.

“What time is it?” I snapped and spit the food in my mouth straight back into my plate.
Twilight screamed in shock.

“I’m sorry!” she yelled after her loud, high pitched scream.

“It’s ok. That was the last spoon of cereal, I was about to finish anyway” I said in calm
voice, cleaning up any chewed cereal that fell off the plate.

“What time is it, again?” she sat on the opposite side of the table.

“Sixteen past eleven, you slept ten hours and forty five minutes. Cereal? Tea?” I
reached for a plate on the shelf next to me, her eyes opened wide and she shot
up straight from the table.

“We’re going to be late!” she took my hand and dragged me all the way to the backyard.
It was a sunny day; some of the flowers emanated a scent that filled the air
and made the surroundings truly come to life.

“Oh yeah, you’re supposed to report to Celestia at noon” I forced my arm away from her
tight grip, “hold on a second, I must go for my briefcase. You get ready, I’ll
wait for you in the car” she stood there with giving me a rare look, I ignored
her and went inside the house to retrieve all that I needed for my travel. It
took me a few minutes of last moment organizing and grooming in the second
floor, but once I descended the stairs, I saw Twilight standing in the middle
of the living room arms crossed.

“I said wait for me in the car; and why haven’t you changed your clothes?” I frowned at
her purple pajama.

“We don’t need a car or change our clothes, silly. I can go to Equestria from anywhere,
come with me” she walked outside seemingly confident.

“Look Leighton” she turned towards me looking down, “I’m going to take you to
Equestria with the purpose of you sharing your plan with Queen Celestia, got
it?”

“I totally understand, Twilight. I am prepared” I replied with confidence, tightening my
left fist.

“Okay… Here I go” her horn began glowing in an intense lavender color that quickly covered the whole backyard in a soft purple aura. From the borders of this aura,
lightning bolts began to focus on one area in front of us, eventually creating
some sort of black hole.

“Grab my hand!” she moaned from exhaustion, I took her hand with a mixture of fear and
excitement. The aura suddenly turned red along with her horn, the sound of a
huge vacuum sucking the air around us began emanating from the black hole.

“Jump now!” she leaped into the dark hole, pulling my hand along. Everything went dark
around me; it felt like falling straight into abyss. I remember her voice in
the distance, audible, yet not understandable. My body changed, more like
readjusted, morphed; filling me with an unimaginable pain. I gave into the pain
after noticing I could not see myself, I just closed my eyes and hoped the pain
would end soon.

“Leighton? Leighton are you alright?” I heard a feminine voice in the distance as my light
struck my slowly opening eyes.

“Did it work? Do you remember who you are?”

“I feel like I was just ran over by a train, punched in the gut and dragged five miles
by a horse, but if you ask me who I am, I will proudly identify myself as
Leighton McRae” I said as I stood up, rubbing my head with a hoof, I noticed
the feminine voice was a purple equine with a horn on its head. It was Twilight
in her pony version.

“You look great, you’re one proud Pegasus. Even though I’m not a huge fan of your color” she said walking towards a bookshelf next to us. It was in that very moment when I noticed we reappeared in a library.

“According to this, my spell should keep you fresh and full of your memories during your
stay in Equestria, please enjoy yourself” she headed up a spiral staircase in
front of me; the architecture was something I had never seen before. It seemed
like the insides of a tree.

“Can anybody give me a mirror?” I asked as I tried my brand new hooves around.

“You don’t say anybody in here, you say anypony, oh, and there’s one in the bathroom, left of the kitchen” her voice echoed in the wooden walls, I followed her directions
and found a somewhat pleasant surprise in the mirror.

“I look good…” I examined every single part of my body, my skin was colored red and my
mane was a little browner than usual, let alone the couple of wings that
appeared at the sides of my torso. They were there but I couldn’t feel them.

“Twilight?” I asked with some concern, “what is that tattoo I have on my ass?”

“Oh please!” she shouted with anger, “you say flank in here, not ass. That’s why we
teach our manners to you humans first” she appeared next to me suddenly, “and
you have a cutie mark? Most humans don’t have one, let me take a look”

The look in her eyes was of one of a person who is merely curious, but nevertheless, a pony looking at your flank is a pony looking at your flank.

“Yes, it has a pen and a sword. Can I remove it?”

“No, of course not!” her fascination towards my ‘cutie mark’ made the expression in my
face change, “sorry! I guess I’m a huge fan of your cutie mark, I had never seen
anything like it. It means that you already discovered your special talent,
something you identify yourself with; and it has something to do with pens and
swords”

“I enjoy writing, for I was once a journalist for the Liverpool Echo. Greatest days in
my life” my mind suddenly filled with memories of those days when I was in my
early twenties, “It was also the time of my life where I used to get the less
sleep hours” I added with a smirk.

“Twilight, are you home-” a small, purple dragon walked into the house with a note in hand; it let out a massive scream the moment my eyes met with him, “who the hell is this
guy Twilight, is he a burglar? Back off!! You’re not taking anything!” it
threatened with nothing more than a small piece of paper on hand.

“Is this how guests are treated on Equestria? With a small dragon threatening you with a
mere sheet of paper?” I implied in a sarcastic way, walking towards him in the
most respectful way my hooves allowed me to.

“Twilight, this pony is creeping me out. What’s with his voice…?”

“Don’t be so harsh on our guest, Spike. He’s a new friend of mine; I met him back on
earth. His name is Leighton McRae” Spike glared at me with furious eyes.

“Pleased, to make your acquaintance” I offered a hoof, expecting to receive the
equivalent to a handshake. He only stared at my hoof, rudely walking past me.

“Is he a human? How come he can remember his life on earth? Why is he here? Celestia is
going to demand explanations,”

“He saved my life back on earth, the least I could do to repay his actions was to offer
my help,” Twilight said as she approached a stand with ink and pen.

“My specie faces annihilation. I come here with a plan to save us through your lifestyle;
do not be afraid, Spike, I mean no harm to your people.”

“I don’t usually like humans…” the small dragon glared at me with the same eyes from
before, “but when I do they have a cool accent” his face turned happy suddenly
for my surprise, “I just love the way you talk, do every human talks like you?”

“I’m glad to see you two can get along. Let me write a letter to Celestia with my report,
Spike, show our guest around,” her purple horn began glowing once more and the
pen floated around, writing on the paper next to her.

“Alright, Mister Leighton, follow me!” the now joyful dragon signaled me to follow
outside, where a marvelous, colorful town appeared before me. Again, the
architecture was simply breathtaking. A mix of impossible structures along with
a large pallet of color gave the town its life. Around, lots of ponies walked
past us, seemingly happy and waving hello at each other as if they were friends
since the very moment they were born. It was clear that the life in this town
was simple, lovely and quiet.

“What’s the name of this place, Spike?” I asked astonished by my surroundings.

“Ponyville, a small, peaceful town here on Equestria. Lovely, isn’t it?”

“You bet your flank it is…” I couldn’t help but to notice the fact that I felt assaulted
by everypony’s eyes. You could tell everyone knew each other in this place.

“Here we live our lives in a simple way, though we got a lot of things going on. With
the whole human immigration issue we sure have lots of more visitors every day.”

“What’s the criminal occurrence in this place?”

“We don’t have any of that. Everypony here is honest and straight, we don’t need to steal each other’s property or fight over something. But if we do, we take this to a
court where a judge decides who’s right and both parties sign a treaty where
they compromise to submit to the judge’s decision.”

“So… you don’t have nothing like murder or kidnapping in this place?” I looked at him
with skepticism drawn all over my face.

“Nope, no murder or kidnapping. Why are you asking stuff like that?” he countered with a frown of his own.

“From where I came from, people have fights even over who should keep a dead body. Coming to a place like this… is… weird to me.”

“I see…” Spike stopped and pointed towards a building that had the appearance of a
chocolate cake, “That is Sugarcube Corner. If you want to try the most
delicious cakes on earth, that’s the place.”

“The architecture is something that shines above the rest of this lovely town, is it
local developed or nationwide fashion?” I stared at the muffin on top of the
building.

Spike giggled immediately after my question, “I just love the way you talk! Anyway,
if you turn around this corner you’ll find the marketplace, where you can buy
from food to souvenirs.”

“In England, when you make a question, it is a common courtesy to take the bother
to answer it, Spike,” I said calmly, hiding the hot pot of anger I was inside.

“Ah, so you come from a place called England?” the jolly dragon asked innocently, it was
clear that he didn’t had the intention to offend me.

“Yes, it’s a large portion of an island in the north part of the earth. It is actually
part of a larger kingdom, called the United kingdom, that compresses England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland under a single flag, even though each
kingdom remains apart from each other by recognizable borders.”

“Do everyone in the United Kingdom talks like you do?” his eyes filled with an
unmistakable spark.

“Yes, but it’s different from place to place. My accent is native to Merseyside and is
commonly referred as Scouse, but you have the Scottish accent, the Geordy, the
Mancunian… There are lots of different accents all across the United Kingdom.”

“That’s awesome…” he looked down as if meditating, “I know! I have a couple of friends who have accents too, you should totally meet them!” he began sprinting suddenly towards a building shaped similarly to a carousel. At first I couldn’t find the correct
rhythm to run properly as a pony, but after a couple of meters, I found it to
be more efficient than human sprinting. I could now feel what was like to
gallop at full speed. Spike genuinely broke into the building; he stepped
inside without ringing or knocking.

My education forced me to stay outside until the host allowed me to enter. I could hear
Spike’s voice repeatedly shout ‘Rarity’ inside the building. Eventually, a
feminine voice with a mid-Atlantic accent replied politely to wait.

“I have a pony with me you should totally meet. Leighton, come inside it’s cool!” he
shouted from inside.

“Spike, my education forbids the act of me wandering inside somepony’s house without the host’s permission.”

“My-my!” a white pony with a horn like Twilight popped up from the door dressed in a
purple gown, “you have the manners of a true gentlemen. I am Rarity, proud
owner of the Carousel Boutique.”

“I am Leighton McRae, Lady Rarity,” I gently took her hoof and kissed it, “a
pleasure, to make your acquaintance.”

The white unicorn giggled in delight; Spike glared at me with furious eyes again, “I would gladly have you enter my chambers if I wasn’t swamped with work this evening. Where
are you from? Your accent is distinctive.”

“I am from Knowsly, England,” Rarity’s face suddenly changed to one filled with doubts.

“Oh yeah, he was not born a pony. He’s a human that Twilight brought along with her,”
Spike interrupted as he walked to my side.

“Really? Such a lovely accent you humans carry, darling.
And what brings you here, Mister McRae?” for my surprise, I was not
discriminated as I thought I would.

“I come with a proposal for Queen Celestia. Humanity will soon go extinct, and I plan
to save it through your lifestyle.”

“That’s amazing! I would love to have more humans here, imagine all the different
fashion styles that would come along with them. The possibilities are
limitless!” her body language was classy, and her accent distinctive. If she
wasn’t a pony I would probably find someone like her attractive.

“Alright Leighton, we have to go. Twilight probably finished her letter by now, so we
should really go,” Spike nervously added, grabbing one of my hoofs and pulling
me away.

“Alright then, Leighton, darling. If you’re ever around town and wish to have an outfit
that lives up to your… class, my humble establishment is always open for you.
Consider it a personal favor,” she winked her eye as Spike pulled me away from
the Carousel Boutique. We walked back towards the library in a somewhat awkward
silence.

“You know, Rarity’s accent is similar to mine. It’s known as mid-Atlantic accent back on
earth,” Spike continued to ignore me; it was easy to tell he was mad at me.

“What’s the matter mate?” I politely asked while placing a hoof on his back.

“Nothing,” he hissed and pushed my hoof away from him.

“I’ll analyze this to figure out what is wrong with you…” I took a deep breath; this
however, did not stop us from walking out way back to the library,
“Rationalization? No, time is too short, not enough time for proper digestion
of thoughts, must be an immediate response. I was polite, Rarity was polite,
doesn’t seem to carry negative thoughts towards her. Subject deliberately
walked into Rarity’s chamber without permission, she didn’t seem startled
either by my or his presence though. It must have been something I did.
Unlikely, I kept a polite atmosphere and conversation, subject interrupted
communication between Rarity and me, no, must be symptom, not a cause; must
have been the fact of me talking to her. Attitude, seventy five percent of the
word exchange occurred between her and me along with her expressive body
language. Subject interrupted communication between me and Rarity due to
feeling separated from her attention, a feeling commonly known as jealousy; ergo,
you probably have feelings for her. Am I correct?”

Spike stared at me jaw-dropped, “yes?” he said with a weird look in his eyes.

“I knew it” I knocked on the pink wooden door of the library, “Come on in, it’s open!” was the response from inside

“After you, Spike,” I politely opened his door under his weird gaze, after shutting the
door close; I realized Twilight had a paper in hand.

“Quick Spike! Send this to Queen Celestia,” she handed the paper over to the dragon,
which held it close to his mouth. He blew green air towards the paper and it
vanished into thin air.

“I’m assuming that’s a pretty fast way of sending letters?”

“Yes it is,” Spike giggled, “We usually get her response in a few minutes.”

“Ok Twilight, what’s next?” I asked with a worried voice.

“We wait for her response,” she turned towards a shelf behind her, the horn in her head
began glowing and a book was lifted into the air.

“I presume you told her that I had a plan to present.”

“I did. Don’t worry Leighton, whether she approves or not, you’ll present your plan to
her,” she glanced at the book in front of her face.

“I am very grateful, for this opportunity, Twilight,” I bowed in a reverential way; she
blushed and hid behind her book. Suddenly, Spike shuddered and burped.

“How rude!” a paper flew straight from his mouth into Twilights hands.

“Already? That was quick…” she opened the letter and cleared her throat and just before
Twilight could begin reading the paper, the look on her face turned to show
fear.

“This can’t be good.”

Chapter 4

Salvation Through Destruction:
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau, by: Blaze

Chapter 4

“I demand both your presence and Mr. Leighton’s presence today at six o’ clock?” I stared at the paper astonished, Twilight walked around seemingly nervous, “What does she mean? Why is this bad news?”

“I knew I was making a mistake, stupid!” she punched herself violently in the face, I ran to stop a second punch.

“What is going on? I demand an explanation! You’re freaking me out,” I shouted in desperation.

“Spike, go ask Applejack for her cart. Leighton, grab your suitcase and stay in here with me, you cannot go outside,” she ran to the bookshelves and books began flying all around.

“Right away, ma’am!” the green dragon rushed outside, I reached for my briefcase and pulled my blue laptop out.

“What’s that?” she approached with a book in the air.

“I’m checking my laptop, I need to verify my presentation and if the projector can function in this dimension,” I tried to typed my long, secure password without fingers, the efforts were futile.

“Already missing your fingers?” Twilight teased with a sly grin.

“They are helpful for more reasons other than just typing on a computer, I did not foresee this,” I continued my attempts at typing and Twilight turned to one of her books and went silent. It took me around five of six minutes to carefully type the password with the edge of my left hoof.

“Voila! It works!” I exclaimed in delight, she glanced at me from the edge of her book.

“Do you ponies have any electric outlet around here? I need to plug the projector,” my eyes quickly scanned my surroundings, noticing the lack of electric installations.

“Nope,” she said in plain voice, “but let me take a look at that,” her horn began glowing as she approached the small, white projector that I had just pulled out from the briefcase. The lights in it began flashing, without any power intake, it was on.

“That’s awesome, Twilight. Now, let me connect this cable to the computer…” I took the A/V cables with my teeth and struggled to put them in the correct position, I rubbed my neck after the tremendous effort.

“At least your trick is working; I can see the content of your laptop on my walls,” she stared at my Ferrari screen saver amazed.

“I suppose it’s fair that I show you my slideshow with my-“

“Hey Twiight? You n’ ‘ere?” a feminine voice with a southern American accent yelled along with the sound of the door being slammed open.

“Applejack? Thank Celestia you’re here, I need a favor,” she ran towards the orange colored pony, this pony had a large beautiful blonde mane and a cowboy hat on her head. Really suits her accent.

“Spike said y’all needed my cart, and I’m here deliverin’ it personally.”

“That’s wonderful. Thank you so much,” Twilight ran outside, probably to check the cart.

I approached this Applejack carefully with a grin in my face, “Hello, Miss. I guess we haven’t met, my name is Leighton McRae, you are…?” I extended my hoof, expecting a handshake, more like, hoofshake.

“You must be the pony Spike was talkin’ ‘bout. My name is Applejack, pleased to make yer acquaintance,” the orange pony said with a big smile as she took my hoof and shook it rapidly, almost in a way that could be considered violent.

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Applejack,” I released my hoof from her grip, “I appreciate the favor you’re doing us.”

“No problem at all, Mister McRae,” she stared at me intensely, as if looking into my soul, “I ain’t mean to offend, sir. But is it true that you’re a human?”

“Indeed, I am a fine specimen born in Knowsley, England in August twentieth fifth of nineteen ninety seven.” I proudly replied as Twilight entered the library with a worried look in her eyes.

“Everything is ready; we will leave in a couple of hours. I asked Rainbow Dash to convince a few Pegasi to pull our cart so we should get there in two hours or so.”

“What’s troublin’ you, sweetheart?” Applejack implied placing her hoof in Twilight’s shoulder.

“Nothing… I’m just stressed,” she took Applejack’s hoof off her shoulder and walked towards me, “Leighton, you were about to show me your slideshow.”

“It’s true,” I snapped and walked towards the projected image on the wall, “I was about to show the reason why I came to Equestria, Applejack, would you care to join?”

“Sure, I’d like to see what these fancy lookin’ devices can do,” she sat on the floor next to the projector.

“Spike, would you mind passing me the pen over there?” I pointed at my briefcase; the dragon joyfully nodded and quickly handed it over. The pen shot a laser that interacted with the projections, allowing me to load the slideshow without touching the laptop.

“Now,” I cleared my throat and ‘Project HC’ came on screen, “I present to you, Project Human Conservation; a plan to ensure the survival of mankind.”

Everyone in the room stared with different looks at the projections, some of confusion, some of excitement,“the objective of this project is, as its name implies, to secure humanity’s conservation. I’m sure you are wondering, why does humanity need to be saved?” I pressed a button on the pen and the slide changed, “Humanity has reached a critical point in its history. Mortality rates are through the roof due to wars, famine and diseases and the birth rate is too low to cope up with the death rate. The inversion of these two rates is considered by experts as a ‘reverse demographic transition’.

This phenomenon started in the late 2010’s with the release of the neofage on China, a genetically engineered virus that was said to regulate birth control. Instead, it got out of control and spread throughout all Asia.”

“Were measures taken to control the neofage?” Twilight asked with pen and paper next to her.

“Yes, but in the wrong way. The United States quickly developed a counter-inhibitor for the neofage, but instead of offering through the UN, it got stuck in private sector and reached the public at a price only wealthiest part affected by this could afford. Eventually, China went into a civil war that overthrew its government, establishing a new Military regimen by 2019.”

“Please continue…” she muttered while writing on the paper, Applejack’s face displayed horror and Spike seemed quite entertained, his eyes were wide open and staring at the pictures of the China civil war.

“As time went on, neofage cases were reported all across the world as it is transmitted through the air. Europe, Africa, America… The neofage made only one in a thousand births viable and it soon became the horror of the masses. Massive suicides, a spreading sense of apocalypse took over the population all over the world, and if seen from this perspective, humanity has its days counted. But it is not the only problem after us,” the slide changed to one displaying various graphics.

“The graphics shown here are a comparison of the population growth and the estimated food production, between an hypothetical event first proposed by Thomas Malthus in 1798, and the current human situation. As you can see, there is not enough food to satisfy the demands in both graphics. The results?” I changed the slide again, showing horrible pictures of death, famine and social disorder.

“Death of those unable to reach food, the poorest sector of humanity was the first one to fall. As the food went scarce, their prices rocketed through the roof, causing massive riots all over the world. This problem also strikes the birth rate, as a pregnant mother requires a proper nutrition for the new generation, lowering nativity even more. Now, one in every fifty thousand pregnancies generates healthy offspring.”

“Shouldn’t this catastrophe stabilize the food demands?” Twilight asked again.

“Mathematically, yes it should. However, Malthus’ theory can be applied to other resources. Energy, for example, is much related with the food. We have depleted all the petroleum available on the earth; this caused a whole domino effect on the food production. By not having fuel for its machines, the agricultural sector changed its fields from food crops to biofuel crops, decreasing production, hence raising the food’s prices. Less production, more cost.”

“I didn’t know you humans have that many problems,” Applejack added with a horrified look on her face.

“That, is only half of the problems humanity have,” I changed the slide once again, showing pictures of devastated cities and battlefields, “Wars, is one of the reasons why mankind is going extinct so rapidly. The current conflicts are between the United States of North America versus the United Arab nations and between the new People’s Republic of China versus the Russian Federation and the European Union in what is known as World War Three. The Americans fight for control over the Arab lands, that have vast resources and lands. The Chinese fight the Europeans and the Russians for a more even distribution of resources, as China has become nothing more than a god forsaken wasteland due to their overpopulation and civil war aftermath.”

“So… Your people are now fighting for survival?” Twilight asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“It’s a battle to steal other’s countries resources. Capitalism is a hungry beast that demands to be fed, and the war serves that purpose: more resources that translate into money for the starving monster. Instead of reaching an amnesty or developing other technologies for the harvesting of optional resources, the UN detoured founds from the Commission of Science and Technology Development, and Commission of Sustainable Development to the Counter-Terrorism Committee, a bureaucratic excuse to fuel the war. The outcome is a staggering body count of two billion people and counting. Official UN numbers claim that every day, three thousand people are killed as a result of the wars. This increases the death rate even more and halves the birth rate average, reaching an astounding count of one in one hundred thousand successful pregnancies.”

“That is just awful!” Spike shouted while covering his face with his hands.

“Taking these numbers, and making some calculations,” I change the slide once more, showing various numbers and formulas, “the current human population is rapidly falling into a population bottleneck, an event in which large part of a species is killed. This bottleneck causes the loss of variability and thus, a lack of adaptability to withstand new selective pressures. Considering the current birth and death rates, humanity will reach the billion individuals in two years from now; considering amnesty. But even then, projections show that even the aftermath of the war will sink economy into a massive recession, causing the extinction of humanity in three years from now. Actions need to be taken now.”

“Then what’s the plan?” Applejack asked.

“Transfer a minimum of three million people to Equestria. The minimum viable population size (MVP), which is the minimum quantity of individuals of a specie required to generate enough variability to thrive in its environment, for mankind with genetic engineering is of three million people, this was estimated using various population variability analyses with a success rate of 97.3%.”

“So yer sayin’ that you need to save three million humans to ensure continuity? What’s with the success rate?” Applejack asked curiously.

“The computer simulation takes into account the likelihood of a natural disaster to occur. There is a 2.7% of probability that mankind goes extinct if three million individuals are saved. However, the ideal MVP is of six hundred million people for instant results, this amount would require 500% less time and no genetic engineering. Considering the current flow of people into Equestria is of a hundred individuals a month, a maximum of thirty six hundred people are estimated to be here in three years from now. Legalizing ponification and offering it to the public for free around the world would cause a likely income of fifty thousand people a week, reaching five million two hundred thousand immigrants in two years, enough to preserve humanity.”

“Five point two million people?” Spike asked astonished, “that’s like a tenth of the total population of Equestria.”

“That matter is up to Queen Celestia to decide. Now that I have explained the numbers, I shall explain more numerical and the social implications of the plan ending with its implementation...” just before I could press the pen for the next slide, Twilight stood up seemingly contrite.

“Leighton. I’m sorry to interrupt, but I think it’s about time we leave to Canterlot. The sooner we see Queen Celestia the better,” she, somehow, turned off the projector; her horn glowed as she faked a smile. Applejack and Spike gazed at her in a queer manner.

“As you wish, Twilight. Help me pack my stuff up and we’ll be on our way,” I turned off my laptop and safely stored it on the briefcase.

“Spike, go out and check on Rainbow Dash. Applejack, would you mind escorting Leighton into the cart? I’ll join you in a minute; I’ve got a couple of things to do,” Twilight ordered as she lifted a few books into the air, Spike bolted outside slamming the door open.

“Not a problem, Twi. Leighton, follow me!” Applejack replied as she walked towards the exit. I knew Twilight was hiding something; it was easy to tell from her attitude, tone of voice and actions. Apparently, ponies suck at lying. I followed Applejack outside, where an old wooden red colored cart awaited in front of the house.

“Step in,” she politely opened the door for me to step inside. A couple worn out of red cushions served as seats on each side of the cart; two circular windows covered by purple curtains dimmed the sunlight coming in. Applejack quickly closed the door as soon as I was inside the cart.

“Applejack, what is going on?” my voice echoed inside the car.

“I’m not sure, Leighton. I’m as confused as you are, but don’t worry. When Twilight behaves like this is because she’s got good intentions,” she assured with a happy grin. I saw her walk inside the house; solitude filled the cart for a few minutes, until my silence was interrupted by Spike’s voice.

“Twilight! The Pegasi are here, we are good to go,” he said. Twilight quickly abandoned the house with a gray saddlebag on her back and stepped into the cart after ordering Spike to drive the Pegasi.

“What’s on the bags?” I observed her bags cautiously; she pulled out a book and began reading it.

“Books, just books,” the cart suddenly began moving, taking speed at first and taking off eventually.

“What are the books for?” I asked on a demanding tone, she turn to stare blankly at me.

“I’m trying to find a way to help you,” I checked the cover of her book, it read: ‘trans-species spells’.

“Then why do you have to show this mysterious attitude?” I asked with a doubtful face. She let out a large sight just before closing her book.

“Because you shouldn’t be here”

Chapter 5

Salvation Through Destruction.
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau

Chapter 5

“Why, why shouldn’t I be here?” a shiver ran through my spine with the notice, it explained her attitude, her actions, everything. She looked down and avoided my harassing sight.

“Humans are not allowed to enter Equestria so easily,” her voice filled with fear as she glanced at the clouds outside.

“Alright, I buy that. But still, it does not explains the offense in my presence,” I approached her carefully, grabbing her hoof.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here, Celestia is going to demand your head” she pushed my hoof away, I sat back continuing my glare at her elusive eyes.

“Do you think a bunch of ponies are going to kill me so easily?” I remarked sarcastically.

“She’s not going to kill you, Leighton. Celestia is quite a reasonable pony, and an excellent ruler, but she seemed quite angry on her letter. And I’ve never seen her angry.”

“We humans have an old saying that goes: ‘There is always a first time for everything’. Calm down, if she goes insane I got your back,” I winked my right eye at her, causing her to show a nervous smirk.

“Hey guys,” Spike popped his head from a small door on top of the cart, “these boys are pretty fast, we should get to Canterlot in thirty minutes or so.”

“Noted, thanks Spike” Twilight said with a more tranquil grin. I reached for my briefcase and pulled out a heavy grey colored book.

“The man who mistook his wife for a hat? What kind of book is that?” she stared at the cover with confusion.

“It is not a novel about a man who confused his wife with a hat. It’s a human psychology book; I’ve been reading it for a few weeks now. The human mind is an unsolvable puzzle.”

“You are always doing something interesting, Leighton. I still can’t believe all you told us back at the library about humanity,” she said with a sigh.

“The information was not easy to gather, let alone to process. I had to learn how to gather it and process it too, that’s why this plan took two years to take shape.”

“What did you do before making this plan?” she asked curiously, putting all of her concern aside.

“Before devoting my life to this…” I sighed and gazed at the sky outside, “I was a Sociology professor and researcher at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University.”

“Sociology professor? I don’t think you used to teach your students how to kill someone with a pistol” she implied with, again, confusion in her face.

“Once the war began I had to learn how to protect myself from the looters and mercenaries that broke loose all across the UK. I was sloppy at first, but practice allows us to reach perfection, so they say.”

“Right and how did you come up with a plan like Project Human Conservation?” she asked with even more curiosity as before, a trait that was sometimes annoying in her.

“My job as a journalist eventually led me back into school to do a PhD in sociology as I noticed a radical change in human behavior, social structures and dynamics. I… dug into some books and ran into Malthus’ numbers, discovering that humanity was closing into them. I tried to warn, but they laughed the hell out of my flank, so now I’m saving theirs.”

“Do you have any family?”

“I once did,” I sighed again, “my mother was a Scottish nurse and my father a Liverpudlian cardiologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, as well as a huge fan of Liverpool F.C. They both died during a bombardment in Liverpool from the Chinese; I was in London at the time.”

“I’m sorry…” she muttered, “I didn’t know”

“It’s ok. Their death was long ago. I’d rather look into my book now, if you don’t mind.” I took no offense from her comment, but I thought it was for the better if we kept silence until our arrival at Canterlot.

The cart stopped after a rough landing that shook both Twilight and me off our seats, “We’re here! The Queen’s Palace!” Spike announced through the door on top. I politely opened the door for Twilight to step down.

“Thank you” she looked at me with a smile, I descended the vehicle and discovered a huge garden with a stone path that leaded straight inside the huge white castle, surrounded by a gray wall of brute rocks. In front of us, a majestic white Pony with her mane colored as the rainbow stood gazing at our presence. At her right, a smaller dark purple Pony with a deep dark blue tiara timidly walked to the bigger one’s side.

“Queen Celestia!” Twilight instantly bowed at her sight, I mimicked almost instantly.

“Arise, my dearest and faithful student. It is a pleasure to have you here” she greeted with a big smile on her face, the dark pony next to her remained silent, merely watching.

“You demanded our presence here, and here we are, Queen” Celestia glanced at me with pretentious eyes.

“I see that you brought the human along with you,” she turned to glare at me with the same eyes, “I am Queen Celestia, ruler of Equestria. Next to me stands Princess Luna, bringer of the night. Before me stands a Pony I have never seen before, indentify yourself!” she exclaimed in authoritarian voice.

“I am Leighton McRae” I bowed once more reverentially, “Son of Steven and Allison McRae, born in the metropolitan borough of Knowsly, England. Your presence honors me, your highness.”

“You said humans don’t have manners,” Princess Luna covered her smirk with a hoof.

“Your gesture surprises me, Mister McRae. Arise,” I stood and stared directly into her beautiful lavender eyes, “Follow me into my chambers, we shall discuss important matters inside,” she turned and walked into the castle, decorated with golden and blue banners that symbolized the sun and the moon. In front of us, a staircase led into a huge golden throne with a smaller, silver one on its right. A pink carpet led the way into the thrones, guarded by two Pegasi with golden armor. Celestia gracefully sat on her throne and gazed down at Twilight and me.

“If the letter Twilight sent is correct, then you are a human that came into Equestria with her help, am I correct?” she asked with a heavy glare on me.

“Yes. After I saved Twilight Sparkle’s life at the Oriental Mandarin Hotel in New York I took her to a safe house east of the American city, where, after listening to my proposal, she agreed to bring me to this world with the sole purpose of me talking to you, your highness” I firmly stated, taking a couple steps forward, Celestia continued to stare at me with her face of disdain.

“I remember that part in the letter,” she closed her eyes and let out an acceptance sigh, “since you saved Twilight’s life on earth, I think it is fair for me to listen to whatever you have to say; my attention is all yours, Leighton.”

I quickly tried to reach my briefcase, my hooves waved in the air until I noticed that I left it back at the cart. My face turned red, rather pink actually, from embarrassment.

“I had a slideshow prepared for the occasion, your highness” I sighed with disappointment, “but given its lack I shall explain only using my words,” my hooves trembled with a rare mixture of excitement and fear, Celestia’s stare was something I had never felt before. I cleared my throat and continued, “Humanity has reached a critical point in its history; the famine, the diseases and the war is wiping us out at an overwhelming pace. My studies indicate that mankind will go extinct in three years from now”

“I am well aware of humanity’s situation,” She said in a plain tone.

“I have elaborated a plan to save humanity by re-locating a minimum of three million individuals safely on Equestria. The plan is split in three phases: Phase one is the immigration, where we relocate a minimum of three million individuals on Equestria. Phase two consist of a co-existence between your people and mine, in which we wait until mankind vanishes from earth. Phase three is the gradual repopulation of earth.”

“And how long would we have to host this humans?” she asked with a frown.

“An approximate of one hundred and fifty years. By placing the only survivors of humanity in here we are sinking our specie into a population bottleneck. A population bottleneck is when a species loses a large part of its original population, hence, losing adaptability to new changes on the environment. To pull out humanity of this bottleneck, genetic engineering is needed. The required time means that three generations will have to pass until humanity is ready to repopulate earth and survive on its own”

“Are there alternatives to host humanity for a shorter time?”

“Yes, but the required population is of six hundred million. This population size would allow an immediate repopulation, however.”

“I see it’s a matter of time versus amount of people.” Celestia looked at Luna; she gazed back at her sister and nodded.

“What will happen to your diverse civilization? Knowing humans do not keep their memories upon ponification,” the purple princess asked while crossing her hoofs.

“I was hoping you would allow humans to keep their memories, as our knowledge, traditions and identity must be preserved as well,” I spoke with determination, both Queen and Princess turned at each other with astonished looks.

“Leighton, do you know why do we erase human memories upon their arrival to Equestria?” Celestia implied.

“That matter is unbeknown to me, your highness.”

“Your kind is… superior to us in certain areas. They have a more intricate and complex mind than our own, which is why humanity reached the technology and social complexity they have nowadays. But this trait also makes them… dangerous. Instead of developing a sense of union and comradeship, humanity began fighting for ideals and creating different explanations for the same thing. If I were to allow humans, like you, into Equestria, they might bring along the corruption, crimes and wars that ravage earth today.”

“I would not bring dangerous murderers or famous movie stars, your highness. As I foresaw this, I created a psychological test for those who wish to be ponyfied, based upon various personality tests”

“And tell me, what is keeping the subjects from lying in the test?” Celestia’s question amazed me; it caught me completely off guard. My whole test was based under the assumption of a completely honest subject.

“What keeps a coward soldier from lying his way into Equestria?”

I felt a knot on my throat and from this same feeling, courage began to pour. I advanced a few steps towards Celestia and stared at her eyes.

“The same values that keep your people together, those that mankind lost through the ages and wait dormant inside the hearts of every good person that is terrified from his own government. I will not allow you to judge mankind as a whole by the decisions of corrupt governors and liars, because my kind is full of great persons that are worthy of a second chance and don’t deserve the hell they are going through. I did not scheme this plan with the idea of saving cowards and sissies, I forged it with the honest idea of saving a civilization that is spiraling down due to its own mistakes, hoping we could learn from them. Instead of giving up like every single human on earth or run to Equestria and leave everything behind to live my life as someone I’m not, I have kept faith in humanity. I am completely sure that if you grant humanity the opportunity to survive and learn from your civilization, we will grow back stronger and better,”

Both rulers stared with amazement as silent took over the room for a minute.

“That is a very moving speech, Leighton.” Luna said with a grin, “if it were my decision, I would accept your plan. But, the final decision is up to my sister,” she faced her sister with puppy eyes, “I have emitted my opinion, Sis.”

“Leighton,” her stare turned more compassionate, glancing towards Princess Luna, “you are a very good spokesman. But I will not concede this opportunity so easily; have you planned the implementation as well?”

“Yes I have. It will be an even split six hundred thousand people per continent, considering race and nationality. Strategic collection sites will be mounted on each country for a determinate amount of population.”

“Have you considered that there will be people who will be left behind? If you mount your collection site on a big, crowded city people are going to fight to be saved.” Luna said.

“As I mentioned, they are strategic. Statistically, people who live on cities are more prone to violent responses than those who inhabit the rural parts. We look into small towns from each country, collect their people and leave. Everyone will think it turned into a ghost town due to war.”

“What about the culture and traditions. I will not allow them to bring cattle along,” Celestia said.

“Humans are witty and creative, I’m sure they’ll find a way to exploit Equestria’s resources properly, under the correct legal frame.” I winked my eye at the Queen. The beautiful equine looked down meditating, the room went silent.

“Alright, Mister McRae,” Celestia broke the silence with firm voice, “you have convinced me that your plan is actually a good idea. You have the support of Equestria,” her smile made me let out a huge sigh in relief, “Thank you very much, Celestia,” My efforts had paid off; humanity was going to be safe.

“Now, Twilight,” her apprentice immediately straightened up, “please take mister McRae to the royal library, where he will explain his plan to our scientists.”

“This way”, Twilight signaled me to move towards a side of the chambers, where a closed golden door protected by two Pegasi with golden armor was.

“And Leighton,” Celestia’s voice made my body shudder; I turned to face her with a confident smile, “Humanity should be grateful to have someone like you.”

“Thank you, your highness,” I reverentially bowed one last time before proceeding into the golden door. I felt relieved, but I somehow knew it had just started.

Chapter 6

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 6

“So, when do you leave Ponyville?” Spike asked with curiosity, hopping around me restlessly.

“I leave in two days; Queen Celestia assigned me as Twilight’s personal bodyguard. I’m supposed to watch over her during her speech at the UN,” I glanced at the staircase hoping to see Twilight appear. It was a long day at Canterlot, but it was worth it. Pony scientists are now looking into the implementation of project HC, we have Celestia’s approval and we only need the legalization of ponification.

“Tell me, Leighton. What is it like to be a human?” he asked with an intense stare at my eyes.

“Well…” I looked away from his green eyes, “It’s absolutely different from being a pony. You have hands, legs, toes and fingers that make your life a lot easier. But there is really no big difference between the feel and I’m more comfortable on all-four actually.”

Spike sighed as he looked out a window, “I wish I could go. I think I would look totally different. I bet Rarity would fall at my feet if I was human.”

“Why don’t you tell me, Spike; if you don’t mind the question. If Rarity is a pony and you a dragon, how is something between you two going to work?” my question froze spike for a second, he turned towards me with a sad look.

“Do you think that’s the problem?” his voice filled with anguish.

“I’m not sure mate. You know, we humans are good at broken hearts and situations like that, just let me ask you a few questions, do you mind?” I instantly felt regret just by looking at his face.

“Absolutely no! What do you want to know about,” Spike face lightened up like a Christmas tree upon hearing my words.

“For how long have you know Rarity?” I approached a table next to the window, illuminated by the sun rays coming from outside; it was a beautiful morning with no clouds, and if any showed up, a Pegasus quickly appeared and kicked it away. Spike took a chair from what would be the living room and sat in front of me.

“Well, I’ve know her for a couple of years now,” he said.

“That’s a start; and why haven’t you told her how you feel?”

“Trying to convince Spike into confessing his love to Rarity?” Twilight said with a blank look in her eyes as she walked down the stairs, carrying the same saddlebags from yesterday.

“I’m learning about this situation, and where are you going? I asked with a frown.

“I’m going to see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and I have to run some errands. Leighton, take care of the library, and if you leave, there are keys on the stand next to the door, see ya!” she left the house with mild rush, perhaps she was running late because she left the door open behind her.

“Don’t listen to her, where were we?” Spike closed the door behind her and clutched a jar filled of clear water from one of the shelves around him.

“I asked you, why haven’t you told her how you feel?” I looked around for glasses, but Spike found them first from another shelf closer to him.

“Oh…” he looked down thoughtfully, “I… I’m not sure about how she feels about me”

“If I’d get one penny for every time I heard that throughout my life…” I sighed, “Look mate, that’s the way this whole business works. Commonly, women are the ones who want to be courted and keep their intentions hidden; you’re probably never going to figure out that you like someone unless she tells you so. Most of my formal relationships were born because I took the risk of saying how I felt.”

“Formal relationship? Then what is an informal relationship?” he filled my glass with water.

“It… have you ever heard about sex?” Spike face turned devilish as he drank from his glass.

“I’ve heard that word before. I overheard Twilight and Applejack once saying that she found Big McIntosh having sex with somepony, I looked the word in a book and found a whole lot of ways to ‘have sex’.”

“Well, an informal relationship is when to people only have sex and nothing else. It’s a shallow relationship, and it leads to nowhere in the future; it’s just to have fun,” I drank from the glass, the fresh water felt well on my throat.

“Do you think Rarity would want to have sex with me?” I couldn’t help it and burst into a loud laughter.

“Of course not! She doesn’t seem to like that kind of stuff.”

“Then how do I tell her how I feel?”

“You just walk into her chambers with a bunch of flowers and say: Rarity, I have something I would like to say. The rest is up to you, but keep in mind that once you walk into that room there is no going back.” Spike shot up from his seat with his chest high.

“That’s a great idea! Thank you Leighton!” he ran outside and headed towards the flowery shop across the street. I giggled at him from my seat, his determination was something I had never seen before; he obviously had the soul of a child.

“Well, now I’m all on my own. I wonder what I can do.” I thought to myself while staring out the window, the town was quite big and I had the whole day. It took me five minutes to prepare myself before I stepped out into the streets of Ponyville. After closing everything behind me, I walked east towards the marketplace, where it was apparently a poor day, or it was just getting started. Behind a small wooden stand I heard someone complaining.

“No Apple Bloom, you can’t have some money to go and buy Rarity a dress, now, help me out with these apples.”

“But Applejack!” I heard the voice of a small girl whining with southern accent.

“No buts, yer a big filly. Now go n’ you earn it,” I approached the stand and saw Applejack and a smaller olive pony with a red mane trying to lift a box of apples.

“Good morning, Applejack” I said from a side of her stand.

“Oh, howdy Leighton. Back already from Canterlot? How’d it go?” she pushed her small sister aside and attempted to lift the box by herself.

“I convinced Celestia from letting humans in. May I help?” I approached to her side.

“Yes, please. This box is heavy as a dead priest,” we lifted the box with a coordinate effort into the stand. Apple Bloom quickly began sorting the apples around neatly.

“Thank you, Leighton. It woulda took me the whole morning to lift that darn box,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you mister!” the small pony turned to give a warm smile, that little filly was just adorable.

“Oh yeah, this is my little sister, Apple Bloom. She helps me run the stand,” the small filly trotted towards me and stared at me with a pouty.

“Can you loan me some coins mister?”

“I would if I had any, Apple Bloom. But I don’t know the currency exchange for a five hundred euro bill.” I showed the purple bill and the child drooled at it.

“You could trick a few people ‘round here with that thing,” Applejack pulled her sister away from me, “but this filly needs to learn the importance of a job and how work earns you money,” She patted Apple Bloom’s head.

“Your sister is right, little one. Spending money is a better experience if you earn it through your own sweat.”

Apple Bloom sighed and walked towards the stand, where a couple of customers were waiting to buy some fresh apples.

“So, what brings ya here?” Applejack glanced at her sister working, making sure she wasn’t extorting the customers.

“I was just passing by, I’m trying to get used to this town,” I noticed a hat was lying on a basket next to Applejack; she grabbed it and placed it in her head.

“Well sugar cube, today is my day off, so whaddaya say we go n’ grab sum lunch?”

“Sounds like a great idea,” I said with an honest smile, Applejack took some coins from the register next to her sister, who glared at her at the sight of the action.

“Follow me, Leightn’, I know the perfect place for lunch” she walked in front of me seemingly confident, her blonde mane waved in my line of sight.

“Ya know; it’s pretty awkward to have somepony staring at your flank” I snapped and trotted to her side.

“My apologies, Applejack.”

“So, what’s next with yer plan?” she took a sip from her chocolate milkshake through a straw. Around us, other tables with ponies enjoyed a healthy breakfast under the protection of an umbrella on their mushroom shaped tables. The seats were made of just hay, but it felt comfortable enough to enjoy the meal.

“We wait, inform the world leaders and pray this works. But that is enough about me, Applejack. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself,” I sipped my white teacup.

“Me?” she asked with an uncomfortable face, “I’m just yer regular pony workin’ hard to make it through the day.”

“Everypony is interesting, Applejack. I am a people person, as we humans say. Do you have any family other than your little sister?” I crossed my hooves with interest.

“Well, there’s Big McIntosh n’ O’l Granny Smith. All my cousins that live far west n’ Uncle and Aunt Orange,” she touched her chin thoughtfully.

“You don’t have family of your own? Nopony ever reproduces in here?” my question instantly drew the attention of anypony nearby, they glared with hateful eyes.

“No, I don’t,” everypony around turned away from our table, minding their own business once again, “ I haven’t found the right colt yet, why’d you ask?”

“Well, it’s nice to see you can breed in this place. The only filly I’ve seen is your sister, and Spike’s crush on Rarity made me curious.”

“Ah that Spike” she giggled, “they can’t precisely reproduce because dragons grow a whole lot bigger, but nothin’s keepin’ them from bein’ a couple,”

“I see…” I drank again from my teacup, leaving no liquid inside.

“N’ what ‘bout ya? Ya got kids of yer own?” her question instantly made me blush.

“I… I once had a wife and a small child.” I hid my embarrassment under a calm tone of voice.

“Where are they?” Applejack’s curiosity did not offend me, but it was touching a part of my life I do not share easily. Yet, there was something on her that made me trust her; enough to share this with her.

“As war ravaged through earth, keeping my family safe became harder and harder. After we barely made it through a bombardment in our house in Liverpool, I had no choice but to make sure they were safe,” my head filled with their faces smiling, I looked down as I gathered the strength to pronounce the words that described their fate.

“I… I had my family ponyfied to ensure their welfare.”

“Oh my…”Applejack’s face filled with surprise, “they didn’t got to keep their memories, right?”

“No they didn’t. My wife Angelica was a brilliant ecologist and my daughter Blaire was barely on kinder garden. It was hard, but it was the best for them.”

“You seem… to take this matter lightly,” she asked with a frown, my face reflected no emotion at all as I talked. Deep inside, however, another story was told.

“I do not. It breaks my heart to remember twelve years of successful marriage and four years raising a baby girl. Blaire’s birthday is next week’s Thursday, actually,” I took the white porcelain teapot and carefully poured the yellow colored liquid into my cup.

“Would you take a look at that? Apple bloom’s birthday is that same day!” she said with a cheerful smile, my face quickly drew one as well.

“You make sure she gets my congratulations when the time is proper,” I teased the tea to make sure its temperature was right, my hooves reacted quickly to the stimuli from my lips, “Bollocks this is hot!” the shout was heard all around the restaurant, everyone turned to glare at me with curious eyes again.

“Just ignore ‘em. They all look at ya because they don’t recognize yer face,” she said with a playful grin.

“My name is Leighton McRae; would you please stop staring at me?” Everypony turned back to their tables, food or conversation. Applejack laughed uncontrollably.

“Now that’s some nerve, boy!” she interrupted her laughter to mumble. I quietly took my cup and drank some more tea from it.

“So when are y’all plannin’ to return to earth?” Her laughter slowly calmed.

“Two days. I still got today and tomorrow to enjoy this lovely town,” I glanced at a pink pony in the distance, her mane waved up and down with her physically impossible way of jumping.

“Hey, why don’t you come to sweet apple acres help me out buck some apples?” her eyes sparkled with a look nopony could resist.

“That sounds like a-”

“Ah, Leighton, there you are!” A familiar voice echoed in the distance, I turned to see it was Rarity, “I’m sorry to rudely interrupt, hi Applejack- Spike told me you were back in town and I had to ask you if you could model a few attires for me”

“Spike told you that? Didn’t he mention anything else other than my presence in town?” I asked while serving her some tea.

“No he didn’t. But he was holding various flowers now that I recall,” she graciously took her cup and sipped.

“I actually just booked some minutes of my time helping Applejack buck sum apples?” I attempted to mimic the orange pony’s accent, but failed miserably. My Scouse was too marked and I sounded like a complete idiot; and yes, both mares laughed.

“Oh don’t worry Leighton. You can go help Rarity, I-”

“Somepony help!” A green mare shouted at the entrance of the restaurant, “A gryphon is attacking a poor little filly in a stand at the marketplace!” Applejack’s face instantly turned white from fear.

“Apple Bloom!” she shouted and galloped at full speed towards the marketplace, I followed as close as my hooves allowed me to with scared Rarity next to me. Damn she was fast.

“I thought stuff like this never happened in Ponyville?” I said trying to open the wings tucked in my torso for the first time.

“They don’t, a gryphon is a rare sight around here, but they are not violent.” Rarity quickly replied, passing me and catching up to Applejack, damn she was fast too.

“Does somepony know how do these bloody wings work?!” my red wings slowly began unfolding, spreading. The marketplace was still far from us, I had to make my wings work and fly for the first time.

“We ain’t Pegasus Leighton; you’ll have to figure it out!” Applejack sarcastically replied. The muscles around my wings became one with my body; I was able to feel them for the first time once they were wide open. Slowly, I began moving them up and down, trying to lift my body of the floor.

Pushing my heart to the limit, I galloped as fast as I could and jumped once my body reached max speed. My hooves kept moving, but the ground was not there, I was floating in the air using only my wings; they felt natural and it wasn’t hard. I accelerated past the mares and saw a brownish figure next to Apple Bloom’s stand.

“Leave the filly alone, you crazy son of a bitch!” I furiously shouted an instant before I noticed I did not know how to stop. The gryphon turned to stare at me with eyes full of hatred and its claws stained with apple pulp.

“Leightn’!” Apple Bloom’s eyes lightened up when she saw me flying towards the stand at full speed, the little filly was covered with a mixture of apple pulp and blood, she didn’t seem badly injured though. The beast turned his body towards me, trying to receive the impact with its claws pointing at me. Adrenaline filled my veins as the beast became closer, muscles tightening, pupils constricting, time becoming slower… It was kicking in.

When I approached him enough, he threw a slash at me filled with rage; I dodged it and swept his feet using my impulse. Upon impact, he flew in the air spinning without control. The collision was enough to slow me down and land, the gryphon stood up and roared maliciously.

“C’mon” I mockingly whistled at it, taunting it with my hooves. It dashed at full speed blinded with anger, trying to hit me with another slash. I blocked it using a hoof and quickly dislocated the beast’s arm with the other. The cracking sound made everypony around shiver, along with a shriek of pain that the gryphon loosed.

I kicked it in the chest before it could even finish its screaming, the beast wimped back with its arm completely immobilized. I saw Applejack run towards her sister, taking the small pony in her hooves.

“Where do you think you’re going? I’m not done with you yet,” the beast turned and attempted to fly away but I struck it in the back and dislocated its wings as well with a forceful pull, it shrieked in pain once more and even harder.

“Please… don’t…” It muttered with a defeated voice.

“Looks like you’re about to get a cold shoulder!” I prepared my hoof to strike a final blow on the gryphon’s neck, but just before I throw a punch, Twilight broke through the crowd and once again grabbed my arm just in time , preventing me from killing the gryphon.

“Will you ever let me execute someone?” I stared at her with a blank look.

“I think this gryphon has learned his lesson, there is no need in taking his life, right?” She stared at the gryphon with authority, it looked down with remorse.

“Thank you, pony. Your kindness shall not be forgotten,” the gryphon said with a male voice, it slowly stood up and walked down the street. Two Pegasi with golden armor quickly descended from the sky and escorted it.

“Is everypony okay?” I looked around and noticed the surprised stare of at least a hundred ponies. One of them suddenly began stomping on the ground, emitting a noise somewhat similar to applause. The gesture quickly spread between the crowd and a thunderous ‘applause’ filled the streets.

“So that’s how they do the applauses around here eh?” I asked Twilight with a proud smile.

“Don’t get too cocky, they would be all over you if you’d killed that gryphon.”

Ignoring Twilight’s commentary, I approached Applejack and Apple Bloom. The little filly had only a few bruises and cuts, nothing serious.

“Thank Celestia you show’d up Leightn’. That rude gryphon didn’t have any change and flipped out when I took some apples off his basket,” she said with tears on her eyes, falling asleep shortly after.

“That was pretty good, darling. Where did you learn to fight like that?” Rarity asked as she took a napkin and cleaned Apple Bloom’s forehead.

“A few books of Jujitsu and a couple more of anatomy. Is Apple Bloom okay?”

“Yeah… she’s got a few bruises n’ cuts, I’ll take her to the doctor just to be sure,” Applejack quickly replied while placing her sister down on the floor.

“Alright, alright everypony. The show is over, go back to your daily lives,” Twilight shooed the crowd away, as quickly as they gathered, they disappeared.

“Do you need any help with Apple Bloom?” I asked Applejack with a concerned look.

“No, she does not,” Twilight said with bossy tone, I turned to scowl at her.

“He’s just trying to be polite, Twi. There’s no need to be a complete bitch,” Applejack said with indignation.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” the purple unicorn sighed, “Leighton, something has happened. We have to return to earth right away,” there was a slight touch of fear in her voice that concerned me. It had to be something important.

Chapter 7

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 7

“What exactly happened?” I asked with a disturbed tone, Twilight walked around nervously. She dragged me all the way from the marketplace to the library in such hurry, I wasn’t able to say goodbye to Rarity or Applejack.

“Celestia just told me the communications with the Russian just went down. There is no response from them,” she grabbed a few books from a shelf next to her.

“So what? A blackout, they are very common on earth.”

“No, Leighton. Someone tried to enter Equestria a few hours ago; it wasn’t anyone the Russian sent,”

“That’s weird. How long have the comms been down?”

“Ten hours. Leighton. Someone is trying to enter Equestria without our permission,” she stopped flipping the pages of her brown book.

“So what’s Celestia’s advice?”

“She’s sending a strike team to the Russian base to figure out what’s going on,” she tossed her book and grabbed another one from the same shelf.

“Don’t send a strike team. It will only cause more tension between ponies and humans, send me in,” I stared at Twilight with determined eyes.

“Celestia said that you are in charge of the strike team. You’ll be meeting them on the outsides of the base once I send you back to earth,”

“No, you don’t understand. The whole raid on the Russian facility must be a trap. They want you to send a strike team to dismantle their operations, and once the word spreads out that ponies killed a bunch of humans and Russian scientists, our credibility goes down the toilet. Send me in, I can take them down,” I yelled straight at her face, hoping she would understand.

“No” she sighed, “you are just one pony, I mean, man. Who knows how many people are in there, if the facility actually went down.”

“Then if there was only a blackout, one man asking what the problem is would look a lot better than a platoon of heavily armed ponies. Besides, if the facility was captured, then they probably won’t open fire on a human. Send me in; just make sure Celestia is aware of this. You know I can get the job done” I winked my eye at her once again; she dropped her book and let out a very disgruntled sigh.

“Alright… Alright. But if Celestia throws crap at me it’s on you, I don’t usually disobey her orders,” Twilight’s horn began glowing in a more intense lavender color than before.

“Hey, don’t tell me I’m going to appear naked somewhere in cold Russia,” I added sarcastically.

“No, the books I’ve been reading are about how to make clothes appear upon teleportation,” an intense wind flooded the library, making lots of book fly around us. Slowly, Twilight’s horn filled the room with a crimson aura that had its own lightning. Just like before, black hole appeared right in front of us.

“Now that I think of it, how is it that you can travel between the two worlds and nopony else can?” nervousness filled my body, the black hole roared in front of us.

“It’s a signature spell Celestia taught me, just jump in for the love of Celestia, this is a lot harder than it actually looks,” Twilight bent with the tremendous effort she was doing, and without hesitation, I jumped into the hole once again. The experience was just as painful as the last time, except that this time I was able to see my body morphing back. And just like last time, I fainted in the middle of the travel.

I woke up as I felt a chilling cold in my face; I appeared right under a pine tree somewhere in Russia. It was a sunny day, but in places like this the sun is only for illumination.

“I’m sure I don’t get frequent traveler miles from this,” I wiped any snow off my black leather jacket and looked around me. A Street covered mostly by snow, showing pavement only in the wheel marks from the cars that had passed through appeared in front of me. Across the street, a few abandoned buildings barely stood, they had no windows and scorch marks all around them. Next to me, my briefcase was covered mostly by snow, showing only a small part of its black cover laid; I took it in my hands and wiped any snow from it.

“Let’s see what she sends…” I opened the briefcase and took the sheet of paper on it.

“Dear Leighton McRae.

Twilight has already told me the risk you are taking and why you are taking it. Even though I do not entirely approve it, I will allow it because it seems the best course of action at the moment. My student also bows for your expertise in the handling of firearms and high danger situations, so, even though you are not a mercenary, an agent or any form of law enforcement, I will allow you to speak and take actions in the name of Equestria as you see fit. As for this assignment and further references, you will be now referred as LH7, an autonomous and undercover agent under my direct command.

Now that I have clarified that, your orders are to find out what is the source of the communication breakdown in the Russian station and put an end to it. As a mission parameter, try to keep the casualties as close to zero as possible.

Queen Celestia.”

“LH7? I should have asked for 007,” I tossed the letter back at the briefcase and pulled out the same P229 from before and hid it under my jacket inside my black jeans. As for the briefcase, I disposed of it under a thick layer of snow. At the end of the street, a huge fenced facility’s entrance was guarded by a couple of men dressed in military clothes stood without any signs of being harmed by the war.

“I don’t think I can sneak in through the main entrance. Getting in there, guns blazing sounds like a death wish,” I scanned the surroundings, looking for a possible route inside the facility.

“LH7, come in,” a voice inside my head said with a feminine voice. I could tell it was Twilight’s after a few seconds of processing the information.

“LH7 here, so now you have decided to repay the favor by being the voice inside my head?”

“Sort of. I’ll be leading your intelligence in the meantime, tell me what you see at the entrance?” I glanced at the military guards up ahead; they were equipped with HK416, a standard assault rifle with winter camo.

“Two guards, both male. Military outfits… they seem like MCCUU. They are equipped with HK416, I could tell one of those weapons with my left eye covered and the other on a stick,”

“What’s MCCUU?” she asked with a confused tone.

“Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform, an American war outfit.”

“American? What are they doing here?” she sounded astonished and scared at the same time, I decided to walk towards the entrance with a confident walk.

“Mind if I ask?” the guards stared at me and readied their weapons.

“Excuse me sir, you are approaching a restricted area,” one of them walked towards me pointing his gun.

“I’m sorry, but I was hoping to be ponyfied. I have level four clearance from your Colonel,” I glanced at the other guard; he went inside the tollbooth next to him.

“My partner is going to verify you clearance,” he spun his head to look at his comrade. In that same instant, I took his head and broke his neck with the classic spinning action. The body fell to the ground and the noise of his equipment hitting the ground alarmed the other guard.

“Richards?” his head popped up from a window with a phone in hand. I pulled out my pistol and connected a headshot on his forehead; blood spilled the walls behind him.

“LH7? Sit rep.”

“I just shot two hostiles. I’ll proceed into the facility in a minute,” I dragged the bodies into the snow across the street, and carefully, buried them inside a layer of snow. The streets were empty, not a soul seemed to ever walk around here at all.

“Celestia said zero casualties,” she scolded.

“I read in the file: ‘Keep the casualties as close to zero as possible,’ I’ll try not to kill more, alright?”

I returned to the bloodstained tollbooth and opened the green metallic fence with a button. With a screeching sound, the fence slowly slid open. Fortunately, there was no one around to notice me breaking in.

Before I entered, I took the radio and rifle from one of the dead guards.

“Ok. You need to sneak inside the facility, find out what’s going on and reactivate the ponification system. I need to prepare some things, so I have to get off the chat with you. Please, don’t do anything stupid.”

“Leaving me so soon?” I asked with a smirk on my face, in front of me there was a massive concrete field with a few jeeps parked around the gray two story building with various communication antennae and a huge satellite dish next to them.

“I’m really sorry Leighton, but I have to. Take care.”

“At least tell me what you’re doing, don’t leave me here talking to myself looking like a complete idiot!” I shouted, but there was no response. Wherever she had gone she was gone for good.

“At least now I only have to listen to me!” I sarcastically thought with a slightly devilish grin.

The building in front of me showed no signs of any life form other than me, but that sole thought was not enough me to get me inside through the main door. Searching for an alternate route, I walked around the building. On the east side, a reinforced door with a yellow warning inscription seemed like the better option.

“Richards, come in, over” was heard on the radio inside my jacket.

“This is Richards, send your traffic, over” I replied, trying to hide my accent. I had always practiced a regular American accent to blend in during my travels.

“What happened to your voice? Over.”

“This fucking cold is tearing us apart, what did you expected? Over.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, Lieutenant Bradley needs you in here for debriefing, over.”

“Roger, where was it? This place is a fucking maze, over.”

“You always have to be such an idiot…” the man in the radio let out a very, very disgruntled sigh, “Enter the building through the main doors, take the elevator all the way down and it’s the first door to your right. Over.”

“Thanks, I won’t get lost this time, out,” I turned off the radio and tossed it under a jeep. The surroundings of the building were dead silent; I could clearly hear my footsteps against the pavement and my breathing, but not any other sound.

“I guess I’ll have to do this the old fashioned shootout style…” I walked back to the main entrance; adrenaline filled my veins with every steep I took. Walking through the main door of a military facility is almost begging to get shot to dead, but there was no other option. I leaned against the wall next to the matte gray double doors; I checked my weapon’s ammo, closing my eyes shut with a firm grip on the rifle.

“On the count of three, you enter the building, run for cover and improvise… One… Two… Three!” I slammed the doors open and saw an empty two story hall for a few instants before I dashed to a concrete pillar for cover. The sound of the doors being open echoed all around. I cautiously peeped and didn’t saw any signs of life anywhere; the spacious shadowed hall was empty.

“Must be my lucky day,” I placed the rifle on my back and took a better look at my surroundings. Several cables ran through the floor and walls, all leading into a hole on the ground in the center of the hall.

“Maybe I can sneak in through these pipes…” I looked down into the dark void with caution. I spun my head wryly suddenly when I heard a moving sound in the distance; I dashed for cover behind a steel duct next to the hole. From the distance, I saw two men walk out an old rusty maintenance elevator, dressed exactly the same as the guards outside. I took my rifle and scoped them with the telescopic sight, the eagle; globe and anchor were visible on their vest. The USMC was here.

“Do you think Richards got lost again?” one of them asked the other one with a particular afro-American accent.

“No, something must have happened, his radio’s dead.”

I waited for the precise moment to open fire; my hands almost trembled with anxiety. They stopped to check the doors, it was the moment. I shot five 5.56x45 mm rounds into one of them killing it instantly, and two rounds to the other one’s legs. It moaned in pain and reached for its handgun.

“Who the fuck goes there?” he shouted with a hint of horror in his voice, pointing everywhere in paranoia. I sneaked around the pipes and delivered a clean shot on his handgun. The firearm flew across the room as I pointed my rifle straight on his head.

“Don’t move,” I calmly said as I sunk the barrel on his forehead.

“Don’t shoot bro, it’s cool. You got me, just let me go,” he closed his eyes in terror, shuddering in fear. I pulled my rifle back from his head slowly.

“Listen up mate, you’ll have to answer some questions if you want to crawl your arse out of here. What is the USMC doing here?”

“We were sent here to secure the ponification facility, that’s all I know.”

“Where are the Russians?”

“Lieutenant Cavanaugh sent them to the basement; we’re keeping them as hostages.”

“Hostages? What the hell is going on here, what’s the goal of securing the facility?!”

“I told you, we were just sent here to secure the facility, Lt. Cavanaugh should know more about this, I told you everything I knew, just let me go now…” he closed his eyes again, containing a few tears inside.

“One last thing. How many of you are down there? Do I need anything to use the elevator?” I sunk the barrel in his head again; making this guy squeal like a little girl was amusing for me.

“No, but you’ll need a key card to access the debriefing room, here take mine,” he pulled out a yellow card labeled with Russian writing, “and there should be other eight people in there, you should find them all inside the debriefing room. Now please, for the love of god, let me go…”

“Give me your radio and I’ll let you crawl away,” he tossed his radio to the floor and tried to stand using his injured legs, his efforts were futile until he approached the wall and leaned against it. He stepped outside and tried to walk his way to a jeep.

“And I thought marines were tough…” I sighed, glancing at the elevator across the room. I inspected the other marine’s body and took his ammo, storing it inside one of my pockets; the magazines were small enough to fit a couple inside.

I pushed a green button labeled with a down arrow; a screeching sound came from the mechanism and slowly began descended. A small lamplight next to the up and down buttons was the only light source once darkness overtook my surroundings. Brute gray rocks were barely visible all around me; their origin was likely volcanic.

After a few minutes, the elevator stopped at a shiny metallic hallway. I descended cautiously and equipped my rifle; I could see my reflection on the walls around me.

I reached an intersection and swiftly checked both sides, pointing at each in quick succession. Still, there was no one around. A few meters away right, I saw a glass sliding door with a keycard lock.

“Looks like that marine wasn’t lying. I have a couple of minutes before they notice I already killed three of their marines, I should probably use them in releasing the Russians before killing all the marines,” I thought to myself, it was that thought what made me turn around and search the opposite hallway for stairs. The place was a maze if you didn’t know Russian, so I got lost after a few turns. Eventually, I ran into a door with a paper that read:

“Crazy Russian scientists”

“Now that’s interesting,” I gazed at the sign queerly, noticing this door also had a keycard lock. I slid the keycard in and the console emitted a beeping sound, releasing the lock afterwards. I entered and saw a huge staircase that led to a storage room. In the middle of the room, surrounded by lots of carton boxes and metal shelves, at least ten men in white lab coats were tied up all together and laid in the floor.

“Are you OK?” I asked from a distance, expecting an unintelligible response.

“You’re not American, are you?” One of them asked with a classic Russian accent, he seemed the oldest one of the group because of his dominantly gray hair and abundant beard.

“No, I’m not. Celestia sent me in to check out the situation, what happened?” I fastened my pace to release them; I pushed a few boxes aside to reach them.

“The Americans stormed in last night and killed a few of us. They claimed that this facility was now under the United States jurisdiction, a bunch of crap,” the knot around their ties was no match for my rifle’s bayonet, one by one, they all stood up and began talking between themselves in Russian.

“Do you know why would they want this facility?”

“They wanted me to help them build a bigger gate to Equestria; I think they are planning an invasion to the pony world.”

“Did you help them?”

“Of course not! I would not betray the treaty I made with Celestia for anything. I told them to shove it; they moved us here and tied us like animals.”

“Alright. I’m going to need you to stay here for another while; I’m going to clear the building from those marines,” I handed my rifle over to this old doctor.

“I can’t fire this thing, young man,” he stared at the weapon astonished.

“You just pull the trigger if they come in to check. Hopefully, you won’t have to use it.” I walked toward the staircase with a sense of hurry.

“Very well, young man. What is your name?”

“Leighton McRae, now if you’ll excuse me, I must clean this building,” I ran up the staircase and pulled out my P229.

Chapter 8

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 8

I stepped into the hallway again, closing the door electronically behind me to cover my trail. The whole facility still seemed abandoned, it was dead silent. Walking down the corridor right of where I started, I reached another intersection.

“Freeze,” I felt a cold, piece of metal in my head.

“Finally, I was getting lonely,” I raised my hands with a sly grin on my face, slowly turning to see the helmeted blue eyed marine pointing at me with a .45 MEUSOC pistol.

“I’ll take that,” he snatched my pistol off my hands, “now; tell me who are you and what are you doing here?”

“I can’t tell you,” I mockingly laughed at him.

“Shut up, smartass” he struck me with the grip of his pistol on my back, the impact was hard enough to bend me. With his pistol always pointing at my neck, he walked me towards the debriefing room in complete silence.

“Lincecum! Open up!” the sliding glass door opened up and another marine appeared, this one had regular brown eyes and a huge scar on his left eye.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” Lincecum stepped back and allowed our entrance into the room.

“I don’t know, I caught him walking around the facility with a pistol,” he tossed me violently against some monitors right of the room. I scanned the room a huge desk panel covering the most of the central part; it displayed several data and numbers. I couldn’t understand, for it was all in Russian.

Surrounding the desk panel, six marines were staring at me with hatred, specially the one in the far side of the room with the abundant goatee.

“What is this, Vasquez?” the marine with the goatee asked with a rattling voice.

“I found this man outside in the hallways, he was armed with a P229, sir” Vasquez tossed the pistol towards the panel.

“Bring him to me,” two marines escorted me towards this man, presumably, Lieutenant Cavanaugh. I walked with my hands on my back without offering any fight.

“I’d expect more resistance from the man who has already killed three of my marines, why so cooperative?”

“I’m not being cooperative, I’m not offering resistance. That is all,” I kept my face emotionless and my tone calm; it was the best option for this situation.

“Quite an accent. Obviously you weren’t sent here by the Russians, who sent you?”

“Look pal, I’m going to answer three questions. After that, you shall answer all of my questions,” I said with a devilish grin, he punched me on the face after. The grin still prevailed.

“Do you really think you can escape-“

“Yes, you have two left” he punched me on the gut with fury; I gasped for air after the fierce impact.

“Alright, I will play your game. Tell me, who sent you and just who the fuck you are?” he grabbed my head from my hair and stared at me with furious eyes.

“I’m Leighton McRae and Queen Celestia sent me. Playtime is over,” I spit on his eyes and kicked the marine behind me on the groin. I turned quickly and stole the moaning marine’s handgun, executing it shortly after.

“Kill that son of a bitch!” Cavanaugh shouted rabidly while ducking for cover completely blinded, for instants after his command every single marine filled the room with gun fire.

“I told you, you should have tied him up!” Lincecum shouted to his fellow marine furiously from the other side of the room. Across, I was hidden behind the panel waiting for them to empty their weapons.

“Cover me!” a marine ran towards my position bravely with his rifle in arms. I pointed my weapon to the source of his voice and fired without seeing. A moan and a body falling to the ground were heard after.

The kill paralyzed a few marines; it was the correct time to begin my counterattack. Without giving it a second though, I stood up and saw seven marines scattered around the room in strategic positions. Shooting them all at once in the head was impossible.

“Flashbang!” one of them tossed a metallic object towards my position, I closed my eyes and fired towards it an instant after I head the warning. I could tell I made impact because of the deafening blast and lots of marines groaning in pain were heard. Balance in my body was affected from the blast, but I was not as affected as the marines, for I shot the grenade much closer to them and closed my eyes before the impact.

“Now or never” I thought before firing towards the stunned and helpless marines. One by one, their corpses fell to the ground with a shot either to the heart or the head, not a soul was spared except for the Lieutenant.

“Now, you answer my questions as planned” I pointed the pistol straight into Cavanaugh’s face, he finished wiping the spit off his face the instant he saw my gun in front of him.

“Fuck you,” he replied with indignation.

“I’ll let you think this over,” I struck him fiercely in the head as revenge, making him fall completely unconscious.

“I suppose this is mission complete” I walked over to the panel and picked up my P229, letting out a huge sigh of relief after.

“We owe you our life, Leighton,” the old doctor said relieved.

“Not a problem,” I shook his hand with a honest smile, “now tell me how do you get this thing working”

“The main generator should be intact, in a few seconds we should get back online,” he pushed a button on a side of the panel, everything around us lit instantly.

“Seer, my snova onlîne” a scientist on the other side of the panel said in Russian.

“Great, Nikolai just said we’re back online. I’ll try to establish communication with the ponies now…” he began typing stuff on the table at full speed; windows popped up and disappeared in the process.

“This is Equestria telecommunication facility, please Sweet surprise, tell us it’s you,” a masculine voice sounded in the room speakers.

“Sweet surprise here, Equestria. Inform Queen Celestia that LH7 mission was a success, we’re safe.”

“Roger, Sweet surprise. We have Twilight Sparkle here; she wants to talk to LH7.”

“Twilight?” I said in loud clear voice, the scientist wasn’t using a microphone, so I assumed there was no need for one.

“Leighton? Are you alright?” it was clear that was Twilight speaking with her classic worried voice.

“Just a few bruises and scratches, but alive, how about you?” I said with a huge smile. Hearing her voice once again somehow made my happy.

“I’m glad you’re ok. Now, give me your full debrief.”

“Mission is complete, I solved the communication problem and reinstalled the Russian scientists on their posts. The facility was overtaken by a special task group of the United States Marine Corps, claiming the US had control over the facility.”

“Did you completely eradicate all American presence in the facility?”

“Negative, I captured their leader, Lieutenant John Cavanaugh. The rest of his squad is KIA.”

“Is the body count above ten?”

“Nope, I killed only nine marines,” I giggled sarcastically and she sighed with a hint of disappointed.

“You had to kill them all didn’t you…? Well, at least it’s not ten; Celestia said that she didn’t want more than ten bodies, so she should be pleased.”

“Awesome, so what’s my next assignment?” I asked excited.

“We need you back here to check a few tests regarding plan HC. My conference at the UN is delayed due to an emergency meeting; you know they have to re-organize everything after a big city falls, so that means you’ll have to spend a few more days on Equestria, unless you want to stay on earth.”

“Oh hell no” I said with a chuckle, “take me back, just make sure I’m still myself once I get there.”

“Alright, Doctor Lukashenko, send him back along with the captured soldier. We’ll make him talk once he gets here.”

“Right away, ma’am,” Lukashenko pressed a button and the communication ended.

“So, how do I get ponyfied the old Russian style?” I clapped my hands eagerly.

“It’s a complicated process. Hey, Nikolai! Voz’mite yego vkomuntu transporta.

“Horosho, •eer, sleduĭte za mnoĭ gospodin Leighton,” a short brown haired scientist signaled me to follow him. He took me to a room in the next corridor, one with a huge metallic structure shaped like a bowl embedded on the wall. Lots of wires ran everywhere around us, all connected into the huge structure.

“Wait here, Mister Leighton,” Nikolai said with a heavy Russian accent, his English was not very fluent. Accents like his are the pure cliché of the Russian accent. He turned and abandoned the room in a hurry. I looked around me and saw a computer with legible letters for me.

“I suppose I can look around…” I dashed towards the computer and inspected it, several menus displayed in front of me with various immigration records.

“Looks like they have a tight control of who they send to Equestria…” browsing through the menus I stumbled upon a search engine.

“I’m not sure…” I touched my chin meditating, “but…” my hands typed mechanically my last name, and two names popped up instantly. I opened them and found quite a surprise.

“Angelica McRae. Status: Alive. Transferred to a safe house in Fillydelphia.
Pony Name: Classified. Profile: Regular cultural change, subject exhibits no memory from her life as a human. Does not recognize her daughter as such.

Relatives: Diana Blair McRae, daughter.

Current situation: Tracking became impossible upon its departure from Fillydelphia, current location is unknown.

Diana Blair McRae, status: Alive. Transferred to a safe house in Fillydelphia. Pony Name: Classified. Profile: No need for a cultural change due to its young age. Does not recognize her mother as such.

Relatives: Angelica McRae, mother.

Current situation: Tracking became impossible upon its departure from Fillydelphia, current location is unknown.”

“Mister Leighton,” Nikolai returned with another scientist, dragging fainted Lieutenant Cavanaugh along. I closed the windows and stepped back from the computer instantly, pretending that nothing had happened.

“So, is everything set?” I assisted in dragging Cavanaugh to the center of the structure.

“Yes, please step inside the portal. Ponification will begin in a few moments,” Nikolai stood next to the computer and began typing in a similar speed to that of Dr. Lukashenko. Electricity began flowing all around the portal, the air grew heavy and by body numb.

Slowly, I felt like I was sucked inside a dark void. Once everything went dark all around me, I could feel the same pain of ponification; a jolt of electricity ran all through my body and the pain stopped as I fainted during the process once again.

I woke up in the exact moment when I felt like my head was being electrocuted; I opened my eyes and saw Twilight next to me.

“Leighton? Do you remember who you are?” she asked with a hint of worry on her voice.

“I remember the first two times I did this my head did not felt like it exploded…” I stood up with a groan of pain, rubbing my head with my hoof.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Welcome back.”

“Back at your place?” I asked as soon as I recognized I was in Twilight’s house slash library.

“You actually appeared at the portal in Canterlot, but I brought you here,” she smiled warmly at me.

“What about Cavanaugh? Where is he?”

“His interrogation in Canterlot should be over by now, Spike is supposed to bring me the results of it by now. Don’t worry, we’ll erase his memory after we finish with him and he’ll incorporate a security office in Manehattan.”

“I’d send that guy back if I was you…”

“Hey Twilight!” the sound of the door being slammed open filled the room, it was Spike holding a paper in hand, “the results of the interrogation are back!”

“Hi Spike.”

“Hey, It’s Leighton!” he took my hoof and shook it like he should have the first time we met.

“So, what does the letter say, open it” Twilight said and the obedient dragon cleared his throat before pronouncing.

“I’ll go straight to the questions…” he rolled his eyes around the paper, “Ok, here it goes. Who do you work for? ‘The United States Marine Corps. What was your mission on the RPF? Secure it for future experiments regarding a potential military incursion on Equestria.”

“Doctor Lukashenko was right…” I touched my chin meditating.

“What kind of experiments? The experiments were purposed to develop a technology that would allow us to begin a massive military attack.”

“Stop, Spike,” Twilight said with indignation, “I’ve heard enough, send it to Queen Celestia.”

“Alright, sending!” he blew a green flame to the paper and it vanished into a mass of olive dust that flew out the window.

“I’m sure Celestia would have a very interesting opinion on this.”

“Fortunately for you, she’s giving you the weekend off. You can finally help Rarity and Applejack like you wanted,” she began lifting books around using her magic.

“So… I’m free to go?” I asked skeptically.

“Free to enjoy yourself around the town, I’ll stay here check some stuff.”

“Alright then…” Still skeptical and giving her weird look, I left the library with Spike behind me.

“So, where are you going?” Spike asked curiously as I walked without destination down the street, my mind suddenly remembered a good destination.

“Is Apple Bloom fine?”

“Well, last thing I knew she was at sweet apple acres recovering from the attack; do you wanna pay her a visit?”

“Lead the way mate,” I said with a happy tone. Spike began running ahead and I quickly catch up to him flying, a task I found now a little easier. At the end of the street, the surroundings became a forest with apple trees. A red barn became visible from between the trees; we were now in Sweet Apple Acres.

“That’s not fair, you can fly!” Spike yelled playfully, I gave a corkscrew and looked at him from above.

“What? I couldn’t use them just-” I crashed against another flying object, the impact made me fall to the floor and land in a painful way.

“Leighton!” Spike ran to assist me with panic on his voice.

“I’m fine… I’m fine…” I rubbed my head with a hoof and noticed the object was another Pegasus, a small orange one with a purple short mane.

“Scootaloo! Where do ya think yer goin’?” Applejack appeared from the forest seemingly exhausted, “what the heck… Leighton?” she ran to help me stand up.

“I’m fine, check on the little fellow.”

The small Pegasus groaned in pain as it stood up, “Where am I…” she asked confused.

“Oh my… are you okay?” Applejack grabbed Scootaloo’s head and shook it.

“If you keep shaking his head like that, I don’t think so” I teased with a chuckle. She stopped the shaking and Scootaloo regained full awareness of his surroundings

“Now, you tell me what were ya doin’ peepin’ on my house,” Applejack asked with a demanding voice.

“I wanted to see how Apple bloom was,” regret filled her voice as she looked down.

“And can’t you knock on mah door n’ ask? I ain’t gonna bite you.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s ok, you can come and see Apple Bloom,” she patted Scootaloo’s head with a warm smile, “and what about ya? Leighton?”

“I was hoping to see Apple Bloom as well. Please, lead the way,” I politely pointed my hoof towards the road with a reverential bow; Applejack chuckled and walked all of us into her barn.

“I’m so glad you were there to save Apple Bloom. I heard that Gryphon is now being prosecuted in Manehattan,” Applejack said thankfully. The insides of her house were cozy and classic Texan, you could see pictures of rodeos hung all around the house. She led me upstairs to a pink door labeled with A.B on it.

“She’s been sleeping for quite a while now, so she should be awake,” she hinted in low voice, trying to sneak inside her little sister’s quarters making the less noise as possible. But the cracking of the wooden floor made every footstep audible.

“Apple Bloom? Are you awake?” she said with soft voice. The filly turned to see us slowly; she was covered lots of layers of sheets and blanks, so her movement was limited. Her head was covered by a white bandage, thus, red mane was barely visible.

“Leightn’!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in delight the moment she saw me, her eyes filled with happiness and excitement.

“Are you alright?” I asked with sweet voice.

“Yep. My sister and brother have been watching over me and I’m getting a lot better. Thank you!”

“Did you sleep well?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, but I keep having these weird dreams,”

“Experiencing nightmares is common among children with post traumatic stress, it should go away in a few days,” I assured placing my hoof on her head.

“They ain’t nightmares. I dream that I walk around some rare places and I walk only on my forehooves, and that I call somepony mommy. It’s actually kinda fun!”

Applejack retreated and hinted me go talk to her.

“She’s been having those weird dreams since the attack. The doctor said that she had a huge bruise on her head,” she whispered to my ear.

“That’s really weird. How old is she?”

“She turns seven next week.”

“Sleep disorders… She didn’t have these problems before the attack?”

“Wait a sec, yer’e a doctor?”

“No, but I know a few tricks about psychology, for I did my thesis in the human cerebral-social-sensorial relationship.”

“Dunno what that is, but ya sure convinced me that you know what yer’e talkin’ ‘bout.”

“I sure do, now; tell me, did she have sleeping disorders before the attack?”

“No, I don’t think so. She woulda mention it.”

“Don’t keep me out of yer talk! I wanna hear too!” Apple Bloom ranted with high pitched voice.

“Ok sugar cube, Leighton’s goin’ to ask you a few questions. Be honest alright?” Applejack gently touched her sister’s bandage.

“Okay, fire ‘em Leighton!” she exclaimed energetically.

“I want you to tell me, do you dream of cream colored ponies that walk on their hind legs?”

“Exactly!” she assured surprise.

“Do these ponies have hooves with small fleshy tubes?”

“Yeah!” her tone of voice rose above the mark from the previous answer.

“Do they wear clothes like pants and shirts?”

“Leighton, are you having the same dreams too?” Applejack snapped surprised.

“No, I’m describing a human being.”

“So the ponies in my dreams are humans?” Apple Bloom asked heavily confused.

“If you description is accurate, yes they are.”

“But there are ponies in mah dream too!” the filly whined.
“Can you tell where you are?” Applejack asked with much worry in her voice.

“I recognize Fillydelphia from the buildings.”

“And what ‘bout the pony you call mommy?”

“She runs inside a building and I can’t follow her.” Applejack retreated and whispered in my ear.

“Dreams among ponies are not very common, so if she’s having them is for a reason,” she muttered with concern.

“So?”

“If she’s dreamin’ ‘bout my ma then she’s still alive and on Fillydelphia.”

“That’s a bold statement. And you don’t know your own mother?” I asked with a frown.

“Look… It’s whole complex business and is not easy to explain. You got involved now, so I’d like you to come with me to Fillydelphia to look for my ma.”

“Hey, but…” I let out a disappointment sigh, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks. Go n’ tell Twilight I’m loaning you for a few days, she’ll understand why,” she pushed her head against my flank to push me out of the room.

“Hey, at least allow me to say goodbye to your sister,” I moved away from her impulse, “Take care, Apple Bloom!”

“Sure do, Leightn’!” I heard instants before Applejack finished pushing me off her room.

“What was that all about?” I scowled at Applejack; her response was a hoof straight to my lips in order to impede any more movement.

“Look, we’re goin’ to do this the sneaky way. Granny Smith doesn’t let me travel far from ‘ere n’ Big McIntosh would kill me if he found out ‘bout this. Go n’ tell Twi and come back here ‘round four o’ clock, ‘right?”

“Okay?” I replied with a huge frown on my face. Applejack hastily kicked me out of her house, looking quite good at lying to her family. And I thought ponies sucked at lying.

Chapter 10

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 10

“Have you ever been to Fillydelphia?” I asked with curiosity, it had been a long trip and the night was already over Equestria. Outside the window, the lights of a nocturne city were seen in the distance.

“Nope, but Granny Smith says I was once there when I was a little filly but I don’t recall it. Twilight says it’s quite similar to any of yer cities on earth, big buildings, lots of ponies everywhere, ya know what I’m sayin’.”

“Certainly; and why did you ask Rarity the gowns and coats?”

“I heard it’s pretty cold n’ there. Besides, Rarity dresses are awesome, I’m sure ya’ll like yours when we get there.”

“Applejack, we’re about to arrive in Fillydelphia, where shall we land?” A voice asked from the outsides of the cart, it must have been one of the driving Pegasi.

“Take us to the Colton Hotel. We’ve booked a couple of nights n’ there.” The cart moved brutally to one side, steering was always brutal when flying in a chariot drawn by Pegasi.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“We get there, get some sleep and tomorrow at first hour, we began lookin’ for the building Apple Bloom dreamt of,” the lights in the city were a lot closer than I thought at first. Fillydelphia did look like any city on earth, but with considerably less size and practically no skyscrapers. The cart began descending drastically, I felt like I was in a roller coaster and tried to get a grip from anything near me and Applejack however, was enjoying the sensation.

“C’mon Leighton, enjoy the ride!” she shouted with excitement, the cart kept descending rapidly.

“I’m sorry, I’m not very used to this kind of turbulence,” I closed my eyes bracing for a brutal impact. For my relief, the cart stopped gently on a street; Applejack burst into laughter when she saw me all curled up on a corner of the cart.

“The ride’s over, brave stallion,” she teased as she stepped down the vehicle, the city outside reminded me of any city in the earth, except ponies walked on its streets. The white building in front of us stood at least fifty meters tall, a decent size for a regular hotel on earth; the glass double doors covered the entrance to a fancy golden lobby with a large reception counter.

“I didn’t know they had such fancy hotels in Equestria,” I said with much surprise.

“If there’s ponies like Rarity walkin’ ‘round ‘ere, there’s hotels for ponies like her,” she stepped inside the hotel and rang the bell on the reception counter, a yellow mare with a green mane popped from under with a helpful smile.

“Welcome to the Colton Hotel, do you have a reservation with us?”

“Yeah, we booked a room yesterday. Applejack and Leighton McRae,” the mare quickly dug through the registration book and pointed it with a hoof.

“Yes, we have your registration miss and mister McRae-”

“Excuse me, milady. Applejack is not my wife, we’re business partners, she just happens to not have a last name like I do,” I quickly straightened with firm voice, I was not offended by the receptionist’s statement, and neither was Applejack.

“Oh,” she said with realization, “my apologies. Well, you’ve been assigned with room 2476,” she handed over a keycard labeled with the number, “enjoy your stay!”

“Thank you,” we left the counter and headed to what seemed to be the elevator.

“Leighton, would you mind goin’ on ahead to the room? I’ve got to pick the bags back at the cart,” she snapped and walked back towards the entrance.

“Alright then, see you at the room,” the elevator door opened, cozy red fur colored walls made it something I had never seen before. I pressed the button labeled with the number twenty four and waited patiently for the machine to lift me to my destination. Above, I noticed a speaker phone, usually used for the music. But this time, the news were being played.

“The Fillydelphia Fillies defeated the Manehattan Colts thirteen to four.

And on news from our dimensional neighbors, the United States of North America have confirmed that Adam Chambers is the new president, after the tragic assassination of Anita Goyle last Wednesday night. He stated America will reinforce the front of war and have a more radical pose towards ponification on his soil, revealing that the shutdown in the Russian ponification facility in the Koryak Mountains earlier this morning was caused by American armed forces. Ambassadress Twilight Sparkle is confirmed to assist to a meeting in the United Nations headquarters in New York City next Monday, to discuss a possible legalization of ponification and to put an end to the friction between ponies and humans…”

“You have got to be kidding me!” I kicked the fur with my hind hooves in fury, “that son of a bitch is president now?!” the elevator doors opened and a couple of ponies stared at me blankly.

“Excuse me,” I walked past them as politely as my anger allowed me to, looking around for the numerical order that would point towards my room. I wandered around the floor for a few minutes until I stumbled across a double door room labeled with the correct number, I slid the key and the door opened.

The room seemed quite cozy and fancy, the queen size beds, the clear brown sheets, everything was nicely placed on the spacious room. I dived in one of the beds, my head crashed against the large white pillow as I sighed crankily. My mind analyzed what would happen upon my return to earth, now that the sworn enemy of ponies on earth is in command of the most powerful army in the world.

After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, Applejack came through the doors with the saddlebags, struggling to carry mine. I shot straight from my bed to help her upon noticing her handicap.

“Let me help you out” I grabbed Twilight’s gray saddlebags and carried them to the nearest bed.

“Thanks,” she stretched her muscles, “do ya know what time‘s it?

Completely unaware of the hour, I looked around for a clock, or something that would point out the hour.

“It’s quarter past ten, I was just messin’ with ya,” she said with a devilish grin, I just frowned at her joke.

“If you want to take a bath there’s a bathroom over there,” I pointed a door next to a bed, “I call the bed over there, by the way.”

“Sure, just watch over the room while I’m gone,” she took off her hat and tossed it straight to my face, with a hat flying at that speed no one could ever hope to catch it mid-air.

“No problem,” I took the hat and placed it in my head, she stepped inside the bathroom and water flowing was heard shortly after. Since I was used to having at least a TV on any hotel on earth, the lack of one forced me to lie on the bed once again. It was comfortable, enough for me to cover my face with the cowboy hat and drift off in my thinking for a while.

“Ain’t ya gonna take a bath?” Applejack lifted the hat off my head, light struck my eyes directly as I fell of the bed in shock.

“Yeah, I’m going to, just… let me…” I dizzily walked towards the bathroom, crashing against the wall a couple of times. Something was clear, after I finished taking a bath, I was going to sleep.

I gazed at the city from the balcony, comfortably sitting on my small chair with a cup of wine next to me. The sounds of this city were different. There was no ambulance racing through the city, there was no gunshots or people fighting. It was quiet, with an occasional pony greeting each other late at night. Nights were always long for me, ever since Angelica and Blair were ponyfied I couldn’t get a quiet night of sleep, no matter how tired I was.

“Things are getting more and more complicated. With Chambers ahead of the United States, they will try to assassinate Twilight during her conference. He was cynical enough to admit he threw his forces to Russia.”

The dark and quiet night was the perfect scenario for a lonely man who desires to spend his night thinking about the future and the past. I took a sap from my wine, enjoying its bitter taste before resuming my meditation.

“I have to come up with another plan to stop mankind from destroying the ponies, specifically Twilight. Taking Chambers down is a must, and since nothing ties me to the ponies, I suppose I can take him down in the UN and pass as another terrorist. But that stops ponification from being legalized; it has to reach a conclusion before I can shoot somepony in the head. Looks like I have to wait for further options to appear-”

“What the heck are you doin’ up so early in the mornin’?” Drowsy Applejack asked as she rubbed her eyes, interrupting my train of thoughts.

“I’m not a whole night sleeper. I sleep four or five hours a day, I can’t sleep more than that,” I tried to keep the conversation as short as I could, but knowing Applejack it was likely that my night was not going to be lonely.

“Why’s that?” she sat next to me, serving some wine on another glass cup.

“Night always comes as a burden to me, not a relief. I spent many nights awake building project HC, I’m used to this.”

“You’re just circlin’ the question, not answerin’ it,” she quickly deducted. Not bad for a pony with a few minutes awake. I looked down with acceptance preparing my next line.

“Ever since I ponyfied Angie and Blair I haven’t been able to sleep well. Do you know why?”

“I don’t,” she spoke softly.

“Because I lied to them.”

After the bombardment in Liverpool, I decided to take my family far from the United Kingdom. But by the year of 2030, war was everywhere on the face of earth. I had to take them somewhere safe, a place where war could not find them.

When I first told Angie about ponification, she instantly agreed. She was tired of hiding, running from cross fires with a child on arms. I was already skilled in handling firearms by that time, but you can only do so much protecting your family from a platoon of Chinese soldiers, fortunately, I was always wise enough to outsmart them and flee on the nick of time.

The travel to the Russian facility was not easy, not many English people can enter Russia as refugees. I bribed a few people and threatened some more before we could even approach the facility.

“That’s it. C’mon, we’re almost there,” I remember taking Blair in arms and walk down the deserted Russian streets. My girl had her grandma’s eyes; they were amber and shined like gold. Despite being just four years old, she was smart like her mother and careful like her father, I remember her enjoying listening to her mother’s tales about any creature she encountered in the backyard. She naturally inherited my hair color, but the face and attitude of her mother.

“Leighton,” Angie suddenly stopped walking, “I’m… I’m not sure of this.”

Just by looking at her I could feel her fear, it was not just the cold what made her shiver.

“I know you’re not, no one could ever be,” I placed Blair down and took Angie’s hands, “but there is no other option. We have to do this, Angie. Look at Blaire,” I pointed at the small child running around and playing in the snow, “she does not deserves this, she deserves life where she’s happy, in a place where she’s not haunted by war or death.”

“I know but… We’re just running to live a life where we are not ourselves, there’s no guarantee that I’ll remember you once we become ponies.”

“Angelica, there is no magic on this world or the world of the ponies that could make me forget about you or Blaire, the very thought of it is just preposterous. No matter what happens, I will never leave you…” I took her in my arms and spoke the ultimate lie, an unspeakable offense but the only way she could ever trust me for one last time, “I promise.”

I kissed her one last time before Blair rushed in from a side and warmly hugged her mom’s leg, her smile was innocent. Ignorance is bliss, so they say.

We walked to the entrance of the facility, particularly deserted but very well protected by some man in blue uniform. I approached one of them guarding the steel door and told him we were here to be ponyfied. He asked for the payment ticket, I showed a paper with the two million Euros deposit to their account. The door opened, and my two dearest persons walked in.

“Daddy, aren’t you coming?” Blaire asked innocently, Angie turned to me with her eyes wide open. I felt a void in myself; you’re never prepared to betray your own family’s trust for their own good.

“Leighton?” Angie said as she took our girl in arms, leaning her face against her shoulder, “What the hell are you doing, come here.”

“I’m sorry,” I felt like the ultimate imbecile, backing down like a perfect coward with a blank look in my eyes, “I could only pay for your ponification.”

“Liar!” my wife shouted with fury, offended by my statement, “We have enough to pay for every single one of us. Why, Leighton, why would you do this to me?!!” she broke down into tears, Blair played with her mom’s hair, completely oblivious to the situation.

“I… I have to save humanity,” was the best I could come up with, but it was the truth. I always had an inner hatred for mankind for being so selfish and destructive, until I met her. She was the person that showed me I was wrong about mankind; she showed me that good people still existed on earth. I could easily turn my back from my own kind and run from its fate, but that would mean we would fade away if someone didn’t took a stand. I had to take a stand, I had an uncontrollable urge to save all of humanity, I just wasn’t sure how.

“For crying out loud, Leighton you’re not a super hero. You can’t leave us like this!” her words reached my very soul; I wanted to keep my family company. But this need was even bigger than them and I just felt horrible for it.

“One day I’ll go with you, I have to do this!” I shouted as loud as I could, but I knew I had lost all credibility with the person I cared the most about, “I love you!” was the last words I ever told them, I could see in Angie’s face she even felt disgusted by them.

“Daddy!” Blaire said before the Russians sealed the entrance, leaving me standing there like a complete fool. The void inside me was… is… something that still haunts me today.

“I can’t believe this…” Applejack said completely surprised by my tale.

“It’s the truth. I’m not proud of my actions, but it had to be done in order to save mankind. I’ve come too far to just give up now,” I drank all the wine inside my cup, quite a considerable amount.

“How could you?” she slapped me in the face, tears covered her eyes, “they trusted you and you just betrayed them!”

“As I said…” I rubbed my left cheek, “I’m not proud of my actions, and I feel like an idiot just by remembering that very moment. But look at what I’ve accomplished; I’m close to saving humanity. My sacrifice and their sacrifice were not in vain,” silence fell on the balcony for a minute and we avoided all eye contact.

“I’m… I’m sorry Leightn’,” Applejack said with remorse, “I got carried away with the moment. I forgot who you are in this moment; nopony should be judged by its actions, but rather what they learned from ‘em. You take strength from your family to stay in earth buildin’ yer whole plan.”

“The end does not justify the means, but there was really no other option,” I sighed melancholically, “I just hope they can ever forgive me for that.”

“If your plan succeeds, I’m sure they’ll understand,” she smiled at me and I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time, something I had completely forgotten about. Peace. I know it sounds incredible, but something in that orange pony’s words brought that long gone feeling back to me.

“C’mon Leighton, It’s still pretty early, go back to bed and get sum sleep.”

Applejack went on ahead and I followed shortly, enjoying that peace I hadn’t felt in so long.

“Looks like I can be in peace with myself for one night at least,” I thought before crashing my head against the pillow, but a high pitched scream and an explosion coming from the streets woke us up before we could even enjoy the comfort of our beds.

The explosion lightened up the room like the sun, the shockwave broke all the windows around us, followed by an earthquake that made the alarms of the hotel go off. Without hesitation, we left the room fearing for our lives. We dashed down the stairs and reached the lobby, where lots of ponies were hiding all around.

“They’re here!” a pony covered in dust and blood ran into the hotel shouting with terror in his voice.

Chapter 11

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 11

“What are y’all talkin’ ‘bout!” Applejack ran towards the pony and helped him lay on the floor.

“The… humans, they found a way to get here. They are killing anypony who stands in his way,” he coughed blood that stained applejack’s coat.

“That can’t be right, how do they look like?” I asked glancing at the outsides, lots of ponies galloped in all directions fearing for their lives.

“They… look like normal ponies, wear a gray uniform and carry heavy weapons. They came from the portal’s building,” Applejack turned towards me with her eyes wide open.

“Applejack, stay here; I’ll see what’s going on out there,” I was just about to start galloping when she bit my tail and pulled me to her.

“Not a chance. If you’re plannin’ to go out there on yer own, it ain’t gonna happen on my watch.”

“Look, I can handle myself out there, but I need you to stay somewhere safe.”

“Everyone get down!” A blue helmeted pony with a military uniform said as he fired his M16 rifle to the air, behind him, at least other four ponies stood with his weapons readied. Screaming filled the room while they scanned the surroundings.

“Clear?” the blue one asked, I took a closer look at his chest and read ‘Sgt. Baines’, on his left shoulder, , the eagle; globe and anchor were seen as well, they American.

“Everything is clear sir, I don’t think they’ll do anything,” a soldier replied with the salute.

“Go back to your dimension!” A gray old pony shouted furiously as he galloped towards them, I turned my sight away just before the soldiers opened fire on him.

“Is someone else going to get shot today?” he asked as he cruelly kicked the dead pony’s body, everyone in the room kept silence in absolute terror. A solider approached us, pointing the gun at each one before turning his back.

“Now!”

I swiftly stole the soldier’s pistol from its holster and took him from the neck, using him as a human shield. Adrenaline always made time go slower for me, this time it allowed me to see the guards turning to point me with his guns. I began the shootout by killing two soldiers with clean headshots; their bodies slammed the ground before they could finish scooping me.

Their response was quick, they opened fire on me killing their ally after a few rounds, I could feel how his body received the impacts. Without giving it a second thought, I dropped his body and flew towards the ceiling, followed closely by his gunshots. Landing on a glass chandelier above, I aimed down my pistol and shot one more soldier on the head.

“Now you’re dead!” the blue sergeant changed to his equipped grenade launcher and aimed towards me, I was able to avoid the explosion but the shockwave struck me, making me slam the ground at high speed. My body was numb from the impact; the soldier changed to his rifle and prepared to deliver the shot of grace.

“C’mon, move, move!” I closed my eyes and tried to move, but there was no response. Suddenly, I heard firing…

But I was still alive, I opened my eyes and saw Applejack holding the first soldier’s rifle, the muzzle was still releasing some smoke. Her face was of amazement, she never expected to fire a weapon, let alone kill someone.

“Are you alright?” I stood slowly and walked towards her, my back ached horribly.

“Yeah…” she tossed the firearm aside, “are you alright?”

“I suppose, I just survived a grenade launcher explosion.”

“What are we going to do? You killed them and they will want revenge, we’re all going to die!” A purple mare shouted fearfully, everypony around were astonished by my feat and terrorized by the bloodbath.

“Nopony’s goin’ to die, stop it,” Applejack hissed, I walked around and picked up ammunition from some of the dead bodies.

“But what are we going to do now? We just can’t sit here and wait for them to find us,” a brown stallion exclaimed.

“Listen up!” I floated to the center of the lobby holding a M16 with one hoof, trying to draw everypony’s attention, “the best option now is to bunker here and wait for rescue. You two,” I pointed towards a couple of stallions in a corner, “drag the bodies out of side and grab their firearms, if you don’t think you can fire them, give them to somepony who can, you!” I pointed the brown stallion from before, “build a barricade in front of the door with anything you find. The rest, if you can’t help go upstairs and hide, but stay together.”

“You heard the man, do as he says!” Applejack affirmed my commands and everypony began moving. I observed carefully and took point near the door, outside there was practically not a single soul running for their lives. Distant gunshots and screaming were heard constantly.

“Whatcha gonna do now?” Applejack asked concerned, carrying a pistol feeling like she could handle it, her confidence was amazing.

“The best way to slay a beast with a thousand arms is to cut its head. I need to find who is leading this operation and kill him.”

“And exactly how are ya plannin’ to do it?” she asked with a big frown.

“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, I must seem unable; when using my forces, I must seem inactive; when I am near, I must make the enemy believe I am far away; when far away, I must make him believe I am near.”

“I dunno what the hell you just said, but sounds reasonable. What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to finish their invasion before it spreads outside of Fillydelphia, I want you to stay here and bunker down with the rest of the guests,” I took a radio from one of the dead soldiers and changed its frequency to a private custom one before handing it to Applejack, “use this. If you’re having any problems, give me a shout and I’ll come back as soon as I can. I’ll keep these guys off your back by giving them false directions,” I winked my eye before I started floating, preparing to bolt out the door.

“Don’t get yerself killed would you?” she said with a worried look, I gave her my best smile and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. I promise,” I nodded before flying off the door towards the deserted streets, hoping she would believe in my words after what I did to my family.

Outside the scene was horrible; lots of ponies around laid dead with holes in their bodies. Many buildings were on fire and had their walls collapsed, in just a few minutes the whole city was turned into a battle ground. I flew high to avoid being seen; constantly landing on rooftops to check what happened on the streets below. Eventually, a pattern of destruction emerged and it pointed to a red ten story building with its roof collapsed, I had a way in. I flew towards it carefully, avoiding any attention from the forces down on the streets.

I landed inside the building and equipped the M16, luckily, I would not have to use it unless really necessary.

“Alpha two-three, come in, over” was heard on my radio.

“Alpha two-three here, over.”

“Have you secured the hotel? Over.”

“The hotel is secured, awaiting further orders, sir.”

“Is that so? Well, tell me how is it that the signal of your radio points the roof of the command center then?”

A shiver ran through my spine upon hearing those words, I had not anticipated that.

“You shouldn’t be here, you know?” I said with confidence, galloping to the opposite side of the room for cover behind the debris.

“You’re one brave son of a bitch; I have two strike teams outside the door waiting for my mark to enter and fill your sorry ass with lead.”

“Could you please tell them to line up so I can shoot them one at a time?” I teased, preparing myself for one tough battle.

“That’s it, go go go!” A platoon of eight soldiers broke into the room, inspecting every corner around, every rock and every collapsed piece of roof, the only trace they could find was the radio laying on the floor.

Just before they entered, I flew my way around the building and entered through a broken window in the hallway from where they came from. With the surprise factor on my behalf, I entered the room and emptied the load of my weapon on the platoon. No one was spared.

“Damn that Sun Tzu was right,” I changed the clip of my weapon as I stole a silenced MP5k from one of the dead bodies. The furious shouts of the man in the radio were heard vaguely echoing under one of the bodies.

I returned to the hallway and heard footsteps on the distance; I rapidly took cover in a room on my left side. In that moment, an idea came to my mind, something I had seen in a James Bond movie while back. In that scene, James slid on the floor and fired against the bad guys that were caught by surprise.

As the footsteps grew closer and closer, I prepared myself to copy the movie’s idea. Just when the acoustic of the place suggested me they were walking into the hallway, I slid into the hallway pointing my weapon to the soldiers and opened fire. The sound of the 9mm cases hitting the floor along were heard over the shots, the silencer was honoring its name.

“I never thought that one could work,” I stood up and cleaned any dirt off my coat, running down the hallway and descending a metal staircase. I dashed inside a room for cover when I saw two soldiers talking in front of me.

“Colonel Meyer is bunkering down in the second floor, he needs to be protected from the intruder, go!” I eavesdropped from my position. Knowing my destination, I flew through a window and headed for the second floor. Outside, there was no sign of activity, my attack drawn the attention of every nearby troops.

I analyzed the building, searching for a good way to enter the second room. On the back part of the building, I saw a small circular window with no protection. I peeped on it and saw a maroon pony completely alone yelling something on a phone, the room seemed similar to the one used for ponification in Russia.

Without hesitation, I broke through the window and pointed my MP5k straight to his face; he gasped from surprise and raised his hands in fear.

“What? How did you-” I interrupted him by shooting him between the eyes, blood poured from the hole in his head as he struck the ground.

“I thought you would know windows are structural weaknesses...” I said sarcastically, running to lock the door before someone noticed I killed the colonel.

“Sir, the intruder is nowhere to be found and your position is secured, what are your orders?” I heard on the dead man’s radio.

“I want you to go back to the hole from which you all crawled off before I kill every single one of you bastards,” I replied with anger on the radio, the lock of the door was forced almost instantly after my words, but I was quite far away by the time they entered the room and saw their leader laying dead on the floor.

With a victorious smirk on my face, I flew back to the hotel where Applejack was. From a few blocks away, I was able to notice large golden carts labeled with Celestia’s cutie mark on the side, the sun was slowly rising on the distance.

I landed on a side of the hotel and disposed of all my weapons before approaching the entrance, which was now guarded by ponies that looked exactly like the ones in Canterlot.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” I greeted with a smile and Applejack suddenly burst from between the guards to hug me, taking me down while at it.

“I can’t believe it, you’re alive!”

“I told you I would return, I’m making the habit of keeping my promises,” she realized how close she was to my face and backed down completely blushed.

“How’d it go?” she said with a scoff.

“I cut the beast’s head; they should be helpless by now-”

“Very well done, LH7,” a mare’s voice said from behind, the guards stood aside and Princess Luna appeared before me.

“Princess Luna,” I bowed reverentially.

“Stand, Leighton,” I straightened up my pose and looked up at the dark blue mare, “Queen Celestia sent me in her behalf to acknowledge what was happening here on Fillydelphia, would you mind giving me a debrief?”

“Of course,” I cleared my throat and continued, “this was an invasion attempt from the US army forces, civilian casualties are very high; they shot anypony on sight. I secured the hotel and dismantled their center of operations located in a red ten story building southwest from this position.”

I heard Applejack gasp next to me, and Luna seemed amazed by my report.

“You’re quite handy for being just one pony, LH7, I’m impressed. Your work is over for now, the survivors will be taken care of by our military forces, Equestria is thankful for your actions.”

“Thank you, milady.”

“Your orders are to return to Ponyville right away, Twilight Sparkle is going to the earth to demand an explanation, you’re going in as her personal bodyguard,” Luna walked towards her cart and opened the door, inviting me to step in.

“Right away, ma’am,” I stepped inside the cart followed by Applejack.

“Take them to Ponyville, double time!” the blue mare said to the Pegasi driving the cart. The cart began moving and in less than fifteen seconds, we were already a hundred meters off the ground, this Pegasi were at least two times faster than the ones that brought us.

“Leighton,” Applejack broke the silence in the cart, “how was the buildin’ from where these men came out of?”

“A red brick ten story building, if it had any signs they were on the floor where I couldn’t see them, why do you ask?”

“Well…” she looked out the window, “that’s the kind of buildin’ Apple Bloom saw. Do you just happen to know what was that buildin’ for?”

“It was the building the human transfer safe house, they came through the portal in there…” My mind drifted off trying to deduce what that could mean.

“Why in the world would she dream with the human safe house…?”

“Maybe your parents were human,” Applejack didn’t seem grateful by my deductions.

“I don’t think so,” she said sarcastically with a scowl, “O’l granny smith wouldn’t lie to us in such way, besides, I’m eighty four years old, if they were human they must have been from the very first to come, n’ why would they vanish mysteriously?”

“Eighty four years? I wish I would like that good when I’m your age.”

“You probably will, we ponies live quite some time, ya know.”

“Ah!” I exclaimed in realization, “My math was right, you ponies do have long life spans,” she stared at me with a frown, the ambient growing awkward, “sorry, I got carried away in the conversation, any thoughts on the true reason for our travel to Fillydelphia?”

“I ain’t sure… but I’ll confront granny Smith n’ big Mac with this, they have to talk now.”

“I wish you the best with that, Applejack. And… I would like to ask you one favor.”

“Sure, fire ‘em,” she said with a smile.

“Before leaving Ponyville, your friend Rarity asked me out. Could you please explain her the situation? I don’t like leaving people hanging,” I said with some reservation I had no idea how could she react.

“Alright, don’t you worry. But seriously, Rarity asked you out? Was your wife some sort of fashion diva?”

“No, Angelica was a quiet, hardworking ecologist, but she did enjoy spending my money if I left my wallet alone.”

“Do you find Rarity attractive?” her question jumped straight to my face like hot oil.

“Well um… she’s a talking white unicorn with slight obsessive-compulsive disorder that clearly dislikes bad manners and speaks in a cultivated mid-Atlantic accent. I must say, I am impressed that she’s taking interest in a British pony-slash-human with messiah complex.”

“So, do you find her attractive or not?”

“As a person, yes I do, but I’m not used yet to checking somepony’s flank.”

“I see, so you’re not giving up on yer wife yet?”

“As I said before, I will love Angelica until the day I die. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t rebuild myself and spend the rest of my life with some-in this case-pony else.”

“I wasn’t questionin’, just askin’. I’ll tell her once I’m back on Ponyville.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” I closed my eyes, but I was not trying to sleep. I was figuring out how I was going to save humanity without destroying everything in the process.

Chapter 12

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 12

“About damn time you showed up,” I ran into Twilight’s house with the clock ticking against me, she was standing in the middle of the living room with a suitcase next to her.

“I’m sorry, I almost tripped over the dozen of soldiers I killed before getting here,” I replied crankily, I wasn’t expecting that kind of attitude from her.

“I’m sorry Leighton… this whole situation has me on the mere brink of going crazy,” she instantly apologized, signaling me to walk to her side.

“I suppose you have a plan that involves more that the two of us talking in front of one hundred and seventy six mad bureaucrats, right?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t have any plans, we’ll have to improvise,” her horn began glowing, casting the spell that created the dimensional wormhole between Equestria and Earth.

“Ugh… you want me to go jump into the torture wormhole again,” I sarcastically implied just before Twilight grabbed my hand and leaped into the hole dragging me along. I was more used to the sensation now, the shift became a little painless this time, but I felt a particular part of my body didn’t changed. I fainted before I could notice if it did or not.

“Is the ride over yet?” My head ached more than any other times; shifting dimension always left something new for me. I stood up slowly and recognized my surroundings; I was in my safe house outside New York City in a quiet morning, it was probably around ten or eleven in the morning.

“You’re still not used to the travel eh?” Twilight teased with a mocking grin, she was now wearing a black suit with a white buttoned shirt. Her skirt completed the ‘business woman’ attire.

“No one could ever get used to this, and why do I have to wear a tux now?” I glanced down at my attire and saw a pair of black glasses on my front pocket.

“You’re my personal bodyguard, you have to look like it,” she walked inside the house and I followed her closely.

“Alright, so what’s next?”

“We go to the UN building and demand an explanation,” she said confidently, taking a few books from my shelf. The house was just as I left it, nothing was moved or touched.

“I don’t think they will let you walk in just like that,” I opened the front door, waiting for her before stepping outside.

“That’s when you come in; you kill anypony who stands in our way between us and the assembly hall.”

“That’s not going to happen, they will not listen to you of your bodyguard goes crazy and starts killing people,” I closed the door behind me, she walked towards the car in quite a hurry.

“Damn you’re right,” she leaned against the car, “but how are we going to sneak in?”

“We’ll have to take a chance and walk through the front door nice and easy. Maybe they are waiting for you with a trap set,” I unlocked the BMW’s doors and she went inside the car.

“Are you suggesting I’m to be used as bait?” she exclaimed with indignation.

“If that’s the case we have an upper hand, we know that they have a trap set, but they don’t know that we know that they have a trap set,” I turned on the car and drove towards the interstate highway.

“I don’t like your idea… this is getting out of control.”

“Do you think I like using my friends as bait? Sometimes we have to take chances, sometimes these chances mean somepony has to risk its life, but think of the prize. If we get this right, we might stop this before it gets out of control.”

“We’re doing this because you want to save humanity so badly, if I hadn’t met you everything would be different,” she said with an indifference scoff.

“My plan is a symptom, not a cause. The Americans would have broken in your Russian facility and entered Equestria if I had not stopped them. They would now have control over Fillydelphia if I had not stopped them by killing the man in charge of the operation; I’ve been nothing but a blessing to you.”

Twilight kept silence for a second; my words had hurt her pride. I always respected her for being so centered and determined, the pressure was obviously getting into her.

“Now that I think of it…” she muttered, “you’re one type of a savior. You aim to save humanity, but don’t hesitate to kill your own kind.”

“Oh that,” I rolled my eyes, “my plan is designed to save a small amount of people, those who truly deserve a spot as the future of mankind. The rest are to be disposed, if not eliminated as time passes on.”

“That’s lots of people you’re talking about; don’t you feel bad for all those persons?”

“Any person would, and I’m no exception. I consider them to be sacrifices for the good of mankind, and what’s with all the questions?” I turned to frown at her for a second; I couldn’t distract myself that much when driving.

“I was just thinking about… how complex this whole situation is. I’ll question more about this later, Celestia asked me to,” I glanced constantly at the rearview mirror; two black sedans were following closely. The men inside of them wore black glasses and didn’t seem that friendly.

“Twilight,” I said with a hint of fear in my face, “open the glove box and hand me the pistol inside.”

She gasped instantly, “You don’t think we’re being followed, right?”

“Just hand me the damn pistol over and hide in the back seat,” she obeyed at remarkable speed, leaping to the back seat covering her head under her hands.

I readied the P229 pistol and let it on my lap, waiting for a moment to draw it. One of the black sedans accelerated and passed us, placing his car right in front of mine.

“Twilight,” I gulped as the adrenaline rush filled my veins, “you better hang on to something!” I pushed the gas pedal to the bottom and overtook the car ahead of me. They revealed their intentions after I accelerated, as two men from each side of both cars showed their torsos with an assault rifle in hands.

“Good thing I had this bad boy armored, hang on!” gunshots impacted the rear part of the vehicle, but the plating was hard enough to stand the firing. I accelerated past the two hundred miles per hour; the cars eventually became smaller in the distance and the gunfight stopped.

“Is it over?” Twilight asked terrorized.

“I don’t think so, these guys don’t know when to give up,” I turned violently to the left up the interstate highway, the rubber burned against the pavement. I heard the pony on the back slamming against the door with some violence, followed by a groan of pain.

“Couldn’t you tell me there was going to be a sharp turn?” her head appeared on my side.

“I told you to hang on, and I suggest you to do so,” she turned to the road and a saw a group of black cars lined up blocking the road.

“You’re planning to ram them head on, are you?” she jumped back and ducked.

“Of course not,” I pressed a button on the steering wheel and a couple of small missile launchers appeared on the hood. Pressing the button once more, the small rockets began flying towards the wall of cars ahead, making one big explosion from it. The shockwave was felt, but it did not destabilize the car as I drove through the wall of flames.

“Are we dead yet?” she muttered with her eyes covered.

“No, but I think we lost them,” I glanced constantly at the mirrors to check my statement.

“Thank Celestia,” she sighed in relief, “so how long until we reach New York?”

“It is a few minutes away from here, if I drive at two hundred miles per hour. I’ll slow down to avoid any attention.”

“You might as well want to hide the rocket launchers on the hood,” she pointed the small rectangular structures.

“Oh,” I giggled, “you’re right,” I pressed another button and they withdrew inside the car.

“Let me know when we get there…” she crashed back in the seat letting out another sigh.

“Twilight, we’re almost there,” she instantly shot up from the back seat upon hearing my words, ahead of us, the UN building was getting closer. After the roadblock somewhere in the interstate highway, we encountered no resistance to enter New York, quite a relief for Twilight.

“Have you thought of something?” she moved into the passenger seat, using the mirror in the car to groom her hair.

“No, but I do have a bad feeling about this.”

“Of course you have, it’s like we’re walking straight into hell.”

“No, it’s something beyond the fact that today someone is going to bleed. Something bigger,” I drove the car into the UN’s building public parking lot, to avoid drawing any attention.

“Okay, so I’ve came up with some sort of plan for this,” she said as I turned the car off, “we walk inside the assembly room and politely ask for an explanation.”

It was not that her idea was completely childish, but simply preposterous given the circumstances; my face reflected that thought with a big skeptical frown.

“Would you like to invite them tea or take them to Equestria too?” I grinned sarcastically, “These guys will want your head on a silver plate before allowing you to speak in front of them; just stay calm and follow me.”

“Just don’t get us killed,” she flipped her eyes and stepped out the car, I hid the P229 in my jacket and took her inside the building, there was no security for my surprise. Past the two double glass doors a big gray lobby with a carpet that displayed the symbol of the UN appeared. The large wooden reception counter, the security next to the assembly door room and pretty much any employee the building could have was gone

“Where could they have gone to?” she glanced at the TV above the reception, and saw a UN session was being broadcasted live.

“Look at that, a UN session,” on a closer look, there was chaos inside the chambers. Lots of people were yelling at the current spokesmen in god knows how many languages; the whole room was overcrowded with people foreign to the assembly.

“UN reach amnesty, the war is over?!” Twilight read the headline astonished, it was unbelievable.

“That can’t be right…”

“Breaking news, the UN has reached a consensus between representatives from all the nations to put an end to the war, in exchange for an even split of undisclosed territory. The United States president, Adam Chambers is speaking now about a possible massive military operation in the dimensional world of Equestria. Her representative, however, is presumed dead after the tragic incident last Wednesday and her ruler, Queen Celestia, has not sent someone on her behalf. This has lead to the assumption that ponies have broken all relationship with the UN council and abandoned her embassy…”

“They think I’m dead?” she shouted in fury.

“Shit, they are planning a massive attack on Equestria you have to get in there now,” I took Twilight’s hand and dragged her up a staircase next to the main assembly door.

“What the hell are you doing?” she released her hand before I could open a wooden door in front of us.

“I’m taking you to a place where all these sons of bitches will listen to you. Now, I want you to stay here until it’s safe to go inside okay?”

“Okay, but what the hell is inside that room?” she asked with a frown, retreating down the stairs.

“Hopefully people without weapons, wait here,” I opened the door and saw a large room with cameras, microphones and other broadcasting devices. I shot most of them before they even turned to see me, there were at least ten of them, but it didn’t matter, my pistol’s magazine was large enough to handle all of them. On a closer look to the corpses, I saw they were average reporters.

“Oh Celestia did you killed the newscasters? You probably did this on air?!” she shouted with fear, I looked around and saw the ‘on air’ light on, fortunately there was no cameras pointing at us.

“It doesn’t matter, look,” I pointed to the big glass window in front of us, below, there was the assembly hall, filled with politicians and people making noise all at once.

“Okay, so what’s next?” she gazed at them with fearful eyes.

“You make your speech,” I locked the door and dragged a heavy shelf to help block the entrance.

“What? They’re not going to listen to me,” she hissed.

“Oh yes they will,” I approached the main board and handed Twilight a headset, turning the volume all the way up, “just wait a minute…” I took a headset as well and cleared my throat, “Would you all soulless snakes be quiet for one bloody second!?” my voice echoed in the grand hall, everyone kept silence suddenly, seeming surprised.

“Now, thank you for showing at least the most basic of manners. Before you continue your selfish discussion about who gets the most ground, I will have your small chat interrupted to deal with someone you really need to hear, Equestria’s Ambassadress, Twilight Sparkle!”

She turned to me with a queer look in her eyes, apparently speechless.

“C’mon girl, it’s your time,” I said pulling away the mic from my head.

“Okay,” she nervously cleared her throat, “I am Twilight Sparkle, an envoy of her Royal Highness Queen Celestia. I come to demand an explanation regarding the shutdown of the ponification facility in Russia and a recent invasion attempt on one of our major cities, Fillydelphia. I shall not leave until someone explains what happened.”

“Twilight Sparkle…” the man in the main stand said with a calm voice, he was dressed in a navy blue tuxedo and seemed in his late forty’s, “I cannot believe you survived a few days ago, you ponies certainly have no way of dying.”

“I demand more respect on my questions, spokesman. Identify yourself!” she stomped on the floor furiously.

“I am president Adam Chambers, of the United States. The shutdown and the invasion were all of my creation; you do know how to defend yourselves. I underestimated you,” I looked at the mocking grin on his face through a monitor on my left, everyone in the room were dead silent, listening carefully.

“There is no need for warlike attacks, we can reach a something if we just sit down and talk.”

“There is no room for talking, Twilight Sparkle-”

“Would you listen to yourself?” I yelled through the microphone, “You’re blocking yourself to new solutions. Are you plain stupid? Humanity is slowly fading away, and all you do is making our extinction faster.”

“That is not true, you ignorant buffoon. My intentions are to save humanity through the conquest of Equestria; it’s that same motive what has stopped the war. Every human should favor this in order to preserve ourselves.”

“So you can fill the pony dimension with scum like you?” I laughed mockingly, “I don’t think Ambassadress Sparkle would allow this insanity to go unanswered.”

“Leighton is right!” she exclaimed, “If your kind decides they will try to enter Equestria forcefully I will not allow it to happen. From this moment on, I withdrawn our embassy from the UN and break any formal relationship with mankind. We will not tolerate any more attempts to overthrow our sovereignty.”

“Alright, Miss Sparkle. And now that you’ve stated that, I shall now declare war on behalf of humanity to Equestria, making you and your friend terrorists on American soil,” he laughed maliciously, soon everyone in the room applauded his decision.

“Okay, you made your thing. Get us out of here,” I took my P229 and aimed out the window, thinking of taking a long shot.

“What the hell are you doing?” she gasped when banging on the door was heard.

“Cutting another beast’s head,” I shot through the window; broken glass flew through the assembly hall and everyone went silent. Adam covered his chest with the impact, blood stained the walls behind him; the bullet went straight through his body.

“Nice shot now get back here!” Twilight pulled me away from the window before I could tell if Adam was dead. She began opening the portal to Equestria rapidly; the door was about to be forced open as banging became more intense.

“Open that thing, I’ll cover the door,” I ran to the door and shot through the wooden frame.

“Keep ‘em busy, almost there!” the room was already filled with the crimson aura and the lightning bolts, but the portal wasn’t open yet.

“What’s taking you so long?” I interrupted my shooting to look back at her.

“I don’t know I can get this thing open…” she focused even more and the lightning became more intense, a small hole appeared in the middle of the room, but it wasn’t large enough for someone to fit in.

“You better get that thing open, there must be at least twenty guys out there in line waiting to greet us,” I fired repeatedly against the door, “I can’t believe the entrance hasn’t blocked yet with dead bodies…” the magazine in my pistol ended, making me hide my pistol back in my pants and pull another shelf to the door.

“Just a little longer…” the hole began growing slowly, but steadily. Banging became more violent on the door; they had brought a battering ram.

“Hurry up!” the impacts on the door tossed me away from the door, but I kept coming back to push the shelf against the door. Anxiety took over me as I heard the door frame cracking.

“Dammit, open up!” her horn shot a blinding flash of light that filled the entire room; I covered my eyes just in time.

“Let’s go it is open!” the wormhole was completely open now, I ran to her side just before the door was opened completely, “jump!”

We leapt into the wormhole just before the security could fire their weapons against us. As usual, I fainted during the painful experience.

Chapter 13

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 13

“Leighton, c’mon wake up!” Twilight grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently; I snapped and groaned in pain.

“What the, am I off the roller coaster,” I muttered in stress, my surroundings became clearer after that. I was right outside Celestia’s castle under a sunny day, probably around two or three in the afternoon.

“Stop complaining and move we have to inform Celestia about what happened on earth!” she ran towards the golden double doors ahead, I trotted behind her still quite confused from the dimensional shift.

“How come you’re never affected by the dimensional shift?”

“Because I cast the spell, I’m not affected by it, now stop being a smartass and focus, we’re going to see Celestia,” she opened the doors cautiously and we trotted in, Celestia turned to us completely surprised.

“Twilight, Leighton, what a pleasant surprise,” she greeted with a warm smile, which instantly faded upon seeing Twilight’s.

“Celestia!” her student and I bowed before her, “something has happened.”

“Did the humans explain why they attacked Fillydelphia and the Russian facility?” she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

“Yes, the attack was with the intention to conquer Fillydelphia, and that was just the beginning. They declared war on us and are planning a massive military incursion on us,” Twilight said fearfully.

“Oh no,” she snapped, “I never… I never thought this would actually happen.”

“Well it has, actions have to be taken now,” I said with firm voice, my post-dimensional shift stupidity was over.

“There is no option; I have to close the link between our dimensions,” Celestia said seeming contrite.

“But what about project HC?” I did not like the idea, but it seemed the most reasonable one, even though it would mean letting humanity to vanish.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to back down with your plan, Leighton. Humanity must face the consequences of its actions.”

“There has to be something we can do…” I touched my chin in a desperate attempt to make my brain work a one-second wonder idea.

“I support Leighton; he invested two years of his life into this project. C’mon Queen, there has to be an alternative!” Twilight cried out for my surprise, I never thought she would stand up to her own mentor to assist in my endeavor. Celestia looked down in meditation; her apprentice’s word had touched her.

“There might be something that can be done to save humanity after all,” my face slowly drew a smile as she cleared her throat to continue, “I don’t believe humans are preparing her strike overnight, so in the meantime we can implement plan HC and start bringing the humans over to Equestria. As many as we can in two days from now, because when the third day arrives, I shall close the dimensional link.”

“Very well, your highness; what are your orders for this humble pony?” I asked with a bow.

“Always so eager to help, aren’t you?” she said with a smile, “for now, you are dismissed. But before you leave, there’s something special to share with you,” her voice caused curiosity on both Twilight and me, especially on me of course.

“I’m all ears, your highness.”

“Recent study from Twilight Sparkle has discovered rather interesting data regarding the elements of harmony, are you familiar with them?”

“I’ve heard only that they are values expressed inside ponies hearts and met a few bearers.”

“If so, then you know that there is Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity and Magic, as the six main elements.”

“Rarity, the bearer of generosity, told me that there is supposed to be more scattered around,” I turned to see Twilight’s sly grin.

“Yes, there is. More elements scattered around ponies with noble and pure hearts are out throughout Equestria, and Twilight has found a spell to locate them.”

“That’s great,” I said completely aware of where this was going.

“If what she and I suspect is true, then you should glow with her spell. Please, Twilight,” her student lost no time and she began casting the spell, her horn glowing intensely. From it, a white aura emanated and surrounded me gently; I could feel its touch as soft as silk.

“So how do you know when-” I felt as if something inside me was being pulled out, dying the aura in an intense red color, like my coat. The aura projected then into the ceiling and exploded like fireworks with the shape of my cutie mark, the pen and the sword.

“Do you know why your cutie mark is a pen and a sword?” Celestia asked with a mystical sense in her words.

“I believe it is from my times as a journalist in the Liverpool Echo,” I assured with a proud grin.

“Cutie marks have a deeper connection with ponies than you think; it connects the past, the present and the future of a pony. I have to admit, I have never seen a human that had a cutie mark upon its arrival to Equestria before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your cutie mark is not only something no one had ever seen before, but something that Twilight found in a book. In this book, a pony with a mark like yours was meant to do something huge for others through its brave and selfless actions. Not many cutie marks are referred on books, so your case is quite special in many ways.”

“The book also marked that cutie mark’s bearer as skilled in communication with others, ‘the pen is his sword, for his words are as edged as one’, it said. But it ended with ‘the sword shall be used to overwrite history written in red ink’, I truly don’t know what that part means,” added Twilight.

“It means that Leighton is meant to do something big, perhaps even bigger than what he has already accomplished. Regardless, my suspects were correct; you do bear an element of harmony.”

“I am flattered by all of these statements, your highness. Do you know what element do I possess?” I asked boastfully.

“That is something I cannot determine, you must do it by yourself. That’s why I am trusting you with an important task as project HC is implemented. The task consists in you going into Everfree Forest to bring back the scroll with the spell that will break the link between our dimensions, that is said to be somewhere inside the Ancient Castle’s Ruins.”

“Right away ma’am!” I said with another bow, preparing to blast off the room at full speed.

“You will not go alone, however. In order to access the hidden part of the castle you must take another bearer along, or this part shall not reveal itself. Make your decision wisely, Leighton, I await your return,” Celestia dismissed us waving her hoof, Twilight and I walked out the castle through the main doors in silence.

“Who will you take with you to Everfree forest?” Twilight asked curiously, my mind was caught up in that particular decision in that particular moment.

“I am not sure; do you know what kind of threats will I find inside?” I asked with my mind somewhere else but my ears on the situation.

“Nothing if you’re lucky, but it’s filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures, that’s why not many ponies wander inside it.”

“Do you know where that castle is?”

“Any of my friends know where it is, you can take any of us.”

“I can either take Twilight, Rarity or Applejack… I can trust Twilight’s magic, but she’s insecure. Rarity would really make a good team with me, but I doubt she’ll walk with me inside that forest unless she has to… And Applejack… she’s trustworthy and I know her better than anypony else on this world,” I thought as I gazed at the clear blue sky.

“I will teleport us back to Ponyville, the entrance to the forest is there,” she prepared herself to cast yet another spell.

“You’re not making me feel like a train ran over me two times in a row!” I flew away from her.

“Don’t worry, this spell is a lot easier and does not makes you feel all dizzy and dumb, don’t worry,” she assured as her horn began releasing sparks.

“You better be right, or I will kick you,” I landed and stood next to her, her horn let out a sudden flash of light and I could feel my body being sucked into a hole, a similar experience to the dimensional travel, only this time the experience lasted a few seconds and was mostly painless. Upon re-spawning on Twilight’s house, I felt like my body was on fire.

“You’re lucky I don’t have the habit of kicking females,” I wiped off any dirt off me, the teletransportation left me covered in coal.

“It’s nothing compared to the dimensional shift, don’t whine about it,” she walked to a shelf and began inspecting it.

“I’ll go look for Applejack, you wait here,” I walked towards the exit.

“So you’re taking Applejack with you eh? Don’t come back here, I’ll meet you at the entrance of the forest, tell her to take you there,” she took a red book from the shelf.

“Alright, I’ll meet you there,” I flew off through the door towards east, for the first time I was able to take a good look at all of Ponyville. In the distant east, I saw Sweet Apple Acres’ apple fields clearly, and flew towards them as fast as my wings allowed me to.

“Y’all crazy! I’m Taking Apple Bloom with me!” I heard from below, it was Applejack carrying red saddlebags with Apple Bloom next to her. Stealthily, I hid above the top of the trees to eavesdrop the situation.

“But Applejack, you can’t just leave the family like that, think of Granny Smith,” A red stallion with a green apple cutie mark said with authority.

“Do you think I like this? Do you think I like leaving all my family behind? This is really hard for us, Big Mac, but if you don’t trust us with the truth we can’t trust you back.”

“I told you, we can’t tell you about it, it’s better if you don’t know. Stop this and come back home!” the red stallion yelled.

“No McIntosh, we ain’t comin’ back. C’mon Apple Bloom, let’s go,” she turned and walked away from his brother, her little sister followed closely with tears in her eyes.

“You can’t abandon your family like this!” he shouted with anger, running to snatch Apple Bloom’s pink saddlebags.

“Let her go, McIntosh!” she struggled to release Apple Bloom from his older brother’s grip. The stallion was evidently stronger than both of them, I had to intervene.

“If the lady says she wants to leave…” I flew straight into McIntosh’s body to tackle him fiercely, the impact only pushed him away from Apple Bloom, “I suggest you let her do so,” I landed between Applejack and Apple Bloom, staring straight at him.

“Just who the hell do you think you are to hit me like a rammin’ cart?” McIntosh slowly incorporated.

“I am Leighton McRae, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Leightn’!” Apple Bloom climbed on my back and hugged me.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Applejack took her sister’s saddlebags and walked away from his brother, still stunned by the impact. He stared blankly at us, resigned to let her walk way.

“Thank you kindly Leightn’, Big Mac is one tough stallion, I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show’d up,” she said with a grin.

“Not a problem, a pleasure to help. I assume things didn’t turn out for the best with your family?” I asked with her sister still on my back.

“No… they still wouldn’t tell us the truth, no matter how much I tried. So I decided to leave them, if yer family ain’t trustin’ you, I don’t see why you should.”

“You have a point, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s not that bad, we’re going to live with Fluttershy now!” Apple Bloom said with enthusiasm.

“Yep, that’s where we’re headin’ now, so how’d it go with yer travel back to earth?”

“Bad, the humans declared war to Equestria and insist in attacking, but don’t worry” I interrupted Applejack before she could say a word, “Celestia will close the link between the dimensions in three days, my project is now being implemented.”

“That oughta be a relief for ya, looks like yer al set for now eh?”

“Actually no, and I was looking for you because I need your help with something.”

“Just tell me what is n’ I’ll make it happen,” she said with a helpful smile.

“Celestia asked me to retrieve something from an ancient castle in Everfree forest, it’s a very important task that needs the help of an element of harmony bearer,” Apple Bloom swiftly jumped down my back and landed in front of me.

“My sis has the greatest element of harmony of ‘em all!” the filly shouted boastfully.

“You possess honesty, am I correct?”

“Yep, that’s mah element, and I will be thrilled to help ya out. We drop Apple Bloom in Fluttershy’s cottage n’ we’ll be on our way.”

“I appreciate it; allow me to join you in your travel to this Fluttershy’s cottage,” I nodded thankfully.

“Of course you can join us, there ain’t no need for such fancy manners, Leightn’,” she said with a playful smirk.

“You know me; I like to keep the formality to the max always,” I grinned in the same way.

“Oh, oh, Fluttershy’s an element of harmony bearer too!” Apple Bloom added with enthusiasm, such an energetic filly she was.

“Really? What can you tell me about Fluttershy?”

“She’s a great pony, loves animals…” Apple Bloom’s speech continued for some more time, and after it, Applejack took control over the conversation. It was a fun walk to that cottage near the forest’s limits, surrounded by all sorts of animals. A small bridge led the entrance straight to a small wooden door, under the bridge, a small pond and river flowed, hosting all sorts of animals in it. Whoever this pony was, it was sure she loved animals.

“Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom squeaked and soon, a yellow coated pony with a pink mane shyly walked out the cottage and greeted us.

“Hi, Applejack, Apple Bloom,” she said to them with a smile, avoiding to see me.

“Howdy Fluttershy, before you walk us into yer house I have somepony you should meet,” she pointed at me with a hoof, “This is Leighton McRae, Leighton, this is Fluttershy.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Fluttershy,” I took her hoof and kissed it, as I usually do. She seemed intimidated by this habit, however, “I must say you have such a lovely cottage, my wife loved animals too.”

Fluttershy’s face suddenly changed when I mentioned my wife’s career, showing a bright smile, “your wife loved animals too? You have to tell me all about it!” her voice was squeaky, some would find it annoying. She almost dragged me inside her cottage and tossed me into her couch, the apple’s giggled with this.

“Tea or water?” Fluttershy asked as she rushed inside her kitchen looking for cups and beverages.

“I was actually leaving, for I have a very important mission to accomplish,” I stood up seeming contrite.

“You must THE Leighton Spike mentioned, is it true that you’re a human?” she dropped everything and rushed towards me, staring at a few inches away from my face.

“Yes…” I tried to hide how awkward I felt with her so close to my face, “and I’m sorry to be so rude, but I really must leave,” her face began to show sadness.

“Oh…” she muttered, “In that case I guess we will talk later.”

“Of course we will Fluttershy, and very soon,” she walked back looking down.

“Yeah, n’ I’m goin’ with him. Celestia asked him somethin’ really important; take care of Apple Bloom while I’m away would you?” Applejack added as she bit my tail and dragged me along with her.

“I will, Applejack. Take care, both of you,” Fluttershy said now more neutral, her feeling processing speed was amazing.

“We will, Miss Fluttershy. Until next time,” I waved goodbye before Applejack closed the door and released my tail.

“What was that all about?” I asked with much surprise.

“You should thank me; if you engage conversation with her it’s very hard to break free from it,” she walked down the bridge towards the main road.

“But there are ways to do it with a little more style,” I teased as I trotted to catch up to her.

“You sounded like Rarity right there,” she giggled.

“Anyhow, I guess it’s about time I fill you in with more details regarding whatever we shall be doing inside Everfree forest.”

“Oh, it’s true. Tell me ‘bout it,” she turned to a more serious face now as we walked towards where I though the entrance to the forest was.

“Celestia told me that I bear an element of harmony, and that I must head to an ancient castle for two reasons. One: Find the scroll with the spell and bring it to her. Two: Find out what element I possess. Don’t ask me about the Queen’s motivation, I don’t know what happens in her mind.”

“She’s sendin’ you to that o’l castle? I’ve only been there once, but I do recall how it’s structured. That’s all?”

“Pretty much,” I turned to see Twilight waiting for us with her usual purple saddlebags.

“Finally!” Twilight shouted from a distance, “I never thought you would take so long.”

“You know I like cliffhangers,” I winked at her playfully.

“Very clever,” she said evidently not amused, “you still have to get in there and retrieve the scroll. If you don’t, Celestia will not break the link between the dimension and the humans will kill us all, don’t fail.”

“Thanks for the advice, any more doomsday reminders?” I said sarcastically, Applejack grinned next to me with the joke.

“No, I guess I was pretty clear. I will wait for you in the bench over there, you can take as long as you want,” she walked back to a white wooden bench at a side of the road, staring at us the whole time.

“C’mon,” I gazed at the darkness ahead of us; the vegetation was dense and blocked any sunlight inside. The forest did not inspire any trust.

“Alright Leighton, follow me!” Applejack galloped into the forest at full speed, I took off and catch up to her shortly after.

“Once I get this done, it’s all over,” I thought to myself just before Twilight vanished in the distance.

Chapter 14

“So why’d you chose me anyway?” Applejack asked as we walked following her indications, the forest all around us was engulfed by total darkness; I seriously wondered why we were able to see ahead of us.

“I needed a bearer and someone I could trust, your element is honesty so relying on you comes naturally.”

“I see, but why not Rarity or Twilight?” I scowled at her because of her questions, “It’s not that I don’t appreciate you choosin’ me.”

“Rarity would dislike a place like this, if my deductions are correct, even though we would make a good team. Twilight’s magic has no match, but she’s insecure, enough to stop her from saving my life if the time is right. You, however, don’t seem to mind walking in a place like this and saved my life once already.”

“That was pretty clear,” ahead of us a large beautiful lake appeared in the distance, lightened a little by the fading sunrays in the sky, night was slowly approaching on us, for we’ve been walking through the forest for a couple of hours already.

“That’s weird, I don’t remember a lake ‘round here,” she stared blankly at the lake.

“Is it a bad signal?” I approached the lakeside carefully.

“I dunno, maybe we turned somewhere where we shouldn’t, I’m still trying to figure it out.”

I analyzed all the lake, and noticed a river birthplace east from our position a few minutes away, “You mentioned a river and a sea serpent, I see a river over there but not a sea serpent,” I pointed with a hoof.

“No sea serpent?” A voice emanated from the lake and a huge purple dragon shot from the depths in the middle, speaking in a heavy feminized way, “How dare you call me that? Don’t you see I’m a dragon?”

“Pardon my confusion, dragon. I’m not familiar with the creatures of this forest” this dragon did not seemed dangerous and Applejack seemed happy to see him for my surprise.

“Do not worry, traveler, no offense was taken.”

“And I though you spoke in a weird manner,” she whispered next to me and approached the dragon, “Hello mister dragon, do you remember me?”

“Of course I do!” the dragon exclaimed absolutely delighted, “your friend restored by beautiful mustache,” the dragon wrung its whiskers.

“At least he’s not going to eat us,” I whispered at Applejack.

“Look mister dragon, my friend and I are lookin’ for the ancient castle of the elements of harmony, but we got lost. Do you know where it is?” she asked the dragon.

“Of course I do! The castle is just across this lake, you see. Climb on my back and I’ll show you,” he approached us and offered us a ride on his back.

“Can we trust this guy?” I whispered in her ear.

“Yeah, he won’t lie. Rarity fixed his mustache when we first came here, it’s cool,” she climbed on the dragon’s back with a swift hop, I sighed in resignation and climbed on the dragon as well.

“May I ask why are you heading to the ancient castle?” the dragon broke our almost awkward silence as he moved through the calm waters of the lake.

“Same reason from before, somethin’ to do with the elements of harmony,” Applejack replied a second before I did.

“My-my… you ponies are always into something interesting. Well, the castle is across a bridge not too far if you follow the road ahead,” the dragon stopped riverside and we descended his back with caution.

“Thank you, dragon,” I said with a bow.

“Oh please, call me Steven. It has been a pleasure to help you!” the dragon submerged back into the depths of the lake, ahead of us there was a path surrounded by more darkness.

“C’mon, we’re almost there,” she walked into the darkness and I trotted to her side.

“How much?” I glanced at the trees around us; it felt like something was watching.

“Not that long, just a few minutes walking,” she turned to see me, my face turned to display worry.

“I think we’re being followed, let’s run,” I took off and encouraged her to run. She followed my example and we dashed along with me, fearing something was behind us. Due to our fear, we were too focused looking back to discover what was ahead of us.

“Daddy?” I heard a familiar voice, one I thought I would never hear again. I stopped and stared completely flabbergasted, a young human child with long brown hair stared at us with amber eyes. It was Blaire.

“That… Blaire?” I asked skeptically.

“You’re tellin’ me that human over there is your child?” Applejack asked amazed.

“You abandoned us,” the kid pointed at me with her index finger.

“I…”

“I know what’s goin’ on ‘ere!” Applejack snapped, “Twilight warned us about a creature that lived around ‘ere, she tricks you by showing an image of your past, do not talk to it. Ignore it.”

”Alright, this is unbelievable, lead the way,” she ran past Blair into a very dense fog. I almost lost sight of her, but I managed to fly my way to where she was; standing next to a fallen suspended bridge.

“Darn it, this thing didn’t last,” she scolded at the bridge.

“Daddy!” Blair continued to shout behind us, ignoring the child I lost years ago was a hard task, even if it was just an illusion.

“Don’t listen to it, she ain’t real. The castle is just beyond this cliff, lift me up,” I took her and we flew through the mist, there was no visibility. After a few seconds of seeing nothing, the other side began appearing slowly.

“Leightn’, now I see why Celestia send ya here,” I dropped her safely in the other side, I landed next to her afterwards, “she send you here to toughen yourself up.”

“Seems more like a psychological torture to me.”

“Don’t worry, we’re here,” she pointed to the massive castle in front of us, worn out by time and weakened by growing plants around it. The majestic entrance had no doors; they were now rotten pieces of wood lying on the floor nearby, “C’mon.”

The insides of the castle resembled the one in Canterlot, but with a more old fashion. Some torn banners hung from the ceiling, some were on the floor covered by dust, the whole scene was depressing, not a soul had been here for quite a long time.

“This place is lovely,” I sarcastically implied.

“You always keep the spirits up don’t you?” she said with a smirk, “the elements of harmony were kept on the next floor up those stairs, follow me.”

We went up a rock spiral staircase, leading into a massive hall with a big shrine in the far end of the room. The slowly fading sunlight came through some holes in the walls, some windows still conserved parts of the original colorful windows that depicted the story of Equestria.

“I assume those are the elements of harmony?”

“No, the elements are you and me. The rocks on top only represent them,” she walked to the centre of the room with me next to her. A rare pattern adorned the centre and it shone once we stepped on it.

“What’s going on?” I asked surprised. The pattern on the floor suddenly shot a light straight into one of the stones in the shrine, marking it with Applejack’s cutie mark.

“Bearer of the element of honesty, you are welcome to your humble home,” A feminine voice echoed around the room.

“Who goes there, indentify yourself!” I shouted as I looked my surroundings for the source of the voice.

“I am the one without name, the one who gave you the sun and the moon. I forged the elements of harmony and granted them into the ponies to ensure peace in Equestria. Some simply refer to me as ‘the maker’.”

“Okay this is plain nonsense,” I cried sarcastically, “the maker? What are you, some kind of god?” Ever since I was young, I never believed in anything similar to a god of some sort, I’ve always been an atheist.

“You are clearly not from this place, am I right? Human?”

“My name is Leighton McRae, Queen Celestia sent me here to find the scroll with the spell that will break the link between the earth and Equestria. Tell us where it is and we will be in our way.”

“Ah… Celestia, it has been so long since I last heard that name. If time has made her as wise as I believe then she sent you here for another purpose besides finding the sacred scroll with the forbidden spell.”

“You know more than you should, speak your business,” I turned to see Applejack. She was surrounded by a white aura, apparently frozen with her eyes shooting an intense white light.

“My business? Are you not a rude guest…?”

“Okay, just… do what you have to do. I find this to be absolutely preposterous, but to whatever you must,” I closed my eyes, hoping to feel something that would make me end up like Applejack. Suddenly, something began lifting my body; it was a similar aura to the one surrounding her.

“Hm… You emanate an interesting essence for a human. And you have the pen and the sword… I have questions for you,” I felt something struck me in the chest, making me feel drowsy. Everything became darker slowly as I floated motionless in the air.

“You… you seek a noble cause, but you are troubled by following it. A man who is haunted by its own ideals and decisions.” The voice echoed in my head, I opened my eyes and saw nothing but Applejack unconscious floating in a dark void next to me.

“You said you wanted answers, and I’m willing to give them to you!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, expecting the voice’s owner would appear before me if I did.

“Indeed. Your actions are noble, but the actions behind them are to be questioned,” In front of me, my memories began flashing rapidly in an invisible frame; stopping in the night I met Angelica, “You offered comfort to this woman, who had just assaulted you. A noble task indeed, but why did you decide to sit next to her instead of running to set the alarm off when you had the chance?”

“She needed someone to listen to her, for she had just found out her parents were dead. Any good employee would have set the alarm off, but I stayed with her as any good person would.”

“Impressive, for a human. Your kind degenerated into a wicked shadow of what they once were, I’m impressed you kept the nobleness humans lost somewhere along the way,” the memories began shifting again, forwarding into the moment where I had my wife and child ponyfied, “In this moment, you sacrificed your family to pursue your own goals, a selfish and cruel act. I want you to explain me why you did this.”

“It may look like that, but what I did was placing them somewhere safe, in a place where war could not ever reach them, I did it with the sole purpose of saving the persons I loved the most. I decided to stay behind to save humanity, and I’m not proud for that decision,” I could feel a knot on my throat with every word I spike, “I look back to that moment and wished I stayed with them, but then I look at what I’ve done in this moment and know that we went through that bitter moment for a greater good.”

“Indeed. It was the sacrifice of every single one of you that allows mankind to have a second chance, the one you granted them by convincing Celestia to execute the plan you devoted two years of your life. And now, I must ask you one last question.”

“I am ready,” I said with confidence, the memories moved one last time, this time to play memories of me and Applejack.

“Tell me, why did you choose the bearer of Honesty to join you in this quest?”

“I’ve shared with her great moments. I trusted her with my secrets and she listened to my stories as I listened to hers. Of all the ponies I’ve met throughout my journey, she’s the one I cherish the most besides Twilight Sparkle and Rarity.”

“I believe you are oblivious to an obvious fact,”

“Explain,” I said with a frown.

“You chose her because you feel identified with her, as she looks for answers regarding her past. You look for the same.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a hint of desperation in my voice, Applejack was still unconscious and floating next to me.

“She looks for who she was; you look for who she is. Celestia is a lot wiser than I had thought,” the voice giggled in amusement, “No wonder she asked you to bring a bearer along, knowing you would choose her.”

“Are you saying that…?”

“Yes, Leighton. The pony next to you is no one else but your long lost wife,” I turned to see Applejack, who had transformed now into Angelica. She looked exactly as I remembered her, except for her hair, now dyed blonde, floating in the nothingness.

“And that means…!”

“That Apple Bloom is your daughter.”

“This… this can’t be true; I’ve been with them all along!”

“Your actions led both of you straight to them and to me and I see there is no mistake in it. I can see the spark in you, the one you felt when you spoke to Twilight’s dragon about love, the one you felt when you fought to save Apple Bloom’s life, the one that pushed you to battle an entire army to save the lives of innocent ponies. You are the second human to bear an element of harmony, followed only by Applejack. You bear the element of courage and valor, as it is indicated by the pen and the sword in your flank. You represent hope for humans and ponies, an example to be followed,” A light surrounded my neck and a red necklace with a jewel shapes as the pen and sword appeared once the light vanished.

“I am flattered,” I nodded reverentially, as Angelica began waking up.

“What’s goin’ on, Leightn’?” she asked with sleepy eyes.

“I believe you have some answers for her as well,” I looked at her amazed, it was Angelica speaking with Applejack’s voice. I never suspected it, but it all made sense now, why I trusted her that much, the vanishing from Fillydelphia report, the cultural change indicated on the report in Russia, everything.

“Indeed. Bearer of honesty, you joined this man in a pure act of friendship. You have been wandering for the answer regarding the past of you and your sister, and your search is about to end.”

“Yeah, but what the hay is goin’ on ‘ere?”

“You are in the realm, a place between the human and pony dimensions. I created this space so that I could not be reached by anyone unless I wanted to test them, as I’m the one with all the answers you may seek.”

“So y’all sayin’ that ya know who my parents where and why do big Mac and O’l Granny Smith ain’t tellin’ me?” she asked with a frown.

“Yes. But before speak your answers, I must tell you that your life will change upon knowing this. Do you really want to know more about yourself than you should?”

Angelica looked down and touched her chin meditating. I hoped she would agree so she would know who I was, who she really was. She slowly turned to see me with a grin on her face.

“A good friend told me that I must not hold regrets towards my family from protectin’ me from a truth that can destroy my sister’s life and my own. I don’t want to know about who my parents were if the people who love me don’t want me to,” I felt a void in me when she said that, as she slowly turned back into a pony, it seemed like she didn’t felt the transform, lucky her. It was her decision to live without knowing who she really was, I wanted to scream it in her face, but I knew I had to keep silence, no matter how hard it was.

“Very well, the secret shall be kept and not spoken. I believe this is all I have to say to you, except for one last thing. If the time comes, Leighton, do not fear sacrifice, for you know what it feels,” from the depths of a ray of light engulfed us, making me lose conscience again.

“That was one bloody hell of a journey,” I rubbed my head as I woke up; noticing the necklace was gone.

“Damn right…” she shook her head, trying to accelerate the waking up process.

“Are you alright?” I approached her concerned; she ran past me and took a small brown scroll from the floor.

“Look! This must be the scroll Celestia wants!” she took the scroll and held it high.

“Okay, now we must go back and deliver this to Celestia.”

“Allow me to help you one last time,” the voice said once again, opening a wormhole in front of us.

“Thank you, maker!” I shouted to the emptiness of the hall, grabbing Applejack’s hoof and jumping straight into the hole. Before I could notice the insides of the wormhole, we appeared back at the entrance of the forest, where Twilight was completely asleep in the same bench where we last saw her. Time completely fastened while our stay in the realm, because the sun was slowly rising on the distance.

“Twi!” Applejack ran towards the sleeping pony before I could notice, shaking her violently.

“Wait wha…” Twilight muttered, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings.

“We’ve got it; we’ve got that scroll Celestia wanted!” Applejack shouted with excitement, jumping around her drowsy friend.

“That’s awesome!” she opened her eyes widely as soon as she realized the news, “we have to go to Canterlot as soon as possible, where’s Leighton?”

I walked towards her and greeted her with a warm smile, “Good morning, Twilight. Mission accomplished.”

“Good, we can go back to Canterlot now, do you want to come, Applejack?”

“No,” she rapidly replied, “I have to pick Apple Bloom from Fluttershy’s, I’ll see y’all when you’re get back!” she galloped away towards Fluttershy’s home, quickly fading in the distance.

“Okay, we’re going to teleport now, are you ready?” she asked taking the spell casting position.

“Look, I’m used to this now, just make it happen.”

“As you wish!” a flash of light came from her horn and we appeared back at Canterlot, right in front of Celestia’s Castle. The experience was a less painful now; I was getting used to teleporting and shifting dimensions.

“C’mon, let’s give this to the Queen,” she began running to the castle, slamming the doors wide open. Celestia gazed down at us with authority, but without looking like a complete bitch.

“Queen Celestia!” I walked inside behind Twilight holding the scroll in a hoof. Walking in three legs was something new, but quite easy to handle now that I was more used to being a pony, “I have succeeded in retrieving the scroll from the castle.”

“Have you learned a thing or two about yourself?” she asked with a mystic sense in her words.

“Yes, I have. I am the bearer of the element of courage and valor, the castle showed me the right way,” I had no choice but to lie to her because I found the idea of speaking about a maker completely awkward.

“Courage and valor…” she touched her chin with a hoof, “it fits you very well. I am proud to hear that.”

“Sister!” Princess Luna ran inside the castle yelling desperately, “we have horrible news coming in!”

“Speak, Luna,” Celestia said calmly.

“One of our ponies working on project HC says that humans are planning to release an attack on Equestria today at noon!”

“That can’t be right, how many humans have we brought?”

“We’re bringing them faster than I thought; we already gathered one point five million here. I’m exhausted, but I will keep working on this.”

“Twilight, I want you to help Princess Luna with the human processing, I’m sure your skills will ease her burden. How fast can we bring the rest?”

“At this rate we should finish tonight.”

“Save as many as you can, today before noon I will close the dimensional link between earth and Equestria, we cannot risk an attack.”

“But not enough humans would be saved if you close the link!” Twilight protested immediately.

“We don’t have time, it has to be done,” the Queen said with remorse, looking away from us. In that moment I remembered the voice’s words, ‘do not fear sacrifice, for you know what it feels’.

“I will buy you time, enough to bring the rest here,” I said with determination, breaking through the hall’s silence.

“And how are you planning to do so?” Luna asked with a skeptic look in her face.

“I break into their base and sabotage their operations. Did this pony say where the attack was going to be launched from?”

“Hold on there, you’re asking for a suicide mission!” Twilight yelled.

“He mentioned a base in the US called Area fifty one, and she’s right. You can’t just do that, you’ll get yourself killed.”

“But if he doesn’t, I will have to break the link with not enough people for his plan to succeed,” Celestia interrupted, “I understand why he wants to do this, and I will allow it.

Leighton, you have showed great courage to accomplish this much for humanity. I will commend you with one last task as LH7, one you must accomplish on your own.”

“I am ready to serve you, your majesty,” I gulped, with the certainty of knowing what was going to happen next.

“Your mission is to break through the military base known as Area fifty one and delay the enemy attack on Equestria, by all means necessary. The fate of humanity and of Equestria is on your hands.”

Final Chapter: Salvation Through Destruction

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Final Chapter: Salvation Through Destruction

“I knew it would come down to this, I knew it all along, from the very moment I sat down in my studio for the first time to work on Project Human Conservation. I am not afraid of death; she eventually takes everyone she wants whenever she decides it is time. If the worse were to happen, do not mourn me, I died knowing what the stakes and my causes were, carrying them proudly until my final hour.

Leighton McRae”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Twilight asked concerned, she slipped out her duty assisting Princess Luna to help me prepare to my mission.

“I have never more sure of anything in my entire life. I know the odds are against me but I plan to live to tell the tale,” I stretched my body, preparing for the dimensional leap in the portal room, a similar one to the room in Russia, but with less cables and more space.

“You still have a few minutes before I open the portal. Tell me, what do you need and where do you want to appear,” a piece of paper and a pen floated in the air, preparing to write my indications.

“I need a black leather jacket and a white T-shirt; can you make the jacket bulletproof?”

“I can try; what else?”

“Black jeans, not too tight please. I’m going to need my faithful P229 and a backpack with the following equipment: Two claymore landmines. An M16 assault rifle with a M201 grenade launcher with twenty rounds, a couple of bandages and hemostats, an MP5k submachine gun, and of course, lots, lots of ammunition.”

“I’m not sure if I can fit all of that in a single backpack, but I will try. Where do you want to appear?”

“In a cliff next to the base, from there I’ll see what I can do.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure you have all you need for your trip-”

“Leighton,” Celestia broke into the room and glanced at her student, “Twilight. Is everything ready for the mission?”

“Yes, your highness,” I stomped the floor with anxiety.

“Very well, Leighton.”

“I was just heading back to assist Luna,” Twilight said as she headed to the entrance with the tail between her legs, fearing she may be scolded by the Queen.

“Stay with us a minute, I need your help in sending him to the earth,” Twilight stopped and happily trotted to the Queen’s side.

“I am ready, your highness,” I straightened my pose and stared at her.

“Your assignment’s success depends on the delay of the enemy forces into Equestria until nightfall, use all means you consider necessary in order to succeed. I cannot send somepony to retrieve you, so you must find a way back on your own. Make sure your watch is synchronized, because I will close the dimensional link at midnight.”

“Roger, is that all?” I asked and, all of a sudden everything began moving slower except me and Celestia, Twilight her surroundings were frozen.

“No, Leighton. I wanted to talk to you in private and this is the best way I could think of,” she walked around the room with sadness in her voice.

“Nice trick, I wish I could do it,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m sure that you feel that you’re leaving a lot of loose ends behind you. If you have any questions about anything, I shall answer them.”

“That’s very kind of you, your highness. I have no words to express my gratitude,” I said with a bow.

“Your manners are exceptional, humanity should be proud of having you among them. You changed the perception about humanity that I had and showed me they may be worthy of this chance I’m allowing you to grant them.”

“Your words mean a lot to me, your highness. I will begin my questioning by asking, did you knew that Applejack is a human?”

“She should be your wife, if I do recall. I knew it since Twilight defeated Nightmare Moon, I never expected a human could carry an element of harmony, such a pleasant surprise.”

“What was the voice that spoke to me in the ancient castle?”

“I see you met my mother. She’s an ancient spirit that created me and Luna long time ago; it was she who forged the spirits of harmony and spread them through Equestria. She must have granted you with the pen and the sword the moment you entered Equestria, as she granted Applejack with the honesty.”

“Did you tell me to choose an element of harmony bearer knowing I would choose Applejack?”

“Yes, but I feared you would incline for Rarity or Twilight Sparkle, humans are more unpredictable.”

“Will the humans be safe here on Equestria?”

“They will; I shall look after it personally. Your endeavor will not be forgotten if the worse were to happen, but I trust you will succeed.”

“Can you grant me one last wish?”

“Sure, as long as you don’t ask too much,” she replied with a frown, my last question caught her off guard.

“Would you let my wife and child know who they are if I don’t return? I do not fear death, but I fear being forgotten by the two persons I love the most.”

“Very well, it shall be done if you were to not return. I will see that their lives are not destroyed by this knowledge, don’t fear for it.”

“Thank you,” I said with a nod.

“Yes, that’s all, Leighton,” Celestia ended the time slowing spell and Twilight approached a console next to her.

“I guess this is it,” I gulped and prepared for one last dimensional shift, nervousness took over me as Twilight pressed a button and the wormhole began opening in front of me.

“Good luck, Leighton. Everypony is counting on you.”

I jumped into the wormhole after I waving goodbye to the Queen and a good friend. As a personal challenge, I tried to stay conscious as long as I could, feeling how my body changed and re-adjusted in the nothingness. I fainted before reaching the earth. Everything in me changed, except for a particular part of my body.

I woke up to the sound of a passing helicopter, feeling the rough, hot surface I was lying on. My eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of the sun, before I could realize I was on top of a cliff in the middle of a desert, with a huge military facility in front of me.

“I should have asked for the weather forecast before wearing black to this place,” I wiped off any dirt off my jacket and saw a small backpack lying next to me.

“Let’s see is Twilight sent everything…” I opened the black pack and saw everything I asked, all neatly sorted inside it. The backpack was a too small to fit in a large armed rifle, but somehow, it was in there, “thanks, Twi.”

I placed the pack on my bag and took a closer look at the base ahead of me. Military movement was intense, trucks going in and out, helicopters flying all around and lots of mounted tents around a dried lake were clearly seen from where I stood.

“Well, I better get moving,” the backpack moved a bit and I felt an unusual lump in my back. I took the backpack off and moved my shoulders, trying to feel these lumps.

“I don’t think she re-spawned more bags on my back,” I took my jacked off and the lumps were still there, they were something on my body. I lifted my shirt and the lumps sprung straight out, revealing two red feathered wings on my back that spread widely.

“Awesome,” I moved the wings around to make sure they were functional; it felt like shaking them would lift me off the floor easily. I tore two holes on my shirt and jacked using a knife I had in the backpack so my wings would come out without problems.

“Looks like I have a way in,” I prepared myself to take off, just when a Mi-17 transport helicopter flew above me, labeled with the emblem of the Russian armada. Moving my wings, I flew to catch up to it, pulling my P229 from my jacket.

I inspected the insides from a circular window near to its tail and saw a few troops inside talking closely; they would never expect me to attack them. I went to the cargo door and slid it open, shooting the passengers quickly with my pistol. Before the pilot could turn to see me, I shot him and the co-pilot in the head and took control over the aircraft by kicking the pilot off the cockpit. I had never flew a helicopter before, so the vehicle moved to the sides without control, detouring from my destination and heading straight on to a cliff next to it.

“C’mon you bloody bird!” I moved the control stick to a side and avoided the cliff just in time, from there on flying the helicopter became a little easier, but it still moved from side to side occasionally.

“Russian vessel sixty four, you are clear to land on heliport number six. Have a nice day!” was heard on the radio. I approached the base at full speed, without any intention of landing on heliport number six. I could see out the windows how thousands of soldiers were gathered around the tents in the lake, they were preparing the invasion.

“Russian vessel sixty four, correct your course, we’ve got armed missiles pointing at you. Proceed to heliport number six or we will open fire,” the voice on the radio threatened with a hint of fear in his voice.

“I wonder where I can crash you…” I swept the facility with my eyes and noticed a communication tower with a spinning dish on top nearby, one hell of a way to interrupt their communications. I turned the helicopter in direction of the tower and the missile alarm went off. Just before the helicopter crashed against the tower, I jumped off the aircraft and flew to a three story building nearby, propelled by the explosion behind me.

The explosion, aided by two missiles just afterwards, caused the tower to fall apart covered in flames. I gazed down at the valley and saw how the troops began to break lines and run all around fearing for their lives.

“It’s a good start,” I ran back to a door in the opposite side from where I landed, shooting the lock open. Inside, a metallic spiral staircase led me to gray hallway a door secured by a keycard lock and simple one on the opposite side.

“Bollocks, I don’t think I’m shooting my way through this one,” I turned to the other door, conveniently labeled with ‘armory’ in the middle. I forced the look with a few shots from my P229 and entered the room, where lots of weapons from all sorts were neatly sorted around in metallic shelves labeled with the weapon’s name. On the far side, I saw a shelf with ‘Caution: Explosives’ on it, I opened it and grabbed a few blocks of C4, which I planted on the locked door outside. I retreated back to the staircase and detonated the charges, the building shook with the explosion.

“I’m going to use a little more firepower now…” I took pulled my rifle from my backpack and loaded it, rushing through the dust haze from the explosion. After the dust vanished off my sight, I saw a large room with computers and a large map of the earth on the wall, displaying all sorts of lines and dots. I walked to the center of the steel platform and sparks flew from the metal, soldiers below have opened fire on my position. I ran to through the platform to a hallway, sparks and the sound of firing filled the room as I did.

Inside this hallway, there was another metal staircase leading into the lower floor. Soldiers rushed in to look for me, but perished as soon as I saw them run inside. I dashed down the stairs and took cover in a desk on the lower level, everyone that was not a soldier began to run for his or her life, abandoning their posts.

I occasionally popped from my cover to shoot a distracted soldier across the room, but when I killed one, two walked into the run expecting to kill me. It had to end, so I changed to the grenade launcher and aimed to the metallic platform above them, the explosion killed those who were on top of it and crashed down on the ones below, blocking the door from where I saw they were coming in. After I finished a few survivors, the shootout stopped, for the moment.

“Let’s see what the hell are you up to,” I approached one of the many computers around and began poking it to see what data I could find.

“Command, come in, this is the secretary of defense,” a old man dressed in navy blue with various decorations on its chest said on the screen next to the map, his face displayed terror as he realized what had happened to its command center.

“This is command, sir,” I said hiding my accent.

“Who the hell are you son and why aren’t you wearing your uniform?” he asked with a frown.

“I’m Lieutenant Charles Olivera, I was just got here from my house in West Virginia; I didn’t have time to change to my uniform upon my arrival.”

“Can you explain to me what the fuck is going on there?!”

“The Russians have gone rogue, they crashed one of their helicopters into the control tower and tried to take over this command post. I’m the last man standing here, sir.”

“Dammit… I thought Chambers convinced everyone to fight for this. Son, you just got promoted, and what I’m about to tell you is classified information. We can’t establish communication with the silos, so you’ll have to go and tell General Hackett to execute order sixty six. It is of vital importance that you contact him in order to contain the Russian rebellion, America is counting on you. Out,” the screen changed to display the emblem of the US army after his speech.

“Poor son of a bitch,” I said with a devilish grin, “My American accent must be getting better, now that I think of it,” I flew up and broke through the glass ceiling, trying to locate those silos the foolish secretary of defense mentioned. Outside chaos had taken over the base, with shootouts and explosions everywhere.

“As long as they don’t shoot me…” I flew at full speed through the battle field, the air in my face barely allowed me to breathe. On the west side of the base, at least ten massive sewer-like structures began to open slowly, losing some steam from the sides, I flew to them without hesitation.

Everyone below was too caught up shooting among themselves; they didn’t pay any attention to the skies, allowing me to enter one of the silos without someone noticing it. Inside, a huge missile was being prepared for launch.

I landed on a yellow steel platform and looked down, trying to locate the control room.

“Freeze!” I felt cold metal on my neck; a chill ran through my spine at the same time, “you are not allowed to be here-” I swiftly took this soldier’s arm and twisted it, the pistol fell off the platform as he moaned in pain.

“So convenient I find someone to talk to,” I dropped my rifle for a second and pulled the P229 from my jacket to sunk the barrel it in his head with fury, “would you mind answering a few question if you plan to breathe for another minute?”

“Okay, just don’t shoot me!” he squeaked with his eyes shut, I always wanted to run into one of those hardened soldiers the Americans always brag about, but I only found soft, weak cowards.

“Where is General Hackett?”

“He’s in the launch control room.”

“How do I get there,” I sunk the barrel down his head furthermore and twisted his arm a little more.

“The fastest way is through the underground tunnels, at the bottom of the silo. He should be north down the tunnels in the large steel gates,” he moaned in pain.

“You’ve been helpful, so much I’m considering letting you walk away. No one will believe you if you speak what you’re about to say,” I tossed him against a pipes behind him as I jumped off the railing, spreading my wings wide to avoid crashing in the ground. Lots of skeptic engineers saw me past fly them, not a single one of them dare to shoot at me.

“Let’s see if this guy was not lying,” I said before reaching the bottom of the silo, where two large tunnels were seen in opposite directions. I took the one on the left, trying to remember if that was leaded north.

The walls suddenly began shaking, as a light began burning in the distance, followed by a sonic boom that threw me to the floor. That light began growing closer and the temperature began rising, a missile had been launched.

“That can’t be good,” I stood up and began running to the opposite side, I could feel the explosion getting closer and closer with each passing second. The heat began to burn the rock walls around me, I spread my wings and flew as fast as my body could, the ball of fire kept getting closer, now just a few dozen meters away from me. Before I could reach the other silo, the light revealed a hidden tunnel on the left, previously covered by darkness.

“I have to try this,” the flames were too close to attempt a sharp turn, but they were certainly going to catch up to me before I reached the next silo. I spun my body and turned sharply into the other tunnel, the air pushed by the flames tossed me deeper into the tunnel and I crashed and rolled on the floor without control. But I was safe. I saw how the fire passed through the tunnel as I sighed in relief.

“That was too close,” I wiped off any dirt in my jacket, ignoring all there was in my pants. I checked my backpack and pulled out the MP5k, a weapon like that works a lot better on close quarters. My body was exhausted from the tremendous effort I realized, but I had to keep walking through the tunnel lit with maintenance lights on the sides.

The shootout outside were barely heard over the sound of every step I took, expecting the launch control room was somewhere around here. I wandered the tunnels for around ten minutes, until the sound of a moving truck met my ears.

“We have to contain the Russian rebellion, sir, the invasion must not be delayed,” echoed against the walls, I instantly flew to the ceiling, I could see the truck’s silhouette in the distance.

“I know, but some soldiers inform that the Russians alleged that they didn’t have any intentions to rebel, we must not discard foreign intervention,” the military jeep passed right under me with two men dressed in their military uniforms plus the diver on it.

“We already launched an H-0 bomb as a warning, what else can we do?” I followed them cautiously through the tunnel.

“We must execute order sixty six, we have no choice.”

“Are you insane, Anderson? You don’t have the authority, only the secretary of defense can order that.”

“We can’t establish direct communication from our bunker down here, and the command center does not respond. The Russians could be preparing something if they took over it; you have to execute the order.”

“Enough,” the one in the left hissed, he seemed slightly older than the other one, “you do not have the authority, I will let the president take the decision.”

“Very well,” Anderson said with resignation as the jeep stopped in front of two massive steel gates that slowly began opening after the driver pressed a button on its car.

“It’s your lucky day, admiral. You’re going to meet the president.”

“I never thought I would, I thought he was going to die yesterday, he was lucky the bullet went straight through him.”

“Dammit,” I thought to myself as the jeep went inside the underground bunker, a small construction embedded in the rock with the symbol of the US department of defense above the small entrance.

Both men descended the jeep and entered the building; one of them had a suitcase handcuffed to its hand. If I read the news well, a man with a suitcase handcuffed to its hand wore the golden codes.

The driver remained alone outside the facility and pulled out a cigarette as the steel gates began closing.

“Do you know how I can get inside that building?” I sneaked my way to his back, placed my weapon on its neck and asked calmly, the cigarette fell of his mouth with astonishment.

“How… how did you get here?” he inquired raising his hands.

“It doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t believe me and I’m the one asking the questions,” I struck him in the back with the grip of my machine gun, “so tell me how to get inside that building.”

“The door doesn’t have any locks; anyone can walk in because no one can break into this bunker.”

“I guess I just proved your statement wrong, mate,” I finished him with two shots from my weapon; the shots went straight through him and stained the floor in red.

“I can’t just walk in there, guns blazing. I need see what they are up to before I can kill all of them,” I thought as I walked to the regular wooden door with a golden knob. At this moment, I was well past nervousness; my body and mind were focused on a single goal.

I opened the door and entered a classy decorated lobby; it looked like any government building outside, with a huge rug with the symbol of the department of defense in the centre.

“I can’t believe they are sending us out there,” a voice whined in the distance, I shot up to hide in the ceiling instantly. The habit of flying was really useful when sneaking.

“We can’t help it; they don’t want any regular soldier eavesdropping on their war discussions. At least Morton is back, I could really use a smoke,” two regular soldiers walk under me and headed through the door. I went back on the floor and quickly planted my claymore on the door, the explosion was not big enough to shake the walls but it was thunderous, echoing in the whole lobby. I flew back to the ceiling and awaited enemy response, preparing myself for an ambush.

“Wait for it…” my fists tightened its grip on the machine gun, and after a few minutes it was obvious there was not going to be any response. I descended the ceiling and headed through a hallway in the centre of the lobby, where large wooden double doors were seen at the end of it.

“Again, I can’t break in and shoot everyone, I’ll probably die trying. There has to be something around here…” I scanned the surroundings and saw another door right next to me, labeled with: ‘Authorized personnel only’. This door was heavily reinforced, explaining why they did not hear the exploding claymores.

I kicked the door open and saw a small darkened surveillance room, with a couple soldiers watching cameras from all around the base, except on this bunker. They turned to me with his guns, but my trigger was faster. I killed them just before they could shoot.

“That was close,” I whistled in relief and placed my weapon on my back, inspecting the computers they were on. On the left part of the room, a huge glass window led to the conference room. They remained oblivious to the shootout, so the window must have been completely isolated from it.

“Let’s see if I can listen what they are saying,” I poked around the computer’s menus and found out a lockdown mode, ready to be activated.

“Nah, that’s too easy and will alert them that I’m here,” I stopped myself from clicking on that option, turning to another computer that controlled the cameras. I browsed through them and saw how chaos and war ravaged through the whole base, with shootouts visible on most of them. I stopped when I found the camera with the room next to mine; a large dark wood table was seen with men sitting all around it. I recognized Chambers at the bottom with Hackett and Anderson on the chairs next to him. I turned the volume up so I could listen to their conversation; all of them stared at each other with serious looks on their faces.

“The Russian rebellion is a lie, tell all our soldiers to stand down,” Chambers said with confidence.

“We are not sure of that, sir. They crashed one of their helicopters in the main communication tower, that doesn’t leave much room for interpretation, sir,” a young man dressed in a black suit replied on the other side of the room.

“All warfare is based on deception, General Griggs. We all know the Russians are not the enemy, stop this nonsense and commence the invasion,” Chambers seemed calm, arrogant son of a bitch.

“We can’t just tell them to stand down, be friends and enter the portal marching all together. We must contain the situation before the invasion,” Anderson said.

“If I can’t start the invasion I want at least a piece of these ponies, are the nuclear bombs ready for launch?”

“Yes sir, the gate generator passed its tests the last few days and should hold the launch,” said Hackett .

“You are being too rash, mister president. If the gate generator fails then we would be releasing a nuke straight on our boys,” Anderson quickly added.

“Then that’s a risk we must take, I want to blast those ponies with a nuke if I can’t invade them now, what other options do we have gentlemen?”

“No more options sir, we must decide something now,” another man in the room broke his silence and stood up seemingly desperate.

“Alright then, I want to launch the nuclear attack on them and contain the ‘Russian rebellion’. Tell our troops to cease fire and reason with them, I want the more troops as possible if we’re invading later. Has the portal been damaged in the battle?”

“Our reports indicate damage is substantial and shouldn’t affect the performance, we should-”

“Hold it right there fellows,” I said through a microphone, “Let’s not do something stupid alright?”

“See, I told you the Russian rebellion was a lie,” Chambers said calmly, I could see in the cameras how the secret service quickly tried to open the door I had blocked by shooting the electric opening mechanism.

“Indeed, mister president. You are the first person to survive an encounter with me, you should be proud.”

“So it is you, Leighton was it?”

“Since not a soul is leaving that room alive I suppose I can tell you my name, I am Leighton McRae, an agent to the service of Queen Celestia.”

“A filthy pony dares to break into our base? I’m impressed, mister McRae, you knew how to convince my whole staff that the Russians were the real threat. But I felt it was you the whole time.”

“Your feeling will not stop me, desist on the invasion to Equestria and your lives will be spared.”

“Such foolish demands you have. Do you think I will allow you to stop me from saving humanity?”

“You? Saving humanity?” I burst into laughter, “Is that what you think you’re doing?” I continued my laugh.

“I see you have no respect for our kind, mister McRae. I am invading Equestria to grant humanity a second chance to thrive, to start all over and no one will impede me from becoming the leader of humanity in forging this brand new world.”

“I have no doubts that for crazy bastards like you humanity is where it is, slowly drowning on its own crap,” I stopped my laughter and said with serious tone.

“I have said enough, Hackett hand over the package,” Anderson pulled his black briefcase and opened it.

“Oh no, you’re not,” I shot to the windows that lead into the room, but the plating was too strong for my 9mm submachine gun. I pulled the M16 and shot the windows, making small cracks where the impacts landed, it still endured the shooting. I turned to the camera and saw him pull out a yellow phone from the briefcase.

“In absence of the secretary of defense, General Hackett is the ‘designated survivor’ so you must approve the codes I give.”

“Dammit I did not thought this through,” I punched the window furiously, as the grenade launcher in my rifle poked my belly.

“You idiot, use the grenade launcher!” I stepped back and prepared the secondary weapon, firing it against the window from a safe distance. The window blasted open and pieces of glass flew inside their conference room, I ran to cover under the frame and popped up to shoot a couple of secret service men, everyone in the room clustered around the president instantly.

“Protect the president!” A man from the secret service shouted.

“No need,” I scoped down the remaining two secret service men, they fell dead as they fired their pistols against me. I grinned to the sight of it and stepped into the room with confidence.

“Back down!” Anderson pulled out a pistol from its vest and opened fire against me, making me take cover under the conference table.

“The code is: 204B762K1L2, General Hackett, confirm the codes,”

I closed my eyes and abandoned my cover to stop Hackett from delivering the codes, spreading my wings wide to intimidate. Once I opened my eyes, time began flowing slower; the adrenaline was helping me once again. I fired my weapon against Hackett, delivering a clean headshot. Anderson, however fired his against me, I could feel the two rounds he fired impact my abdomen and one of my wings before I turned to kill him as well.

“Dammit!” Chamber shouted with fury, snatching a pistol from one of the dead bodies around him. He was the last man standing.

“Drop it!” I pointed my rifle straight at him steadily, ignoring the throbbing pain in me.

“No!” he shouted desperately, the black handgun shuddered along with his body, “you will not stop the launch!”

“I killed your second man, you can’t launch the missiles, you lost!”

“No, there’s still the H-0 bombs in this facility, there’s enough of them to blew up your whole pretty Equestria!” he stepped back as I walked towards him steadily; my face reflected the pain in my body.

“Even so, you can’t launch them. You cannot fulfill the two-man rule, face it Chambers you lost!”

“No, those bombs are launched directly from this facility and you are the only one standing between me and my glory!” He shot his pistol as I moved left to avoid the shot, but the bullet hit my left shoulder, making me lose grip of the M16 with that arm. There was no way I could shot the heavy rifle using a single hand, but I had no option if I wanted to kill him before he moved his pistol to finish me. Using all the energy I had left, I aimed the rifle to him and fired, the recoil was hard enough to dislocate my right shoulder, but it was worth it.

Chambers flew back with the shots, staining the small US flag behind him with blood. It was after I sighed in relief when the pain kicked in entirely; I fell to my knees staggered.

“It’s done,” I groaned in pain, standing up with the help of the table next to me and walking to the dead body of the president of the United States with the intention to steal the so called ‘biscuit’, which is the card with the authentication codes to launch any nuclear missiles. I relocated my shoulder using the little force I had on my left arm, the crack made a chill ran through my spine.

“So this is the biscuit eh?” I took the small yellow card labeled with the emblem of the US department of defense and stared at it for a second, “That bastard can’t use you right now.”

I scanned the room to see where this card was used, noticing a small keycard slot on the far side of the room near the broken window.

“I have to figure out what’s going to be my next move,” I thought walking towards the slot in the wall, flashing the card in it. The wall moved and showed a small computer console that displayed the current location of all twenty H-0 missiles in Area 51, apparently this was what they had been working all these years.

“I see one missile’s been launched to Moscow, due to… midnight.” I let out a big sigh, “so much for nuclear wars, I don’t think they know it.”

In that moment, I realized the power I had in my hands, a power no one ever dreamed of having: The power to truly decide the fate of millions of people and my own through one single action, one decision. I had always dreamed of destroying humanity to free us from our own selfishness and suffering, but I hesitated every time I thought of pressing the button.

“What is it? Isn’t this what you wanted?!” I scolded at myself for being such a coward, a part of me wanted to press the button and type the indications for the missiles, but the other preferred to leave the button alone. I couldn’t decide which part to listen.

“If I’m going to do this, I must give it a really good though,” I took a deep breath to analyze the situation, “If I fire those nukes, it is very likely that I’m not walking out of here alive. But if I don’t, there’s no guarantee someone else will not come here and try to use them once I leave. I guess I have no choice,” I took another deep breath before speaking the decision in my mind.

“Do not fear sacrifice for you know what it feels,” I typed the code in the biscuit and the computer shifted to target selection. I selected the larger cities of the world, from Tokyo to Buenos Aires; each one will have a nuke on their way. As my final selection, I chose the coordinates known for Area 51.

With a final gulp, I pressed the confirmation button and typed a final launch code, the alarm instantly went off as the walls around me shook violently. The rockets were being launched, due to impact their targets in midnight.

“It’s done, now I have to get the hell out of here,” I ran back to the entrance as fast as my wounded body could; taking a jeep and driving it at full speed through the tunnels. All the rockets had been launched, so there was no risk of fireballs on the underground.

“Maybe I should stop and ask for directions,” I said sarcastically to myself to try to cheer the spirits up, driving through the tunnels flashing in red lights.

My head worked at its full trying to figure a way into Equestria, my eyes opened wide when I thought of something, “That’s right! They were going to send the nukes through a special gate, I can use that!” A dim light appeared in the distance.

With new found hopes, I drove at the light in the distance and saw sunlight once again. Outside, the battle was over; everyone who had not died probably fled fearing for its life once the missiles were launched, its trails were clearly visible in the sky. Lots of dead bodies lied all around, some were covered in blood and some were completely torn apart, it was a horrible scene.

“Looks like I caused one hell of a mess,” I gazed at the aftermath while looking for that gate. It was supposed to be a large structure, if it was meant to send a missile straight to another dimension.

I drove through the deserted facility, trying to locate the portal. After a few minutes, I saw a massive dish embedded on the floor of the lake.

“That’s it!” I accelerated to take a closer look at it, noticing a large steel platform on a side. Feeling relieved, I looked at the watch in my hand that marked sixteen past noon.

The jeep wheel’s rubber burnt as I tapped the brakes, I moaned in pain when the car stopped brutally.

“I should have remembered I got shot,” I said with a smirk, my journey was soon to be over. I climbed the platform covering my wounds, with a huge sense of relief. On top of the platform, the whole base and a large part of the Nevada desert were seen.

I poked around the console in the platform, trying to find a way to open the portal. The screen in front of me displayed a loading screen and offered the option to open the portal. Another loading screen appeared and the dish began to shoot rays from its sides, focusing on the centre. The wormhole slowly began to grow, sucking air from all around.

“Looks like this is all folks!” I happily yelled at the distance, a second before the computer monitor turned red and emitted an annoying beeping noise.

“Warning, critical damage on primary structures, system overload. Dimensional connection process interrupted, initiating cool down mode,” a deep synthesized voice said, shutting the portal off. I felt a void in me that instantly filled with fear, and a single phrase came to mind in that same moment.

“I’m going to die.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I shouted in furiously in disbelief, kicking the computer in front of me, “Now how the hell am I supposed to escape the judgment day!”

I was wounded and tired, with little energy left. But I was too stubborn to just sit down and wait for death to come and get me; I still had one last chance to survive.

“The Russian ponification facility!” I snapped and straightened up my pose, running down to the jeep and turning the engine on. I drove at crazy speed through the base, looking for any aircraft remaining on the base.

“Come on… There’s got to be at least one,” I looked around frenetically for a hangar, eventually one popped in my line of sight in the distance, making me accelerate to it.

I descended my car after braking in a similar fashion to the last time, opening the hangar door using by pressing a small button next to it to see a huge Boeing C-17A completely unharmed. Without hesitation, I climbed into the aircraft and headed for the cockpit.

“Okay, you were able to fly a helicopter, you can fly this thing,” I browsed the enormous flight console, poking all the buttons. The engine turned on after I moved a red small switch above me, I sat on the driver’s seat and deducted how to drive the aircraft from what I had seen on some movies.

“Please confirm destination,” a synthesized feminine voice asked.

“Eh… Moscow, take me to Moscow.”

“Setting course to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow Russia,” replied the automated voice.

“I suppose I have to lift this thing off the ground,” I fastened the seatbelt and the plane accelerated on its own, preparing for the take off. Fortunately, there was a small light that marked whenever I had to pull the steering wheel towards me. The speedometer marked a hundred miles per hour, and the light wasn’t on yet.

“Come on stupid thing,” I nervously said as I ran out of track to take off, the fence and a hill began growing bigger with each passing second. I glanced at the flashlight and at the road, trying to hold cool and steady as long as I could, and just when the track was about to end, the light turned on at the hundred fifty miles per hour.

“Lift that big ass for Leighton!” I pulled the steering wheel to me using all the force I had in my arms, fighting the staggering pain I felt. The aircraft slowly took off and avoided the cliff in front of me for a few meters but destroying the landing gear at the base of the plane.

“Ha! I made it!” I shouted with excitement as the plane continued to ascend into the clear sky above me, I leaned against the seat trying to ease the pain.

“Engaging automatic-pilot, ETA thirteen hours,”

“Say what?” I said with surprise, “Can’t you fly a little faster?”

“Negative, unknown operator, decreasing flight time would consume considerably more fuel. Please confirm with command to authorize this order.”

“Fuck!” I punched the fuselage next to me, “Are you trying to kill me too?”

“Negative sir,” the computer replied automatically.

“Yeah, right,” I stood up and headed into the spacious back of the plane to rest, pulling out the bandages Twilight sent me and using them to heal up my wounds. They were not that bad, but I had already lost quite some blood, but not enough to feel all dizzy. I groaned in pain when I used a hemostat on one of my wounds and covered the wounds in my abdomen, arm and wing with bandages.

The fuselage of the plane was cold and hard, but I felt tired enough to don’t care about it. My body tried to lure me into falling asleep, but there was no certainty that I would ever wake up of I did, so I fought my own impulses fearing for my life.

My mind began drifting off in the memories, truly knowing what was like to dream completely awake. It was like my memories flashed in front of me, a picture of all the time I lived on earth.

“I… c’mon Leighton you can’t fall asleep now,” I thought in an attempt to keep my tired body awake. I had ran, killed, flew and been shot in the course of the day, resting was even something a sane person would do.

“No, don’t. Don’t fall asleep, think of what’s at stake, your life is at stake!”

I fought the urge for a few more minutes, but the exhaustion was getting into me and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I knew it would come down to this, I knew it all along, from the very moment I sat down in my studio for the first time to work on Project Human Conservation. I must not fear death; for she takes everyone whenever she thinks the time is right. Besides, I accepted this mission knowing what the risks and the stakes were, and succeeded. Who knows, it may even come as a relief to me.”

“Warning, fuel tanks at ten percent, ETA one hour and ten minutes,” the annoying tone of the automated pilot woke me up from my sleep; the first thing I did was see the watch in my wrist.

“Ten minutes to midnight?!” I shouted in disbelief as I shot straight up from where I laid, running into the cockpit.

“Tell me where we are, machine!” I yelled at the computer as I stared at the night sky outside.

“We are currently flying above the Koryak Mountains, sir.”

“This is where… You keep flying, I will see you later,” I left the cockpit and headed to the back of the plane again, forcing the sliding door open. I barely saw the silhouette of the mountains passing by through the darkness.

“Warning, cargo door is open,” cried the computer.

“I don’t give rat’s arse,” I ran to pick up the backpack lying right where I was sleeping a minute ago, “but I have to get off this god damned plane,” I jumped off the plane into the cold night, spreading my wings wide to stabilize my flight.

“Bloody bandage really works!” I began moving my wings vigorously without feeling any pain, whatever those bandages had, it cured me completely. The darkness of the night covered the mountains; I only saw silhouettes as I flew straight down at blinding speed.

“It’s got to be around here…” I scanned the darkness restlessly without results. Until a small beacon light flashed for an instant, it had to be it. I turned in direction of the light and accelerated even more, breathing was almost impossible at that speed.

“Okay… now!” I turned my body trying to slow me down and avoid crashing head on the floor when I reached a considerable distance; I waved my wings as fast as I could.

“Yes, that’s the facility!” I confirmed just before the wound in my wing reopened, making me lose control a dozen of meters off the floor. I impacted the ground fiercely, but survived the impact on the parking lot of the Russian facility.

“Don’t tell me I just…” I felt a staggering pain coming from one of my legs and turned to see my lower body. My left leg was completely broken on the tibia, I screamed in pain upon seeing it.

“No, I’m not dying like this,” I tried to stand up using the force I had on my arms, wings and leg, completely ignoring the backpack next to me.

“I’m too close to give up like this,” I hopped on a leg towards the entrance, leaning against it to catch my breath for a second. Everyone in the facility were gone, it was just as deserted like the first time I broke into it. I looked up the sky and saw a small flashing yellow star; the missile was just about to fall.

I stared at it for a minute, preparing myself of one last attempt to stay alive. The missile slowly began to take its shape in the distance, as the alarm in the facility went off.

I hopped inside the building as fast as I could, flying for some moments to give my right leg a break. Emergency lights on the floor marked the way to the elevator, my body reacted with the desperation and the adrenaline on me, the heart racing at its top, my body feeling numb from the tremendous effort, I was exhausting myself more and more the closer I grew to the elevator.

“Come on, come on,” I desperately punched the down button in the service elevator that slowly descended into the facility.

“It may not catch up to me if I’m this underground, you still have a chance, fight for it!” I cheered myself up as the watch on my wrist marked two minutes before midnight. Suddenly, the walls began shaking with an earthquake; the nuclear bomb had just impacted Moscow.

“Won’t this thing go faster!” the earthquake began growing more intense, along with the sound of an explosion in the distance. It had to be one hell of a bang to sound so clearly underground.

Thirty more seconds passed before the elevator reached its destination, I hopped desperately to where I remembered the portal room was, the lights of the facility flashed on and off as everything around moved violently.

“There it is,” I slammed the metallic door open and approached the console to turn the portal on, the servers around me filled the entire room with sparks.

“Faster… faster…” the quake began growing stronger as time passed on, I glanced at the watch that marked fifty seconds before midnight. The portal turned on suddenly, sucking all the energy remaining in the facility, the only light on the room came from the portal. I hopped to the portal as quickly as I could, but the earthquake made me lose balance.

I fell to the ground completely exhausted just a few feet away from the portal; I spun my head wryly and saw a wall of flames raging through the hallway, coming straight at me.

“Whatever happens to me, I have no regrets. My mission is done; some say there is no more honorable death than dying for a greater good. But I would not die fighting for the cause of a leader of for a flag; I would die for my own ideals, because following my heart led me straight into the depths of hell itself. My conscience will rest in peace, cherishing all those moments I spent with the people I loved and the friends I found along the way.

The voice in the castle is right, I must not fear sacrifice, for I know what it feels. And I do not fear giving my life for a greater good; because I gave away the thing I loved the most for it.

I, Leighton Donovan McRae, am at peace.”

Chapter 9

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Chapter 9

“Damn this thing is heavy,” I complained at the weight of the saddlebags Twilight loaned me for the trip. Even though they were small, they were built to hold lots of items. Uselessly, I spent the whole trip to Sweet Apple Acres trying to fly.

“Having problems?” a familiar voice asked behind me, I turned to see it was Rarity wearing a peculiar pair of red glasses.

“Just getting used to being a work horse,” I sarcastically replied with a chuckle.

“A stallion of your class shouldn’t work that hard,” she giggled, “so tell me, Leighton. Are you visiting Sweet Apple Acres too?” she trotted to my side.

“Yeah. I’m supposed to help Applejack with a classified matter.”

“Oh please, there’s no need to hide your true motives. I know you and Applejack are going to Fillydelphia, but I do not know the motives behind it.”

“Well, it has something to do with Apple Bloom and their mother. Talking more would mean an insult to her privacy,” I noticed she had saddlebags like I did, but much lighter ones.

“That’s very interesting. I have to tell you everyone in Ponyville is talking about you. Saving Apple Bloom like you did the way you did was just marvelous, some even say that you may be bearer of an element of harmony.”

“I’m flattered, would you mind telling me more about the elements?” Sweet Apple Acres was still a long walk from where we stood, and I always wanted to talk to Rarity one-on-one.

“They are values, in essence. Ancient pony tales claim that those values hold a great power here on Equestria, and I proved it myself when I met Twilight and defeated nightmare moon using the elements of harmony. There’s supposed to be six elements, honesty, laughter, loyalty, laughter, generosity and magic, but Twilight said that there’s more scattered out there with a wider range of values.”

“You defeated someone with Twilight using the elements of harmony?” I asked skeptically, Rarity giggled in amusement.

“Yes I did, it is common occurrence that people act skeptical towards this tale. My element is generosity, Twilight element is magic and Applejack’s element is honesty. There are other three ponies you’re not acquainted with, Pinkie Pie the bearer of laughter, Fluttershy, the bearer of kindness and Rainbow Dash, bearer of loyalty that were also involved.”

“I’ve heard all of those names but Pinkie Pie before. I assumed there was more interesting ponies around here; I never suspected you would be so full of story and culture!”

“We sure are. Oh, as I was saying, there’s supposed to be more elements of harmony around. Certainly not as powerful as any of the six, but still worthy of being named, I’ve heard tolerance, love, hope, among others have appeared on ponies around Equestria.”

“Those are the values mankind lost and I’m trying to get back!”

“Well, some say valor lives within you. Nopony ever stood to a gryphon like you did before; you earned the respect of all Ponyville for your action. If humans are half the pony you are, they will be welcome here!” she said with a chuckle, silent fell for a minute in our walk. Sweet Apple Acres grew closer and closer, I had to use the moments I was spending with Rarity to the max.

“So, why are you visiting Applejack anyway?” I broke the silent with a question that sounded forceful and thought over. Rarity, however, was not taken aback by the question and smiled at me.

“My little sister tipped me off about Applejack’s travel, so she asked me to make a few gowns and coats for the occasion.”

“I’m assuming you’re not doing this for free.”

“Leighton!” she exclaimed with indignity, “I am the bearer of the element of generosity. It almost insults me the thought of asking my friends for something in return for my handwork.”

“My apologies, lady Rarity. My question was merely for information; I did not mean to offend.” I bowed my head in apologies; a smile slowly took over the white unicorn’s face.

“As expected, your chivalry saved you once again, Leighton McRae,” Rarity looked down for an instant, “Would you concede this humble unicorn a date upon your return to Ponyville?” she asked with excitement. I didn’t know until that moment my charms also worked on the pony dimension, and even without wanting to.

“I am flattered by your proposal Rarity,” my mind analyzed the situation as fast as it could; reaching the conclusion of: “and I would be glad to join in the venue of your choice, I’m not used to the restaurants around here.”

“I know the perfect one, fit to ponies of our class!” she said overjoyed, pointing her left hoof to the road, exactly to where Applejack was waiting with a cart and two Pegasi ready to leave.

“Leighton! Rarity! So good you’re here,” she rushed to me and began pushing me to the cart with haste.

“What’s the hurry, darling?” Rarity asked with a big frown.

“Big Mac already noticed I’m missin’, we ain’t got that much time. Rarity, did ya bring the clothes I asked?”

“Yes, I brought two gowns for you and-”

“Thanks!” she snatched Rarity’s saddlebags and tossed them inside the cart.

“Watch it!” Rarity said offended.

“I’m sorry. But we really have to go now. Guys, set course to Fillydelphia!” Applejack whistled and climbed in the cart, slamming the door shut and ducking under the window. The Pegasi felt Applejack’s rush and took off violently; we lost footing, tripped over each other and our heads crashed violently

“Was that really necessary?” I rubbed my head from the impact.

“Yeah, I can see Rarity talkin’ to big Mac down there,” she looked out the window with extreme caution, even though we were a hundred meters above the ground and quite far from them.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about him now. Why did you have to sneak out like you did?” I sat back on the cushion and she took off her hat, placing it right next to her. Applejack’s long blonde mane fell to her right side as she turned to see me straight in the eyes.

“Look, Leightn’. I have a very good reason to take this chance and go to Fillydelphia, ya know. Do… ya know what is like to live yer life without knowin’ mom or dad?” sadness and melancholy took over her voice, her body language and her green eyes.

“I don’t, but my wife was orphan too. I wish you could meet Angelica; she always had the correct words to make anyone feel better.”

“Then she must have been really strong. I’ve lived my whole life without even knowin’ their names, ya know…” she took a deep breath and let out a melancholic sigh, “but for sum weird reason, Granny Smith n’ Big Mac are really overprotective over that data, no matter how hard I beg n’ cry, they just won’t tell me at least their names. In moments like that I hardly feel part of the family.”

“I’m sure they have good reasons, there is no need to hold something against them. Your situation actually reminds me of Angelica’s; her uncle was extremely overprotective on everything regarding her parents. She worked so hard to find out about them that she winded up meeting me in the process” I remembered with a chuckle.

“I’m sure hearin’ your story oughta make me feel better. So tell me, how’d you met yer wife?”

My mind drifted off in the memories, trying to find the exact moment where to begin my story.

“It was a cold November in Liverpool in the year if 2021. I was just twenty four years at that time, enjoying my brand new job as an average reporter in the Liverpool Echo. I remember that particular night for being especially long, working on a note about the vanishing towns in Africa. My office floor became deserted once my good friend Jamie left; it was just me and the sounds of a nocturne city.

A mid those sounds, footsteps were heard breaking through a lonely room.

“Who goes there?” I asked with no response, focusing back on the note and its moral complexity in my small cubicle. With a steady rhythm, those footsteps began growing closer and louder, infusing fear in me. I was just a kid back then, fresh out of college and not used to working hard and on my own.

“Who the hell goes there?!” I asked even louder this time, still getting no response. The footsteps, however, stopped after my shout. I decided that matter was now irrelevant and returned into my note, losing my head in it for another thirty minutes until I heard a door being slammed. I shot up from my chair and pepped above the edges of my cubicle, seeing only a row of at least other ten cubicles under the dim light of the ceiling light, the city lights visible in the distance.

“This is not funny, show yourself!” My shouts were simply useless, and I was too scared to walk outside the fake security of my cubicle. A shadow moved through the walls, I could see it clearly; it was getting closer to the archive room in the far left side of the room.

“Who are you? You’re not supposed to be here!” I remember yelling with a sense of authority in me, hoping that thing would at least say its business. I saw his head moved towards me, and running with something on hands. Instead of facing it, I ran like a little girl to the exit.

“No, you’re all mine now!” I was tackled on my back and hand tied by someone with a feminine voice, my pride was just as hurt as my back. This woman grabbed me and made me walk towards the archive room. That room was protected by a regular four number password, one that’s easy to remember but hard to crack. The assailant was quick and firm in her commands.

“Tell me the code!” I felt a chilling cold metal piece on my neck, I sang like a bird in spring.

“Three, One, Four, One,” I squeaked with my eyes shut, hoping the thing on my back was not a pistol. The door opened and she tossed me aside, dashing inside the room and typing hastily something on the computer used for searching a determinate note. Unable to move, I was only able to see one word on the monitor in front of me: ‘Eiselstein’. She turned and frenetically dug through the archive looking for her file, and stopped suddenly when she found it.

“This… Can’t be…” she muttered with sadness in her voice, I was intrigued despite she attacked me brutally, tied me like an animal and forced me to help her against my will and work code. And it was in that very same moment when I first saw her face for the first time; a long straight raven dark hair ran all the way down her back. Her olive green eyes began to fill with tears as she fell to the floor with a piece of paper in hand.

“Are you okay?” I tried not to drool in front of her, for I had never seen someone so beautiful at the moment. She turned to scowl at me; I staggered upon contact with her gaze, “I’m trying to be a nice guy, you know. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. And why the hell do you care?” she said slightly angry and I do not blame her, a stranger’s curiosity can really offend someone. But let me tell you, Applejack, there are times in life where the best person to talk to is a mere stranger, in that case, the man you assaulted a few minutes ago.

“I care because anybody with a slight sense of humanity would. I know you just met me, damn; you just attacked me and tied me like a bloody animal, but I don’t care. You look like you could use a friendly ear right now, and I’m willing to listen to you,” she stared at me like I was someone out of his mind, a gaze I was going to get used to.

“How do I know you’re being nice to me just because I’m a girl and you happen to like me?” she was always good at analyzing me, knowing the reality behind someone’s mind and actions. But I was always good at hiding my true purposes, even from someone so witty like her.

“I don’t like girls who break into my office, assault me and tie me down like a pig. Sorry honey, but you’re not my type.”

“Really?” she said with a scoff, “well don’t get too excited because I don’t like boys who like scream like little girls when you take them down,” we both giggled in that instant, I was quite comfortable talking to her as I laid on the floor immobilized.

“I’m Leighton. Leighton McRae, I work here as a reporter, what’s your name?” I said with a huge smile on my face

“I’m Angie,” she cleaned a few tears off her eyes and glanced at the paper she held.

“I assume your last name is Eiselstein?”

“Yeah, how the hell did you know?” she asked with genuine amazement, I twisted like a worm pointing the computer behind her.

“I saw what you typed on the computer; it’s the most logical train of thoughts.”

“Yeah… I figured,” she turned back again to her paper, breaking into tears just at first glance.

“What’s the matter?” I crawled in a similar way to a worm to her side, my white shirt ended up as if I took a bath in mud, and I knew it. However, I couldn’t care less about it in that moment.

“I…” she struggled against that inner voice that impeded her to talk to me honestly, “I broke in here trying to find about my parents.”

“And was it really necessary for you to attack me like you did?” she grinned playfully, interrupting her weeping for an instant.

“Would you have cooperated with me?”

“You could have just asked…” I sarcastically implied and she giggled again. When a person is going through a rough moment, it is always good to make him or her laugh, but not with silly jokes. It’s about finding the right moment and the right words, it all comes together, some say. She decided to untie me after that last comment, I could have just ran towards the emergency button like any good employee would, but I stayed with her like any good person would.

“Now tell me, what’s the matter?” I sat next to her; she stared at me with those puppy wet eyes I could never forget. She told me her story, how she had been living with her uncle ever since she had memory, how bad was the desire to know whatever happened to her mom and dad. How her desire led her to my office just by hearing her parents died here on Liverpool, how much money she saved since college to make the long trip from Glasgow to Liverpool and her plan to stay there until she learned the truth.

Her parents were killed brutally shortly after she was born, no one could stand such horrible news, no one could live knowing your parents only by a picture of their blood covered corpses. In only one night, I ended up knowing more about her than any other person she met before, and so she acknowledged herself.

Angelica spent her entire life talking only to a few people, not really showing how she felt to not even her closest friend or even those she dared to kiss but not truly love. I felt flattered and overwhelmed at the same time, I had never seen someone open her heart in such honest and pure way like her before. We finished talking around four in the morning; I offered to take her home, where our talk continued for another twelve hours.

I felt the urge to share with her my darkest secrets and wildest dreams, and she found them to be marvelous. In less than twenty four hours we felt like we had known each other for years.

Even though our initial impressions were those of persons who repulse each other, we ended up falling in love after a few months of seeing each other in a regular weekly basis when she found a job teaching biology in a small school near my work.

Meeting me was the greatest thing that ever happened to her, she used to cry out every once in a while when remembering that shadowy, creepy way we met in a bench inside a room filled with newspaper from all ages. Who would have thought the very same night she found the fate of her parents she met the love of her life?

Be careful what you wish, some say, because I can tell she never really got over her parents death; I remember her mourning them every fourth of April.

We got married after a year of officially dating, I remember printing a newspaper headline with a picture of us with the words ‘will you marry me?’ just for the occasion, and of course she said yes after breaking down into tears in my arms.

The wedding was held in a small church outside my hometown, Knowsly with a humble ceremony and few guests a tenth of August; our honey moon was a travel all across the Americas, all the way from Canada to Tierra del Fuego.

With the neofage ravaging all across the world, having babies was a difficult task for any couple, we tried for at least seven years until she finally got pregnant of a baby girl we named after our mothers.

“You see, Applejack, my wife was a strong person, and quite lucky to meet me that night. Don’t despise your family for protecting you from a truth that can destroy not only your life, but Apple Bloom’s life as well,” I turned my gaze away from the cloudy sunset on the window and saw her trying to hide her tears behind her hoof.

“Now that you told me that I know… but I want to do this anyway. And… thanks for sharin’ your story with me, you must have really loved your wife,” she sobbed in an effort to hide her tears.

“I still love my wife; I’m never going to stop loving her. But I live my life with the certainty that she’s happy here on Equestria, safe,” I let out a huge sigh.

“And… ya know where she oughta be?” she asked with a more clear voice this time.

“I read during my mission in Russia that both my daughter and wife were transferred to a safe house on Fillydelphia.”

“That means you may find ‘em too!” she said enthusiastically.

“I don’t take that for granted, I read they left Fillydelphia and their current location is unknown. Once I’m done with this whole human extinction madness, I will devote my life in finding them, and making sure they are safe even though they don’t know who I am,” Applejack’s face turned depressed, looking out the window once more.

“That’s… so brave of you. I’d never met anypony as brave as you, Leighton. I’m glad you’re takin’ this trip with me,” she smiled at me honestly, a clear, pure honesty worthy from the bearer the element of honesty.

“I’m glad you are allowing me to join you in such a special occasion, now please, tell me more about you.”

I always found Applejack to be an interesting pony, and this was no better occasion to listen to her complete story. I learned about the cutie marks and all of her life as an apple bucking pony, how devoted she was to her family.

We spent all the way to Fillydelphia talking, truly enjoying our company.

Epilogue

Salvation Through Destruction
Based on Concepts from: The Conversion Bureau by: Blaze

Epilogue

Ponyville, six months later

“Is everything set?” Twilight gulped with her question.

“Yeah, you just get in there and read what you have to; there is no need to panic. You can do it,” Spike patted her on the back and signaled her to walk to the stage, where she would be giving a speech in front of the whole town.

She gathered the enough courage and climbed the small wooden stairs into the stage, in front of every single pony that inhabited in the small town, which glared silently at her.

“Good morning, Fillies and Gentlecolts,” a sheet of paper floated in front of her, “Today, we gather to honor the sacrifice of a man who bravely gave his life in the name of his making, for all of us. It was his work, his idea what saved, not only humanity, but all of us from the threats of the United States. Everypony was touched by his selfless actions in some ways, how do you properly honor someone like him? His sacrifice is something we must never forget, which is why Queen Celestia is proud to announce through me the following:

One: The Queen has approved that a new settlements for both humans and ponies is built southeast of Manehattan, a city that will allow Ponykind and humanity to grow stronger and be the example of what he envisioned when he came to this world. The city shall be call: McRae!”

All the ponies stomped the floor in what was their way to applaud, Twilight cleared her throat before continuing and the crowd stopped.

“Two: A monument will be built in Fillydelphia, to honor all those ponies that died six months ago, and to recognize the valiant effort he made to repel the invading forces from our homeland,”

Another applause interrupted Twilight’s speech for a moment, she felt a knot in her throat after she glanced at Spike’s handwriting in the paper. Struggling to contain her tears, she continued her speech.

“Finally, I must speak about the kind of pony he was. Determinate, brave, noble and charismatic, those fortunate enough to have been touched by his person will miss him. As the bearer of the element of harmony of Courage and valor, his example is something we must look up to and respect.

And as a final act of respect to his memory, I hereby declare Project human conservation a success!” Applause filled the air one last time before she finally burst into tears.

The years to come were of peace for all of Equestria, with the construction of McRae and the relocation at least six million human immigrants into the new settlement, which flourished magnificently as humans quickly adapted into the world and rules of Equestria, learning to cooperate and thrive through union. No criminal reports have been received at the time.

Rarity took Leighton’s death seriously, confessing to Twilight how she had a crush for the red-coated pony. Despite feeling that another fine colt had slipped through her hooves, she got over his death and moved on to succeed in the world of fashion with a clothing line inspired by the class Leighton showed her, naming it ‘Knowsley’s finest’ after his friend’s hometown.

Spike the dragon followed Leighton’s advice and shared his feelings with Rarity the anniversary of his sacrifice, doing it with a bunch of flowers and reciting the same words the red Pegasus had advised. The mare accepted the small dragon’s request after a few days of meditation, engaging in a long lasting formal relationship despite being from different species.

Both rulers in Equestria were moved by Leighton’s sacrifice, completely accepting humanity as one with the ponies. Queen Celestia silently traveled one night to Everfree forest, to ensure the Courage and Valor were displayed along with the other elements of harmony, to honor the only human who ever dared to stand up to her.

Applejack and Apple Bloom returned to work in the Sweet Apple Acres after seeing Leighton for the last time. After his death, Queen Celestia paid them a visit on a silent night, breaking the spell that blocked their life as a human. The notice did not surprise Applejack, who had been suspecting her humanity for some time now. Apple Bloom cried the death of her father for weeks, however, until Granny Smith told her she should be proud of whom her father was.

Applejack McRae, as she prefers to be called now, was offered a position as the mayor in McRae, which she declined to stay working in Sweet Apple Acres along with her daughter, who would take that position years later after turning into a grown up mare. Apple Bloom McRae honors her last name by serving the town with passion and dedication.

Twilight Sparkle received the books in Leighton’s cottage and took them in his library, continuously reading them to learn about human philosophy and literature. She continues to study the magic of friendship, learning that once a friend touches your heart, he never truly dies.