As Storm headed east towards Denver, things just didn't seem right. While the highway to Salt Lake seemed eerily quiet, the roads to Denver were completely empty. There was absolutely no traffic at all. He was wanting to drive faster than what the speed limit would allow but he knew that knowing his luck, that there would likely be a highway patrolman out that would pull him over and delay him from reaching his destination.
It was a bit after noon when he finally got to Denver and got the directions out. Celestia's writing was a bit hard to read but he was able to make it out. The directions instructed him to remain on I-25 until he reached the Colfax exit and then turn left. Once he got off the interstate, there were signs directing people towards the bureau. After traveling two miles, he saw the building that was clearly marked "Denver Metro Conversion Bureau." There were two lone vehicles in the parking lot and he had a feeling that those may be the last people still living in Denver.
Once he got out of his pickup, he grabbed Shadow and headed towards the entrance. When he tried to open the door, he tried to open the door but it was locked. He saw a button for a doorbell and rang it. Very quickly a woman headed to open it but first she would ask a question over the intercom, "Are you Storm Lewis?"
Storm pulled the note out of his wallet and showed it to the woman. Upon seeing it, her mood changed and she quickly let him in before locking the door again. She gave him a smile and asked, "Are you ready for this?"
"Yes, I am very ready." replied Storm.
The woman ordered him to follow her into the back and after what seemed to be a long walk, he saw a large door that read, "Ponification Room." She pointed towards it and said, "Here we go."
She led him in and not only was the doctor there, but so was Princess Celestia. He first read the name tags of the two remaining people, Amy Johnson and Dr. James Jorgensen. He gave the two a smile and said, "Hi Amy, Hi Dr. Jorgensen." He then turned to Celestia, bowed and added, "Hello Your Majesty."
In the ponification room he saw three beds. By each one was a table with a syringe and then a glass of purple liquid. He turned to Celestia and asked, "What is that stuff?"
Celestia replied, "In the syringe is a strong sedative and in the glass is the serum."
The doctor saw a look of confusion in Storm's eyes and said, "I'm guessing you're wondering why there is a syringe full of sedative there." Storm nodded and the doctor continued, "People must be given a strong sedative for this process. After the injection, roughly one minute, people then drink the serum."
Amy added, "Trust me, you don't want to try and go through the conversion process without this sedative. One fellow demanded to try it out and things didn't go so well."
Dr. Jorgensen added, "It was an experience of unfathomable pain."
Celestia finished, "That poor stallion has one of the most severe cases of PTSD anypony has ever seen."
Storm asked, "Alright, so when do we do this?"
Celestia cast her gaze at the three and ordered, "Undress so we may do this. The barrier will be here in six hours."
The three undressed and then sat on the beds, ready to get their injections first. With this being the final people who were willing to go through the conversion process, Celestia administered the sedatives herself. The three began to get tired rather quickly and after a minute Celestia ordered, "Hurry up and drink the serum. I would rather you drink it than me have to inject it."
The three followed orders and almost immediately, they lost consciousness and fell backwards. Celestia watched with a smile as they began their transformations. One individual would be not so happy though, Shadow. Shadow could see what was happening to Storm through his carrier and began to yowl loudly. Celestia had a feeling as to what was going on and addressed the cat, "It's ok, your owner will be ok. Give him an hour and he'll be fine."
Shadow continued to yowl loudly, wondering what was going on. Celestia sighed, "I probably should have brought Fluttershy to calm his cat down but once he sees Storm is ok, he'll calm down."
Shadow continued to yowl throughout the whole process but after an hour, Storm, Amy and Dr. Jorgensen had finished the conversion process, they were now ponies. When Storm opened his eyes and raised his legs up, he saw that no longer did he have hands, he had hooves.
He gasped, "I'll be honest, up until now I was never 100% sure you could become a pony!"
Celestia gave him a smile, "Try and get up on your hooves."
Storm got off the bed but would fall as he tried to walk on all fours for the very first time. After he got up, he was able to walk more easily and then saw himself in the mirror and was pleased by what he saw. He saw a gray pony with a short black mane and when he looked back, he saw a short black tail that sort of resembled the short hair he had as a human. After taking a second look, he was thrilled to see that he had been transformed into a unicorn.
He exclaimed, "Yes, I'm a unicorn just like I hoped!"
Celestia gave him a smile, "Take a look at your cutie mark."
Storm turned his head back and saw two pieces of metal being welded together with what appeared to be unicorn magic. Celestia continued, "Given your line of work as a human, I had a feeling that you would become a unicorn but I didn't want to say anything."
Celestia then turned to Amy and the doctor and both of them had also turned out as unicorns. When the two saw this, they too were happy over the end result. Celestia then decided to admit to something she had hid from them. She broke into a smile and added, "There was something I never told you three. I decided to add something to this final batch of serum, I added a special mix that would result in you becoming unicorns since" she pointed towards the doctor and the receptionist and continued, "since you stayed here to run this bureau until the final moments."
She then turned to Storm and continued, "And I allowed you to have this serum for two reasons. First, doing the job you did as a human will be far easier as a unicorn and second it was because of the fact that you were willing to sacrifice your life to remain with your cat."
Shadow was still yowling and Storm asked, "Speaking of Shadow, is it ok for him to come out of his carrier now."
Celestia nodded and let the cat out. He immediately headed to Storm. At first he was apprehensive to approach him but once he picked up on Storm's scent, he jumped up on his back and began to meow happily. Celestia looked up at the clock on the wall and suggested, "Well how about we go outside, the barrier will be moving through in three hours and for those who wait for the barrier, they must be outside."
The three followed Celestia outside and readied themselves for the barrier to move through and for them to be taken off to Equestria. Storm was a bit nervous as to whether it would burn when it moved through but given the energy that seemed to radiate from Celestia, he knew that even if there was a bit of pain involved, it would be worth it.