The Conversion Bureau: New Tactics Part III
Chapter 1: The New Conversion Bureau
They were taking ponies down the hill in groups of fives. That was the order given by a small group of humans inside the Bureau. They had tried to take as many security measures as they could to protect not only themselves but those awaiting conversion as well.
Sharpshooters covered the roof of the Bureau, ready to take out any that did not want to abide by the set of rules given. Armed men had also taken up positions in the buildings surrounding the enormous line of ponies. The amount of guards intimidated Matthew Earls, but he wasn't about to turn back now, he had come too far. At first he had thought the measures to be a little extreme, but then he considered what what these humans had been through and understood the need for caution.
The single file line behind him stretched for over a mile. And that was three days ago when he was at the beginning of it, by now it was sure to have increased in size. It had been three incredibly long and boring days of standing around unmoving. A few times he had attempted to strike up a conversation with those nearest to him, but he had no luck. He assumed it was because they just wanted to get through the line and get on with their lives.
But now Matt was at the front. His heart rate was immense, he stiffened as one of the two burly looking guards in front of him received a call on his radio. He nodded to the other who apparently understood the order then turned to us.
"Alright! lemme get five!" He shouted to the ponies in front of him as he put another hand on his weapon "Form Three lines! Three in back, two in the middle and one in front!"
Matt and four others quickly formed the desired positions, with him taking the first slot. Moments later four more guys walked up the hill and surrounded them and began to take them across the field.
The straight path to the Bureau was marked by cones and Matt did the best he could to keep a slow by steady pace across it. He winced a few times when then red flash of a sniper's laser moved across his eyes.
When they opened the doors to the Bureau, he could hardly contain his excitement. He was so done with being an Earth pony. He had been this way for three years now after a mob of ponies broke into his house and converted what was left of his family.
Before his conversion, they had tried convincing him that being a pony would be a better life and after a while Matt actually started to believe it. However it was after his conversion that he realized the reality was a completely different story.
After being converted they had completely abandoned him. He was granted one airship ride to Equestria only to find out that things were much worse for him there. Equestrian Cities were horribly segregated. Newfoals like him had little to no rights and the so called "real ponies" weren't too accepting of them.
He had no money and couldn't find a job so he, consequently, was forced to leave the country. From that point until two weeks ago he had lived in a specialized NewFoal settlement. The hardships he faced there made him long for his old life even more.
"Name please." An attractive looking women asked him. She was seated behind a large, semi circular front desk and was staring into a computer
"You need my name?" He asked confused.
"Yeah." She replied quickly as she looked up to him."We need to make sure you were actually a human and not just some Equestrian pony."
"Oh that makes sense" He said after thinking about it. "Its Matthew Earls."
She typed his response in quickly. "Matthew Earls born on the 19th of November in 2006?
"Correct."
"Where were you born, Matthew?" She asked.
He didn't have to think back. He had thought they might try to test him. "Allentown, Pennsylvania."
"Follow this man." She said after checking his answer.
Matt followed the man upstairs and walked past rows and rows of what had previously been cells. Even though they had their bars removed to him they still screamed of confinement.
Finally he was ushered into a room that already had three ponies waiting. They were sitting on the edges of beds and Matt took the extra one meant for him. A few seconds later a man in a white lab coat rushed in out of breath.
"Alright we have a lot more ponies to get to so I'll keep this brief." He reached outside where someone handed him a tray with four syringes neatly placed on it. "This serum will turn you back into humans. It will take about five minutes and it WILL be painful-Sorry. When your conversion is over you will be tired, you will feel weak and you will be naked. Various clothing will be brought up before your conversion is finished. Unfortunately they will most likely not fit, but you can get some new ones later. We clear?"
"Clear." They said back. He nodded and took the syringes off the tray and started the injections. Almost as soon as Matt's skin was pierced he could feel the changes starting to happen.
The man started for the door before he turned back around. "Oh and please wear the clothes, okay? I'm sick of seeing dicks swinging around downstairs."
No one could answer, the changes were occurring too quickly. "Oh uh." He stammered at the scene. "Good luck." He said as left the room.
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Shining Armor entered his passcode and opened the regal door expecting to see a room full of ponies. Instead he found that all twelve seats in the room were empty. Shining exhaled. He liked getting here early.
His seat was on the domestic side of the roundtable along with five other ponies. The other seats were for the ponies who headed the foreign affairs. Todays meeting was called by their end.
How much did Shining Armor care about Equestria's foreign dealings? Not much. He had been offered numerous high level positions in the New World, but declined to all of them. The topic of Conversion never interested him and he desired no part to play in the Conversion Bureaus. He cared more about Equestria and protecting her and citizens. He never wanted any negative contact with the humans, but unfortunately it was about to be forced upon him.
20 minutes later...
Ten of the seats had now been filled and the meeting had started. The two empty seats were on the foreign side and belonged to Princess Luna and the late Princess Celestia. Her death affected Shining Armor greatly, he had served the princess for many years and had grown very close to her. Her death had served as a wake up call to the world about just how capable a small group of humans in Georgia were. Luna had hardly been seen after what had happened, but he could't think about that right now, a pegasus was giving a presentation up front.
He was telling the situation of what was going on outside the barrier. Things weren't looking good, but Shining had heard them before.
"Ponies are leaving Newfoal colonies by the hundreds, all of them heading to the Atlanta Bureau. They are desperate to become humans again. In 26 days their numbers have risen from less than a hundred to well over 6,000." He paused for effect then pressed a button. A screen lowered from the ceiling and a projector filled it with a picture. "The image you're looking at are heat signatures from over the Atlanta area from one of our reconnaissance airships. This shows that around 93% of the humans are staying within two miles of the Bureau. We believe this is the start of them building an army. "
There was scrambled chatter all around the table. He pony smiled slightly before continuing. "Ladies and Gentlemen ,we must ready all of our conversion weapons against this threat." Some ponies agreed with him including the leader of the Equestrian Army, Storm Hammer.
Ponies like him disgusted Shining Armor. Mostly because he was unfit to lead anyone. He hated that everypony danced around the fact that his forces had suffered a devastating loss under his command. He hadn't even bothered to join the force of the ground. He insisted that he remain in Equestria and oversee the operation from there. Coward. Another thing was that he always argued that his forces were superior to Shining's Royal Guards. If Hammer agreed to something, then Shinning knew he had to speak up.
"Um no, excuse me I disagree." All eyes turned to Shinning Armor. He still commanded respect because, unlike some others, he earned his position based on merit. "I'm sorry no one wants to say this, but the truth that we all must accept is that our time of converting humans to ponies, against their will I might add, is over. You've had, what, like eleven good years of it, but it is finished. If these images are correct and humans are converting themselves back by the hundreds per day then I think its time we rethink our tactics solely to protect our homeland. " He ended his statement with a firm hoof to the table.
The room was silent for what seemed like a long time before a voice he was glad to hear spoke up.
"I agree with my husband." Princess Cadence's voice was good to hear. Normally at these meeting she simply sat quietly and observed. But not today. "When Princess Celestia and Princess Luna left me in charge of Equestria I made a promise to protect her. There is a great threat posed by these humans and I don't want to risk anymore ponies getting hurt in an attempt to try and convert them again."
"Thank you." Shining Armor smiled and nodded at his wife. He was glad she was with him on this. "In addition the best response to stopping the human numbers from rising is to cut off and further discourage any ponies from leaving the Newfoal settlements. I say it's time we contacted our asset in the north."
The room erupted in arguments back and forth about Shinning Armor's suggestion. "They shouldn't even still be alive!" The Mayor of Ponyville shouted. He was surprised she disagreed with with seeing as she was on his end of the table. "Why should we call on them?"
"And what about the settlements in the Americas? Did you forget about them?" Storm Hammer asked.
"Going back into the Americas right now is too dangerous. Right now we need to stop the rest of the world from converging on the bureau. We can cut it off it Europe with the asset." Shinning explained.
"Whats the point?" Storm Hammer asked apathetically. "That option was created by Princess Celestia and it died with her."
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made that together. As long as she remains alive then he is still under our control. " Shining Armor raised his voice. "We need action now and he's already capable and in place. What more do you want?"
There was muffled chatter all around the table. After a moment Shining out his hoof up. All five others on his side put thiers up in agreement. Storm Hammer sneered as three on his side raised their hooves. Shining smiled. Luna and Celestia's absence made the table tilt in thier favor.
Princess Cadence rose from the table. "Well then please contact our asset and tell him to assist us." With that she walked around the table and left the room.
After she exited more ponies starting leaving. Storm Hammer gave him another dirty look as he left.
Shining Armor was the last pony out and there was someone waiting for him on the other side of the door.
The pony stepped in front of him with a worried look on his face. Shining recognized him. He was an important engineer on the foreign side. Thinking back he remembered he had looked like that throughout the meet.
"Shining Armor, I must speak with you." He said urgently. "It's about the barrier."
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Matt's eyes shot open. He was laying on his back in the middle of the floor. There were other three naked sleeping humans in the room with him and for a moment he was reminded of a party he went to many years before. He stood up and, like the guy said, there was a good sized pile of clothes next to him. He was able find some clothes that fit him pretty well and dressed himself.
For a while he sat on his bed staring at the open door to the cell. Now that he was human he felt he should be doing something to help. He was in pretty good physical condition and unlike what the man had said, he wasn't tired at all.
He also wanted to get his mind off of things. Every time he alone he thought back to the Newfoal settlement. He wasn't sure about other settlements, but his was a nightmare. The only way he could stop himself from thinking about it was moving around and doing something.
After a few minutes he saw a figure walk quickly past the door. He wasn't aware the person saw him until they appeared in the doorway again.
"Hey, you're up already?" The man asked quickly. He was an average height white guy with a slightly muscular build. "Usually you guys need a few hours after your conversion. You know,t to get used to your human body again. I heard it takes alot out of you."
Matt looked himself over. "Well I feel fine."
He smiled. "Thats good. I guess you should probably follow me then." He motioned out the door with hand.
He hurried down from the conversion rooms and passed dozens of humans who had either just gone through conversion or were currently undergoing it. The process was so disgusting to watch that he had to look away and was quick to match the mans pace. Matt didn't know who he was, but he seemed cool enough and he knew it wouldn't hurt to have a friend.
"I think they already started." He said back to Matt as they ran back down the metal staircase. "I really want to get there."
They sped across the main floor heading towards a door on the other side. "Wait, whats about to start?" Matt asked.
The man pushed open the door and went down the stairs. "That." He pointed.
There were two people, a man and a woman, standing atop a raised platform. They were in the middle of one huge open room. Surrounding them was a small group of maybe 30 people.
"-need air power to take back our land!" The man on the platform had already started. "There is a reserve base not 20 miles from here thats been overrun with ponies. I say we take it back!"
He sure is getting the crowd riled up, Matt thought. Nearly whole group were pumping their fists in the air.
"We're not taking our whole force so we need volunteers for a more stealthier mission than when we liberated the Capital building. Who's with us?!" He shouted. Immediately about 15 people raised their hands.
"I'm coming too!" Matt's new friend shouted loudly. He pushed through the crowd right up to the stage. The man nodded and leaned down to slap his back. He turned around looking for Matt and motioned for him to join.
"You coming? I sure we could use you." He said when Matt reached him.
Matt tilted uneasily. Fighting was something he used to be able to do quite well, but he wasn't sure how much skill he had retained after his time as a pony. "I..I..I don't know. I mean I just got converted and-"
"Come on, It'll be easy." His new friend pushed. He wanted to be useful, be loyal, but he didn't want to throw himself so early into a situation that he wasn't prepared for. He had a choice to make.
"Fine." He sighed finally. His thinking was that at least his new task would keep his mind off of his old home in the settlement.
"Good to hear it!" He said happily. "By the way, I don't think I ever introduced myself." I took his extended hand which he shook firmly. "Jacob. Jacob Sanders."