//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: TCB Mankind Triumphant: Pony Life 
// by staryoshi06 
//------------------------------//

David walked towards the building, a Blackmesh officer on each side of him. He sighed.

He was told that years ago, conversion had been coveted. People would become colourful sapient equines that sometimes would have wings or magical horns. They did this so they could live in the ever expanding Equestria. Until the Human Liberation Front foolishly destroyed Equestria for ever. Gone were the days of pegasai and unicorns. Gone were the bright colours that the equinoids came in. Worst of all, after a hundred years, the converted would become regular farm animals.

David had made one small mistake. He had tried to steal a creditstick off of a very important elite. This was his punishment.

He walked through the doors. He gulped. A person was standing there, holding a small cup of sparkling purple liquid. David looked around to see if he could escape. The Blackmesh grabbed his arms. His clothes were ripped off. Then one of the Blackmesh forced his mouth open and the person holding the cup poured it into his mouth. David started screaming, but soon stopped as the anaesthetic kicked in.


*****


David opened his eyes. He was floating. He realised this must be one of those 'conversion dreams' he had been told about. He could see stars all around and floating rock. On one side of him was a representation of a herd of earthpony slaves. On the other was a representation of a herd of the original party-coloured equinoids that he had seen in holo-shows. As he watched, they slowly merged together.

There was a noise behind him.

He turned around. Behind him was a strangely large equinoid. It had a white coat and a very strange mane and tail, almost like it was a portal to another dimension. It also had both a horn and wings. He recognised from the holo-shows that this was Princess Celestia. There was one difference though. Her eyes were crazed, and her neck was severed, with what appeared to be purple blood coming out. As David watched though, the neck slowly started repairing itself.

Another large equinoid appeared. It had a dark blue coat, and an equally strange mane and tail as the other. It also had wings and a horn, which was glowing. It spoke one single sentence.

'We will be back.'

Then everything faded.


*****


'We are getting less newfoals these days.'

'Heh, then that means people are following the rules now. Looks like they're scared of being ponies, eh?'

'I guess so.'

David groaned. He struggled to sit up. As he tried, he realised that in place of hands he had hooves. He groaned again.

'Looks like this is my life now.'

There was a noise outside of, of, where was he anyway.

David looked around. He was inside some sort of stable. There was hay on the ground, and what appeared to be a water trough and a feeding trough. There was also a saddle and some reins on the back wall.

Suddenly, a human's head popped over the stable door. He looked back to what David assumed was his mate.

'Yup, he's awake.'

The human turned back round. 'Okay, listen here. You cause any trouble, you'll be the elite's dinner. I heard that Equestrians make very tasty meals. You just be a good horsie, and you might live, got that shit?'

David nodded.

'Right. Feeding is in half an hour. Tomorrow you will get training. I have to tend to some of the other newfoals now, so don't go anywhere, not that you can.' The human snickered as he left.

David sighed. He tried pushing the door open, but it was made out of the new development, woodcrete, which was very strong but looked and felt like wood, made for people who needed strong materials but also wanted pleasing aesthetics. He sighed again. The days of post-conversion euphoria were long gone. He decided to check himself out in the mirror that was on the stable door. He had a dull brown coat with a blonde mane and tail, and blue eyes. Newfoals only ever came out in dull colours now.

He yawned. The anaesthetic was still slightly affecting him. He decided to lay down in the hay and have a small rest while he waited for feeding. He closed his eyes. But he couldn't fall asleep. He was still a bit curious, so he decided to look around to see if there were any other stables around him and if there were others in them.

He leaned his forehooves on one of the walls and looked over it, surprised at how agile he was with his new body. Over the wall, he could see other stables with other ponies.  On this side, there was a white stallion with a brown mane and tail and brown eyes. There was only one stable on this side. David decided to check the other.

On the other side there was three stables. The closest stable had a black stallion with green eyes and a white mane and tail. The next one on was a chestnut mare with a black mane and tail and blue eyes. The last one was empty.

David looked over his stable door. There was no humans, though there were probably guards outside. He saw a holographic clock on the wall, which said that it was a quarter to one. He guessed that feeding time must be at one o'clock, which meant that fifteen minutes had already passed. 'Time sure does fly,' he thought to himself.

'Hey, up here.'

David looked up. The black stallion was looking at him over the wall. 'What?'

'Come talk to me,' the stallion replied.

David leaned his forehooves an the wall again.

'I noticed you are new here,' said the stallion.

David rolled his eyes. 'What gave it away?'

The stallion kept talking. 'I only got here yesterday. The government punishes such stupid little things with conversion. All I did was steal a little bread. What did you do?'

'I tried to steal an elite's creditstick,' David replied.

'Woah, that's big. Anyway, my name's Alexander. Yours?'

'David.'

'Well, David, I guess that's that. It's nearly feeding time, so we better get down before the humans get here. Talk to ya later David.'

'See ya later Alexander.' David realised he felt a little better after talking to Alexander. He had never talked to many people before, because he didn't trust anyone. David had never felt good about talking to someone until now. He found that interesting. Maybe conversion hadn't changed as much as he thought it did. He felt better than he had ever felt before. It almost felt like conversion wasn't a punishment.

Suddenly he heard a door bang open. 'FEEDING TIME!'

He heard something being poured out of a bucket. Some food and water fell out of dispensers in the ceiling into the troughs. There was hay, with a few flowers mixed in, and some alfalfa as well. David realised he felt really hungry. He almost literally dived into the trough and started sucking it up like a vacuum cleaner. He was also extremely thirsty. After eating and drinking, he felt really sleepy. He closed his eyes again, and this time he managed to fall asleep.