The Conversion Bureau : Still Human

by Shader

Page 89

Despite what many humans believe, all three of the Pony Tribes have powerful magic. The only difference is how their bodies utilize it, which I find can be easiest explained by the concept of External Usage and Internal Usage. To make sure everyone is on the same page (I'm well aware of how little most humans read about Equestria), I've paraphrased from the New Foals Guide To Equestria:

Unicorns have mostly External Usage, channeling their thoughts into actions via the horn. It shapes the world, allowing them to lift and handle objects with a dexterity that no Earth Pony or Pegasus could ever hope to match, and allows them to cast spells that defy physics. Their small amount of internal magic makes them sensitive to all magic, allowing them to feel how it's used around them.

Pegasi have equal External and Internal Usage. Their Internal allows them to fly, and protects them from the incredible speeds they're capable of, the average pegasus reaching and exceeding 400 Kmph's. This is balanced with their External, giving them the ability to control clouds and weather. This even allows them to anchor clouds to a point on the ground below, creating a stationary mass that can be used to create the iconic 'Cloud Home'.

An Earth Pony's magic is almost completely Internal, supporting their physical bodies to increase their strength and durability. Diseases that could easily kill a unicorn barely give a sniffle to a healthy Earth Pony, and weights that a pegasi's lighter body would strain to even lift can be flung clear across a field. Their small amount of External magic seeps into the ground and living things close to them, enhancing growth and vitality, leading them to be exceptional farmers and nurses.

All ponies, between the ages of 3 months and 2 years, go through random, uncontrollable spurts of this magic. Unicorn foals will cast random spells, or fling nearby objects through the air. Pegasi will fly, bouncing around the house and out windows. Earth Ponies will suffer from uncontrollable bursts of strength, breaking objects by accident. But as they grow, their bodies learn to control and suppress it.

This suppression lasts up until a few years before puberty, usually around the ages of 8 or 9, allowing the young pony to properly learn control and restraint. This restraint is something that New Foals lack. The issue is compounded by adult New Foals having the magic capabilities of an full grown pony.

Bodies brimming with magical power, with no concept of control.

Because of this, at least 50% of the current patients in New Hope hospitals are admitted with some form of injury from this lack of control. Burns from errant spells, head trauma from startled pegasi and broken bones from friendly slaps on the shoulder are just a few examples I could give.

PAGE 89

Flying was always a bit of a conundrum for me. I'd specifically chosen to become a Pegasus for the freedom of flight, for that wonderful ability to travel long distances under my own power. Nowhere was off limits when you possessed your own set of wings, blasting across the sky at speeds that would make even the fastest Bullet Trains green with envy.

Pity, then, that I quickly found out how much I hated leaving the ground.

So it was with great relief that I touched down just outside a fenced off, nondescript building on the outskirts of New Hope. An unassuming house, brown paint and single story, and from the outside appearing completely devoid of activity. However if you knew where to look, like I did, you'd find watchful eyes peering out from the windows of nearby buildings. As I approached the door it was opened by an Earth Pony standing inside, one of many all garbed in the heavy plate armor of the Militia.

It was an endless source of amusement just how much Equestria valued it's tradition, and their Royal Guard was no exception. Made up of remnants of the original militarism of the Pegasi Tribe, the Guard was nearly entirely filled with Pegasi, with only the most skilled Unicorns taking the remaining places.

Worked great outdoors, where a pegasus could dart around through the air and only engage on their terms, but once inside a pegasus was pretty much grounded. An Earth Pony without the advantages. Tradition really was a stupid thing, though I guess it didn't really matter when you had two deities to defend against serious threats.

The inside of the house was the complete opposite of the unassuming exterior, with a heavy metal gate shortly past the entrance barring entry to a huge steel construct. Almost a bunker built within the confines of the misleading building. At the moment it was opened in advance for my arrival, and past it I could see stairs leading down underground, and halls leading off to offices. Once the doors were securely closed behind me, I turned to the nearest guard.

"Where's Mr. Hemmings? He said he had something I needed to see," I asked. It always amazed me whenever I saw a militia Earth Pony. They looked closer to an armored vehicle than a living creature.

"He's on level two, in the High Security area," He replied, pointing towards the stairs.

This got me curious. If it was locked away in there, then it had to be big. Giving my thanks, I proceeded down the stairwell.

It was an idea Hemmings had thrown my way a few years back, a kind of secret lab. Simple building with an entrance to an underground research area. I'd honestly thought he'd been reading too many spy books, but I gave the go ahead anyway. Somewhere to do our own research on pony magic, something we had very little actual knowledge of. We didn't want Equestria's concepts of how it worked, we needed our own.

In hindsight, the 'Villain's Secret Lab' idea had worked out nicely, and had given me some peace of mind over a publicly known one. Especially after the Celestia incident.

I shivered at the memory of that particular meeting, not really wanting to remember the vision of an angry Celestia, her eyes aflame with a voice that echoed inside my head. I think she still blamed me for the exodus, despite my claims to the contrary. Her plan for the future had been shattered, and I was someone who she could point her frustrations at.

At least that was my theory.

Whether true or not, this little lab let New Hope conduct research without worrying about her finding out.

The facility consisted of long, well lit hallways, broken only by large windows along each wall, allowing a good view into the various rooms. This was just the low security stuff, so the need for secrecy was minimal. Many of the rooms at this time of day were occupied, people studying everything from enchantment to magic spells, for everyday use or combat.

A loud crack from one room in particular caught my attention. Through the window, I could see a blue Pegasus repeatedly kicking a small cloud inside a metal cage. Each strike was punctuated by a clap of lightning streaking from the black roiling mass to the steel bars, the silence between each bolt filled with the scratching of pens against paper from the half dozen Unicorns sitting a safe distance away. Science at its best, loud noises and pretty lights.

"I was wondering when you'd show up."

Turning, I was met with the face of Hemmings, the orange Earth Pony briskly walking towards me from deeper within the facility. Immediately I noticed something off about him, his mouth pressed into a grim line, eyebrows furrowed. An expression I'd almost never seen on him before.

"Middle of a meeting, took a while to get away," I grunted in return, "so what was so important you had to have a messenger interrupt it?"

He shook his head, "No, not here. This is big, and I'm not risking talking about it until we're in private."

If I thought he looked overly serious before, by now I almost couldn't recognize him. He'd never been one for taking anything without at least a little bit of a smarmy attitude, and it was actually beginning to freak me out.

"Alright, lead the way."

* * *

As I seated myself on a cushion in front of his desk, I couldn't help but be filled with apprehension. He'd never been a worrisome man, preferring to let things just happen and go along for the ride. So to have him order two guards to stand outside the door, out of earshot, and to not let anyone within ten meters of the door...

"Hemmings, I'm going to be blunt. What the hell has gotten into you? You look like you're about to have a heart attack!"

He shook his head before reaching underneath his desk, coming back up with a flask with a stopper in his teeth. Setting in upon the table surface, he stared mutely at it for a few moments, looking pensive.

"It's this stuff," he finally spoke, pointing towards the murky red liquid inside with his muzzle. "After years of work, we managed to finish it."

"Hemmings, focus. Cut out the dramatization and tell me," I sighed, hoping to get to the chase, my busy schedule flying past in my head. The meeting with the Schooling Board, a meeting with the Sanitation Board, another meeting with -

"It's Anti-Conversion Formula."

- the new Electricity... Anti-Conversion? It took a few seconds for the words to click in my head.

"WHAT?!"

The Earth Pony almost threw himself over the desk to cram a hoof into my mouth, hissing in a low voice, "Be quite, or someone will hear you!"

Holy shit. Holy shit. He'd managed to... to...

"How the hell did you make this?" I whispered back.

"I didn't. My team I'd had working on it did. We managed to snag a bunch of samples of the Conversion Formula from a dump site, then they set about reverse engineering it, and finding out how to produce it ourselves."

I just kept staring at the flask like it was a live snake. No wonder he had been so worked up before. If this got out to... Oh shit!

"How many people know about this!? Celestia can not find out!" I was having trouble keeping my volume down, being the nervous wreak that I was at that moment. She was already furious at me, and I honestly couldn't say what she would do if this became known.

"Why do you think we're underground for, with this security and secrecy?" He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "As for those who know? Just you, me, ten scientists and two guards."

Taking deep breaths to calm myself down, I finally managed to get my jumbled thoughts together. "Hemmings, how would this even work? The entire world is flooded with magic, and turning back would be assured death."

The Earth Pony just shook his head. "Where do you think our magic came from? They didn't just change our physical bodies, then POOF, magic appears. The original formula had to do both, separately. This," he nodded towards the flask, "just affects the physical body, leaving the magic to protect us."

A smile, almost a maniacal grin, finally stretched itself across his face.

"We did it, man! It's past all testing we could possibly manage without actually using it! When we leave Equestria, we can become human again!"

Comments

[Shader]

501481
Dangit, might flip that a little.

EDIT: Ok, I've changed that, hopefully no more confusion.

[verifiaman]

So this is going to end bad for the 'humans' then.

[Nerdrage911191]

Viva la Resistánce!

[D-Bence35]

*insert viva la resistance song here*
images.starcraftmazter.net/4chan/for_forums/shit_just_got_real.gif

[madman125]

725601

You're welcome.
Vive la resistance!

[Red Bomber]

I have a very bad feeling about this...

[KvAT]

2197801
Danger is our species' middle name! Viva la humanité!

[MatTheBook]

"How many people know about this!? Celestia can not find out!" I was having trouble keeping my volume down, being the nervous wreak that I was at that moment. She was already furious at me, and I honestly couldn't say what she would do if this became known.

Is it really a good idea to unconvert people?
Celestia will find out and she will not be happy.

501492

[MatTheBook]

"We did it, man! It's past all testing we could possibly manage without actually using it! When we leave Equestria, we can become human again!"

And Celestia will hunt you down....