Harmony, should not be a delusion held only by those who have not suffered, but the knowledge that wrongs can be forgiven and life eventually returned to peace.
Why are newfoals so nice? Why do they always see the Princesses in their conversion dreams? What if you did something you never wanted them to know? What could be so bad to drive a person to take potion awake so they would not have to face Celestia? Rose Pastern has been running ever since Project Bucephalus, but who believes they can run from the Sun and Moon?
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Why do people continue to make TCB material? The story is dead, Chatoyance has apologized for making it, and (most of) the fandom has moved on. What compels people to continue making this stuff?
8454678
Chatoyance didn't make TCB, and as for why some people continue to, why does it matter?
If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
And other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself "It's just a show,
I should really just relax
-Mystery Science Theater 3000
On this Earth there are entities which incarnate into the bodies we refer to as "human." Among these entities, some originated here on Earth. Some did not. Of these various entities, some come here and enter into human form to learn. Some come to render aid and be of assistance to those who have come to learn. Some come to consume, to compel, to destroy.
Among these various entities who do not originate from Earth, there are unicorn.
The unicorn group soul might say that it has come to render aid to humans. Yet, the desire to render aid is itself perhaps a distortion of true love. Amidst infinity may exist a great deal of tragedy. Would an all-knowing God be blind to this? When you see Hamlet on stage do you desire to bring an end to his pain? When you see a child being torn asunder and eaten alive by wolves, do you desire to be of assistance to that child? Do you desire that they be spared that suffering?
In some way, this desire to render aid...is not love. It is a desire to impose one's own expectations for what is good and true and beautiful, upon an other self that exists in a state that is perceived as lacking goodness, truth, and beauty.
Why should we love and accept only the beautiful and not the grotesque?
The Conversion Bureau was born of this desire to impose. It is born of anger and resentment by others, towards humans, for their refusal to accept and their fight against acceptance of what is perceived by these others as good, true and beautiful. The Conversion Bureau is a story about metaphysical rape, by one group soul upon another.
"We will impose upon you our conception of beauty and you will like it"
"We will change you and have our way with you and make you like us and you will thank us for it."
"We are so beautiful, and you are so disgusting, that you will come to us and beg to be molded into our image, not your own. And this transformation will come with pain and suffering because we loathe your very being, and wish for you to suffer as penance for being what are you."
It should come as no surprise if the recipient of this, finds it abhorrent.
To those others who come to this Earth under the pretense of "helping" humanity, it might be to your benefit to consider your motivations for being here. Did you come to render aid? Were you asked to be here? Were you invited? Did you come to compel through an act of force, that humans be molded to conform to your standards of truth and beauty? Are you attached to the outcome of your presence here? Would you be displeased if the humans reject what you offer? Would you be angry? If they resist, will you force them to become what you wish them to become? If you do, are you truly rendering aid, or have you become the danger from which you claim to have come to protect them?
And at what consequence to your own self does this come?
8454678
People continue making TCB material for the same reason that any fan continues making any fan created content, however as I already stated in the author's comments, this story was written in 2013. Chatoyance didn't make TCB, and why would you think she would apologize for it? The Conversion Bureau concept was first written by Blaze. Here is the original Conversion Bureau story.
8454880 Your perception brings me comfort.
My people once believed that butterflies were the souls of those who had died and were traveling to beyond the mortal world, and as such they were revered and respected as a creation of the gods. We came to know that they were part of the natural world, but seeing them struggle so hard against escaping their own cocoon someone helped them break free and consequently watched the butterfly die, because this struggle in its first moment of life, despite how incredibly short it is, strengthens the butterfly. Imagine the sorrow of someone who has killed something so beautiful by accident from only wanting to help. We came to see this as a message from the gods: that we have hearts and it is good to want to unburden the suffering of others, but there are times when we can go to far. This is why before we act in any way, it is very important for us to understand the consequences of our actions.
In the story, I wrote Celestia explaining this to Rose when she said that she had hoped humanity would find its own way. What she meant was that if humanity, if any species of earth, could have survived, she would not interfere, but in this particular setting, the earth is so poisoned, that all life would be dead within a few years, and it would then take millions of years for the breakdown of poisons until the evolutionary process began again from single-celled organisms. In the setting as it is described, rescue action is just. Celestia offers to Rose a vision of every possible future, where Celestia took every possible action to render aid to its exhaustive conclusion. This was my way of telling the reader that for this setting, for this story, the actions taken are not flippant, but carefully considered as an act of compassion.
When I read Blaze’s original The Conversion Bureau, what I got from it was a feeling that he was using ponies as a mirror or sounding-board to reflect upon the troubles of human society. He seemed to be using becoming pony as a metaphor for becoming a majority welfare or at the very least, non-progressive society. His main character even from the prologue isn’t super thrilled about it, so I have to disagree with you; TCB was not born of the desire to impose, at least, not to impose ponification.
Let me shed some light on what is perhaps the too well best kept secret of The Conversion Bureau stories. You acknowledge that they are written by unicorns in human bodies, so shouldn’t it be clear to you, that every “human” that becomes a pony in these stories, whether they know it or not, was always a unicorn in a human body? You see, we didn’t write these to be hateful. We didn’t write these to impose our will on the unwilling. We wrote these because it is our deepest desire to return to what we were and from wince we came. Being in these bodies now, it is easy to wish and pretend that just, poof, suddenly without explanation, we become what we should be, but it is so much more satisfying to give this change reason and some level of resistance, so that when we reach that goal it feels real, even though we know it is, for now, only a story. You should be asking yourself: if that is really how we feel, why don’t we just go home? I assure you, if it were within our power to leave when we choose, we would have left long ago.
Yes. Earth/humanity lost a great deal of development during a terrible event.
Yes.
Not by humans.
We still believe that when a spirit grows to be able to perceive an entire planet in ways that a body cannot, that there is a logical conclusion within the individual to how a being should act, but we have no interest in forcing you to be this way.
We have been here for longer than recorded history, and there have been times when each of us in our most desperate moments hold to the idea that we were doing something good here. When we leave this world, there is no doubt that there will be mourning for our perceived failure and anger for our wasted time. Healing is a process that often requires fully feeling what was unsafe to feel at the time that we were hurt.
Humans have rejected us, and it was a shock to me. I have experienced every emotion with a name toward this, and many more that don’t have a name. We perceive this problem, and we have no unified answer, except that we do not want to become monsters.
I sometimes wonder if like the person who accidentally killed the butterfly, if we were meant to be so wrong in all that we have done by coming here. Just as that lesson that was so small and long ago was so profound in shaping our society, it may be that it was simply time for another lesson, one that we don’t yet completely understand. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for falling on humanity’s sharp pointy rock, but I’m not here to invade or change anything. This is our last life on earth, we are not allowed to kill ourselves, so we are leaving at the speed of life. For human and unicorn alike, I know that this feels like much much too long, but that is why we write fiction like this, to keep us in good spirits while we are waiting. If you don’t like it, don’t read it, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the future of this planet, so don’t let it trouble you, and please be patient with our exit.
8454678
What? First, I did not 'make' the Conversion Bureau. I just wrote in what is a collective fan-created story universe.
I certainly do not appologize, in any way shape or form, for writing my stories. I am absolutely proud of my work here, and absolutely content with it. It is some of the best work of my life.
Why do people still concern themselves with the Conversion Bureau (and I do not mean the terrible, anti-Bureau 'deconstruction' crap that fails to follow the Three Rules) you ask?
Most of Fimfiction is filled with childish, dull, simple or openly pornographic stories. They are all hack-work of the most disappointing sort - foal rape and pathetic little shipping fics, or even more terrible, overpowered Mary Sue characters. Almost everything on Fimfiction is crap. But there are two genres here, just two, that are intelligent, mature, and brilliant. One is Iceman's 'Optimalverse' setting. The other is the original, true, Three Rules compliant Conversion Bureau. These two story universes, alone, rise above the mediocrity and awfulness that is Fimfiction.
Both genres take a simple children's cartoon, and turn it into serious, hard science science fiction. A treat for the intelligent among us here, sparking new ideas and deep questions about identity, reality, and the nature of humanity itself. That is vastly more worthwhile than some wretched story about Pinkie Pie killing her friends, or Celestia raping ponies, or ponies dressed up in Warhammer suits, or incest porn, or whatever other bad, terrible, awful crap that is commonly posted around here.
That is why.
Peachclover: very sweet story, and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for posting it here.
Added directly to the Bureau archives. Of course.
8454843
I love that the netflix remake has that part of the theme while SHOWING bunk beds, hydroponics, and science labs
8457878
I need to watch that series someday since I only really know it by reputation. That said I love that part of the song since it pokes fun at people who take works of fiction to seriously and get offended by them, which is why I like posting it on stuff like this.
8457902
It's a brilliant series, but the jokes can be a bit dated, the remake has more current affairs based jokes.
In the original theme, that part was sung showing an empty (apart from the doors) hallway thing, in the current? it is sung while literally showing, how he eats, and breathes etc.
oh wow, you should have posted this story sooner
8454678
Chatoyance did not start the story, at all.
Blaze's original story was answering the question "why are there are so many human gadgets and terms used in a world of talking magical ponies?"
The idea of the crashing of two worlds being intentional, and the transformation resulting in death of personality, were all added in by later writers, and other writers began attacking that and presuming that was the intention of Blaze when he wrote the first fic. (And really doesn't make sense with the first fic's original question!)
8454880
Uh, no. It was started with Blaze asking the question, "Why are there so many identifiable human like gadgets and terms by magical talking horses?" Heck, I would add today: why are there ponies who are so obviously culturally east indians?
Therefore, the idea of human technology and culture being wiped makes absolutely no sense with the intent of the original author.
8585981
Death of the Author
Do fish understand water? How long until humans understood air? When one is immersed in a thing, it's easy to not be aware of that thing. You're surrounded by air right now, but were you aware of it in the same sense you were aware of your chair and your computer monitor and your desk?
Tropes and archetypes are similarly ubiquitous, and can similarly go unnoticed, even by an author.
8587561
There's a reason lots of author's hate that trope when it's purposely invoked. If Blaze was anti-humanity, he'd have never wanted to answer the question of how ponies had so many obviously human made inventions and cultural traits.
8587773
Just because you eat hamburgers doesn't mean you're "anti cow." Nevertheless, if you're a cow...humans eating hamburgers probably doesn't seem all that great to you.
Blaze intended what Blaze intended. But there's a large and vocal community who loathes the Conversion Bureau verse, and I suspect they don't feel the way they do just because Blaze wanted to light-heartedly examine why ponies have human inventions and culture and yet have no humans.
Examine TCB not from the point of view of the ponies, but from the point of view of the human collective. It becomes a very different story. Just like, "my family went out for hamburgers and had a happy, wonderful time" is a horror story...if you're a cow.
8589233
That makes it sound like the ponies were harvesting humans or something, or were invading. Personality death, and/or characters becoming zombies, Was invented totally by later writers, as was the idea of the world crashing being intentional. And there was nothing I think that suggested Equestria was going to try and violate the sovereignty of other countries by taking territory.
The only bug I can genuinely think of, is dragons, zebra, griffins, etc, not getting in on the deal, something I've corrected in my own works in the setting.
8589365
You're reading too much into the metaphor. Simply try examining the Conversion Bureau verse from the point of view of the human collective rather than from the point of view of somebody who longingly wishes they could go to Equestria.
It's well known that there's a large body of people who absolutely detest TCB. I'm explaining why. If you don't personally feel that way, that's fine. I'm not trying to convince you to join their club. Simply understand what TCB is from their point of view. Look at a gentle and loving child fondly playing on the grass with his beloved pet, from the point of view of the grass they're trampling. Look at gargling mouthwash to make your breath fresh from the point of view of the millions of bacteria you're killing when you do.
The child playing with his dog isn't laughing maniacally at the hardship he's causing, and when you gargle mouthwash you're not twirling your mustache gleefully at the prospect of committing mass bacterial murder.
Nevertheless, there's a darker side to these things after a perspective shift, and there's a darker side to the Conversion Bureau. Whether you identify with the child or the doting parent or the grass entirely changes the context of "playing on the grass," and TCB is a dark and horrifying place with unfortunate implications for those who identify with humanity.