1. They Smile In Your Face
This story takes place before Season Two, before Lauren Faust was forced out of MLP:FIM by Hasbro. It takes place in a version of MLP:FIM that has not suffered the curse of Every Girl A Princess, and the move to add more and more alicorns. There is no Cadence in this canon at all, and Twilight is not a princess yet, if ever. This story, like all of my stories, stays true to Faust's original conception of alicorns as being akin to Greek Goddesses.
The
CONVERSION
►Bureau
CODE MAJESTE
By Chatoyance
1. They Smile In Your Face
Lillian Fogarty held the small, white plastic cup in her hand, smiling at it. Inside the cup swirled a purple fluid, shining like oil. It danced with metallic sparkles and, as she held it close to her eye, what seemed like tiny specks of unearthly light. The cup contained 'potion' - ponification serum, a nanotechnomagical fluid made of human designed and manufactured microscopic machines powered by the unearthly energies of the alien cosmos of Equestria.
It had been two and a quarter years since the initial emergence of Equestria from the dead, gray, pacific ocean and the effort to transform humanity in order to save it from extinction was well under way. The earth had died long ago, with the last of the plankton in the poisoned oceans. The arrival of Equestria offered an escape, a lifeboat to escape that terrible day when the last human found the atmosphere not merely hot and smoggy - but devoid of sufficient oxygen to sustain them.
Billions had been already been converted, but this was only a beginning, and not every human agreed with the mutual plan of both the corporate world government and the twin monarchs of the invading cosmos. The Conversion Bureaus were everywhere, on every continent, and gigantic factory complexes had been dedicated to meeting the incessant need for serum.
Today was Lillian's birthday. She was nineteen, and inside the cup was her birthday present to herself; a one-way ticket to the thing she coveted the most in all of two worlds - the life of a pretty mare in the lush, green fairyland that was Equestria. She had done her required fourteen days in the Vancouver Conversion Bureau, and had been called for the coveted morning slot. In almost every Bureau, the morning conversion was considered the best time to be transformed because of the fuss made over the new convert at lunchtime. There would be congratulations, cheers, and of course the grand excitement of 'First Meal As A Pony'. Morning conversion essentially meant a sort of birthday party at lunch for the lucky newfoal that was selected for that slot.
Lillian felt very lucky today. Her parents had not found her, she had managed to arrange her conversion exactly on her birthday - the staff had been most accommodating on that matter, especially since she had made arrangements with them months before - and she had even been given the morning slot. This was easily the best birthday ever.
Her mother and father had not wanted her to 'go pony' - they were unconvinced of the necessity of ponification and still held great stock in the resourcefulness of the world government to find a way to reverse the total destruction of the biosphere. Surely the clever boffins that could make holographic televisions could find some means to fix the oceans! Appealing to some alien cosmos popping out of the sea seemed cowardly and weak. Things just couldn't have gotten so desperate, could they? Both had been adamant that Lillian should not ever approach a Conversion Bureau, and they were dubious about the entire enterprise.
"You have no idea what being one of those... creatures... is even like! They're not human, Lill! If you turn into one of those things you are certainly no daughter of mine!" Lillian's mother slammed her hand down on the table; her lips drew together in a cross between a scowl and a pucker. "You have your whole life ahead of you! You can't just throw it all away to become some... barnyard freak!"
Lillian stormed around the kitchen, her hands waving in frustration "MOOOMM! You just don't UNDERSTAND! What about Amblecanter - you know, Millicent Bourns? Huh? She's been your friend for years, and now she's a UNICORN! She's a freaking unicorn! You don't hate her for that do you? What's wrong with being that? What's wrong with MY being that?"
"I don't even know Milly! She's not my friend. She's never been my friend. We're just acquaintances because we live in the same building. What she does with her life is her business, and has nothing to do with you." Janice Fogarty turned away and began to make coffee. "You're my daughter, you're a human being, and there is no way you are becoming one of those... things."
"Amblecanter used to be your friend! You USED to go shopping with her and go on trips, you just dumped her because she became an Equestrian. You're a bigot, mom! That's what this is about! You're a god damned bigot!"
The slap surprised Lillian. It also surprised her mother too. Especially so because, in the back of her mind, Janice felt there was some truth to her daughter's words. "You may be turning nineteen soon, but that does NOT mean that you have the right to disrespect me in my own house! That's enough of this, Lillian. I'll have no more talk about these Bureaus any more! Is that understood?" Janice gave her daughter her meanest look - she wanted this to end, now.
Lillian nursed her cheek with the back of her hand and glared. "Fine." She held back her tears, she would not give her mother the satisfaction "Mom." Lillian didn't stomp, or shout or say another word. She simply left. She had plans already in motion. To hell with her bigot of a mother.
Now she sat naked on the stainless steel platform in Clinic 013, holding her birthday present in her hand. The cup smelled of grape.
"Are you OK? Are you having second thoughts, Lillian?" Doctor Treasen gave her a kindly smile, his small mustache lifting at the corners.
"No! Oh, no way, doctor. I was just... thinking. About how I got here and stuff. That's all. Here -" Lillian swallowed the contents quickly, as she had been told. "See? All gone!" She proudly handed the cup to doctor Treasen.
"Lie down, now. The anesthetic hits pretty quickly." Doctor Treasen's PA, Olivia, helped Lillian to lay down on her side. She was feeling the effects very strongly now. "Happy...birthday to....m..." Lillian's eyes closed for the last time as a human and within seconds her skin suddenly turned white as dough as the ponification serum went to work.
During her fourteen days at the Conversion Bureau, Lillian had seen many other applicants called to the conversion room. When they returned as ponies, they were sometimes groggy, sometimes they stumbled, still learning how to use their new legs, often they were excited and filled with smiles. But not one regretted the transformation, and all were happy to talk about what it was like, and some were willing to speak of the dream.
The dream was, as far as anyone could tell, universal to those who went through conversion. Even those who had suffered forcible conversion, say by the actions of the rogue PER - Ponification for Earth's Rebirth - had claimed a time of unconsciousness where they experienced the dream. Not every newfoal would tell their dream; some clutched it tightly to them, either as a treasure or as a burden, but none would state with conviction that they had experienced nothing.
The matter of conversion dreams was a source of endless debate; a conversation made all the more interesting by the fact that all conversion dreams held certain elements in common. There was almost universally the sensation of running as part of a vast herd of equinoid forms. There was a feeling of belonging. But above all was the experience of meeting, in some form or guise or representation, two great beings of power, beings that could only be the monarchs of Equestria, Celestia and Luna.
Lillian had looked forward to this experience the most; it was a matter of great fascination to her. She had spent all of her days at the Bureau wondering what her own conversion dream would be like, and she had become known for relentlessly questioning newfoals about their dream experiences.
Lillian was running, as fast as she could, across a vast green flatness. This was a common situation she had heard described many times by many newfoals, and she was astonished to find herself reflecting on this fact. She knew she was dreaming - and this was astonishing! Conversion dreams were lucid dreams! As she ran, she imagined her body going though changes on that table, somewhere in the 'real' world, elsewhere, not here. Wherever here actually was.
She waited for the expected arrival of countless ghostlike equinoid forms to approach and run beside her, to sweep her into the herd. This also was common in conversion dreams. There, in the distance, as she ran, she saw the herd, approaching. Thousands and thousands of shapes, not solid, but more the ideal, the essence of the equestrian form, running as one, all coming closer and closer to her. Soon she would be accepted, and run with them. Many newfoals described this, and she was thrilled to see it happening for her.
The vast herd came near. The etherial shape of a stallion-like entity regarded her. Suddenly it reared in shock. The herd stumbled and began falling over itself. Lillian found she could not stop running. In an instant the frightened, halting spectral herd was behind her. She looked down at her legs, her four, equine legs and tried to will them to stop, but they would not. She ran faster now, against her will. Her last vision of the herd was that of it bowing down as one, before she ran off what seemed to be a cliff. Lillian fell into some strange space, half glowing sky, half starlit realm.
Lillian suddenly felt cold, a chill that touched her very soul, and filled her with a terrible dread. She felt afraid to look up, but the choice was taken from her. Her spectral body rotated in space, as if held by some tremendous force, until she found herself staring into the vast eyes of two shimmering shapes that filled the bowl of the split sky.
The vast forms of princess Celestia and princess Luna, the absolute immortal monarchs, the literal goddesses of Equestria stared down at her, their expressions indecipherable, their gaze riveted upon Lillian. The vast eyes widened, the pupils shrank within them, and Lillian felt the force of their stare reach out and take hold of her.
Lillian felt herself being squeezed, crushed under the implacable glare. She felt her existence being diminished, as if she were the tiny flame of a candle, being snuffed by two vast fingers. Soundlessly, she screamed into the divided void, her own eyes rolling in terror from the dome that was night, to the hemisphere that was day.
Suddenly, something in her, something she had never felt and never known, something beyond her understanding or conception, rose up from within and violently opposed the crushing force. She wished only to flee, to escape this horror beyond space or time, and in that wish the something within her again took action.
Lillian felt herself dragged away from the monarchs, away from the divided space, and flung down in some direction she could not imagine, away, far away from the grasp of this horrific vision.
The next thing Lillian experienced was her own heartbeat, loud and fast, pounding in her new ears.
She violently opened her eyes, desperate to see, to escape the nightmare, to know that she was fully awake. Her breathing was rapid and gasping. She felt damp with her own terrified sweat.
"...You will follow procedure exactly on this, do you understand!" It was doctor Treasen. Lillian could hear him speaking with an angry, upset tone, his words clipped, his voice barely controlled.
"But doctor, she's only just a little girl, she has no concept of... " That was the Physician's Assistant, Olivia. She also sounded upset, almost pleading.
"Do. You. Understand?" Doctor Treasen's words were not a question, they were a command.
"I.... I understand, sir." Olivia's voice was almost a whimper.
Through this exchange, Lillian had not moved or made a sound. The terror she had experienced in her dream was still with her, and some instinct deep within her told her to play dead, to pretend to be unconscious. With effort she had closed her eyelids, though she could not manage to do so completely; she left just the tiniest of cracks open in her right eye, hoping no one would notice. She needed to see something, to feel aware of her surroundings, even if the only thing within her vision was a blank wall and part of a shelf.
Lying still, barely breathing now, she sensed someone leaning over her. She felt the hot breath of doctor Treasen hover over her head for a moment, then heard him move away.
"If she begins to regain consciousness, inject her with this." Lillian heard the sound of things being moved, passed from one hand to another with a tiny smack. "Do not wait, do not hesitate, do you understand? This is not just because of protocol, this could be a matter of life and death. But don't do it until you are sure - we can't be sure of what will happen. This is a last resort only. If it doesn't work, hit the button and get the hell out. I don't have to tell you why: it's armed."
"Yes... doctor."
"I'll make the call. Remember, this is a Code Majeste. This is the real thing. You know the protocol. Do not take any chances. This won't take three minutes, I'll be right back. Just keep watch, and do what you have to do. God dammit. A god damned Code Majeste! God... dammit."
Lillian heard the large metal door of the conversion room open and after a short pause, close.
Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and she had no idea what to do about it.
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Oooh! This is going to be good.
It is quite funny - just last week I was pondering this sort of event and thinking about, perhaps, seeing if I could place such a bug in someone's ear.
The Internet doth work in mysterious ways. :)
Being as my OC is one of the "immortals" this interests me greatly. See, I run a handful of 'pony' sims in SecondLife and am the ultimate power there - literally able to raise and lower the sun and moon, raise mountains, etc. So I set about creating a blatant violation of canon, working up vast quantities of back story, and like any 'godlike' character I'm only good as an NPC - but I tell you it's been a real hoot this last year or so.
So, thank you for attempting this. Again, I'm very interested to see how you work this out as everything else you've written as been both thought provoking and highly entertaining.
And here... we... GO!
Watching like a Hawk.
Sir, I take my hat off and dash it upon the ground, i'm looking forward to what happens next!
Also, I'm proud to say my guess on what you were doing with the story based on the title was completely and utterly WRONG
Oooh, this is something else, something unsettling. Celestia and Luna with something to... potentially hate and fear. In any other hooves I would be worried. I still am, and I think that's good. I don't know if I'll be happy reading this, but I know I'll like it.
Also, how did... comment... before posting... jealous now :(
Whooa, this sounds very interesting. Time to read!
Sweet. Woke up on my birthday to see a new piece from the incomparable Chatoyance. It's gonna be a good day. *scrolls back up to start enjoying*
I see your using the inscrutable all powerful model for your Tia and Lulu (Oh wait... same as Taste of Grass, gotcha). One of the darker variants of the Conversion Bureau, but still.. marked and watching, I'm going to enjoy seeing where this one goes.
Holy mother of potatoes... That was... Wow... I can't even dicribe what I have just read even thought I write that was... That AMMAZING!!! Please write some more , I must know what happens next. Now I have to go back to my writing which looks terrible compared to this. Just please keep on writing.
... aaaaand cue the 'oh crap' moment.
This is going to be interesting indeed...
Looks cool, looking forward to more
Should be interesting. I'd always figured the Earth governments would be actively attempting to sponsor such a thing, as that would be a potential advocate for humanity despite the change of form. Also, a good excuse to call on the mane 6 to seek out the recipient.
I predict lots of fun with paranoia, short-sighted thinking, and characterizations. Fire those friendship cannons!
Ah, I'd bashed together some daydreams like this to keep myself awake at work. Interesting to seem it take on such a sinister note, though. In my mind, they'd been more thrilled to see another with the potential to join their exclusive and painfully lonely caste. We've only just had the first chapter, and I'm already tense and eager for a resolution. Between the cover image, the teaser blurb, and the staff's reaction (the doctor seemed downright ashamed to have to call in a Code Majeste) I imagine things are going to get tense. I can't wait to see this side of the Royal Pony Sisters. Are they acting fearfully? Out of jealousy for the exclusivity of their role and station? Is there some dreadful side affect in store for a newfoal alicorn that would make her new life unbearable? Do I have to sound like the announcer at the end of a Saturday morning cartoon? All these answers and more.....oh, just write the darn thing. Now I'm all anxious and such. So much happy anticipation
Believe it or not, we have actually discussed Alicorns through comversion many a time before in the earlier days oc TCB. Of course everyone discussing the matter either didnt want to, lacked the skill or was busy with their own fics already.
You seem to be on the right track for making this most delicate of situations work. Godspeed Chatoyance, Godspeed and good luck. Its a tricky subject but if anyone can do it, its you. Or maybe Midnight. Idunnolol.
Can I has more?
MORE!!!
Don't think I ever said that about a fic, probably because I had an idea like this once. (Though not with this type of reception) Made for a damn effective cliffhanger though. That cliffhanger was just cruel!
Hope to see an update, great story!
So once this gets out to the general pony public... Is the HLF going to be in this story and actually do something intelligent for once?
By the way, could you please update your ponyhchan link in your stories?
Oh, good grief.......Lillian's life just got turned into a crap sandwich. Given her odd color scheme, I have a bad feeling that I know what's to become of her.........
I feel a sad yet epic story coming up.
. Tracking now 
I was afraid you'd do this.
Knowing what I know of your writing, which happens to extend to only your Conversion Bureau work except, for some reason, Teacup, knowing that you seem fairly aware of the fandom (for better or worse) and that you are not afraid of touching on dark or sometimes cynical topics, and sometimes in a cynical way. Your stories never promise happy endings, and most often they do not promise happy rising actions or climaxes or even happy denouements.
In a way, though, that's kind of why I prefer you over a lot of other authors. The Conversion Bureau universe for the most part promises and implies cynicism and depression, and yes, in a lot of the stories, that's evident; but even so in a lot of the stories I've read some authors tend to gloss over it, or super-idealize it. You do neither. Your world does not promise happy endings for those that do not work for them.
So when I say I'm afraid... well, I'm afraid for Lillian. I'm afraid of what she's going to have to go through to get to the end of this story, and I'm honestly afraid for everyone, and everypony, else too.
And yet I'm looking forward to it, too.
... There's also the fact that she looks kind of like Ditzy Doo and that kind of automatically invokes pity.
I too am looking forward to more. Glad to see you writing again. Now to go look at the other oneshots you put up that I didn't notice before this.
Argh. I'm looking at this with trepidation and excitement. To be honest, I don't know whether I want to read it. I'll give it two more chapters.
Golly! I can't wait to see what kind of zany conundrums she's going to get herself into! ten dollars says she's visited by a shadowy and mysterious guardian who informs her that she is, in fact, the CHOSEN ONE, who's destiny is to overthrow the DREAD TYRANT CELESTIA as foretold by the prophecies.
(noses through the comments so far)
Wow - seems like quite the hot-button subject and I'm fascinated by the fact that Chatoyance's writing is powerful enough that there is some serious trepidation to even reading the story simply because of the subject at hoof.
We collectively need to remember always that the goal of art, and writing is art, is to make the viewer feel something - to invoke an emotional response - and not all emotional responses are happy ones.
Also, this is an alternate universe. This is not storybook Equestria. Things seem to be very grim and sharply defined here, and it is precisely this setting which allows Chatoyance to ask the hard questions of humanity; to hold a mirror before them and let them see themselves from another's perspective.
The reflection we see might be disquieting and maybe even make us upset - but I guarantee it will make us think.
And I'm pretty sure that's the goal. :D
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If Windfeather is anything to go by, the prophecies probably need updating
Pretty much anything I had to say has already been covered by everyone else here. I'm excited and worried at the same time with a side order of squee.
Also I’ve found it kind of odd that no one has taken the Alicorn conversion rout before, the rocky road of sue-ship that it sets out to be. Yet I do not fret over this, as you’re quite possibly the one author that could pull this off.
Trepidations and anticipation abounds.
You got me curious...
*track*
*squeek*
YAY! More from she who has the unicorn jelly cutiemark!
Well my friends keep telling me I'm easily impressed...
Well screw them I'm tracking this till doomsday!
Good luck to us both
Yeah, considering your track record this read as exactly as I figured it would. And from the summary and dream sequence Celestia and Luna are going to take even further huge departures in character than what you've done already; and from the sounds of it you might as well dress them both up as Snidely Whiplash and have them stomp on a few Human babies for the hell of it.
I know this is supposed to be an AU of an AU but for cripes sake.
When I saw it was going to be a newfoal Alicorn story I got excited as hell. Then I saw the summary and read the first chapter...
Edit: Edited to be less douchy.
New Chatoyance CB story? Check. Awesome concept with potential for awesome story? Check. Fillies and Gentlecolts, keep your hooves and legs inside the fanfic at all times and sit back and enjoy the ride!
This is gonna prove interesting....
Somebody move over, I want a seat. *grabs popcorn*
hmm... it seems the shiola has hit the overhead spinner... well time to hid behind umbrellas and watch the chaos *drinks the glass from around the chocolate milk*
Alicorn OC's are a massive pet peeve of mine, but you have previously proven that you are capable of turning potential Mary Sues into likable-but-not-too-likable characters rather than thinly veiled forms of wish fulfillment, so for now good sir, I give you the benefit of the doubt.
P.S. please either update only during the weekends or release short chapters, the taste of grass seriously cut into my schedules. Yes, it was THAT good!
p.p.s. How is your spouse doing with the whole regenerate-a-sarcophagus problem? I hope your spouse is doing well.
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>p.p.s. How is your spouse doing with the whole regenerate-a-sarcophagus problem?
so....her spouse is a vampire of some sort? maybe a lich?
I am a bit worried about how you're going to characterize Celestia and Luna. They may be Princesses, but they're also very much Ponies as well. I'm not opposed to doing a cannon character with a different personality than what's in (and implied in) the show, as long as it's done well. (Ex: Transcendence is a good example. However you characterize the Princesses, if you do badly everyone is gonna complain about it and that's not fun.
I can't be the only one who finds the picture for this story to be a bit silly. Celestia looks ridiculous.
hmm interesting the princess are afraid of humans that become Alicorns, hmm I wonder how many of the billions of humans that became ponies became alicorns?
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*Offers the wolf a seat next to her and passes the popcorn bucket.
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN...
I had thought that a story involving the conversion buraeu(great, misspell) would not be very good. However, despite that lack of detail going in to the main character's reasons for wanting to do this besides teenage rebellion, I like this story. though I would like a little more weight to be put(or removed in the case she was doing it to prove a point to her parents) on what her thought processes were when she decided this. -Also, a human rebellion would fit in well even if it is only given a sidenote. this is just chap one, so I'm hoping new chapters will be just as good.
I APPROVE.
memespedia.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/chuck-norris-approve.gif
Oh man. If I had to read this story, it was definitely a good idea to wait this long beforehand. Taking the Conversion Dream and just flipping it on its head like this... wow.
Genius.
That said... there's only one thing to do now, isn't there?
Run.
:timeturner:
Alright you've convinced me, I'll read this now :P
Wow, that was intense! But I must wonder why the princesses fear this so much. Surely it is within their power to take whatever steps they need to solve the problem in a nice, friendly way? Especially since it's quite clear this is NOT what Lillian wanted. I assume the reasons will be explained in this story.
… I've gotten over my earlier false judgement that would make this comparison fair if it were true, but the phrase "shining like oil" still brings to mind another, rather less wholesome, [url=wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Glistening_oil]transformative "oil". At least Pony Serum isn't black, and you didn't actually use the word "glistening".
I'm glad I started reading this. The only thing that annoys me is the small print. Everyone keeps spelling Cadance wrong. Or atleast, Cadance is the spelling used by the wiki
. I just feel that the way it's pronounced sounds more like Cadance than Cadence.
I don't usually read Chatoyance fics, but I'll make an exception for this one because of how well the chapter strings me along and keeps me intrigued. Good job Chatoyance.
YOU BROKE THA RULES!!
I know I shouldn't be shocked about this because from what I've heard the original conversion bureau isn't bad but finally one other conversion bureau fic that isn't "ponies evil, newfoals brain dead, humans good"
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I think you will find all of my stories refreshing in that way. Thank you for reading this one!
She just don't know what went wrong.
This is already not going to be good. Just from the cover I can see what's happening. And that's not supposed to happen, especially not to a newfoal.
I did kind of wonder what would happen if someone presented as the, shall we say, fourth option. I guess we found out. From the reaction of the princesses, it's not going to be good.
Did Celestia and Luna just try to kill Lillian in the dream?