The truck barreled down the highway at a lazy, yet productive speed. The sun was just starting to lumber up past the horizon, slowly but surely illuminating the dusky morning sky with its warmth. The semi continued down the forested highways of upper New York state, its unmarked trailer following suit. The trailer was a stark white, nothing standing out aside from the seams of joined metal and rivets, obscuring the contents to any passerby. Inside the cab sat the driver, Edmond Delaney. He wore a thick sweater, a bright orange baseball cap emblazoned with a stylized ‘S’, the symbol of his alma mater of Syracuse. He fidgeted with the radio, trying desperately to find something to listen to brighten the morning up.
<KSSHT>
<The Red Plague has flared up again this season, droves of people rushing not only to the hospitals to get vaccines, but also to the Conversion Bureaus of all places. With the new race's natural immunity to the disease, many are taking the plunge to escape the constant fear of infection. The death toll so far stands at almost four hundred thousand, just across the eastern seaboard alone. The CDC has put out a quarantine order for anyone who sees an individual with the defining symptoms of the deadly disease.>
Well if anything, that only served to darken the barely-lit sky. The Red Plague had been all over the news for months, and it was the last thing Ed wanted to hear about. Sighing, he shuffled the radio frequencies again; he came across a tune he hadn’t heard in a long, long time.
<KSSHT>
<Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire>
The sun was now peeking from between the canopy of trees to Ed’s left as he felt its warmth finally reach his face after the long night of continuous driving. Figuring now was as good of a time as any to stop for breakfast, Ed took the next turn off the highway into town. The quaint town nestled in the woodlands of New York state looked like it had barely been touched by the technological revolution sweeping the greater part of the world. All the buildings here were made of brick, mortar, and wood, rather than the concrete, steel, and glass that had become the norm. Surely there was some form of advanced tech in some of those buildings, he had seen enough towns that put on a rustic facade, hiding everything just under the skin.
It took almost no time at all before he found his target: an old style diner; a very rare sight these days. Most restaurants were chains belonging to those corporate monstrosities, essentially killing off old places like this in any town they touched.
He pulled in his truck into the small parking lot, fitting it in along the back side, keeping out of the way of any other possible guests the diner may get. There were a few other cars littering the lot, none of them made earlier than a decade ago. Most of them were trucks of one kind or another, but they were all worker vehicles. One or two of them looked as if they had gas-based engines. Snapped back to his senses by his rumbling stomach, he hopped up onto the curb and to the building.
Ed pushed the glass paned door to the small building open with a jingle of the bell above his head. At the main counter sat three men, all hunched over, each enjoying their particular meals. They were chatting with each other along with the sweet-looking waitress behind the counter before they all erupted into a fit of laughter. The waitress took notice of Ed, and excused herself from the conversation as the rest of them continued laughing.
“Mornin’, honey. Just you?” she asked as she pulled out a menu from under the counter.
“Yep, Just me,” Ed answered succinctly. She guided him to a stool at the counter down a bit from the group already seated there, and left to prepare another pot of coffee, leaving Ed with the menu.
“Hey there, fella. Don't see many trucks that big round here too often. What’re you hauling?” one of the men next to Ed asked, recovering from one of his fits of laughter. Ed put on a smile and placed his menu on the counter before him.
“Just started working for some company up north. Just bringing some cargo down to the city. Was hoping to make it before lunch, but my stomach objected,” Ed finished with a light chuckle. He picked up his menu again, scanning through the lines of breakfast dishes, trying to figure out what he’d been craving.
“Well, you didn’t answer my question. What’re you hauling?” the man repeated. His tone was much more calmer than before, almost taking on a much more serious one. Ed sighed, and placed his menu back down on the counter. He still hadn't picked out his meal yet.
“Sorry. Confidentiality agreement with the company who hired me. Can’t say more than that. Hell, I don't even know what's in the trailer.” Ed knew that this wasn’t going to appease the guy, so he braced for some sort of confrontation.
“Fair enough.” Ed relaxed and looked on in wonder. Normally when someone got that curious about his load, they were either thieves or terrorists. Fortunately, he didn’t have to fight them off, seeing as how they weren’t terribly interested.
“So, just out of pure curiosity, what do you think of these Conversion Bureaus? They’ve been popping up all around the country, doing what they do. Your thoughts?” The man took on his more relaxed tone again, but the question threw Ed for a loop.
“I have plenty of friends around who’ve taken the dive with this first wave of takers, and even my wife and kids are looking into it. I got a two-year contract with that company, so I gotta work through that. After that’s all done with, I’ll be signing up as soon as I can. So do you mind if I order my food?” Ed asked, chuckling. The other guys next to him also gave light chuckles, all except for the man who asked him the question. He was already taking a long sip from his coffee, back to his old conversation.
“So honey, what can I get’cha?” the waitress asked as she walked over to Ed.
“I’ll just have a short stack of flapjacks and a pair of eggs, sunny side up.” Ed handed her the menu and looked down at his steaming cup of coffee. He hadn’t had an opportunity to touch it just yet, and could already smell the aroma waking his mind up. He reached for the sugar and milk, adding them until his drink reached a soft, almost caramel color. He took a slow sip, careful not to burn his mouth on the beverage, and found it to be exactly how he wanted it.
After a few short minutes, Ed’s meal came out from the kitchen in the back. The plate was steaming, the food looking absolutely delicious. He poured a good helping of old-style maple syrup over the short stack, adding some salt and pepper to the eggs that sat next to them. Taking both fork and knife in hand, he cut a piece out form the stack and held it before his mouth.
“To a brighter future,” Ed said out loud.
“Indeed,” the man mumbled.
Ed took the bite in his mouth, and from the moment it touched his tongue, he knew something was wrong. His mouth felt like it was on fire; his throat began to burn up, his neck swelling up like an extreme allergic reaction. Ed spit the food out from his mouth, but the damage was already done. His throat kept swelling up until it was squeezed shut, not a single breath of air able to get in or out.
Ed slammed his fists on the counter, trying to get everyone’s attention, hoping for some sort of aid, or at least a call to the paramedics. He looked over to the group next to him, only to see blank expressions on each of them as they stared at him in his agony.
“You see,” the man started. “We can’t help you. Our hands are tied, especially for those who love those goddamn ponies. Surely you understand." They were part of the HLF. Ed's vision began to shift colors, the edges of it blacking out. He fell off his stool onto his back, his vision rapidly fading. His body screamed in agony, his mind struggling to stay awake. He felt his grip on reality begin to falter, and only prayed his family would stay safe.
“Christ, Dom. Was that necessary?” the waitress grumbled, giving the man a glare. Looking back down at the body, she began to feel her gorge rising in her throat. The man's skin was beginning to take on a bright red hue, something akin to a severe sunburn.
“Sorry, Doris. You agreed to take the risks when you took the oath. Don't worry; your role is done now. Same with you three. Just help me get his keys and clothes; I gotta be out of here in ten minutes.” Dom picked up the limp body of the driver whom he never even asked the name of, and dragged it into the back kitchen. Not like it mattered anymore anyway.
Stripping the body of its uniform, Dom looked down at the swollen, cherry-red face belonging to the driver. “Nothing personal, fella. You just happened to be working for the wrong people.” Dom replaced his own clothes with those of the driver, grimacing from the god-awful smell emanating from the shirt as he slipped it over his head.
“Dom! Here’s the guys wallet,” one of the other men yelled, tossing the black leather object towards Dom as he stepped out from the kitchen. “It has the address of the Bureau and a pass-card to get into the trailer.” Dom smirked as he briskly ran out the door and towards the giant trailer in the parking lot. He slid the green card through the dirt coated reader, and after hearing a confirmation chime paired with a green light, the doors slowly opened.
The trailer was mostly empty, save for a couple crates towards the back half. One bright yellow container caught Dom's eye. He pulled out the truck driver's wallet and checked the small note for the code to unlock it. The top opened with a hiss.
Inside sat a large container of a sloshing purple fluid, seemingly glowing in the low morning light. Dom looked closer at the serum, noting small sparkles dancing around in the beams of light that managed to weasel their way into the trailer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass bottle with a dropper cap. Unlabeled, it didn’t look like much; but his superiors had warned Dom that a single drop of it would instantly set fire to his body’s systems and kill him almost instantly. After all, it worked on the truck driver in the diner.
Dom eased the tank’s cap open, careful not to get any droplets of this fluid on him either, as ponification would be a fate worse than death for him. He daintily lifted the dripper from the black bottle and added the poison into the giant tank, the black tendrils of it mixing with the purple serum. He continued adding drops in until the glass bottle was drained of its contents.
He sealed the tank up once more and closed the yellow container. He hopped down onto the gravel of the parking lot of the diner and sealed shut the door of the trailer with a hiss and a click.
The diminutive purple dragon stretched his arms and legs out and coupled it with a long yawn. He groggily opened his eyes from his seat at one of the desks in the main lobby, but his usual view of the skyline of the city was obscured by a frowning purple unicorn. She looked down on him with disappointment and reserved endearment.
“You really need to get some more sleep, Spike. You can’t stay up all night watching TV and playing those games. You are still a baby dragon...”
“I know, I know. I’m a baby dragon and I still need my sleep. Yeesh. Well, why’d you wake me up this time? You interrupted the most awesome dream. I hope it’s for a good reason,” Spike groaned.
“We have some walk-ins who want to get converted today. Do you mind giving them a quick tour of the bureau? The girl who called ahead requested it.” Twilight shuffled her papers together and smiled down at Spike. “They should be coming up in a few minutes.”
“Fine. One quick tour coming right up.” Spike hopped down from his chair and walked over toward the elevator. The bureau was situated on the fortieth floor of a tall skyscraper that held many different businesses and offices within it. It was but one of many that rose above the city below; Spike was still getting used to the sheer size of the cities the humans made. They were easily bigger than most of Equestria’s cities and towns combined!
Spike huffed. He was glad to be with Twilight in this alien world; somepony he trusted and loved, and who trusted and loved him back. He sat down on the marble floor and waited for the new convertees.
“Winston, could you be a little bit more grumpy? I think it really sets the mood in here,” Ruby chided. The older teen looked down at the red-haired girl and sighed.
“Well, I’m sorry but I usually get enough sleep before being torn from my bed in the middle of the day to go on some sort of crazy trip. Forgive me if I withhold my excitement.” Winston leaned back against the glass wall of the elevator as they rose higher along the side of the tower.
“Well there’s the problem right there!” the blond girl said, poking Winston in the chest. “Day is for people to be awake! Not night! What are you? An owl? A bat? Huh? And don’t be mean to Ruby!”
“Sorry, Ruby. I’m tired is all.”
Ruby forced a smile and nodded. “It’s okay. Apology accepted.”
Ruby folded her arms. The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors slid apart. The three walked into a large room, easily twenty feet tall. Ponies and humans milled about in peace; the air was filled with laughter and joy. A surprising improvement from the city floor below. Everyone on the street was rough and coarse if you so much as walked too close to someone. Ponies were almost never seen by themselves on the streets; they moved in large herds to protect each other.
The anti-conversion movement, the HLF, had been acting up more and more in the past few months. They formed up around the same time Equestria appeared in the Pacific; they were unorganized and acted through hate and spite. Murder, a topic almost unknown to ponies at the time, were introduced to them by the HLF.
The bureau lobby held a few chairs and sofas, a beautiful marble floor, and doors along the walls leading to the offices and labs. They even had an in-house cafeteria, designed to acclimate newfoals, the slang term for newly converted human, to their new appetites. The lobby even had a fountain, stylized with two winged unicorns in the middle.
“You three here for the tour?” a high pitched, but masculine voice asked from behind the group. Ruby, Zoey, and Winston all turned around to find the source of the voice.
“Ohh! Yes! That was me!” Zoey said. She looked around for the pony who asked, but found a baby dragon instead. “Who are you?”
While Zoey seemed unfazed by the creature, Ruby and Winston were more confused than shocked. “A purple iguana is going to show us around a clinic to turn us into pastel ponies. I think I should lie down,” Winston said, running his fingers through his long black hair.
“I am not an iguana! I’m a dragon!” Spike argued, drawing a glance from Winston.
“Prove it.”
“I can breath fire!” Spike said, proudly. “You three better stand back... It tends to have a will of its own.” Zoey and Ruby stepped back and watched as the baby dragon took a deep breath... and belched. With that belch came a three foot long tongue of green fire; the heat was intense, and could be felt for a few seconds after it dissipated.
Winston smiled. “Fine. You’re a dragon.” Spike puffed out his chest and struck a pose.
“Are there a lot of dragons back where you come from?” Ruby asked, kneeling down.
“Yeah! Tons! But they aren’t nearly as social or friendly as I am. They’re still back in Equestria and refuse to leave. So you all have nothing to worry about! They have enough gems to eat to last for years!”
“Dragons eat gems?” Ruby asked.
Spike nodded. “I usually get the jewelry from the newfoals who come through here. Nothing too good... lots of quartz pretending to be diamonds, and the like. What I wouldn’t give for a real diamond...” Spike groaned, slouching forward as his belly began to rumble.
Ruby thought for a second, and pulled out her earrings. They were a present a few years ago from her parents. They weren’t anything gaudy or showy, just two diamond studs, barely a half-carat each. She held them in the palm of her hand and held them out to the dragon.
“Here. Will these be okay?” Ruby offered.
Spike gingerly plucked the earrings from her hand and held them in his claw. He forced the gemstones from their settings and tossed the white gold metal over his shoulder as his eyes focused on the pair of diamonds in front of him. He sniffed them, and without another pause, tossed them into his mouth, crunching them in his sharp teeth.
“Mmm... hints of age... a very nice vintage...” Spike swallowed his small meal. “That was awesome! You’re the best! What’s your name again?” Spike asked, completely forgetting that he didn’t know any of their names.
“I’m Ruby, that grump is Winston, and that’s Zoey.”
“I’m Spike! So, I guess you all want your tour, right?” Zoey nodded with a great, big smile.
“Follow me! Conversion was delayed a bit today, so I have plenty of time to show you guys around.” Spike guided the three humans through the double doors and into the bureau.
The yellow container was sealed shut, but the serum still could be felt sloshing about inside its container. Dom wheeled it to the main desk in the bureau lobby and looked around. Nobody was sitting at the desk; this threw a wrench into his plans. He was supposed to just drop the shit off, sign a few things, and be out of this hellhole.
Just seeing the humans and ponies talking and laughing together made him feel sick and filled him with hate. At least once those traitors go in for their conversion today, they won’t be coming back out to fill the world with more of this taint.
“Sir? Are you the delivery man?” a voice asked. Dom looked to his side and saw a white unicorn with a stylized purple mane and tail. The perfume she wore was sickening, almost as much as her presence near him. Dom choked down his hate for the creature standing next to him and put on his act.
“I believe so!” Dom said in a cheerful tone, putting on a smile. “Ed Delaney.”
“I’m Rarity. If you’d kindly follow me this way, we can get this installed and you can be on your way.” The unicorn held the door open for Dom as he wheeled the case into the hallway beyond.
Just a little bit longer. I just need to hold out a little bit longer.
Spike had led Ruby, Zoey, and Winston the the waiting room after their tour. He had sown the group the small apartments the floors above that some of the newfoals stayed in after their conversion. Most preferred to be moved straight to Equestria to finish their orientation there.
The waiting room was only partly filled with people. Apparently, people seeking ponification had been slowing down; at the movement’s height, this bureau had been built. It was one of the only bureaus that specialized in mass-ponifications. Twenty people would get converted at once in one sitting. The people who came here were usually the ones who wanted to go straight to Equestria, so the upstairs apartments didn’t get used a whole lot.
Zoey, Winston, and Ruby sat together around a table as they waited for the nurse to call the convertees to the changing rooms. The delivery of serum had run a little late, but it was being installed right now, or that was what the nurse kept telling anyone who asked.
Ruby looked down at her feet. “Ruby? Why all of a sudden?” Zoey asked. Ruby looked up and shrugged. “I’ve been asking you to go for weeks, and all of a sudden you say yes. why?” Ruby looked back down at her feet.
Winston leaned forward. “They have it, don’t they?” he asked, quietly. She nodded so slightly, it almost looked like she hadn’t moved at all.
“Have what?” Zoey asked. “Who has what?” Winston yanked Zoey down and held his finger to his mouth.
“Quiet!” When Zoey finally stopped giving him the stink eye, he told her. “Her parents caught Red Plague.” Zoey gasped and covered her mouth in shock. Ruby’s hard fought battle to keep her tears locked away was swept aside, like a house in the path of a tornado. Tears began to drip down her cheeks as she tried to keep it all inside. But as hard as she tried, it was a losing battle.
After a few minutes, Ruby was able to calm down a bit as Zoey got up and sat next to her. She wrapped her friend in a big hug and held her tightly.
“They went out a few nights ago...” Ruby choked out. Sniffling, she continued. “I thought they just went on one of their spontaneous trips again. But... I got a call last night from the hospital... They were admitted to the quarantine ward.”
“What’s wrong with the quarantine ward?” Zoey asked.
Winston chimed in. “Red Plague has no cure. It’s essentially a death sentence. Once you start bleeding... Ugh.” Winston was overcome with a shiver from the images he’d seen of victims of the Red Plague. Hemophilia paired with massive hemorrhaging; the victims would bleed themselves to death as their skin and blood vessels dissolved from the virus. Fortunately, it wasn’t airborne, but transmission was possible through skin contact, with symptoms appearing within a day of exposure.
“At least you’re okay, right?” Zoey asked.
“I... will be. I hope.”
“Attention everyone! Please make your way to the changing rooms and into the conversion room! We’ll be proceeding as soon as everyone is in position!” the intercom crackled from over their heads.
“Let’s get started!” Zoey said, yanking Ruby up by her arm. Ruby smiled at Zoey’s excitement as it began to spread to her. It was pretty exciting; they were going to start new lives together.
Winston walked into the men’s changing room with a line of other boys and men, whole Zoey and Ruby entered the women's changing room. The room itself was rather bare; a few plastic benches were placed along the room for people to sit on while they undressed. Many women were already completely undressed or getting into their paper gowns.
Conversion wasn’t allowed with clothes on; the body of a pony isn’t made to fit in human clothes, and can cause... complications. Not something Ruby wanted to think about. She picked up her paper gown and walked over to the bench Zoey was at. She was already undressing and throwing her clothes into one of the many chutes placed along the walls of the room. The clothes would be appropriated to people who need them. Equestrians didn’t like letting anything go to waste.
Ruby averted her eyes as Zoey finished stripping herself of her clothing, not just out of respect, but also out of embarrassment. Zoey had repeatedly poked fun at Ruby for being a prude; she was very uncomfortable about those subjects, no matter the situation.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Zoey asked. Ruby looked over and saw Zoey was in her gown. The gown itself was very revealing; it only had ties on the neck loop, letting everything in the back... hang out. The nurses assured everyone that it was common practice in Equestrian society to go without clothing, and to save it for special occasions.
“No, I’ll be out in just a minute!” Zoey shrugged and walked through the doors to the conversion room with the rest of the women. After a few minutes, Ruby was left alone in the changing room. Finally comfortable, she undressed herself, slipped the paper gown on, and dropped her clothes down the chute.
She timidly walked out into the conversion room; the room was floored with white tiles and bright fluorescent lights shined down from above. Two rows of metal tables lined the room, each one several feet from the ones on either side. Ruby spotted Winston and Zoey and quickly walked over to them; she didn’t want anyone catching a glimpse of her. She immediately hopped up onto one of the tables next to them.
Ruby immediately regretted her decision. The icy claws of the metal table shocked her skin with the cold, causing her to squeal in surprise. Zoey giggled and Winston smirked.
“You know... I’ve always wanted to do it like those ponies do it,” Zoey cooed to Winston. Ruby pretended that she didn’t hear the exchange. She also struggled to pretend that she didn’t hear the playful spank Winston gave Zoey. The red in her face was almost as bright as her hair.
“Alright, my dear. Everything is all installed, and we should be all set. What did you say your name was again?” Rarity checked her clipboard that Twilight insisted she use during her time here.
“Edmond Delaney. Pleasure working with you, Rarity.” The driver looked his papers over, double checking that everything was in order.
“Oh, why the pleasure is all mine! While the delivery was a mite bit late, everything is working out wonderfully. Was everything okay on the way down?” Rarity asked, her azure eyes looking up at the man before her. “Most drivers are on the dot with their deliveries. I hope everything was okay.”
“It was nothing important. I had to stop for a spot of breakfast this morning, and met up with a friend. Before I knew it, an hour had flown by.”
“Right. Well, everything worked out in the end, no?” Rarity gave a curt bow before the man began to walk off into the main lobby. His stride began widening, and reaching a very brisk pace as he crossed the large area. He was almost out and free of this charade, and Dom was so close to being home free.
“Oh, Ed? Ed Delaney!” Rarity called again from the doors he had just left from. Dom stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, only to see the white unicorn beckoning him back towards her. Apprehensively, he walked back. Any longer he was there, they would find out that the serum was tainted and hold him and question him, inevitably finding him out. His body began to tremble against his will, his hands cold and sweaty.
“Yes, Rarity?” he seethed, his eyes darting back and forth, dreading the inevitable alarm sounding from the ponification rooms. ANother minute talking to this god-damned pony is another minute closer to being found out.
“Oh I just need you to sign right here, if you would be so kind. Just to confirm the delivery.” She levitated a pen and clipboard before Dom, his hand grasping the pen and scribbling on the line without any thought.
Wasting no time, he spun around and made his way to the exit as fast as he could without making himself noticeable.
A unicorn nurse walked to everyone and handed them a small cup with the serum in it. Ruby looked down into the cup and saw small flecks of light dancing around inside of it.
“Come on! Let’s all do it on three! All at once!” Zoey cheered. They all situated themselves on their own tables and held the cups to their mouths.
“1...”
Spike was walking through the lobby back to his desk at the front, looking forward to a much needed nap. After taking that group on the tour, he really needed it. But the diamonds the girl Ruby gave him was a greatly appreciated gift. His feet clacked against the hard floor, his eyes half shut from exhaustion.
“Maybe I really shouldn’t stay up so late playing all those games anymore...” Spike mumbled, his feet taking him further, his eyes almost completely shut now. He would have fallen asleep if someone hadn’t collided with him, bringing the pair down to the floor in a heap of scales and flesh.
Spike opened his eyes to see a frantic man in a delivery trucker’s uniform staring back at him. He stared that the baby dragon as Spike stared back at him. The panicked expression and the sweat on his brow in such a cold, air-conditioned lobby helped put the pieces together in his mind.
“You’re...” Spike whispered. Dom’s eyes widened, his breath racing faster now than before. He grasped for something from behind him, and shoved it into Spike’s stomach.
“2...” The three of them brought the small cups to their mouths, the purple juice filling Ruby’s vision. She expected the pungent stench of artificial grapes, as many newfoals had commented on, but instead she smelled... cinnamon?
A loud clap of thunder echoed through the vast lobby of the Bureau, the purple dragon skidding along the ground his body rolling over itself. Many of the humans and ponies screamed and froze in panic, many others running for cover behind tables and desks. The ones closest to where Spike and the delivery man were laying were on top of him before he could make his escape. A burly slate grey earth pony bucked him against the wall as he scrambled towards the glass doors to the elevators, and a blue earth pony pinned him against the wall with his hooves.
“SPIKE!!” Twilight had leaped out from behind the group of desks in the middle of the lobby and galloped toward the small purple form, still unmoving. A small group of ponies had gathered around him, hooves held to mouths in worry. “You!” Twilight yelled to the blue pony holding the now unconscious man against the wall. “Keep him pinned there! Somepony tell the nurses to stop the ponification treatments! If a member of the HLF delivered the serum, it’s almost certainly been compromised!” Rarity heard Twilight’s call and galloped towards the ponification rooms.
Twilight approached the small form of her assistant, and flipped him over onto his back with her hoof. “Spike! Spike! Can you hear me?!” Tears were starting to form at her eyes at the thought of what might have happened to him.
“Ugh...” A groan of pain escaped the dragon’s mouth. “Looks like diamond works faster than I thought!” Spike held out the deformed bullet in his claw, his stomach only slightly scuffed from the gunshot.
“Oh, Spike! I thought I lost you...” Twilight held the dragon close to her, nuzzling him.
“It’d take more than a gun to stop Secret Agent Spike!” he joked, drawing a light laugh from the unicorn.
“We’ll have to get security down here to bring the HLF member down to a holding room. Oh dear... I hope Rarity got to the ponification room in time...”
“3!!” Zoey, Winston, and Ruby all downed the fluid at once, the serum burning its way down their throats.
“EVERYONE PUT DOWN THE CUPS! WE’VE HAD A SECURITY BREACH! THE SERUM IS COMPROMISED!” somepony screamed into the intercom. The patients murmured in confusion, many dropping the cups on the ground and spilling their contents.
But for Ruby and her friends, the poisoned serum burned in their bodies, their minds forced into submission from the strong sedatives still active in it.
Her regal form flew over a vast craggy fissure in some sort of mountain range, the jagged peaks clawing at the soot filled sky above. A ferocious volcano bellowed behind her, it’s undiluted rage spilling out onto the earth around it, consuming any and all foolish enough to stand in its path. Humans were attempting to divert the flow away from their village, but it overcame them and devoured them amidst a chorus of screams and cries. She cared not for such small creatures; they couldn’t comprehend her majesty and power. They deserved to be burned if they refused to bow to her.
She flew further, the craggy mountain tops gradually becoming more and more coated in snow and ice, the frigid wind trying to bite into her rugged body. She merely scoffed at its attempt to cause her pause in her journey, though she not know what it was she was seeking; only a deep sense of direction guided her. Flapping her enormous wings, she comes to a mountain that stands like a king amongst peasants within the region; it’s rocky face faceted with a gaping maw, beckoning her forth. She hurtled down the chasm, deeper and deeper into the dark void of the Earth, a place untouched by time.
She reached a level floor, a place illuminated by glowing crystalline structures growing from the very bedrock of the earth. She looked up to see dark silhouettes before her, each greatly varying in shape, but all exuding magnificence and power. They made her feel weak and pathetic, but she reveled in their presence.
“You are not supposed to be here, whelp. In time, you will be brought before us to be judged. Now, begone.”
Ruby’s head was swirling by the time her senses began to get back to her. She heard muffled noises, presumably the other patients adjusting to their new bodies as ponies. Her mind still waking up, she briefly called back to that odd dream she had just had. Patients who had gone through with ponification often told of a wonderful dream where they see life as a pony at it’s purest and most wonderful, and concluding upon seeing the Royal Princess Sisters.
But her dream was not like that at all... it almost scared her. It did scare her. The mountains flashing past in her head... And who were those figures?
“Oh no oh no oh no...” A voice finally penetrated the haze still floating before Ruby, but not a voice she wanted to hear. “This is bad... Really bad... Spike! Tell the Princesses to get here right now! We have a problem...”
Ruby finally managed to open her eyes, briefly blinded by the lights of the room she still lay in. She reached up with her hands to rub her eyes, but froze at the discovery that she still had fingers. She ran her fingers over her face, but she didn’t feel the soft features she just had before. She felt hard bumps, and her nails felt much longer than they used to.
“Ruby...” Winston’s voice called from next to her. “You gotta stay calm.” Her eyes finally adjusted to the lighting of the room, Ruby looked up to see the faces of several ponies hovering over her. They all recoiled back upon seeing her awake. She sat up awkwardly, the table not nearly as cold as it was before.
The first thing she looked at was her hands: in place of her peach-colored skin were hard red scales, her fingers replaced with sharp talons. Ripping off the paper gown, the rest of her body held the same features: red scales with orange scales running down her chest and belly, shining in the sterile fluorescent lights. Limp on the chair next to her sat a fat tail, covered in the same scales and spines as the rest of her body.
“Wh... what... what happened?”
“Wow...” Spike stood at the foot of her table, a quill and parchment in hand, but not in motion. His was more one of curiosity than anything.
“We’re DRAGONS!!” a bright yellow figure bounced into the group next to Spike. Undoubtedly, that had to be Zoey. She looked very similar to the purple dragon, although while Spike’s features were more round and stocky, she was more curvy and her features more angular and defined, her body covered in bright yellow scales and lime-green spines. “But wait... I wanted to be a pony...” she said, her realization finally breaking past her energy and sinking in.
“Seems like it.” A silver scaled figure shuffled up to Ruby’s chair, his scales almost like mirrors and his spines black. It had to be Winston; his body and face more closely resembled Spike, save for his coloring, but he was a tiny bit shorter than the purple dragon.
“W... Why?” Ruby stammered. Her mind was awash in so many questions and worries, that it was almost impossible for her to have a coherent thought at all.
“We don’t know just yet, dear, but we’re looking into it. Right now we think it had something to do with the HLF agent who delivered the ponification serum. Hopefully we can find a way to fix this,” a white unicorn with a highly stylized mane said from behind Spike. She looked through her purple rimmed glasses at Ruby, scanning over her new body. Her claws felt along her alien form, gently feeling along her smooth scales and feeling her hard spines on her head and back. “At least your colors are nice... Those brutes from the migration were such an eyesore.”
"Tell me about it..." Spike grumbled.
She sat up and attempted to hop down from the table she was sitting on, only to just now realize she was only half of her normal height that she was as a human. She hopped onto the ground, her feet clattering on the hard linoleum floor tiles.
“Spike! Letter! Now!” Twilight shouted, snapping Spike back to attention.
“Right! On it!” He hastily scrawled a short message on the parchment, rolled it up, and spouted another of the green flames from his mouth. The flame devoured the parchment, dissolving it into a glowing mist that floated out from one of the vents in the room.
“Come on, everypony. We should wait for the Princess in the main office. Hopefully, we can get some questions answered there. Rarity, please have security begin the questioning the prisoner. We’re going to assume this was a direct attack on the Bureau itself. Tell them strong-hoof tactics are encouraged if he doesn’t participate.” Twilight gave a stern look to the white unicorn, who immediately stood tall at the request.
“Oh, it will be my pleasure, Twilight. Making a fool of Rarity? Nopony should be allowed to get away with this!” With that, Rarity departed the room. An uneasy silence hung for a moment.
“Alright, you three. Follow me. Let’s get this sorted out.” Twilight held the door open for the small procession of dragons, with Spike following up in the rear.
“Y-You summoned me, my lord?”
“Yes. It seems as if something worth noting has happened above and I will have you investigate it. Something... new has happened. A new race has appeared and is assimilating them. Look into it, Quan.”
“Oh, ho, ho! With pleasure, my lord.”
