> The Conversion Bureau: New Tactics > by no sh*t sherlock > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Conversion Bureau: New Tactics By: no sh*t sherlock In 2021, the humans of Earth were silent as a landmass emerged in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island was 24 miles from the southernmost point of Nova Scotia and countinued down 16 miles above Bermuda. Satellite images captured pictures of a green beautiful land. When they were shown on T.V., the land immediately enticed people. Imaginations went wild and people came up with many outrageous theories, although the one most people believed was that Atlantis had rises from the depths. Driven mostly by thoughts of discovery and riches, many people tried to go and explore this unknown land. Corporations dreamed of natural resources and sent workers and equipment. However, every ship, plane, submarine or unmanned drone to try to get to the land was destroyed about two miles from the island's shores, by an unseen force. Many lives were lost trying to reach the island. Countries foolishly assumed that it was the work of their enemies and tensions between them were once again high. The U.S. believed that another country had already occupied the land and was destroying any craft bound for it. No country had yet claimed responsibility. President Russell Collins held a meeting with the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the security issue the island posed if it was occupied by an enemy nation. President Collins gave the go ahead to launch more than 50 cruise missiles at the island, mostly to see if a nation would retaliate. However the missiles would never launch because when President when back to his office there was a creature standing next to his desk. The Creature was white and slightly resembled a horse. Major differences were the horn, wings and the fact that it could talk. The Presidents security already had guns drawn, but the president was intrigued and let her speak. She called herself Princess Celestia and she explained that she came in peace and that she ruled along side her sister, Princess Luna. They were rulers of the island call Equestria. She apologized for the lives lost by her force field around the island, but she told him no human or man made object can ever reach Equestria. She said the only way to live in Equestria was to get turned into a pony. She knew the world was in a bad state and asked for the Presidents permission to repeat her words to the nation and also to open a building for people who wanted to undergo the conversion to a pony. He agreed to both and her message was given as a Presidential address to the United States. When people saw it they had mixed reactions. Most were scared out of their minds and refused to believe it was real, while some wanted the conversion as soon as possible. The video was put online and translated into almost every language in the world. The planet now knew of this race of sentient ponies. After that ponies started leaving Equestria and moving about to areas of the Earth. They told stories of how much brighter and happier Equestria was than Earth. The way they depicted It made more humans hungrily await the opening of the first building for conversion. The first site opened in New York City on January 16, 2022. There was a crowd of over 2 million people that took up side walks and blocked city streets to undergo the process. The thought of a peaceful land where everyone would be cared for attracted people. It was so different than the world they knew. It was also a free process, that really got people interested. Especially from poor homes who could barely make ends meet. The President saw the attraction that people had toward conversion and allowed for more sites to be constructed. He gave the official name of the sites "Conversion Bureaus". The next three Conversion Bureaus to be built were in Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Princess Celestia insisted that Conversion Bureaus be operated only be ponies originally from Equestria. President Collins didn't see this as a problem and approved. The rest of the world showed extreme interest in conversion and built sites of their own after having Celestia's permission. She said "Conversion is not just for your people, but a choice for all humans who want it". After that there was a conversion bureau in almost every city around the world. Two major things happened that year; The first major wave of Conversion and the formation of the Human Liberation Front. The first major wave of conversion, from 2022 to 2026, dropped the worlds population from 7.5 billion to 4 billion. It was a an eye opener to most people that this was reality. With over 2 million less humans in the world daily, it was hard to not to accept the fact that it was really happening . Many people found themselves in the same situation and had no choice but to go through the process. Their employer would undergo conversion and fire all the workers or the people who used to buy the products got converted and business went down the shitter. Another reason people wanted conversion was to save their own lives. Terminal illnesses were cured with conversion. For people diagnosed the choice was either to wait and die and get converted and live. As the Conversion grew in popularity, the HLF also picked up speed. What started as a group of nonviolent protesters outside of the first Bureau in NYC, they rapidly evolved into a violent hate group. They resented the ponies and humans that could so easily abandon humanity. They would attack people going into the Bureaus and the new ponies that would come out. Sometimes they would take things would go to far and a lives would be lost. Because anyone could claim to be a member of the HLF, it appeared as though they were unorganized and scattered. No one yet knew just how organized they were. There were only little more than 1000 real members of the group and they were lead by Daniel Breman. This was a very intelligent and patient man whose had plans would take his movement to new places, just not the places he wanted. The second wave of Conversion, from 2026 to 2028, reduced to population to under 2 billion. This was the time the everything started to shut down. Electricity was slowly cut off, running water was ceased to flow. Bottled water was now desperately needed. But there was not much need to rush to the store to buy it, even 2 billion people spread out across the globe made the chances of running into another human at the grocery store very low. Even the largest companies couldn't stay operational with the lack of business and the CEOs would go through conversion. Small towns, devoid of humans, were ideal places that ponies would pick to repopulate. Ponies now outnumbered humans on the planet and what the remaining governments didn't realize is that ponies are longer citizens of their countries and thus not subject to their laws. All ponies, converted or not, are under Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's rule. November 7, 2028, This was the day that Daniel Breman choose to attack. His members had placed bombs in nine chosen Bureaus around the world. The Bureaus in London, Beijing, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, Johnannesburg, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro were all destroyed . Over 25,000 human deaths and 6,000 ponies lost. This was the first simultaneous attack on Conversion Bureaus around the world. With some places not getting electricity, most were unaware of the attacks until they got word by mouth. This was the day that the ponies started to adopt new tactics. The bureaus had all been rebuilt by late summer 2029, but they were much smaller. Two new bureaus began construction the same time as the others were being rebuilt. The new bureaus were in Paris and Hong Kong. These Bureaus were at least six times bigger than the others. The previous Atlanta Bureau was demolished and moved to another site and construction started at the same time as the other two. Because the three new buildings were larger, they were to be completed in early spring 2030. Conversion slowed dramatically during the time of reconstruction. People were scared of another possible attack by the HLF and stayed away. This is what Breman wanted, for the time being his planned had deterred people from the Conversion Bureaus. From the time of the bombings until the new Bureaus were completed, remaining humans began seeing changes in the way ponies acted. Humans, that weren't members of the HLF, would leave ponies alone and ponies would do the same. But now ponies, ponies all of the sudden, seemed very interested in talking with humans. Many ponies would follow, pester and basically harass humans, asking questions like: "Where do you live?" and "Why haven't you gotten converted yet?" As many as 15 ponies would follow a single human around. The sudden interest in their lives was ominous and being alone in the middle of a different species that was just as smart, if not smarter, than your own was scary. On March 31st, 2030 the three large Bureaus were completed and the next day countless ponies around walked up to humans and told them they were going to be converted. Many humans just laughed, thinking it was one of those old April fools jokes. That's until they were hit with the darts that would temporarily paralyze them from the neck down. These humans would then be carried off to either the Atlanta, Paris or Hong Kong where they would wait their turn to be forcefully converted. The next day when the sun rose Princess Celstia's voice could be heard in the mind of every pony and human. "I thought we could exist together in harmony, but I now realize that there is no peace to be found in Humanity. When you destroyed my Bureaus, who killed more of your own kind than you did ponies. You humans are most dangerous to each other and will destroy each other. Because of this I have decided that its best for me to take full control of the Earth. To save you from yourselves it is best that you all get converted as soon as possible. Please for you own sake don't waste your time by hiding and resisting. A better life awaits you as a pony!" Terrified humans thought their governments would retaliate, but they were now too weak to be of any help. What drove the U.S. to silence was when President Colston was converted. It The superpower that had once been The United States was now over. This dampened the spirits of many people and drove them to go into hiding or surrender, except the HLF. They made their final stand out side the Washington monument, one by one they were all paralyzed until only Breman was left standing. He was surrounded by hundreds of ponies all ready to shoot their darts and he had only a pistol left. For a while no one shot anything and Breman kept his gun pointed at the ground. Princess Celestia appeared in front of him and moved close. "Daniel Breman, leader of the HLF, you are responsible for the deaths of many innocent people and ponies. Truthfully you should be allowed to live as a pony or a human, but I am forgiving and will allow it. Now are you ready to be converted?" The broken leader just sighed and looked her right in the eye. "Never." He then put the barrel of the gun in his mouth, smiled and pulled the trigger. Daniel Breman took his own life to avoid become a pony on April 18th, 2030 in front of more than 300 ponies, including Princess Celestia. The ponies looked down at his body and slowly they all just left. Celestia was the last to leave after she pondered for hours on why he would rather die than become a pony. She could come up with no logical reason and then turned away and left him there to decay. Two years later in 2032 ponies have been searching for the last of the humans. Now with less than 200 million left, only the most skilled can remain hidden. Jacob Sanders is one of them. End Ok I wrote this in like like 3 hours so its probably filled with errors. Ill fix em when I see em. Just my try at a conversion bureau type story. I dont really care too much about this story so If i do decide to continue this it'll probably be wayyy later. Right now I just want something to get my mind off my other failure of a story. Oh and i Wanted to give mine dates cus not a lot TCB stories have them. it'd be funny to see what kind of reactions I get on it. > Chapter 1: Checked In > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: Checked In Hello, my name is Jacob Sanders and I am currently awaiting my forced conversion in a holding cell at the new Atlanta Conversion Bureau. Once the paralysis wore off I had loads of time to myself to think. I had a wonderful time the last couple years of disrupting pegasus movements in New York. I decided that I should write down the last couple years of my life as I think ponies might like to read about me in the future. The purple unicorn pony, who frequently walked around holding cells, seemed very excited when I asked her for the items I needed to write a down my story. She started going on and on about how much she loved to read and what what her favorite books were. She asked me a bunch of questions about my favorite books too. She talked to me like I wasn't behind steel bars. Eventually she came with my paper and utensils and she told me to yell if I needed more ink. I silently said "yeah right", screams were some of the only sounds made in this place and I doubted she would hear mine. Anyway now that I've gotten this out of the way, Im ready to begin my actual story. I think I'll start at the hotel. Taking refuge in that abandoned hotel was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. It provided a wonderful view of the overgrown Central Park, which now served as a base camp for ponies. It had multiple kitchens with pantries full of non perishable foods and I found hundreds of bottles of water. I was well taken care of in the needs department, but luxuries were also available to me. The bed I found was fucking amazing, like I was floating. It was just how I liked it. Unfortunately I wasn't there just to relax on a comfortable bed, I had serious work to do. Huddlet me stay in the hotel, but asked if I could something for him while I was there. Hudd was the leader of a small resistance group of only 15 people. They had gone bravely door to door, after Celestia claimed the Earth, trying to find any humans that were still in their homes. They had found me in my bedroom still sulking over having lost my family. I never gave him an answer, but followed after them anyway. Hudd wanted to me to observe and, if I could, disrupt the ponies camp in Central park. I agreed and he gave me some valuable equipment:a battery powered, two way text transmitter that was good for up to 350 miles, a pair of binoculars, a backpack with 45 small charges and their detonators and a silenced handgun with several mags of ammunition. I thanked him and asked where his next move was. He told me first they'd try to make it to a warehouse that Daniel Breman used to stash weapons in New Jersey. From there they'd make their way to Trenton, Philadelphia and Baltimore trying to find humans who were still willing to fight for humanity. He said if their group rose to a considerable number they would head to D.C. I just smiled and wished them luck, knowing that they would all probably end up being converted. Princess Celestia had taken a liking to the former nation's capitol and had the White House remodeled to an odd looking castle, where she would rule the Earth. If Hudd was trying to go there it could only be for a shot at trying to take her out. The hotel was 40 stories high and I chose a suite on the 39th. Being so tall ,it left many places for me to search. I would start on the first floor. I went to the front desk of the hotel and found many helpful items. There were keys to cars in the basement garage, maps, cash and the master key to the supply closets. I thought about burning the money, seeing as it was now worth nothing. When I searched them, most only had extra towels and soap. However I "struck gold" so to speak, on the 25th floor. When I opened that supply closet and stepped inside I found myself in battery world. Each wall was filled with batteries of every shape and size. Hudd hadn't given me any extra ones for the text transmitter so I would've been screwed had I not found these. This room alone could last me for decades. I moved all the water, food and batteries to the room next to me. Now that I had a stockpile of supplies, I was going to focus on observing the ponies. Most of my time after the first couple days was spent either sleeping on my heavenly bed or spying out my window on the ponies. It seemed to mostly be pegasus ponies in the camp, which made sense because they could come and go easier than the ponies that had to walk. I saw some pretty scary shit during the times I watched them. I lots of people still paralyzed with their hands and feet bound. Most of them yelled and cursed while some stayed silent. No matter what they did, they were headed to be converted at the Atlanta Bureau. The scariest thing was when I saw the fighter pilot. He was in what looked like an F-35 which, despite its age, was still a very capable aircraft. He was being pursued by a single female pegasus and was banking and rolling hard trying to shake her. It was no use though, she stuck took him like glue and after a couple minutes she landed on the planes nose and stared into the cockpit. The pilot had given up and ejected, his chute opened and he safely floated down into the of middle of the camp. I watched as he calmly unbuckled him self from his seat and the ponies let him take off his flight suit before a dart was fired into his arm. The light blue pony that followed him, made me nervous. I had a pilots license for twin prop planes and if I was discovered in the hotel I planned to go to the airport and try to fly my way out. But if a fight jet could shake that pegasus how could a twin prop? I knew it couldn't so I would put my efforts into remaining unseen and spying on ponies. Another week went by and I was pretty sure I had found the ponies in charge of the camp. There were six ponies who all wore the same uniform, but half of them were hardly ever around,so that narrowed it down. I decided to observe one of the remaining three, this one was a female with a bright orange mane and tail. I watched other ponies, even ones who had the same uniform come to her. She would tell them something and they would nod and do some task. I concluded that she had to have some level of authority over all of them. I looked back towards the book bag in the corner of the room. Hudd had given me charges and now that I had found a target, it was time I put them to good use. End Chapter 1 Wrote this one faster than the other.Like i said it is a short chapter, but Ive already started on the next one. If you dislike, please post a comment as of why, because i want to know what ive done wrong and what I could improve. > Chapter 2: Someone To Fear > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: Someone To Fear When I was younger I wa- I brought the pen to the paper, but could write a few words before the ink started to get lighter and lighter and eventually the pen stopped completely. "Damn I hate pens." I shook it rapidly and scribbled some more on the page, but it was no use. I didn't want to call the overly talkative purple pony over again as I wasn't in the mood for her questions. Also the way she talked to me like everything was perfectly fine made me think that she didn't even care that she was involved in the extinction of a species. The fact that she could remain in such a cheerful mood through this made me sick. But I needed to finish my story before I was called to the Conversion room. I knew it could take some time since they seemed to like doing conversions one at a time, but time was still running low. I knew I would have to call the pony over at some point but I was stuck as to when I would do it. I laid on my mattress and tried to think of something else, but then Celestia's voice filled my head. "I bring some very exciting news today! Four continents, all of them now free of humanities violence and pollution. Asia, Africa, South America and Australia are now devoid of the violence of humanity. To all humans stilll in Europe and North America, Why waste your time? Why try to hold on to the last remnants of your humanity when there is so little left? I beg you not to drag this out any longer, please come to Atlanta or Paris where you can have a fresh start. Your past deeds forgotten, illnesses cured, where you can rejoin your friends and family. Its a better life. Yes, this the end of your world, but do not despair, its only your beginning in ours." Her announcement made all the random prison noises stop. We all realized just how bad things had gotten. The end of her message made me think about my family and my eyes started to well up with tears. As much as it hurt me, I had to put my sadness aside and focus. With only two continents still with humans, it was too late to continue waiting. I went to the bars and tried my best to look down the hallway. The pony had to be around somewhere, If Celestia had spoken to us than it could only be sunrise of midday. "HEY, I NEED SOMETHING!" I felt like an idiot shouting that in a quiet prison. I just hoped the pony would recognize my voice and find me. A couple minutes went by and I heard the clopping of hooves coming towards me. Moments later the purple pony popped up at my bars. "Hey! Sorry it took me so long, I was um dealing with something. So what'd you need?" her cheery tone was still there. "A pencil and a sharpener, no more pens." "I'll have my assistant get it for you. SPIKE! GET ME A PENCIL AND A SHARPENER!" She yelled down the hall. "Oh and a red color pencil." I added "AND A RED COLOR PENCIL!" I didn't hear a response from whoever "Spike" was, but I said a low "thanks" and went back to my mattress. When I sat down the pony was still there. "Did you hear Princess Celestia's message?" she asked. I looked at the floor and shook my head. "Of course I fucking heard it." I muttered. "What'd you say?" "I heard it. What'd you think?" I put on a fake smile and matched her tone. "I think its amazing that we've come so far in a relatively short amount of time. It took over 12,000 years for human population to make it to 7.5 billion, but only about 14 years to bring it to less than 10 million." "And this makes you happy?" "Well yes its-" she couldn't finish because out of my view she was handed something." "Heres the stuff you wanted." she tossed the items through the bars and they landed in front of me. "I hope I'll get to read it when you're done." with that she left back the way she came. "Don't count on it." I mumbled as I picked up the pencil. I could finally start writing again. I used a new sheet because I had scribbled to much on the previous one. I had just started so it wasn't a big loss. When I was younger I had been somewhat of a pyro, I had set fire to my bedroom at 10 years old after playing with matches and a box of tissues. I thought making a bomb out of the charges Hudd gave me would be easy, turns out I was both right and wrong. The charges were much to small to do much by themselves so I would have to improvise something else with them. Immediately I thought of that fossil fuel, gasoline. I knew it was highly flammable and it weighed slightly less than water so it would be relatively easy to carry. I thought it was my best bet to make some kind of a bomb out of. The only problem is that to find gas I would have to leave my hideout, which was very risky. I brought out the map and looked it over. There was a gas station about 18 blocks away, just a little shy of a mile. I knew I would have to go at night, but I was still going over when. The next night the I was forced to make a quick decision because I got an urgent message from Hudd. We've Reached the Warehouse, but a large group of pegasi are in our way. Draw their attention to New york. Hudd and his men had reached Breman's old storage site. At the top of the screen on the transmitter I read 8/13/31 9:47pm, I had to go that night. I dressed in the darkest clothes I could find and I had my pistol out the entire time. I stayed close to the buildings, careful to stay to out of the Moon light. I moved at speed slightly faster than a jog, with no cars or lights I made it to the gas station in about 15 minutes. The gas station was in horrible condition, the pumps were either knocked over or missing and the building had its windows and doors busted out with old merchandise spread all over the parking lot. People had raided this place a long time ago. There was a hand pump and dozens of gas cans that someone had left behind. I looked the pump over, it kinda old, probably from the early 20s, but still looked like it could work. One of the tubes snaked down through a hole in the concrete, the other rested on the parking lot. I figured I had already come out here so I might as well give it a try. I picked up one of the cans and put the tube from the parking lot inside it then went over to the pump. The way it worked was when I pulled the bar up it created suction in the tube through the concrete, which drew the gas up. When I pushed down it discharged the gas through the other tube into the can. I didn't know how much gas was still down there so I just kept filling cans until I thought I had enough. I had been filling for a while so I started to take them back. I had 13 filled and I could only take 4 at a time so I would have to take multiple trips. With the added weight, it took almost twice as long to get to the hotel. When I got back I dropped the the cans in a room on the 2nd, went to my room and snatched by transmitter from the desk. It read "11:43pm'. Most of that time had been spent pumping the gas to the cans, but now that they were already filled I could just run over there and go get them. I took two more trips and and managed to get 12 of the 13, I wasn't making another round trip just for one can. It was 3:20am when I was done, much earlier than I'd thought. I took a breather, grabbed two charges and headed down to to the 2nd floor. I found some duct tape in a supply closet and took that with me. I taped the charges together and also taped 3 cans around them in a triangle. I laid a stack of the cash I'd found on top as a kind of personal touch. I put the whole thing in a brown dress I found in a closet and headed out the door I was extremely scared the first time I took a bomb over there. I would be bad enough just being in their camp, but when they found out I had a bomb with me, that could justify a visit from Princess Celestia. I put my fear aside and pushed through the vines into Central park. I was about 20 yards away from the clearing that the ponies camped in. I looked around, but couldn't see any ponies still up so I went for it. I ran to the first tent and laid the bundle down as close to it as I could. The fabric of the dress blended into the color of the tent. I heard a noise and decided that the placement of my bomb was decent enough, so I armed the charges and got the hell out of there. I was incredibly tired, but couldn't sleep, I just kept an eye on that tent until the sun rose and ponies began to stir. It was 10:30 in the morning and I saw three of the pegasi who had the uniforms land. I couldn't see their faces so I couldn't tell if it was the pony who was over them all. As they neared the tent I figured it didn't matter and that these three had some level of authority. All three walked next to each other past the tent and I squeezed the detonator. The charges went off and blew open the cans. The gasoline made a bright a orange explosion that curled upwards into dark billowing smoke. The bills I'd placed on top were falling back to ground in various parts of the camp, some had their ends on fire. When the smoke cleared the three ponies weren't there, the tent wasn't either. Other ponies were now running and flying around trying to figure out what happened. They were like ants if you stepped on their home. Eventually I was able to find one of the uniformed ponies from the blast. He was far away from where the tent once stood and his front legs and wings were bent in a way they shouldn't . He was being tended to by the female leader pony, she looked like she was scared and didn't know what to do. I looked around to the other ponies, they were all terrified. There was only one who looked different, the light blue pony with the rainbow mane. She looked pissed off and went over to talk to the leader pony She whispered something in her ear and the leader nodded. The light blue pony then shot off like a rocket, leaving a rainbow behind her. About 5 minutes later I got a message from Hudd. "I don't know what the hell you did, but all the pegasi are leaving. You're going to have a lot of company real soon. Thanks for clearing our way." I was glad that Hudd and his guys could move to warehouse, but now I would have two camps of pegasi searching for me. I moved all my stuff away from the windows and thought the best thing to do would just be to lay low so climbed into my bed and hoped they wouldn't find me. I didn't really have much dreams while I slept, but I ended up having a memory of my family, which was horrible enough to make me wake up screaming. I rolled out of bed and grabbed my gun, remembering that there were probably a lot of ponies still out looking for me. I took the binoculars and went down to a room on the 35th. I looked and saw maybe a hundred or more ponies in that area. They had found another uniformed pony from the blast and he was being tended to by a yellow pony with a pink mane. I figured the pony closest to the bomb was dead. However that one bomb was only a taste of what was to come. After seeing how terrified the ponies became, I began to make more bombs. In the course of nine months I bombed that camp 12 more times. Sure they brought in guards, but I got much smarter after each one. I would enter the camp from the same side every time and I would always disguise the bombs as something new. After I would set one off they would bring in more ponies and expand the camp even more. The yellow doctor pony even had to stay at the camp full time, she wasn't of very much need though. After 13 bombs only 4 ponies in total died from them. I didn't have to kill a huge number of ponies every time to make them panic. Laying money on top of the bombs became my signature, dollars falling from the sky after an explosion and they would know it was me. That alone made them scared, even the leader and that light blue one. I had done it, I had given them someone to fear. End Chapter 2 > Chapter 3: A Little Chat > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: A Little Chat Before I detonated my last bomb, I had encounter with- There was male pony outside my cell. "Are you Jacob Sanders?" "Goddamn it, I'm never finishing this fucking this thing." I mumbled. "Is your name Jacob Sanders?" the pony repeated more forcefully. "Yeah thats me." The pony then used his magic to unlock the cell door and held it open. He appeared to be waiting for me to move. I looked back and and forth between the door and the pony, wondering what was going on. "What is this?" I asked skeptically. The pony looked down to his side and the smaller purple pony came into view. "There is somepony who would very much like to speak to you." Her cheerful voice had finally left her, but her serious tone surprised me. "I think I'll stay here and finish this." I said, pointing to my paper "Umm I don't think she'll take no for an answer." "Who wants to see me that bad?" "Princess Celestia." "Ohhh shit." I could tell my face had gotten whiter. "Now don't be scared, she just wants to talk. Its just a little chat." She tried to reassure me. "Im not scared!" I tried to argue, putting on a fake confident voice. "Ok sure." the pony said quickly. "Now follow me." There was another male waiting outside the cell for me and he and the other followed silently behind, while the purple pony talked some more in front of me. "We've spoken before, but I haven't introduced myself. I'm Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and I was the Overseer of all the Bureaus in North America.. "Mm hmm." I said trying to look bored, but something she said made think back. "Twilight... Sparkle? I rubbed my head trying to remember what it was about her. Finally I got it. "Twilight Sparkle! Now I remember you! You're the one who developed the ponification serum and the paralysis darts." "That was a long time ago, but yes, that was me. Making them required fusing both magic and science, which was quite a challenge." "God damn." I said as I looked down from the walkway to see a line of humans. Their hands were bound and guard ponies with dart guns stood watch on either side. Other ponies were also down there, though I could tell whether they were new converts or old family and friends. "What is it?" she asked. "They're going to get converted aren't they?" "Yes the Conversion Room is down that way." "Who are the other ponies?" "Don't know. It could be family or the converts. The ones who look angry or sad are most likely the converts. "This isn't right." I said shaking my head. Twilight stopped in her tracks and turned around. "how is this wrong?" "Well first it-" "Actually save it." She interrupted. "We're here." We stood outside of a single metal door. Two regal pegasi stood in front. My breathing and heart rate got faster I nervousness found its way to me. "Not scared huh?" Twilight noticed. The door slowly opened and I had to cover my eyes from the harsh white light coming from it. The lights in the prison were kept dimmed. Slowly I could see a chair pulled out from shiny metal table and standing on the other side was Princess Celestia. One of the ponies behind me shoved me inside. Celestia watched me without blinking as I slowly moved away from the door and sat down. She stared at me for a few more seconds as I tried not to meet her eyes. She then looked past me to the door, nodded and the door shut. "So you're Jacob Sanders, the one who has caused so much grief for me over such a long span of time." Celestia finally said. I didn't respond. I had noticed lots of small black streaks on her white coat. I guessed that they were bullet marks. "Yes they're from firearms." She had noticed. "Sometimes your kind tries to harm me, unsuccessful attempts really as I am an immortal goddess. Those who try to fail and are quickly found and escorted to the Bureaus " she said proudly. "Escorted, is that what you call it?" I said looking up. "If your kind was willing to peacefully go to the Bureau's we wouldn't have to use other methods." "And what about the ones who aren't willing?" "You already know what we have to do to them." "Yeah, paralyze them and change their species against their will." I began to get angry. "We both know why I had to use new tactics." "No we fucking don't." "You're violent. You've already demonstrated it using profanity when I have been nothing but calm with you. Humanities corruption and pollution had almost consumed this world. You're air was so filled with pollutants, I could hardly breath as soon as I left Equestria's borders. I knew that I couldn't let humans destroy this beautiful world. You were in such a horrible condition as it was, war, poverty, hunger, disease. I couldn't bear to watch as you all deteriorated slowly, so I had Conversion Bureaus opened so that humans who were sick of their own condition could lead new, happier lives as ponies. I was going to leave conversion totally to choice and I never wanted to see any humans hurt, but it seems as though humans only want to hurt each other. Daniel Breman was a horrible person and as much as it pains me to say, he did deserve his death. Wouldn't you agree?" "What are you saying?" "I know about you and I know about what happened to your family. Now how could you continually bomb a base of my ponies after what he did to you? It had to be for more than just helping out that small resistance group." "I bombed that base for revenge." "Why against us? What have we done to you?" "What happened to my family only happened because of those damn Bureaus!" "Now I see, you've managed to blame me for your family. Listen to me Jacob, your family would still be dead with or with the me." She said it with a hint of sadness. "Ok I'm done with this." I said. "You registered your family for conversion to save them. It just you picked a bad day." "I said I'm done." "I trying to feel sorry for you, but after what you've done, I hold you in the same regard as I did Breman. "You think I give a shit about how much you like me?" Now I already said I'm done with this" I got up from my seat and went towards the door. She used her horn to open it and nodded again to the ponies outside. "We're done here. Take him back to his holding cell." We assembled into the same position as before, with Twilight in the lead and the two guards trailing behind. "Oh I almost forgot, I'll be sure to be present at your conversion. I'll even hold it on a special date." Celestia shouted at me from the room. I sat back down on my mattress and just looked down. Celestia was going to hold my on conversion on a special day that only she could pick. I now had an unknown amount of time to finish writing my story. I grabbed my paper and started a new sheet. "Oh yeah. I was about to tell about my encounter with the human." End Chapter 3 Short > Chapter 4: A Brief Encounter With My Own Kind > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4: A Brief Encounter With My Own Kind On March 2, 2033 I took the life of another human being. If there were still police around , I would lie and tell them that it was and accident and that I didn't mean to. But there was no one around to call what I had done a crime. I knew that what I had done wrong, but I was so full of anger and hatred that I just couldn't help myself. It was early in the morning, the sun had just risen over the buildings and I had just gotten back to my room after being out all night. I had way more than enough gas for my bombs, but I needed money to put on top. I had spent the night raiding various shops and buildings. I returned with what could make about seven more bombs. I was separating the cash with rubber bands and had one left when I someone spoke at the door. "Hey!" My first thought was that it was a pony so I quickly grabbed my gun off the night stand and pointed it towards the door. I saw a human standing there looking extremely nervous.U At the sight of another human I thought about lowering my gun, but I had heard of people who would kill others for their resources. I kept my gun pointed at his nose and he raised his hands in surrender. "Hey man, I'm here in peace, I swear. I have a gun on my waist, it only for ponies. I'll let you take it, I don't care, just don't shoot me." He looked really scared so I believed him. I very cautiously walked up to him and pressed the silenced gun on his temple. His gun was in a holster on his belt. I grabbed it and threw it back behind me. Then I went back about 10ft. "Who are you?" I asked. "My name is Marcus Chandler, I'm on your side. I was with the HLF too." "The HLF?" Anger and memories started filling my head. "Yes I was a part of that group. Listen, I saw you leaving Central Park twice. know it's you've been bombing that camp, I can help you ." Can you now?" "Yes I have lots of experience with explosives from my time in the HLF. I even have some more powerful charges that I left out side." "You have experience?" I asked, trying to hold back my anger. This guy was digging himself into a hole and didn't even realize it. He eventually said something that would set me off. "Yeah I played a big hand in the attack on the Bureaus." "How big of a hand.?" I was about ready to explode. "I set most of the charges in the New York Bureau and when I got the ok from Breman, I detonated them." He had done it now, he just admitted to me that he responsible for the way my family had met their end. I breathed in and out and contained myself for one more act. "Oh let me show me show you around the place. You can stay as long as you want." I used the most happy voice I could manage and cracked a smile. I lowered my gun, but still held it in my right hand. I walked up to Marcus and put my left arm around his back and rested my hand on his shoulder. He let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks man. You don't even know how tough it's been for me. I haven't eaten in days." "Well I have plenty of food here, But its down stairs. We'll take the emergency stairs, they're quicker." "Alright thanks man." I opened the door and for a moment we both stood at the top of the concrete stairs. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out very slowly. "Umm, hello?" I opened my eyes and looked him right in the face. "Oh after you." I opened my left hand wide and placed my palm on the middle of his back. From there all I did was extend my left arm forcefully and Marcus fell down the stairs. It didn't take long for him to reach the wall where the stairs reversed. I quickly ran after him, grabbed his shirt and threw him down again. This time I heard a snap when he fell. When he slammed against the wall I noticed his right elbow was bent backwards. He cried out in pain, but I didn't stop yet. I threw him down once more and his back slammed against the wall. He was now in a seated position. I pulled my gun and shot both of his knees off. He screams were extremely loud and the echo on the stairs made it worse. I finally raised the gun to his face and he spoke for the last time. "WHY...Why?!" I never gave him his answer. I smashed the silencer into his nose and wasted the rest of the clip into his face. I stood there looking at him for a long time. Tears dripped from my eyes as I thought about what that man had done. He had killed my family and had taken many other lives. But I also cried for what I had done. I just brutally killed another member of my species, I lowered our numbers even more. I was tired and didn't know exactly what to do so I did what my body needed. I went back up to my room, got into my bed, pulled the covers up and tried to go to sleep. End Chapter 4 Yeah its real short. > Chapter 5: Checking Out > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5: Checking Out If I could blame my capture on something it would have to be my over confidence. After over 8 months of not even being seen, I figured that they would never catch me. Obviously I was wrong. After I had murdered Marcus on the emergency stairs, I felt I couldn't stay in the hotel anymore. I wanted to leave, but I would have nowhere to go to. Moving around alone over a short distance was risky, over a long distance would almost always end in a capture. I still wanted to leave and I decided that my best shot was to meet up with Hudd and his resistance group. It had been a while since I had spoken with Hudd. I hadn't received a message from him in just under a month. His last message had called for another bomb to slow the ponies down. I still remember it. "Our attempt at Celestia has failed. Hundreds of earth and unicorn ponies after us, slow the pegasi in New York down. Unsure where to go now. -9" After my meeting with Celestia I realized that it had been Hudd's group who had blackened her coat with bullet streaks. The [color=red"]-9" meant that he had lost 9 men from his group. He now only had 6 men left including himself. This number was much too small to be much of a threat to the ponies.Being pursued by Celestia with only 6 people meant that they were as good as gone. Many times after that I would send message asking if they were alright and were they were. I never received any responses so I had to assume that Hudd had either moved out of the transmitters range or had been captured. Regardless of the reason, I was now on my own and had my own problems to worry about. I figured I only had about two good options to take. Option one was to continue to live in the hotel while infrequently bombing the pegasi camp. Staying in the same place for a long time was usually dangerous, but it had worked out in my favor so far. After all, I had an abundance of food and water and none of the ponies knew I was living here. I was very secure and had supplies here. But there was that body of the human I had killed here, so even though it wasn't very rational to leave, I still felt I had to. Option two was try to make it to my old friend, Micheal Reed's house. Mike was a good man, but after making a few poor financial choices, he found himself buried under a mountain of debt. His wife was pregnant with his child and they both thought It was best to undergo conversion. His house was a couple of minutes south of Baltimore. I could use one of the electric cars I had found in the underground garage. I had already found the keys to a couple Tesla models. After 2016 Tesla Motors lead the industry for years in all electric cars. I could take a sports car and be at his house in a couple hours. I didn't know what I would do there, but a good place to start was to try to get Hudd to respond again. I looked over the two and decided to mash the two together for one last plan. I had bombed the ponies 12 times, and I would do it again three more time for a total of 15. Then I would leave the hotel and try to make it to Mike's house. I wouldn't just leave the hotel though, I would go out with a bang. The ponies would notice a car leaving, so I would have to create a distraction. My final act in New York would be to destroy the hotel that had sheltered me for many months. That was the plan and in my eyes it was a pretty jngood one. wasbut plans don't always go the way you want them to. The next week I went on the largest gas run I had ever done. I would need as much explosive power as I could get to destroy the building. It also gave me a reason to spend as little time as possible in the hotel. For the first four nights I pumped as much gas as I could. The gas station that had supplied me for months finally seemed to be tapped out so I had to find other sources. Cars that still ran on gas were still around and they were a good source, but the problem was that they were all spread out from each other. So I had to spend another night to take all the cans to the gas station parking lot. The last two nights were spent transferring all the cans to various rooms on the lower floors. I brought out the- My writing was interrupted by another message from Celestia. "The United States and Canada. These two countries now hold the last humans who were on record after the year 1965. Humans on record were put into four different categories; deceased, converted, awaiting conversion and resisting. The humans who were on this extensive list, from all other continents expect North America are now confirmed as either deceased or converted. Yes you heard right, there is only one continent left with humanity still tainting it. The humans in Europe tried their hardest to resist, not as much as the rebels in Australia, but still they gave a tremendous effort. In time however, they realized how much better they could be living if they just under went the conversion. Now to the last humans; I may never fully understand why you choose to continue living in the horrid conditions that you do. I may never know what you could possibly hold so dear that would make you want to resist. But as I said before, you are only prolonging what has to happen. You are still welcome to willfully to come to the Atlanta Bureau or to peacefully seek out ponies who can escort you. Remember that this is the end of your world, but still only your beginning in ours." Once again after her message the prison noises stopped as everyone came to terms with it. It was terrible knowing that the last of my species could be soon be inside this one building. I didn't want to get converted, but now it seemed as if it was inevitable. I had one last thing that gave me hope, but I doubted that it would come soon enough. I looked up at the bars of my cell and hoped that Twilight wouldn't come by, I wasn't in the mood for her cheerfulness. I could do nothing from behind those bars except continue to write down my story and hope that maybe one day another human or pony would read it. I brought down the charges and got the duck tape out, it was time I made some bombs. I made them all the same way, three cans surrounding one charge in a triangle shape. I went outside and found the charges that the HLF member had brought. The were on a cart, covered by a black blanket. His supply gave me 25 more charges and their detonators. It also had a Master Detonator, which meant I could blow up all of his charges at the same time. Each one could also be armed for its individual detonator as well. These were also slightly bigger than the ones Hudd gave me. I should have taken these things into account, that fact that a master detonator was included with them meant that they were much more modern and potentially more explosive. It took me about a day to complete a total of 58 bombs. I thought it was best to place the bombs around different supports in the building first. I started in the basement garage. I was no demolitions expert, but then again this wasn't a supposed to be a harmless demolition. There were about a dozen cement pillar that went around the inside perimeter. I placed one bomb, that I had made with the new charges, against them. I found the support pillars on the first floor lobby and placed another 12 bombs on those as well. I went ahead and armed the bombs on the pillars with the master detonator. I armed the other bombs and placed them next to supports on the higher levels. I placed them close enough together so that one detonation on each floor could explode each charge on that level. I had one bomb left from the newer charges, so I decided that would be the 13th bomb used on the ponies camp. As it turned out, this was a big mistake. I should have realized that these were much more advanced charges than the ones I had been using. These were only slightly larger, but had the potential to be much more powerful. I should have found some way to test them before I put them use. I taped a huge wad of cash on the top and pushed it into black garbage bag. When it was night, I snuck across the street and into the park. I quickly made it to outside the ponies base. I didn't know it then, but this would be my last time going to their base as a free human. I slid the bag under a wagon, with only a little sticking out. It reached into the bag and armed the the charge for its detonator. It was a little closer to the ponies than I usually put them, but I thought the wagon would suppress the explosion. If I had been using the other charges it would've worked, but I had chosen not to. I sprinted back to my room and rested until morning. I was confident that they wouldn't find it, they never had before. A couple of hours later, I woke up and dragged myself out of bed. I picked up the detonator and walked over to the open window. There were a couple of ponies walking away from the wagon. I looked closer and I could still see the black bag. I smiled. They never seemed to learn. I squeezed the detonator. The bright flash of blue was the first thing I noticed about the bomb that was different. I brought my hand to my eyes for the brief moment. A very loud, delayed POP came after thejh flash. The blue light was quickly went away and was replaced by the familiar, billowing, orange curl of fire from the gas. I ran a grabbed some binoculars from my desk. After that I made my big mistake. I climbed in the window to get a better view, I didn't expect any ponies to be looking around after what had happened. The wagon was gone, I could find no traces of it anywhere. Their tents looked blown to one side away from the explosion, some closer to it were tipped over. Ponies, even at a considerable distance away, were picking themselves up off the ground. The money was still falling, but it had been pushed far away from the camp. I didn't know that two ponies died from that bomb. I scanned around and familiar ponies came into view. The orange maned, leader pony came out of a sideways tent and the fast light blue one emerged from another. They looked as if they didn't quite know what to make of the new situation. I looked over to the left of where the wagon used to be, that's when I saw her. It was a pony with binoculars, looking right at me. She pulled them down once she realized what she was looking at. I watched helplessly as she ran to her superiors and frantically told something to them. The last thing I saw in that window was the light blue ponies smug smile as she looked up towards me. "Jacob Sanders, Princess Celestia has called for you." "Damn it." I muttered. "She wants you in line for conversion." "Can I at least finish this first?" I was so close to the end. I would hate it if I didn't get to complete it. "Only if you can walk and write at the same time. Now lets move." I walked from my cell and took my paper with me. The guards were close behind me and in front. I brought the pencil to my paper, I figured I may as well try to finish. I snatched up all the active detonators I could and pushed them inside a plastic grocery bag. I took my transmitter and gun off the desk on the way out. I went to the kitchen and grabbed some snacks and a some water bottles. I took the emergency stairs and jumped past the dead human corpse. I dug through the drawer in the lobby and found the keys to one of the electric cars. When I got into the car, I tossed my stuff on the passenger seat, put the key in the ignition and turned on the motor. All of the buttons and lights came on to confirm it still had a charge. I stepped on the accelerator and the car lurched forward. I steered it up the ramp where the garage connected with the street above. It emptied out into the side of the hotel. I looked behind me to see dozens of pegasi flying in a around the higher floors of the building. I didn't see the leader or the fast blue pony up there, so I assume that they were already in the inside the building. I saw so many pegasi taking flight that I thought I should send out a message just in case. "I don't know if you're still there, but I might need your help. I've been spotted and I'm not sure if I can get away. If you don't get another message from me in 24 hours, then I'm probably on my way to Atlanta. It was a pleasure working with you." The possibility of getting caught frightened me, but I never thought that it would actually happen. I drove about another block before I pulled about the master detonator. I looked up again at the building and covered my ears and squeezed the trigger. Even though the charges were inside, I could still see a blue flash. It was followed by another deafening POP and the sound of of concrete and rocks breaking. It grabbed random detonators from the bag and triggered them as well. Smaller explosion could be heard. When I had used all of the detonators, I looked back to the building and waited for something to happen. Okay so when I look back on it, thinking I could "destroy the building" was a really dumb notion. I would have needed more than four times as many charges in order in make that become a reality. However I did manage to fuck it up pretty good. The first four floors gave way and collapsed under the pressure. No longer having supports the buildings tilted towards another, slightly smaller building. Gravity finally pulled the hotel down on the top of the of the other building. It rested, for the moment stable, on the building at a slight angle. I thought for sure this would stop the ponies, but again I was wrong. Dazed pegasi started flying out of the broken windows, not as many as before, but still a considerable number. That's when I made my second mistake. When I that there were still ponies moving, I hit the accelerator again. The thing was that there was dust and smoke still lowto the ground and when I moved the car, the wind from it made the dust move too. That's how they found my car. I heard angry shouts and looked back to see lots of pegasi following me. I turned down a one way street and pushed down the pedal. 50, 60, 70, the speedometer kept rising. If there had been cars on the road I'd have been fucked, but there were none of course. I started to leave some of the pegasi farther and father behind. I looked behind me for a quick moment, I saw them so far behind me. With one hand one the wheel I looked back and laughed and pointed. I was such a little kid move. When I looked forward again I noticed something in my peripheral vision. I looked to my left and saw the orange maned pony. The leader of the base had come to find me. I looked to my right and knew that I probably wasn't going to get away. The light blue pony with the rainbow mane was flying upside down next to me. There was a dart gun in her hands and it was pointed at me. She was had extremely bored look on her face, as if my escape attempt simply wasted her time. With my right hand I made a reach for my gun, but it was too late. When I moved she shot it into me. I slammed on the brakes and the car slowed, rapidly approaching 20mph. I felt something move through my entire body, it made me shutter. Then I felt the darts true effects effects of the dart. It was in my right shoulder and that arm was the first to become non responsive to my thoughts. It spread to my chest and from there it went to all my other appendages. It was a weird feeling be paralyzed, it was like it wasn't my body anymore. I could look down and see my arm or my leg, but I had no control over it. Without speaking to me, four ponies picked me up and carried me back to the base. I was paralyzed only from the neck down, so I shouted every profane word I knew. They didn't react to them, so I gave it a rest when I got to the camp. All eyes were on me as I was carried into it. The yellow pegasus was tending to those injured in both the bomb and the building. I saw to big lumps on the ground covered by a thick blanket, they were dead ponies, the two I had killed. I was tossed to the ground from about five feet. I landed on my left shoulder, it would have probably hurt, but I couldn't feel any pain. I was rolled into a tent and still ended up on my left side, facing the entrance. I could hear cheers outside, but it died down. I could see the shadows of two ponies standing out side the tent. They were arguing. I could make out everything, but I did hear somethings. I concluded that they were arguing over what they should down with me. Eventually one walked away and the other stayed with their head down, she had lost. It was a while before they actually said anything to me and when they did, it wasn't much. The leader and the rainbow one both came into my tent. They looked me over for a while before I prompted them to speak by shouting "What". The leader spoke. "My name is Spitfire. I'm in charge of this base, which you had constantly put in harms ways. This is Rainbow Dash. Sorry if she doesn't say much to you, but shes not really in a good mood. Anyway she will be escorting you and a few others to Atlanta. Hope you enjoy your new life." The whole thing sounded really fake and the last sentence, twice as much. I think she knew that I had first purposely tried to kill her, but got two of her team instead. I don't know why Rainbow Dash was pissed, but maybe she knew one of the four ponies killed. She grabbed me leg and dragged me outside. There were two other humans waiting at the basket of a elaborate looking hot air balloon. She dragged me next to them and called for ropes. Three ponies came out and tied my arms behind my back and my feet together. The other two were bound in the same manner. This was their idea of being escorted. I liked the human way better. She picked me up and dropped me into the basket, probably meant to be payback. She gently placed the others down and then gave a smile to me. The rest is pretty boring actually. The balloon took off and couple days later it touched back down again in front of the bureau in Atlanta. We were met in the air a few time by ponies bring water and food. I was magically levitated inside the bureau and taken to a cell. This was about two weeks ago and a few days ago I decided to write down my story. Currently I am 3rd in line for a forced conversion. Regardless of who reads this, whether it be pony or human, remember that this is the end of my world. The End. I fold the all the pages together and put them in my pocket. I had finished writing my story in some of the last moments of me being a human. It depressed me and the scene around me made it worse. It looked so grim and dark that it was like we we're going to be executed. I'm looking around for any possible ways to escape. I finally see one. The guard ponies around us have made an opening that I might be able to get through. I move up to second in line and see Twilight and the princess walking down the hallway. Its now or never. I make a run for it. I make it through the guards, I thought I was good for a moment. The other prisoners remain silent as a bright purple flash appears in front of me, followed by a kicking pair of legs. Twilight teleported in front of me and kicked me down. "Sorry." She says. At least it sounded kind of genuine. The other guards pick me up and push me back into line, making sure to stand very close to me. Celestia comes over and looks at me. "Even now you choose to resist. I would ask why, but you probably don't kn-" Shes not able to finish. A blast in the wall makes everyone get down. Smoke and dust fills the air. Then I hear gunfire, It has to be a lot of people ballsy enough to attack a bureau after what happened last time. I go crouched down, covering my ears. Dust is still making it hard to see. I start crawling, but feel someone grab my back. I look up to see Hudd. "Come on!" He yells while he pulls me up. I couldn't believe he was actually here. He was risking his life to save me. A hoard of humans run out through the hole in the wall. The guard ponies were all shot dead, but more were coming. I get up and am about to run through the hole, but then I see something on the side. Its Twilight, shes rubbing her head, but she hasn't been shot. She sees me and for a second we stare at each other. I give a sly smile before I reach into my pocket and throw my story to her. Then I disappear through the wall. We run through the night, dozens and dozens of humans. I find Hudd and easily stick to him and whats left of his team. I thought about how I hadn't wanted Twilight to read my story when I first started it. Now it didn't matter. Thinking back to it, I should have put a question mark at the end, because that wasn't really the end. Now that I had been saved it was only the beginning. AN: My first ending to a creative work. I think its decent. If you liked it, give it a thumbs up because it looks better and makes me feel good. Sorry if I let some people down with this. Maybe I'll make another. > no sh*t sherlock Presents... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- no sh*t sherlock presents... The much requested ( by about six people) sequel has just been posted!!! Well not just, but still pretty recently. Some people already know about and some were unaware. But if you enjoyed this story, I'm sure you'll like the sequel. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/44442/The-Conversion-Bureau%3A-New-Tactics-Part-II