Euphrosyne Unchained

by Chatoyance

Chapters

1. Lansing Bureau
2. Atlantis With Hooves
3. Birth Pains
4. A Spit In Time
5. Euphrosene Unchained

1. Lansing Bureau

Lost In The Herd: Two

Euphrosyne

Unchained

By Chatoyance

Chapter One: Lansing Bureau

The bunk was not overly comfortable, but it would do, and in any case Alyssa knew she would only need to use it for a week at most. The rate at which Conversions were being performed had been recently stepped up, the news of Equestria's expanding magical barrier shrouding the very last of Los Angeles - 'Los Pegasus', she corrected herself – generating a rush on all of the North American Conversion Bureaus. Here in Lansing, far from the west coast, the crowding was not as bad, but her room, built for two, now slept double that number.

She rifled through her dufflebag, her last earthly possessions. The conversion process was free, as was placement afterwards, and all the training, room and board, paid for by both the inexhaustible Equestrian treasury and government assistance, but it was the rule that an applicant leave everything behind. Alyssa had liquidated her meager funds, and given the money to her neighbors, what few remained, keeping only enough to make it to the Lansing Bureau. She had left her belongings in her apartment, as most did, and her car was abandoned on a side street eight blocks from the Bureau. She could not park closer because other abandoned vehicles covered every open place, clogging the streets as well.

This was the way of things in post-Equestria earth, abandoned human possessions a silent testament to their owners abandonment of their biological humanity. Now, five years after Emergence, most of the human race had 'gone pony', as it was called.

There was no real alternative, of course. Alyssa had spent a great deal of time on the hypernet researching the effects of thaumatic energy on primate biology. Something about the magic emanating from Equestria destroyed human cells, damaging the mitochondria, ravaging liposomes, causing demylination of nerves and... “Stop.” she thought to herself “Enough. I'm tired of that.”

And she was. She was very tired of books and diagrams and journals and carrying a head heavy with too much knowledge too incompletely understood. She was tired of who she was, how she had hid from the world, the face she presented as much to herself as to the world.

Bookworm, little scientist, braniac, know-it-all – this was her childhood, and she had never grown up. Feeling weak and picked on, she had developed the defense of appearing smart, smarter perhaps than she really was. It had worked for a long time, but the older she grew, the less effective it seemed, and the more annoying to herself, and everyone around her.

Hannah pushed open the lockless, swinging door, and cocked her head at Alyssa “Soups on, Aly!” Hannah was one of Alyssa's three roommates at the Bureau, a gregarious older woman who had come all the way from Oregon. She had family in Michigan, and Lansing was as good a place as any to have her conversion. Alyssa had become friendly with her almost immediately.

The dining hall was bustling well past limits, what with double the number of applicants at the Bureau, and many people were sitting on the floor, holding their trays in their lap, or on one knee. Mixed in with the humans were over a dozen newfoals, recently converted humans, either awaiting transfer to Equestria, or still receiving training on how to live as an Equestrian, before returning to the streets outside. Alyssa followed Hannah to the line.

“Whatcha want?” asked the pony behind the stainless steel foodservice counter. Her name -her new name, Alyssa hadn't met her before her conversion- was Flower Meadow, which Alyssa had thought sounded more like a Chippewa name than an Equestrian moniker. Flower was a soft, pale yellow with a forest green mane, all of which somewhat evoked her name. It was doubtless why she had chosen it.

“Um, I guess the carrot salad and the tofu look good..” Flower skillfully used the serving tong in her mouth to dish up first the carrot and raisins, and then used a wide scoop to deposit tofu in some sort of sauce onto Alyssa's plate. Alyssa always marveled at such maxillofacial dexterity, and worried whether or not she would be so able... after.

“Oh! You have any of those Equestrian apples left?” Equestrian fruit was a huge hit with everyone, equine or human in the Bureaus, and was brought in as a cheery indication of the future, when there would be only Equestria, only Ponies, and the dying earth renewed. Equestrian apples tasted like the ideal of what an apple should be, and had no taint of genetic modification, nanotechnology, or chemical waste. Alyssa often wondered if terrestrial apples had ever been as good, before the industrial, atomic and nanotech ages, or, in lacking Equestrian magic, no apple in history had ever been so delicious.

“I'm really sorry, sweety” Flower seemed deeply regretful “What with the rush of new applicants and all, they're all gone.” Alyssa couldn't help but pout, the apples really were that good. “Tell you what – next shipment I'll set one aside just for you to make it up!” Flower really was a particularly nice pony.

Hannah had found a patch of floor by the trash bins wide enough to sit down amidst the throng, and called Alyssa over. Alyssa set her tray down first, then clambered to sit tailor fashion on the concrete. Setting the tray in her lap, she noticed Ella and Chloe -her other roommates at the bureau- enter. She waved to them over the din, then scootched over to make extra space for them to join, when they had gotten their trays.

Ella was from Boston, another victim of unemployment. Homelessness had ceased being a problem for her as ponies outnumbered humans, and for a while she had enjoyed living in the abandoned homes of the wealthy. Eventually she had come to the decision that a life of raiding empty stores and markets could not compare to life in a bountiful fairyland, even if it meant walking on four legs.

“So, how's tricks?” Ella had been in classroom B most of the morning, Alyssa hadn't seen her since wake up call and breakfast.

“We got basic Equestrian etiquette and customs today, bow to the princesses, say please and thank-you a lot, that sort of thing. How about you?”

“Same, actually. So, you think those princesses are really goddesses, like real goddesses, all powerful and all?” Ella picked unhappily at her tofu. She really missed meat, and particularly disliked that it had been discontinued entirely at this Bureau.

“They can't be!” Chloe had joined them, a tray piled high with cupcakes and muffins – she really liked her carbs – and was struggling to squat down without dropping her load “I mean, like seriously. Goddesses? No way. That part's just fantasy!”

“I'm not so sure” Alyssa began “We are talking magic here. Real magic, whatever magic is. This is Gandalf, Harry Potter, Sorcerer's Apprentice stuff. We see it every day – the unicorns for example. Levitation, illusions, transformations, heck, remember when Whirligig pulled off that Restoration spell on that cup the other day? I mean, that was a direct violation of physics, that was true...” Alyssa paused thoughtfully “...thaumaturgical extropy!” She smiled at her own feeling of cleverness.

“Thama-what?” Ella was always annoyed when Aly showed off; she secretly suspected the girl deliberately choose kilocredit words knowing nobody else would understand them.

“Thamaturgy is magic, and extropy is the opposite of entropy. So there, Alyssa.” Chloe was more educated than she often let on, and she too felt that Alyssa tended to show off a bit much.

“What I mean is” continued Alyssa, oblivious, “is that putting a cup back together like that, perfectly, is impossible. It cannot be. You can't un-spill a cup of tea or un-break an egg. Not by just willing it to be so. So we are dealing with real, honest to god... goddess... magic here. If that is possible, then what is the limit? Maybe these princesses really can literally shape reality itself. Maybe that stuff about them raising the sun and moon in their world is literal fact. Any being that can whistle up day and night by sheer force of will... well, that would be a god, or rather goddess, to me!”

“I was raised New-Catholic.” Hannah had turned her attention to some pudding that Alyssa felt sad to have missed “I believed in god for a long time. But in the end, it's just about power. Government or church, they all use fables and stories. I figure Celestia and Luna are no different. Yeah, we see magic. So what? One fixed cup doesn't mean immortal, all-powerful beings actually exist. Just the story they use to stay on top.”

Ella was disturbed “So, what, we're getting into some kind of weird cult as well as being turned into ponies here?”

“It's not so big a deal -” Hannah was wiping her hands on a napkin now “Egypt had god-kings, and they did alright for themselves, it's just whatever story works to keep order. You don't have to worship them or anything. Just bow and go about your business, and it's no different than meeting one of the Popes.”

Suddenly a tone sounded.

Next came a voice over the loudspeaker “HELLLOOOOoooo!!” the voice giggled and made raspberry noises for a while. It was unfamiliar. “This is Ground Control to Major Tom! Woo-Woo Woo-Woo! Alert! Alert! We have some special ponies here today!”

Alyssa looked at her roommates, Chloe shrugged back.

“All the way from Equestria, well, actually from the former Bureau in Los Pegasus, by way of Albuquerque, Memphis, Bloomington, Hamtramck...” another voice cut in “PINKIE!”

“Yes?” The original voice responded.

“They don't need to hear the entire itinerary, just introduce us!”

“Maybe they'd like to know. Maybe they NEED to know. You never know.”

“Excuse me, everyone” the second voice seemed to have taken over at this point “We're here to check out how things are going in the various bureaus, and today we are here in...” the voice paused “Lancing. Lancing, Michigan. We'll just be here for a while, but I would like to meet and talk with some of you in order to get your impressions of how we are doing and where we might improve things. My name is Twilight Sparkle, by the way, that was Pinkie Pie, and we may be observing some of your transformations as well. Don't mind us, we're just here to make sure your experience is as good as possible. Thank you.”

Everyone, by now, knew those names. When Equestria had first emerged from the sea next to what was rapidly unbecoming the west coast of North America, the first emissaries were six pastel-colored equinoids. Then came their sovereign, the one called Celestia. There wasn't a human or pony in Lancing Bureau that wasn't excited at the thought of catching a glimpse of the original emissaries. They had been all over the threevee, and in all the newsfeeds for a long time, so they were the closest thing to universal pony celebrities. Alyssa wondered if all six were here, or only Sparkle and Pie.

The next class was a special event, and saw everyone - everypony, Alyssa corrected herself: it was her intention to think as much like a pony before she actually became one as she could - crowded, as best as possible into Classroom C, the largest of the three. It served best as a meeting hall since the cafeteria area was surprisingly smaller.

Alyssa and her three roomies sat together on one of the several long benches that filled the room. They had made a beeline there suspecting that today's schedule might be special, and managed to get third row, right side.

A purple unicorn took the simple podium, and she needed no introduction, but she got one anyway, a simple “Miss Twilight Sparkle, Emissary of Equestria, wishes to address you.” Alyssa thought it was probably instructor Silverspark, the serious-minded newfoal unicorn that did basic Equestrian History on Alyssa's first day at the bureau.

“Ahem. Hello. I am Twilight Sparkle.” Clapping and cheers broke the silence, a spontaneous reaction to seeing a celebrity. “I guess you've heard of me.” This was followed by laughter.

“I've been asked to present my original orientation speech by... some of the faculty here. I really didn't want to, because it wasn't very good, as I have found, and caused a little unintended distrust at the time. I was still learning your language and nuances, and well, it just wasn't as good as it could have been.”

“But,” Twilight's horn glowed as papers shuffled on the podium in front of her “it seems that for some, it has some value, and, anyway, here it is:

"Now, I'm almost positive all of you are here because you want to become a pony. This is a fact. You don't come here because you don't want to be a pony, unless someone forced you at gunpoint, but that's a different story."

Twilight looked out over the quiet, attentive crowd. No human had ever laughed at her first attempt at a joke using human language, and it seemed certain that no human ever would.

"I may not fully understand your reasoning behind your choice to become a pony, considering I was born one myself, but I can understand what we have been facing in the past few years. Humans such as yourselves have brought your world to shambles, all because of the selfish greed of big business, and the horrible health habits of the majority of the population."

The papers shuffled again. She'd had such trouble with this part, having written the entire speech in a cold panic while being transported on one of the humans noisy and terrifying flying machines. Most of the content had come from a flight attendant who had explained her own view of how the human world worked.

"Ponykind faces overpopulation, in ways that the tiny isle of Equestria simply can't keep together for long. That's why we moved into your towns and cities."

This part wasn't even true, but it was the best she could do at the time. Only later had she learned that the word 'isle' did not mean a universe, and that 'overpopulation' referred to an increase in the number of individuals, rather than an cosmological expansion. It had all seemed to make sense, back when she was still struggling with basic human grammar. Worse, the whole thing made it sound like the ponies wanted human land. No wonder so many humans were upset. If only she had been given more time to learn the language.

"Our plan is to ponify you, the sooner the better. Expect this to happen when you least expect it. You'll get used to our culture, our food, and our lack of thumbs. Trust me, it's easier than it looks. Because humans can't handle the magic radiating from Equestrian borders, becoming a pony is crucial to expanding the peaceful, friendly aura that surrounds Equestria every day of every month of every year. Thank you."

Raging applause and cheers met the purple pony's conclusion, though Alyssa could tell that miss Sparkle was uncomfortable with it. Reflecting, Alyssa could see how the speech did seem a little sinister in composition, but nothing the Equestrians had ever done, nor anything she had ever seen in them personally (ponifally? Equisonally?) had ever been anything but guileless and kindly to a fault.

In their room, later, Chloe was being silly, something Alyssa envied. Alyssa had never been able to feel free enough to be silly in front of others. “Ooohh! We will PONIFY YOU when you LEAST expect it! Here I come to turn you into a PONY!” She had cornered Ella against the wall beside her bed “Wibble-wobble zappity-zap! You're a pony now!” Both young Chloe and the older Ella giggled like children at this. Hannah was doing her best to ignore the noise. She was writing in her diary.

“What do you think it will be like?” Alyssa abruptly asked.

“Like, we already know. We've heard it from the others who already did it.” Chloe sat down on the bed next to Ella. “You go to sleep, you wake up a pony.” She shrugged and gave a quick derpy look at Alyssa.

“No, what I mean is, what does ponification actually do to consciousness. Does it change our mentation? I mean, this is total physiological transmogrification here. The brain changes. It isn't just like growing some hooves and developing a craving for hay. What will it be like inside?” Alyssa tapped the side of her head for effect.

“God, you fuss, don't you?” Chloe glowered.

“All I know is that everyone we've seen changed so far came back the same person.” Hannah closed her diary “well... mostly.”

“That's what I mean!” Alyssa sat in a rigid stance “There is a world of difference between exactly the same and 'mostly'. What do you mean 'mostly?' Be specific!”

“I noticed that everyone comes back...” Ella considered what word to use “...nicer? Certainly more happy. I saw a guy go in - he looked like he'd never had a friend in his life – and when he came out he was... happy. He smiled. He trotted around and talked to everyone. I hadn't heard him say a word up till then.” Ella had been there the longest, her orientation week was basically up. “That's a big change. That's not just 'mostly the same', it was like night and day. But..” The Bostonian looked thoughtful “It's a difference I could really use.” She looked almost like she might cry.

“Yes, yes, happier, nicer, more polite, but... what else changes?” Alyssa seemed almost frantic in some internally controlled way “Do you think that, well, that you might become REALLY different, even another person entirely? Do you think that is what happened to that guy?”

Everyone seemed concerned by this. “He remembered people's names. He seemed to know who he was and how he had gotten here. Maybe he just got to be who he always wanted to be. Before life kicked him to the curb.” The way Ella said this, it seemed that she felt some identification with the man.

The next day, after oatmeal and fruit, the women were returning their trays when a familiar sound – the tone of an incoming loudspeaker message – peaked their awareness.

“Attention everyone!” It was Dr. Pastern – yes, her real, human name, and the joke of her name being part of horse anatomy was well worn at Lancing Bureau – “Due to crowding concerns, and recent news events, we will be performing ongoing, immediate conversions today. For those of you who feel ready, no further waiting is required. After Conversion, there will be direct transfers to Equestria, with all necessary training and assistance provided there. This is an excellent opportunity for those that feel themselves ready to take the plunge.”

Everyone in the cafeteria area was abuzz at this news. “Maybe it's because of having Twilight here!” someone said. “What if you don't feel ready yet?” asked another with some emotion.

Chloe looked at Ella who looked at Hannah, and they all looked at Alyssa. Alyssa stared back, her eyes strangely wide.

“Simply report to Classroom A if you are interested. You will be processed shortly thereafter. Thank you.”

The women went immediately to their room as if in some unspoken agreement.

Chloe seemed nervous “What do you think this means? I haven't heard about any 'news events'! Do you think it's the HLF?” The Human Liberation Front were dangerous terrorists, opposed to the conversion process, rabidly opposed to the very existence of the Equestrians, and they had made horrifying attacks on Bureaus in the past.

“It could be, maybe that's why they are moving the converts directly to Equestria right after! Maybe we're at risk here!” Ella fumbled for her hypernet compact. She began scanning for Bureau related stories.

“It could just be to show off to our pony celebs here.” offered Hannah. “I mean, maybe they just want to get a good rating or something.”

Alyssa said nothing. She stared intently at her hands, clutching her knees as she sat on the edge of her bunk. Her heart pounded inside her chest. Briefly she worried about tachycardia with resultant circulatory collapse. She caught herself. She always thought too much about such things. She wished she didn't even know those words. She wished she wasn't... who she was.

“It's the HLF!” Ella almost hissed the words “they've made a direct threat against THIS bureau. They intend to destroy the Lancing Bureau. There's nothing on how or why, but I bet it has something to do with our special guests!”

Killing off a high profile Equestrian ambassador or two would fit their intent well.

“Why not just evacuate everyone?” Chloe was rocking on her bunk, worried.

“Because there is no place to go.” Alyssa said the words flatly, coldly. “We've all cut our ties and just come here. No money, no home to go back to. They can't just tell us to just go live on the street. They don't do that.”

The women stared intently at Alyssa.

“There's no telling when or if the attack will occur, right?”

Ella nodded agreement.

“Then there's no way to know how long to kick us out for. That's how terrorism works. They win even if they never attack. They want to stop the conversions. They want to shut the bureaus down. And it might work.”

This was a serious issue. Most of the human species had become Equestrian. There were perhaps less than one and a half billion humans left in the world. If the bureaus shut down, what then for those that were left? Nothing could stop the expansion of Equestria. Nothing could cure the creeping death of magical radiation spreading across the planet as a result of its emergence. In the end, there would be no place left to hide, not even the other side of the globe itself. To remain human was a certain death, even if groups like the HLF were convinced they could find a way to stop it all.

Alyssa was thinking, rapidly, in the back of her mind, about how people were affected by thaumaturgical radiation. First the skin seemed to shrivel and the person became gaunt. Hallucinations and loss of coordination, eventually patches of necrosis. Finally total organ failure. There were zones, near the barrier that separated Equestria from the rest of the world, that could kill within minutes or hours. There were patches all over the world that had become no-go areas for anyone other than ponies.

It could be now, or never.

Alyssa did not want to miss the chance to survive. She'd been there three days. That was enough. What else was there to know? Besides, she always over-analyzed everything. Following her usual ways, she would have haunted the Bureau for weeks, trying to become expert on every little detail. It was her way of hiding, her mask, her wall. The little professor that could avoid facing things because she had things to study.

She stood up. Her hands were balled into fists. “I'm going.” Chloe seemed surprised.

“I'm going to room A.”

Author's Note

The - truly horrible - speech given by Twilight in this opening chapter is a direct quote from the very first Conversion Bureau story, called simply 'The Conversion Bureau'. It was written by fifteen-year old author Blaze, and... it was not, honestly, very good. But what it did offer was the suggestion of a world that could be expanded upon.

I included the original speech from that first work only to pay tribute to the very first story in this genre - an acknowledgement to the young lad who put so much in motion.

2. Atlantis With Hooves

Lost In The Herd: Two

Euphrosyne

Unchained

By Chatoyance

Chapter Two: Atlantis With Hooves

Alyssa was glued to the threevee set, at turns fascinated and horrified at what she saw. She flipped from newsfeed to newsfeed, trying to get the best view of the barrage. For the moment, the attack had ceased, the ocean boiling around the enormous, shimmering, opalescent dome.

The scale was hard to take in. The dome, the shield that surrounded this newly arising land of 'Equestria' was easily two and a half miles in diameter. It had grown to this incredible size over the course of the last year, slowly but steadily expanding into the open north pacific.

The barrage had begun with conventional ordinance, brought forth by numerous zones and corporate states, including both Eurussia and the North American Alliance. The Panasians had had their turn as well, bombarding the shield with some sort of neutron-based weapon. Even airbursting nanoheads had failed to destroy the new island, and so the news was reporting the debate on whether to use hyperthermonuclear warheads, and just how badly finally daring that ultimate of ultimate weapons might permanently damage the earth's atmosphere.

Alyssa hadn't felt that the offer of the Equestrian princess was sinister. She hadn't really taken it seriously, at first. It seemed so absurd, but then everything was absurd, now. In only a single year, her comfortable understanding of reality had been demolished by the appearance of a factual world of fantasy. Suddenly, there was a land of magic and strange creatures in the world, and like most people, she was simply living day to day in a kind of fugue.

The Three Hour War, as it would soon be called, had come without warning. Somewhere in the halls of power, the leaders of the world corporations had decided that the threat of Equestria was bad for business, and so the sham remains of the earths nations bowed obediently to their owners.

But nothing had affected the otherworldly intruder. Nothing, apparently, could pass that shining barrier without the permission of Celestia herself.

Alyssa paged through her hypernet compact as she waited for some sign that either the ultimate weapon would be used or not. She came across images of the first probes that had entered the new land. The robot drones had been allowed to penetrate the barrier, and the world marveled at images of green fields and endless forests, curiously archaic villages and thatched-roof cottages.

But what brought the world to a collective shock was the first sight of the inhabitants of that unearthly eden – brightly colored, sapient equinoids. Small like ponies, with large craniums and huge, vast eyes. Their feet -hooves- were odd and huge, and their manes were large and astonishingly well groomed. Some carried tools in their mouths, others had elements of clothing, and some even had short wings and flew. It was insane, it was impossible. It was literally impossible. At least within the physical laws as known.

The newsfeed finally had something, and Alyssa turned her attention back to it. There would be no use of the hypernuclear weapons. The risk of permanently damaging the atmosphere was too great. This did not surprise Alyssa – she understood the risk better than most. She prided herself on such matters, she liked being very, very smart.

On the threevee, the ocean still boiled, as it would for some time, and now the talking heads and hair-with-teeth were moving into the usual endless reframing of what everyone had just witnessed. The war was over.

* * * * *

Today was the second anniversary of the emergence of Equestria. The powers that be had finally given in to the gentle, but constant, insistence of the princesses of that land. Now, it seemed, there were two, Celestia and Luna, and now their ambassadors traveled the world. There were six ambassadors, each a pony-creature, and like Celestia, could speak and use tools. Two could fly, another pair could perform amazing feats of telekinesis and other strange powers. They were astonishingly seductive. Everything about the Equestrians was seductive, and the only word for them was adorable. That was what ultimately won over the planet.

It was an invasion of the adorable.

The first Conversion Bureau had been opened, and the first few volunteers had been transmogrified into Equestrians. Alyssa studied the holoscenes over and over, trying to find any clue that they could merely be special effects. She watched a loop of an unconscious, naked man, lying on his side on a metal table. The man begin to ripple and ooze, as though he were made of pudding. The limbs shrank and thickened, the head swelled and the eyes enlarged. Hair sprouted all over his pale skin, a pastel cyan hue. His proportions altered dramatically, and she was particularly fascinated by the sudden spooling out of a bright blue and white tail. Long, ropey strands burst out of the nub of his vastly enlarged, external coccyx, falling in curling swirls over the edge of the platform. It took all of fifteen minutes.

Later, a groggy equinoid stumbled and fell, unsure of its footing.

She couldn't believe that this was being permitted to happen. Things must be much more serious than the newsfeeds indicated. Perhaps the strange radiation -magic- from Equestria really was as dangerous as the on-net rumors claimed. Was this really the only option the worldcorporation could provide?

* * * * *

She was alone, as usual. But she had her books, and her games, and what did it matter if everyone else was having fun on the floor down? She had never liked Christmas, just another stupid consumer holiday, one filled with a particularly annoying blend of greed and false closeness. All year, people treated each other like crap, but when presents were involved, when acquisition was at stake, suddenly the neighbors became chummy.

She understood that it was all a sham. But she still felt lonely, and the rest of the building seemed to be having fun. A part of her wanted to try going downstairs. But it just seemed foolish. It seemed silly and weak. She would only just sit in a corner surfing the hypernet, anyway. She could do that from here.

She went to the window and watched as a pegasus pony soared lazy circles overhead. Three years after Equestria, and already newfoals were commonplace. She bought her morning bagel from a cream-colored pony. The girl in 223 was a pony. She was bright red.

God, it was amazing how the human mind can get used to anything. She made a note in her compact to research adaptive cognition, or something like that.

* * * * *

The coast of North America was now being covered by the edge of Equestria. People suffered, to varying degrees, from the 'Mage Plague', many zones and areas evacuated because of the high concentrations of thaumatic radiation. Alyssa's home city of Petosky was a Thamatic Desolation Zone. She had moved to Lancing. What else could she do?

Some mathematicians had claimed that there was some kind of fractal pattern to the way that the magical radiation pooled and collected across the globe. But for all intents it appeared random; one patch of earth could be fine, and another blasted with whatever it was that magic consisted of.

Alyssa had seen her hometown, from a distance, before she left. It had just started one day. She woke up and had noticed that the colors seemed 'louder' somehow. At first it was pleasant. The perpetual smog seemed less oppressive. The dark slime of the lake seemed almost blue. Even the industrial plants that had replaced the old tourist waterfront seemed strangely dramatic.

Then she noticed the patches on her skin. By that time Michigan Corporate was beginning evacuations. There was no device that could sense 'magic', but the evidence of its effect was well known by now. She didn't know how large the Desolation Zone was for Petosky. No one could be absolutely sure – but there was no question of staying in or near the city.

Other creatures, the common mutie-rats and insects of the cities, flourished in the Desolation Zones, which slowly began to revert to nature. It seemed the DZ's became more beautiful every day. Some had claimed that flowers -real flowers- had begun to grow in them. Alyssa had even heard a report of a butterfly, alive and free, existing outside of a sealed environment sanctuary.

Thaumatic energy – magic – was deadly to all earthly life. The physics of Equestria, behind the great Barrier, were incompatible with how terrestrial biology functioned. Some claimed that this was all a plot, some scheme deliberately created by the alien Equestrians… in some undefined manner. Alyssa would not even have considered such a thought if not for the tin-hat fringe sites on the hyperweb. To them, it was all a deliberate genocide initiated by an invading, alien cosmos. After reading several sites filled with such notions, Alyssa became, for a while, terrified of anything involving Equestria.

But then, one day, she saw the bunny.

It was white, like in a picture-book. It looked alive. It was real. It wasn't a hallucination – she had recovered from her exposure in Petosky. She saw it out her window, right by the perpetual garbage pile on the corner.

She ran down the moldering stairs. She burst out into the plascreet roadway, tripping over a discarded quantum rig. By the time she made the corner, it was gone. But she had seen it. She knew she had seen it.

A rabbit. A bunny. White and clean. And alive. It wasn't a mutie-rat. It couldn't ever be one of those nano-infested things. It looked like something from an old 2D movie. It looked like what they would show in school to explain what the natural world had been like. It almost looked like something from behind the Equestrian shield, except... that this was definitely a terrestrial animal. It was not a magical bunny from a magical realm, just the type of lagomorph that once was common, back when there had been real fields and vast forests.

Alyssa searched all day and into the evening. It was safe, now, to be out that late, because most of the humans were gone, now. Occasionally she would see another person, more often a passing pegasus or a group of sightseeing ponies or unicorns. The changed humans never attacked anyone. They never stole, or killed or raped. They were almost disturbingly polite.

Alyssa knew her only danger had ever been from other humans. That said, Equestria was an invasion. She wasn't simple, it was obvious to her. Equestria intended to conquer and assimilate the earth. Resistance was futile. She smiled at the ancient reference.

But until now, she had feared the ultimate purpose of this obvious conquest. In this moment, under the yellow-grey glow of night, she felt she understood.

Or, if she did not understand, she no longer cared. She had seen a bunny. She had seen undamaged life, unsullied nature with her own eyes, for real, and reflecting on that, she broke down in tears.

There were endless rolling hills of flowers in Equestria. Blue, blue sky. Water that did not swirl with oil and cesium. And butterflies and bunnies were as common as... as the broken quantum desktop sets that littered her street.

And the ponies themselves... once they may have been human, with all the drives and greed and selfishness and violence of the great ape... but as ponies, they trotted together, gentle, always close, and ever kind to all things.

Alyssa realized just how lonely she was, and how lonely she had been, even back when the world was filled to overflowing with far, far too many people.

* * * * *

Chloe and Ella were right behind her as Alyssa broke into a run. She followed the short hallway, narrowly avoiding other bureau applicants just emerging from their rooms. Through the cafeteria, she banged her hip, hard, on the edge of a table. Through the entry on the left, and there was Classroom A.

She was one of the first to enter. Panting, she recognized the guy who always hit on her from the room at the end, and the two women she could never get the names right with. The pony ambassador, Twilight Sparkle was there, as was the bubblegum-colored Pinkie Pie, who kept bouncing back and forth at the back of the room. A lab-coated human was conferring with Sparkle, Alyssa knew she was Dr. Pastern.

More curious were the four Black-Nanomesh clad, armored soldiers stationed at the entrance and rear of the classroom. These hard-faced men stood still and alert, scanning everything and everyone for anything suspicious. Alyssa had not seen them enter the bureau, and their sudden existence within somewhat shocked her.

It was clear that the government was taking this threat seriously.

“Come in! Don't block the door!” Dr. Pastern waved in Alyssa, Chloe, Ella and a few more who had gathered near the door. Curiously, Hannah wasn't there yet. Maybe she was on her way.

The room began to fill up.

“Alright, everypony!” Twilight spoke commandingly “As stated, we will be doing batch conversions, starting immediately. This is an unusual situation, but I can assure you that everything will be taken care of. Please stay orderly, stay in line and we will be taking you in groups of three. It is a bit abrupt, I know, but we are well prepared for this, and there is no better time to welcome you to the herd than right now!”

Chloe turned to Alyssa “Expect this to happen when you least expect it. I guess she really meant that part, huh? ”
Alyssa looked past Ella, trying to see if Hannah was visible in the increasing crowd. She couldn't find her. It would have been nice to have all four roomies together for this, she felt. She'd only known them for a few days, but, in this place, they were the people she knew at all.

“Chloe, Ella, we need to get into line!” Alyssa had begun to notice that their position wasn't the best to be first, and she was feeling driven now. The three women shifted into place behind The Fat Guy and the Two Boys With Zits. No way around it, those three would be first today.

But that was Ok. Second suddenly felt better for some reason.

In the pit of her stomach, Alyssa began to feel fear. Her belly seemed impossibly hollow, and impossibly lower within her body with every second. This was happening. It was going to happen. Now. Conversion. Right. Now.

Fat Guy and The Zit Twins were lead by Pastern, Pie and Sparkle through the door in the back of the classroom. Alyssa knew it led down a corridor that connected the three rooms, to a big metal door marked 'No Admittance' featuring a sign that looked like the silhouette of a pony. There were also other signs, warning-type signs, possibly for nanohazard and radiation. She couldn't remember entirely, she'd only peeked once.

Chloe, Ella and Alyssa were now at the head of the line. “Do you think Hannah is in here?” Ella seemed to share Alyssa's concern over their fourth roommate.

“I thought she was right behind us.” offered Chloe.

“I've been looking, but I haven't seen her. At least yet.” Alyssa scanned the crowd again, darting her eyes from face to face. “There's a lot of people. It looks like everyone turned out, no holdouts. She's probably out by the trash bins somewhere”

“Yeah. Probably better off too – it's getting hot in here!” And it was. Probably thirty applicants were in the room now, and Classroom A normally only held ten to twelve. It was getting a bit stuffy.

Alyssa wondered if the other two classrooms had also been appropriated for immediate conversion, or if this was the only one. It wouldn't make sense to use more than one if they were only converting the people currently at the Bureau. There wasn't more than fifty applicants in the entire facility.

On the other hand -hoof- Alyssa corrected, what if the soldiers had brought more applicants in from elsewhere? The soldier had showed up suddenly and unexpectedly, so it wasn't impossible that they had come in trucks filled with conversion-cleared people. That was a thought. That would explain using the smallest classroom for the on-site applicants. Or, it could just be bad planning.

Twenty minutes had passed, and the door in front of Alyssa suddenly opened. It was Ambassador Pie, pink and bouncy “ALLLLRIGHT!” she winked “YOOUURR UP!”

Alyssa's stomach suddenly plummeted to the center of the earth, burning in the molten, iron-nickle core. Chloe blanched a pale shade. Ella just looked stern.

There was a strange burst, like a rapid stream of firecrackers going off. It happened again, for longer this time. The crowd started screaming and pushing against the walls.

Alyssa was shoved through the door, several people falling onto her legs and her bruised hip. Chloe had leapt back at the first sound and was pressed up against Ambassador Pie. Ella was helping Alyssa up.

There was red on the wall, at the other end of the classroom. It looked like a spray can had exploded there. Alyssa caught a brief glimpse of a black-armored soldier raising his rifle. She saw people ducking flat to the ground.

Everything was moving in slow motion.

Before she was dragged away, she briefly saw Hannah, something black and metallic raised high in her hands. She had a blank, empty look on her face, devoid of all feeling, devoid of all emotion. It was unearthly, hellish. Hannah looked like a mannequin or some pre-quantum human avatar.

Alyssa stumbled and instinctively turned away from the doorway to the classroom, in order to prevent a fall in the concrete hallway. Ella was dragging her towards the NO ADMITTANCE door, past the doors to the other classrooms.

Three sharp firecrackers sounded. One. Two, Three.

By the time Alyssa could glance back, the classroom door had been shut, but the noise of screaming and crying echoed in the hallway. There were no more firecracker sounds after that.

3. Birth Pains

Lost In The Herd: Two

Euphrosyne

Unchained

By Chatoyance

Chapter Three: Birth Pains

Alyssa, Ella and Chloe sat on the floor, apart. Alyssa was by the entrance to the ponification room, her back against the white, unadorned wall. Ella was somewhere off to her left, trying to squeeze herself into the corner made by a counter-topped cabinet that met the wall on the opposite side of the doorway. Chloe was in the far corner to Alyssa's left, seeming to try to hide behind the thin metal pole of an intravenous drip rack. Some part of Alyssa's mind imagined her as a doe, hiding behind a tree. She was shaking, quietly.

Alyssa could not entirely wrap her brain around the fact that Hannah was the threat. She must have been HLF, Human Liberation Front. She must have been some kind of dangerous fanatic. She never showed it. There was no way to tell. Alyssa had liked her from the moment they had met. She had talked about her life in Oregon, about her family. Hannah had seemed intelligent, and polite. How could any of this not have shown in her? How could Alyssa have been unable to somehow tell?

Dim sounds came through the heavy steel door that led into the ponification room. Alyssa thought she heard the faint wail of an ambulance. They must be tending the wounded and dealing with the aftermath out there, down that hallway, past the other door, in Classroom A.

Alyssa looked up, at last, to see Ambassador Sparkle, in the middle of the room, by the stainless steel table, comforting Pie. The equinoid's hair -mane- she automatically corrected herself, had lost all of its curl, and hung limply down the creatures face. Her vast pupils had contracted to spots, and it was clear that she was not the bouncy, smiling being that Alyssa had come to know from countless newsfeeds and interviews.

Dr. Pastern was conferring with one of the soldiers, who had opened the ponification room door. Alyssa had startled at this, since she was right next to it; she was too wrapped up in her own feelings to notice that Chloe had jumped and set the IV rack to rattling.

Pastern and the soldier conferred for some time. Apparently the threat had been 'neutralized'. All of the applicants had fled to the parking lot, and it was unsure whether they would return for processing, or leave altogether. Some had already fled. There was a plan to transport what remained to another Bureau. Crews were dealing with the aftermath. It was recommended that Sparkle and Pie be removed to a place of safety immediately.

Dr. Pastern walked over to the Equestrian ambassadors and spoke in a soft voice to both of them. Some decision was made, and it seemed that Sparkle was fairly adamant about some point. Pastern returned to the soldier at the door. Alyssa remained quiet. Sparkle and Pie will leave, but only after the remaining humans in the room were processed. They weren't going to leave anyone in the lurch. It wouldn't take long, and the newfoals could complete recovery in transit. It was something they had to do.

Alyssa looked up at the Equestrian ponies by the table. Pie's hair was still limp, but now Alyssa could see the blue of her irises. She tried to imagine what it must be like for such creatures to have to deal with the human world, her world, after growing up in an OZ-like fairyland. They must be incredibly strong, incredibly brave, she concluded. She could barely stand living in the world of Man, for them, it must be like touring hell itself.

Yet here they were, offering a new life to whoever would take it. Tears began to well up in her, tears for such a gift, tears for what they must be suffering to be here, and tears for Hannah. She had liked Hannah. Something very wrong must have happened to make such a nice-seeming person do... what she did.

“Are you OK?” It was Dr. Pastern. Sparkle and Pie were looking at her now.

Suddenly, the one called Pie, Pinkie, bounced forward. She lowered her massive, pastel head close to Alyssa's and all Alyssa could see were oceanic eyes filling her vision. “Scaaarryyy stuff. I know. But!” The pony seemed to brighten, her hair regaining some of its original curl “There's a better land, fur, fur away!” For Ambassador Pie, she was being remarkably subdued, but there was every hint of her true nature in those quiet words. “We're gonna go there, all of us. So cheer up, little filly!”and with that, she winked, and bounced away. Alyssa's tears had stopped.

Equestria. Alyssa would probably wake up in that land tomorrow. As a pony. And so would Ella and Chloe.

Alyssa crawled over to Chloe – it just seemed better than standing up – and told her what she had learned. She took the shivering girl's hand and held it. Alyssa wasn't good at knowing how to comfort people, but it just seemed she had to do something. Chloe gripped back. Apparently, it was the right thing to do after all.

Ella had joined the pair, in the corner by the intravenous rack. It was kind of silly, Alyssa thought, but somehow sitting in that corner, not really very well hidden behind the 'tree' of the rack felt strangely safe. Perhaps it was some atavistic drive to find cover in a dangerous world, Alyssa mused. Three little rabbits hiding behind the only cover in their medical room veldt.

Dr. Pastern and Sparkle set up shop for the transmogrification process. A sealed Erlenmeyer flask was removed from some kind of storage device. Inside it bubbled a gloopy, purplish liquid. Three cups were arranged, and measured doses poured into each one. Alyssa was intrigued, despite everything that had happened, her mind easily distracted by a chance to learn something new. Could this be all there was to it? A few ounces of goop in a cup? Could total physiological transformation really be accomplished with such a small thing? It wasn't like she didn't understand the principle; 'magic' infused nanotechnology miraculously rebuilding matter in but moments, without heat, without conservation of mass, beyond normal physics. But it was still just three ounces in a cup.

But then, she grimly thought, a few grams of teflon-coated bullet could turn an entire living person into a pile of unliving glatton. In the terrestrial world, destruction was simplicity itself. It was easy to destroy, and hard to build and create. Maybe in Equestria, this truth was reversed. Maybe a few ounces of goop really could rewrite life itself, if the principle behind it was the truth of another universe entirely.

Chloe went first. She clawed her way up, using the IV rack for support, almost frantically eager. There was the dream of escape in her eyes, and Alyssa wondered if her own eyes showed how much she felt the same way. Escape from a world where the violent human heart could never be truly trusted.

Chloe was asked to undress, completely, and lay on the table. The position didn't matter ultimately, but lying on her side was recommended. The girl shivered from the cold of the steel surface. “It'll be ok.” Dr. Pastern stroked Chloe's hair to calm her.

“It's not that, it's just that this table is REALLY cold.”

“You'll be all warm and comfy in no time!” Pinky was rapidly regaining her old self “You'll soon have a lovely coat to keep you warm. I wonder what color you'll be? Blue? Pink? Golden-orangey-yellow? Heliotrope? Prussian Blu...”

“Pinky! Go get the others ready!” Twilight was using her horn to levitate one of the cups over to Chloe. Dr. Pastern seemed intent on checking Chloe's pulse and blood pressure.

Ella stood up and began undressing. Alyssa remained on the floor, her heart pounding. This wasn't the way she had imagined taking on a new life in a magical land. Under siege in the back room of a clinic in Lancing, soldiers beyond the doors, cowering in a corner.

Then again, when had her life really been any better? Everything was always hard. Everything was always disappointing in some way. No, she was disappointing in some way. Here was magic, real magic, right here, right now, and all she could think about was what physics supported three ounces of goop converting how many pounds of human into a different weight of pony.

Well, that and the recent horror, of course. Her mind swirled with thoughts. Now it was hard to think about... what had just happened down the hall. It was like her mind just slipped off of dealing with it all, as if all the noise and shooting were a slimy, oil-covered rock in the lake, and her thoughts a boot trying to find footing on it. She couldn't concentrate on it, it just kept slipping away.

Maybe this is how everyone is dealing with it all. Maybe that was a blessing.

Alyssa had missed the beginning of Chloe's transformation. From her position on the floor, she could see Chloe's hands just at the edge of the metal platform, a foot and toes further down, just slightly off the bottom. Though Alyssa knew she must be unconscious - there was some discomfort in transmogrification, so a form of sedative was incorporated in the mixture – the parts of her body that could be seen were jiggling and flopping a bit, as though puppeted by invisible strings.

More than this, the skin itself had taken a liquid sheen, and seemed to flow, as if it were made of pudding. Chloe's foot rapidly retracted, swelling and becoming lumpen in the process. Her fingers melted together, and the mass swelled into a bulb and it too was retracted away from the edge of the table.

As Alyssa braced against the wall and stood up, she thought she heard -or felt- a strange sound in the air, a curious, almost musical thing, that distinctly emanated from Chloe's molten form. It wasn't sound, not really, but it was in Alyssa's head, in her body, and it made her think of flowers and colors for some reason. The faint scars on her arms, where the radiation in Petosky had burned her began to itch.

It was thaumatic radiation. It had to be. She was feeling some kind of spillover from the forces at work inside of Chloe. She was feeling magic itself.

Chloe now looked more pony than human. The form was clear and unmistakable, though her eyelids seemed an unbroken part of her forming head. Somewhere in there her eyes were enlarging to improbable size. Somewhere in there her brain was being reconstructed into a non-primate configuration. Somehow her memories would be maintained in all of that, even as components shifted, changed, vanished, shrank or expanded. Magic was impossible, yet there it was, and it was real.

Fine hair sprouted all over the nearly complete equinoid. It sprang up like some verdant field of grass all over her body, delicate yet bright. Chloe was a soft, pleasing yellow, the color of the dye that was put in butter.

Her mane and tail came in, bursting out like a flow of water from a tap. It was an utterly improbable sky blue, pale as if from a fairy tale, and silken like nothing Alyssa had ever seen. It shimmered like spun glass, and almost seemed faintly translucent. It was truly beautiful.

The process was over, just like that. Where once an overweight, messy-haired human girl had lain, now a trim, surprisingly lovely creature lay, breathing slowly and regularly, a slight smile on its muzzle. Chloe the pony seemed lost in some sweet dream, and what fear Alyssa had about Conversion fell away as she stared. She suddenly envied Chloe going first.

“Pinky!” Twilight was serious in tone “lay down a blanket or something!”

The pink Equestrian dashed to the shelves across from the table and snatched a thin, hospital-styled blanket. With a twist of her head the blanket swirled open and landed on the floor, mostly smooth. These ponies have astonishing control over objects, Alyssa thought to herself.

Chloe was surrounded in faint violet light. The yellow and blue newfoal floated above the steel table and landed, like a leaf, onto the blanket on the floor. The glow from Twilight's horn faded.

“You! Umm...”

“Alyssa.”

“Try to wake her. Gently. Ella was it? You're next.”

Alyssa went over to Chloe-the-pony and squatted next to her sleeping form. She reached out a hand and slowly moved it down Chloe's yellow flank. It was so soft and smooth and warm. She gave it an experimental pat. “Chloe? Chlooooeee? Time to wake up. Chloe?”

Slowly, as she jiggled the newfoal's haunch, the delicate creature opened an eye. The iris was the same pale blue as the mane, and it lolled to gaze, unfocused, at Alyssa. Suddenly the pupil contracted into full awareness. “Lysssaaa?” The voice was slurred, the pitch somewhat higher, but it was clear that Chloe at least knew what she was seeing.

“It's time to wake up. You're a pony now.” As she said the words, a part of Alyssa's mind reeled at the bizarreness of such a sentence. The world had gone mad, been mad, for a long time now.

“How's our new filly doin?” The bright pink head of Ambassador Pie hung over Alyssa's shoulder, and she could smell the faint, sweet, almost flowery musk Equestrians had in place of terrestrial animal odor.

“She's... a pony.” Alyssa felt incapable of defining the situation further.

“HURRAY!!!” the Equestrian ambassador proclaimed, a little too loudly. Alyssa noticed that all of the curl had come back to the pony's mane, and, in the moment, she seemed as bouncy and full of life as she had been... before. They certainly recover fast, she thought. Maybe that's how they have coped with being in the human world without being completely scarred by it.

Alyssa stroked Chloe's soft hide. She couldn't help herself, it was strangely mesmerizing, and it was a normal thing to do with an animal to comfort it. Suddenly she stopped and withdrew her hand. “Um, sorry. I... well... I was just trying to...” Stroking the body of a naked girl she barely new was not exactly an acceptable behavior; she had just realized that new form or not, this used to be an ordinary human girl named Chloe, the same species as herself.

“Mmmmm. I don't mind...” Chloe said dreamily “I don't mind!” she said in a surprised voice “Seriously, I... don't mind. At all. Huh!” The pony-girl seemed astonished at her own reactions.“How... did I turn out?”

“You're going to turn a lot of heads back in Ponyville!” chirped Pinkie “Wooo... she turned out niiiiice.” The way the pink pony said the word made Chloe blush. Alyssa noted this, and wondered how she could even see a blush through that soft coat of yellow. Maybe Equestrian hair scattered light differently than terrestrial hair. Maybe they even blush magically. That was a thought.

By the time the groggy little Earth Pony newfoal had managed to stand on her own, Alyssa supporting her delicate weight as best she could during the first attempts, she was surprised to find that Ella had already been Converted. She had been so busy helping Chloe that she had missed the transformation.

Alyssa steadied Chloe and walked her off of the blanket, allowing Twilight to float a coral colored pegasus pony down from the table. Ella had a striking dark crimson mane and tail, with streaks of lighter shades running through it. It was a dramatic look, but then, Alyssa reflected, it wasn't as if there were any ugly ponies. Beauty, even stunning beauty was unremarkable in their species. She wondered what criteria these ponies used to judge their own relative attractiveness within their culture.

Whatever beauty meant to these creatures, Ella had become a dramatically colored entity. Alyssa found herself staring at the neatly folded wings. She couldn't help but envy that. Suddenly, she wanted to be a Pegasus more than anything in the world. To fly, to soar, to just stop fussing over every little detail and just...

“Alyssa?” Twilight's voice was kind, but a little impatient.

“You're next.”

4. A Spit In Time

Lost In The Herd: Two

Euphrosyne

Unchained

By Chatoyance

Chapter Four: A Spit In Time

Alyssa froze. Hunched over, supporting the still wobbly Chloe-pony, her arms wrapped around the filly to help keep her upright, Alyssa's eyes stared like those of a deer, caught in the headlights.

Earlier, she had envied Chloe, with her soft yellow hide and pale blue mane. She had envied how beautifully she had turned out, and that she had gone first. And Ella, now a striking coral and crimson pegasus. She had envied the wings and what they meant to her.

But now, it was her time, and fear once again gripped her stomach with a clawed hand. What would she become? She knew what she did not want to be.

“Please hurry, we're kind of in a rush here.” Twilight was kind, but insistent. The shock of what might be going on outside the Bureau reemerged from the oily lake of Alyssa's mind, momentarily sharp and not the least slipping away.

“It's OK, 'Lyssa!” Chloe's voice sounded somehow younger and, well, charming “Just help me down and you can be a pony too!” Alyssa steadied Chloe as she folded her legs close to her body, lying down in that curious, folded way that ponies sometimes do. Alyssa wondered if it was really that comfortable – if she tried to fold her arms and legs that way, all the blood would be cut off. Chloe sank her head onto her front hooves, eyes drooping shut. She was clearly still sleepy, whether from the sedative, or from the transformation itself. She seemed very comfortable, so Alyssa stood up.

Shivering slightly, Alyssa undressed mechanically, barely aware of doing so. Her mind was on her primary worry; she was concerned about what kind of pony she would become.

“Wheeee!” Pinkie cheered her as Alyssa sat up on the steel table. “IT'S PONY TIIIME!”

Alyssa's head fell. She stared at her hands, clutching at her knees. Dr. Pastern lifted her left arm and began wrapping the cuff of a sphygmomanometer around it. She rapidly squeezed the bulb of the device in a practiced manner. As the pressure was released, she noted “A little high, but good enough.”

“Wait.” Alyssa had to say something. She had to know. She had to try.

“What is it?” Twilight was clearly impatient now.

“Is there any way to control what kind of pony you become?” She already knew the answer, she had studied the available information on the hypernet long enough. Pony 'race' in newfoals was determined by genetic and epigenetic factors, the same factors that affected the development of personality and talents in human beings. There was nothing that was available to force a conversion to one type or another, if it even could be done at all.

“Every human asks that!” Twilight was exasperated, the stress of the previous hour showing “Every human wants to be a pegasus or a unicorn, they want to fly or do magic, it's always the same thing with you creatures!”

“NO! That's not what I mean!” small tears started to form in Alyssa's eyes. “I DON'T want to be a UNICORN!”

Twilight's mouth gaped. She stared for a few seconds, her huge eyes wide. Her head dropped and turned to one side. “O....K... I see.”

There was silence for a moment.

“All my life,” Alyssa half cried “all I have done is worry and hide. I lived in my books, I read and read and read until that's all I was. A walking wikipedia. I never had any friends, because I was too afraid to make any. The stuff I know only makes me unhappy – I worry about every little sniffle, I overanalyze every little thing, I don't know how to just.... to just be. I haven't a clue how to be alive in the world. I just.... I...” Her voice trailed off, a tear spatted on her knee.

“In your pony world” Alyssa continued flatly “unicorns do all the complex stuff, right? They do the fine detail, all the things that people with hands do here. According to what I've read unicorns are the craftsmen, the scientists, the thinkers and the students. They do all the fiddly stuff. Right?”

“It...it's true that we unicorns are good at certain tasks that other ponies can't do. That's what we're for, I guess. But it's a great thing to be a unicorn! Everypony has something that they are good at. Magic lets us, um, yes, well, basically...You're right. We do the fine work. We're highly respected!”

“I don't want to do that. More than anything. I'm not afraid of becoming a pony, heck, I welcome it! I've never liked being human. I've never fit into the human world. I just... I just don't want to be the same kind of... I don't want to make the same mistakes in my new life. I want to be a Pegasus, sure, but I would be just as happy to be an Earth Pony. I just want to be something that can run, or fly, or be out there in the world, and not... shut up in some library or something.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably at that.

“I'm sorry, Alyssa” Dr. Pastern put a hand on her shoulder “but what you become is entirely up to your genes. We don't control that.”

“I KNOW!” Alyssa sat upright “I just had to ask. I had to try. I figured, maybe, you could add some DNA or something, maybe something new had been developed, I don't know... something.”

“It'll be OK, Alyssa.” Twilight's voice was calm and gentle “whatever you become, you can still choose whatever you want to be. Unicorns aren't required to do or be anything. And there is only a one in three chance you would become a unicorn anyway.” Her voice faltered just a little “That's pretty good odds, right?”

Alyssa wiped her eyes, and shook her head. “I'm ready. Sorry. I'm.. I'm sorry. That was selfish of me. Let's get me changed.”

A cup, glowing with faint purple light, hovered in front of Alyssa. She reached for it and held in in front of her. Inside, the thick purple semi-liquid seemed to swirl by itself, and Alyssa could see the metallic sheen of what must be clusters of nanotech, swimming through it. She felt an itch in the magic scars on her forearm. The cup almost seemed to be singing in her head.

“WAIT!” It was Pinkie Pie, bouncy as could be “I know JUST WHAT TO DO!”

Pinkie reared back making the most awful gurgling, hacking noise in her throat. The noise got louder, sounding like someone choking horribly “ACCCCCHHHHHH-CHHHH-CCHHHH...”

“PTUUI!!!” a white-flecked translucent splotch was expulsively deposited in Alyssa's cup. “And a hair for good measure!” Pinkie had somehow snatched a short strand of shining pink from her mane, and it somehow ended up, curled, on top of the splotch.

“EWWwwww! PINKIE!” Twilight was... not approving in tone.

“What? It's got DNA in it!” Pinkie winked at Alyssa “Think Pink.”

Alyssa stirred the mixture with her finger. The spittle faded into the nanogoop, the bright pink hair broke down as she watched, chopped up, she imagined, by innumerable submicroscopic scissors, knives and scalpels. No, not those things. Atomic fields did the cutting, with electron charges performing the necessary...

God damn. God damn, even now. Alyssa hated what she had done with her brain.

When she pulled her finger back, it was almost unrecognizable. The tip had become pale wax, and was rapidly swelling. It looked like it had become a blob of weirdly rippling glue. Oh, she thought, of course.

In a single motion she downed the cup. She couldn't help but instinctively feel a slight gag in her throat at the thought, but then again, it wasn't like there was any disease she could get from Equestrian spittle. It was just the... idea. Hardwired revulsion, she had once read an article about just that. Primates had evolved the reflex of being revolted by such things as a protective mechanism to...

And then her head hit the table, as she fell over backwards. Dr. Pastern had tried to catch her, but she was a little too slow.

* * * * *

A cold wind was whistling loudly through her ears. She flicked them because it bothered her. The flicking didn't help. Wait, that was cool. She could move her ears. Half asleep, she giggled softly, moving them left and right, trying to make them dance in unison. In her dreaming mind, her ears were bunnies, and they were doing a little dance. Left, right, left, right. She smiled, her lips spreading wide around her long face.

She startled. She could feel how different she was. It didn't feel bad, but it did feel strange and new. She tried to take stock of it all. She remembered playing with her ears. She gave them an experimental twitch.

“Are we waking up, Alyssa?” It was Dr. Pastern. She was close by but speaking loudly to compensate for the howl of the wind. Alyssa tried to open her eyes. Her lids felt heavy and slow. Gradually she lifted them.

She was looking at a pair of shoes, and the legs of the pants above them. There was the edge of a blanket wrapped around the pants. Alyssa looked down. It seemed like her head was resting on two aquamarine-colored hills. They were covered in short, fine grass. The grass was rippling in the strong, howling breeze.

Alyssa rolled her gaze down to study the hills. They stretched out in front of her, dropping precipitously off at the ends. She could feel the weight of her own head from them. It felt like her head was on the back of her fingers, sort of. She tried to move her hand. One of the hills, the right one, jiggled. She was laying just like Chloe had been, back in the room, and the grassy hills were her own front legs. She raised her head slightly, with great effort, and clopped her right hoof. She remembered that a hoof was equivalent to a human fingernail. Weakness overcame her, and her head plopped down onto her knuckles -fetlocks?- again.

She was bluish green then. Pale aquamarine. Aquamarine was a good color. Not her first pick, but, what the hay.

She giggled. What the hay.

When she awoke again, the wind was still blowing through her ears, and it was much colder. It seemed thinner, too. She was warm, though, pressed against her side was a soft comfort. She turned her head to see that it was Chloe, sleeping. Chloe's body was pressed close to Alyssa's, and tight in next to Chloe was Ella. All three were lying down, huddled together in the small... space?

It was like an open-topped rectangular box, made of finely polished wood. It seemed about as wide as a car, and about as long. One end was higher than the other, and she could see something like the tops of brass fixtures along the edges above her. But what really caught her attention was what was outside of the box, or rather, what was not. No plascrete walls, no towering buildings, no... nothing. Anything. Just a deep shade of greyish-blue.

She couldn't make sense of it. She looked for some texture, some structure to it. It took her still sedated mind several moments for it to dawn on her that she was looking at sky, sky that must be mostly above the perpetual smog layer. The air still smelled a bit of the smog, but it also smelled of the metallic tang of saltwater and oil. Her thoughts reeled. Were they somehow over the sea? How long had she slept?

It must have been hours, it was late, perhaps early evening. Alyssa couldn't believe how cool the air was. They must be above the smog, above the world. The box was not steady, she realized. She thought at first it had been her. They were flying, and the box was being buffeted by the winds.

Alyssa tried to stand on her front hooves, to raise her head above the edge of the lip. She caught a glimpse of the backs of four hard-flying pegasai, white, with some kind of helmets on. She was in a carriage of some kind, being pulled through the air at a fearsome speed. The blasting wind punished her face, and her hooves, unsteady, slipped forward. She flumped to the floorboards with a gasp.

“That's why we're all crouching down!” Dr. Pastern seemed concerned “We've been trying to outrun an angry bird.”

“How... long?” Alyssa's voice sounded strange to her, slightly higher, and it had more throat to pass through.

“About five hours. You've been out almost all of that time. You seemed to wake a few times, but it didn't last. Do you feel alright?”

“I...” Alyssa tried to take stock of her body “I feel... drowsy, but good. Really good. Really.... Good.” And she did feel good. She felt wonderful, other than a bit disoriented. Everything about her felt fresh and new, as if she had been manufactured just that day. She giggled. In actuality, she had been.

“Well, you're laughing, that's a good sign. Any dreams?”

“Why do you...” Suddenly Alyssa remembered. She had the most vivid dream. She only barely remembered the details, but the emotional power of it somehow reached the very core of her.

“Yes! I had a dream. It was really... beautiful. I usually have nightmares, but this was a good dream.” Alyssa couldn't remember the last time she had ever had a good dream.

“Could you tell me about it?”

“Really? It was just a dream.”

“Every single newfoal I have ever spoken with has had an unusual dream during their conversion. They all shared common elements. Humor me.”

This was surprising to hear. “Alright... um..” Alyssa struggled to pick the fading details out “I was running, over grass. Green, green grass. I was already a pony in my dream, I remember that – well, not quite a pony, but... something like the... essence of... being one. Then I was surrounded by others, too many to count. We were all running together, and... it felt really free. It felt happy and free, and like all the others were family, or... like best friends.”

“Yes, yes, go on...” Dr. Pastern seemed to be waiting for something.

“I was running with... the herd, I suppose, and then suddenly, I was in a vast hall. It was gigantic, I mean, as big as the sky. It was gorgeous. The curtains were like... pictures of the aurora, back in the old days, and the windows were made of stars.

Just then, I knew there were two... others... there. I remember! It was the two Equestrian princesses, Celestia and Luna. And they looked at me – they were gigantic too – and I felt.... I felt...”

“What?” Dr. Pastern stared at her “What did you feel?”

“I... I felt... loved. Wanted. Welcomed. I felt like they were the most perfect mother figures you could ever imagine, and they actually wanted me. Not like my mom, they wanted me. They approved of me, and when I looked up at them, into their eyes, I... w-well..” Alyssa looked down, she felt like the memory was too precious to describe any more.

“This is actually pretty common stuff, Alyssa, what you have described is essentially universal to newfoals, in one form or another. Please tell me the rest. It's alright. I really want to hear.”

Dr. Pastern sounded strangely sad. Alyssa couldn't leave the doctor hanging. “When I looked at them, I felt such love, I felt such gratitude, that... I don't know how to put it exactly. I... gave... myself to them. That's the best I can describe it. I knew I had a choice, even then, and in that moment, the only thing I wanted, the thing I still want, is... to be theirs.” The way she said the words was nothing short of reverent. The feeling overwhelmed Alyssa, and she fell silent.

“Thank you.” Dr. Pastern said, after what seemed a long time. Her voice was just barely audible over the roaring wind. The stars were becoming visible in the deepening blue.

After some time in silence, Alyssa noticed that Twilight and Pinkie were not with them. She also noticed that Ella and Chloe were still sleeping. “Doctor? Where are the ambassadors? And why aren't Ella and Chloe awake? Are they alright?” It seemed worrisome, since Pastern had said it had been five hours since leaving the Bureau.

“Ella and Chloe are pretty heavily sedated. The government goons made me do it. They insisted when all of you were packed up for transport. We were evacuated in an armored troopcarrier. Very hush-hush stuff. You were already unconscious, but they wanted you injected too. I was concerned about interactions, so I cut back on your dose when they weren't looking. Even so, you gave me a rough time.”

“What do you mean?”

“You stopped breathing a few times. That's why I'm here. It was too risky to leave you.” Pastern patted a grey-white medical kit resting on the wood floorboards by her side. Next to it was a larger, bright red case, which Alyssa remembered was the storage unit that had held the original Erlenmeyer that contained the nanomagical solution that made Conversion possible. “I'm part medical doctor, and part veterinarian!”

Alyssa giggled at that. “Stopped... breathing?” That was more than a little disturbing.

“'Fraid so. Anesthesia is a dangerous thing. I'm sorry. Government goons are too scary even for me. I did what I could under the circumstances.”

“It's... OK. I made it. Thank you for keeping me alive.” Alyssa felt very grateful; although she had experienced little, so far, with her new body, her new life, already she could tell she was going to like it. Inside, she felt happier than she had ever felt, for no reason at all. The warm pressure of Chloe at her side made her feel safe and content in a way she could not explain. 'Part of the herd?' she wondered to herself. And her senses... she could hear and see more clearly than she ever did as a human, and the smells... she realized in that moment that the wood of the chariot was wonderfully warm and complex – hints of summer flowers and delicious grasses... oh, being Equestrian was strange, but it was good-strange.

But above all else, the thing Alyssa loved the most about her new state, was the peace she felt, inside, in her heart, in her ...soul? She knew, with a certainty that she could not explain, that she would never again think a truly dark thought. She knew she was now incapable, in some fundamental way, of daydreaming about hurting an enemy, or exacting revenge for a slight.

All the scary, dark, cruel, violent parts of her had been washed away. She keenly felt their absence, and she felt as if she were lighter for it, almost floating as she lay there on the floorboards. It was as if the most enormous tumor had been surgically excised from her essence. Thinking about that feeling made tears come to her large eyes.

“What about the Ambassadors?”

“Ah. Yes. They are why we are being chased, Alyssa. Because Twilight Sparkle and Pinkamina Pie are on board, hundreds of meters over the Pacific Ocean, racing to reach the safety of the Barrier of Equestria before they can be assassinated by the Human Liberation Front.”

“But they aren't here!”

“No, Alyssa, they aren't. But the HLF doesn't know that. Consider this flight as your first official service to the Crown of Equestria. We are a decoy. Sparkle and Pie are being transported via other means. They are not expendable. So cross your fingers, girl.” Pastern looked uncomfortable “Sorry. You know what I mean.”

“The HLF is after us?”

“Not far behind by now, I should think. That is what all of todays... excitement... was about. They wanted to take out the ambassadors. They still do.”

“How far are we from Equestria?” For the first time as a pony, Alyssa felt fear.

“Let me check.” Dr. Pastern took out a handset from under her blanket, and huddled low to the boards to hear over the wind. “Nimbus? How much further?” Alyssa guessed Pastern was probably talking to the racing pegasai with the odd helmets, that were pulling the cart they were all in. The helmets must have radio links in them.

“OK, Thanks. We're fine. Yeah. I understand. Thank you, Nimbus.” Pastern put away the handset, and sat up, wrapping her blanket more tightly around her. “If we dared to stick our head over the rail, there, the Barrier would be very visible. About half an hour, more or less. He says there might be some turbulence coming up, so I wouldn't recommend taking a peek right now.”

Equestria. She was going to see Equestria in less than an hour! Alyssa's heart sang inside her body. She wished she could wake Chloe and Ella for this. She bent her head and nuzzled the sleeping yellow shape of Chloe. “Chloe? CHLOE! Wake up! Equestria!”

Suddenly the loudest noise Alyssa had ever heard screamed past behind her, on the right side of the cart. She felt the noise through her haunches and tail, where they were pressed up against the wall. The chariot bounced and bucked, caught in a terrible wake. Alyssa smelled some strange, burning, chemical fumes. The noise slowly wailed into the distance ahead of them.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Alyssa screamed over the ringing in her ears.

“POORLY AIMED, I SHOULD THINK!” Doctor Pastern did not look at all like she was trying to make a joke.

5. Euphrosene Unchained

Lost In The Herd: Two

Euphrosyne

Unchained

By Chatoyance

Chapter Five: Euphrosyne Unchained

The Royal Equestrian carriage tilted as it was pulled into a shallow dive to port. The four expert pegasai pulling the carriage were well practiced as a team, and did not need the human-tech transceivers in their helmets to coordinate the maneuver. Instinctively, as one, they leveled out, their wings working furiously to keep the carriage as steady as possible, under the circumstances.

Somewhere ahead, the glowing tail of the poorly aimed anti-air missile shrank into the distance ahead, a horizon dominated by the impossibly vast curve of the great Barrier that separated the impossible, magical realm of Equestria from the cold, hardened world of Man. The Barrier split the sky, a bright, opalescent half-sphere thousands of miles across, reaching above the atmosphere, touching space itself.

The air was cold and roared past the grand carriage with its pegasai, the stars gleaming in the early evening. Ahead, inside the surreal dome that protected Equestria, shone day, bright and green and warm. The brilliant light from that land, from the world within the barrier, illuminated the sea, thousands of feet below, painting the grey, poisoned Pacific with shimmering sparkles which faded with the miles into black night, far behind.

Alyssa-the-pony struggled to extricate her haunches from the pile of unconscious ponies, supplies, and human doctor that had all slid to the left of the car-sized open-air carriage during the sudden dive. When the polished, wooden floorboards had begun to tilt, Alyssa had tried to reach out with her hands to grab something, realizing almost immediately that she no longer had hands, but hooves. Her new limbs scraped uselessly on the smooth carriage floor, and she found herself sliding with her two former roommates, the still-unconscious Chloe and Ella, into poor Dr. Pastern. They had piled up against the left wall of the carriage, but thankfully, nopony had been lost.

"They're SHOOTING at us?" Alyssa screamed against the constant wail of the bitter wind "What WAS that? What are we going to DO? What are we going to DO?" Her hooves beat uselessly against the carriage floor.

Dr. Pastern struggled to get her wind back, the impact of one of Alyssa's hooves having caught her in the diaphragm. Breathing again, she automatically checked to make sure that her medical kit and the 'Potion' storage unit were safe. She shifted around the unconscious bodies of Ella-the-Pegasus and Chloe-The-Earth-Pony, and thought silently that perhaps sedating them had been a good idea after all. She briefly imagined having being kicked in the head by three panicking equinoids, rather than merely in the diaphragm by one.

"Alyssa! ALYSSA!" Dr. Pastern finally managed to get the poor newfoal settled enough to lay still. Pastern put her head close to Alyssa's so that she wouldn't have to shout. "Listen, listen... we're going to be alright. Those pegasai up there are Celestia's very, very best. They can outfly the wind itself. It's going to be OK. You need to remain calm, alright Alyssa?"

Pastern didn't really believe all of her own words, but she needed to get the situation under control, any way she could.

Alyssa tried to calm down. The carriage was flying steadily now, level, and she could no longer hear whatever it was (rocket? missile?) that had shrieked past them. Something in her, something new, powerfully compelled her to trust, and she found herself involuntarily relaxing against the legs of Dr. Pastern, and the piled bodies of Chloe and Ella. That was strange. She would never have been capable of such a thing back when she was an ape. The way she phrased that made her giggle. Ook-Ook. Hee!

Dr. Pastern noted the sudden change in newfoal Alyssa. She had seen such things before, in the past years of assisting Conversions. Newfoals seemed to universally be able to let go of fear and pain much better than human beings could. She always envied that, when she saw it happen. She wondered what it felt like.

"Alyssa, I need your help." Dr. Pastern was very serious now, and Alyssa's ears swiveled to follow her immediate attention. "Alyssa, this carriage is going to be passing through the Barrier soon, at full speed." Pastern paused to see if the newfoal understood.

"Doctor... you're not... you're human. Nothing human can pass the barrier. You'll be..." an image of a tomato hitting a windshield passed briefly through Alyssa's pony mind, the closest it could now come to the image it would have generated for her but half a day ago "Can't we land, let you off, isn't..." her voice trailed off.

"We're over the ocean, Alyssa. A thousand feet up. There's a chopper chasing us." Pastern said, softly. "There is only one thing I can do. But..." Pastern seemed worried "It isn't going to be fun."

"What? What can we do? I'll help you. Whatever you need me to do!" Alyssa felt a rush of empathy, of compassion, the like of which she had never experienced before. It shocked some deep, buried part of her. In this moment, she would willingly die for Dr. Pastern, a woman she had known all of three days. She was sure that she would not have felt quite so keenly for the life of a stranger... before.

"I can become a pony." Pastern wrestled with the bright red storage unit "This contains the ponification serum. But there's a problem. No anesthesia. We add it according to body weight and allergic history for each patient. I can't do that for myself."

"But your medical kit! Surely there's some..."

"No. Nothing that would do the job. I'll have to do this awake, and I have to do it now. It may already be too late. I waited too long."

"What?" Alyssa was incredulous "Why? You said it had been five hours since we left? Why didn't you..."

"These." Pastern held out her hands in front of her, fingers splayed wide. "I had to keep a certain pony breathing, remember?"

Suddenly it struck Alyssa. Dr. Pastern wasn't supposed to be here. She had leapt onto the carriage, probably as it was leaving, because she couldn't abandon a critical patient. She'd been forced to sedate the three newfoals, even though it was dangerous to do so. "Why... why did you wait until I finally woke up?"

"I had to be sure that you would." The matter of fact answer hit Alyssa like a stone.

"Take it! Take it now!" Alyssa was almost yelling "Hurry up! Do It! I'll be here for you! Just tell me what to do!"

"It's going to hurt, Alyssa." Dr. Pastern seemed pale "I will probably make a bit of a... fuss." The doctor looked away as she spoke "I really need you to stay calm and in control, even if we are shot at again. I need you to keep me from falling out, if you can, if there is any... turbulence. And... I need you to be very brave, whatever happens. Can you do that for me?" The doctor turned her head back and looked deeply into Alyssa's huge, wide eyes.

"I will." Alyssa heard a confidence and resolve in her own voice that quite astonished her.

"Thank you, Alyssa." Pastern opened the red case, inside was the stoppered Erlenmeyer, only a quarter filled with the swirling, purple goo. The carriage rocked suddenly, and for a moment the doctor and Alyssa shared worried eyes, but then relaxed when nothing further happened.

Alyssa watched as Dr. Pastern carefully opened the flask. She barely heard the faint prayer from the doctor's lips "please....Celestia.." Then Pastern took a swig from the flask, and instantly closed it, scrambling to secure the bottle within the red case before...

Pastern reared back, smacking her head against the carriage wall, her spine curving away from Alyssa. The doctor gasped, trying to breath, a faint cry coming from her agonized throat. Her body slid to the side until she was lying on the carriage floor. Alyssa could smell her grape-tinged breath as Pastern briefly choked.

Alyssa pressed close to Dr. Pastern, squeezing in close to her, to hold her still while she thrashed. Pastern's eyes rolled wildly, in opposite directions, as they swelled within her enlarging cranium. Her fingers, so recently splayed, had already fused together, melting like hot wax into squirming blobs.

Suddenly the carriage sharply banked to the right. Ponies, cases and the thing that was Dr. Pastern slid across the polished wood to slam into the opposite wall. Something bright and infinitely loud streaked by overhead and to the left. The brief flash of its passing temporarily blinded Alyssa, and she could hear nothing for some time from the roar.

When she could see clearly again, Dr. Pastern had changed shape radically, and her pulsing, oozing mass was beginning to rip her clothing "That's why they have us undress!" Alyssa suddenly realized that human clothing could strangle a pony, the neck was simply too small, the arms and legs too thin. She squirmed over Pastern's contorting form and began savagely biting at the doctor's neckline. The material was artificial, and very strong.

Alyssa braced a hoof and pulled and shook with all of her might. The fabric finally tore, and she continued to shred it until the neckline was a ragged, open space. As she did so, the forming neck of a pony filled that space even as she made it wider.

But the legs and arms were another matter. She couldn't get the right angle to tear the fabric. She couldn't figure out how to tear open the pants. Dr. Pastern's pony legs were inflating around the cuffs formed by the limits of human fashion, and the waxy, wriggling flesh began to rapidly turn purple where it could be seen.

This was terrible! Fear overwhelmed Alyssa's mind. She had to help. She had to save Dr. Pastern. She bit and pulled and shook her head like a dog worrying a bone, but the fabric wouldn't tear.

"aaaHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Alyssa screamed into the wind, half crazed with her own helplessness "WHY WON'T THIS COME OFF?"

A strange feeling transfixed her, like a spear through her forehead. It felt like all of her will had somehow coalesced into solidity, and she saw the struggling shape of what once was Dr. Pastern illuminated in the night by a strange, blue-green light. Inside, Alyssa felt like she was holding some kind of... storm... in her mind, and in anger she spat that feeling into those damned artificial fabric clothes.

Dr. Pastern's pants exploded. The material shredded like a burst balloon. With it was the last of the doctor's blouse and coat. Her shoes, stifling her forming, blobby hooves, detonated with an burst audible over the shrieking wind. The increasingly healthy looking, pony-shaped lump squirmed as it drew itself together, golden hairs bursting out from the skin.

Spaghetti strands of brown mane and tail spooled out onto the wood planks as the mysterious turquoise light faded. Alyssa collapsed, her head flat on the boards, inches from Pony-Pastern's flank. It was then, for the first time, that Alyssa finally noticed the short horn right in the middle of her forehead, as it unintentionally prodded Pastern's quivering leg. "Sorry." Alyssa mumbled as she scooted back, as best she could. She was too grateful to fuss.

Something was hissing and barking from a ragged piece of white cloth to Alyssa's left. It was one of the pockets from Dr. Pastern's lab coat. Inside, something square and flat was making the noise. Alyssa bit at the cloth and the set fell out. She swiveled her neck and tried to take the device with her lips. It slipped out, onto the boards, but something she had done had triggered it. The voice was new, and sounded as if it were yelling against a great wind "...said penetration imminent! Any minute now! Doctor Pastern, respond!" The voice kept repeating variations on this as Alyssa stared at it.

It was getting surprisingly light out. The stars were still overhead, but daylight was shining off the back of the carriage. The Barrier! The great Shield of Equestria! That must have been Nimbus, the lead pegasus of the crew pulling them through the sky. They were nearly home!

Home. Equestria was home. Alyssa savored the feeling. Home.

Alyssa turned to look at doctor Pastern. She was nearly complete. Her eyelids still hadn't unsealed from the skin of her head, but her golden hide shone in the increasing light, and her soft brown mane fluttered in the breeze. Surely she was pony enough now to survive passage through the barrier. Alyssa saw, in the brightening light, wings, beautiful and golden like the doctor's flanks. Alyssa didn't feel jealous, only happy. Pony Pastern's wings and body shone like morning, and Alyssa found herself laughing with delight. It was just so pretty!

It sounded like gravel rapidly hitting the wood rear of the chariot. PAK-PAK-TAK-PAK Alyssa scrambled up, hooves skittering on the floorboards. She knew that sound, from countless media, the sound of bullets impacting. Alyssa threw herself over the now blissfully insensate golden pegasus, trying to cover as much of it with her own body as she could. Pressed close behind Pastern, crushed into the corner, Ella and Chloe remained oblivious, a pile of unconscious hoof and mane.

Somewhere behind, in the dark to the rear, the 'angry bird', almost certainly a stolen military chopper, had reached a range where mechanized guns were worth using. The light from the front of the chariot was so bright, and glancing back at it, Alyssa saw an impossible, shimmering wall that stretched from one infinity to another, a dome as large as a continent, within which full daylight argued with the night beyond.

Alyssa swung her head back towards the rear, as if by looking, she could somehow defy the chasing threat. The light was very bright inside the chariot now, as she saw the black and gray shape of an Americorp Backstabber MKIII Assault Copter rise up above the brass-railed wooden lip. Inside, she could almost see, with her new, better eyes, the shape of a lone pilot. Did she imagine him grimacing as he took aim?

A pleasurable shiver rippled over her, and instantly the bitter air was springtime. A shimmering wall fell away, gleaming as it receded behind the chariot. In the full, warm sunlight of open day the Assault Copter burst through the wall, the tail end shattering as a pink mist appeared behind it, on the other side of the opalescent shield.

They were descending, rapidly, and Alyssa watched the broken copter fall, the pieces tumbling, end over end. As they fell, they began to change, affected by some strange magic, separating into shards, the shards turning from black and gray to brilliant colors, and Alyssa was astonished to see that they had become flower petals, drifting and fluttering in the sky like delicious confetti.

She couldn't help but laugh, it was so absurd, so whimsical, and such a relief. The danger was gone - all danger was gone, forever, for the rest of her days. Her laughing turned to giggles, somewhat hysteric, and then to sobs. That poor man. That poor, poor man.

* * * * *

Petal Confetti trotted merrily down the soft, dirt path that ran through the middle of her small village. Clydesdale was a farming community that specialized in hay, alfalfa, and -of all things- basil. The town had recently won an award for 'Most Flavorful Feed', which had been presented by the great stallion chef Al Dente himself, and the plaque had been hung over the oat barrels at the general store.

This was a matter of great excitement in such a small village, and Petal knew exactly what needed to be done. She swung her bright pink tail across her aquamarine flanks, keeping time to her own rhythmic gait. Across her back were slung two large saddlebags, filled to bursting with balloons, streamers, boxes of candies, little cakes and other treats, and of course, a great heavy jug of her own special punch.

She had many friends in Clydesdale, and they greeted her as she passed. She tossed her curly pink mane at Flapjack, a stallion that she knew had an eye on her. She paused to compliment Sweetpastry's new straw hat. The bow had become undone on it, so she used her horn and willed the ribbon to tie itself neatly. Petal loved helping with little things like that.

Sweetpastry smiled at her, and brushed against her flank in thanks, as Petal trotted on.

The town doctor was flying overhead, golden and magnificent. She was still called doctor Pastern, the name just didn't seem to need to be changed. Petal smiled up at her longtime friend. They shared a special bond, begun in strife, perhaps, but grown strong over time through mutual kindness. She would see her later, when everyone would come together, thanks to her special gift.

In all of Clydesdale, no one put on a party like the ever-so-giggily Petal Confetti.

The End

The Lost In The Herd Series:
One: The Big Respawn,
Two: Euphrosyne Unchained,
Three: Letters From Home,
Four: Teacup, Down On The Farm

The Conversion Bureau Novels:
27 Ounces: A story of eight and one half ponies
The Taste Of Grass
The Conversion Bureau: Code Majeste
The Conversion Bureau: The 800 Year Promise
The Conversion Bureau: Going Pony
The Reasonably Adamant Down With Celestia Newfoal Society!
Recombinant 63: A Conversion Bureau Story
HUMAN in Equestria: A Conversion Bureau Story
The PER: Michelson and Morely
Little Blue Cat
Cross The Amazon
Adrift Off Fiddler's Green: The Final Conversion Bureau Story

The Short Stories:
Her Last Possession
The Conversion Bureau: PER Equitum
The Conversion Bureau: Brand New Universe
Tales Of Los Pegasus
The Poly Little Pony

The very first and original
Conversion Bureau Group
archives only the best Three Rules Compatible stories!

Optimalverse Works:
Friendship Is Optimal: Caelum Est Conterrens
Leftovers: A Friendship Is Optimal Story
IMPLACABLE
My Life In Fimbria

Injectorverse Works:
I.D. - That Indestructible Something

The More Conventional Fanfics:
The Ice Cream Pony Summer
Around The Bend

PRIDE related works:
Transspecieality

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