The Sentinels: The Conversion Bureau

The trip back to the Conversion Bureau was much quicker than the trip to Equestria. The two golden armored pegasi pulled the carriage straight through the night, never stopping to take a break. Twilight was asleep in the carriage and Raymond was still unconscious, breathing steadily.

They arrived at the bureau just as the sun was beginning to crest the horizon. One of the pegasi walked over to Twilight and gave her a nudge to wake her. She stretched and stood up, looking around to see that they had finally arrived at their destination. She also noticed a few people already at the front door waiting to go inside, just last month there were lineups of humans even at this hour but now the crowds were beginning to die down. Most of the humans that were left were either sided with the HLF or just plain undecided about the whole thing. The attention of the group at the door was drawn to the golden carriage when it landed, now they all watched with mild interest.

“Thank you sirs,” Twilight said to both pegasi. “If you’d like you could come in and rest for a while, that flight must have been tiring.”

“Thank you for the offer,” the pegasus who had woken her replied, “But we were told to return to Canterlot as soon as possible.”

“I see, well have a safe flight back.” Twilight said. She turned to the carriage, her horn glowing as she used her magic to pick up the unconscious man. Once Raymond was clear of the carriage the pegasi took to the sky once again.

Twilight walked towards the doors of the bureau with Raymond floating behind her, now noticing that the gathered people were gaping at the unconscious figure.

“Take a look at the guy’s getup, is he late for a nerd convention or something,” one of the onlookers scoffed.

“Screw the clothes, what the hell happened to him?” another voice added rudely.

Twilight paused for a moment before falsely explaining, “I don’t know. On my way back I saw him lying on the ground like this.” She did not want to risk telling them that he was found inside the barrier and that was seen walking around Canterlot, so to avoid any more questions she quickly unlocked the door and slid inside, closing and locking the door behind the limp man as he floated through the entryway.

It was still early in the morning, so Twilight figured that she was the only one awake in the building. She walked quietly through the bureau to where the bedrooms were located. Finding one that was vacant, she stepped inside, followed by the hovering body. She set Raymond down on the bed and cast some binding spells on his arms and legs.

Satisfied with the glowing cords around his ankles and the cords tying his hands together behind his back, she turned and made for the door, but she stopped when she remembered that Princess Celestia said the key hanging from Raymond’s neck contained some powerful magic. Not wanting to take any chances she used her magic to lift the chain and key off of his neck, and hid it in a drawer on the far side of the room. Expecting the key to reject her attempt, she was surprised when she didn’t feel any sort of magical resistance from the object. ‘Maybe the key was only meant as a tool to pass through the barrier.’ This was the only explanation Twilight could come up with at the moment, so she let the thought go for now.

Unable to think of anything else that required her attention, Twilight decided to get a little more rest. She headed off towards the staff bedroom, which was not very far from where she was now.

She reached the bedroom and quietly walked inside. Several bunk beds lined the wall; Twilight instantly recognized two of the sleeping ponies. In the closest bunk rested two of her best friends, Rarity on the bottom, eyes covered by a pink sleeping mask, and Fluttershy on the top. Fluttershy was a pegasus pony with a yellow coat and a long bright pink mane and tail; her cutie mark was an image of three pink butterflies.

Not wanting to disturb her friends, she made her way to the nearest empty bed trying not to make a sound. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Twilight was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

In Princess Celestia’s private chambers, the two sister alicorns were talking.

“Where were you yesterday Luna? You were gone from the castle for an unusually long time” Celestia inquired.

“Dost thou really need to know my whereabouts every moment of the day?” Luna shot back, clearly irritated by her sisters’ question.

“I was worried about you,” Celestia said quietly. “And besides, you still haven’t told me anything about what you were doing all day.”

“Am I not permitted to wander the countryside at my leisure dear sister?” Luna replied, giving in slightly.

“Is that all that you did? You were gone for an awful long time for a simple walk.” Celestia cocked her eyebrow questioningly.

Ignoring her sisters’ remark Luna asked, “I was made aware of a surprising development upon my return, however I was not informed regarding the nature of this disturbance. Hath something happened that I should be notified of?”

“Something has happened,” Celestia said taking on a more serious tone. “Yesterday evening a human was found walking the streets of the city. He wore a dirty white robe and an object of great magical power.”

In upholding the man’s request to keep their encounter unknown Luna was acting as though this was all new to her, though she didn’t have to fake her surprise when Celestia informed her about the key.

Luna’s eyes widened, “Where hath he been taken?”

“My student, Twilight Sparkle, mentioned that this man approached her while she was working at the bureau, so I had her take the human back there to be questioned. Why do you ask?”

Luna merely said, “I believe we should interrogate the human ourselves, though I shall not sit here and wait for thou to accompany me,” and with that she hurried off before Celestia had the chance to question her again.

“You’ll never change little sister,” Celestia sighed with a smile. ‘Then again she does have a point, and I certainly want to talk to that man myself.’

The princess called for a guard, knowing that two were positioned just outside her chambers at all times. When the guard entered Celestia ordered, “Have the Royal Secretary clear my schedule for the next couple days, I will be away attending to some business outside of Equestria.”

The guard bowed in compliance and hurried off.

‘If I hurry I may be able to catch up with my sister before she reaches the barrier,’ Celestia thought to herself as she stepped out onto her balcony and took off into the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight groggily lifted her head and stretched. She looked around the bedroom to find that all the other bunk beds were empty.

“I must have overslept,” Twilight yawned. She got out of bed and walked over to the mirror where she brushed the tangles out of her mane. Once she had succeeded in straightening her mane, she exited the bedroom.

Twilight passed the front desk where she saw Rarity once again organizing several stacks of papers. The white unicorn looked up as her friend walked into view, “Oh Twilight dear, you’re awake. I did not expect you to be back from Canterlot so soon.”

“Good morning to you too,” Twilight replied, still somewhat asleep. “I didn’t think I would be returning so quick either, but something important came up so the Princess prepared a carriage to bring be back. I traveled through the night and arrived early this morning.”

“I expected you had a long and tiring night, which was why I didn’t wake you,” Rarity replied. “And besides, you just looked so peaceful sleeping there so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Thank you, I was pretty tired,” Twilight said with a giggle. “I’m going to go and say hello to Fluttershy, she’s still taking care of the plants and animals in the greenhouse isn’t she?”

“Yes she is,” Rarity answered. “And later you can tell me all about this business that made the Princess send you back here after just arriving.”

Just as Twilight was turning to leave Rarity stopped her, “Oh and before I forget, shortly after you left yesterday some lady dressed in an exquisite white robe arrived and asked if a man named Raymond was here.”

Twilight froze where she stood and urgently asked, “Did she leave? Where is she now?”

“She stayed the night in one of the empty rooms and as far as I know is still sleeping. Why, is something the matter?” Rarity replied calmly.

“That man, Raymond, he is the important business that Princess Celestia sent me back for; he was found walking around the center of Canterlot city!” Twilight blurted out as she galloped off to where she had left Raymond the previous night, leaving Rarity shocked and speechless behind the desk.

Moments later Twilight rushed into the bedroom where she found Raymond lying awake on the bed. His legs and arms were still bound, but his hands now rested behind his head instead of behind his back where Twilight had originally left them.

“Good morning,” the man greeted warmly, “I was wondering when you would be showing up.”

“You were expecting me?” Twilight asked surprised, “How?”

“Well, you were the first one I spoke to here, and upon realizing where I was when I woke up after passing out in Canterlot, and the fact that I am bound up and alone in this room makes it painfully obvious that you want to ask me some questions,” he replied steadily, and smiling.

That made Twilight realize how silly and obvious her question must have sounded to the man, she continued anyway. “Well then, since you already seem to understand the situation you’re in, may I begin?”

Raymond gave a slight laugh, “Ask away Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight was perplexed by how calm Raymond was acting, his situation did not unnerve him in the slightest, and if anything he seemed happy. Nevertheless, Twilight continued.

“What I want to ask first is how did you manage to get through the barrier?”

“I walked through it,” he replied matter-of-factly, “Well, technically I ran through it.”

“You didn’t use anything to help you, like that key you had around your neck?”

“Nope, I just ran through like I said,” Raymond stated calmly before his voice took on a slightly darker tone, “So where did you put it? My key I mean.”

“What makes you think that I took it?” Twilight asked. “And how do you know the Princess didn’t take it when your unconscious body was brought before her?”

“What reason could the Princess have for taking an object when she doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to use it? And it’s safe to say that you took it since I can only assume that you are the one who brought me back here,” Raymond countered.

Twilight conceded the point, “I hid it. I will return it to you, but only if you can prove that we have no reason to mistrust you.”

“Fair enough,” Raymond said, calm once more.

“Now that we’re on the subject, what is the purpose of the key?” Twilight inquired.

“Just the same as any other key, it unlocks something,” Raymond chuckled silently to himself.

Twilight was beginning to get irritated; Raymond was not taking this very seriously. “Well what does it unlock?”

“A door,” the man again calmly said.

Twilight let out an exasperated groan. It seemed like Raymond was honestly answering her questions, still, he was only sharing the bare minimum.

“Alright, so if you didn’t use the key to get through the barrier, how were you able to pass through it when no other human can?”

“Just because all the humans who’ve tried up until now couldn’t does not mean that all humans are unable to pass through it. Honestly Twilight, here I thought you were a scholarly sort of pony and that you would have been able to reason that one out yourself.”

Twilight thought for a moment, ‘I guess he’s right, we can’t really know for sure that all ordinary humans are incapable of passing the barrier when not all of them have tried. Still he did have that magic key, though he claims that he didn’t use it to cross into Equestria; but it stands to reason that if he had one magical item he could have more. The Princess may not know where the magic came from, but I think it’s safe to say that we can rule out Raymond as being an ordinary human.’

“I have a few more questions to ask you,” Twilight finally said.

“It’s not like I’m leaving anytime soon,” Raymond stated while wiggling his arms and legs showing that his bindings were still holding strong.

“You were able to get through the barrier, but how did you cross the ocean to Equestria? You can’t fly, and that is an awful long distance to swim.”

“I simply hitched a ride underneath one of the carriages that showed up, which just so happened to be yours,” he replied with a smile. “When no one was looking I ran over and grabbed onto the axles.”

“But how did you get off and into the city?” Twilight asked, but then she remembered something she noticed during the flight. “Wait, on the way I happened to see something white disappear into the trees below, was that you?”

“So you did notice me,” Raymond sighed, “I thought I was being rather clever.”

Twilight was stunned, “But we were so high up, how did you manage to survive?”

“Tell me about it, I’m just glad that those trees were there to slow my descent.”

“But you had no cuts or injuries at all, how do you explain that?”

“Luck, I guess,” Raymond shrugged as best he could with his hands bound and still behind his head.

Twilight just slapped a hoof to her face at that. “Alright, last question,” she said, becoming more serious. “What is your relationship with the HLF?”

“Now decidedly against,” Raymond said, also becoming serious. He forced himself into a sitting position, bringing his hands back over his head to rest on his lap as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Now?” Twilight asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Like I said before when I asked if I could accompany the new ponies to the barrier, I wanted to learn more about the situation and observe things how they stood before making my choice; this is the reason why I went to Canterlot, to see how ponies lived and interacted with one another, and to determine whether or not the current course that we have chosen to take is what’s best for human kind. Before, I was on the fence as to whether I should support the HLF or Ponification, but now I have made up my mind.”

Twilight stood there shocked. After how he had seemed to dance around her questions up until now and giving only half answers, she did not expect him to be so upfront concerning this question, especially since he openly admitted to almost siding with the HLF.

Before she could say anything in response there was an obviously irritated voice at the door, “What is with all this noise? I’m trying to sleep over here!”

Both Twilight and Raymond turned in surprise to see who this newcomer was. In the doorway stood a woman with golden blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She was about six feet tall, and had a very slender and lithe appearance. What caught Twilight's attention the most were her eyes. They seemed to hold a similar wiseness to Raymond’s, though hers held a bright gleam of a childish joy and innocence in contrast to the cool and almost distant look in Raymond’s. Her white and gold trimmed robe was again the same as Raymond’s except for the fact that it was clean and looked as good as new.

Everyone was silent until the woman, who until now was looking at Twilight, spotted Raymond, who was trying to crawl quietly behind the bed and out of sight.

“Is that… Ray, it is you!” The woman said in delight as she bounded into the room towards the man crawling across the floor.

“Uh oh,” Raymond gulped as the woman quickly closed in on him. Before she made it to him however, he jumped to his feet and ran to hide behind Twilight spluttering, “W-what are you doing here Becky?”

The woman named Becky simply stated with a laugh, “To see you of course, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”

Twilight, who had been standing dumbstruck until now, whirled to face Raymond, “How did you free yourself? I had your arms and legs bound with my magic.”

Becky stopped, “Isn’t it obvious? He used his magic,” she said flatly.

Shocked once again Twilight stammered, “But I thought humans couldn’t use magic.”

Becky looked pointedly at Raymond, “You didn’t tell her Ray? I thought I told you it was bad to keep secrets little brother.”

“Only little in height, and only by a few inches at that,” Raymond retaliated, “You know we’re the same age.”

“Why do you always have to be so literal?” Becky replied with a mocking sigh.

Twilight spoke up again, a little irritated that she was being ignored, “I said I thought that humans couldn’t use magic.”

“I heard you the first time Twilight,” Raymond said softly, “But that explanation can wait a little while longer for when the Princesses arrive.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight inquired, receiving a simple shrug in response.

“The Princesses are coming Ray?” Becky asked, “What did you do this time?”

“Nothing, I just visited Canterlot city to learn and to make a decision,” he replied calmly.

“And your decision would be?”

“We will support Equestria, Becky. Ponification is the best course of action for the human race, and the HLF is our enemy,” Raymond stated.

“Alright, so what are you going to do now?” Becky asked.

Raymond gave her a wink, and then turned to Twilight, “Well Miss Sparkle, I would like to mention that I have made up my mind about another matter.”

“And what would that be?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“I would like to undergo the Ponification process myself, if that’s alright with you.”

“What? You can’t be serious!” Becky gasped, “What about our duty?”

Raymond replied calmly, “Our duty is to insure that the best interests of the human race are protected and carried out. I think these interests should be clear now, so understand that there is no harm in me becoming a pony, and my magic will not leave me because of it. Of this I am certain.”

Becky backed down and slowly nodded in agreement.

Raymond turned to Twilight, “So, may we begin?”

“Certainly,” Twilight smiled, “Are you sure about this? There will be no turning back afterwards.”

He nodded his head, “Completely. Lead on.”

And with that Twilight led Raymond out of the room, followed closely by Becky who still seemed a little worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Moments later the group found themselves in what appeared to be a doctor’s office, except for the fact that the only pieces of furniture were a cushioned bench and a table on which could be seen several vials, syringes, and a file folder containing some documents, most likely the results of the days Ponifications.

“Please lie down on the couch Raymond,” Twilight instructed as she walked over to the table where she poured a strange purple liquid into a cup and extracted another liquid from one of the vials on the table into a syringe.

“What’s the purple stuff for?” Raymond asked.

“It’s a sedative to put you to sleep for the process.” Twilight informed him. “The pain you would experience from the restructuring of you skeleton and all your muscle and organs would send your brain into shock and probably kill you. Nobody would want to feel that sort of pain.”

“I can think of one person who would,” Raymond said, and Becky just sighed and slapped her palm to her forehead while Twilight stared at the two of them in confusion.

“Oh, and you may want to take your clothes off before you drink the sedative. It wouldn’t be very comfortable waking up as a pony in clothes that are meant for humans,” Twilight said.

“I see your point,” Raymond replied while standing up. “Becky, could you go wait outside until I’ve finished in here?”

“Aw, wimpy Ray is self conscious about his body,” Becky laughed. “It’s not like you’ll have that body for much longer anyway. But I guess I can wait outside if it’ll make you feel better about yourself.”

“Please do,” was all Raymond had to say, already halfway through taking off his shirt.

Once Becky was out of the room and Raymond was back on the bench, this time without clothes. Twilight brought the sedative over.

“Alright, now you can drink this,” Twilight said as Raymond took the levitating cup.

He brought the concoction to his lips and downed the whole thing. As soon as he finished he began to feel light headed, and as he lay down and began to close his eyes the last thing he noticed before passing out was Twilight moving the syringe towards his arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Raymond slowly opened his eyes; he was still lying on the same bench as before. As the numbness in his body began to fade he lifted his head and looked around the room noticing Twilight standing over at the table, her horn glowed while writing something down in the file folder. She turned around when she heard Raymond begin to move.

“Oh good you’re awake,” Twilight happily said. “And guess what, you’re a unicorn. Earlier your friend sounded like she was worried about you losing your magic, but you two don’t have to worry about that anymore since unicorns are able to use magic,” she paused before continuing with an intrigued expression. “Although… your horn is longer and sharper than most unicorns’.”

Raymond looked up and sure enough he could see the tip of a near needle-sharp horn protruding from his forehead. He began to slide his body to the edge of the bench.

“Now don’t rush yourself, most new ponies have an incredibly difficult time learning to walk with their new bodies,” Twilight cautioned as she noticed what he was trying to do.

“I expected as much,” Raymond replied, “And that’s what I was counting on. I just find the journey so much more fulfilling than being able to immediately acquire the skills in question.”

Twilight gave him a curious look and he said, “It’s just something that my magic can let me do.”

The more Twilight heard about this once-human’s magic the more she wanted to ask him about it, but she decided to keep quiet for now and watch his progress.

Raymond was standing on all four hooves now. He started to take one careful step forward and lost his balance. He immediately sought out the best way to stabilize himself before falling.

Twilight smiled inwardly and began walking towards Raymond to help him up after what would be his first inevitable fall when what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks, her jaw gaped wide open as she witnessed what she had missed seeing before.

To regain his balance, Raymond had extended two large and majestic looking wings.

Twilight was completely stunned by the sudden and uncanny revelation, and was at a loss for words. She was looking at something that had never resulted from Ponification at all before today. Twilight’s initial observation was incorrect, Raymond wasn’t a unicorn… he was an alicorn.