The Sentinels: The Conversion Bureau

Twilight stood motionless, unresponsive, her jaw still hanging wide open, and in front of her stood the once-human-now-pony, Raymond, who was currently swaying on three legs as he rubbed at the base of his horn with a slight grimace. He was now about a foot shorter than his human self, the silver streaks through his black mane and tail were now more prominent, his coat was a pale ice blue, and his blue eyes remained just as deep and profound as ever. Whereas most unicorns have the same colour to their horn as their coat, Raymond’s horn was noticeably paler to the point of being nearly snow white, and Twilight was right in saying it was longer than most; being an entire foot and a half from the base to its wickedly sharp tip, it was slightly longer than even Princess Celestia’s horn. However only part of this was the reason behind Twilights stunned expression.

“Well now that’s an unexpected surprise,” Raymond said as he examined his majestic wings, which were akin to those of a falcon in appearance. “Though I guess it makes sense upon further consideration.”

The fact that Raymond also had wings in addition to his horn was the cause for Twilight’s shock induced stupor. She was silent for a moment longer before finally regaining her thoughts enough to speak up.

“What… I don’t… How is this possible? How could you be an alicorn? No human has ever turned into an alicorn before!” Twilight spluttered all at once.

Raymond lowered his hoof to regard Twilight and calmly replied, “Remember what I said before about the barrier? With the same reasoning, just because none of the humans who have undergone Ponification turned into alicorns does not mean that it’s impossible.”

Twilight was unconvinced that the explanation could be so simple. “That may apply to most situations, but this is different. There must be a reason why you turned into an alicorn while no other human has turned into one out of the hundreds of thousands that have come over the past several years, and never in Equestria’s recorded history has there been another alicorn besides Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

“In this case you are correct Miss Sparkle; my situation is a special one, and I will explain it to you once Princesses Celestia and Luna arrive,” Raymond stated, earning an irritated sigh from Twilight in return. “Now if you don’t mind, could you teach me how to walk? I can stand just fine but I’m having some trouble with taking just a single step.”

“Didn’t you say something about using magic to learn how to walk?” Twilight inquired with some irritation still evident in her voice.

“That I did,” Raymond happily responded, “But I also said I enjoy the journey.”

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

“I mean that I find it more fulfilling to take the time to learn something useful rather than simply being able to, absorb for lack of a better word, the skill or information. However I have zero patience for learning languages. If you manage to live as long as me you’ll be able to understand the feeling easier.”

Twilight nodded her head to show she understood. Then another question popped into her head, “How old are you? I’ve met enough humans to know how someone of a certain age should look, but you make it sound like you’re much older than you appeared.”

Raymond sighed, “I was planning on waiting until the Princesses arrived, but you did ask and there isn’t any reason to hide it,” he paused. “Your guess is correct, I am older than what my appearance may let on. I cannot recall an exact number anymore, so for the sake of simplicity I’ll just say… I’m roughly two hundred thousand years old.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped once again. ‘Two hundred thousand? That’s impossible, as far as I know not even the Princesses have been alive that long! Besides, when he was human he didn’t look a day over thirty.’

“I know that it seems a little farfetched, but I assure you that’s the truth. Perhaps it will seem more believable after I explain it but that will have to wait a little while longer,” Raymond said nonchalantly in response to Twilights expression. He then smiled, “Now, about that walking lesson.”

Twilight gave an exasperated groan, she clearly wasn’t going to get anything else out of him before Celestia and Luna arrived. She shrugged and walked over to stand beside Raymond and began to teach him how to walk.

After several minutes of Raymond walking slowly on four wobbly legs between the moments where he was sprawled out on the floor, he finally managed to make it once around the room without falling.

“Thank you for the help Miss Sparkle, I think I have the hang of it now,” Raymond said.

“Don’t mention it, you picked it up very quickly,” Twilight congratulated, “And didn’t I tell you when we first met to call me Twilight?”

“I suppose you did. I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Raymond chuckled before wincing and lifting a hoof to start rubbing at his forehead once more.

Twilight regarded this and asked, “Is there something wrong?”

With a sigh Raymond replied, “It’s nothing, just a dull ache in my forehead. Well… I suppose it may be more accurate to say the base of my horn now.”

“That’s odd,” said Twilight as she leaned towards him for a closer look. “On occasion there have been reports of some mild discomfort with horns and wings upon waking up after Ponification, but those cases were all short lived. Nopony has ever claimed to be in pain afterwards.”

Before she could continue there was a knock on the door accompanied by Becky’s voice, “We have two very important visitors here, so I suggest you finish up whatever it is you’re doing Ray!” and before either Twilight or Raymond could respond the door swung open and in waltzed Becky followed by the Princesses Celestia and Luna.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said happily as she galloped over to the tall ivory equine.

Celestia leaned over to nuzzle Twilight “My most faithful student. I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

“Well why shouldn’t she be? She was with Ray the whole time after all.” Becky stated flatly.

“Manners Becky, we’re in the presence of royalty,” Raymond chided as he bowed, the gesture caused him to lose his bowed. The gesture caused him to lose his balance, yet he was able to catch himself before becoming reacquainted with the floor. “Your Majesties, it is an honor to meet both of you together in person, and while awake.”

Luna spoke first, “I see that thou went through with Ponification. Does this mean that thou hast chosen your side?”

Raymond nodded, “And I trust that you honored my request.”

“I did,” Luna responded. “Now, thou promised answers to the questions that my sister and I seek. Are thou ready to provide them?”

The questioning look Celestia gave her sister made it obvious that Luna was being truthful and had in fact kept their meeting secret.

Smiling, Raymond replied, “Princess Celestia’s expression reinforces your statement, so I guess I can also assume that she still doesn’t know about me using magic.” Exchanging his smile for a more calm appearance, he continued, “Yes, I’m ready to ans-“

Celestia cut him off, “Wait, did you just say that you can use magic?”

Raymond nodded.

“And you, Luna,” she faced her sister with an accusatory glare. “You knew about this and did not tell me?”

Startled by her sister’s sudden anger, Luna hesitated in her answer, allowing Raymond to interrupt.

“Please calm down Your Majesty. I requested that Princess Luna keep our brief meeting a secret. As I had already told her, I did not intend to be discovered during my venture, and if I hadn’t used my magic to prevent her from capturing me I would have had the energy to complete my task and return to the mainland on my own.”

Celestia calmed down and with a sigh she said, “Very well then. Since you’ve apparently promised to answer our questions, I’d like to start by asking about why you were in Equestria. What was the purpose behind your visit?”

Luna replied before Raymond had the chance, “He claimed to have come with the intent to observe our society personally, and whilst I watched he did nothing to disprove that claim.”

“I see,” Celestia muttered. “That brings another question to mind. So tell me, why did you want to observe our society?”

“I wanted to know whether or not Ponification is the best choice for the human race, or if the HLF’s beliefs were justified. As you can see from my current appearance, I’ve decided upon Ponification,” Raymond promptly stated.

Becky spoke up, “Wow Ray, you’re being pretty open for once.” She scooted over to Raymond’s side and ruffled his new mane. “But don’t you think telling them that was a little much?”

“If we want the Princesses to be able to trust us we cannot afford to hide anything from them,” Raymond replied. “Your thoughts, Your Majesties?”

The sisters both wore somber expressions. Celestia stated, “I respect the fact that you’re willing to be honest with us, however I cannot overlook what you just said. The fact that you almost sided with the HLF. That alone makes me wary to trust you.”

“Thou mentioned deciding on the best course of action for the human race,” Luna said. “Who art thou to make this decision?”

“Oh boy,” Becky groaned. “Prepare yourselves for one of the only things Ray can be longwinded about.”

Raymond gave her a flat glare before starting, “Allow me to begin with a comparison. You are both ponies, I can only assume that you were both born from powerful magic and thus you two are alicorns. Similarly we are humans, we were born from magic and so we took the name Sentinel for ourselves.”

Turning to Twilight, who seemed somewhat irritated by being left out thus far, he said, “This, Miss Sparkle…”

Twilight gave him a flat glare.

“Sorry… Twilight. The fact that I was born from magic, is the reason why I became an alicorn through Ponification.” At that he flapped his wings once and folded them at his sides once more. The two princesses stared in shock, yet they chose to remain quiet and let Raymond continue.

Raymond looked back to the Princesses and continued, “I already mentioned to Twilight that I am around two hundred thousand years old, as is Becky here. We, along with the other members of our council came into being at the same time as the first humans. Humanoid creatures have existed on the planet for four to five million years, though the humans you see today were first born around two hundred thousand years ago.”

With a mockingly nostalgic sigh, Becky interrupted, “Ah, those were the days. Nothing but drawing on the walls, loincloths and grunting.” Raymond shot her a flat glare. “And fire! Oh the fires, can’t forget about those little… accidents. Good times,” she finished with a chuckle.

With his own sigh of exasperation, Raymond resumed speaking, “To your understanding humans cannot use magic, and this is partially true. In the beginning humans had full use of magic just as you do now, however magic is closely connected to the nature of those who use it, and as the human race grew more corrupt and violent over the ages the magic also suffered. Becoming tainted and malevolent, it eventually disappeared, there are still some magical artifacts hidden around the world, and of course we still have our magic. Humans have the capacity to relearn and use magic, but no one actually cares enough or has the desire to make an attempt to reclaim it, dismissing it as nothing more than fiction.

“Our duty as Sentinels is to protect the best interests of the human race, and to see that those interests are carried out. As magic faded from humanity, it became our responsibility to guard against any possibly threatening resurgence of magical origin, and to ensure the safety of the human race by removing or hiding any remaining traces of magic. Now that the time of the human race is ending, a decision had to be made regarding the course of action that would be best for human kind. Now that there are so few of us Sentinels left it fell to me to make the decision, which is why I traveled to Equestria. After my short visit to Canterlot and observing how ponies live and interact with one another, I came to the conclusion that our duty should be to protect the remaining humans as they continue with Ponification, and also to protect the new dominant species on the planet, the pony race.” Raymond took a deep breath as he finished.

Becky sighed, “And there you have it, a lengthy summary of who we are and what we do. What do you think?”

“I find your story difficult to believe,” Luna stated hesitantly.

“If it is true though,” Celestia began, “and all humans were able to use magic, then what made the Sentinels so special?”

Raymond replied, “There were several significant factors separating us from the rest of human kind. The most notable of these though were our immortality and our own unique magical abilities.”

“Unique?” Twilight inquired.

“On top of our regular magic, each Sentinel had their own form of magic. Becky’s unique magic is of the mind, she can control ones actions, see into their mind, and ultimately bend them to her will. Mine is the ability to create the ultimate defenses, there is nothing that can penetrate my barriers, as you saw firsthand, Princess Luna.”

“’Twas an impressive spell indeed,” Luna admitted. “However, does it always drain thou as much as it did in Equestria to use it?”

Raymond shook his head, “Being used to a world with no magic made it difficult for me to remain inside that barrier, let alone use my magic.”

Celestia pointed an accusing hoof at Becky, “Isn’t her mind magic a danger? From what it sounds like, she could easily overcome anyone who stands in her way. Surely you have a way to deal with that.”

Raymond chuckled, “We never had to worry about it. Becky was never ambitious, positions of power never appealed to her and she never tried to influence those who had such positions. Besides, abilities like hers have very little to no effect on other Sentinels. We could never figure out why, but for whatever reason that’s the way it was and so a balance was kept between the members of the Council.”

Becky crossed her arms and gave a firm nod with a smile hiding a laugh spread across her face.

Twilight stepped forward and asked, “You mentioned that there aren’t many of you Sentinels left, did something happen?”

Turning to face Twilight, Raymond replied, “In the beginning our council was made up of fifty Sentinels, we were never that numerous to begin with. As the magic became corrupted so too did some of the Sentinels, not all of us were affected by this and as such fighting began to break out among the council. We may be unaffected by the passage of time but we can still be killed, and now only four of the original fifty Sentinels remain.”

His eyelids drooped slightly in sorrow as a tear formed and rolled down his face, immediately closing his eyes Raymond turned away from the small group. Becky moved to stand beside him and stroked his mane to comfort him, and the two Princesses regarded him, sadness and understanding evident in each others eyes.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up such memories,” Twilight apologized in a rather shaken voice.

“It’s alright Twilight,” Raymond said tiredly while rubbing his eye with a raised hoof. After a moment he turned to face her and said, “No matter how much you may want to it is impossible to change the past, so there is no point in dwelling events that have long since come and gone. All you can do is move forward and strive to make the world a better place.”

The two princesses visibly softened and Luna said, “We too understand the pain of losing the ones that are closest to thou, and sometimes not even the passing of time can heal those wounds.”

Celestia added, “I can see that your hearts are in the right place, but my sister and I need to discuss this further before we can fully trust you.”

Before she could say anything else Becky interrupted with a serious tone, “We have trouble!”

The others regarded her curiously for a moment before the sound of screams and gunshots reached their ears.

“It’s coming from the main foyer,” she said to Raymond.

“It looks like we’ll have to finish this conversation later,” he stated as his horn began to glow. There was a sudden flash of light which consumed all five individuals in the room. As the light subsided, Twilight, Celestia and Luna all looked around to see that they now stood at the front desk in the foyer. Twilight peered over the counter to find Rarity lying on the ground with her hooves covering her head.

“Rarity what happened?” Twilight asked the frightened unicorn.

“Oh Twilight!” Rarity sobbed as she reached up and wrapped shaking forelegs around her friend, “That m-man over there walked in, and then he s-suddenly p-pulled out a gun and shot s-somepony!”

Twilight turned around, and sure enough there was a man standing in the center of the room pointing a pistol at a young mare. The man was wearing a brown leather jacket and had long unkempt chestnut hair. The mare had a burgundy mane and tail and a white coat that was slowly staining red from the pool that was slowly forming around her as blood escaped from a wound in her hind leg. There were several other ponies in the room but they were all pressed up against the walls with fear written clearly on their faces, it didn’t look like any of them were hurt.

As the injured mare sobbed the man laughed maniacally “You’re an abomination, a freak! You deserve to die you fucking piece of shit!”

Both princesses prepared to attack the man, but Becky held her arm up to stop them, “Allow us, this is our duty.”

The man lined his gun up with the mares head; he let loose another crazed laugh and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang, and in that split second Raymond’s eyes glowed with a blue light and a transparent blue veil sprang into existence between the crazed man and the terrified mare; the bullet hung in the air for a moment before falling harmlessly to the floor. At the same time Becky began to rapidly weave her hands through the air in front of her, and suddenly the pistol flew out of the man’s hand to hang several feet off the floor well out of reach. The man’s arms and legs snapped together and he fell on his back with a loud thud where he remained, grunting in confusion and struggling to break free.

Everyone present in the room gasped at this, including the Princesses. Celestia’s surprise however came not from the two using magic, but from something only she noticed. When Raymond had cast his spell his horn didn’t glow. Though seeing as things were all ready progressing Celestia decided to keep quiet for the time being.

“Becky, find out who this man is” Raymond ordered.

Becky closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead in concentration. When she opened her eyes she stated, “He is Frederick Jacobs, age thirty seven. He is not connected with the HLF, though he does share their beliefs. Nine months ago his wife and two kids came here to be ponified; he was completely against the idea of becoming a pony so he remained at home all this time. Something finally snapped in his mind and he decided to try and kill everyone here himself.”

“I see, thank you.” Raymond said to Becky, he turned to face to two princesses who still wore very startled expressions. “Now that we’ve taken care of the problem at hand, what do you propose we do with this man?”

Celestia was the first to speak, “Well… he is human so it only seems fit that he be dealt with under human law. However it was a pony that he attacked and severely injured, so I would like to have him examined before handing him over to the proper authorities. Have him placed in one of the back rooms until somepony is free to question him.”

“Very well,” Raymond complied; he turned to Twilight, “Would you like to accompany me? I don’t think they completely trust us yet.”

Twilight’s jaw snapped closed upon being addressed, “C-certainly. The back rooms are this way.”

However, before Twilight could fully turn to lead Raymond away his hooves glowed and the two of them along with the magically bound man disappeared in a flash of light.

Now it was Luna who spoke, “How is he able to teleport with such ease, let alone with so many at once?” wonder was clearly evident in her question.

“Just another thing that separated us Sentinels from everyone else. Teleporting comes as easily to us as breathing, how else were fifty of us supposed to watch over the entire human race?” Becky stated as she approached the injured mare who was whimpering in pain as she tried to stop the bleeding with her hooves. “Now please excuse me, I need to tend to her wound.”

She knelt down beside the mare and said in a soothing voice, “Everything’s alright, that man is gone now. I’ll take care of that injury for you.” As she spoke, she waved one hand to the side, the pool of blood disappeared and blood stopped flowing from the mare’s injured leg. Her other hand hovered above the hole made by the bullet, the hole began to glow as the bullet floated out of the wound and dropped to the floor. Once the bullet was out Becky weaved her fingers through the air above the mare’s leg and the injury sealed itself shut.

The young mare looked up, and with immense wonder and gratitude showing in her eyes she said, “Oh thank you, thank you so much!” She sounded quite weak as she spoke, “How can I ever repay you?”

Becky smiled, “You can repay me by getting some rest. You've lost a fair amount of blood and it’s a wonder that you haven’t passed out already. You must have a very strong will,” she said warmly.

The ponies that were plastered against the walls in fright were now awestruck at the events that were unfolding before them, and they began moving a little closer to get a better view. Two medical ponies came running into the room with a stretcher suspended between them; they picked up the weak mare and rushed her to the medical wing, all the while she continued thanking Becky.

Even Luna couldn't hide how impressed she was, “Thou mended that mare’s wound with such speed and ease, ‘twas truly an incredible performance!”

Becky shrugged, “The bullet was lodged in her bone so I fixed that, repaired the damaged muscle and resealed the broken skin. She won’t experience any trouble that could have been caused by that bullet and the procedure left no scarring, she’ll be as good as new after she gets some sleep.”

“Still, healing magic of that magnitude is no simple feat. It takes unicorns years of training to come anywhere close to being able to do what you just accomplished and even still there is some scarring.” Celestia responded just as awestruck as Luna.

“Healing and protection are specialties of ours after all,” was all Becky said before Raymond and Twilight reappeared with a flash.

Raymond quickly surveyed the room and turned to Becky, “Did you tend to the mare?”

“I sure did, Ray. Some ponies took her to the medical wing so she could rest.”

Celestia asked, “So where is the man now?”

“We locked him in the unused storeroom. He’s still bound but I’m not sure how much longer that will last.” Twilight informed the Princess.

“His body will remain paralyzed until I dismiss the bonds,” Becky interjected happily.

“I see,” the Princess said slowly. “Now, regarding you two. I can see that your intentions are good, but I am still a little hesitant to fully put my trust in you.”

“Come now Tia, thou art too cautious.” Luna said slightly exasperatedly, “I trust the actions of these two; surely thou can do the same.”

“And you aren’t nearly cautious enough little sister,” Celestia said pointedly. “Although they do seem like trustworthy individuals, perhaps we should test them to put our doubts aside.”

Luna smiled mischievously, “And perhaps to see whether or not they are strong enough to protect all pony-kind as they claim?”

Becky and Raymond shared Luna’s smile. Raymond spoke up, “I have the perfect place in mind for such a… test. Now, Twilight. Where did you hide my key?”