The Sentinels: The Conversion Bureau

The group made their way through various corridors of the Bureau. Twilight was leading since she knew the layout of the building better than anyone present. Beside her walked Becky, the two of them were engaged in conversation about varieties of magic and how it can be used in day to day life. Behind them strode the Princesses Luna and Celestia side by side, heads held high and proud as they smiled at the many ponies they passed. There were some humans as well, and anyone they encountered was quick to bow to the regal sisters. The humans and new ponies did not give the group much thought, though the ponies originally from Equestria raised their heads questioningly towards the figure trailing the procession. As far as they knew the only two alicorns in existence were the Princesses, and to add to that confusion word of the recent occurrence in the foyer had begun to spread throughout the complex.

The alicorn tailing the Princesses didn’t notice the curious stares he was receiving; he was too preoccupied with the tattered white and gold robe which now hovered in front of him enveloped in a blue light. Twilight had retrieved Raymond’s key from the drawer she had hid it in. Celestia wanted to hold onto it until she knew exactly what it did, but as she slid the chain down around her neck it began to glow red hot. Raymond quickly took hold of the key and slipped it around his neck where it now rested.

After explaining that he was the only one able to hold onto the key, Raymond asked if they could stop by the Ponification room so he could pick up his robe. “Our robes aren’t just a uniform, they also function as a sort of protective armor as well. They’ve been imbued with various useful spells and enchantments,” he stated when questioned about its importance.

Twilight glanced over her shoulder to regard the black haired alicorn and asked Becky, “So why does he need an open space to show us what the key does?”

“Simply telling you about it wouldn’t have the same effect as witnessing it now would it?” Becky smiled as she replied, “So where are you taking us?”

“The greenhouse, it’s the largest part of the bureau and only staff are allowed in during week days. Also, I think my friend Fluttershy is the only pony working in there today so I’m fairly sure that nopony will bother us.”

Eventually the group arrived at a set of metal double doors, the sign above which read ‘Greenhouse’ and below that in smaller writing, ‘Open to public on weekends.’ Twilight opened the doors and they stepped through and onto soft, well maintained grass. Twilight nonchalantly mentioned that the greenhouse was about the size of two football fields side by side. They stood before the edge of what appeared to be a small forest, birds of various sizes and colours flitted from tree to tree singing their unique songs as squirrels jumped from branch to branch and bunnies darted here and there. The aroma of wildflowers permeated the air, and the calming sound of a lazily flowing stream could be heard through the trees. The domed glass ceiling above and the white stone wall behind them were the only features indicating that they were still inside.

“This… this is incredible,” Becky said in awe as she took in the breathtaking scene before them.

“We have similar greenhouses set up in each of our complexes. They were designed to replicate the woodlands and other such areas that you can find all across Equestria,” Princess Celestia commented.

“Through the week the ponies who work in here tend to the plants and animals, and grow the food that we serve in our cafeteria. Also the people who’ve become pegasi through Ponification are brought in here to test out their new wings.” Twilight added after her mentor.

“It truly is wonderful to see an environment such as this. It’s sad that humans became so removed from nature,” said Raymond.

The others turned to face him; he hadn’t spoken for so long they nearly forgot he was with them. He had donned his now repaired yet still dusty robe, which now more closely resembled a cloak; it still had a hood, yet the sleeves were gone and it was entirely refitted to the shape of his new body.

“Now’s not the time to mourn over what could have been though, it’s time to get down to business. Twilight, we’ll need an open space for what I’m about to do, is there a large clearing somewhere in here?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, there’s a fairly open area beside the small lake in the center of the greenhouse.”

Raymond smiled, “That should do nicely, lead on.”

A short while later they arrived at the edge of the lake Twilight specified. Raymond took a moment to examine the clearing. Sure enough there was a sizable field filled with flowers, bordered on three sides by trees and the other greeted a small sandy beach which sloped gently into the water.

“Perfect, this should do nicely. Now please stand b--” Raymond paused as he heard the soft sound of someone humming. Glancing to the center of the field he noticed a pegasus with a pale yellow coat and pink mane and tale, she was too busy feeding some carrots to a family of bunnies to notice the arrival of the group, and all the while she hummed happily.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed as she galloped over to see her friend.

The pegasus let out a small “Eep!” scaring the bunnies away. She calmed down upon realizing who it was. “Oh. Hello, Twilight. What are you doing here? You rarely come to the greenhouse.”

“Long story,” Twilight sighed, “But it has something to do with them,” she nodded her head towards where the two Princesses stood with Raymond and Becky.

“O-oh my, what are the Princesses doing here?” Fluttershy then noticed the two cloaked individuals, her light blue eyes widening as she saw that one of them was an alicorn. Quickly hiding behind Twilight, she squeaked, “W-who are t-they?”

Twilight pulled her friend out from behind her, “Well... we’re not quite sure yet. They claim to be protectors of some sort, and they can use some pretty powerful magic.” She motioned for the others to join her.

As the group approached Raymond mentioned to Luna, “Though I don’t know how to use Equestrian magic, I can still feel it; and right now I can sense a strong magical connection between Twilight and that pegasus. That same connection seems to be extended to a few others from what I can tell.”

Luna replied, “Thou art sensing the Elements of Harmony. The elements are strong magical artifacts that only Twilight and her friends are capable of using. Their past use of the elements has wrought this connection, thus strengthening their friendship.”

“Fascinating, I need to learn how to use Equestrian magic myself. I think it would also be a good idea for me to learn how to fly.” Raymond’s cloak, draped over his left shoulder, fell from his wing as he extended the pair of flying appendages and gave them a powerful flap, lifting him off the ground, surprising him and sending him sprawling to the ground in a heap.

Becky broke down laughing, “Y-you should see yourself Ray! Oh this is gold, the poor baby birdie needs help learning how to fly!”

Raymond simply grunted in response, he picked himself up and folded his wings underneath his cloak.

Celestia and Luna both smiled when they approached the two friends, Becky was clutching her sore sides as she continued to laugh, and Raymond just scowled at her.

“Hello Fluttershy, it’s been a while. I hope you and your friends have been well and safe all this time,” Celestia said warmly to the timid pegasus.

“H-hello Princess, I’m fine. How is your pet phoenix, Philomena?”

“She’s healthy, though she is still just as much of a trickster as ever,” she replied with a wink.

“Greetings dear Fluttershy, I am glad that thou are well. I must thank thee again for thine assistance with my voice,” Luna greeted in a voice softer than her normal commanding tone.

“Y-you’re welcome,” Fluttershy replied quietly, smiling at the Princess of the night.

Becky walked over and knelt down in front of Fluttershy, saying kindly “Hello there. My name’s Becky, and that grump over there is Raymond.”

Raymond shot another stern look at Becky before putting on a calm expression and saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Sorry if it sounds like I’m prying but I couldn’t help but notice you with those bunnies, you seem to like being with animals quite a bit.”

Fluttershy, who was being held in place by Twilight as she tried to back away from the two strangers, suddenly perked up. “Oh yes! I simply love taking care of all sorts of wild life. Back at home it is my job to take care of all the animals and tend to their injuries and illnesses. I got my cutie mark shortly after realizing my love for taking care of all these little critters.”

“What’s a cutie mark?” Raymond asked.

Fluttershy looked a little puzzled, “It’s a mark that all ponies eventually get when they realize what their special talent is.” She indicated the image of three pink butterflies on her flank.

“I seen so that’s what you call them.”

Twilight turned to look at Raymond’s flank, she had completely forgotten to check whether or not he had his cutie mark, most people who went through with Ponification were blank flanks. She was surprised by what she saw, “I’ve never seen a cutie mark like yours, what does it signify?”

Raymond looked at his flank to see a silver shield emblazoned with the image of a golden eye, the eye seemed to faintly shimmer when the shadow cast by Raymond’s head fell across it. “If I had to guess, I would say it symbolizes my position as a Sentinel quite nicely, well either that or my unique form of magic.”

“S-sentinel?” Fluttershy questioned rather quietly.

Raymond gave her a warm smile, “Yes that it was Becky and I are called, and it is our duty to protect the entire pony race. Well… first we have to earn the trust of the Princesses, and to do so they have issued us a test.”

Fluttershy still looked questioningly at him but remained quiet. Raymond took this opportunity to continue speaking, this time to everyone gathered.

“Alright, now before I continue I need you all to back up to the edge of the clearing.”

Knowing what he was about to do, Becky eagerly began to push the others away from where Raymond stood now facing the lake. “Come on now, hurry it along. He’s not doing anything dangerous so just give him the space he needs will you?”

Luna and Celestia hesitated before allowing Becky to guide them to the clearings edge, Twilight was focusing on what Raymond was doing, not wanting to miss anything, so she slowly began walking backwards. Fluttershy however was all too quick to retreat to the specified safe area.

Once they were a safe distance away, Raymond lifted the silver key from his neck, a faint glow sparked into being around his horn as his magic wrapped it in a soft blue light. Once he had the key held before him, he closed his eyes. Almost immediately glowing white runes appeared on the key’s surface; it slowly inched forward and began to disappear as though it was being inserted into a keyhole. Once in place the glowing key turned and the creaking of an ancient tumbler could be heard. Suddenly the white runes jumped off the key and began to rapidly circle the shaft, expanding outward; the center of the circle of rotating runes also began to glow white. There was a brilliant flash of light blinding all spectators apart from Becky, who had closed her eyes shortly after Raymond had inserted the key.

Once the light subsided and everyone’s vision had returned, Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Fluttershy all wore the same expression; eyes wide open with wonder and limp jaws dangling as if to touch the ground. None of them could find the words to describe the awe invoking structure that had appeared before them.

A massive marble archway, much taller than any of the trees in the greenhouse and wide enough to fit nearly twenty ponies walking abreast, now stood at the lakes edge. Its surface was covered with white pulsating runes, a silver gate glided open to reveal a white glowing mist which swirled slowly in the archway.

Raymond turned to regard the group standing in muted astonishment. “This gateway leads to the place that Becky and I call home, there is a suitable location to conduct our test inside.” With a flourishing bow, he announced, “I formally extend an invitation to you all, asking you to join us in entering, for the first time in over five thousand years… The Sentinels Keep.”

To everyone’s shock, Fluttershy was the first to speak. “B-but the lake is r-right b-behind it. I d-don’t see your home anywhere.”

“The gate leads to the Keep, in fact it’s the only way to get there considering that our home is located in its own dimensional pocket,” Becky explained flatly. “How else would a castle home of magically inclined humans be kept secret from the world?”

“If thou art telling the truth, than how did thou come to discover the castle?” Luna inquired.

Raymond replied, “Well technically it wasn’t… discovered. As I already told you, we were born from magic; we always assumed that the Keep came into existence in the same manner, though we’re inclined to believe that it is much older than the Sentinels. We have no idea where the Keep came from, what we do know is that it resides in a space separate from this world. When we arrived, there were several gateways such as this connecting the Keep to the rest of the world allowing humans to come and go freely, though this is the last gate currently in existence.”

Celestia spoke up rather impatiently, “So let me get this straight. You want us to pass through this gate to go to a place that only you two know anything about, so we can determine whether or not we can trust you?”

“You would be right. We can’t go to Equestria for your test since Becky is still human and just being there would exhaust her, and doing it anywhere outside would most likely gather some unwanted attention. Therefore I thought that this would be the ideal location,” Raymond replied calmly.

“But how do we know that we won’t be walking into a trap?”

Replying to the Princesses question, Becky blatantly said, “You don’t. Either Ray or I could go in first, but if we did that then who’s to say that we wouldn’t be setting up a trap just for you. Then again you could always go in first, but it just falls back to that whole trust issue.”

“Indeed,” Luna growled.

“I’m sorry but this is getting us nowhere,” Twilight said clearly irritated. “I have so many questions I’d like to ask you, but for now… while you two are being tested what am I supposed to do?”

Raymond pondered this for a moment, “Well what do you like to do? I’m certain we can find some facility in the Keep that pertains to your interests.”

“Well I do like to practice using my magic, and, um,” continuing in a slightly quieter voice, “I really enjoy reading and studying all sorts of things.”

“I think you would be interested in our Library then,” Raymond said. He didn’t notice how Twilights ears perked up. “I believe it’s one of the largest structures in the Keep, and inside are books on every topic imaginable; magic, science, politics, the entire history of the human race including even that which has been hidden from public knowledge. There are also facilities for practicing spells and alchemy among other things, and there is also a chemistry laboratory.”

The entire time Raymond spoke, Twilights eyes were opening wider and wider. When he finished Twilight stood there for a moment, and then before anyone could stop her she practically flew through the archway.

Luna was dumbstruck, Celestia took off after Twilight, and Becky was trying to stifle another fit of laughter while both Fluttershy and Raymond just stared after them with surprised faces, though Fluttershy was the quicker of the two to recover.

“Was it something I said?” Raymond asked, oblivious to the reasoning behind Twilight’s sudden disregard for Princess Celestia’s caution.

Fluttershy filled him in, “Oh, well yes… I mean, kind of. You see, Twilight never had many friends before coming to Ponyville; she was always too busy studying. Now she lives in the Ponyville library, and although she has lots of friends, she is still quite obsessive about her books and studies.”

“I see, so basically I offered her what you could consider as her idea of paradise then, didn’t I?

Fluttershy nodded meekly.

“Well it wouldn’t be fair to leave you out now would it? From what I’ve seen you enjoy being with animals, and since you’re basically in charge of the greenhouse I think it’s safe to guess that you also like taking care of plant life.”

Fluttershy nodded again, this time with more force and a sense of eagerness in her gaze.

“Then perhaps you would like to see our garden. There’s no one around to take care of animals there so only a single species lives inside, though I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed by it. Now in the area of plants, again, all the different varieties you could imagine and more; from your average daisy to prehistoric ferns as tall as three story buildings. Coincidentally enough, the garden is right behind the library, so you won’t be too far from Twilight if anything happens to either of you.” Raymond chuckled slightly upon finishing.

Just like Twilight had, Fluttershy galloped toward the archway, smiling with eyes wide with anticipation. That left Luna, Becky and Raymond in the field of flowers.

“That settles the debate then,” Luna sighed.

“I guess it does. After you, Your Majesty, I need to close the gate behind us so no one wanders in and gets lost. Besides, I don’t think Fluttershy would ever forgive me if one of the small animals here got stuck inside.”

Luna conceded the point and trotted towards the archways swirling mist, the two Sentinels following closely behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was giddy with excitement, just the thought of all those books sent her head spinning. She had no idea what to expect on the other side of the archway, but she couldn’t resist, ‘All that information, just waiting to be learned. The spells, the experiments, oh the possibilities!’ She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the strange sensation as she galloped through the mist.

However once she stumbled out of the gateway her mind froze. She stood in the center of an enormous circular courtyard; several large wooden doors lined the wall leading to different parts of the castle. Even from her low vantage point she could see the tops of countless towers jutting up over the top of the courtyard wall, thrust like lances into the sky. Protruding from the wall directly in front of her was an elaborately designed and ornate clock tower; it was clearly the tallest structure in sight.

After the initial shock of witnessing the enormity of the Keep, Twilight began to notice a few oddities. For one, although she could see as clearly as though it were day there was no sun in the sky, and she couldn’t see a single shadow anywhere. Though the most unsettling of these abnormalities was that the cobblestone beneath her hooves wasn’t cool like she expected, the stone was warm, and if Twilight really concentrated she could feel a faint pulse now and again through the hard surface.

Just then Celestia burst into the courtyard behind Twilight. “Twilight!” she trotted over and nuzzled her student. “That was incredibly reckless, what if something had happened to you?”

Twilight looked crestfallen, “I’m so sorry, it’s just… he kept going on about everything their library has, I just couldn’t help myself.”

“I’m simply glad that you’re safe,” Celestia said smiling.

The two of them gazed around together, and they noticed something that Twilight had missed with her initial scan being drawn up towards the towers. Circling the courtyard was a ring of statues, each of a different robed man or woman immortalized in stone, for how long was anyone’s guess.

“Those robes,” Twilight muttered in thought, “They look a lot like the ones that Raymond and Becky wear.”

Celestia nodded in agreement, “These must be statues of the Sentinel Council that Raymond mentioned.” After a quick count she continued, “He did say that there were fifty members of the council, but what strikes me as odd is the fact that four of these fifty pedestals are empty.”

Twilight looked around, and sure enough there were four ornate stone slabs that had no statue to display.

Before Twilight could give voice to a question, Luna stepped through the archway and into the courtyard; she was followed by Becky who was holding a quaking Fluttershy in her arms. Last was Raymond, as he stepped out of the mist he made a beckoning gesture towards the archway with a foreleg and the silver key shot out after him, its chain settling about his neck. The silver gate swung shut and the white mist faded away.

“Well, what do you think?” Raymond was quick to ask.

“It is a very impressive castle,” Celestia responded. “But I want to know, why is it so large?”

“Like I said before, the Keep was here longer than we were, therefore we don’t know why it was made so large. Even though there were only fifty individuals that called this place home, the Keep was nearly always full of people in the past. Travelers seeking refuge from the elements, scholars staying here for months on end to study the books and scrolls in the library, foreign dignitaries looking for guidance at times or to simply discuss political matters with one another; a vast majority of the Keep is living space.”

While she listened to Raymond, Twilight was also trying to calm down Fluttershy who was still a bit shaken from her trip through the archway.

“What happened to scare you in there? There was only mist in there, nothing else.”

“E-exactly, there w-was n-n-nothing else. I felt weightless, l-like I would b-be swept away, I couldn’t even feel the g-ground beneath my hooves.”

Becky overheard their conversation and walked over to join the two sitting ponies, “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who felt it; in fact you took it even better than some people I’ve seen in the past. That feeling of nothingness comes from being between dimensions, nothing exists there. This archway forms a bridge between here and Earth, the only safe way we can travel between dimensions.”

Twilight nodded at this, “Now that you mention it, I do remember feeling something… but I guess I was too caught up in my excitement to pay it any attention.”

Raymond walked over accompanied by the two princesses. “I’d like to get our test over with so we can deal with the matters at hand. Twilight and Fluttershy, we’ll lead you to the library now, I’m sorry but the grand tour will have to wait until such a moment where we aren’t so pressed for time.”

Twilight jumped to her hooves as Raymond mentioned the library, Fluttershy stood as well, eager to see the garden and this mystery animal Raymond spoke of.

This time Raymond led the group since he knew the layout of the massive Keep by heart. As they walked through the doors to the clock tower, Twilight noticed that one of the empty pedestals was situated right beside the entrance. Risking falling behind to get a better look, she bent down and noticed an inscription of a single name. 'Raymond'. Straightening with a look of confusion, Twilight noticed that the group was just disappearing around a corner. Galloping to catch up, spurred on by her need to ask Raymond about the significance of the inscription on the pedestal, she managed to catch up before losing the group around another bend in the forking passage they entered.

Sliding up beside Raymond Twilight asked, “Those statues out in the courtyard are of the other Sentinels aren’t they?”

Raymond gave her a brief glance and nodded.

“Well how come you don’t have a statue? All that’s there is a pedestal with your name on it.”

Raymond’s brow furrowed as his features became clouded. After a moment of silence, punctuated only by the clopping sound of hooves on stone and the scuffle of one pair of boots, he replied slowly.

“Because I am still here.”