The Conversion Bureau: Force of Will

This story is set in a sci-fi version of The Conversion Bureau: Ten Rounds Universe created by Defoloce.

"-humanity has to be transformed for their own good. Look at your history, look at your world, please understand we are trying to save you. We offer a long life full of happiness in Equestria. It's never too late! Just find the nearest Potion or Purity Patrol and ask to be converted. They will be happy to take-" The radio spoke until the gray pegasus turned it off, annoyed that all stations kept repeating the same propaganda over and over again.

"Much better. Silence." He said. It had been 6 hours since he had left the town. Most of the trip had been in silence with only the sound of the car working. Open fields of dry grass with a few sections of green grass were everywhere at the sides of the long road.

Consequence of human contamination. He thought.

Ding!

ding!

ding!

ding!

The car signaled it was about to run out of gas, but he had seen a gas station at a distance, he was about to get there.

"Come one, just a little bit longer." He said calmly.

I really hope there is still some gas left. Even if there isn't, it's not something to worry about. I can just walk and even practice flying. That would be pretty cool. He thought to himself as he was just a few seconds away from reaching the gas station. After about 30 seconds he had arrived. He turned off the engine on the side of the street, a couple meters of distance from the gas station. Andrew left the car, leaving his key in the glovebox. He advanced towards the gas station. The street had a few cracks and a few small dried up blood puddles.

Now he standed in front of the place.

The abandoned gas station had it's windows broken, as always. There was a pickup parked nearby, but what caught Andrew's attention the most were those puddles of dry blood and dry Potion on the window frames.

Damn, what happened here?

Andrew stepped in the entrance of the gas station. "Hello? Anyone there?" He said, but he only got silence in return.

This looks like a war zone... He thought, as he studied the scene.

*Sniff sniff*

"Smells like berries..."

There were human clothes left on the ground covered in dry Potion. Potion had hit and covered a wide part of a wall. There was another wide dry puddle of Potion mixed with a bit of blood. Used rounds of different types of guns were everywhere; Shotgun, SKS, and other rounds he could not identify.

A small group of survivors, shame they didn't make it. He thought. He looked to his left and saw a weapon, a Lee-Enfield. He came closer to examine it.

Wow, these things are old. Build in the UK, these things are over a hundred years old now. Shame I can't use it...darn hooves...

A piece of human history, abandoned here in the middle of nowhere.

He sighed.

"Let's see if their pickup has any gas" Andrew said as he trotted back outside towards the pickup. He opened the unlocked door of the vehicle and searched for the key.

Keys nowhere to be found, and neither did I see any tubes inside the station. Lets see if I missed anything. He closed the door and went back inside the station. Silence invaded the place along with the strong sunshine from outside, it was about mid-day right now. Andrew began to open the damaged wooden counters, checking for anything useful.

"Open cans, money, gun rounds, a plastic bag, rotten vegetables... Nothing useful." He thought as he closed the last counter. He now looked for the bathroom, in hopes that the place had some water left. He found the bathroom and turned the water on, drinking from the small stream of water.

"Ahhh...I needed that..." He said as he cleaned his lips with his arm, but then saw his reflection on the dirty mirror.

"It's...me...Wow, this is very freaky haha." He had a gray coat and a black mane that went backwards, not falling on his forehead. He had blue eyes.

He looked down at one of his hooves.

"Darn it."

He then heard his stomach growling, then gave a last glance at the mirror and headed outside. He trotted behind the gas station into the wide field of grass with a small area of green grass.

So...ponies eat grass right? He was not sure he would like the taste. Had the Potion changed his sense of taste? He leaned his head down towards the grass to find out and took a bite. His eyes opened wide when he began chewing.

Yep, my sense of taste is seriously fucked up. It's delicious! He thought, as he began to munch on the grass filling his cheeks.

I haven't eaten this much in years! Im completely surrounded with food! He thought.

Back at home when Celestia had just made the Potion mandatory, he had the luck to have found an apartment room where the previous owner was apparently obsessed with getting prepared for a 4th World War, with a huge amount of non-perishables that would last him years. That had last him 3 years, with a small ration per day, also trapping rats in order to cook and eating berries of a nearby park. He had been hungry every day that last 4th year, rationing over the little food he caught. Now that was over, food was everywhere.

"Mhh...God this is delicious..." He mumbled, as his cheeks were continuously re-filled with grass as he chewed with delight. Once he was over, he gulped one last time and headed back to the gas station. Complete silence with the curtains of one side of the room moving because of the wind. He laid on the ground and rested.

No worries...plenty of food...water...you can walk the rest of the trip... He thought, as his breathing became more prolonged and his muscles relaxed. His eyes slowly closed and re-opened again a few times. That was, until he fell asleep.

"...ews, the Conversion Bureaus, all over the world have made a response to the bombings of the Human Liberation Front, also known as HLF. They have announced the beginning of a new, more effective approach. Princess Celestia, goddess of Equestria has made the public announcement that Conversion will now be mandatory, thanks to new variations of the Poti-" 13 year old Andrew turned off the T.V inside his apartment room on the 3rd floor, the announcement had been published in all channels, all radio stations, ever since 4 days ago. His parents had told him they would come back as they were going to help evacuate a school, but that had been 2 days ago. He had his Remington rifle fully loaded peaking outside his window, as he and the 27 residents had made a resistance stand on the building. He had received the gun from an old man that lived on the first floor, obsessed with the idea of a 4th World War coming and nuclear fallout.

"Here they come! Hold!" Shouted the old man with a megaphone, located on the roof. Over 4 dozen ponies of different types and colors, about 55 in total were advancing towards the building. Earth ponies, being the fastest runners, had debilitating shock-prods strapped to their forelegs and nose. They were in charge of incapacitating humans by electric shock so they could be converted without resistance. Unicorns with their Potion launchers on their backs, mortar-like tubes fired by their magic.

Earth ponies were on the front of the formation while Unicorns stayed behind them, all while they advanced towards the building at medium pace. Unicorns were vulnerable when aiming since they had to stay still to shoot effectively. It was hard to see them as they were behind the wall of Earth ponies.

"Aim!" The voice commanded, as Andrew did his best to remain calm and aim at the invaders. Andrew had never shot a gun before, unless a few paintball matches counted.

"Fire!" Followed by the loud sounds of gun shots and trotting.

Gunfire and a few grenade explosions were all he could hear, as he shot towards the enemy not knowing if he hit or not. He felt the window frame shake because of the explosions.

"Pegasi!" Shouted the speaker. "A squad of Pegasi coming at 11 o'clock!" We had all agreed on using the building front as a reference to 12 o'clock.

Andrew aimed with his hands shaking. He took a few deep breaths and then hold it, aimed and shot. He had hit a light-blue pegasus down, collapsing on the parking lot on the other side of the street.

"Stay away!" He shouted, as he aimed at the Earth ponies, following the same breathing tactic of before. He only took 2 down.

Then, the waves of Potion shots came. He saw how from behind the advancing wall of Earth ponies, multiple masses of purple goo were shot, going up and towards the building.

"About 2 more dozen ground ponies coming at 3 o'clock! Pegasi squad almost down! Floor 2, fire your rocket laun-!" The speaker suddenly interrupted by the high-pitch sound of the megaphone being dropped and the sound of multiple loud splashes hitting on the roof.

"Oh shit!" He stepped out of his room and into the hallway. He quickly ran towards the stair way.

"The Pegasi will get here from up-stairs everyone! Cover the stair way!" He shouted towards the upper floors, hopefully someone would have heard him.

With the sounds of gun fire in the background and a sudden loud explosion from the rocket launchers, making the whole structure shake, he came back to his room running to get back to position. He opened the door, only to be met by the room covered in Potion and a broken window.

He began to feel dizzy as his mind filled with fear.

"They got through the first floor! Retreat to the second!" A female voice shouted, followed by more gunshots.

"Throwing Thermal Imploder! Get to cover!" A male voice shouted. A loud noise, very distinct from a frag grenade, made the floor shake, which made Andrew support himself on a wall to not lose balance.

"Where to go? Where to go?" Andrew thought, he was very scared and horrified. Finally his fear took over and dropped his rifle, as he ran towards the public bathroom, closing the door behind him. He just wanted to hide.

The entire building was surrounded, it was over. Vastly out-numbered and having lost the first floor and the roof. Andrew, along with the now 15 residents knew they were only delaying their inevitable conversion.

Andrew was woken up by the sound of something at a distance coming at a high speed.  Judging by the illumination, he had fallen asleep for about an hour or so. He felt how his ears rose as he quickly stood up and ran to hide inside one of the damaged wooden counters.

If it's a human, they will kill you. If it's an Equestrian squad, they will be very confused and will take you to Equestria if you play along... Andrew thought inside the darkness of the counter, as the sound of a car was rapidly coming closer, which confirmed they were humans. He just stayed there, thinking on how to counter attack if they opened the counter and spotted him.

The high sound of wheels stopping, as if in a hurry, were heard just outside the station. A door was quickly opened and shut loudly, someone was definitely in a hurry. Andrew could heard the quick footsteps of a human entering the gas station.

"-cker followed me! No way im turning into one of those four legged fucks! God dammit Paul, you were so close!" A male voice shouted, he sounded angry and had a bit of sadness at the same time. Andrew could hear how he stepped on glass, which meant the man was near the broken windows.

"Listen Dylan, you can't lose the package. A rifle...eh, later. Now it's not the time. Concentrate." The man spoke a bit more calmly, he had noticed the Lee-Enfield laying on the ground. The room fell silent for full minute, as the breathing of the man tried to calm down. Then, a sound of flapping wings was heard coming.

"-ylan, please listen to me! We were wrong! Please Dylan trust me, I don't mean any harm!" A male voice was heard on the roof, shouting.

"God dammit man! You were such a good sniper, and now you are one of them! What happened to you?! How can you be on their side?!" Dylan shouted back. His voice had noticeable sadness in it.

A former comrade. Andrew thought.

"Please Dylan, we've known each other for years. I really need you to trust me on this one! We were fighting for the wrong side, Conversion is the only salvation!" The pegasus spoke, as he came off the roof and landed in front of the gas station. He was now on Dylan's sight.

"Don't make me shoot you man! I really don't want to do that!" Dylan shouted, as he stepped back away from the window frame.

"Please Dylan, please let yourself see the truth..." The pegasus spoke with the sound of a liquid with each step, most likely Potion on his hooves, as he advanced slowly towards his friend.

"I told you to back off!" The man shouted, as he shot two warning shots towards the roof and aimed again towards the pegasus. Judging by the sound, he seemed to be armed with a semi-automatic pistol.

"Don't point that thing unless you are willing to shoot. Understand im here to help you, to open your eyes."

Andrew heard how the man ran behind the wooden counter, just beside him.

"This is your last warning man! You either back off or I'll shoot you! You hear?!" The man shouted, with a more serious and determined voice.

"Im sorry Dylan, but I won't stop. Plus, I've counted your bullets. You are out." Responded the pegasus in a calm voice.

This man is going to get converted. Not if I can stop it! Andrew thought with determination, not really thinking if the human would kill him afterwards. The wooden table was already a bit damaged with tiny holes from were tiny rays of light came in. Andrew impulsed himself with his legs and bursted upwards, breaking the counters weak wooden table as the other pegasus jumped towards his friend, intersecting with the gray pegasus.

Dylan's pistol was flying upwards as a gray pegasus had unexpectedly came out of the table and hit his extended arm when aiming. As that happened, he impulsed himself to his left to avoid getting hit.

Andrews back hit against the wall because of the force of the dark green coated pegasus with an orange mane.

Dylan

What the hell was that?! Quick, find some weapon fast! Dylan thought, as he quickly standed up and looked for some sort of weapon.

That rifle! He sprinted towards the Lee-Enfield and took it, but then he saw the bolt was seriously stuck, making it unable to shoot.

Dammit! He thought, as he tried to get the bolt unstuck.

He glanced at the two Pegasi fighting each other, the gray one strangulating his previous friend Paul with his arms around his neck. He kept staring at the scene while trying to unstuck the bolt, as it still had a bullet left.

What the hell is he doing?! Is that even possible?! Thought completely amazed and scared at the same time. It was the first time he had ever seen a pony attack one of his comrades.

Impossible. He thought. It just wasn't possible. An Equestrian attacking another Equestrian? It just made no sense whatsoever. But the gray pony kept on strangulating him, as Paul resisted trying to pull the other pony's arm off his neck with his hooves. Paul tried to speak with a look of fear and confusion in his eyes.

"-et of-! -nt bre-!" The dark green pegasus tried to shout.

"Don't worry! Im not killing you! Just leaving you unconscious! Ok?!" The gray pegasus told Paul, as Paul kept resisting until he finally lost consciousness.

The fuck? Dylan thought. Then, he got the bolt unstuck, leaving the rifle ready to shoot it's last round.

"There..." The strange pegasus said, as he took off his arms around Paul's neck, who fell unconscious to the ground. The pegasus was catching his breath with his eyes closed from what had just happened, resting his back against the wall. When he opened his eyes, he was met by Dylan aiming directly at him with the Lee-Enfield rifle.

What the hell is going on?! Why did he do that to him?! This makes no sense! Dylan thought, with a look of confusion and uncertainty.

Andrew

You fucked up real bad. Now you will most likely get shot. Andrew thought with a look of worry in his face.

"You...how...Why did you strangulate him?" The young man said while aiming. He was about 19 years old judging by his appearance. He was about as tall as when Andrew was human, about 1.75m with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Im...im not with them. I know this is very strange, but you h-have to believe me. Im apparently immune to the...um...Potion's mind change. It converted me in body, but im still human in mind. Im not on Celestia's side and...I s-saw you needed help." Andrew said in a nervous tone as he was intimidated by the loaded rifle aiming at him.

Please don't shoot me.

The young man kept aiming at him, puzzled. "Very unlikely. No one has ever resisted the Potion."

"I can't explain how it happened. I just d-did. I beg of you, don't s-shoot. I'll just go away. I won't follow yo-" He was interrupted.

"Shut up and let me think about this ok?" The man said in a serious tone, as along silence followed.

Just please, don't shoot me. Andrew thought.

"So you said you aren't obeying Celestia, right?"

"Yes. Changed in body, but not in mind." Andrew said more calmly. He saw how the man was thinking deeply about the situation.

"I have never seen or heard an Equestrian do such a thing." The man said. "I'll have to bring you to base, my superior will want to see this." The armed man said. Andrew just responded with a nod. "Walk." He commanded, as Andrew was being pointed with the rifle to exit the building. The man skipped the small remains of Potion on the ground that Paul had left.

Andrew advanced out the building into the street with the man aiming behind him. He was guided to a police car with some splashed Potion on the closed trunk.

"Get in." The man commanded. Andrew advanced to the back passenger door, he opened the door with his mouth and got inside.

The man came and closed the door, then opened the driver's door and pushed a button. Andrew heard how the two doors at his sides locked.

Now your life is in their hands. Possibly a bandit group, I'll be damned... He thought, as he had a look of worry in his face.

The man gave a last look at Andrew and headed back into the gas station, while Andrew looked at him.

What is he do-

Bang!

Andrew jumped at the sound and took cover.

The hell?! He peaked and saw the man walking out the station. The man took out a key and went to the drivers door which was already open. He placed the rifle on the seat next to him and closed the door, then got the key inside and turned it. The car engine turned on, Andrew could see the gasoline meter was half full. The man looked sad and angry at the same time. Andrew, being sufficiently intimidated by the whole situation, just laid on the two seats and thought about what was going to happen to him. He felt the car move, then turned towards the direction he was already headed to.

About 15 minutes had passed since they took off, all in silence with a conflicted man driving and a worried gray pegasus locked inside on the back.

"So...what's your story?" Dylan said.