The Assimilation Bureau

The GLUE Commandos stared at the derelict of a helicopter in confusion. It was definitely the one that the CLOUD Command of the Human Liberation Front had stolen, but there was no evidence of anything whatsoever. CLOUD Command had vanished. There were many unsolved mysteries of the Conversion War, and it was clear the the fate of CLOUD Command was but the latest addition to the list.

+++ +++ +++ +++ +++

At last, at long, long last. The Whole had breached the Frozen Wastes known to humanity as 'the Antarctic' and there was no time to relax. They had much to do. Ever since they had first arrived on the planet all those millions of years ago, the evolutionary fate of all life had been sealed. This 'Conversion War' was unexpected, but the Whole was nothing if not adaptable. Yes, progress would be much slower than that human scientist's projected 27,000 hours, but the Whole would, as always, simply make do.

Two Months Later

The park was practically an inferno. Tristan dodged left and right as potion bomb after potion bomb was thrown. He readied his Desert Eagle, took aim, and fired—simultaneously sending Flash Sentry out of commission and causing the heads of several Newfoals to become a shifting blanket of red mist. He took out a couple grenades, took out the pins, and threw them at the brainwashed hordes of the poor former humans. He was so focused on the Newfoals in front of him that he didn't hear the flapping of wings until it was too late.

Wind Rider knocked Tristan out from behind. He pulled out his sword, raised it high, and lowered it when he noticed something strange. Was the smoke messing with his eyes, or was Flash's blood actually moving, as if they were trying to escape the flames?

Wind Rider came closer to investigate. Only to widen his eyes in horror as Flash's body quickly morphed into a grotesque mass of clawed tentacles that lunged at him before he even had a chance to scream.

"Are you ready for your attack, War-Princess Luna?"

"Yes Madam Cadence," Luna replied robotically.

"Good."

+++ +++ +++ +++ +++
Later

"Well, Cadie, what happened?"

"Shining, you know what happened."

"Tell me anyway."

"*sigh* Alright, that human, what was his name again?"

"Agent Tristan Irving."

"Thanks. Right. Anyway, that human, Agent Irving, killed the Queen's alicorn supersoldier with a—What is it called again? Oh yes!—a 'dirty bomb' and lots of tinfoil."

"I see. Buck! All that work on Project: Eclipsed Red Moon down the drain!"

"It's alright, Shining. After all, everything on this planet will be assimilated anyway."

"Uh, Cadie? Don't you mean to say 'converted' or something like that?"

"..."

"Cadie?"

Shining Armor gasped in horror as his wife morphed into a gelatinous form with a canine snout that had insectoid appendages protruding out.

Later, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence conducted many private meetings with Newfoals, Royal Guards, and PER members. Who all proceeded to visit several Conversion Bureaus in order to add a few last minute extra ingredients to some of the ponification potions.

One Week Later

Operative 4 glared at Tristan and asked, "Well? How did Operation: Oil Glass go?"

"Well, sir to put it simply, the raid had been a disaster. The Chief GLUE Commando of that mission was sloppy. Because of him, what was supposed to be a simple sabotage mission went completely off the rails."

"Actually, Operation: Oil Glass was meant to be a suicide mission."

"..."

"What about the bomb? Was it detonated successfully?"

"Yes, sir. It was, sir."

"Good. Anything else."

"Actually, yes, there is something else."

"Let me guess, those rumors about 'shifty looking' Newfoals, right?"

"Sir, it's true! Lately about fifteen percent of all Newfoals, well they seem... different. There is this virtually noticeable glean in their eyes, their fake smiles bear a slight resemblance to the sadistic grin of the recently executed Cain the Ripper, and, strangest of all, they actually act as though they have something resembling a sense of self-preservation, or at least something akin to a survival instinct. It's so odd, especially since they clearly aren't supersoldiers."

"Irving."

"Yes, sir?"

"All of this is nothing but fucking paranoid shit, and I never want to hear any of it ever again! Is that understood, soldier?"

"Sir, yes sir."

"Good. Dismissed."

"Please look here, Angel Bunny, just look now at all of the poor defenseless animals that I've managed to save from those horrible humans," Fluttershy said looked at all of the animals that she had rescued from the horrible facilities that the humans had the nerve to call shelters.

Angel Bunny scowled but then he sensed something strange. Fluttershy followed him as he ran over to a dog that all the other animals had been avoiding for some reason.

"You're so sweet Angel Bunny, I don't know why all of you dears are so afraid of—You too Angel Bunny?! I'm so, so, so peeved at all of you right now! None of you are leaving this room until I see you all become friends of that poor guy," Fluttershy declared as she left the room.

All of the animals were frozen in primal terror when they heard Fluttershy lock the door. They all turned to look at the 'dog', except it wasn't there anymore. They lights went out as a vaguely canine many-legged creature dropped down from the sealing...

The hospital was anarchy. Newfoals and Equestrian soldiers were fighting PHL agents and GLUE Commandos all over the place while bystanders were either doing the 'Headless Chicken Routine', hiding wherever they could, or trying to be heroes. They weren't doing so well in their attempts at all. In fact, the only true contribution that the wannabe heroes succeeded in actually making was adding more to the chaos. In other words, they only made the situation much, much, much more worse than before.

And, just when an intern who was cowering behind a desk was miserably trying to convince himself that things just couldn't possibly get any worse, Tristan Irving himself was thrown through a gaping hole in the wall, colliding into the wall behind the intern with a sickening thud.

The intern took a risk to take a look at Tristan Irving's condition, and didn't like what he saw—a barely moving, or even breathing, unconscious body.

CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP<

The intern froze in fear when he heard the hoofsteps. Then everything was quiet, but the intern was so fearful that he didn't even dare to release the breath that had been caught in his throat. The intern was right to be fearful, because the desk he was hiding behind suddenly glowed a light turquoise color before being lifted into the air, and then tossed aside. Violently.

The intern looked up to see the sadistic smirk of a unicorn mare.

"Hello," she said, "My name is Starlight Glimmer, and I want you to resuscitate that pathetic champion of yours so he will be conscious as he is remade into a new, purified state of harmonious order. You will use these 'dee-fib-yoo-lators' on him now, or else..."

(Even though it most certainly wasn't needed, she illuminated her horn with those last two words.)

"Um, okay," the intern said nervously as he picked up the defibrillators, and walked over to where Tristan Irving was lying and got to wark.

+++ +++ A FEW MOMENTS LATER +++ +++

The intern hovered the defibrillator pads over Tristan Irving's bare chest, quarter-heartedly mumbled, "Clear", and pressed down.

Nothing happened.

He then tried again two more times.

There was no result whatsoever after the first retry. But after the second retry, something did happen.

Tristan Irving's body rippled before clawed, tentacled appendages burst out and lashed about all over the room. Starlight just blankly stood in place, with a stunned look of disbelief on her face as her perception of the world around her went numb from shock. The intern, on the other hand, was reduced to horrified, primordial screams of, "What the motherfucking God IS this Thing!"

Both were grabbed by the tentacle, which had suddenly morphed into bizarre structures that were composed of some sort of viscous cytoplasm. Others, both bystanders and faction members, having clearly been attracted to the source of the sudden commotion, rushed in, only to be grabbed as well.

All of the rupturing Thing's captives screamed hellishly as they were assimilated into its form. The floors slowly warped under the creature's steadily increasing mass until they finally gave way, sending the already mutating entity plummeting down to the battle that was occurring in the hospital's lobby.

TO BE CONTINUED...