The Conversion Bureau: The Human Liberation Front.
I stared out of my bedroom window that viewed over Ponyville town square. It was a pleasing sight if I was honest, a rich blue sky with clouds expertly crafted by weather-ponies presented itself over Ponyville, lush green plants adorning the winding pathways that lined Ponyville streets colored the otherwise dull pavement, the clean and rubbish free playground that sat in the center of all of it just topped it off with laughing and playing foals prancing around the small multicolored buildings. It was nice, but then there were the underlying details.
On the path corner was a stallion dressed in military attire demanding passing ponies to sign up for the war; plastered on walls were posters that kept Ponyville updated on the current events of the war while also demanding their assistance in it. And of course, the ‘Newfoals’. The Newfoals were the product of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s student prodigy. She decided that the war was too good for the opposing side, and in the name of ‘Harmony’ created a serum that turned them into ponies. Mindless suckers that were incapable of anger, it didn’t take long for ponies to take advantage of them. Now they just stand around in packs, not talking, just smiling and staring.
Now of course, what kind of horrendous thing must have the opposing side done to make us go to war with them, and forcibly change them into ponies? Nothing. They were just minding their own business fighting their own wars, and we just showed up, demanded their servitude, and went to war. Just like that. And with who? Humans. For years I demanded to be taken seriously that humans were real, and just when it came out I was right, the princesses went to war with them. Like what in Tartarus are they thinking?
The ‘reason’ if you could call it one for going to war with them, is because they fought a lot. Just because some of them don’t see eye to eye, Celestia and Luna decided to turn them into ponies in the name of harmony. What a bunch of horse-dung. It’s a bit ironic though. Killing off an entire species in the name of harmony, an oxymoron if there ever was one. And it’s not like ponies are sticking up for the humans, everypony just assumed that all of them were ruthless killing machines. Didn’t anypony learn from that Zecora incident?
‘I just can’t believe it.’ “Lyra?” Rang out a voice from downstairs rippling through the deafening silence.
“Yes, Bon-Bon?” I quickly called out sweetly tearing myself away from my window.
“I’ll be making lunch soon, be ready okay?”
“Uh, okay Bonny, I’ll be down in a bit!” Assuming that was the end of that, I moved my attention to my cluttered desk. One might say it was a ‘Horrendous Heap of Junk’ (Curtsy of Bon-Bon) but I preferred to call it ‘Organised Chaos’, sure it was messy, but I knew where everything was.
As I viewed my desk, something stuck out on it. Such as multiple newspaper clippings and posters documenting the war against the humans, and it wasn’t because I wanted to know if we were winning, but I wanted to know if the humans were winning. I guess you could call me a human sympathizer. I know that there are some ponies out there who are like me, see the humans for who they actually are, but if they were found out they would be ostracized, beaten, sometimes jailed, and if they stood by it, they just… disappeared.
The largest poster I had was the deceleration of war poster. It was just a large photo of the princesses and some generals smiling with ‘We need you to stop the humans’ underneath in all caps. It was a sad sight to see. Twilight Sparkle, the one who made the serum, was a part of the princesses, one of the main 4 that commanded over Equestria, or at least 3 and Cadence ruled over the Crystal Empire. Four princesses; Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Luna and Cadence. All of them with their own backstories.
Celestia and Luna are just a part of the main empire, most notable, Canterlot, with Cadence ruling over the Crystal Empire with her husband, Shining Armour. Lastly, Twilight Sparkle, the one with the biggest resume out of all of them: Magical genius, hero of Equestria, and one of the Element of Harmony making her one of the Main 6. Its almost sickening that someone who is a part of something designed to be harmonious, is helping with genocide. Not to mention the other 5 who are in some cases even worse than her.
Twilight may be Celestia’s protege, but she isn’t strong. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are more of the heavy lifters of the group. Applejack is a part of the Apple Clan, largest apple farm in Equestria and is the Element of Honesty. Rainbow Dash, a know-it-all egotistical idiot who was the second Pegasus to ever create a sonic rainboom; not to mention she is the Element of Loyalty. Next is Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Rarity is a dressmaker whose charisma is through the roof, not to mention she has the looks to back her up; she is the Element of Generosity. Pinkie Pie is possibly one of the greatest bakers to have ever lived and is skilled in breaking the fourth wall; she is the Element of Laughter.
And finally, Fluttershy. Fluttershy is a vet who is kind, helpful and… well. She’s cute, I guess. Still, she is the Element of Kindness, and she ticks me off the most. All the other ‘Element of Harmony’ can be waved as cruel, but Fluttershy’s entire purpose is to be kind. How could you be kind if you are okay with genocide? With war? With the Conversion Bureau? All of them can rot in Tartous for all I care, they deserve it for being sins against everything ‘Harmony’ stood for. It’s just disgusting.
“Lyra! Hello, Equis to Lyra?” THUD, THUD, THUD. A loud knocking sound pushed me out of my deep-thinking state and made me jump.
“Oh, yeah, Bon-Bon, what is it?”
“Why is this door locked?”
“Why are you trying to be my mom?”
“Oh just… just get into town, I forgot some ingredients for lunch!”
“Can’t you Bonny, I’m busy?”
“Do I need to remind you, you're behind on this months rent again?”
“OKAY, I’m coming, stop playing dirty like that.” I jumped out of my seat and down the stairs grumbling of the way.
“The list is on the table, just come back soon okay?”
“Yes Bon-Bon.”
Snatching the list of the table with my magic, I exited my roommates house into a sunny colt-de-sack pushing onward down the winding road into the town square by my roommates’ house. Doing a quick overlook of the list, I needed asparagus, coleslaw and some apples from sweet apple acres, home to Applejack… I don’t like her, but I need to buy from her. Damn monopoly, at least humans have laws in place for stuff like that, but not us. Nevertheless, I pressed onward towards the apple family orchard.
As I trudged onward through town, I noticed more activity and talk about the war than usual. An update? Altering my route towards the Ponyville post-office, I quite literally bumped into a clumsy cross-eyed mare named Ditzy Doo, more commonly known by her cruel nickname; Derpy.
“Hiya, Lyra, do you need some mail?” Finding it hard to concentrate on one eye as they swiveled around in her head, I opted to stare at the horizon.
“Oh no, Der- I mean Ditzy, I was just heading to the post office. Anymore news about the war?” The effect was immediate as her face darkened a little while scrunching up her muzzle.
“Oh, yeah, here.” Ditzy pushed a rolled-up poster in my magic and flew off utilizing her wings.
Looking in confusion, I opened up the poster in my magic to see the words I did not want to read: ‘Australia falls due to Celestia’s mighty rule! Indonesia is next!’ Underneath the cursed words was a picture depicting Canberra but ruined. Giant plumes of smoke raised itself above the ash-ridden city with thousands of Newfoals standing around with a blank stare, smiling like nothing was wrong. And to top it off, the main 6 stood there wearing there ‘Elements of Harmony’ attire, smiling. I felt sick to my stomach but plastered a smile on my muzzle to avoid suspicion of being a human sympathizer. Calmly rolling it back up, I put it in my saddlebags I grabbed on my way out of the house for future reference.
Just as I left Ponyville to go to the orchard, my ears picked up. I could hear somepony humming a jaunty tune. With my interest piqued, I moved off the path towards the compelling noise. Pushing my way through some bushes, I saw her; Fluttershy, the one I hate most. She seemed to be having a picnic, but I couldn’t care, no. I just wanted to go up to her and yell about how many lives have been killed because of her, that flank-hole. Out of the blue, my legs found a mind of themselves and I began to walk towards her, subtly, but quickly.
“Oh, hey Lyra, are you here for a picnic with me and Big Mac?” Fluttershy had turned around halting my advance to a halt.
“What, wait, Big Mac?”
“Yes?” Came a strong but calm voice from behind me. A little thing to know about Fluttershy, she has a boyfriend that is built (As the humans would say it) like a tank.
“Oh, I hey, guys!” I said with a forced smile.
“Is she here for the picnic?” Big Mac said innocently.
“I think so, can you come along Lyra, only if you want to that is.”
“No, I’ll come along.” By this time, I was sweating, I wanted to yell at Fluttershy, but with Big Mac within bucking distance of me it would be suicide.
My want to yell at Fluttershy fought tooth and nail with my urge of self-preservation as this unlikely trio walked to the picnic spot. How did I get myself into this situation? Soon we crossed a bridge over a stream to a sunny hill where a simple red and white checked cloth took up a small portion of the green grass. Sitting down, Fluttershy made casual talk with us as I complied, but under strain with each passing sentence.
“Are ya okay Lyra?” Said Big Mac.
“I, no, no I am not.” I mumbled into my own fur.
‘Gasp’ “Oh my, why?” questioned Fluttershy.
“Because I’m sitting next to you.”
“What?” Said Fluttershy bemused.
“Because I don’t…” I wanted to say so much. I wanted to call her something of a Human Nazi, I wanted to throttle her, I wanted to yell, make unintelligible noises. But nothing came out. I felt like a stuck tap.
“…like whom I am working with?” Fluttershy completed.
“What?” I said shocked.
“Its fine, I don’t like who am working with either. “What.” I said again dumbfounded.
“What she means Lyra, is that Fluttershy has been getting a lotta of hate mail from human sympathizes, but she don't agree with what she is being forced to do,” completed Big Mac.
“Wait, wait!” I said smiling. “So, you don’t like it?”
“No of course not.” Said Fluttershy looking away. “Humans did nothing wrong. Sure they are mean, but who isn’t?”
“Eeyup.” Smiled Big Mac.
“So, does that make you a… human sympathizer.”
“Eeyup” Big Mac said again with a splitting grin.
The Conversion Bureau: The Human Liberation Front.
In spite of my anger, I found myself smiling. Somepony who I hated, somepony who I couldn’t trust, was on my side. It was sort of liberating. Still, I was lost for words.
“Did Twilight force you into this?” I muttered.
“I, I, don’t want to point hooves but-, I told her it just wasn’t right, but then Twilight went into lecture mode and I didn’t want to interrupt” uttered Fluttershy. “I just… I feel horrible. Like I’m betraying them for the right thing by just thinking it. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie… Rainbow. Oh, Celestia, how would Rainbow feel?”
“Don’t overthink it Flutter.” said Big Mac in a caring tone.
“I just want to do something!” cried out Fluttershy before adding a quiet “Sorry”. “I just can’t because I’m on the face of the posters, the war, and doing anything would be… traitorous…”
Silence filled the picnic site as we decided against eating, not that it was an issue for me. After all, after Fluttershy’s announcement, I lost my appetite. It was just so unfair. Humans did nothing wrong, but we can’t do anything to help them… or can we? “Fluttershy, you want to do something for the humans but are too scared to right?” Fluttershy nodded quickly allowing me to continue. “So, what if they didn’t know?”
“Wha-?” uttered Big Mac and Fluttershy at a new level of lost for words.
“Instead of doing a protest or trying to persuade your friends, why don’t we be quiet about it for a start, build up followers, see how many ponies want this war to end?” Fluttershy and Big Mac exchanged glances at this, so I decided to back-peddle a bit. “I know this sounds hard, but what if us three join forces to help the humans on info, like Fluttershy, your IN the mane 6, and Big Mac, you’re in the Apple Clan, we could ship out info to the humans and no-one would know it was us!”
“That’s sounds an awful lot of betraying trust, Lyra,” Fluttershy whispered sinking back into her mane.
“Didn’t they betray OUR trust when they became genocide enthusiasts?” Fluttershy at this completed disappeared into her mane at genocide, but Big Mac looked thoughtful.
“Ah agree with Lyra on this. The mane 6 ain’t doing what they are meant to be doing. They supposed to be keepin’ the peace, not tryna’ start wars,” stated Big Mac.
“But how would we be getting info to humans, what if we get caught doing so? I don’t want to go missing.” Fluttershy said voicing her concerns. The three of us once again fell into a peaceful silence as we contemplated our thoughts.
“What about the Changelings?” I said suddenly. When Equestria was transported to earth, some other parts of the country were dragged with it, most notably, the Badlands. Once ponies started a war with the humans, Changelings went immediately to the side of humans, but since the Changeling Hive’s location is a mystery, Celestia can’t do much to stop info being leaked to humans. “If we find the hive, we could team up with the Changelings and ship out info to them,” I completed.
“Sounds doable,” started Big Mac, “But we still dunno know where it is.”
“We don’t need to,” Fluttershy replied. “Changeling spies are everywhere; we just have to look in the right places.”
“Fluttershy, that is the smartest thing I have every heard you say,” I said smiling.
“I’ll take that as a compliment for ya own sake” Big Mac asserted with a piercing glare. “But where are the ‘right places’?”
“I would imagine the Everfree Forest,” commented Fluttershy staring past the sinister tree line like it was daring her to enter. “Lots of Changelings have been found there.”
“Well, I’m not going in there for my life, how about someplace else?” I quickly stated averting my gaze from the trees.
“Ponyville?” questioned Big Mac. “Fluttershy n’ the Mane 6 do live there; I would be surprised to not have any Changelin’ spies lurkin’ ‘round.”
“Huh, I guess we would need a Changeling detection spell,” I muttered. “And I guess I’m going to have to do it since I’m the only unicorn in this Fanatic Trifecta of ours.”
“Fanatic Trifecta, I like that…” Big Mac commented. “But where are we gonna be workin’? I can’t really lend out a shed to ya’ll without the risk of ma sisters findin’ out.”
“I have an old seed bunker in my backyard,” claimed Fluttershy. “I think it was built a long time ago, and I’ve never really used it. It’s actually pretty big with 3 underground storerooms and 2 main halls.”
“I guess that’ll have to do Flutters,” I spoke. “Can you show us?” I quickly added. Wordlessly, Fluttershy nodded and quickly picked up the still unopened picnic basket as well walked back to Fluttershy’s house. I should mention, Fluttershy lives out in the middle of no-where near the Everfree Forest, so you’d think its scary, not really. With the whole place being an animal sanctuary, it wasn’t that bad.
After crossing a small stream, Fluttershy walked off the path to her front door trailing Big Mac and me onward. A few minutes later of trekking deeper into Fluttershy’s seemingly never-ending backyard of bird feeders and fences with animals running around; we soon reached a peaceful, but eerie cellar door that was built into the ground surrounded by moss, leaves, and branches hiding it from the world. With a quiet groan, the doors opened into a nicely lit cellar. Ignoring the feeling like I might die here, I walked in with my newly found friends.
Directly down the stairs was nothing but concrete, expect for some… blast-proof doors the left hoof side.
“Fluttershy, why does this ‘seed storage’ need blast-proof doors?” I said without my shock going unnoticed.
“Oh, I um, this was here because it’s actually not a seed storage, but a seed bank if the world was to end, so it needed some defenses” spoke Fluttershy. Guessing that was the end of that. I took the honors and pushed open the steel and dusty doors to reveal another steel double door. Walking through the airlock of sorts, Fluttershy pulled open the second set of double doors to reveal nothing but a black void.
“Oh, the lights.” Fluttershy said haphazardly walking over to an out of sight wall where she flipped a switch.
BUZZ. Suddenly all the lights came on to present a huge atrium that was made purely out of concrete. Every 5 hooves on the wall was a large florescent light filling up the room powered by magic. On the very far wall of the rectangular room was another steel double-door that was embedded in the wall, and nearly out of sight was another steel double door on the very right long-side wall that led elsewhere. It was peaceful, but creepy.
“So, what do you think?” Fluttershy questioned.
“I’m thinkin’ at lotta things righta now Flutters.” Big Mac uttered looking around at the vast concrete room. “Wait, where are the seeds at?”
“Oh.” Fluttershy said. “Its just so far out from my cottage that I just left this place alone, besides, it is a little scary.”
“Ya don’t say.”
Meanwhile my brain was working overtime. This was perfect, this wasn’t just a place for talking… this was a place for meetings. This wasn’t just a HQ; this is where we could spread the word. So many options judging how those two other doors led out, we could have a printing press down here, offices, meeting rooms, and a lot of members; not to mention how far out we were.
“So whadda think Lyra?” I heard Big Mac say.
“I’m thinking lots of this Big Mac. Lots of things. We could hold meetings down here.”
“What?” Big Mac said.
“You heard me. We could have members down here as well as Changeling helpers. This place… is our Magnum Opus.”
“I guess so,” Fluttershy said. “But should we? What if we get found out?”
“We won’t Fluttershy, I’ll make sure of that. Do any of you know Human Sympathizers?” I suddenly add.
“I think I know some in Appleloosa,” said Big Mac.
“I know lots from my hate mail,” mentioned Fluttershy.
“Well, I have some jobs for you two. Fluttershy, tell Big Mac everyone you know to be a Human Sympathizer, because Big Mac, I need you to be a recruiting member at the moment,” I cried out. “Fluttershy, I need your help on making this place workable as a meeting place for members!” I continued not letting them speak. “As for me, I’m going to find us a willing changeling.”
“What?” Said Big Mac. “What if I get caught?”
“You won’t Big Mac. We need to do this.”
“Lyra, I can get some chairs and a podium, but are you sure we should do this?”
“Yes, Fluttershy, we need to for the right of Humanity!”
“So, is this a ‘done deal’? Are we gonna be betraying our kin for this?”
“We have to,” I stated. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“I guess so,” whispered Fluttershy.