The Conversion Bureau: Eleven

The Conversion Bureau: Eleven

By General_H

--Prologue, Part II--

Celestia paced along the steps, mane bristling as she thought about the current state of the humans. The destruction of the HLF had left the princess hopeful, but instead of forcing the remaining humans to accept conversion, it had strengthened them. From Pegasi reports, the CHR appeared to be an organised and armed community that would stop at nothing to survive, as oppose to the seemingly rabble-like fashion of the HLF and many other resistance forces that had once existed. This had frightened the population of Equestria and unnerved the princesses.

“Their desire to survive is uncanny. They would kill so many…”

But this was the human way. She knew that they would do anything to achieve survival, no matter the cost or repercussions on others. She turned towards the stain-glass window depicting the Elements of Harmony destroying Nightmare Moon and Discord. She saw all of these in humans, but they had never manifested. Did they manifest in humanity at all? Maybe they were just too evil. She did not know. She had hoped for the humans, but they had not changed. And now they waited for another attack, more prepared and bloodthirsty than ever before.

*

After Daniel’s speech, the festivities began. It began with a stand-up comedy from Victor, and now, two teenage boys occupied the stage. Groups of people chatted and listened to the music, bathed in moonlight. Every single person in the village seemed at least relaxed. This was what he wanted. People to be able to have a normal life.

Daniel was snapped out of his somewhat entranced state by a Sergeant taking the night drill.

“Sir, I would like you to see our training progress and…strategy.” The Sergeant said nervously.

“I’ll have a look.”

The Sergeant and Daniel walked over to the training ground, where privates were performing exercises. The Sergeant walked over to the largest group of soldiers, about eighty of them.

“Alright, PHALANX!”

The soldiers grabbed large wooden shields from beside a wall, and crouched, holding them over their head. The front group held their shields out front. Guns poked out of gaps in the shields.

The solid wall of shields would provide excellent protection against pegasi, with dive bombing being negated by bayonets sticking out the top and sides. Carpet bombing them would be almost ineffective. Earth ponies would be ridden into the ground and cut up by the longer bayonets held by the group in front.

“I’m impressed.”

“Don’t call me a genius. Call the Major a genius.” The Sergeant grinned.

A short, stocky man rose out of a tent and walked towards the two of them.

“That’s the Major.”

“Greetings, Skye.”

“Major.”

“You have seen the strategy.”

“Yes, the Sergeant showed me. The Romans had the right idea after all.”

“They certainly did. I’m not a fan of the crude shields, but they will do for now.”

“The wood will protect from the Earth pony Tazer-thingummywuts, it’s not conductive.”

“That’s a good idea. We’ll have to put a wooden back onto them.”

The two men chatted as the Sergeant disbanded the soldiers and sent them to their quarters.

“Good to meet you, Major.”

“Call me Oscar; you’re the boss around here after all. Nice meeting you too, Skye.”

The two men shook hands and left the training ground.

*

“Daniel. Daniel!”

“Wha… What?”

“We have Pegasi inbound. They have crossed the border!”

Daniel was instantly awake.

“WHAT?!”

“Everyone is readying now! You should be too!”

Daniel grabbed his carbine from his firearms case and burst out the tent. People were all over the place. Children were being ushered into buildings with their mothers. Everyone else was handed weapons and ordered to a spot on the ramparts. The Sergeant was marching two groups consisting of at least two hundred soldiers slightly outside of the camp entrance. Daniel took up a place in the makeshift ramparts next to one of the boys who had been playing the night earlier.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“James.” The boy sounded extremely nervous.

“Alright kid, looks like you’re with me. If they break through, don’t panic. Worst possible thing you could do. And also, do

what I say.”

“Okay…”

The Sergeant took his position, the last person to do so. All was silent. Then the tell-tale humming noise appeared, escalating in pitch, it was muffled until they rounded the bend. A huge flock of armoured pegasi rounded the bend and flew towards the groups of soldiers in the open.

“Get ready.”

The Pegasi were almost upon them.

“PHALANX!”

The two groups assumed their position. The dive bombing pegasi were faced with rows of bristling bayonets and shields instead of gun barrels and horrified faces. The pegasi, going too fast to stop, plunged onto the bayonets. The phalanx then began to fire. The new dive bombers were torn to shreds to fall limply upon the shields. The Pegasi became more timid each time, their attacks more concentrated and less damaging until they had petered out to nothing.

But just as the soldiers were wiping the sweat off their brows, the Earth Ponies and Unicorns arrived. The Earth Ponies were bulky powerhouses; they had tazers on their muzzles and hooves that could easily incapacitate a human so that the Unicorns could ponify them. But this was negated. The charging Earth ponies were run into the ground with the bayonets. Unicorns were torn up by gunfire. The potions fired by the Unicorns were mostly ineffective, with very few victims. The result of the battle was a field of dead ponies and only twenty-two humans lost. The humans had won the battle in just half of an hour. Cheering began, soldiers and civilians alike slapping each other on the back and congratulating one another for their courage. Daniel could not believe his eyes. He had witnessed, along with his comrades and people, with the first ever mass human victory against the might of Princess Celestia.

Victory.

Daniel tasted the word, savoured it. It tasted good.

*

Celestia stood alone in her chamber, and stared. She thought about all the ponies who had died today at the cruel hands of the humans. She had sent them in to deliver their friendship and new lives to the stubborn and protective humans, and the result had been the loss of five hundred ponies, with families and friends. They had been met with, instead of sparsely placed soldiers in sheltered positions as expected, an invincible wall of soldiers who had heartlessly killed them.

“What have I done…”

The door creaked and a dark figure cantered towards Celestia.

“Sister, is everything alright?”

“Some things are not alright, sister. We lost many today.”

“That is true. But we cannot linger in the past. We must look to the future, and find a means to end violence and death.”

“Maybe we should leave them alone?”

“They would eventually attack us. They want revenge.”

Celestia and Luna pondered in the royal chamber for hours, occasionally speaking to one another.

“I have made my decision,” Celestia said calmly.

“Go on.”

“We will spray them. We have enough of the serum to do so. I want our best Unicorns to be ready to produce a spell powerful enough to incapacitate their box-formation. Then we will flush out the rest of them. I want no more death.”

“I will inform the Captain of the Guard, unless you wish to do so yourself.”

“I will stay here. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, sister.”

“Likewise.”

*

The CHR village and camp was back into a normal routine. Daniel wolfed down his oatmeal, chatting to the military officers who he had begun to spend time with.

“…and he said ‘Vampires don’t burn, they just sparkle. Only frigging ponies sparkle, and they never sparkle for long, not long after I’ve squashed their pretty little muzzles into the dirt.”

“Hey, have I told you guys my favourite joke? It goes like this: Three guys walk into a bar.”

“And?”

“I’ve heard all of these.”

“Yeah, an Englishman, and Irishman and a Scotsman.”

“What about a Welshman?”

“There’s never a Welshman. So racist.”

“Don’t you get it?”

“Yes we get it. You have the weirdest sense of humour.”

“Oh, I get it! Hah!”

Daniel grinned. He finished his oatmeal and left the table, feeling warm inside. Spirits were extremely high in the camp, with the Victory over the ponies few days ago along with the birth of a boy and a girl. Things were on the up and up. Daniel left the mess hall and walked around the camp, overseeing education, military training and supply management. The village was always full of things to do. Being a teacher once himself, Daniel spent a little more time at the schools than the other parts of the village, assisting in teaching things like English and Maths, which the students would need when human life returned to the way it was twenty years ago.

A Guard suddenly burst in.

“Sir, we have mass movement near our borders. We believe it to be another army of at least nine thousand ponies as well as some sort of giant artillery piece.”

“Well fuck. Is everyone alerted?”

“The Lieutenant is doing so now. Grab your firearms and such; we need everyone who can fight manning the ramparts and redoubts. I don’t think just our Phalanxes will be enough this time.”

“Okay, thank you Sergeant.”

*

Daniel crouched inside a rampart, his eyes on the horizon. Everyone could hear them now, the flapping of wings and the thundering of hooves. He was with the same kid as last time, James.

“Alright kiddo, we’re going to be fine. We’re going to win this.”

“I know. But you told me it was going to be more difficult the next time there was an attack.”

“Maybe you’ll actually have to aim and fire that pop gun of yours. Dan gestured to the small AUG the boy held. But you’ll probably be safe.”

Daniel was silent as the ponies rounded the bend, and you could hear every single human in the ramparts gasp.

The ponies had constructed something resembling a humungous horn.

“Holy crap.”

“That’s a shitload of ponies.

The ponies came slightly closer, and then they stopped. A light green unicorn emerged from the ranks.

“Humans, we beckon you to a greater and sweeter life in Equestria! Your friends and families await your arrival with open arms. Simply lay down your arms, and you will be delivered peacefully into new lives.

A few yells echoed through the landscape

“LIAR!”

“We’ll burn in hell first!”

“Leave us alone!”

“Very well, said the Unicorn, sounding dejected.

“PHALANX!”

“Open fire!”

The humans ripped the front line of ponies to shreds. Pegasi took off from the ranks, their formation so dense that they obscured the clouds. Each pegasi held a unicorn, throwing vast amounts of potions at the Phalanx and the ramparts. But the human defences held firm. Shell after shell was fired into the Earth pony line. Snipers picked off key figures with ease, their shots echoing across the battlefield. Soldiers in the ramparts sat hunched, firing at ponies within range. The Phalanx was undaunted. Many more ponies were dying than humans being converted. The central flag still stood tall, and the humans had the upper hand.

But, out of the blue, a sound resonated across the land.

It was the sound of Equestria.

The beautiful sounds of paradise filled the minds of the humans. Some completely succumbed to the sound, and ran out to the ponies, begging for conversion. The more determined struggled against the musical spell. The ponies now advanced, mostly unimpeded. The Earth ponies broke through the ramparts, swiftly disabling humans so that they could be converted. Dan watched in horror as his friends were transformed, helpless to stop the tide. The potion rain created by the pegasi made it impossible to run up any small passes; they were confined to the ramparts. The human defences began to collapse.

“Fuck this,” Someone said, running out to join the ever-growing number of ponies.

Dan began to feel despair. His dream or recreating humanity was turning to ashes in his mouth. The remaining humans kept firing, moving back ramparts and downing as many ponies as they could manage.

The Phalanxes had been destroyed, and the enemy had full access to the camp. More and more ponies pushed into the defences, stamping out resistance with ease.

“This is fruitless! Dan yelled, stabbing an over-exited pony in the haunch. Fall back!”

Then the flag fell, severed by a bolt of magic. It was over.

The remaining Humans retreated. The slower were captured and converted. More and more ponies gave chase until the small group of humans remaining were pushed out of the camp and forced to make a break for the ruins of the city. Potions rained down on the running humans.

“AAAGH NOO! My hands, I’ll never become an author now!” The man began to sob, but as the fur spread he laughed crazily.

More and more were being struck down behind him, but Daniel kept running.

“This feels…beautiful…”

“I can see my family, in Equestria!”

Dan’s face began to burn. Humans, people, friends; their lives, their minds and their opposable thumbs stolen from them, for what? Dan began to feel true hatred. Hatred for the Princess who snatched his family, friends and comrades from his fingertips. Hatred for each and every pony that existed.

He ducked through an alley and down a sewer. The stench was unbearable, but he kept running. Up some stairs, through another manhole and he was back on the road. Dan felt his legs begin to give way, his vision blurred and hazy from fatigue. He forced himself to keep running, but his body caught up with him. He collapsed into a gutter and blacked out.

*

“….He’s in a right state, all bruised and mangled...”

“We all are.”

Dan felt himself coming to, the voices of others echoing through his ears.

“Oh thank god, he’s awake.”

Dan shot up and tried to grab his pistol to discover that it was not there.

“Who are you?!”

“We’re survivors, Daniel. Drink this.”

Daniel stared at the clear liquid in the mug.

“What the hell is this stuff… smells like nothing… I Might as well drink it.” He thought.

Dan drank the clear liquid.

“Stop staring at it, it’s water. You’re extremely dehydrated.”

“So… where are we?”

“In a basement. We have been here for almost 2 days.”

“And we haven’t found any humans.”

“Well, that’s not so good.”

“Not so good is right. We’re the only people in this whole place. There’s nowhere else safe to go. The lake and most of the city is crawling with ponies.

Dan sat up against the wall, chest heaving.

"Right then. Let’s get moving.”

“Whoa, just calm down! We need to stay safe. There are still loads out there.”

“We can only stay safe by moving. Eleven humans in a basement versus billions of ponies?”

“Honestly, I think Dan’s right. Movement is our best bet.”

“Get out quick and travel inside buildings until we can find some kind of off-road vehicle or something.”

“We’ll travel to Russia.”

“That’s ages away!”

“Want to survive, kid? Deal with it. We’re going to have to deal with shit if we are the last eleven humans on Earth.”

“What? No, there must be some around.”

“Let’s face it. We must have been at the front of the escaping group. People barely a metre behind be were being hit. The chance of other humans being around is nil.”

“You aren’t Daniel Skye.”

“Daniel Skye is a human with hopes and dreams. Those hopes and dreams are shattered, Daniel said coldly. Let’s move.”

The group of humans left the building, dejected by Daniel’s harsh words.

“We can’t be the last eleven, Thought James, staring at Daniel’s emotionless face as he walked. That’s impossible.” But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He resigned to the hypothesis and kept walking, thinking of the journey ahead and what it would bring.

End of Prologue.

Author’s Note:

This one was somewhat rushed due to upcoming exams. Expect a while until the next one. Feel free to be nitpicky and tell me about huge mistakes or inconsistencies or not enough bananas or whatever as long as you tell me how I can improve; otherwise it just hinders my progress. Haters and Cynical people will be killed with trays.