The Conversion Bureau

Fanfiction
Title:	The Conversion Bureau
Author(s):	Blaze
Date(s):	2011
Length:
Genre(s):
Fandom(s):	My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Relationship(s):
External Links:	The original story (Equestria Daily) Compiliation on Equestria Daily Chatoyance's TCB Group on FIMFiction The Original TCB Group Alternative Conversion Bureau Stories on FIMFiction TV Tropes page
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The Conversion Bureau (abbreviated as TCB) is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfic written by Blaze, which in turn spawned a subgenre of fanfic in the MLP fandom with other writers using the same elements and premise.

Content

The original Conversion Bureau story centers on a young man named Ethan who seeks to become a pony and interacts with the Mane Six. The story was left unfinished after four chapters, as Blaze discontinued it.

One of the most notorious Conversion Bureau authors is Jennifer Diane Reitz, aka Chatoyance, who is widely credited for codifying much of the lore and canon of TCB. In her stories, the earth is over-exploited, ruined, and dying, and only three generations are left to humanity. Because of a promise she made to a man in the England of the 1300's, Celestia reluctantly offers escape to Equestria as a lifeboat to save mankind. Escape from the doomed earth has a price: transformation into Equestrian form - the alien physics of her Equestria are deadly to all forms of terrestrial life. Humans are allowed to choose whether to emigrate to Equestria, but the choice is difficult since the alternative is a slow and certain death. Transformation is permanent, and while the converted former humans are expected to integrate into the native Equestrian culture, many programs exist in Chatoyance's stories to preserve the best of human culture and civilization within Equestria. These programs are run almost entirely by Celestia's sister, Luna, who also secretly preserves works that are forbidden or otherwise disapproved of by Celestia.

Other fanfics, particularly those from the "Alternative Conversion Bureau" (formerly known as "Anti-Conversion Bureau") group serve as deconstructions of the premise, usually playing up the transformational aspects of ponification for horror and tragedy and/or having the humans retaliate against and fight off the ponies. The most well known of these stories include The Conversion Bureau: Not Alone, The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum and The Negotiations Series.

Reception

The original Conversion Bureau story has been widely regarded as being badly written and full of unfortunate implications. Many felt that Blaze had an intriguing concept but lacked the writing skills to execute it well.

While Chatoyance's particular version of TCB became popular in its own right, its more radical approach to the premise has also attracted an equally large opposition; during the peak years of the controversy surrounding TCB, just mentioning her name in certain places was enough to start a flame war. Additionally, the effect her work had on the community basically overshadowed the original story, in that elements from her stories became many of the conventions used in future TCB stories, with many authors referencing or taking inspiration from her work.

At its height, the Conversion Bureau community sported one of the largest groups on FIMFiction and constantly attracted new authors. However, it also spawned a large number of vocal detractors who criticized many of the stories for being misanthropic and portraying the ponies as overly perfect and Equestria as being too idyllic a society (while ignoring the many dangerous creatures known to reside there, as well as the fact that the series has many antagonistic ponies as well), which in turn spawned a subgenre of stories dedicated to deconstructing the premise. As a whole, TCB is considered one of the biggest "base breakers" of the the MLP fanfiction community. Either one loves it or hates it, with very few claiming a middle ground on the issue.

History

Blaze was originally inspired to write The Conversion Bureau out of a strong desire to visit the world of Equestria for himself, which got him interested in the 'human in Equestria' genre of MLP fanfic. During a period of self-proclaimed "extreme obsession", he attempted to write one for himself and never expected it to get as popular - or infamous - as it did. His stated goal was to create a simple story of humans going to Equestria and back, while drawing comparisons between the two worlds. He also said he read stories about how Equestria was actually a post-apocalyptic Earth set in the far future and wanted to create a less "grimdark" explanation as to why there were no humans in MLP, a statement that would be seen by many as darkly ironic in retrospect given the implications he never intended to convey. While becoming a pony is more or less voluntary, the entirety of humanity is facing extinction not simply from pollution, plague, or economic problems, but also because of a magical barrier or "purification spell" originating from Equestria's expanding borders that is harmful to humans. Critics were quick to point out that the humans were basically being forced to become another species as an ultimatum, with some even going so far as to call it genocide. While Blaze adamantly denies that he is a misanthrope, he nevertheless appeared to harbor an unusually strong admiration for ponies, such as referring to the world of Equestria as a "heavenly paradise". While he probably doesn't actually hate humans, he's likely disillusioned with society at large, using ponies as a form of escapism. Supporting this notion is the fact that the Earth is written as bleak dystopia, and that humans are hardly ever portrayed in a positive manner. Additionally, the story carries heavy implications of ponies being inherently morally superior for the sole reason that they are ponies.

Due to the backlash, as well as a loss in interest, Blaze discontinued the story and as it stands, he has no plans to finish it. The original Conversion Bureau story was widely regarded as poorly written and Blaze himself acknowledged that while he had an interesting premise, his skills at executing said premise were lacking. As a result, other writers took the concept to either "fix" the premise and present a more balanced viewpoint, or to create better-written stories based on what was seen as an intriguing but poorly executed concept. One particular author, Jennifer Diane Reitz, aka Chatoyance, decided to take the idea even further.

Within FIMFiction, Chatoyance has her own section in the TCB universe called "The Chatoyaverse", a fanfic series with an enormous number of stories, some as part of a series, others as one-offs. However, they generally share the same elements--the magical barrier is expanding and will not only kill all humans, but destroy their civilization too, erasing mankind's entire culture from existence; Celestia is an immortal goddess doing this for their own good, as are the other ponies; the potion is explicitly said to completely alter the user's mind by removing any negative thoughts from their brain, makes the ponies unwavering in their loyalty to Celestia, even if before they were the most hardcore pro-human rebels and they are reprogrammed to be pansexual. Critics likened this to mind control and brainwashing, making the prospect of being turned into a pony even more disturbing. Chatoyance's particular version of TCB drew its own band of followers, but its more radical approach to the premise attracted vocal opposition as well. On top of that, she had further gone on to claim that not only were her stories the definitive version of TCB, but even of the actual show itself, stating it was more in line with "Lauren Faust's original vision."

Chatoyance had many critics, some of the most vocal of which would come from the SpaceBattles writing community. Writers like Starman Ghost and Dalek IX would write their own take on TCB, either satirizing or deconstructing everything perceived as wrong with both the original story and Chatoyance's version. These would range from the well-received deconstructionist satire Not Alone to the silly parody Wrong Universe, which themselves helped solidify the deconstruction camp in the TCB writing community. This led to the founding of the "Anti-Conversion Bureau" community of writers coming up with their own interpretations of what they saw was wrong with the TCB universe, which drew the ire of other writers. The drama generated by the fights between the pro-TCB and anti-TCB sides, and especially by Chatoyance herself, would have a strong negative impact on writing communities. Not only was FIMfiction affected by flame wars and harassment, but other websites such as TV Tropes and even SpaceBattles had to clamp down on discussion in order to prevent hostilities from re-emerging. Once the peak controversy cooled down, however, both sides agreed to a truce to not bother one another. Chatoyance herself became inactive in the aftermath.

Meta/Further Reading

• The Horse, Her Robot Clone, and the Theological Argument That Lasts To This Day by str8aura on r/HobbyDrama