The Conversion Bureau: The Madman

Chapters

Chapter One: Close But No Cigar
Chapter Three: Taking The First Steps
Chapter Four: The Plot Thickens
Chapter Five: Reflections I
Chapter Six: Reflections II
Chapter Seven: Up A Blind Alley
Chapter Eight: Battle Plans
Chapter Two: If You Play Your Cards Right...

Chapter One: Close But No Cigar

“Caroline, change my meeting to 11:30.”

“Yes, Delvin.” Caroline intoned with a relaxing but mechanical voice. I still don’t know why I named her Caroline, but it stuck. Out of all the names I could’ve picked, I named her Caroline. I sipped on my coffee as I looked through my datapad.

“Caroline, add these names to my Datapad’s Lexicon.”

“Certainly, Delvin.”

“Gerald Withers: Caucasian male. Age 23. HLF activist and a messenger within the area.

Mikail Rosen: Caucasian male. Age 41. HLF lieutenant and drug operations. High value target.

Marcus Deran: African American male. Age 36. HLF lieutenant, terrorist. High value target. Get that, Caroline?”

“Of course, Delvin. Uploading to Datapad Lexicon.” I lazily stood from my seated position and walked over to my balcony. The doors slid open with a swish, and I stepped out into the cool, black moonlight. I proceeded to look out over the city below. New Roanoke’s lights could be viewed from a hundred miles away, it would seem. Not that anyone would want to go outside of the city that far. There wasn’t much beyond the city, just countryside. Sure, there were still many population centers scattered about, but this city was the largest hub of life for hundreds of miles. The city of New Roanoke provided opportunity.

By 2042, the world’s population soared to a staggering 15 billion. It wasn’t much of a problem, considering we had already built massive arcologies for the increasing human population. We also had discovered interplanetary travel by 2030, allowing us to travel to distant planets to mine for building materials. We had it good here on good ol' planet Earth, oh yes we did.

I gazed across the slightly orange sky, and into the not so distant Appalachian mountains. Forty years ago, this city was only but a shadow of what it is today. The pioneering of interplanetary travel gave birth to a whole new city, one that would lead mankind into a prosperous future. Martin was a brilliant mind, able to complete that legendary vessel in only 2 years like that was remarkable. Everyone thought that it would happen much later than 2030, and we definitely surprised ourselves. It didn't take long for this city to grow from the effects of the Space Renaissance.

Life wasn’t all that bad, especially due to my adventurous life as a freelancer. I lent my skills to whomever needed them, except the PER or the HLF. Those people are all insane. However, I would gladly kill one. My friends and family don’t care much for my line of work, but hey, Money’s money.

More than a year back, some sort of ‘portal’ opened in the Pacific. It was basically a 100 mile bubble, expanding ever so slightly every day. The United Earth Government attempted to blow it up, realizing that it would eventually expand to North American Shores. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver… All of these megacities would be destroyed, and billions would be lost. On this random day, May 14th I believe, all of a sudden this beautiful creature emerges from behind the iron barrier. This was considered first contact with a sentient species not of our own. She announced that she was in fact the ruler of an entire country of beings like herself, and her name was Celestia. She resembled the form of a horse, but retained a fictional and alien quality. She also possessed wings and a single horn upon her head. At first, it was considered to be a hoax, due to the fairytale-esque element, but soon proved to be the truth. She announced that she had limited to no control over the expanding bubble, and revealed the land inside to be a separate universe, or cosmos, named Equestria. For a time, nothing was done. For 2 whole months, nothing was done to combat this slowly expanding malevolence. Upon discovering that the portal gave off extremely high amounts of Thaumatic radiation, or "magic", enabling widespread panic to envelop the west coast of North America and the east coast of Asia. Revealing herself a second time, in a desperate attempt to save humanity from their extermination, she offered to attend a conference with the leaders of the United Nations and the UEG. The convention lasted for about a week, and when they finally revealed their intentions, Humanity was a bit uneasy, to say the least. A solution, a medical treatment involving the combined efforts of the Equestrians and the UEG would be implemented to save humanity. This treatment would transform humans into the Equestrian race in order to withstand the portal’s influence. A combined effort between the two, the Conversion Bureaus were created. This office would oversee the ultimate salvation of mankind. At first, many Humans rejected this treatment, and the centers remained empty. 3 months after the convention and the establishment of the Bureaus, The bubble proceeded to engulf the islands of Hawaii. Many a mind was changed after this event.

The first was the west coast, who proceeded to lose about a half of their human population. After word got out about the wonders of conversion, the rest of the world followed. A steady decline over several months was observed, and now only about 15 billion humans remain. About 1 billion humans have been lost to the wonders of conversion.

New Roanoke has observed a population decline of about a ninth of its Human population. New Roanoke is a human city, based on human ideals. Hell, it’s the birthplace of the FTL drive, the next step into human exploration. The future of humanity is what this city’s all about. You will rarely find any “ponies” (The name stuck because of their equine-esque form) in New Roanoke. The majority of those converted moved to Equestria, anyway. I mean, why the hell not? The place is apparently like a paradise. The only notable pony worth knowing in New Roanoke is Dr. Martin’s colleague, Walter Verga, who is his top researcher. Verga notably designed, along with Martin, the Centurion Power Armor, Soaren Power Armor, the Brutus Cloak, and many other combat oriented devices. I mention this mostly because I have, let’s say, ’special’ connections with Martin Industries, and being one of their most useful resources has granted me much.

I proceeded to whip out my pack, and light one up. I wasn’t a big smoker, mostly because I had to stay pretty healthy in my line of work, but today was just one of those days. My cousin dropped by this morning, which he rarely does. Even more unusual was the fact that it was 7 AM on a Saturday.
******

“Delvin!” He wrapped his skinny arms around me.

“John? The fuck you doing here, man? Thought you got that news gig out in LA!!”

“Well, I don’t know.” He walked into my sunlit living room. “In a year, it’ll be consumed by another universe. Besides, it’s too hot.” He replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“I mean, I’m always open to the job. That’s kind of why I came here. We need to talk.” A bit of worry seeped into my nerves, causing my limbs to feel like they were dipped into cold water.

“What’s on your mind?” I sat down on my leather couch.

“Well, I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh, here it comes…” I thought to myself.

“Maybe Ponification isn’t such a bad idea after all. That job could mean a lot of things for me, and if it’s swallowed up into Equestria, at least I won’t have any worries about not getting out in time.” John said solemnly.

“John, you do realize that this means giving up your humanity, right? You won’t be able to eat meat anymore, sex will come on four legs, and if someone gets mad at you, it just hurts. You can’t say fuck, shit, or even damn without feeling like you’re about to get punched in the face. I mean, when someone picks a fight with you, can all you do is love the shit out of ‘em? They’re fucking horses!” I was pretty satisfied with the last few words that came out of my mouth.

“Delvin, I’ve never been one for aggression. It ruins people. It ruins lives. And they’re called Ponies, not Horses.” John replied matter-of-factly.

“I’m not much for aggression either, but… It’s part of humanity. My humanity is important to me. And being one of… Them, would take it away from me.”

“Bro, you kill people for a living. Aggression would seem to be your thing.” He retorted with an amused smile on his clean shaven muzzle.

“Bad people. Terrorists. Drug runners. Corrupt Big Wigs. I don’t kill out of hate, I kill… To save lives.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You know, being a pony doesn’t take away your aggression. But being given a new beginning like that just changes you.” He stood up and looked down into my weary eyes.

“I’ll see you in a week. Don’t expect a human.” He turned and hastily walked out my door.
******

Ever since early this morning, I’ve been lying in bed, thinking. Tonight I was gunning for a man named Marcus Deran, a terrorist that had enough money to fund the colonization of fucking Pluto. That said, he typically went a bit crazy with his money. Most recently, his involvement with the Human Liberation Front escalated to a terrorist attack on a Bureau in Miami, killing 18 people. He wasn’t there when it happened, but he certainly orchestrated it. He lives in the penthouse of a suave hotel downtown, and that’s where I plan to take the shot. I flicked my cancer stick off the balcony and walked back inside.

“Caroline. Open the ‘hidey hole’.” I chuckled at the name I had given my armory. A hidden door painted the same color as the wall hissed open as the trapped air inside was released. Since this was a stealth operation, I adorned some advanced Mk. IV Soaren Armor with a built in Brutus Cloak. The cloak would provide me with some enhanced stealth. It seemed to do the job with sensors and things of that nature, but sound was still an issue. My armor had some built-in muffling capabilities, along with a helmet that eliminated the sound of breath. I could be pretty much undetectable if I used the equipment the right way. I opted for my Mantis Sniper rifle along with my silenced Remus magnum. To be honest, I looked like a badass, and for all intents and purposes, I was. As a final touch, I adorned a jet black trench coat over my armor. I exchanged the helmet for a pair of HUD glasses very similar to Adam Jensen’s glasses from the Deus Ex video games. When I was a kid, I took an interest in old video games. Having my father been a large gamer when he was a kid, he shared his treasures with me. When I adorned my shades, my armory lit up with my current health figures, compass, and motion tracker. I linked my weapons to the device so I could see my ammunition and weapon condition as well. I was geared up, and ready for a night on the town. Only I would be killing a millionaire inside his penthouse that was likely heavily guarded and fortified. However, I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing. I uploaded the blueprints to my HUD and could access them whenever I wanted. As for the guards, I would just have to observe their movements.

“Caroline, Security protocol 4.”

“Yes, Delvin.” I stepped out into the polished wooden hallway of my apartment. I took the middle elevator to the Lobby, and walked meaningfully through the sliding doors which led to the now wet sidewalk. Finally realizing the harms of fossil fuel, humanity started to use Hydrogen fuel in their vehicles. Though highly flammable, the only product is pure water. I drive a Saraph, myself. They’re fast and reliable, just like me. Also surprisingly quiet.

When I drive through the city, it calms me a bit. Seeing the looming skyscrapers and magnificent architecture of the new age buildings has always mystified me since I was little. My dad took me to New York City when I was 10, and I loved every bit of it. Tonight, however, I couldn’t take in the sights and sounds, I had to focus. The building was near the Old Roanoke District in the very center of the city. Raining quite heavily now, I stepped out of my car and into the dark alley I had parked it in. The old part of Roanoke had architecture dating back to the early 1900’s, which provided a great contrast within the city. A lot of people liked it here. They liked to meet, and go to fancy restaurants and bars where they would hang out and talk about stupid shit that didn’t even matter. I wasn’t exactly up for it right now, however. The striking hotel building easily dwarfed the other smaller buildings in the center city, and it was easy to plot my exits. I planned to parachute out of the top floor and land upon one of the older buildings below. Anyway, I was in.

“Excuse me sir, how may I help you?” The timid young bellhop asked as I entered the elevator.

“Penthouse.” I chose to say it with as much seriousness as I could to deter him from asking any questions.

“Y-Yes sir.” As we reached the top floor, I pulled up my transparent layout on my HUD. Deran’s Penthouse was easily the biggest one here. I decided to expect resistance at the door.

Just as I expected, I rounded the corner to find two armed guards. I quickly reminded myself of my knife inside my coat.

“Gentlemen, I was wondering if you could help me find this room here.” As I pretended to search for the fake note to show them, I latched onto my knife and aimed for their necks. Before they could even make a sound, they clutched their necks and went down. I grabbed one of their pass cards and used it to open the door. I activated my cloak and crouched down a bit to avoid making too much noise. I watched my motion sensor to detect guard shifts, and in truth, the place wasn’t heavily guarded. Maybe about 2 guards patrolled, but other than that, he had pretty limited security. I pulled out and unfolded my Mantis, and used its infrared sights to pick up any other guards that could possibly be stationary. I confirmed my suspicions of a limited security force, and proceeded to take out the two remaining guards. Only then I realized that Deran had company. Presumably male, I could hear the two in the distant lounge arguing about something. I turned on my audio link and sent the incoming audio back to Caroline’s Data core.

“You have no Idea what you’re doing Kaleth. What if it’s not safe? What if it affected Humans?”

“Oh Mark, always lacking in good judgement!”

I proceeded to sneak into the lounge, where the two men were speaking. I spotted Deran sitting on a luxurious white sofa while a tall, eccentric looking man with greying hair spoke down to him as he paced about the floor. I decided to hold out a bit longer before I attacked the two lone men. Whatever they were talking about could be important.

“Dear Marcus, I come to you at a time of need. A time of salvation! A time of action! Isn’t this what we’ve strived to do? This… Plague cannot last. It must be exterminated.”

“Kaleth, what if we can’t stop it? What if it spreads to fast, and we can’t contain it?”

“YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, DAMMIT! We will reach our goal! It is only a matter of time! Now, I’ve decided not to raze this place to the ground. A month, Marcus, a MONTH! Or… Maybe a week. No, no, no that won’t do. A month! Guards, bring me that wretched rat listening to us. Don’t want him to reveal our ‘secret’ plans, eh? EH? HAHA! More tea, Marcus my dear?” Suddenly, two gigantic arms lifted me off my feet and brought me over to the madman.

“Now who, are you? Nope, don’t answer that. My son? No, no, don’t have a son anymore. Killed him! HA!! Are you… Mah brother?!?! Nope! Can’t be! Threw him off the Eifel tower, that one! HO, ho!! A fun one, he was. Ahh yes. You… You don’t know who ya are, do ya? Do you have any idea what you’ve stumbled into? That little brain of yours can only handle so much! Ah well, I suppose I’ll tear out your intestines, and hang ya with ‘em!! Or… Better yet…” The homicidally insane man exposed a small cylindrical can from his coat, opened it, and pulled out a small white capsule.

“This should be fun!” The two guards held my mouth open with an amazing amount of force, while the man dropped the capsule into the back of my throat. I struggled to get out of the grasp of the formerly hidden guardsmen, only to find out that they had dropped me already. It still felt like they were clutching me…

“IIIIII’ve been known to change my mind…. SO! I’ve changed my mind! Burn it to the ground! I’m deeply sorry, Marcus, my boy, but my mind is a bit hard to control. Ta-TA!” The man strutted oddly out of the room, and presumably exited the building. The guards however, stayed behind and planted explosives throughout the Penthouse.

“You should probably get out… The building will be set ablaze from below as well.” Marcus ran for the door. I couldn’t speak, nor could I see straight, but I had to manage on my own. I made it back to the Elevator, which I knew was not an option. I headed for the stairs, the blueprint barely visible through my blurry vision. Everything I touched had an after effect, like it was still there in my grasp. I struggled to make it down the stairs without falling over myself. I don’t know when I started to smell the smoke, but it soon flooded the stairway. The fire was already in action below me. I knew I had to continue on even through the smoke, as it was the only way to hopefully survive. I surmised that ‘Kaleth’ had given me a neurotoxin of some sort. I was able to make out my floor, 5, as the fire came into view. I had to sprint through it, knowing the possible consequences. By the time I had reached the second level, the smoke and fire became thick. This level was a restaurant, and I knew big picture windows were probably prominent here. I waded through debris the best I could, and found the perfect window to leap out of. By now, my hair, skin, and lungs were already pretty much ruined. The fire was raging, and by the time I geared up to jump, I heard probably the loudest thing I have ever heard, and considering whatever the madman gave me, it was probably enhanced by the effects of the toxin. The explosives were detonated, and the building started crashing down above me. In my fading consciousness, I sprinted to the window, and dived. I had made a leap of faith, and the building sent out a plume of dust as it came down upon the age old streets of Old Roanoke, and more importantly, me.

Chapter Three: Taking The First Steps

So my father was one of the most well-known innovators of the 21st century. My life should’ve been luxurious, but I was never really fond to the idea of being pampered. By the time I was 7, my father had an accumulated a massive amount of credits. His success granted us the lives of kings, and therefore became them. I still went to public school, but it was hard sometimes. I shadowed his success and tried not to make a big deal out of it it, especially if it was brought up in conversation.

When I became 18, I just got up and left. I realized that that life was not what I had wanted. I still remained in touch with my father, but if he offered me creds, a job, or anything of the like, I would swiftly refuse the offer. In the time that I was on my own, I became a freelancer, much to the disapproval of my father. Nevertheless, I loved my line of work. I never thought that I would kill for a living, but I had finally found something that I liked. It wasn’t the killing as much as being adventurous, or stealthy. Something about sneaking into gang hideouts and corporate headquarters satisfied me beyond the reasonable limit. I always had a teeny bit of trouble killing, though. To know the hardships the person had faced, how much they had gone through, and their trek down the wrong path had all led to that one moment. That one moment where it could all be taken away by the sharp edge of a blade… That always bothered me. But once I thought about the evils they committed and the ones to come, killing came easily to me.

When my father found out about the work I was doing, he offered me a position of head security at his headquarters. I refused, of course, and assured him that I had found my profession. Coming to terms with this, he realized that he could use me. In my final days as a freelancer, most of my contracts came from him and detailed PER or HLF assassinations. When the portal opened, my father sought to unravel the mysteries behind it. The HLF formed soon after Celestia revealed herself, and hastily gathered strength. Putting his work in jeopardy, my father started to bless me with contracts. In the beginning, the HLF planned to assassinate my father, but their plans were corrupted by me when I took out their regional leader. The assassination plots continued for a while, but died down about two months ago. Now my father had me target any threat to public safety within the HLF and PER. Terrorists, drug runners, lieutenants, etc. My life was pretty relaxing for the past two months, up until now, that is.

“Dad. Sleep?” I asked him seriously.

“Look, it’s 6 in the morning. In two hours or so, Walter will be returning along with your mother. John is already here and well asleep. He came the morning of the day you were in the accident to get converted. Had he told you?” My father began his explanation clearly but trailed off near the end.

“Yeah he dropped by that morning. We kind of had a little spat, but we aren’t mad at each other or anything.” I began to notice tiny rays of light peak through the blinds of my windows. It was still extremely early outside however, leaving my hospital room pretty dark.

“Well, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t keep you waiting.” He sighed exhaustingly as if he had been stressed for a while. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.” He slouched back on a chair close to my bedside, and began to listen intently.

“Oh, um, alright… Why am I a pony? For starters, I didn’t take that much damage from the fall or the collapse. My armor and shields protected me from a lot of things.” I began to hazily recall climbing out of the rubble.

“Indeed. The exterior of your body was fairly unscathed. But on the inside, your lungs were in horrid condition. Your lungs were repaired to near perfect condition, I may say…” His expression turned to a depressed, almost aggravated form.

“That doesn’t explain why I’m… Well, this.” I held up my right hoof and examined it with a bit of disdain. I exhaled with a slight shudder and looked over to my father. He retained a rather ghastly appearance, as if he hadn’t been well rested in a few days.

“I was… Getting to that… At first, you were fine. Perfectly healthy with only a few minor burns and scrapes on your face. They said you would be perfectly okay, and that you would be waking up soon, but… Days passed. Two days past and you were still in a coma. That’s when they called me and told me that you were dying. Slowly, but dying. Your organs were failing, and there wasn’t any explanation to why. They confirmed that you had indeed gone blind, and become paralyzed from the neck down. They figured out all of this with readers, as you were asleep. They couldn’t figure out why, nor did they have any treatment for you. Well, except one. As you know, ponification eliminates all previous ailments and health problems. Instead of waiting for you to die, I decided that I would get you ponified instead. After the procedure, they confirmed that you were alive and well. I decided to stay overnight, and wait for you to wake up. Delvin, you should be grateful you’re alive.

I wasn’t paying much attention to him after the ‘Paralyzed from the neck down part’. This was truly bizarre. For all that to just happen? Impossible. Then it hit me like a truck.

“The Pill. The Drug. That’s why I was dying.” I stared blankly into space as my mind wrapped around this new concept.

“The Pill?” My father took on a look of horror-confusion.

“Yes. Instead of meeting Deran alone in his penthouse, someone else was there, arguing with him over something. The other man somehow knew I was there, and two guards appeared out of nowhere. They took me hostage while the man forced me to take some kind of pill. He turned to leave, saying “raze it to the ground” and left his guards to plant explosives. Deran escaped, and I did as well, only barely making it out before the collapse. When the man was talking to Deran, he kept saying “a month”. That’s all I remember.” I felt really depressed now, not being able to stop the man from killing all of those people.

“His name.” My father took on an overly serious psyche.

“What?”

“His name. What was the man’s name?” He appeared to be in very deep thought.

“Uh… I think Deran called him something along the lines of ‘Kaleth’. You know-“He rose to his bipedal stance and walked over to the door with a purpose. I now remembered that I wouldn’t be able to walk on two legs like that ever again, and shrunk a bit.

“Where are you going? Dad?” He was out of the room before I could say anything else. All of the sudden, I felt extremely lonely. I gazed out into the hallway of what I now know is a Conversion Bureau. Kaleth. That name meant something to him. I began to look around a bit more.

There wasn’t anything really in the room except a bed, some cabinets, and a closet. The room wasn’t designed to be applicable with medical equipment, and just looked like a hotel room with linoleum floors and white walls. It was rather small, clearly designed for only one person, yet it still felt big and slightly chilly. The bed was comfortable enough; however, something was odd about it. It wasn’t designed for any normally sized human, and was slightly smaller than anything I knew. I don’t exactly know how long I lay there, but I must’ve fallen to sleep.

“Mr. Martin, time to wake up.” I stirred from my slumber to find that a white Unicorn had been nudging me softly with her hoof. She had a corn silk mane and tail.

“I fell asleep?” I asked her rhetorically.

“Oh, you were already up?” Light surprise coated her vocals.

“Well, yeah… I already know what’s going on. I woke up at about six and freaked out, but my dad left unexpectedly.” I thought back to my life changing awakening, and remembered that my dad left when I mentioned Kaleth.

“Hmm. Well, I’m just glad you’re okay. Your father returned along with some others. Should I send them i-“She halted unexpectedly as I began to hear a commotion down the hall.

“Where is he?!? Where’s my son?” My mother could be heard with her unmistakable voice.

“He’s down the hall Ma’am, room 13. But, we were told not to let anyone in until he was secured.” A monotone male nurse informed my worry-induced mother. Paying little to no regard to the nurse’s words of warning, I could hear her panicked footsteps resounding off the walls. As they neared, I steeled myself. A shadowed figure stopped in front of the door, revealing that the lights outside of my room were brighter than the ones inside. I witnessed her lower jaw drop open as she looked about me. Entering slowly, she began to speak.

“D-Delvin?” She was really worried now, visually shaking.

“M-Mom?” I called back to her, what followed was a long silence. In part to disbelief on her part, and hope on mine.

“Mom… I-It’s me, Delvin… Please Mom…”

“No... No… You… You can’t…” She looked on the verge of tears as my father suddenly came into view, and put his arm around her quivering body. She turned to him as he gently wrapped his other arm around her in an embrace.

“Miri… Please, he is our son. I know it’s hard to believe, but you have to understand. It was the only way…” My heart fairly broken, I began to sob quietly. I didn’t put my accursed forelegs up to catch the tears, nor did I try to hold them back. My own mom doesn’t even love me anymore… She thinks I’m a goddamn freak with hooves. To be honest, I’d believe anything at the moment, and my mind was jumping to conclusions which only further worsened my broken heart. Damn these godforsaken pony emotions!

“Honey, please… You’re upsetting him… He feels bad enough already. It’s not his fault…” My father said under his breath. My mother almost cut in.

“Just… If he didn’t do the things he did… Why does he have to do all those dangerous things? He was almost killed, Eric! And now… Look at him. He’s not my little Devy anymore…”

“Oh my god… Mom please!?!? I love you Mom…” My sobs broke into audible weeping as I shuddered with every hastily exhale. Sitting up in the bed now, I looked down at my damp sheets salty with my fresh tears. Dammit. I was an emotional wreck. I’ve killed a lot of men, and you would figure I was tough as nails, but having your parents, especially your mom, reject you like that hurts. A lot.

I began to feel warmth surround me. It was my mom who had begun to hug me. I felt her hands moving about my back, feeling my furry coat.

“Mom? I…” I was cut off,

“Shh… It’s okay. I didn’t mean the things I said. You are my son, and I’ll always love you. Don’t ever stop believing that. I was just shocked, as all.” Relief flooded my head and my body began to feel light. I was still shaking as an after effect, however. I reached my hooves up and wrapped them around her.

“I-I love you…” The words escaped my lips weakly.

“I know…” We did that for a while, as it seemed she couldn’t pull herself away.

“Hmm… Your coat… It’s so soft and warm…” My cheeks flared at being complimented on my coat. It was weird to be complimented on such a thing, especially since I hadn’t had one before. Upon my mother’s pulling away, I noticed two tall figures beside my dad in the hallway. I recognized both of them immediately.

“John? Dennis?!” I didn’t expect Dennis to come. He was supposed to be in New York, but had probably heard about the fact that I had almost died. He was a tall, lanky guy who was the same age and height as me. Well, he WAS the same height as me. We met in 8th grade and went to high school together. He was probably my closest friend.

“Bro, you’re a horse!” I laughed lightly at Dennis’s obvious statement, but that horrible reminder caused my head to ache a bit.

“No shit.” I replied to Dennis with a bit of sarcasm. I looked up at John, who wore a smirk of irony.

“I didn’t think I would see the day that Delvin Martin got ponified. A true sight to see, indeed.” His smile lit up the room.

“You haven’t gotten ponified yet? How long have you been here?” I wasn’t quite sure how long I had been out.

“It’s been about three days since I came by your apartment. I came in here later that morning. They call people at random, so who knows when I’ll get ponified. Looks like you got the express treatment.” We all chuckled a bit.

“So… How do I look?” I waved my hooves in front of my face waiting for their reply. I had deduced that my coat was a dark greyish color, which suited me rather well. Other than that, I hadn’t seen the rest of my body in my now well-lit room.

“Well, you’re dark grey, of course. But… Your mane…” I saw them attempt to hide their chuckles.

“What? What’s wrong with my mane?” Instead of hair I had to call it a mane. These pony terms were starting to piss me off.

“Bro, it’s purple. Like stripes of purple and black.”

“What?!” I angled my head down to let my mane cast over my forehead and over my eyes, “Oh goddammit.” I was fairly annoyed with the color choice of my mane.

“Well, it’s not that bad. Actually looks kinda cool.” John stated proudly. Just then, Dennis began to find it hard not to laugh at something.

“What now?” I inquired

“Your eyes are purple too!” Dennis scoffed.

“Come on man, they aren’t that bad. I would have to say that they’re pretty badass.” John always stood up for his friends and family like this. He didn’t like to see people hurt over something like appearance.

“Well, I guess so. Hey, have you learned how to walk yet?” Dennis became unusually curious. I replied with a little nod.

“Well, no. I haven’t been up yet.” I hadn’t yet thought about walking, and almost dreaded it. I knew I would have too, but I think the whole experience would be extremely weird.

“Then let’s get you on your hooves!” Dennis hyperactively stated which was followed by him wrapping his arms around my chest, and picking me up. My ride was cut short, however, as he dropped me in mid-air. I landed spread out on the ground, cursing his bone-headedness.

“What the hell, man?!” I yelled back at him. I then noticed I had flinched at my own words. I shrugged it off and waited for a response.

“Dude… You have wings!” I cautiously looked over my shoulder and glared at the grey appendages that adorned my back. I was a Pegasus? I just kind of stared at them for a bit, I think.

“Can you use them?” John sounded overly intrigued.

“Let’s just focus on walking right now, shall we?” My dad had spoken for the first time in a few minutes. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my chest, pulling me up to a standing position. Upon letting go, however, I tripped to my side, falling into a wall.

A few more tries later, and I succeeded in standing, albeit a bit unsteadily.

“Hmm… I had always imagined it to feel like walking on hands and knees, but it doesn’t. It just feels… Right, somehow. My forelegs feel like they are a mix between an arm and a leg, and my back legs just feel like they have always been legs. My hooves feel like they are my fingers and toes, and the bottoms feel like my nails. It’s all pretty natural, somehow.” I thought out loud.

“Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to feel, I was told.” John remarked with a sense of pride. A deep rumbling emitted from my stomach.

“Jesus, Delvin! Hurry up and figure it out so we can go eat!” I wasn’t gonna lie, I was extremely hungry. I had heard about the mythical ‘First Meal As A Pony’ thing before, and how awesome it was. I never would have thought that it would be that good, but it definitely sounded as such. Especially now.

“I’m trying here, guys. Give me some time. It’s hard enough without you yelling at me to do something I don’t even know how to do.” I had always remembered knowing how to walk, like most people do. You typically don’t even think about it at all, you just kind of do it. Now, this was something totally different and foreign to me. Come on! Work, dammit! I sent these messages to my legs that obviously rejected them. I made it about two feet when I fell on my face for the fifth time in a row. Jack and Dennis both laughed hysterically, however my dad only looked upon me with a bit of what seemed like regret, or misery. He helped me get back up again.

“Try not to think about it. The more you think about it, the harder it will become. Don’t use your mind, use your legs.” Coming from a man who used his mind for everything, I wasn’t that reassured. But, sure enough, it worked. I stared at the doorway, and thought about just walking there, as I did as a human. Astonished, I looked back to my father and the two now bewildered faces.

“I didn’t think about moving each and every leg individually, but rather as a whole, like I would’ve done as a human. It’s not too difficult if you don’t think as much.” Proud of myself, I just told my legs to move faster, and they did. I guess once you know how to walk as one species; you know how to do it as another. Well, I don’t exactly know how to walk yet, but I can. It just happens.

“Wow. I had to take special classes for walking. You did it like it was nothing. Impressive.” I blushed lightly at that.

“Well, I guess I’m just an innovator.” I looked up at my dad who was beaming from ear to ear. He liked that feeling of me being like him, and I guess I was.

All I could think about anymore was food. The smell of breakfast flooded my nostrils. It was almost unnatural at how my body reacted to it. At a gallop now, which felt extremely odd, I directed myself toward the toxic smell of food. I glanced back to witness all three of them jogging after me. My mother had gone to talk to a nurse or something. It didn’t matter to me, though. Actually, nothing mattered at this point but food.

“Delvin! Wait up, asshole!” All three of them were out of breath at this point, and looking fairly annoyed with me.

“You three, go and sit over there at that table. I’ll get the food.” As long as I got my damn food, I was cool. My dad suggested for us to sit at kind of an odd table, as it was very low with pillows to sit on.

“What kind of jacked up table is this?” Dennis asked roughly.

“It’s a table that is designed for ponies. It’s low because they’re short and there are pillows because chairs can be slightly uncomfortable for them.” I looked up at John with a bit of a frown, remembering my lost humanity and realizing that it might be odd for them to sit here. To be honest, it was a bit weird for me as well.

“Guys, it’s cool, we can sit at the human table.” I referenced a table in the corner with my hoof.

“No, no. We want for you to be comfortable, not us.” John beamed at me with an awkward hint in his eyes. It was bothering them quite a bit, but they chose not to show it.

“Please. I really don’t want to sit here either. It feels weird to me.” They looked at me with relieved but concerned expressions.

“Alright man, whatever you say.” Dennis certainly agreed with me, although John looked a bit uneasy. With some difficulty, I hopped up onto the seat and sat down in the middle whilst John and Dennis sat on either side of me. God, this was a bit weird; a bit depressing, actually. I had sat the same way for all of my life, but now it was suddenly uncomfortable to me. I sat the way I normally would as a human, even though it bothered me a bit. I felt at least a little human when I did that. I looked over to see what the two were doing. Dennis, on my right, played around on his Datapad, while John just kind of stared at the table, obviously a bit hungry. But there was a little bit more than hunger on his mind, I could tell.

“John? Is everything okay?” I put my hoof on his shoulder. I cursed myself for not being able to grasp it. I just kind of put it there.

“Yes, I suppose. But I have a question. What are you gonna do now? Like, your profession was based around the fact that you were human. I’m not entirely sure ponies can use guns or anything.” He was right. I hadn’t thought about that yet. What I did, I loved. The adventure was part of my core being. Killing was one of the downsides of my love for adventure, but it was the only kind of adventure I liked. Not like exploration adventure or tomb raiding adventure, but thrilling adventures where I often had to fight for my survival at the barrel of a gun. Something about it lit an ever burning candle in my chest.

“Hmm… God, you’re right. I… I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do.” I put my forelegs on the table, leaning my head forward to greet them. Dishearted, I hardly noticed when my dad brought the food back.

“All right guys. This one’s for John, This one’s for Dennis, and this is for Delvin.” I looked up at the three hearty meals my father placed before us. John’s meal was a Caesar Salad from the looks of it, topped with grilled chicken. I knew well enough that the Salad itself was either imported from Equestria or grown in a controlled environment. Dennis’s was a juicy hamburger along with French fries, which I knew had to be produced here. The Conversion Bureau offered meat to the humans for health reasons, and the hamburger looked unrealistically pure and organic. Mine was… Uh…

“Uh… What’s this? Is this a joke?” I stared at my plate that contained what looked like crispy hay, oats, dandelions between two slices of bread, and a single heavenly apple, which was the only thing on my plate that looked moderately delectable.

“Oh yeah, ponies are strictly vegetarians.” John overviewed me with a sense of pity in his eyes. I turned to face Dennis’s hamburger which he was overly enjoying.

“So that means I can’t have any meat…?” I looked down at my food with disdain. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. God, I didn’t know I could get this emotional about meat.

“Nopth. Gutta Sthick wif Gwath an gwainths an offah sthuf.” He finished his sentence by swallowing a gigantic portion of his hamburger.

“I’m sorry son, but this is what you are now. Better than dying, I would have to say.” My father had a very concerned look in his eyes.

“I never asked for this you know…” I plopped my head down on the table and stared at the horrid food before me.

“Look. Try and eat the apple. I think you’ll get the most enjoyment out of that.” He chuckled, hinting that he knew something that I didn’t. “Try and use your hoof to get it.” I looked at him uncertainly.

“How the hell’m I supposed to that?” I began to consider all of the joints in my foreleg, and tried to spot anyway I could utilize them. The bottom of my hoof kind of felt like a fingernail, and my hoof itself kind of felt like one big finger.

“You call that a Fetlock. That’s how Ponies pick things up in their hooves.” It felt like having a very limited hand, almost. Like no thumbs and just one big finger and a palm. I reached over to the apple and gripped it with my Fetlock.

“I always wondered how they could do this stuff.” I shot John a quick grin for the advice, and looked back to my unrealistic apple. It looked very bright and vivid. I wasn’t sure if it was just because of my new vision, or it was just like that. I took a bite, wrapping my new muzzle around it, and a flood of flavor and ecstasy shot through my mind. God, what was in this apple? They drugged my apple. Had to. There was no way that this amount of flavor and delectability could be jam packed into this tiny apple.

“Thith… Ith Amathing! Whath in thith?” I looked at my father with a jubilous smile, which he returned.

“It’s imported from Equestria. It’s good to us, but not THAT good.” John gave me a matter-of-factly grin, and continued eating his salad.

“Yeah dude, you were having a foodgasm hardcore! I’ve never seen someone, or somepony react that way to food before.” I looked over at Dennis who had finished his hamburger. He threw me an amused smirk which caused me to blush and my ears to fall.

“He he. Sorry… I hope I didn’t disturb you guys or anything. I didn’t even know that I was doing that.” I looked down at my now halfway eaten apple.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard a lot of Newfoals do that the first time they experience food as a pony. It’s normal.” John and his words of wisdom. He’d only been here for like three days and knew everything there was about being a pony, even if he wasn’t one yet. I distracted my gaze from my apple and to my plate of grass. I would have to try it eventually, so I decided it would be best to go ahead and do it.

“What’s this stuff?” I asked John, knowing he would have the answer. I pointed to the crispy hay.

“Hay Fries.”

“How do I eat them? Looks like you need a fork, or fingers.” They were indeed too small to fit in my fetlock.

“Oh, yeah… You have to eat them off the plate with your mouth.” I looked at my Hay Fries with disgust.

“Fine… I guess it’s the best way for me.” I dipped my grey muzzle into the crispy hay and gathered it up with my teeth. An audible chuckle came from my right.

“Dude, you look like an animal. Well, you kinda are one, but still.” He always had something like that to say. Dennis was never very kind or respectful, and always ended up fucking something up. I swallowed my hay, which wasn’t that bad, and looked over at Dennis.

“Animals are different. I’m sapient, therefore I’m not an animal.”

“Still eat like one, look like one, and smell li-“ He leaned over to sniff my coat. “Actually, you kind of smell like bubbles or something. Soap, to say the least. You don’t smell bad, you smell good. I take back what I was about to say.” He leaned back into his seat that messaged ‘I’m defeated’.

“You’re an asshole, Dennis, but I love you anyway.” We all had a laugh, and then got back to eating. I tried my other food, and it was all pretty good, surprisingly. However, the apple was glorious.

“So, have you figured out what you’re going to do yet?” Dennis shot me a quick, but hopeful smile.

“Well, no, actually. I mean, you all know about my work as a freelancer. That’s my passion. Now though… God, I’m not sure.” I looked down at the table again, and dropped my pointy ears. Every time the subject was brought up, I was immediately brought down.

“Delvin, I actually need to talk to you about that. Could we take a walk?” My father put his hand on my mane, and patted me. He couldn’t possibly be thinking about giving me more contracts, could he? John stood up to let me through. Forgetting about the fact that I had four legs, I immediately fell on my face.

Chapter Four: The Plot Thickens

Now realizing it was fairly amusing, I listened intently at the sound my hooves made on the linoleum floor. Something about it was soothing to me, I suppose. My ears… They were pretty weird. They didn’t work like they did before. I had to aim them in the right direction to get the best clarity. God… It was all so weird being a pony now and all. It was the first time, physically, that my body had ever felt perfect. Never better. Now saying that I was happier as a pony was just a lie. Yeah, some humans, well, actually pretty much all humans that went through the process always said that they felt the best they had ever felt in their entire life. Well, except me. I wasn’t doing to great, to say the least. I was unwillingly put through the conversion because I was given some kind of super drug, my mother had rejected me as her son (at first), and now I would be a social outcast. Many of the humans converted shipped off to Equestria, but I wasn’t one of them. I had family and friends here that I wasn’t going to willingly leave behind just to go to some paradise. Therefore, there weren’t a huge number of ponies living in New Roanoke, and the Ponies were foreign to the city. Places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver had a very large population of Ponies. In fact, the west coast was full of them. The Cosmos of Equestria was said to consume the west coast by the autumn of 2053. Being autumn of 2052, that was only a year off. Before the Portal makes landfall, the UEG will either have evacuated the Human population or have them all converted. Some humans claim to just watch and wait. Some kind of honor thing. The HLF is one of the main participants in the movement.

I was kind of frightened to try to fly, or use some of my new muscles like my wings or tail. The wings were pretty kickass, but the tail kind of freaked me out. It irked me if I looked back behind me to see it. I knew I’d have to get used to it eventually, but for now I tried pretty hard not to think about my inhuman appendage. I began to take in some new things after my stomach was satisfied. My muzzle kind of freaked me out a bit, having something jutting out in front of your face at all times. It still kind of felt like my mouth, except it was just longer, and my tongue was as well. I took note that my mane was definitely purple and black; not the light kind of purple, but a very dark purple which was more to my liking. Every so often I slid out from under my hooves, but my father helped me up every time. It was quite frustrating actually; like learning how to walk again after you forgot how too. Every time I looked down, or just looked at all, I was reminded of my lost humanity, and how there could’ve been another way. It was like a constant headache or dream that I would never wake up from. Being the man… Pony I was, I quickly buried the emotions.

My Father decided he wanted to take me for a walk outside to the concourse that stretched between the bureau’s two towers. He no doubt wanted to talk to me about Kaleth, or, at least I was pretty sure of it. The border around the door emitted a bright blue and opened to the midmorning sunlight. Bright as fuck midmorning sunlight. The rays hit me like a Maglev train, and I struggled to pull myself up off of the ground whillist covering my eyes.

“Oh, sorry Delvin, I forgot that your eyes aren’t used to the light yet.” I felt him cover my eyes with something. “And… There. You can open your eyes.” Upon opening my eyelids, I realized that he had put some kind of sunglasses on my head. I realized that I could look into the day with ease, and walked outside.

“What are these things?” I inquired, slowly scanning the horizon beyond the balcony.

“They’re for Newfoals. Sunlight Dampers.” My dad quietly informed me of my newly aided eyes.

“Ahh.” We both slowly walked over to the railing, and looked out over the city. It was my favorite time of day. Mid-Morning always had an effect on me. A soothing, calmness pervaded the brightly lit valley of Ivory towers and lush mountains. Looking south, we observed the Roanoke River, which was now larger than it had ever been. My father expanded the river to house the New Roanoke Orbital Tether, which stretched miles above the city itself, and into the upper atmosphere. The city seemed to crowd around the river and the tether, placing many of the important corporations on the waterfront. The city kept on lowering the further you went in all directions until you reached the mountains, which are the city’s natural barriers. To the north, lied the spaceport and dry docks which were very extensive, the city having forty at the spaceport alone. At the top of the tether, fifty more dry docks resided, making the city being able to dock 90 ships at a time. Larger vessels such as the UESA Goliath aren’t able to dock on the ground due to its mass. Anyway, my father’s dream definitely came true when he finally completed his formula for Light speed travel. He had been working tirelessly on a formula for FTL travel but hadn’t achieved quite yet. We just kind leaned on the railing for a while, overlooking the city. Then, he decided to speak up.

“So, what do you think about it all? Being one of them, and whatnot.” He noticeably avoided eye contact.

“Well, once you get past the ‘HOLY SHIT IMA HORSE’ part, and accept reality as it is… Well, actually, no… It’s not that easy. It’s never that easy…” I looked down at me crossed forelegs that hang over the railing. “It’s tough changing lifestyles like that. Most people say it’s all smiles and laughter, and maybe it is for some, but not for me. I understand that you had to do what you had to do, and if I were in your shoes, I would’ve taken them off and thrown them off of a cliff. I know what I faced; likely certain death. To take the risk of my non-acceptance of the conversion and knowing that my son could hate me forever for it… Dad, you have balls.” I looked over to him, gently smiling. Laughing to himself, he took me under his arm and pulled me over to him. It must’ve been a bit awkward as he tried to find a proper place to rest his arm.

“You’re wiser than you look, Delvin. I’m proud of you for admitting your discomfort. I’ve always found the Conversion endorsements to be a bit misleading.” I looked at him and smiled, which he found impossible to not react with the same expression.

“You know, in the dream, that’s what Celestia said. She said that I was wiser than most. Earlier in the dream, the chasm, I recalled something that I wouldn’t have remembered unless it was absolutely dire.”

“You had a conversion dream?”

“Yes. I was standing on the first chasm, the one that’s not the celestial plane of Equestria, and I stood among others. They all were the same, yet different. They were all human, you see. All the same traits. The same person, yet they weren’t. Some of them were nice, kind, and honest, yet others were corrupt and oppressive. The Corrupt and oppressive men outnumbered the kind and honest men. They represented the faces of mankind, and how there is good and bad in the world. All of this I already knew, of course. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. Even the cruelest of men are like that. Only they are blinded by the emotions of hate, and fear. If one can control these emotions, one can be human. Human tends to have a larger definition than we may let on. Being human is the ability to control these emotions, I believe. I may be a different species, but that doesn’t mean that I am not human. In the dream, I remembered Charlie Chaplin’s speech from the Great Dictator, which is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time. Once I figured out the meaning of the test, I was able to overcome it. Celestia told me that I had ‘greater humanity’. I suppose she means that I have the ability to control, and understand sapient emotions greater.” I continued to look out over the city, attempting to decipher Celestia’s words.

“Hmm. Interesting. Maybe you have some sort of higher purpose.” He looked half-serious, but I quickly scoffed at his reply.

“Higher purpose? The only higher purpose that I’ll be achieving is the softest pony in the New Roanoke petting Zoo, and that’s hardly sporting.” I think I hurt myself a bit on that one.

“That ‘higher purpose’ thing may tie in with what I’m about to tell you.” He looked down at me with eyes that screamed sincerity. “I have a new contract for you.” My lower jaw dropped, and I gawked at him for what felt like minutes.

“Pops, in case you haven’t noticed, I kinda have hooves now.” I stuck my hoof in his face. Now how was this going to work?

“Ha-ha. Delvin, I know you have hooves. That doesn’t mean you can’t use a gun.” He shot me a sly grin. What the hell was he thinking? I can’t use guns… Oh shit. My father’s an inventor. I facehoofed, and gave him a smirk.

“heh heh. We’ll talk about that later. Right now, I need to fill you in on what’s going on.” My father took a deep breath and began to explain. “Marcus Deran. You seemed to have, let’s say, ran into some difficulties last time and wasn’t able to fulfill the contract as directed. So, I’m lending you a second chance to get it right.” I should’ve known he was going to give me Deran again. There was still one problem, however.

“What about Kaleth? He seems to be very important right about now. I get a feeling that Deran won’t be my only target once he’s been taken care of.”

“Kaleth and I… We have history. Used to be colleagues, he and I. Then he went insane. Locked up in the loony bin up until about five months ago. They deemed him to be cured, but that’s obviously not true. Up until now, I haven’t heard of him getting out. Apparently he hooked up with the HLF and is now a high ranking officer within their ranks. He’s a slimy bastard, that one. A Ruthless killer. Shoot someone’s head off without a second thought. He does whatever he wants to please himself. He has an extensive medical knowledge, which is most likely the origin of the pill he gave you. We don’t know what he’s planning yet, but upon listening to your recording of their conversation, it sounds like he is forcing Marcus Deran to fund the mass production of the drug. We have less than a month before he makes a move, it seems… That is, if he hasn’t changed his mind.” Deep in thought, I looked down upon the roadways at the constant traffic. Looking up at my father’s face, I nodded strongly.

“Alright. I’ll do it, of course, but… How the hell is this going to work?” Whether or not I would be able to use my conventional knowledge of weapons to take them down plagued my mind.

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Come to my office tomorrow at 12 PM.” I gave him a speedy hoof salute, and dropped back down on all fours.

“So that leads me to believe I’ll be released today?” He nodded in conformation, which assured my feelings. I really didn’t want to be stuck in this god awful place any longer. Upon walking back in, my father lifted the glasses off my face so I could see clearly. He spoke up again.

“I just have to talk with the overseer, and you’ll be a free man, er… Pony.” God, I cringed every time I heard myself called that. Pony was such an overly gleeful word. The real term for the Ponies was ‘Equestrian’, but apparently a more common word was in order.

I stepped out into the blistering sunlight once again, only to be relieved that it had diminished. My father took care of my release, and I was now free to go home. My mother went with my father back to his headquarters, John, being in the middle of his stay here at the Conversion Bureau stayed, and Dennis went home. He would be returning to New York in a week’s time, so he decided to hang around for a while. Unfortunately for me, I was now forced to fend the city on my own. My eyes were fairly adjusted now, and… Oh wow… Without the dampers on, everything was extremely vivid and bright. Every color and sound was extremely sensible to me. It was almost bothersome, actually.

Being a welcoming, and very imposing organization, the Bureau’s courtyard was beautiful; almost as beautiful as I remember my mother’s garden she once tended. Unable to resist the temptation, I allowed the aroma of the flowers to seep into my senses. Is it possible to have a smellgasm? Or Flowergasm? Because I believe I had one right there.

“Holy… Woah.” I grinned from ear to ear as I happily trotted over to smell each little flower. It was wonderful! Almost as good as eating that apple, I must say. Realizing I couldn’t stand there all day and sniff flowers, I struggled to pull myself away from the sweet aroma of the freshness. As I began to trot towards the exit of the courtyard, I began to think.

My father had to pull a few strings to get me out of the Bureau early, due to my need of training programs which I hadn’t experienced. I wouldn’t need the majority of them, like Equestrian Life, just maybe personal hygiene or flight training, but I agreed to return for that kind of thing another day. I personally felt as if I needed some well-deserved rest from this chaotic day. Flight training could wait. I knew basically how to walk, eat, pick up things, and other basics. I still couldn’t figure out how to move my tail, however. I figured out that it moved when I was excited or something, but it was never voluntary. It just kind of happened. Whenever I thought about it though, it made me feel like a dog or something. Like an animal…

My mother informed me that she would come by my apartment later that night to talk with me about something. Whenever she thought that she made me feel bad, she would always try to hang out with me or something. Usually I didn’t much care for it, mostly because she read me wrong, but now I felt like I needed some closure with her.

Nearing the gates now, I looked straight up to find the looming New Roanoke Conversion Bureau. Two super tall towers hooked together by a series of walkways and beams. If this building collapsed, holy shit. The Hotel that collapsed was only a third of the size of this monster, and the Hotel did a lot of damage. Ahh… And through the gates.

It was the same as every afternoon. Busy as hell. Everyone had places to be and people to see, and I was glad I wasn’t one of them. I never really rushed anything, and I was a much laid back individual, much like my dad. Everything got done when it got done, and it always did. Today however, I wasn’t in much of a mood to lazily walk the streets. People everywhere just stared at me, like I was a freak. I mean, I was a freak, especially to them, the citizens of New Roanoke who rarely saw a Pony up close. Ponies had no reason to live here, so why would they? Oh yeah, and then there was me. I guess I had unfinished business to adhere to.

“What a fucking freak!” I heard a group of hostile looking teenagers call out. I was never much for fighting back, especially if they were ignorant fucktards of the like. After going through some difficult times, I learned that people like that aren’t even worth the energy. Even if I wanted to do anything, I was a goddamn Pony who could barely stay on his feet. I hung my head in defeat and kept on walking. Snickering and hurtful comments could be heard under everyone’s breath. I wasn’t enjoying the outcast life much. I attempted to avoid eye contact whenever I could. In the distance I could hear the tiny running steps of a small child.

“Mommy! Mommy! Look it’s a pony! Can I pet him?” I looked up to see a small six year old girl tugging at her mother’s shirt. “Momma please?!?!?” Her mother down at me with an apologetic smile, but I decided to have a kind heart.

“She’s just curious, as all. I don’t mind.” I gave her mother a pure smile and turned to the little girl who beamed from ear to ear.

“YES!! I can tell all my friends that I petted a REAL pony!!” she began to pet me, which felt oddly… good. Like, the feeling of things moving across my coat and mane felt nice. I looked up at her mother again.

“I’m sorry Sir if we are bothering you.” She looked over to her daughter who was feeling my mane.

“No, no. It’s perfectly alright miss, um…”

“Gallagher. Mrs. Jane Gallagher. And you are?” A seemingly nice woman with good intentions, I decided that I would give her my full name.

“Delvin Martin. A pleasure.” I raised my hoof to meet her hand. It still felt weird not having hands. Pulling back, her eyes grew wide.

“Aren’t you Dr. Martin’s son?” She said with a growing enthusiasm.

“The one and only.” I said, blushing a bit. It was always hard admitting I was his son.

“I heard you were in the Jefferson Hotel when it collapsed! Is that why you are a pony?” She sounded like a reporter, asking me these questions.

“Yeah. I almost died. But as you probably know, Ponification fixes all that.” She looked very intrigued, and seemed to be making mental notes.

“I’m a reporter for WSLS News. I would LOVE it if I could interview you about this. Would that be okay with you?” I knew I had seen her somewhere before. Why the hell not? A good story could be exactly what the media needs.

“I’d love to! When would you like to hold the interview?”

“Does tomorrow at 7 PM sound alright with you?” She began to pull something out of her pocket.

“Perfect.” She handed me a white business card with her phone number on it. Taking it in my teeth, I looked back to her daughter who was still rubbing my coat.

“Mister Pony, your coat is really softtt!” She lay her head down near the base of my neck. Laughing, I gave Jane a look that indicated that I needed to take my leave, and she called her daughter. I trotted off once again, searching for my apartment. In all actuality, my apartment was directly next to the Bureau on the waterfront.

My apartment being near the top, I had a pretty good view that overlooked the artificial canal and lake. It was a little bit stuffy inside, due to my absence, but with a quick command to Caroline I activated the air filters. My hooves made a ‘clop’ noise every time I took a step on my wooden floors. Walking over to my couch, I decided to sit down, and relax for a bit. Only I hadn’t a clue how to sit on a couch. I tried to sit on it the regular way, but that only made it a thousand more times uncomfortable than standing up.

“Damn couch!” I yelled at the couch frustratingly, which seemed to, I don’t know, hurt me? I felt a sudden ache in my chest that told me to apologize to the couch. I angrily confronted myself.

“How the hell do I apologize to a damn coushh…” I felt another aching feeling in my chest once again, causing me to cut my sentence short. Once again, my heart was telling me to apologize to an inanimate object.

“What’s so wrong about getting angry at a fucking inanimate object? It doesn’t have feelings, or care what the hell I say to it! It’s a stupid fucking couch!” This time, what I said really hurt. This time it felt like someone punched me in the chest, and I was paralyzed. Alright, so I was mad at myself for being mad at me being mad at the couch. I’m going insane. That’s it. I was yelling at myself.

“What’s wrong with me now?!” My voice resounded off my walls and back at me. I proceeded to lean against the couch in disdain. I couldn’t be angry anymore, but… Surely I could be. That was just a part of humanity. Picking my head up, I saw a flash of light to my left. It was a body mirror attached against the wall next to my bathroom. I timidly inched over to the infernal device, and peered into big purple eyes. It was a Pony. A charcoal gray Pony that had a purple and black mane and… Tail. I gazed into its gigantic eyes. It was almost serene, very unrealistic. It blinked when I blinked, moved when I moved, and its tail twitched… When my tail twitched? I had a tail, yes. That much was clear. Actually, no, I didn’t have a tail, wings, or hooves. I was a normal human being. Delvin Martin, a 23 year old ruthless mercenary. A human. This wasn’t me. This was a goddamn alien. An animal! It wasn’t me! And I wasn’t it. I had liked it when that girl petted me? I liked hay, oats and godforsaken Dandelions?!?!?! I had a fucking mane and a goddamn tail!?!?!? Who was this? This wasn’t a human. This wasn’t Delvin, no, this was a horse. A quadruped. I wasn’t sapient; I was a stupid little pony who could barely walk straight! I picked my hoof up and touched the mirror. Yes, it was mine. My… Hoof. No, hand. Hoof! No I had hands… Right?

At this point, my mind began to slip away ever so. Reality was slipping away. I had accepted it earlier. Perfectly fine with it. Now, put in front of a mirror, I was losing it. At the hooves of my own reflection, I was losing my mind. Before this, reality was easy. It just was. Now it was more of a question without an answer. Staring at my hoof, with disdain, I felt the anger boil inside me. What cruel god could put me through this torture? Reality was tearing at the seams for some reason and I couldn’t figure out why. The uncontrollable anger was released as I pulled my hoof back, and smashed my mirror to pieces. As I pulled my hoof back from the glass, I looked at the many cuts the glass had made on my coat. In an instant, reality was back with a vengeance. Realizing what I had done, I walked over to my carpet, and collapsed. I had lost my mind and smashed my mirror. God, I was going insane. My humanity seemed all but gone. I was just a stupid animal now. All of the sudden, a wave of loneliness, guilt, regret, and confusion overwhelmed me. I looked at my hoof one more time before I began to weep uncontrollably.

Chapter Five: Reflections I

Up until now, everything made sense. I woke up in a Conversion Bureau because I was given a life threatening drug that was constantly killing me. Gotcha. I was turned into a Pony to be saved from the effects of the drug. Right. I adjusted to my life pretty quickly in the Bureau, but now that I started to think about it some more, I gained a higher understanding of what was going on. My life would never be the same. No more hands or fingers, and I lost my feet and toes. I was a Pony, a different race with different ideologies and behaviorisms unfamiliar to humanity. The behaviorisms and ideology was kind of built in already, and without understanding of these traits, my comprehension of it all was a bit rusty to say the least. New eyes, a new brain, new bones, new body and a new heart. I wasn’t Delvin anymore, my mother was right about that much. I had the personality of the human that once existed named Delvin, and my mind was programmed to believe that, but even this mind had a few tricks to play on me. My consciousness had been transferred from one mind to this one, and was forced to believe that this was me. I had the memories of a dead man.

My new mind didn’t permit anger very easily. Every time I utilized this human emotion, my body rejected it. A part of me couldn’t exist anymore. Locked up in a cage of fire, and whenever it tried to get out, the cage would just burn it up.

This new body wouldn’t permit me to enjoy the things I used too. The things my memory longed for. I wanted to enjoy Hamburger, or Chicken, but because of this limited new body I wouldn’t ever be able to satisfy the memory of my old taste buds. What I would give to just feel something with my fingers again… What I would give to feel the texture of a flower, or the trigger of a gun. To be able to enjoy pastimes such as video games, or playing the guitar… I had grown up with these things, and now I would never be able to experience them again.

“Not with these goddamn hooves! Not anymore…” Expressing my thoughts aloud now, all I could think about were the things I would no longer be able to do.

“No more video games, guitar, computer…” The list went on and on, but I found my voice becoming increasingly unstable as my emotions erupted in my sore and aching throat. When I was a kid, I played a lot of video games. I took an interest in the old video games my dad played when he was a kid, and loved every moment of gameplay. I also learned how to play guitar going through high school, and performed many a time in front of an audience. I developed a deep passion for these things, and still engaged in them from time to time. Now that I was being deprived of them only made me want to enjoy these things once again. Looking down at my bloodied hoof, my voice rose once again.

“No… NO! God no!... Why?...” I began to let my tears soak my furry legs as I avoided my injuries. You know that feeling where you really want to fix something, but you can’t? Like losing your eyes if your passion was art. You want to die. Everything in your life has no more meaning to you, and you wish you could get them back… Only you can’t, and you know you can’t. God it sucked. The feeling is so helpless and devoid of hope, and everything around you doesn’t even matter anymore. My bleeding hoof? I didn’t give a shit. My broken mirror? I could care less. My future? Fuck that. My life was ruined. I longed to lay there and not move anymore. Just lay there and starve to death… Or bleed to death, as the case alluded. The bleeding wasn’t very bad at all, however, and I wasn’t losing a lot of blood anyway. In all of my ranting and miserable sobbing, the middle aged woman standing in my doorway had gone unnoticed.

“D-Delvin? What… What happened? You’re mirror…” I avoided eye contact with my mother. She had arrived earlier than she had originally decided. I heard a quick gasp, followed by quickly placed footsteps that drew nearer.

“Is… Is that blood? Did you break your mirror? Delvin, please tell me what’s going on...” Still quaking and sobbing quietly, I remained looking the other way, towards my windows. I heard soft shuffling on my carpet, and then a gentle hand began to rub my mane. Still burying myself in my foreleg, I was reluctant to face my mother whose concern was growing rapidly.

“You’re shaking… Delvin pleas-“

“Who’s Delvin?! Never heard of him!” I whipped around to face my mother, revealing my sodden and strained face. Apparently my hoof became visible too.

“Your hoof! Delvin please tell me what’s going on!” My mother pleaded, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. I raised my head again and looked at her solemnly.

“I’m not Delvin. Not anymore, you said it yourself. I was just having a hard time believing you at first. Now… Now I know that you were right.” A look of horror and deep hurt emerged on her soft face. Unable to comprehend my own words, I began to lose the will to hold back my frustration and sadness, and began to weep once more.

“No… No I… I don’t know… Oh, Mom…” As my voice began to fade, I crawled over to her like a child, and cried into her sweater. How pathetic I was. She began to caress my mane once again, and I let out bawl after bawl. A man can only take so much until he crawls back to his mother for comfort and security. It takes a lot to break a man, and I think I overdosed on emotional pain.

“Shh… It’s okay… you’re okay… Everything’s going to be okay…” I looked up at her weakly.

“But… I’m n-not ok-kay…” My breath shuddered, and I continued, “I’m not human anymore… I… I never will be. Until now, I took humanity for granted, and now that I’m… This... It’s gone… So many things I wanted to do as a Human… So many things I wish I still could do…” With that, another round of emotions hit me like a tidal wave.

“Of course you’re human, Delvi-“

“I’m not Delvin anymore! I’m a goddam horse!” I squeaked out.

“Delvin.” She forced my head up to look into her solemn eyes.

“You will always be Delvin, my son, no matter what happens, and you have to understand that. Delvin, you can fly! Humanity has always dreamed about natural flight. It’s a common fantasy we all have, and you can do it now! That’s special, Devy. Who knows? Your father may come up with a ridiculous contraption that’ll let you play guitar or play video games! You have to understand that this is just life. Actually, it’s better. You were given a second chance. I… I don’t know what I’d do without you Delvin. You would’ve died if your father never allowed you the treatment. Please, let me help you.” She rose to her feet and walked over to my bathroom. As swiftly as she entered, she returned with gauze and disinfectant spray. She had made it her duty to learn every nook and cranny in my apartment, and I guess it had paid off. I began to notice how bad my hoof felt. It felt like it had gotten stuck inside of a blender, or worse. As she picked me up off the floor and onto the couch, she avoided putting me in any pain if possible. Laying me on my side, she gently caressed my foreleg above the injury and examined it.

“Hmm… It’s not too bad, but it needs to be treated. I have to disinfect it first.” Being a mother, she knew all about first aid. When I was little, I was very rambunctious, therefore I was rather prone to injury. Without warning, a searing pain shot up through my foreleg and I yelled out in agony. What the fuck had she used on my wounds? It felt like she dumped acid on my damn leg! I felt tears prick my eyes as I tried my best to not hit my mom in the face.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!!?” My exasperated voice frightened my mom, it seems. Her face lightened as I saw a realization flash through her eyes.

“Oh… I’m sorry… I believe Ponies react differently to Human disinfectants. Still gets the job done, but it doesn’t feel that great for you.” I eyed her timid smile and equipped a sarcastic one.

“YOU DON’T SAY?” I uttered, gritting my teeth. She laughed lightly as she began to apply more disinfectant.

“GYAHH!! MoffuYAHH!” I repeatedly kicked my hind legs, as if that would help any. Realizing the pain was over, I tried to relax my head on the pillow she had laid me on. I finally felt her wrapping the gauze around it, and I felt relieved. I thought back to what she said earlier.

“I guess being able to fly isn’t that bad… But I still miss the things I used to be able to do. I won’t be able to get over it anytime soon, mom.” I continued to stare blankly into my ceiling. Sighing, I felt her gaze on me.

“Delvin… You have no idea how lucky you are.” That didn’t help that aching feeling go away any easier. I brought my free hoof up to my belly, and allowed it to rest there. A few moments later, it rumbled with enough force to destroy Los Angeles. This godforsaken body was always hungry. I frowned as the familiar sense of hunger washed over me. As my mom finished, she began to speak.

“You know, I brought dinner. I want to talk with you.” Standing, she waltzed over to the kitchen counter where she had placed a bag of what I now knew as food. My stomach rumbled once again, but I mentally quieted it.

“We’ll eat on the floor. That way you’ll be more comfortable.” I began to feel like a burden on everyone. Everything was designed for humans, and being a Pony I would always find it hard to be comfortable with anything. I frowned slightly, and rolled off my couch. Limping over to my mother who was already sitting, I lowered myself weakly on my haunches. She looked at me for a moment, sending messages of reassurance.

“It’ll get better soon enough Delvin. Your dad’s working on something revolutionary that will benefit you in countless ways. You’ll be able to do what you love again! Devy, I may not agree with your career choice, but as long as you’re happy…” I nodded silently and looked down at the food she had placed before us. She prepared a salad for herself, while I was given Alfalfa, Hay, and another salad similar to my mother’s own. Deciding to save the best for last, I started with the hay and Alfalfa.

“After you left for breakfast at the Bureau, I decided to wander a bit and explore the place. It’s all very state of the art. Kind of reminds me of Taris Medical in Chicago when your father and I went there to offer them a partnership. Of course, they continue to be Martin Industries number one rival, but the level of design and advancement of their headquarters was breath taking. I guess the UEG wants nothing but the best. Anyway, I ran into someone, or rather somepony.” At this, I dropped my concentration on eating and perked up my ears. “That girl you used to run with. I believe her name was miss Hock, am I ri-“ My eyes widened beyond the point of no return.

“WHAT?!? SHE GOT PONIFIED?! That’s… Hey, are you messing with me?” I shot her a suspicious glance, but a quick shake of her head left me in a state of bewilderment.

“That’s impossible… Well, not impossible, really, but… Veron always told me she never liked the idea of Ponification. Creeped her out, you know? God, Veronica Hock a Pony, eh? Never thought that would happen…” I continued to stare off into space until my mom spoke again.

“Yeah. Why haven’t I met her before? She seems like a nice girl. I bumped into her on accident, and we managed to exchange names. I told her my full name, so that’s how she found out I was your mother. I told her I was visiting your cousin John just in case you guys had bad blood with each other or something. I know you two stopped running together a while back, so I decided it would be best not to mention you were here. Well, I found out that she was leaving for Equestria tomorrow evening. Signed up for the Conversion a week ago. I figured you may want to know that I met her.” I tried to process her words through my head. Signed up for conversion a week ago and leaving for Equestria tomorrow morning? She always expressed her dislike of Equestria, and how she would never succumb to Ponification no matter what.

“We aren’t exactly mad at each other or anything. Veronica… The last time we saw each other was that night… After that job. We took down a man, Jerod Hallsley. He was one of the last men to attempt to assassinate dad. Afterwards, we went back to my apartment, had a couple of drinks, played around…” Realizing I should spare my mom the details, I jumped to the point.

“The next morning, she was gone. She left me a note saying, ‘see you tomorrow night.’ But I never saw her again. We had another contract that night, but she never showed up. Ever since she left, things have been harder. God… Veronica Hock…” Every time I heard her name it was blast from the past. “I called her several times, sent her Email’s, you name it. Never heard from her again. I hadn’t even heard news or anything about her. It was like she disappeared off the face of the Earth.” My ears flattened back as a drop of sadness hit my heart. “This is the first time that I’ve heard of her since.” I looked back up at my mother who had been listening intently. Formulating a plan in my head, I rose to my unsteady feet, and attempted to limp over to my door.

“Where are you going?”

“To see Veronica.” I looked back to her, almost falling on my side. If she was leaving tomorrow, I needed to see her now.

“You need to finish your dinner, and you need to rest your hoof. Delvin, come to your senses, you’re not going anywhere tonight. You can see her in the morning.” Accepting defeat, I nodded my head in agreement. “She’ll still be there in the morning. You can see her then.” My Mom obviously cared a lot about my injuries.

“I hope you’re right.” I looked outside into the now stormy night. Sighing, I eased back down on my haunches and continued to eat.

Chapter Six: Reflections II

As I glared at my last strand of fried hay, the storm outside became increasingly violent. Sitting on my haunches, I continued to ponder my thoughts. I raised my head up to meet my mother’s pained eyes. Pain. She was in pain because I was in pain, which only made me feel worse.

“I’m sorry…” I sent her thoughts of reassurance with my large purple eyes.

“No… I’m sorry.” She moved her empty salad bowl aside and eased over by me. That familiar aching feeling rose in my throat as I began to feel another wave of sadness wash over me. This time, however, I wasn’t really thinking about my lack of hands or human emotions; this time I was just upset. Something inside was telling me to be upset over something. I didn’t understand why I was sad, but it felt like I just needed to be. My mother began to stroke my mane, which caused me to giggle weakly in response. I began to feel tears leak from my eyelids each time she moved her hand back and forth. At this, she grew concerned.

“Please don’t cry… This is too much.” I heard her voice lower to a whisper. At this, I held back my sorrow, and calmed my nerves. Crying was something that always came natural to me. As a kid, I would cry all the time. At the time, it seemed to be the best way to deal with things. Even into adulthood, the ability to cry allowed me solace. Maybe I’m weird, or maybe I just accept what comes naturally.

After wiping my face with my accursed foreleg, I looked up at my mother with a barely managed smile. We sat there for a while, just her and I. In the time that I moved out and became a freelancer, my parents didn’t matter much to me. Only my father who gave me work I really ever talked to. My mother hated my career choice, and constantly begged that I would quit. But, unfortunately for me, my heart longed for the adventurous life. I couldn’t quit, even knowing that my mom worried nonstop. It was just something she would have to come to terms with.

Avoiding her was fairly easy, as long as I didn’t go to her home. She occasionally stopped by my apartment, but I usually had Caroline tip her off. Every encounter with my mother ended badly, and I couldn’t take that. Now, however, I needed her.

Glancing over to my wall clock, I realized it was getting pretty late. Tomorrow was going to be a wild ride, for sure. I had to get up early and see Veronica, go to Martin Industries, and do the interview with Jane Gallagher. Sighing, I slowly rose to my hooves, and walked over to my couch.

“Where are you going?” My mom asked tiredly.

“Watch TV, I suppose… I have to get some rest though, I have a big day tomorrow.” She nodded in agreement, and inched over to my couch. Damn couch. I still didn’t know how to get onto it comfortably. I raised my forelegs up onto it, and hoisted my rear legs up. Manually maneuvering my legs was still a bit tricky to say the least, and I fell down immediately in an uncomfortable position.

“Mom, do you have any idea how I’m supposed to sit right?” I blushed slightly due to my ignorance, and my mom beamed as she began to enlighten me.

“I was told you have to tuck your legs under you and lay down like that. See? There you go!” My mother assisted me into the position which I would’ve imagined to be quite uncomfortable, but to my surprise was unusually cozy.

“Could you turn the TV on?” I grimaced once again at my lack of fingers, and sunk a little more into my cozy seating. The television illuminated with a searing light which caused me to flinch, but when the light leveled out, I was able to view the newscast.

“Thanks. I’ll have to route Caroline’s control link there so I can turn it on without the remote.” I let out an obnoxious yawn at the end of my sentence, and motioned my mom to take a seat.

“Sorry Delvin, I have to get going. I’ll be at the office tomorrow with your father though. I’ll see you then.” My ears drooped as I realized that I would be alone in my home again. A muffled sentiment escaped my mother’s mouth as she leaned down to kiss me on the forehead. God, she hasn’t done that in years! My mind was a bit distracted by her gesture, and I smiled warmly.

“I love you, Devy. So much.” She smoothed my mane.

“I do too…” That aching feeling once again erupted in my throat, and I had to ask her another question as she was heading for the door.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Delvin?”

“How… Um…” began to look down at my bandaged hoof. “How does it feel to have a Pony for a son?” She began to appear solemn.

“Wonderful.” She was out the door. Sighing, I turned to the bright television screen once again. It was indeed the evening news, which I knew would most likely cover the events that transpired three nights prior. The cleanup, anyway.

“The Jefferson Collapse, as it’s now being called, is now one of the worst disasters New Roanoke has faced in years. 89 dead and 156 injured so far. Explosives planted in the top floor along with various fires started below caused the structural weakening of the top floor, causing it to collapse vertically from the top down. An obvious terrorist attack, although the culprit remains to be unclear. Some witnesses report Human Liberation Front involvement, and others blame the Ponification for Earth’s Rebirth movement for the disaster. Either of the two are highly controversial suspects, and the investigation is high priority.” I knew who it was. The damn HLF terrorist, Kaleth. I still didn’t know his full name yet. I grimaced at the TV, and looked down at the remote placed by my side. I was pretty worn out, and the TV was a bit bothersome to be honest.

“How is this going to work?” I untucked my foreleg and touched the remote. Realizing I could use the edge of my hoof to hit the power button, I did so, and the TV flickered off. In the dark and silent night, I called out to Caroline.

“Caroline, open the curtains.”

“Yes, Delvin.” As the curtains slided out of sight, the bright orange glow of the city entered the realm of darkness. In the middle of the lake, the elevator dwarfed all other structures, and rose into the atmosphere. Feeling less lonely, I stepped down off the couch and entered my bedroom, more than ready for sleep. Realizing that I would have to maneuver the covers with my teeth, I did so, and lay down on my back. In that moment, I didn’t want to think about anything. I wanted to just know that I existed. Not as a Pony, not as a Human, but just to be.

However, as time wore on, I tossed and turned restlessly in my familiar bed. The whole ‘Veronica as a pony’ thing began to seep into my mind. Kind of unnerved me a bit. It went against everything that I thought she had stood for. When we still ran together, we had opposed the anti-Equestrian organizations and such, but to this day I still don’t know what she was truly fighting against. Veronica’s father was a representative of the Ponification for Earth’s Rebirth movement, and she always expressed her outward disgust with him.

The PER were terrorists; monsters that kidnapped entire families and forcefully injected them with the Ponification Serum. The standard serum was delivered orally, but in some cases in which the patron suffered from certain diseases or was unable to swallow the serum, it had to be injected or delivered by some other means. In the early months, the PER raided several Conversion Bureaus around the world and acquired massive amounts of the drug. If you could call it a drug, that is. My father was one of many who were contacted to develop such a thing. At first, he expressed the near insanity of it constantly, and almost gave up on the project. Then all of the sudden he went ballistic and holed himself up inside of his tower along with Verga. His idea was quite the solution, as it turned out. Nano robotics combined with the other-worldly ‘magic’ of Equestria. His plans were sent to the UEG headquarters in New York City, and were quickly implemented. In the first few weeks of the opening of the Bureaus, Humanity was hesitant to say the least. The majority of the first converts organized into the PER, and at first promoted the Conversion process peacefully. Their work proved successful, and the world had lost about a five hundred million humans. After the Hawaii crisis, this number quadrupled. The HLF found new purpose in their order, and began to oppose conversion as well as the expanding Equestrian border.

A mini war erupted between the two factions which allowed me many lucrative opportunities. Mainly employed by my father, the tracking and take down of the many leaders within the two factions were carried out by Veronica and I, who made quite the team if I do say so myself.

Anyway, as the PER became an increasingly violent group, my targets became diverse. I had never killed a pony, however. Most of my PER targets staked their claim in New Roanoke, the only place that infighting wasn't the norm. That said, if the pony population increased even slightly in New Roanoke, all kinds of hell would run rampant. The business leaders and government discouraged the converted from living in New Roanoke for this exact reason. So far, the city had been one of the only places relatively untouched by domestic warfare, and they wanted to keep it that way. However, New Roanoke isn't exactly as spotless as it may appear. Because of my father’s involvement with the Conversion Bureau and the strictly human population of New Roanoke, the HLF liked to call the place home. A haven, if you will. Assassination of my father was one of their main priorities along with the cleansing of New Roanoke. Eradication of any Equestrians that decided to call the place home, as it were. The idea had always tugged at me a bit, and now more than ever. I remember driving to a client’s house in the South East Industrial District and witnessing HLF members executing a Pony by firing squad. The district was pretty lawless and a large HLF presence made their home there in the rundown homes among the looming industrial complexes.

There she was. A young mare, coat Light green matched with a bright blue mane was cornered in an alleyway. Three HLF troops aimed down their sights. I heard them pass a few words, and without any more hesitation, they fired a barrage of machine gun fire at the helpless Pony. I floored it before they could catch sight of me observing the execution. I knew I could’ve helped her… I knew that I could take out those guys without breaking a sweat, but I didn’t. I just watched. I think too many people just watch these days. That sobering memory was still etched into my brain, and the guilt of it plagued me constantly. I dreamed about it sometimes. Sometimes I dreamed about saving her, and other times… I joined in the endless barrage of machine gun fire, and couldn’t let go of the trigger. Gazing into the darkness of my lonely room, I began to shiver at my horrible memory. With minor difficulty, I tucked myself under my covers, and curled up into a quivering ball.

My thoughts soon began to drift away from the sobering reminder, and onto Veronica. Yes, her father was the right hand man of Holden Moreau, the leader of the PER. By Moreau’s hand, her father carried out assassinations, terrorist attacks, and much more. He was also the director of FCT (Forced Conversion Terrorism) squads everywhere. I always assumed that she despised him for the attacks and whatnot, and she preferred not to talk about it. Oh, but she loved to talk about her disgust of Ponification. Veronica always seemed to loathe the concept, stating that, “It’s all a bunch of shit, ya know. Their so called ‘paradise’ of theirs is probably hell. They just want to invade us and steal our world. Bastards.” Even though she disliked Equestria enough that you could possible mistake her for an HLF, she wasn’t. She hated anything involved with them, and longed for their abrupt end.

Veronica’s philosophy was that life should be free of war and chaos, but there was always war and chaos where freedom existed. This was very true indeed, and I adopted her words. She despised hate. If there wasn’t anything to hate, she would gladly not do so.

I started to get the HLF on the mind again. The Pony genocide thing was horrible. Like the Nazi’s. That mare could’ve been me… Now I was at risk of being executed on sight wherever I went. Still shivering, I pulled my legs in further and somehow wrapped my tail around myself. The art of moving the tail was still unknown to me, so until I learned how to move the new muscle it was merely a reaction. The lingering pain of my hoof was a bit bothersome to say the least, and I began to regret my out of control punching of the mirror. I went insane on a dime it seems, and then reality had hit me like a freight train.

All of the sudden, I felt that indefinite loneliness that I had felt earlier. This time, my thoughts had brought forth the unwanted emotion. My shivering continued as I relived my memories of being human in my head. I squirmed a little, as if I was hoping it would reveal that I was once again my old self. Unfortunately, I still moved in all the wrong ways, and my arms were gone, replaced with legs. Only, they were sort of a mixture of the two. I sent a message of dying hope to my fingers and toes, only to find that I was still without them. My head hurt, my chest hurt, my throat and my hoof… It felt like I was trapped inside of a slowly collapsing box. Closing my eyes to block something I had done way too much of in the past few hours, I cursed myself and let go. Let go of the struggle that was the containment of my feelings. As the salty water ran down my cheeks and soaked the bed, I faded into slumber.

*****

“Be-be-beep! Be-be-beep! Be-be-beep!” Over the incessant alarm, I called out to Caroline.

“Goddammit Caroline, shut it off! Please!” I groaned loudly as the annoyance continued.

“Caroline!! Protocol 413! CAROLINE!!!!” Finally responding to my growing anger, she shut off the loud electronic beeping that blasted in my room.

“Sorry, Delvin. I was currently involved in another task that required my full attention.” The AI responded matter-of-factly.

“And what would that be?” I glared up at the ceiling.

“Sanitizing the waste removal station.” I let out a chuckle.

“The Shower? You were cleaning the SHOWER?! That’s what required your FULL attention?!”

“Yes, Delvin. I am sure you will appreciate it.”

“Yeah. Right.” I looked over to my clock. 8:02 AM. At least she wakes me up on time. Caroline was kind of half and half when it came to her intelligence. Half smart, half dumb. Dumb AI are AI that aren’t able to gather knowledge. They’re either programmed with it, or not. Smart AI are super intelligent AI that can gather knowledge freely, and have freewill. They are like humans, in that respect. Caroline was pre-programmed with basic knowledge, but is allowed to have freewill. The knowledge that she gathers I have to permit. I decide what and what not to allow in her memory banks. In that respect, I allow her to make her own decisions, programmed her with the ability of humor, and things of the like.

Not paying attention to my surroundings, I slid off the bed as if I was a human, causing me to land on my face once again. Letting out a moan of pain, I maneuvered my head to see that my hands were still hooves, and I was still a Pony. With disdain, I slowly rose to my hooves and walked out into the living room. Giving my wings a stretch, I-… Wait, what? Giving my wings a stretch? I looked back at my extended avian appendages with a childlike interest. Before now, I hadn’t figured out how to use them. Using the same tactic with moving my legs, I thought about having wings, and flapping them. To my wonderment, a gust of wind sent me a foot off the floor and into the air. Upon landing my legs folded under me and I was once again lying on the floor. My mouth was still wide open though. It was so much of a rush. Just having the ability to do such a thing astonished every cell in my body. Standing up, I had a hard time deciding that I would try them out later. More important orders of business were at hand, or hoof, as the case may be.

For the first time since I became a Pony, I was looking into a mirror without it driving me insane. My mane was unkempt, the black and purple intertwining in a mess atop my head. My eyes were large and shiny, which allowed them a mesmerizing effect. My ears were long and pointy, and I found it quite enjoyable to move them about.

“Yesterday was just a bad day, I think.” Smiling, I did the best I could opening my drawer and encasing the brush with my fetlock. My hair had always been this way. Although, before it was dark brown instead off purple and black. Styling my mane with pro-efficiency, I hopped down from the sink and once again gaited into my large living area that was bright with the morning sun. I had read somewhere that Equestrians only needed to bathe every couple of days, since their hide doesn’t produce grease like human skin does. Grinning once again, I glanced over to my door. Sighing, I began to think about my meeting with Veronica. I wanted to see her before she left. Before I knew I couldn’t see her again.

Chapter Seven: Up A Blind Alley

As I stepped out into the light morning breeze, I let it ruffle my dark grey coat. It felt quite refreshing compared to the living conditions within my apartment that towered above. The world hadn’t been as bad as they had predicted it to be in the early 21st century, but they weren’t all that off. The Earth’s oceans still were very much alive, the air was mostly pure, and we hadn’t destroyed ourselves yet from nuclear war. I mean, we kind of poisoned most of our soil, killed off a lot of animals and plants, but we were doing the best we could really. Actual produce was fairly hard to come by anymore, as it had to be grown in controlled environments and such. Fruit and vegetables now were artificially grown; basically paper with nutrients (I’m sure there’s more to it than that). Anyway, being a vegetarian could prove difficulty if I had to eat that junk.

Deciding to get breakfast at the bureau, hopefully with Veronica, I began to trot my way down the sidewalk. Clip Clop Clip Clop. I really liked that sound. Always have. The sound of hooves on a hard surface. It was very soothing, at least for me. I began to prance more rhythmically as I sped up my pace. I still received the usually looks from the people going about their daily business. Some looks were full of concern, some of curiosity, and others were of disgust and hate. I avoided making eye contact with them, and when I did, they seemed to recoil a bit. Most of them probably never saw a pony in the flesh before. I really didn’t belong in this place at all. I did once, but now I was a freak. God, I just wanted to see Veronica again. To see her smile, to laugh… I faded off into a dreamscape. Not paying attention to my current trajectory, I found myself falling backwards on my haunches due to something, or someone, in my path. Looking up, I met gazes with a middle aged black man. A very tall man, he easily dwarfed me, and I shrunk a bit. The difference in size was something that would be a bit hard to get used to.

“I-I’m sorry m-mister.” The man continued to stare at me. Not out of anger, but mere curiosity. My timid apology seemed to usher a smile to the man’s gruff face. Crouching down to eye level, he began to speak.

“Oh no, It’s quite alright. I’m the one that should be apologizing.” His voice had a comfortable fatherly tone. “I’ve never seen one of your kind before. I’m sure it’s all a bit strange, humans and all. You’ll get used to it. What are you here for, in a city like this?” The man seemed to have mistaken me for a native Equestrian. I smiled and enlightened him on my case.

“No sir, you seem to be mistaken. I’m actually a convert.” The man’s eyes widened.

“A convert? Well, that’s a sight. Not many converts like to stay, I hear. Except old Mr. Verga, of course. What’d you stay for?” He was quite the nice man, albeit a bit too friendly. But I figured what the hell.

“I guess I just have some unfinished business. I was only converted yesterday, you know.” The overly friendly man acknowledged my explanation, and proceeded to hold out his dark and wrinkled hand.

“My name’s David Shaw.” I extended my hoof so that he could wrap his hand around it.

“Delvin Martin.” Unreactive to my well known surname, he grasped my hoof heartily, and gave it a shake.

“Hmm. I’ve never felt the hooves of an Equestrian before. Very different.” I gave him a light smile, and once again rose to my feet. “Maybe we will cross path’s again, Mr. Martin.” I nodded in compliance and started for the Bureau, now only a couple blocks away. David Shaw was a good man. I could see it in him. The world needs more people like him, people whom are gentle and kind. People who accept others. I hope I meet him again, I really do. Even though the odds likely weren’t in my favor.

Entering the East wing of the Bureau, I found myself amidst the bustle of several Ponies and Humans going about their business. They employed both races, and treated them equally, or so I heard. I was here for one thing and one thing only. Veronica Hock. I needed to know what happened that morning, and why I never saw her again. This was possibly my one and only chance to see her again, albeit a Pony.

The room was a combination of whites and grays, with holoscreens lining the walls. I looked toward the reception desk, where a bright orange unicorn sat, typing away on her computer with her magic. In a lot of ways, I wished I could’ve been a Unicorn. That way I could at least manipulate a computer easily. Sighing, I strolled up to the desk, inviting a curious demeanor from the pony.

“May I help you sir?” She asked the question with haste, knowing that I wasn’t there to sign up for conversion or anything.

“Uh, yes. I would like to find a certain pony. Her name is Veronica Hock.” Realizing that she may have changed her name to fit a more Equestrian standard, I added, “Although, she may have changed her name, of course.” As she scrolled through the countless names of the occupants in the database, her face softened as she abruptly stopped.

“Veronica Hock, now known as Emerald Dawn. Room 172, 124th floor. Will that be it for you sir?” Barely containing my laughter, I nodded my head. Hastily trotting to the elevator, I stepped inside. Realizing I was alone, I spoke my thoughts.

“Emerald Dawn? What a gay name!” I let my laughter spill out of my chest, but there was something else. Something else that told me not to laugh. No, I don’t think it was my new Pony brain, but actual sorrow. She had surrendered her name… Her Human name… Yet again, another soul loses part of themselves to Ponification. Dipping my head a bit, realizing this, I turned to face the observation window of the elevator. What a view. All the way past the mountains. I could see a Cruiser undocking at the spaceport to the north. A sight indeed. BEEP. The elevator door slid open, causing me to gulp.

I entered an area that looked remarkably similar to the floor I was on yesterday. As I passed each door, scenarios played through my mind. Will she be mad? No, no… Why would she be mad? I don’t think she has a reason to be mad… How am I going to tell her that I’m a pony now too? Convince her that it’s me? She should recognize my voice, anyway… What if she runs away and I never find her again? Oh no… My bravado shrunk considerably as each scenario revealed itself. 170, 171… Oh dear god… There it was. The door was slightly ajar, and I could hear what sounded like music coming from inside. I gulped one last time, and prepared to knock at the door with my hoof.

“Who is it?” It wasn’t Veron’s voice. Someone else.

“Is Veroni.. Err, Emerald Dawn here? I need to see her.” A long silence followed, “Um, hello?” I called out once more.

“She’s not here right now, sorry. I’ll tell her you came by, if you want. What’s your name?” I continued to listen through the little crack in the door.

“Just… Tell her that an old friend came to say hi. That’s all she needs to know.” I turned around, both deeply disappointed yet relieved that I wasn’t going to face her that moment. Although, my relief was short lived as I proceeded to collide my face with another. After the pain had settled, I looked up to find a light blue Unicorn staring at me. She had a rather impressive bright combination of colors, as a single bright green stripe ran down her mane and tail. We stared at each other for a few moments, but I broke the silence first.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t see you ther-“Her eyes… Light blue. Very bright. I knew them from somewhere. As I continued to gaze at the Unicorns eyes, she spoke warmly.

“Delvin? Is that you? What happened to you?” As she spoke for the first time, my eyes widened beyond comprehension.

“Veronica? I, um…” Still unsure of where I was going from there, I continued to stare. Before I could say anything else, however, I was encased in a furry hug. So she wasn’t mad at me, and she was glad to see me. That’s a start.

“I’m sorry that I left… But, you have to understand,” She spoke softly now, attempting reassurance. Returning to her previous stance on all fours, she motioned me to follow her. Hopefully, I would get all the answers I wanted.

As we walked down the hallway, we neared a door shrouded in blue light. This, as I knew from before, was a concourse. Stepping out into the light breeze, she directed herself to the railing. She almost glowed in the morning light. I guess that’s the reason for the ‘Dawn’ part. Hoisting my forelegs up onto the railing, I looked over to her uneasy frown. She was bothered greatly by something.

“Okay. Ask me any question you want to know. I’ll do my best to answer it.” Not making eye contact, I decided to inquire about the heaviest thing on my mind.

“Alright… So, why didn’t I see you again? You just disappeared. I hated myself for whatever I did wrong, and I need to know what’s going on. Why are you a Pony now?” Sighing she turned to face me. Her bright blue eyes sparkled a bit.

“Where do I begin… You know my father? Well, he decided that he wanted his daughter back. I’ve always hated him, you know. He wanted to turn me into this. To work with him. I wasn’t easily going to do that, but he had his goons searching high and low for me. Eventually, it wasn’t safe anymore, and I went into hiding. This whole deal had been going on for a while, too. I just didn’t see fit to tell anypony about it.” I drew my thoughts away from her for a moment. ‘anypony’? She was even beginning to embrace their mannerisms. Although, I heard that it was something built in, and it wasn’t all that controllable. Without thinking you could easily say it without even knowing, “That day that I left was the day that it had reached a breaking point. They burned my house, hacked my bank account, slaughtered my dog… Anything that I held near. He… He killed my sister too…” She dropped into a much more depressing tone. Looking over, I witnessed a single tear falling from her eye. Wiping it with her foreleg, she continued once more, “I couldn’t take on my father alone. Hell, I couldn’t take him on with an army. He’s too influential. I went into hiding, you see. An old friend, Nathan Smith, let me stay with him. I couldn’t go anywhere, call anyone, go on the extranet… I’d be tracked. But, it didn’t last forever. A week ago, Nathan didn’t come home. He was killed; I saw it on the news. Knowing that I couldn’t stay there for long, I made my way to the Bureau, and changed my identity, and myself. I don’t think my father would ever think to look for me here, he knows that I don’t like conversion. If I don’t get out of here soon, though, he’ll find me, and probably kill me. Or worse…” I was enraged. Her father was a monster. Formulating a plan in my head, I looked at Veronica solemnly.

“He’s a sick and twisted bastard, Ver. You know what happens to bastards like him? They meet the end of my shotgun barrel.” at my failed attempt to look tough, Veronica giggled depressingly and looked down at my hooves.

“I don’t think you’ll be wielding a shotgun anymore with those.” I gazed down at my thick appendages and swore quietly. Bottling up her emotions, she inquired, “So, why are you a Pony now? Why aren’t you in Equestria?” I was waiting for this question.

“A couple of nights ago, I was contracted to kill an HLF Lieutenant, Marcus Deran. Well, let’s just say I ran into some trouble, and I almost died. To prevent me from dying, I had to be converted to save my life. Now, I have some unfinished business, I suppose...” I smiled slyly at Veronica, who was in shock.

“You almost DIED!?” Nodding in agreement, I looked over to the Martin Industries Headquarters. It was probably the tallest structure in the city, besides the tether, of course. Pointing with my hoof, I explained.

“I’ve got to meet my father today. About, you know… What happened.” Still in shock, she pondered over my new equine body and began to ask more questions.

“So, you got ponified? When?”

“Yesterday was when I woke up. A hell storm ensued, of course, but I think I’m okay as of now. Just… Being faced with something like this is very nerve-racking. I went fucking insane last night; shattered my mirror, broke down in tears. Up until then I really didn’t quite understand just how life changing this was. Everything just taken away from me in the blink of an eye. My humanity, my hands, hobbies, abilities, my job… God, I don’t even know how long I’ll be able to stay in the city before I’m killed by those bastards over at the HLF. I just… I don’t know anymore…” The aching numbness crawled up my throat and lept into my brain, where it forced tears out of my eyes once again. Ponies must be fifteen times more emotional than humans or something. I was crying my eyes out left and right, and I was starting to get a bit frustrated at it. Then again, considering the emotional load I had been handling, it wasn’t all that inappropriate.

“So, you’re sure you have to go to Equestria? You can’t stay, even with a new identity?” In my weakened emotional state, I blurted out something I hadn’t quite expected. Of course, I wanted her to stay more than anything, but I understood her reasons. I really just didn’t have anyone to relate to anymore. Acknowledging my weeping, she left the question I had asked hanging in the breeze for a moment, and put her foreleg across my quivering shoulders.

“I don’t know Delvin. My father… I don’t want to take the chance. I’m sorry, bu-“

“YOU CAN’T!! PLEASE STAY!! WE… We… We can take that bastard… Like we always do…” In that moment of helplessness, everything suddenly became clearer. My muzzle obscuring my vision slightly, the position of my bones, the presence of fur covering my body, and my lack of hands… “DAMMIT! I’M TIRED OF THIS SHIT! ALL OF IT!!” I yelled out in a fit of anger which caused Veronica to jump away, avoiding my sudden outburst. Burying my face back into my foreleg, I continued to let the tears fall freely. No, I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t mad at anything. Wait, yes I was mad at Kaleth, asshole… No, I wasn’t mad at anyone, I was a happy little Pony that loved everything and everypony… What? NO! Get the fuck out of my head! I didn’t want to think those things, not at all. Realizing that those thoughts were forced upon me by an unknown presence, I began to feel like a puppet of my own mind. My muzzle still buried in my foreleg, my words were barely audible.

“I don’t want to be a Pony…” I sniffled, “I never did… I never asked for this… I never ever wanted this…” Pulling away from the railing, I was reluctant to give Veronica another glance. I was a tattered emotional mess once again, only this time, my Mom wasn’t there to help. In my emotionally induced mental blindness, I disregarded Veronica, and walked back through the doors in order to reach the elevators once again. In that moment, she didn’t matter, my father didn’t matter, nothing mattered anymore. I effectively hated myself for no discernible reason other than the unfortunate events that had befallen me.

Tears still falling, I walked out into the midmorning bustle and shut myself out from the rest of the world.

****

“Where is he? He was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago!” Dr. Martin gazed out over the rest of the city from his large window. Lowering his head, she shuffled back over to his desk, glaring over the various pieces of paper strewn about. Lifting his coffee mug, he quickly sipped his brown savory liquid that was quite rare nowadays. On the other side of the desk, a light brown Unicorn sat quietly, resting his chin on his hoof.

“You know, just sitting here gets us nowhere. Shouldn’t we at least call him? Send a message to that blasted AI of his that he cares so much about? Maybe she knows where he went. This is too important to just wait.” He paused for a moment, “Didn’t his mother say something about having a breakdown of some sorts last night? Broke his mirror and nearly went insane. Eric, he’s your son. Are you sure we should be putting him through this?” Walter Verga leaned back in his armchair and waited for the response he was anticipating. The graying middle aged man smiled wryly at the pony,

“You’re right. He is my son. That’s exactly why I’m putting him through this. I know Delvin, and this is exactly what he needs. This whole transformation has left him without… Well, a lot of things. Well, at least that’s what he thinks. He doesn’t know where my research has brought me, and I think he’ll be more than overjoyed that he can continue doing what he loves. The least I can do for him...” Walking back over to the window, he continued to search the skies.

“Are you really sure we should be pitting him against Kaleth? I mean, remember what happened back at Archon? That was some pretty nasty stuff. Still can’t get that image out of my mind.” Walter, cringing at his dreadful memories, stared blankly into space.

“He’ll have help. I won’t send him in alone, Walter, especially in his current… State. Oh, he’ll have help. Some of the best.” Walter, seriously doubting Eric’s claim, retorted,

“And who would that be?”

****

The afternoon sun was covered now with a thick overcast. Long gone were the comforting rays of sun that graced the autumn skies that were now hidden from view. The lawless alleys of the lower city only provided cold and darkness, which caused me to shiver weakly. In my emotional stupor, I somehow ended up in this forsaken part of the city. Who knew what shady deals were taking place in the old run down houses and alleys that dotted the underground section of the city. Back when the economic rush was at its peak, the inner city had quickly become a massive construction zone, building all the corporate office buildings and arcologies that had to be built due to the sudden influx of population. Over time, the city grew outward, expanding into residential neighborhoods, parks, and forests. In those days, the New Roanoke Department of Economic Affairs agreed to bypass the locals of this horrid place and just build a new street level over it. Leaving the historic, albeit infamous district relatively unharmed, they soon disregarded it as part of the city in a lawful sense. Of course, it was still a very active participant in the city, but was left mostly lawless due to the inaccessibility of most motor vehicles, local hostility, and ineffective methods of controlling the population down here.

As the population of the rapidly growing city grew as well, all the scum among other things harbored down here in the narrow alleyways that is the Lower City. Quite a few of my contracts brought me down here, so I was basically forced to know the maze of alleys and streets like the back of my hand, or hoof, or whatever... Anyway, I somehow wandered down here; probably the worst place somepony like me could end up. Yet, it didn’t really matter to me anymore. I hated myself. Myself pissed me off. My mind pissed me off. Everything about me just… Pissed me off. I didn’t exactly want to be cornered and tortured or something like that, but if someone ran up and just shot me in the face, I’d be cool with it.

“What da hell, man? You gonna get’cha self killed down here! Why you down here, Pony?” A scruffy homeless man emerged from behind me somewhere, and started talking erratically. Not making eye contact with the man, I continued to look at the cracked sidewalk that I had been walking on.

“Idunno.” Without even looking at the man, I knew that his eyes became wide.

“Watchu talkin bout bruthu? Look, dem HLF’s gonna be all over ya if ya don git atta here! Your kinds ain’t welcome down here, don’t ya know? I’m riskin mah ass out here justa talkin to ya. Hey! You listenin? I said you gotta get atta here man!” Coming to a corner in the alley, I turned to look at the man. He was fairly young, maybe a bit older than me, but still young. Dressed in ragged sweatpants and a tattered hoodie, to me he looked homeless, but could’ve easily had a home here in this place.

“Why are you trying to help me?” The look on the man’s face soured at the question, but he stared back at me sincerely with his glazy eyes.

“Look man, I seen what dem HLF’s do to you Ponies. It ain’t pretty, nu-uh. I thought dey was good people, but… I dunno bat dat no more. I’m just tryinta help is al-“

“Look at what we got here boys!” A gruff militaristic voice boomed in the shadows of the alley. Shit. Three burly men in combat armor approached us from our left, heavily armed. From what I remembered, the HLF group down here sent out patrols as a form of police. However, they were more like the Nazi SS from what I’ve read in history books. They were allowed to do what they want, whenever they wanted, and since the law didn’t have a presence down here, there wasn’t anything you could do to get them off your back except to become one yourself. A horrible existence down here, but this was all that some people have, I suppose. Returning to the matter at hand, I was a Pony cornered in an alley by three HLF troops, along with the only soul that had been willing to help a delusional alien in the wrong part of town. Shit, what the hell was I thinking?! Oh yeah, I guess I wasn’t thinking at all. Way to go Delvin. I mentally slapped myself, and forced myself to look up at the approaching brutes.

The middle one, supposedly the leader, sounded exactly how he looked. A gruff flathead with a fucked up face. That was basically the HLF for you. Big racist bastards. They usually came from rough backgrounds and unlucky childhoods. I wish I could feel sorry for them, but these men were machines. No care for other living things besides themselves. I felt like crying for help, but that would’ve gotten me nowhere down here. If I still had my guns… If I was still a human I wouldn’t even be in this godforsaken mess. In that moment, reality rushed back to me in full force. I was supposed to go to meet my father after I saw Veronica, but I just HAD to go insane once again thanks to my interesting predicament. I only now realized that I was in deep shit. Extremely deep shit. I had a knack for getting in extremely deep horrible shit, it seemed.

“Ay! Rob! Whatchu doin talkin ta dis pony fag, anyways?” Another thick undercity accent similar to who I now knew as Rob’s accent emerged from the group. A Pony fag? These guys were douchebags. I really wasn’t in the mood for this shit. Then, out of fucking nowhere, I was kicked in the chest. All of my air rushed out of my contorted face and I staggered backwards from the raw force of the foot. The blow seemed to be derived from Rob, the bastard. At first, I wanted to tear his face off, but the anger I had quickly turned to sadness as my Equestrian mind attempted to steer clear of the emotion.

“Nah man I was just abat ta give ‘im a beatin! Stupid animal should know betta than to come on our turf!” I could sense pain in his voice. He was only trying to protect himself, I guess. If he showed any sympathy at all for me he would’ve been put down the same way I would be. That brings up yet another point. Were they going to kill me? Yes. No doubt they would. God, I fucked up big time… Why did I even come down here?!!? Even in my emotional stupor I must’ve had some reason to do this! What the hell was I thinking? Oh right, I wasn’t thinking… My legs began to buckle under my fear, and I shrunk back into the corner of the alley as the three armed men approached. Backing away, Rob mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ and hesitantly sprinted out down the alley. He was good at heart, but he lacked the courage to help me. Normally, I would have called him a bastard, but I just… Felt sorry for him. My chest still hurt like hell, and I winced at every move I made.

“Well, well. Look at this piece of faggot trash. Don’t you know animals ain’t welcome down here?” He drew his pistol from his holster as the other two men drew their rifles. This was it, I suppose. My end would be a swift and horrible one. Getting gunned down in an alley by ignorant HLF puppets. My mind began to replay the events I had witnessed not too long ago… The cornered mare that I watched the slaughter of… Was this karma? Anger began to rise within me.

“I’m not an animal! How in the flying FUCK do you not get that? Are you THAT retarded?” The meathead in the middle adorned a moderately confused look, probably because of my unexpected anger towards him. Ponies weren’t known for their anger, I suppose. I guess I could get angry if I really wanted too, if I really meant the anger and it was right to be angry. That was it. Equestrians didn’t lack the emotion of anger, but rather lacked unnecessary anger. They only used anger when it was necessary! Or, that’s at least how I began to think about it. I felt the bubbling anger inside me, “I’m just as human as you are you ignorant bastard! But I guess you’re too fucking stupi-“His steel toed boot shoveled into my stomach with a ridiculous amount of force, knocking the wind out of me and sending my numb body to the ground. That hurt. A lot. A whole lot. In that moment, I honestly believed that I had never been dealt so much pain before at once. Struggling to recover my breath, I felt tears of pain flood my eyes.

“Stupid animal piece a shit!” He kicked me again, this time in the chest. I think he broke about five of my ribs. Sounds about right. Holy shit. Screaming wasn’t really my thing, but… So much pain… My suffering screams resounded off the old brick walls of the old buildings, and bounced back to me. Flailing my various limbs about, there wasn’t anything I could really do to stop the pain, “Pathetic. PATHETIC!” He was right. I was pathetic. I felt more tears run down my cheek.

“Why… Please stop… Plea-“And, out of nowhere, a light blue aura surrounded that ugly fucker, and threw him out of my field of vision. I heard many bones crack, and a muffled scream in the distance. Black. I passed out. Again.

Chapter Eight: Battle Plans

ARCHON II ORBITAL PLATFORM, LOW EARTH ORBIT NORTH PACIFIC. SEPTEMBER 28th, 2052.

Lucien Kaleth sipped on his mug of hot tea, leaving brown residue on the side. He expressed his satisfaction with his tea audibly, adoring the pure liquid that he had always loved. Sitting the tea down, he raised his voice.

“JACOB!! Oh, I always knew I’d love that name for an AI! Oh, my dear, sweet Jacob! Hail Mr. Deran, if you’d be so kind as to do so!” Kaleth’s twinge of accent graced the grey metal walls of his private quarters.

“Yes, Mr. Kaleth.” A bland voice emitted a response from an unknown location. But, in a few moments the voice was replaced by a deep toned man.

“Sir, this DNA sequence… It’s impossible to know how long it will take to decrypt. And once that’s over with, we still have to deal with the application of the finalized version of the mutated strand… It could take months… Even yea-“ Marcus Deran was interrupted by Kaleth.

“I WANT IT IN A MONTH, DERAN!! DON’T MAKE ME BURN YOUR OTHER HOUSE DOWN!!!” Kaleth rasped. Deran, unsurprised, continued.

“I know, sir. But if you still want to deploy both ARCHANGEL and REAPER at the same time, I’m not sure if the current harvest date is practica-“

“TA-TA!!” And with that, the room was silent yet again. Taking another sip of his tea, the warm feeling slipped down his throat and into his stomach. Gazing out of his observation window, a gigantic jellyfish like structure loomed outside in space. It emitted a bright orange color from the exposed sections, illuminating the hundreds of workers completing it.

123445456

“Egnnn…” GODDDD. My chest hurt… SO BAD! Along with my stomach and my chest, my head wasn’t too great either. I didn’t want to move. I was afraid to. God, what happened? All I remember was getting cornered in the alley and… Oh shit. Had they captured me? Taken me prisoner? Worse… I opened my eyes, and found myself lying in a bed on my side. It was very comfortable from what I could tell, and I was under a really cozy blanket. I don’t think the HLF would treat me to this.

My eyes wandered around the small room I was in. Dark, it was pretty dark from what I could tell. My eyes found a window, but no light came from outside. I was either still underground, or it was nighttime. That reminded me, my father was going to murder me. Kaleth was more important than anything. Whatever he was planning, my emotions shouldn’t have gotten in the way. Cursing at myself, I once again took a look around the room. It looked like a makeshift hospital, maybe, but it was completely empty.

“Hello? Anypony? I mean… Ah, dammit. Whatever…” My voice was ragged and squeaky due to my sore throat. I wasn’t concerned about that though. I just said a ponyism without thinking, which caught me off guard. Burying myself in the blanket, I noticed that the room was quite the low temperature, probably unheated. This meant that I was likely still in some part of the Lower City, in some rundown makeshift hospital place. At least the beds were comfortable- Clip Clop Clip Clop. I hardened myself for a moment, listening intently at the hoof steps. Clip Clop Clip Clop. There they were again.

“H-Hello? Anypony here? Where am-… Fuhhh!” I mentally slapped myself again for saying another ponyism, “Cut it out, brain!” I muttered under my breath. A hurried fumbling could be heard from somewhere, and then trotting. It came closer. Taking notice of the door across the room, I watched it intently. A magical glow engulfed the doorknob, and opened to reveal a light blue Unicorn with a blue and green mane and tail. What? Veronica? What was she doing here? I stared at the approaching Unicorn with my mouth agape.

“Delvin… WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING??!!?!? WHY IN EQUESTRIA WOULD YOU COME DOWN HERE, OF ALL PLACES!!!!!!” Shit. I sunk down into my covers a little bit to shield myself from the enraged Pony, “YOU COULD’VE DIED!!!! YOU WOULD’VE DIED!!! BY CELESTIA, OF ALL THE PLACES YOU COULD’VE GONE TO!!!!” I began to quiver a little bit from the sheer force in her voice. She was angry, really angry. I had only seen her this angry one time before. Once. It kind of scared me.

“I-I didn’t mean to… I wasn’t aware of what I was doing…” Her face fell a bit, relaxing slightly. She was still pretty upset though.

“What happened? You just stormed off after your ranting! I followed you half way across the damn city to this place!!” She was over by my side now, the exhaustion and worry clear in her eyes. Right then, the memories flooded back to me. Right before I passed out… Oh… That was her? She used her magic on the HLF troops?

“Wait… So you… You saved me?” I smiled brightly at her. Or, at least I think I was smiling. It’s hard to tell sometimes with new anatomy. Backing away a little bit, she blushed lightly behind her thick coat of blue fur. How did it even show through like it did?

“Well, yeah… I guess I kind of did… I wasn’t just going to stand there and let you die!!” I chuckled heartily and looked back at her.

“Well then I guess we’re even! Remember back when we took out Jurgen Locke? I saved your fatass from getting killed by that asshole. That was close.” An unexpected kick to my shoulder caused me to gasp out in pain, “What was that for?!” Veronica retained a smirk, and began to laugh.

“You’re a douchebag, Delvin. But I love you anyway. Anyways…” Sighing, she sat down in that weird position how Ponies sat. It was actually quite comfortable, but it made me feel a ton of strange. Avoiding causing any pain in my chest and stomach, I slowly eased myself into a sitting position. Everything that I had originally thought to be normal was all wrong now. Like sitting cross legged, for example. Couldn’t really do that anymore. Sitting in a chair the human way was odd, but many Equestrians did it anyway. I mean, they did a lot of things we did, but I guess sapient species think alike in that respect. Even though they were quadrupeds, their sapient nature somehow propelled them to sit upright, even though they were basically defying their equine nature in doing so. I guess that’s why it felt weird for me, the first time going against this body’s nature. Eventually it would feel normal I guess, but the way Veronica was sitting was one of the more comfortable ways to sit as a Pony.

“Yeah, so, where are we, anyways?” I began to take notice of the room again. Looking back over to Veronica, her Pony self was portraying a demeanor of anxiety, or maybe even fear. I couldn’t know for sure though.

“I was afraid you were going to ask that. I knew you would, but… This is a Safehouse. I guess you could call it that. A place where Ponies can stay without threat from the HLF. Well, of course there’s always a threat, but this place is probably the most well hidden place in the Lower City, and maybe even in New Roanoke.” She hadn’t gotten to her point yet, but I interrupted her.

“Like how?”

“A magical barrier, actually. Illusion magic. Humans see the place as a rundown house filled with rubble, while Equestrians see it as just an old house. Most Ponies can usually sense the energy being emitted from the spell though, and that’s how they find it. But… That’s not what’s important. I lied to you, about my reasons for conversion and ending up where I am. Please don’t be mad at me…” I couldn’t be mad at her, she just saved my life, “Well, I guess not all of it was a lie, but I wasn’t sure about telling you at first. That morning after I left your apartment, I got a letter. It was from an organization called the Equestrian Rights Division. An organization that the UEG formed to protect Ponies.” She trailed off for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.

“Well, anyways, they apparently knew about our work, and offered me special placement within their division. I refused at first, but they were offering a lot of money. UEG credits. You know how greedy I was back then, I hated that about me, but it was ultimately a good decision. They sent me down here to this Safehouse, and gave me explicit orders to prevent harm befalling any Equestrian citizen. I ran this setup down here, until my father found out. Like I said, I didn’t lie to you about some parts. He still blew up my house, and killed my sister… I still can’t believe he would do such a thing. Anyway, I needed to get away from my father before continuing my work for Equestria, so I signed up for conversion. Having experienced the things I have down here, it didn’t seem that bad of an idea.” Her face soured for a moment, and then just drooped to a sad and pitiful look.

“But… My father won’t give up so easily. If I stay here on Earth, he will probably somehow find me. I don’t know what I’ll do if he does. Equestria seems like the best option…” I couldn’t believe my ears. She was giving up this easily? She wasn’t even going to fight back? That wasn’t the Veronica I knew.

“Veronica… I know things look grim, but giving up isn’t your style. If he finds you, we’ll find him, and kill the bastard and be done with it.”

“Delvin, if you hadn’t noticed, we’re Ponies. Killing isn’t quite our styl-“

“Who said it wasn’t? I’m sure a sniper rifle as a Cutie Mark would be a bit different. I like the idea! Why can’t we do this, Ver? Tell me why.” I was on the dusty old floor now, pacing around the sitting Unicorn. Raising her hooves up in front of her face, she gave them a shake.

“Delvin. When’s the last time you saw a Pony be able to pull a trigger on a gun with hooves? I mean, I could do it with magic, but you’re a Pegasus! How would that work out?” I gave her a sly smirk, and uttered a clever laugh. At this, she facehoofed.

“You obviously haven’t met my father. You know he gave me another contract, right? Right after I woke up, too! Why would he do that if he didn’t have a good reason?” Rising to her hooves, she halted my constant pacing about the floor. Even as a human, constant movement annoyed the crap out of her.

“I don’t know. I guess he’s on to something… You were one of his best assets.”

“Still am… I think. Look, let’s just get out of here and head over to HQ. What time is it, anyway?” Remembering the urgency of my appointment, I continued to pace around the room, anxious to get out.

“It’s around 4-“

“We gotta go!”

“Hmm… I’m still not sure about staying. I’m going to see what this is about, and if it’s something big, I don’t want to be left out. I don’t even think I can go anymore, knowing the odds you’re up against… Fine. I’ll stay no matter what. You’re not in this alone.” SCORE! I got her to stay! Tripping down the splintery stairs, I landed with my legs sprawled out in each direction.

“Damn hooves. I’ll never be able to get used to these. How do you do it so well?” Veronica leaped over me, landing adjacent from my mangled self. Chuckling, she let out a sigh.

“You’ll get used to them, don’t worry. It happens to everypony.” Grimacing, my face flustered at her sudden use of everypony. I had a hard time adjusting to all of these vocabulary words.

“I don’t even know if I want t-“ A sudden tingling sensation engulfed my body. Looking up at Veronica, her eyes began to glow a feint blue, and it almost appeared that they emitted some sort of magical vapor. Her horn, glowing the brightest blue, continued to brighten. The space around us shifted erratically, as if time and space itself were being altered. When the shifting halted, and the magical glow of Veronica died down, the all too familiar lobby of Martin Industries greeted us. Still in my sprawled out position, I struggled to acquire a grip on the situation.

“What… How… What?” I was only left to stare at the returned stares of the Humans that filled the lobby. Was that… Teleportation? Weird.

“Teleportation. Nifty, huh?” She giggled, and a magical shimmer engulfed me and I was brought to my hooves once again. My mind was pretty weak, as well as my muscles, and I stuttered.

“T-Teleportation? T-That was… A bit unexpected-d.” Definitely unexpected. How did she learn how to do that so quickly? I guess she spent time with Unicorns and others at the Safehouse, but she was like a master. Or so I thought. But that was magic? Well, magic is pretty weird. It wasn’t any ‘abra cadabara’ or ‘poof’ nonsense, but more… Awesome, I guess? The transition from the Lower City to here was almost seamless, as the space and time seemed to morph around a bubble. There weren’t any bright flashes, or weird noises, it just happened.

“Magic works a bit differently than I would’ve expected. Like, it’s something out of Science Fiction, almost.” Having regained my bearings, I attempted to focus on the task at hand. Directing ourselves toward the front desk, we struck up more conversation.

“Well, yeah, actually. Equestrian magic, or Thaumatic Energy, is a completely foreign concept to this Universe. It’s nothing like the typical Human stereotype of magic. It’s all very different, and more intricate.” We continued to receive multiple stares from the staff, but I started to get used to it. Guess I would have to.

There she was. The queen of bitchdom, Susan Sartor. Susan, the stereotypical bitch, was working the Front desk. Ever since I was a little kid, she had been one of my father’s most trusted employees. I mean, I was told she did her work extremely well, but she always had a thing for being a bitch, especially to me. She didn’t like me at all. Hated me, actually. Apparently, she and my father had something before he married my mother, but she still retained a deep appreciation for him. Don’t ask me how he could ever love a bitch like her, but somehow it happened. Her hatred for me wasn’t a secret either, clearly demonstrated by Veronica’s recoiling action as she noticed her at the Front Desk.

“Gah, do we really have to go through her? This won’t end well…”

“Seems like it. I’ll have to identify myself, as will you to get access to my dad’s office.” My legs grew numb. I hated having to deal with these kinds of situations.

“Can’t you just call him? Tell him to override the Elevator’s floor restraints?”

“Even if I did that, I’d still have to go through Susan. Won’t let anyone through without authorization from the big man himself. I don’t want to get into a bigger mess than there has to be.” Sighing, I continued on toward the counter. My hoofs clopped against the unrealistically clean floors, and grew louder with every step. It didn’t take Susan long to notice the obnoxious hoof steps in her wake. Looking up, her omnipresent frown soured even more as she examined us with her beady eyes. Putting her datapad down, she stood up.

“No animals! Dr. Martin has a strict polic-“ My teeth clenched, and the words that came out of my mouth next were, albeit slightly uncalled for, gratifying.

“Fuck off, Susan! My dad doesn’t have any stupid policy that says that I can’t come in here! Now, I need two access cards for my friend and I.” Susan appeared to be taken aback. Apparently she hadn’t known about my endeavor, and was quite shocked. Expectantly, her hideous face soured beyond what I thought was possible.

“Ah, Delvin. A new look, huh? Well, I certainly like the… Uh… Tail. Oh, and the purple eyes are quite fetching too. My, my… What kind of stupid thing did you do to get yourself in this me-“

“Just give me the damn cards, Susan.” Her face reddening, she proceeded to angrily authorize the cards for use with her scanner.

“I need voice recognition scans from both of you. Seeing that the facial recognition won’t go so well, we have to settle with that. It doesn’t pick up animals, anyway.” She retorted. After speaking into the receiver, she spoke up again, “Veronica Hock, eh? Haven’t seen your lazy ass around here in a while.” She held out the two cards, grabbing mine in between my teeth, Veronica utilizing her magic. Once again, the magic she performed astonished me. A shimmering clear field of energy engulfed the card, its visual properties distorting a bit. I resented having to carry the thing in my mouth; I especially felt like my humanity was all but lost when I did that, but I had to hold myself together, now of all times.

The two armed guards adorned in black Centurion Power Armor stepped aside, and let us access the elevator. There were a couple of others inside, one talking on their Datapad, and the other just stood there. The one on their Datapad was too busy to notice us, but the other took interest immediately. Once we scanned our access cards, the man spoke up.

“Access cards? Are you seeing Dr. Martin?” Turning to face the middle aged scientist, he recoiled at our eye contact, but adjusted.

“Um, yeah. I’m his son.”

“HIS SON? Oh, Delvin, a pleasure to meet you! I’m one of Dr. Martin’s lead scientists! Believe me when I say that the effort he’s put into this project of his will not let you down! You will be pleased, I assure you!!” The overly excited man shook my hoof erratically, “Oh, but where are my manners? I’m Dr. Gildroy Orcrest, a pleasure!” God, every one of his scientists must’ve been half insane. Right up there with Verga.

“Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Orcrest.” The elevator rose skyward, rocketing past the other around two hundred or more floors in the building. My father’s office was conveniently placed at the highest habitable floor. As we were forced to wait, I couldn’t help but fidget uncomfortably between the two vastly different looking humans. Orcrest wore a lab coat, while the other wore an expensive black suit. I shot a quick glance up at the expensive looking Human who had just hung up from his call. Apparently, he caught me looking at him, and his face soured.

“Keep your eyes off me, freak. Who let you into the building, anyways?” This kind of thing was really starting to get on my nerves. I was being constantly bombarded with insults and racism. Jeez, I never really noticed how much the Ponies got pushed around by the Humans until now. I mean, I knew it happened, I even participated in it once, but now I was getting the brunt of it. I wasn’t exactly satisfied with myself either, but the insults and stuff really didn’t help me feel any better.

“Look, can you please just back off? I’m not having a good day…” I just wanted all the shit to stop. I was so tired, so eager for the day to be over with. I’d just be briefed and stuff with my dad, and then I’d be out of here. I’d go back home, watch some TV, maybe watch a movie, play some guitar, surf the extranet, play some video games… You know, it sounded like something I could really look forward to. But then I remembered that I couldn’t do half of those things anymore. Man, what I’d give to be able to experience those things again.

Reaching the top floor, the elevator doors swished open, revealing a security checkpoint. Veronica, Dr. Orcrest, and I stepped out, leaving the well-dressed man in the elevator with a disgruntled expression. Just before the elevators closed behind us, I heard him muffle, “Damn animals.” I shrugged it off, but it stung a little. Also, it wasn’t the center of my attention. My attention was currently plastered on the empty guard posts, the disabled security scanner, and the presence of blood splatters across the walls. Veronica was the first to react, gasping, and backing away from the scene. I just stood, frozen, as Orcrest investigated the scene. Distracted by the blood, his foot came in contact with an armored leg sticking out from behind a wall. Jumping back, he bit his lip.

“My God… What happened here? Your father!” Orcrest darted through the already half opened automatic doors, and began to yell for my dad. My attention was directed at the sprawled corpse that lay motionless on the scarlet floor. A single bullet hole pierced his forehead, allowing the fresh blood to pour out of the open wound. I felt sick. So very sick. Never in my life had I ever been so sick and felt so horrible about death. I screwed my eyes shut, and stepped over the lifeless bodies, the fresh scent of blood piercing my nostrils.

The office on the other side was in complete disarray. Overturned furniture, blood splatters coated the walls, along with broken and bloodied glass.

“Doctor! Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?” The frantic nasal speech of Orcrest could be heard.

“I’m okay… ‘cough cough’… Where is he? My son?” Upon glancing over at my father’s desk, I noticed a tall black haired man sitting uncomfortably in a chair, clutching his side. Another to my right was clad in black armor, and lay sprawled out in bloody glass. The remnants of a holoscreen, I noted. “Delvin… You’re here! Thank god…” He coughed again, and leaned back in his chair.

“Wha…” I gulped, “What happened?” Sighing, he gestured Orcrest to back away from him, and he awkwardly rose to his feet, still clutching his side.

“Damn assassin. Apparently a little birdie told on me. He was Kaleth’s.” Coughing, he called out, “Serena, run security protocol 451. Make sure this isn’t publicized. Poor souls…” He limped over to the cold metallic body of the assassin, and gave him a kick, “He’s a cyborg. Biomechanical implants from head to toe. I was lucky this time… It’s a good thing Walter went down to the labs when he did… Would’ve been killed, most likely.” Grunting, he continued to limp over to me. Dr. Orcrest was investigating the dead assassin on the ground now, running a scan on him with his Datapad.

“D-Dad… I… Are you all right? Are you hurt?” He placed a rough hand on my neck, and patted me gently.

“Oh I’ll be all right. Cut it pretty close, though. It was a lucky shot.” He pointed to a lone magnum that had been left on the floor. Orcrest spoke up from his analyzing.

“Yeah. Right between the eyes. ‘tisk tisk tisk’. By the way, his name is Jericho Faber. That’s all I know… Guy doesn’t have much of a background.” I glanced over to the bloody synthetic man on the floor, his blood was tainted a bit orange due to the mixture of chemicals in his biomech augmentations, but it was blood all the same. Gagging, I looked away and buried my head in my dad’s coat. I didn’t want to look at the blood anymore.

“Sorry. I know this kind of stuff isn’t good for you now, but that’ll soon change.” He stroked my mane, “I need to show you something.” Finally. I was done with this. I just wanted to go home…

“Doctor, I… It’s Veronica Hock. You know…” Pulling myself away from him, I looked over at the queasy looking mare who was doing her best to step over the shards of glass.

“Hock? You certainly look different from last time I saw you… My wife told me she met you at the Bureau, as luck would have it. Tell me, does Delvin have an ally?” Something was always bothering him. For all of my life, I have never known my dad to be at peace with himself, or something else. Now he looked more stressed than ever.

“Yes, doctor. I can explain to you about my disappearance and everything at a later time, but I think the matter at hand is more important.” Sighing, he looked over at Orcrest.

“Gildroy, make sure no one gets access to this room. I can’t have the cops right now. More important things to deal with.” He limped over to a wall, and entered a key code on a panel. Raising his fingers up to his ear, he spoke into a device.

“Walter, get down to testing 04.” A hidden door opened up silently, and gave way to a pearly white elevator. My father was really in a hurry. This was urgency; getting attacked by an assassin and two minutes later you’re all cool about it. All right then. This testing facility was all too familiar to me. It was the level where the prototypes, secret operations, and people like me got to play with manly toys. We walked out into a long corridor, lined with the various inventions my father was currently working on. I had no idea what they were all for, and I could only guess.

“This way. Walter will be waiting for us. Are you ready, Delvin?” We turned to face a rather large garage looking door with the Martin Industries logo plastered in big white letters, followed by a 04-D. I looked up at my tall father, nodded, and was led inside by the still visibly limping man.

“Power levels reaching nominal charge. Stabilizing… There. Ah, Doctor, the Nano batteries are effectively holding their charge. Would you like me to crack the case?” Walter trotted over to a rather large holographic panel and gestured to my father. In my limited time to observe my surroundings, I took note of the two monstrous vibrating spheres on each side of the room, somehow kept aloft by a force field. The things my father came up with…

“Crack it.” Doctor Verga punched in a key code, and without warning, a gust of chilly air buffeted my coat. The far wall broke into five pieces, and slid into the walls.

“We have to keep it right cold in here to preserve the charge, sorry. Delvin Martin, I present to you one of my greatest works. The Mark II Arion Powered Assault Armor.” Before me, a solid black suit of armor hung suspended in a containment field. I heard a muffled gasp from behind me, most likely Veronica’s. All I could do was stare, dumbfounded at the wondrous piece of machinery. It was indeed quadrupedal, and it appeared to be encased in shiny outer plating.

“Well… This is nice. But, what does it do? It almost looks like a workaround of the Soaren variant.” I took a few steps forward before halting in front of the containment field, and Veronica followed suit. My father chuckled lightly, and took out his Datapad.

“As you know, ever since the Portal opened, I’ve been studying the Equestrian race. Their psyche, physiology, neural capacity, combat abilities, et cetera… I knew that someday we would need resources like you; Ponies that have extensive knowledge of combat and intelligence. When people like Lucien Kaleth threaten to wipe out an entire sapient species, sometimes we need all the help we can get. Now that you are what you are, you have more than enough reason to help.”

“Wipe out an entire species? The Equestrians? How? How do you know that’s what he’s going to do?” Veronica’s voice was tinged with a mixture of anger and fear.

“We don’t know for sure. Not yet. That’s what we need you two for. Now, before we get any further, let me tell you about the suit itself. As we all know, Equestrians were not built for combat. The Arion provides the user with the same amount of power output as the Soaren Power Armor variants. This giving you the strength of any normal human multiplied by 2. The Arion has an onboard gyroscopic stabilization system that allows the user to stand upright for a limited amount of time, as it drains power rather quickly. This feature can be used for any number of things, like operating weapons among other delicate procedures. The actual suit itself is comprised of thick ablative ceramic plates on the exterior, a thin but dense layer of compact armor underneath of that, and finally a gel lined body suit made of synthetic material that reactively changes its density and temperature to fit the user’s needs. This particular version is the Pegasus version, which gives the user a keen advantage in Earth flight. But what really gives you the edge…” Walter fiddled with the panel some more, and a holo appeared before us, causing us both to reel back at the unexpected projection. I glanced at her, and took in her seriousness. I couldn’t tell if she liked what she was seeing, or disapproved. I certainly approved, however. Before I could delve deeper into my thoughts, an outline of a pony appeared on the hologram, red dots popping up on the hooves, eyes, and head.

“The Mark II Arion Powered Assault Armor comes complete with a neural interface, one that allows the wearer, provided a neural uplink is present, to operate various devices with his or her brainwaves. Along with this, the neural enhancement unlocks the Equestrian’s emotional threshold by reducing the amount of serotonin levels produced. You will be able to think like a Human and act upon choices like a Human. That is what you’re going to need in order to take down Kaleth, Delvin.” I was reeling with relief and excitement. I was practically going to be Human again? Things were looking up for me. Maybe I couldn’t go back, but this was the closest thing I had to being my old self. Then, out of nowhere, my father gasped out in pain.

“Walter, pull up the mission briefing for them. I’m kind of in a hurry, here.” I had already rushed to my father’s side, only to be reassured that he was okay.

“Dad, you should really go to the hospital floor,” I sputtered out. He only shook his head, and gestured to the screen once again.

“Alright. Like I said before, your target is Marcus Deran. Only this time, no killing. See, your objective is to get in and out of there with information safely secured in hand, or hoof as it were. We’re still testing the neural enhancement portion of the suit and we don’t want any psychological scarring. The worst you can do is incapacitate the bastard. Now, we need to know what Kaleth is planning, and what the drug is for. The facility is located directly under Weaver Knob, and is respectively known by the HLF as the Weaver Facility. Delvin, Veronica, I think you can work out the rest. I’ll send some more Intel over to your AI, but that is all for now. I’ve had your new weapons and armor delivered to your apartment. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m in an unreasonable amount of pain. Delvin, I expect a report by tomorrow evening.”

Chapter Two: If You Play Your Cards Right...

“Mr. Verga, mind me asking why you would ever want these?” The scruffy shopkeeper pinched the bags of Human hair between his two fingers as if he were uneasy about coming in contact with them.

“Ehn… Just a little experiment I thought up. What if I took Human hair, and put it on dogs? Or CATS!? Blonde, brown, black, and red flowing hair on Cats and dogs! Of course, the repercussions of an experiment of this certain nature may cause the hair to grow rapidly all over their bodies…” He seemed to wander off into a conceptual plain of imagination.

“I’ll need to rethink my hypothesis, but as of now, this is PERFECT! Thank you, Jeremy!”

“It’s James.” The grouchy shopkeeper muttered back to the dark brown Unicorn as he took the bags of hair with his magic. He trotted out of the dusty shop with a bit of pride in his hooves. James turned back to his old shop which was filled with oddities of every kind.

“Crazy Bastard.”He lit up the cigar which he had pulled out of his desk.

“Pony or not, crazy is in his genes.” As his Cigar glowed, a grand explosion could be heard over the stillness of his empty shop.

******

Walter trotted down the dark sidewalks of the old part of the city. He grew up here, and knew it like the bottom of his hoof. It was still fairly early in the evening and he observed the rambunctious party goers with a childish enthusiasm. He could remember the days that he had been one of them, and enjoyed those times. He looked up at the looming hotel a couple blocks over, and immediately remembered the target Dr. Martin had given to one of his many contacts. He was to kill a domestic terrorist named Marcus Deran. As a Human Liberation Front Lieutenant, he was able to conduct an attack on a Bureau in Miami. Wishing to stay out of the news, the operation was orchestrated within his home, over a secure feed to his operatives. The Miami Conversion Bureau, being the one of the largest and most active in the North American Commonwealth, provided a supreme target for the HLF. Walter, an older pony, often became tired easily. He sat down upon a bench next to an old storefront and watched the hotel with constant vigilance. Before he could even get comfortable, a massive explosion rocked the atmosphere. In horror, the tired middle-aged pony gazed upon the collapsing building in awe.

“My god… Delvin...” He slid the packs of hair into his saddlebags and galloped toward chaotic ruins, taking cover from the fiery dust and smoke along the old brick walls of downtown. Screaming, everywhere. It was like the entire city had been forced to watch a horrible death. Right now, Walter understood that his mission was to find Delvin, and if he was still alive, to take him to the nearest medical center. It was unlikely, but if Dr. Martin was to lose him again… No. Not this time. He couldn’t.

Sirens and screams rang out all over the city, desperate to rescue any survivors plagued by this horrible disaster. When Walter neared the site, smoldering rubble dotted the streets. Charred bodies littered the roadways, and the fire raged within the ruins of the former building.

“Delvin! ‘cough cough’, are you out there?!” It couldn’t be hopeless. He knew he was out there, lying under the rubble, dying… No, he was alive! He must be okay! His newfound hope was quickly extinguished as he passed a charred woman clutching her deceased child. He started to tear up at the sight, but had to soldier on through the dust. As a pony, he couldn’t bear to see suffering. It came with the transformation. The unwilling lust to help others was in all of those who became converted by default.

A feint voice came from outside of my polycarbonate tomb. I had unrealistically survived the fall and collapse of the building somehow, and was now trapped beneath smoldering rubble. My armor’s shield and the thick ablative ceramic plates protected everything pretty well, but the fire greatly damaged my lungs and I was finding it extremely hard to breathe. A constant ringing was prominent in my ears, and I could barely speak. My muscles, aided by my suit’s enhanced movement capabilities, could still be moved and flexed. I proceeded to lift part of the rubble off the top of my body, and stood up. The effects of the drug the man named Kaleth gave me earlier were now more prominent. My vision lacked great clarity, and I was in desperate need of some visual aids. I could barely feel anything anymore, but I could still move. I stood up in my rubble pile, and found that the building had indeed collapsed, and there weren’t many survivors by the looks of it.

“Delvin! My god, what happened here? Was it Deran? No time, we need to get you to a hospital!” I was relieved to see Verga, and attempted to follow him to wherever he was taking me. I heard the distinct sound of emergency vehicles in the distance, and presumed he would bring me to one. Just as I had thought my life was saved, a flash of light… Not only to my eyes, but everywhere in my body. It had felt like a supernova went off inside me. I collapsed to the ground, and in my waning vision I caught a glimpse of Walter Verga hovering over me, pounding on my chest with his hooves.

“Delvin! Delvin! Please, don’t do this to me!” Walter attached his vision on the rapidly incoming emergency vehicles. Several fire engines and ambulances were greeted with impassible rubble.

“Help, please! Get him to a hospital! This is Dr. Martin’s son for god sake!” The medics loaded him onto a gurney, and rolled him into the back of the nearest ambulance. Delvin didn’t publically announce the fact that he had a genius of a father, mostly because if it was public, he would be a man targeted by almost every single criminal organization known to man.

“Keep him safe.” Walter pleaded as the emergency vehicle zoomed down the street, causing an echo that could be heard for miles.

******

“Dr. Martin, we don’t understand either. We’re working on a solution, but the damage has been done. If we don’t figure out something soon, we’ll have to consider other means of saving him.” A female voice called out in the darkness.

“There has to be something you can do, Kathryn.” At the sound of my father’s voice, something in my mind sparked.

“Eric, I’ve already given options. If we don’t treat him soon, he can die at any waking moment. I’m sorry, but that is the current option. Either wait for him to die, or treat him with the only possible solution as of now. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to just sit around and wait. I would save him.” I was preparing to say something along the lines of ‘what the hell are you talking about’, but when I activated my brain, everything went awry.

“He’s destabilizing! We don’t have much time!” I felt my heart racing, and could feel myself slipping into an abyss.

“Do it now!” I felt an overwhelming sense of calm wipe over my body.

“He’s stabilized. Vitals returning to normal.” A brief exchanging of words between my father and Kathryn ensued. Before passing out, I could hear my father quietly weeping beside me.

I awoke in a cave. Well, at least I think I woke up in a cave. Except, I don’t exactly remember waking up. The dark and gloomy cave forbear an ancient malevolence I couldn’t quite understand. All around me, the cave was changing. It changed from rock, to sand, to magnificent cotton candy, to brilliant blue sea. But all the while, it remained dark and fearful. Upon reaching the end of the cave, I was met with a great black chasm. It was a solid plane of black, and it emitted some sort of magical energy. On the other side of the chasm was a beautiful garden which possessed every living thing known to man. On my side, billions of unrecognizable faces dotted the black landscape. These were not mere men, but something more. They all had faces, but all of them were the same. Their face was not perceivable, and was something that existed outside the confines of normality. Many prominent features adorned the faces of these men, but were changed upon looking to another. All of them appeared to have the same face, but yet were differed from each other. Then, I remembered a brilliant quote that would’ve only came to me in my time of need.

“We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aero plane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair". The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die liberty will never perish. . .
Soldiers: don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written:
"The kingdom of God is within man"
Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!” Those words were somehow pulled from the back of my mind. I remembered seeing it in a Charlie Chaplin film. This speech truly touched my heart in many ways. I leapt to the other side to the chasm, landing firmly away from the edge. Two majestic creatures stood before me. One of the two I recognized as the great goddess Celestia, and the other as Luna. Their appearance didn’t unnerve me, nor did it seem unwelcoming. A great warmness circulated through my body as I bowed to them both.

“Rise, dear child.” Celestia’s voice was calm and motherly. “You are much wiser than the average man. You possess great wisdom, and your fate is a true one. Go now, eliminate hate and suffering. Go now, and make use of your greater humanity. Go by our grace.” My departure was slow, like the erasing of a picture. As the magnificent colors were gracefully stripped from my view, I awoke to pain. A lot of pain. I let out a strained gasp, and attempted to lay as motionless as possible. When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw the white, sterile ceiling of a hospital. When I finally breathed again, my lungs seemed to be brand new. I was able to take in a ridiculous amount of air; something of the likes I would have previously never been able to do. I lay there, admiring my ability to breathe perfectly. I was still afraid to move as I could feel another jolt of pain. I started to take notice of my perfect eyesight. Even in the dimly lit hospital room, I could make out every detail I could see on my limited view of the ceiling.

I felt a bit… Well, off, to say the least. It felt like my neck, back, legs, and arms were all taken apart and put back together in all the wrong places. In the darkness, I began to make out a shape protruding from my mouth. I concluded I had been hooked up to a breathing apparatus of some sort. Without thinking, I turned my head slightly to the side. Expecting pain, there came none. I moved it to the other side, and concluded that I wasn’t experiencing any pain. Lifting my head slightly forward, I noticed my dad sleeping on the other end of the room. Then it all came dancing back to me. The Hotel, Marcus Deran, the madman, and the pill… Walter Verga found me, but I passed out before the EMT’s got to me. I attempted to sit up in the bed, only realizing I couldn’t.

“The hell?” I said under my breath to avoid waking the sleeping dragon in the corner. I attempted to grasp the bed sheets I was laying on to give me assistance, but I couldn’t feel my fingers, and my arms bent entirely the opposite way they were supposed to. Alright, I was a bit freaked out at this, but there had to be an explanation, and there was. I lifted my ‘arms’ out from underneath the sheets to find that my hands were not hands at all. They were rather flattened marshmallows that vaguely resembled hooves. I stared at them for a while, wondering what the hell had happened to me. I clapped one against the other, causing a ‘clop’ sound. At this, I broke.

“D-Dad! Dad!! Wake up!! W-What’s going on?” I started to shiver at my lack of fingers. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. I repeated those words in my mind. My father awoke with a disgruntled snore, and quickly cast his eyes on me.

“Delvin! Calm down, please! It’s okay!” He sleepily lumbered over to my bedside.

“Okay? OKAY?!?! You call this ‘OKAY’?!?!” I caught my hoof on the sheet that was covering me and flipped it off, revealing an equine body, another set of legs with hooves, and a tail.

“Gah, fuck! Holy sh- Dammit!” I tried to find the best words to describe the way that I was feeling, but couldn’t find a word of that magnitude.

“What the hell is going on?! Why… Why….” I looked over my body once more before I fell back to my pillow. My head began feel like it was being crushed by a giant, and my chest ached. Out of confusion and loss, I began to weep.

“Delvin, please… It’s okay.” He grabbed my forelegs, examining them with a childish curiosity. “You’re safe now. It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay!” He became eccentric with overwhelming joy. I was missing out on something. He dropped my forelegs and hugged me with a choking force. I returned the hug with some major difficulty, as I was still having a hard time adjusting to how things worked. Every time I tried to move my fingers, I was reminded of my permanent transformation.

“But… I don’t understand… Why am I like this?” I asked with sincerity as I felt a tear descend down my now soft and furry cheek.

“All in due time, Delvin. Please, you need your rest.” Was he insane? With that anvil of information dropped just dropped on my head, sleep was something short of a miracle.