The Conversion Bureau - Lab Rat

The Conversion Bureau: Lab Rat

It’s the time. It wasn’t my decision to go through all this. One day, you wake up. You live a normal life, but that night, you sleep in another body. I guess that’s life. It all started one day, my friend wanted to help me. He tried his best, regarding of what I really wanted, and he managed to change me into one of his kind. From what he was saying, I wasn’t normal. Heh, I guess that was right. Still, I don’t remember any mission that hard... as hard as getting out of the HLF HQ.

*****

2F

I opened the door quietly. It’s been around 20 minutes that the curfew alarm rang through the entire building. It takes around that much time for everypony to fall asleep. I checked the hallway for any sight of any kind of guard patrolling the area. “I guess that this place isn’t where any attack will start,”  I thought. I, with the help of my friend Nathaniel and Zachary, will do the impossible tonight. Escape the North Amerizone 238th HLF Headquarters.

I came out of the room quietly. I gestured my friend to follow me through that first obstacle. We walked in the hallway in silence. The first problem was down the stairs. There were guards were guarding them. I checked Nat for his idea. He took an old penny and he threw it far in the hall. We hid in the dark, behind the staircase. The guards walked in front of us and went check what made this noise. We walked down the stairs.

1F

This is the cafeteria floor. A big square with tables and chairs everywhere. On the opposite side of the room, there were stairs, but a fat guard is sleeping on the job beside them. If we wake him up, he will point us with his flashlight and we’re screwed. I tried to find a path through this minefield.

I remembered my first year here. I was trying to find myself a hobby of some sort. I managed to help the cafeteria by serving the ‘meals’. There was an entrance beside us and the exit is on the other side. It’s the perfect plan. We made our way to the door leading to the dishwasher room of the cafeteria. It was locked and none of our keys work. I was about to punch it when Zach stopped me.

He took a broken fork handle on the floor with his muzzle and he put the broken part in the keyhole. He moved a bit while trying to keep it quiet. He managed to open the door without any complication. We made our way through the kitchen and we unlocked the other door from the inside. While getting out, we realized something. The guard was sleeping in front of us.

If we want to get past him, we need to get around table with a ton of chair. If we did this, it would be a mess. The silent question was floating in the air between us: Kill him or think of something? I was stuck on the question until some magic took me back to reality. Zach’s horn was shining and we were levitating over the guard. On the other side, I saw that Zach was about to collapse. Now, how can he get past the sleeping fatty. He quickly made his way under the table in front and he was beside us in no time. We walked down the stairs.

Lobby

I was crossing for a last time my fingers and I hoped there wasn’t any guard in the lobby. I was wrong. It was full of guards, more than my number of finger. They were watching every square meter like if they wanted to catch rogue bacteria. I checked Nat and Zach for any suggestion. Then, outside, I heard a loud cracking sound. I could see some PER members breaking some windows in the building beside us. It gave me an idea.

I took my radio and opened it. I said “PER attack on the North-East of the building. Need help from the lobby team.” I waited a bit until, in front of me, a guard took his radio to hopefully say “Roger that.” In few seconds, the lobby was empty. We made our way to the staircase located on the opposite side. I wondered why they always put the stairs on opposite side.

F-1

This is it, the first jail floor. I was checking out the cages. My first impression: GROSS. It smelled horrible, like a mix of old blood, shit and some other odors I couldn’t recognize. My first reaction was to block my nose. If it wasn’t for our mission, I would run away and clean my head of those atrocities. Some pegasus got their wings cut, unicorn got their horn removed. It should be so painful.

I made my way to the first cage. When I put my hand on the lock, I heard a faint ‘pleasedontkillmepleasedontkillme’. I checked lower and saw a little colt crying in a ball position.

“Don’t worry; I’m here to save you.” I said, but they didn’t listen. I checked what I had to break the lock and free those poor things. I saw that I forgot something important, my silencer. How will I be able to break it without making any sound? Suddenly, an idea popped in my head. An idea that would get the platinum star in the ‘most painful’ awards.

“I don’t have my silencer, but I have an idea.” I took my gun and put it next to the metal lock. Then, I took my hand and put it on the other side of it. I was hoping that putting my hand there would block the vibration of the sound that will come out of my gun. Right before Nat had time to say anything, I pulled the trigger.

The bullet went through the lock and my hand. Like I predict, the bullet made only a faint sound, but I didn’t predict what would happen with my hand. The ponies saw that the door unlocked. No one stopped to check if I was okay.

“Just… wait at the exit. We’ll… escort you… to the… secret entrance.” At least, they heard that. They went behind Zachary, still scared of me.

“To the… next floor then.”

I reached the staircase leading further underground.

F-2

I was hardly walking when I managed to reach the second jail. I think the damage I did to my hand is more dangerous that I thought. I was bleeding badly. I think I shot my artery. I don’t care, I thought, it will all get fixed up with the conversion. I placed my gun back in position on the jail’s lock and I fired a bit over my other wound.

The door shut open and a wave of injured ponies made their way toward the stairs. Surprisingly, one of them stopped.

“Human, are you okay? My name is Cloudhammer. Thank you for saving us.”

“I think I’ll be okay. My friend and I need a place to stay. Got a place in mind?”

“I got a house, but with those wounds, I should get you to a conversion bureau.”

“NO!” I shouted. It startled him. “Sorry, but I’m going to get converted around 11 o’clock, so I don’t really care. Can we go to your house?”

“Just show me the exit and I’ll lead you there.”

I was holding my hand. I was bleeding like hell. I walked up the stairs and went to see Nat and Zach. Beside my friends, more than 20 ponies were checking me. I motioned them to follow me and we walked up the stairs.

Back to the lobby.

On the opposite side of the main entrance, I placed my eyes in front of a retina scanner. A hidden door opened out of the wall and we made our way through a dark hallway. At the end, I unlocked a metal door leading to the back alley of the building.

“Listen ponies,” I said. I gave a map to a random pony in the group. “On this map, there is a way leading to the nearest hospital. Go there and be safe.” They all nodded and say things like ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’.

“Now follow me.” Cloud said. He walked left and we followed him. On the way, I fell on the ground. I lost too much blood to continue.

“Aww man. I… I can’t continue.” I said while trying to stay awake.

“We need to get there and fast.” Zachary levitated me on his back and we continue to make our way to Cloudhammer’s house.

“I think I’m going to sleep a bit.” I said. Nat popped out of nowhere and he placed himself in front of us.

“You can’t sleep Tony.” He said while placing his hand to stop us.

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s dangerous. You could go into a coma and maybe even die without us knowing it. We need to keep you awake.” He said. It makes sense.

“Then, find me a subject for a conversation.” I said while trying to stay awake.

Nat moved away and we continued to walk. Cloud wanted to know how I’ll transform. I told him the whole story, from this morning to the present moment. When we arrived, he put me on his couch and started to apply basic first-aid.

“Now, we only need to way until 11 o’clock for me to transform.” I said, but Zachary turned around with a surprise look.

“Umm Anthony, I transformed you today at eleven, it cannot be right.” He said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The countdown is not 24 hours, it’s 18 hours.” I was really tired, but I managed to do the mathematics. It means that I’m going to transform at 5 o’clock.

“What time is it?” I asked to nobody particular.

“4:41, Anto.” Nat said while playing Dissidia Duoquadriecium (24).

“Nice, less pain.” I said while smiling. While I was wondering what would happen next, a thought passed through my head.

“What will happen about the sedatives? Do I need to sleep or something during the ponification?” I asked. Zach and Cloud’s eyes were staring at me with surprise.

“There is no sedative in the serum recipe.” Zachary said.

“I’m going to die. What I’m going to do?” I was starting to become stressed. I’m going to die for sure now.

“I got an idea.” Cloud said. He walked down the hallway. After a minute, he came back with two bottles. One bottle of whiskey and one of vodka. He dropped both of them in front of me.

“Drink them. You will feel nothing while being drunk.” He said. I took the whiskey and opened the bottle. I took a sip and I was about to throw up.

“I hate hard alcohol. I’m not going to drink th-“ I didn’t had time to finish talking that my friends nodded to each other. Nat locked my arms, Zach locked my legs and Cloud took the bottle and made me drink both the bottles. After the last drip, they dropped their offensive state and let me free. I wasn’t able to see straight.

“Why *hic*… why you did this to… to m-*hic*… to me.”

“Hey Anthony.” Cloud said. I turned around to see what Cloud want. The last thing I saw was his legs bucking my face.

**Zach**

“Why you did this Cloud?” I asked.

“He needs to be asleep to transform. In five minutes, it’s going to start. Now, help me bring him to my room and we’re going to make breakfast. It’s going to be his first meal as a pony.” He, with the help of Nat, brought his dead-looking body into the master bedroom. We then walked to the kitchen and hoped that everything will be fine.