The Conversion Bureau - Lab Rat

The Conversion Bureau : Lab Rat

I need to think of a recipe. I can’t remember any of them. I know that I have recipes written somewhere, but where? We made our way to the kitchen while talking more about each other. I learned that the mare’s name was Fruit Bowl and she took care of the kitchen since the conversion bureau opened. When we arrived, I finally remembered where I put all those recipes, in my diary!

I told her to continue without me and ran to my room. I took the diary that was closed on my bed. I opened it and went to one of the earliest page, it was an entry from more than twenty years ago, right before I lost my book. I was lucky to find it back when I moved away from my parents. On it, one of my most secret family recipes was written clearly : The ‘tourte au chocolat’.

I rushed back to the kitchen, trying to get back my breath. “Why did you leave in a hurry?” She asked.

“I *pant* got *pant* recipe.” I managed to say between my panting. She looked at me with a smile and said : “That’s wonderful. Can you do it, I hope you will have all the ingredients.” Then, she walked back at making the dinner: pasta for humans and a garden salad for ponies.

The kitchen was a basic one, completed with three ovens and a king size sink. Nine steel table islands allowing lot of places to cook. I took my diary and opened it on the wrong page. How can I turn the pages? I didn’t wanted to use my mouth because my page would rip or fill with saliva.

“How can I turn that page?” I asked Fruit. She walked beside me and she put her hoof over the book. Mysteriously, it almost like she had fingers and she switched the page.

“Earth ponies have a weird power. They got ‘fingers’ and can move item more easily than other ponies. Just move the old connection that used to be your finger and grab the object.” It’s that easy, I like earth ponies, they are nice. I did what she told me and I managed to find the right page for the recipe.

I walked to a table and started searching for the ingredients. There was all the ingredients for the ‘cake’ part, but the only frosting left was a strawberry flavored one. “I guess that it will be strawberry flavored and not chocolate.” I said to myself out loud.

The ‘tourte’ is a 12 layer cake with lots of frosting. Six of them are thin spongy cake layer, one centimeter high each and the other six are layers of frosting. So, the cake is made like this: cake, frosting, cake, frosting, cake, frosting and, finally, all covered by another layer of frosting. At the end, it becomes a brick of deliciousness.

I finally managed to make one. It been a long time since I’ve cooked something. Fruit came checking what I did and she smiled at the view of the brick cake I made.

“Oh my, it looks delicious. Can I have a piece?” she asked. I took a knife with my hoof (I still don’t know how it’s even possible) and cut one of the side. “I don’t know how it will taste. It’s been a long time since I’ve cooked up something. Also, the original recipe is for a chocolate one and not strawberry.”

“Ah, don’t worry my dear,” she bit in. “Oh, dear Celestia...” she said in awe.

“It’s bad? I knew it!” I said. I was sad I couldn’t pull out the secret Duquette recipe.

“No, it’s the best cake I’ve ever ate in my entire life. The strawberry flavor mixed with the cake, it simply divine.” Well, that gave me back the smile I had times ten. Because there were a lot of people and ponies in the bureau, I decided to make two more bricks.

“I’m going to get dress up for my date tonight, see ya.” I said to Fruit. She turned around and waved back. “Don’t worry, I know everypony will love it.” she said. I smiled and got out of the kitchen. I made my way to Shooting Star’s room and saw the door close. On it, a message was attached with some tape:

Dear A,

I hope you don’t mind, I have a surprise meeting with the rest of the bureau’s team. I took the principle makeup you need and delivered it to your room. I gave you also three dresses, you just need to take the one you need.

Tata for now,

Shooting Star.

Weird, a surprise meeting, but Fruit Bowl is not invited. I thought she was part of the team. I’ll ask her later. I took the letter and went back to my room and saw something new, her table with the mirror was there with all the cosmetics. On my bed, the dresses were waiting for their new master. I closed the door behind me and started working.

**North Wind**

Wow, those classes are hard, I did my best and I’m not able to fly higher than few feet, it sucks. While I was thinking about my misery, I saw a shadow moving from the director’s room. I followed the shadow through the hallway leading to the lobby. I saw that the shadow was Nova. A’s friend. I followed her outside to see what she was doing.

I hid myself behind the corner of the bureau and what I heard was scaring the buck out of me:

“She is there, Mister HLF.” The mare said.

“Good, you did well. Tomorrow morning, we will come and take him back.” The HLF member said.

“Okay mister, just to tell you, Anthony turned into a filly for a unknown reason. Now that I did what you asked for, will you leave my sister alive.” She asked.

“Yes, I’m done with you. See ya.” The mare ran past me and entered the building. I followed her again and she had gone into the filly’s bathroom. I went back to her room to see my sweet pie reading the note, taking it and walking to her room.

“I need to tell her. but she will think that it’s a lie. We’ll just need to try.” I said to myself. I walked to her room and checked her a little bit to see her getting ready for our date.

It can wait.

**A**

A bit of this, a bit of that and voila. I did it and I look awesome. Who could have thought that I like those kind of girl activity. I don’t know why, but I feel like somepony is watching me. It’s impossible, who would want to spy on me?

Now, for the choice of dress, I looked at what Star gave me. There was the dress I was wearing during lunch, a plain indigo colored suit and a gold and shiny one. I wanted to be original and not too flashy so, I took the indigo one. As I was trying to fit in the suit, I saw a shadow in the hallway. I got out of the fabrics, closed and locked the door. Finally, maybe there was a spy. Heh, I’m irresistible.

I returned to my battle with the dress. After a long and a bit painful moment, I managed to fit in perfectly. I checked in the mirror and saw what I became. Who could have guess that a man soldier working for the HLF would turn into a their enemy... as a mare. Not even a single author could have thought of this.

I checked the clock on my wall and saw that there was at least an hour before dinner. I would like to listen to my MP3, but the earphones doesn’t fit those big ears. I walked toward the corner of the room to find it. I remembered that I threw it while I was crying the death of Keven. Those memories will stay in my head for the rest of my life.

I checked the corner and saw that  the MP3 wasn’t there. Don’t tell me somepony stole my music. If I catch the one who did this, he or she is screwed. I took a look around the room and saw a pair of wired headphones coming out of my old dress. I took them and saw that it was my MP3 with a new set of headphones. Those looked perfect on pony ears! I put them on and played a random song. I lay down on my bed and relaxed to the sound of my music.

***Dinner Time***

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of somepony knocking startle me. I stood up and saw that my dress wasn’t at any point deformed. I was still ready. I walked to the door and opened it. Behind, Shooting Star was looking at me with a big smile.

“I knew you could do it. You look absolutely perfect.” She said, “And the dress, great choice my dear.” I smiled back when she tapped on the dress to remove small wave in the fabric.

“It’s the moment dear, time to show those stallion the power of the mare.” She said. We walked together to the cafeteria. When I’m saying ‘every stallion are looking at me’, I mean more than just that. They were frozen in their position, eating or walking, and their eyes were all analyzing me. I was liking all this attention.

I was wondering where North wants me to sit. I was about to choose a table when Star pushed me back into the hallway. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. She winked at me and answered my question. “Follow me for your surprise.”

We walked to a room and I entered. In it, North Wind was sit in front a table with red tablecloth and lit only by candles. I motioned me to sit in front of him. Also, on the table, two plates were waiting with today’s dinner. My surprise was a romantic dinner.

“I’ll leave you two be.” Star said while leaving the room. I sat on the floor in front of the table. “Hey, how are you doing?” he asked. I smiled and started to talk.

“Oh, I’m fine. I finished first in my earth pony class and did tonight’s dessert.”

“You mean this one?” He pointed the pink cake piece. I nodded. We both ate in silence until North Wind broke it when we both finished our plate.

“Time for the dessert.” I was hoping he would like it. He took a bite and, after swallowing, he looked at me with his big blue eyes.

“You hate it, I knew it.” I said while hanging my head low.

“No, I don’t like it... I LOVE IT.” He loves it, really! I’m not too bad in cooking. I feel weird, but it’s alright.

“Umm, A. Look at your flank.” Flank...? Oh, ass. I looked and what I saw filled me with pure joy. I got my cutie mark. It was a cake with white frosting and a strawberry on top.

“You know what, North. Call me Strawberry Frosting.” He smiled and walked beside me to check it. To congratulate me, he left a little kiss on my cheek. I checked him in the eyes. Without knowing it, our lips were together, in a passionate kiss.

After kissing, North started asked: “Berry, can I be your coltfriend?” My brain was on cruise control, I couldn't think about anything else than that kiss.

"Yes, I would love you to." I said. We passed the time talking about anything until somepony came cleaning up the table. We spent the rest of the night kissing and cuddling until I fell asleep, under North Wind’s wing.

Maybe being a mare isn’t so bad.