The Conversion Bureau - The Lost Brother

The Conversion Bureau : The Lost Brother

Chapter 1 : Surviving the fall

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All I felt was wind. I’m sure I was falling at terminal velocity. My eyes were still closed and I accepted my destiny, dying drowned in a river. My life flashed before my eyes. From the beginning, playing with my brother until the end, alone in my house. Then, a realization hit me, why did I suicide myself? My brother only died, it’s not the end of the world.

Unluckily, it was too late. After dozens of missed shot fired by the mob over the bridge, one of the soldiers mysteriously hit me with a rock. My last thought before becoming unconscious was that I was going to see my brother.

***

Beep~! Beep~! Beep~! Beep~! Beep~!

I could hear some sound coming from a machine. I could recognize it anywhere; it was the sound of a pulse meter.

Beep~! Beep~! Beep~! Beep~! Beep~!

How can I even survive the fall? I fell from a bridge, over hundreds of meters. I tried to open my eyes, but a sharp pain stopped me. I tried to talk, but the only sound that came out was a faint sound, but it was enough loud to alert somebody around me.

“Are you awake, mister?” The mysterious man asked. I tried vibrating my vocal cord. After few seconds I managed to say a quiet ‘Yes.’

“Perfect! I guess that you want to know what happened.” I did a sound that stands in the middle of a growl and a sigh.

“I’ll… take that as a yes. You fell off a bridge and got hit by a falling rock. You fell unconscious almost instantly. When you were about to hit the water, a pegasus managed to pick you and bring you here.” So, a pegasus saved my life. For once, I’m glad that ponies defy the laws of gravity. I managed to smile a bit, even if it was complicated.

“I see that you’re glad that you’re alright. With all our technology, you will be standing up in few days. For now, just sleep a bit. It’s three in the morning and you need your beauty sleep.” I said a faint ‘okay’ before drifting off.

***

BeepBeepBeepBeepBeep

This time, the pulse meter was going nuts. At least 4 pulse per second. This time, I managed to open my eyes and saw a group of doctors doing something. I couldn’t feel my body, but I knew that they were working on me.

“Faster, he’s going to die if you continue this way!” The doctor quickly said. My eyes shot open and I felt some spasms running trough my body. Some doctors started holding me on the bed.

“What is happening, why am I… dying?” I asked. The head doctor, who had the writing board turned at me and flipped some page in his notebook.

“Mister Duquette, I’ll go straight on target, you got a mortal blood disease caused by injection of heavy arsenic. Did you eat candies before falling off this bridge?” He asked. I tried to work my mind, which was blurry because of the overdose of alcohol, and found something interesting.

“Well, I did eat a candy. The vendor told me it would negate any attempt at conversion.” The doctor face palmed. He turned around and talked with a doctor, which has a frown on his face. He whispered something in the chief’s ear. They both nodded and the doctor got out of the room.

“Mister-“ The head doctor started, but I stopped him.

“Loic is fine.” He nodded.

“Well, Loic, this candy may cause the opposite of what you heard. There is no way of saving you except by converting you. The problem is, we need your agreement. Do you accept to get ponified?” My eyes closed and I let my mind finding plus and cons, but one cons negated all my promises.

“I’m sorry, but no. I can’t accept conver-“ Right when I was talking, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. It was like an insect was eating slowly my internal organs. It made me come back on the question. Surviving could be better than dying. Plus, did my brother was a pony… a mare when he or she died? I asked myself. *sigh* I'm lost in my own mind.

Another surge of pain told me that there wasn’t much time left. “Okay, I accept! Ponify ME! ARRRRRRGGGG” This surge made me fell into unconsciousness, but, right before closing my eyes to humanity, I saw the doctor entering the room with purple serum. I’m sorry Anthony.

***

I was standing in a field containing nothing but white. Well, standing would be the feel, floating would be better. I was floating in this whiteness. For once in my life, I was in peace, like if there was no problem and no battles, just peace. Then, the reality hit me like a brick. I'm in paradise… I’m DEAD!

Wow, you may call this paradise, I call this exile. What did I do to merit exile in a isolate dimension? The peace was a bit replaced by problem, until wind touched me with his invisible fingers. The white around me started to shape into something more easy to identify. All around me was white grass.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of rampaging hooves on soft dirt. Beside me were running thousands of ponies. Each of them was white, but free. At the end, ponification meant freedom...

My floating body started taking form into an equine shape. When I was completely turned into an ethereal pony, I started rampaging with my fellow friends. I could hear, in my head, all of their souls telling me welcome to the herd. I realized what it meant. The doctor managed to use the potion on me. It means that I’m not dead.

I was enjoying a bit the thought of still being alive when I saw something in the distance. In front of me was a castle worthy of any kind. I couldn’t tell if it was made of what kind of stone, but it was something that any little girl who disguises themselves into princesses would dream of.

I ran at the door, which was already open. I entered the magnificent building and slowed the pace. Inside was even more beautiful than the exterior. It even looked bigger. I walked, or whatever any equine creature does, and followed the white road. I could bet it was leading to the throne room. Even if I was getting scared of meeting royalty, I felt confident it was the best thing to do.

I entered the said room. I could swear this only room would be bigger than the castle itself, looking from the exterior. There was those beautiful windows that I used to see in church, with all the colored glass shards making a mosaic. At the end, there was two giant cloth with a sun and a moon on them. Right in front, two thrones were filling the scenery with a royal touch. The thing that cut my analysis was the fact that there was the princesses on their thrones.

I heard somepony clearing her throat. I checked and bowed when I saw who she was. It was princess Celestia, the white alicorn with a sun cutie mark and Luna, the dark colored one with a moon on the flank.

“I’m so sorry princesses, I didn’t see you when I walked into the palace. My sincere apologies.” I tried to say, but I was only able to think about it. Even if I could only hear it in my head, I could swear the princesses heard me. I went back into bowing position. I was sure that they were about to punish me for being impolite, but they only told me to stand up. I did what they asked, still in shock of seeing royalty and being impolite to them.

“Don’t worry, my little pony, everypony can make mistakes. I am princess Celestia, but you can call me Celestia. I can feel that what happened to you wasn’t so great. Don’t worry, your new life will be better that your old one.” I could feel a small pain in my belly. I fell on the floor because of it.

“We need to do it fast, the pain will stop the dream. Mister, the answer you … is … Bureau...” The world turned black and I was falling while holding my belly in pain.

***

I woke up in shock. I first opened my eyes, but quickly closed it. The light over me was really powerful, I was sure that I could become blind by staring at it. I turned on my side and checked around. I could see doctors and a pegasus watching at me with excitement.

“Umm... hello?” I asked. All the doctor quit the room while whispering thing like ‘that was close’ or ‘we did it’. The only pony left was the pegasus who was still watching me. I could recognize him, he was the stallion who saved me from my pathetic suicide attempt. I looked down and said a faint ‘Hi’ in the stallion’s direction.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re alright. What’s wrong?” He asked. For the first time in ten years, I cried legit tears. I cried for at least two minutes before managing to open my eyes. I saw that the stallion was hugging me while patting my back.

“Shhh, calm down. Don’t worry...” I was feeling better, but the fact that I tried to kill myself and did it indirectly was killing me in the inside.

“I’m sorry for all this. I was sad that my brother died. I couldn’t take life anymore.” I managed to say between two sobs. He nodded in understanding and let me.

“Anyway, my name is Blue Breeze. And it was no problem... even if I helped you by accident. You maybe fell on me when I was going at my job in the city’s bureau. At least, you survived, it’s the least a new friend can do. But, don’t worry, I’m glad you’re fine. Plus, you turned out into a great stallion.” Right when he said that, the reality went back like a brick hitting my head. I checked my hand, which were now hooves.

“I’m... a... pony...” I said slowly. A part of my mane was in front of my eyes. At least, my hairs stayed blond. I checked my fur, it was a shade between chestnut and brown. From when on I know all those shades? I’ve asked myself. I checked behind me and saw my new tail. It was a bit darker than my mane, but still blond. I could feel it in my nerve system. I was moving it from left to right, and I was finding this funny.

“Heh, heh, heh...!” I was really finding this funny, enough that I started laughing heavily.  Blue followed me and we were both laughing. I was feeling even better than ever. When we stopped laughing, I was happy. I never was happy in my life until now.

“I feel better. I don’t know why, but I really like you. My name is Loic... well,  my human name was. I might change it later on.” Suddenly, the memories of my brother saddened me a little and Blue saw it.

“Is there something wrong?” He asked. I shook my head to remove all those bad thing out of my head.

“Nah, it’s nothing.” This time, he shook his head.

“Listen, maybe I can help you.” He continued. I sighed heavily to show him that I wasn’t really happy to tell him, but I did anyway.

“I lost my brother and I wished I knew where to go. Maybe I could see if there is any belongings he gave me. I just don’t know where he was killed. The only thing I know is that...” He raised an eyebrow because of my sudden stop.

“That...?”

“*sigh* ...he turned into a mare.” His eyes grew big and his face was showing the biggest surprise emotion anypony could have done.

“Let me get this straight. Your brother turned into a mare and got killed.” I nodded. “Do you know... her fur color, mane...?”

“Well, she is pink with more pink in his... I mean her mane with yellow stripes going through.” His eyes grew as big as coconuts and he started to sweat.

“Sweet Celestia!” He shouted. “I tried to date a man in a mare’s body!” I was wondering what he meant by that.

“What’s wrong.” I asked. He went back beside me with pain in his eyes.

“I saw your... sister once.” It was my turn to be surprised. I finally found a clue to my sister’s last location.

“Are you sure?”

“Maybe, she was with a crazy dude with a red wristband and three watches, a unicorn with a weird suit, which is named Zachary and a normal pegasus. I heard a bit of their conversation, but not more.” I knew he was hiding something. One thing that my brother taught me was how to detect lies through facial expression. He was hiding a humiliating secret. I’m glad I used to play investigation games to know exactly how to proceed.

“I know those guys. Nathaniel and Zachary are Anthony’s best friends. Still, I know you are hiding something. Did you heard something else?” I asked. I was feeling like I was trying to find clues from a crime witness.

“Well, I heard that they were heading to the city’s bureau.” Sh-bingo, one item down in the list. Now, what about that secret?

“Nothing more?”

“Nope...” He was starting to sweat. This secret must have been scary or horrible, maybe even disgusting to protect it so much.

“I don’t think so.” He lifted an eyebrow. “First, you are able to remember what my sister looks like. After seeing hundreds of ponies, you remember her correctly. Isn’t that weird? After, when I tell you that she used to be my brother, you almost had a emotional breakdown. So, I’m guessing that...” The moment of truth! “...you tried to DATE HER !” I shouted.

He looked at me with an emotionless face. Then he started to blush heavily. “Wow, you are really good at finding secrets, Loic. You’re right, I tried to date her. I invited her for a tea and she declined all my invitations. She was in heat, I couldn’t resist. Still, now I know why she was so shy... I feel really bad now.” He was frowning and this is not what I wanted.

I took his face and shook it. “Turn this sady-frowny upside-downy. I didn’t wanted to make you sad, I wanted to know the truth, that’s all. Now that we clarified this, we need to know if we can quit this place and go to the bureau.” Maybe that’s what the princesses told me. Stupid candy, ruin all the fun.

I stood up, this time without faceplanting, and trotted towards the exit. Right when I was touching the doorknob, it was shining in a pinkish aura. When it opened, a nurse entered. She was a pink and white mare with beautiful sky blue eyes.

“You must be Loic Duquette.” I nodded. “Because you are completely converted, you can now quit the hospital. If you want to go to Equestria, just go to the nearest conversion bureau.” We will go there, but not for the same reasons. I nodded again and motioned Blue to follow me.

“She just told you that you can go?” He asked. I nodded back and walked towards the building’s exit. I was glad it was an automatic door because I wasn’t as dexterous with my hooves that I used to be with my hands.

***

When I walked outside, my first reflex was to block my eyes. It was like somepony turned the light to eleven to destroy anypony’s eyes.

“Arrg!” I screamed. I was feeling Blue’s hoof on my shoulder. “Why is the sun so powerful? Is there a sunswitch somewhere?” I asked to nopony. I heard the sound of automatic doors opening and closing. After few seconds, I felt something weird on my muzzle.

“These are really powerful pony sunglasses. Keep them and your eyes will take less time to get used to the sun.” I removed my arm and placed the glasses at the right place. It was already better than nothing. The sun was still blinding me, but I could see way more better now.

“Thank you! How did you know that I was going to need those?” I asked the kind nurse. She chuckled a bit.

“Lot’s of newfoals need them. They have the same problem as you, so, don’t feel left out.” I smiled at the tip she gave me and nodded. “Also, you can keep it, we don’t really need them. I don’t even know why we have some. I think it’s more the bureau’s job to ponify. Anyway, you can go now.” I nodded again and walked forward. I could see that Blue was right behind me.

“I hope that nothing or nopony will stop us now. Me and my good memory will quickly forget what we need to do... where do we need to go again?” I asked my blue friend. He facehoofed hard.

“You already forgot where we need to go. You aren’t kidding when you say that you have a bad memory.” I rubbed my head, trying to find what I was missing.

“We need to go to... umm... the bureau !” I managed to say. He nodded, obviously annoyed by my great lack of memory. I started to blush so I turned around, facing the road toward the bureau.

“If I remember correctly, the bureau is facing...” I pointed the way in front of me. “...this way.” He shook his head. He pointed at my left. At the far end, which was at almost three hundred meters, was the bureau.

“Oh, I mean... umm... okay, I got a bad sense of direction. Let’s just go already.” I quickly said, annoyed at my uselessness. I think that I’ve even left a small tear. Since the conversion, I’ve turned into an emotional machine. I never cried for real in those last years. Now, I cry at every moment my body need to. I had my eyes closed when Breeze passed beside me. I’m sure he saw my sadness.

We walked to the bureau without a word. I was sure Blue knew some of the ponies we passed by because he was waving almost all the time. I never really wished for a lot of friend, but watching him talking and waving at all these different ponies was making me feel a bit alone. I never really needed friends. Now that I have Blue, I feel like having more. Now I know what friendship really means. It doesn’t mean only give, it can mean take too.

After a long trot, we finally stepped inside the bureau. It was a giant building made like a old school hospital waiting room, but with the lack of resources, everything was synthetic. In the middle, there was a counter. Behind it, a beautiful mare with a dark red mane and a shiny red body.

“Hi! My name is Nova. Welcome to Montreal conversion bureau. Are you here to go to Equestria?” She asked. I shook my head.

“Nah, we are here to find some informations. Did you receive a convertee named Anthony Matias Duquette?” Her eyes grew wide and a smile appeared on her face.

“If I know her, she kind of saved my life, the bureau and all that stuff.” Wow, I didn’t know that!

“It must be hard to know that she died.” I said sadly.

“Yeah, well... wait, she didn’t die.” Waitwaitwait, WHAT! How... when... what... huh? My mouth fell agape. Every time I thought about my brother, I was thinking about the news. Was that all lies? Was it a joke? “Do you know her?” I was pissed. Pissed after whoever did this to me. If it was a psychological challenge, I was going to kill the maker.

“Know her... KNOW HER! I’M HER BUCKING BROTHER. FROM ALL THIS TIME, I THOUGHT SHE WAS BUCKING DEAD! WHERE IS SHE SO I CAN KICK HER FLANK 10 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE!” I’ve put my hoof over my mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to. I feel so bad right now. Anyway, where is she?” She was frozed in place from what I said. I poked her to wake her up.

“I’m awake, what were you saying?” She asked. I repeated the question. “Oh, she went to Equestria few days ago.” Finally, I can find her.

“Are you talking about the pinkie mare from the other day. With the yellow stripes in the mane?” A random stallion asked.

“Yeah... why?” He chuckled a bit.

“Relax, my name is Teal Wing. I met your sister when she entered the bureau. I was about to ask her if she wanted to grab lunch with me, but Norty was faster than me. He even asked her if she wanted to marry him. Obviously, she accepted. Are you her brother?” Wait, rewind a bit please. Marry, like wedding! I’m going to have a brother in law!?

“I didn’t knew that.” I turned around to face Nova. “Is there a way to get to Equestria ‘pronto’?” I asked her.

“I’m so sorry, but the next two weeks, the transportation to Equestria will be full. You see, lot’s of members in the riot that your sister managed to stop entered the bureau’s newfoal program. They will take all the place in the ponybus. One thing you can do, however, is to find a human and get to the nearest bureau...” She turned around to check a map. “...which is in Gatineau. It’s around two hours from here in car.”

I checked Blue and he nodded, but before I gave my answer, Teal stopped me. “Hey, can I join the adventure. I want to go to Equestria too. Can I come with you?” I nodded and told Nova:

“We’ll go there. Do you have somepony... I mean somebody to drive us there?” She shook her head.

“Maybe the next human who will want to enter the program will go with you.”

“I heard everything, count me in. Name’s Chris, Chris Vaughn. You can just call me Chris. Didn’t choose a pony name yet. I’ll just wait ‘til I get ponified.” The stranger said.

“Can you drive?” Teal asked.

“Well, if I can help you, at least I would need to know how to drive, right?” He was right. “Get over here, my little ponies.” We followed him outside, where he pointed a white van, which I can recognize as a Ford Explorer. “Get in there, destination : Gatineau.”

We entered and looked towards adventure.

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A/N : Sorry for the real lack of chapter. The final exams are coming faster and faster every second and I need to be ready. Don't worry, I get lot's of free time between the exams for writing, so, I hope I'll be able to update more ofter. Also, everyday, I write a blog post about everything that was going on with writing and all that stuff, so, if you want to know where I am in the new chapter, check it out.

NetherPortal AWWWAAAAYYYY !