The Conversion Bureau: Past Memories
One Shot
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Joseph entered the tall building. In front of it, there was a sign labeling it ‘Laval Conversion Bureau’. It had been four year since those weird bureaus opened all around the world, reducing the human population from 18 billion habitant to a mere 6 billion. From today on, there will be one less.
A few weeks ago, he went to one of these building and did his 10 days training. He received a special voucher allowing him to get an instant conversion when he had quit. He had one thing to take care of before: family. Now that he had taken care of it, it was his time.
He entered the building with his ticket in his hand. He walked to the receptionist and asked if there was a place left for ponification.
“Tomorrow morning is the next place left in schedule. You can stay here or you can come back,” she said. He nodded and said that he will be taking the room. She pointed the door at her left and explained the path to go.
He walked to the assigned room and put his only bag. In it, there was a holy cross, a picture of him with a man and a woman, and a dagger with dried blood on it. Even if these items were bringing bad memories, he was keeping them.
In his life, there was never any problem until his parents died, killed mysteriously. They were drunk and got assassinated behind a Chinese restaurant years before. His only family left was the asshole he used to call his grandfather.
***
He was a heartless old soldier. War had left scars all over him… and in his stupid mind too. He was sure that his enemies, who were dead by then, were going to kill him. So, he wanted protection from a group of trained soldiers. What he got: a teen who was thinking only about war video games.
The old mentally ill veteran took the small man under his wing. He trained him in a way that no man should know. Waking him up every morning at 3 and going to sleep at 11. He was forcing him over his limit and barely maintaining him alive. After three years, the small man became a professional killer, but it wasn’t what he wanted to be.
One fateful night, he heard a sound in his grandpa’s bedroom. There was his voice, talking to somebody else, admitting he was the killer of his son and daughter-in-law. The old veteran had killed his parents in cold blood and illness. He took the dagger he was hiding under his shirt and opened the door slowly. He aimed the knife at the old man’s heart and ran to hit his target. After a bit of resistance, the man was dead, but not forever.
The man was still under the shock of what happened. He was treated like an animal for years and he had just killed his master. He went to the psychologist and did everything he could to forget it. After few months, he thought that it was all over, that he was finally safe, but he was not.
***
Exactly one year after the incident, he started having strange nightmares. Memories coming from the time he was with his grandfather were starting to resurface, but in even worse condition. If before it had been inhuman, in this nightmare, it was impossible.
Days after having the nightmares, he started hearing voices. Days after days, his health was dropping fast. He was no longer eating or sleeping. He wasn’t even getting out of his house anymore because, one day, he tried to kill his boss at his job. He was no longer himself. No one had any idea what was happening until, one day, the cause of all his problems appeared before him.
His grandfather, or more like his ghost, popped in front of him when he was at his house. When he asked his roommate about it, he said that it wasn‘t there, so he was afraid that he had lost his sanity. It said that, for killing him, it was going to make his life miserable by turning him into an evil person.
This was his main reason why he wanted to turn into a pony. Get back his sanity and be sure that he doesn’t turn into a psychopathic murderer who gets orders from an old ghost.
***
On his bed lay the dagger he used against his grandfather, the cross he use to pray to whoever listen to him, and the picture of his parents he kept to remember that he wasn’t alone all this time.
He sat on his bed and let his mind drift about what he had gone through to get here. He was going to turn into passive species, but he doesn’t know if the transformation removes the double personality that the ghost gave him.
Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. He unlocked it and opened, only to see a mare, or filly, or whatever female ponies are called. She was holding a tray containing few vegetarian fajitas. He took the tray and asked why she was bringing this to him.
“I saw you few days ago, during your few last days of pony classes. I would like to hang out with you when you’ll be transformed.” He knew that ‘hanging out’ meant something more for her, but he didn’t care. Even if it wasn’t normal for a person to be kind those days, he wasn’t talking to a primate based life form. He was talking to an equine based life form, which lives out of kindness and happiness. He gladly took the tray and accepted the offer. He wanted friends to forget his tough and terrible past.
He closed the door after a bit more chit-chat and sat down beside his tray. He took the rolled bread sandwich near his mouth and bit it. He never had enough food to fill him completely, so this tray was like a king’s buffet. He ate the whole meal faster than he thought possible. He didn’t care that he could be sick because he was eating too fast; he was going to get ponified.
He took the tray and slid it under his bedroom door. He then went back to his bed and lied down, taking his picture and checking it. His parents; it had been so long since they died; so long that he wasn’t able to remember anything about them. He was sure that his grandfather did his best to remove those memories and turn them into pain and suffering.
Another knock could be heard. He wondered why people, or ponies, were so eager to talk to him. He stood up, replaced his possessions into his backpack and opened the door. Behind it was a pony dressed like a doctor. In his levitation field was a board with a sheet.
Right there was another thing that he wanted: magic, maybe even wings. Every human dreamt at least once to move an object with their mind or to fly under their own strength, without the use of mechanical objects like a plane. Or even shoot fireballs and be able to transform. Even if earth ponies were as good as the other two, he wanted to be a unicorn or a pegasus.
Returning his attention to the meeting at hand, the doctor pony started to explain why he was there:
“I read in your information that you have a severe case of personality splitting caused by an emotional trauma.” He looked down at it with an emotion that was obviously saying something along the lines of ‘wut?’ The small creature cleared his throat and reformulated his sayings:
“I read that you have a double personality, with the other a killer, because you had problems in your fo- I mean, childhood.” He nodded and walked back to sat on his bed.
“You know that ponification deals with all these problems, right?” The little doctor asked. The patient nodded.
“There is one small problem that could happen during conversion though.” The man put his head on his hand and sighed. Nothing is easy. He asked what the problem was.
“The trauma, or ‘other personality’ will not like to be deleted from your mind, so, it will try to overwhelm you in your head. You will need to find a way to deal with that. The bigger problem is that you will be a pony when that will happen and ponies don’t really fight. That means that you’ll need to find a peaceful way to deal with it.” He facepalmed very hard. Even during something that could heal him, the old fart needs to be there and try to kill him.
He nodded and opened the door to the medical equine. The pony went out of the room with a faint ‘good luck’. He closed the door and went back, again, to lie down. Now, all he had to do was survive until the conversion time and survive the conversion itself. Piece of cake if it wasn’t for the veteran asshole that is going to wait for him in both of them.
Back to his train of thought, he needed to know what he was going to do. He knew that, if he was going to sleep, he would need to face the ghost like every other night. He would need to hide the fact that he was going to get ponified to it. It’s not like it was going to read his thoughts. The fact was that he couldn’t keep secrets. If the ghost put him under pressure, he was done for.
Unluckily, he was very tired and he was on his first comfortable bed in days, so he quickly fell asleep.
***
He opened his tired eyes, but what he saw wasn’t his room for the night. An infinite world colored only by white expanded around him. He was able to move, but not to talk. He tried to scream for help, but an unknown reason, he wasn’t able to even make a sound. The only sound that he could hear was the sound of every step he was taking into this world. It was making the same sound of hooves on hard wood. Last time he checked, he wasn’t a pony, so it was only an assumption.
One voice made him realize where he was. A terrible laugh echoed out of the silence. Two words came to his mind: Old Ghost. He realized that he was in his own mind and that, from the beginning, his grandpa was checking him.
“Look who we got here. It’s the chicken who killed me. Don’t worry, I like it in here, it cost nothing to live and I don’t need to eat. Plus, there is a great cinema containing all your old memories.” The man hoped that his memories of the bureau were locked away from the power of his second personality. “But, there is a group of memories I can’t get to. On it, it’s written ‘CB’. I don’t know what it means, but I guess you know. Tell me or you’ll regret it.”
He was starting to sweat. If the old man knew about what he was going to do, he would do anything to get out. Even if it meant killing all in his path. He started to concentrate. If he could find a way to wake himself up, he wouldn’t need to tell anything to the old fart. Plus, if he control the body, it will be harder for him to take it. After a long minute of concentrating, the old man became bored.
“What are you trying to do? I’m bored… back to business, I guess. If you don’t want to talk, I’ll find the info myself.” He needed to wake up, and quick. He sat down and placed himself in a Zen position with his eyes closed. The old man created a door out of nowhere and he walked toward it. He opened it and took a step, but before he entered, the man opened his eyes…his real eyes.
***
He opened his eyes and saw that a unicorn and a human were holding his arms and legs. He was confused, but the human doctor started the conversation:
“Are you okay, mister?” He nodded. Both the doctors loosened their grip and the man sat on the side of the bed. He rubbed his wrist, the force the pony must have had to use a lot of force.
“What happened for you to act so crazy and wild?” The pony asked. Joseph explained the whole situation and his dream. Both medical professional listened to his whole story. At the end, the pony said the idea he had in mind:
“Maybe we should do the conversion earlier. This ‘ghost’ can be very dangerous. Also, during the conversion, we’ll need some guards to prevent anything dangerous from happening.” Joseph nodded. He checked the clock on the wall; it was 2 o’clock in the morning. He stood up and put on some clothes.
He walked down the hallway leading to the cafeteria, following the doctor and the medical pony. This was his last stroll as a human, maybe his last forever. The final battle could kill his soul and let the old man control him. He still had to find a way to peacefully take care of the old fart. He was sure that, at the right moment or as a pony, he would find the answer to his last human problem.
The door of the conversion room, attached to the cafeteria, was opened by the human. Joseph sat on the paper covered bed while the doctor did some test.
“Allergen type A, take normal sedatives.” He said to the ponification assistant. He took some kind of while liquid and mixed it with the purple one, which he guessed was the main conversion serum.
“Lie on the bed after removing your clothes.” He started to protest a bit. He didn’t wanted to show the doctors his… manhood, but it was the only way. He removed the last piece of fabric he had on him and lied on the bed, nude. He was a bit shy to show his body like this. Every human was like this, but his body had the scars left by the old man when he was still made out of bone and skin.
“Lots of scars… don’t worry, it will all be removed.” The doctor said to the man. At least, at the end, losing his hands will all be worth it. The unicorn levitated a cup near the man’s face. He sat on the bed and took the drink. This was his choice: drink or running away, but the second choice was unthinkable.
He took the cup up to his mouth and drank the contents. Instantly, he fell asleep from the heavy sedatives.
***
He was back in the whiteness, but this time, he couldn’t feel any evilness, only peace and quiet. He checked his body, but there was none of it. He checked around and there was nothing, well, he thought.
Suddenly, some grass appeared around him. Ponies came out of nowhere and started to run over the field. He didn’t know why, but he was attracted to this. He started to move his ethereal body and followed the equines. He wondered if it was the ‘conversion dream’ he heard about.
He followed them until he saw a gigantic ivory castle. If it existed in real life, it would make his creator a world hero. He entered and walked in an hallway. He could hear music in the back and it looked like it was birds that were singing. He continued to walk with his ethereal body until he saw them.
In front of him, there were two giant ponies, almost twice as tall as him. The first one was white with a horn and wing. The other one also had both of the characteristics, but she was black.
“Hi, little pony. I see that you’re going to be a great pegasus. Let’s see-“ She wanted to finish the conversation, but the signal was changing.
“We’re losing him!” The black pony said. The new pegasus ‘soul’ body fell on the floor and he closed his ‘eyes’. When he opened them, he saw that he was back in his mind.
He stood up and saw his new body. He was a dark purple pegasus with black lines on his wings. He had a black mane and tail, which weren’t too long or too short. Then he checked in front of him and saw something that now scared him: the old ghost.
“Well, look at what we got here. Looks like an animal managed to enter the soul world. Who are you, beast.” He thought to shut the buck up… he knew that the old man would hear him even if it sounded weird and evil.
“This voice, this way of talking, is that you, Joseph? Hah, you really paid the great price to take care of me, but, unluckily, it looks like you can’t use your body correctly. I think I’ll take control, definitely, this time.” He created the door and tried to open it, but he saw that it was heavily locked.
“How lucky for you, looks like I need to take care of you to enter.” The old man placed himself in a fighting stance. Joseph thought about a way to get rid of him and, with his new ‘pony’ way of thinking, he managed to find something.
“I think I’ll do the first move.” The old man said. He thought about how he will give him something that he had never received for decades.
“You can think you can beat me?!” He ran toward me with his punch ready. He was really pissed. Jospeh stood up and noted it was harder than he had thought with a pony body. He put up an open position and, at the right moment, he… hugged him.
“What!” The old man shouted. He thought about what he said earlier, he was going to give him something he never received for long…
“Friendship.”
The ghost started shining in white. He was screaming and shouting insults, but he wasn’t able to get out of my grip. When it was his last second, he said his last words before disappearing:
“You’ll see me again… very soon.” Then, the old ghost was no more.
***
Joseph woke up, but he closed his eyes right after opening them. The light was very bright and, mysteriously, he couldn’t bear it. When the doctors saw it, they switched off the light over the bed.
“Even if it took longer than it was supposed to, it’s perfect. Are you okay, mister? Or are you the old man?” The doctor asked. The man opened his eyes and jumped out of the bed. He immediately fell down. He then realized that he was a pony. Even if it was weird, he stood back up, but this time, on four legs.
“It might take time until you’ll be able to walk perfectly. Can you explain us the dream you have?” The medical pony asked. Joseph explained all he saw and lived. After realizing how he managed to take care of the old man, he was proud of himself.
“Wow, you actually managed to do it!” The human said and the now pony nodded.
“Well, it’s breakfast time.” The pony assistant said. It surprised the newfoal that it took more than four hours to undergo conversion, but, his problem was now over…
Well, not officially over.
***
It has been almost one year since he had undergone conversion and his life went from miserable to magical. First, he hung out with the pony that had a crush on him and they lived together. Also, they had a little unicorn called Little Star. His life was perfect in every side. He had a job and excelled at it, he had a house and a lover, but, there was still something on his mind. The fact that the old fart can come back.
He was asleep, the same day he transformed into a pony, but the year after. He was back in the same whiteness he used to be every night back when he was a human. He was hoping it wasn’t for anything bad.
Suddenly, in front of him appeared a pony. He was gray with a red mane and a smile cutie mark. He didn’t know who the pony was, but he was confident that he was nice.
The pony started to talk: “Here we are again, it’s always such a pleasure… even if you tried to kill me.” He knew, at that moment, exactly who that pony was: the old man. Joseph took few steps back.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you, I’m here to tell you a story. Now, sit back and relax while I tell you what happened a year ago. When you hugged me it was the most awkward thing that ever happened to me, but it’s what saved me. When I disappeared, day after day, I turned into a pony and saw your new memories. It was boring at the beginning, but then, I turned completely into a pony.”
“This, my friend, has completely changed my vision of your world. All you did was because you wanted to live. I was going too far with my training, and I’ve felt so bad. Your life didn’t need anymore problem. So, I’m here to tell you that…” He started to cry, “I’m sorry.”
Both of them walked toward each other and hugged. “Now, I’m going to leave you alone. I’ve lived more than I was supposed to. It’s time to live your life now.” The body disappeared as fast as the last time, but this time, his last words were different.
“Goodbye, my only friend.”
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This was a result of my boringness, take it seriously if you want... nah !
NetherPortal
