Chapters The Conversion Bureau: Letters From Midgard
Prologue: The First Letter
The Conversion Bureau: Letters from MidgardPrologue: The First Letter
The sun hung low in the sky as Tristem and Cao took shelter in the remains of an old church. They had used this church as a temporary home many times during there travels and they had managed to build a makeshift shelter out of it. The church had held up surprising well given that it was over a hundred years old, and surprisingly the roof was still intact despite decades of neglect.
After placing his stuff on the ground Tristem made his way up a rickety pair of stairs that led to the bell tower. Tristem shuddered a bit as the stairs creaked as he walked up half afraid that they might finally give out.
Once at the top Tristem peered out and gazed at the horizon. The low light allowing him to view what he had been looking for. The glistening barrier which separated his world from Equestria.
Tristem stood there and thought for a moment. It had been 4 years since the land of Equestria had surfaced from the ocean and in that time it had swallowed up a huge chunk of the earth including much of the North American continent, and now it was bearing down on there sanctuary.
Tristem knew that given the rate of expansion there precious sanctuary would be swallowed up in only a month or so given how close the barrier was now.
“Something bothering you Tristem,” said Cao putting her hand on his shoulder. This made Tristem jump since he had not heard her approach. “Woah! Geez Cao don’t scare me like that,” Tristem returned his gaze to the barrier, “not much I was just thinking.”
“About what,” asked Cao. “Well about all that has happened in the past 4 years and how our worlds been turned upside down by this strange land that stands before us,” said Tristem.
“Yeah its absolutely crazy,” commented Cao now looking at the barrier as well, “At its current rate of exponential expansion we only have a couple years left at most tell the entire world is completely swallowed up.”
Turning away from the railing Tristem began to head back down the stairs,
“Come on Cao we need to unpack and get the fire started.” “Alright Tristem, you know we’re going to have to address this issue soon just like everyone else on this planet,” said Cao as she walked closely behind him.
“ Yes I know Cao, Lets talk about it after we’ve settled in and eaten something,” said Tristem relenting to his sisters wishes. “Alright, but I’m holding you to it.” said Cao as they continued climbing down the stairs.
An hour passed as Tristem and Cao unpacked there stuff, carefully setting out there futons and other amenities. Tristem got to work getting the fire started while Cao carefully removed the chain mail and cloth padding armor that she wore under her mandarin dress. Tristem then removed his armor while Cao got out there meal for the evening. A pair of sweet potatoes that they stolen from a PER patrol, and some dried meat they stole from an HLF convoy.
Cao handed Tristem one of the sweet potatoes and his portion of the dried meat. Tristem sat down beside the fire next to Cao and placed his sweet potato in the fire to cook it.
“Well,” said Cao as she attended to her potato, “shall we talk about it now?” Tristem winced upon hearing this and then sighed, “I guess there’s no avoiding it is there, alright Cao we’ll talk about it; again.”
Thus once again they began the same conversation they had had for the past 3 years. Whether to die as humans or to give up there humanity and live as ponies in a strange and bizarre universe, and for the last three years the only conclusion they had come to was no conclusion. This time however the discussion would end very differently.
“Cao we’ve been through this a hundred times I just don’t know what to do,” said in a very agitated voice, “I mean yes Equestria sounds great, and yes we’ve heard and seen that the ponies are nice, but is it really that it seems to be.”
Cao listened as Tristem blurted out the same objections he had made for the past three years, “I mean we have no way of knowing for sure do we. For all we know they’re probably no better than the World Corp we ran away from.”
“Tristem every pony we’ve ever met has been both kind and friendly to us and no pony with the exception of the PER has ever tried to do anything to harm us,” said Cao in retaliation to what Tristem had said.
“I know they haven’t and that bothers me it seems so unreal almost like a dream,” said Tristem shaking his head in frustration, “its just, how do we know that they’re not lying, they have to have an angle in trying to help us they just have to no one does those sorts of things for someone for nothing.”
“Well what about these sweet potatoes Tristem and the apples we had last month they were the best things I have ever eaten,” said Cao holding up her half eaten potato, “surely Equestria must be a wonderful place if things like this can grow there.”
“I know Cao I know but I…I…aaaaAHHHH!,” yelled Tristem as he grabbed the sides of his head and yelled as loud as he could.
Cao grabbed Tristem and drew him into a hug attempting to calm him down, “I know Tristem I know I’m not sure about this myself, but you know as well as I do that if we don’t get ponified we’re going to die.”
Hearing this Tristem pushed Cao away and stood up his head hung low, “I know Cao but is living as a pony truly better than dieing as a human.”
Hearing this Cao feared that the discussion they had had for over three years would once again end in indecision. Casually Cao turned and gazed at the setting sun, and then out of nowhere Cao got an idea a crazy idea. The kind of idea that is so crazy and so ludicrous that it might actually work.
“Tristem what if there was someone who could answer the questions that have led to our indecision, and help us come to a decision,” inquired Cao.
“Really and who could possibly be able to do that,” said a very skeptical Tristem. “Princess Celestia ,” said Cao.
This caused Tristem to immediately turn towards Cao and look straight at her, “Princess Celestia, let me get this straight you want us to ask her?” “Yes Tristem,” said Cao.
“Us ask her,” said Tristem repeating himself. Cao nodded in affirmation.
“Cao that is the stupidest idea you’ve ever come up with,” said a very agitated Tristem. “Well why not Tristem,” said Cao now sporting a very serious look on her face.
“Why not, simple she is the ruler of an entire universe, and is basically a god she is not going come and talk to us,” said Tristem as he turned from Cao and started to step outside.
Seeing this Cao jumped up from where she was sitting and followed him. Outside it was almost dark with only a little bit of light left coming from the rapidly setting sun. Tristem peered out once more towards the barrier and Equestria. A very simple task since in Equestria it was currently morning and Equestria shown brightly against the horizon.
“Tristem wait,” yelled Cao as she ran out of the church. “I don’t want to talk about it Cao your idea is stupid,” said Tristem.
“Tristem I didn’t mean that we should go and ask her in person I’m suggesting that we write her,” said Cao now standing beside Tristem. “Write her?” said Tristem with a very inquisitive tone in his voice.
“Yes write her you remember that one time when we saw Ambassador Sparkle write that letter to Princess Celestia, and how that dragon pet of hers blew fire on it and it was magically sent to her. Maybe we could do the same thing,” explained Cao.
This made Tristem stop and think. It was unlikely that Princess Celestia would answer a letter that they had written, but on the other hand what did they have to lose. Tristem turned to Cao the same inquisitive look on his face.
“You really think that Celestia would answer if we wrote her a letter,” said Tristem. “If she is as kind and compassionate as the media and the ponies portray her as being I think that she will,” said Cao.
There was a long moment of silence as Tristem stood there staring at the barrier. “Ah what the hell,” Tristem finally said, “Your right its not like we have anything to lose, come on lets go and write a letter to the princess.”
It was about 10 minutes later that Tristem had finally gotten some paper and a pen around and had sat down beside the fire. Tristem sat for a minute staring at the piece of paper trying to figure out what to say.
“What do you think we should say Cao,” asked Tristem. “Just tell her that we’re a pair of humans who are uncertain about the idea of getting ponified and wish to ask her a few questions about Equestria, her species, and about her.” explained Cao.
“Fair enough Cao are you sure this is how Ambassador Sparkle did it?” asked Tristem. “Yes yes I remember it vividly,” said Cao. “Okay Cao,” said Tristem half convinced she was wrong, “Well I better get started, please don’t bother me while I’m writing this, we don’t have a lot of paper so I don’t want to screw it up.” “You got it Tristem I’ll just sit here and do some mending,” said Cao as she started to working on fixing a tear on her dress.
It took Tristem almost an hour and a half, but he finally managed to write a letter that he believed was good enough. It read as follows.
Dear Princess Celestia,
You don’t know me, but my name is Tristem Saris. I am a human living in the southwest portion of the North American continent along with my sister Cao.
For the last four years we have watched as your Kingdom of Equestria has slowly swallowed our world up, and while we harbor no ill will towards you or your people we find ourselves at an impasse. We are fully aware of the fact that if we wish to survive these the assimilation of Earth by Equestria we must go through the conversion process and become ponies, however we find ourselves unable to do so due to a certain level of confusion on our part. This confusion is brought on by a number of agonizing questions that we have about you, your people, your nation, and your intentions behind saving our species from certain annihilation.
Therefore me and my sister humbly ask if you would be willing to answer are questions on these subjects. I understand that you are a very busy person, but my sister seems to think that you will answer our letter. Think of this as a request from two very frightened and confused humans. I give you my thanks.
Respectfully yours,
Tristem and Cao
Exhausted Tristem lowered his pen and breathed a sigh of relief at finally being done. “That took a long time,” said Cao who was now lying on her futon half asleep. “Well of course it did Cao I wanted to do a good job,” said Tristem as he stood up and rolled the letter up.
“Well here goes nothing,” said Tristem as he approached the bonfire in the middle of the room, “So I just throw the letter in the fire?” “I guess so Tristem that’s about as close as we can get to what that dragon does,” said Cao.
“Alright,” said Tristem as he tossed the scrolled up letter into the fire. Tristem and Cao watched intently as the scroll of paper was slowly consumed by the fire hoping to catch a glimpse of anything that would indicate that it had worked. Sadly they did not.
“Ah man It didn’t work. It didn’t even remotely look anything like what happened when the dragon blew on it,” complained Cao. “Well what did you expect Cao of course it wasn’t going to work,” said Tristem.
“I suppose your right, still I had really had hoped it would work, now we won’t even know if she would’ve responded to it at all,” said Cao in a very disappointed tone. “Come on Cao its been a long day let’s get some sleep,” said Tristem as he started to lie down on his futon.
“Yeah I guess that’s all we can do now goodnight Tristem,” said Cao as she laid down on her pillow and shut her eyes. “Good night Cao,” said Tristem.
They were soon fast asleep. Little did they know at that moment however, That in a far-off land a beautiful and regal unicorn princess had indeed received and read the letter they had sent her, and at that exact moment was writing a response to there letter.
The Conversion Bureau: Letters From Midgard
Letters from MidgardChapter 1: The Second Letter
It was dark almost pitch black with only the faintest of light coming from nearby lighting that allowed Tristem to see a number of human sized silhouettes charging at him. Emotionlessly Tristem drew his swords and began to cut the formless silhouettes down one after another streams of black nothingness spewing out of their formless bodies.
Tristem advanced slowly as hordes of the formless entities continued to charge at him. With no sign of emotion he continued to cut them down one after another. Eventually as there numbers dwindled the formless shadows began to turn and run from Tristem. Tristem gave chase cutting down the shadows that he managed to catch up to. Then it began to rain and in seconds it had turned into a downpour turning the barren dirt ground into mud.
One of the shadows fell as it was trying to flee and Tristem was quickly upon it. Lifting the formless entity off the ground Tristem wasted no words and quickly stabbed it several times in the chest. It was then that Tristem heard it scream something that the other shadows had not done.
This caused Tristem to stop as he stared down in horror as the shapeless entity took on the form of a young teenager. He then noticed that the black substance that had been spewing out of the formless entities was actually blood. Shocked by this revelation Tristem dropped the now lifeless body and looked around noticing the bodies of countless others all dead and disfigured in horrible ways.
“No what have I done,” thought Tristem as he looked around and saw the bodies of those he had killed.
Suddenly the clouds above parted and what appeared to be sunlight shone through. Tristem stared up and saw the sillouette of two large horse-like creatures.
“Tristem,” said a kind and unearthly voice inside Tristem’s head, “Tristem please leave humanities’ blood stained past behind and join us. Let go of the hate and fear that you have in your heart and be born again anew. I promise that you and your sister will be loved and cherished you two will not have to be alone anymore.”
Hearing this Tristem backed away, "your lying. You just want earth for yourself and your destroying humanity in order to get it.” Tristem turned and started to run.
“Tristem!” yelled the entity, “Please come back I’m not trying to destroy your species. I’m trying to save you.” Pleaded the entity but Tristem was already out of earshot.
Tristem was thrashing around in his futon. “No leave me alone,” yelled Tristem in his sleep.
The noise woke Cao up who ran over to where Tristem was sleeping. “Tristem,” said Cao as she grabbed Tristem’s shoulders in an attempt to stop him from thrashing around, “Tristem wake up.”
Tristem opened his eyes and saw Cao sitting over him. “Cao,” exclaimed Tristem in both shock and relief, as he pulled Cao into a hug.
“Bad dream huh?” asked Cao returning the hug. “Yeah.” said Tristem pushing Cao away and ending the hug, “I’m okay now.”
“Good, I was worried,” said Cao as she began to stand up, “so what’s on the agenda for today?”
“Well we need to get some more supplies we’re running low on food, so we’ll need to find a trader.” said Tristem as he sat up from his futon.
“With the barrier this close we’re not going to find any human traders around here.” said Cao.
“Then we’ll have to find some pony traders. I think theirs a pony village nearby,” said Tristem.
“Pony traders; well fair enough, but we won’t be able to get any meat from them.” complained Cao.
“Well we’ll just have to do without Cao, come on let’s gather our trade goods and get a move on.” said Tristem.
As Tristem began to stand up Tristem noticed what appeared to be a paper tube sitting beside where he had been sleeping. Puzzled Tristem reached down to picked up the strange object and discovered that it was actually a piece of rolled up paper.
“What’s that?” inquired Cao. “Well it can only be one of two things Cao. Either it’s a paper telescope, it’s a letter from Princess Celestia,” said Tristem who noticed the sun seal holding the paper in its cylinder-like shape.
“Really,” said Cao. Before Tristem could respond Cao grabbed the scroll from Tristem’s hand and looked it over.
“Tristem you know what this means? She answered our letter,” said a very excited Cao.
“Right,” said Tristem grabbing the scroll from Cao’s hand, “Now lets see what she wrote.”
Tristem undid the seal and started reading the letter’s contents aloud.
Dear Tristem and Cao,
I am more than happy to answer your questions concerning these topics young ones. I can certainly understand your hesitation concerning conversion and I want to put your minds at ease. Feel free to write to me with any questions you might have. I will do my best to answer them. Stay safe my dear young ones.
Sincerely yours,
Princess Celestia
Having finished reading the letter Tristem scrolled the paper back up in his hands.
“See I told you she would help us,” said Cao with a smug look on her face.
Seeing this Tristem gave a fake angry expression right before he threw the letter at Cao hitting her square in the face.
“OW! Hey! Why’d you do that for?” complained Cao pretending that the impact had hurt her.
“Because your being smart about it that’s why,” said Tristem a sarcastic smile on his face.
Seeing this Cao stuck out her tongue, “Tristem you meenie!.” Having retaliated Cao then turned her attention to the letter, “well now that she’s agreed to help us I guess we’ll have to decide what we want to ask her.”
“We’ll worry about that later right now we need to get our trade goods together and head for the pony village,” Said Tristem as he began to walk towards there supplies. Cao carefully placed the letter down and went over to join him.
About 15 minutes later Tristem and Cao had gathered up their trade goods and headed for the pony village 3 miles away. The pony village which went by the name of Trottinheim was like most other pony villages having been built over the remains of a human town a year prior. The village’s population consisted almost entirely of Newfoals, it did however have a significant population of native Equestrians residing in it. Also this village being so close to the barrier had not seen humans for over eight months, and unfortunately for Tristem and Cao the village was also the regional headquarters of the PER and they were walking right into the middle of it.
It was almost noon by the time Tristem and Cao had arrived in Trottinheim. “So this is the pony village its bigger than I expected,” said Cao as she surveyed the town visually.
“Indeed,” said Tristem his eyes once again drawn to the barrier which now was so close that it loomed over them like some strange glowing monolith, “The barrier really close her.”
“Yeah,” said Cao, “at this rate the town will disappear behind it in less than a week.”
“Well then lets get are trading done before that happens,” said Tristem as he started walking towards the town again.
The town was alive with dozens of ponies all milling about conducting there daily activities. All of which ended abruptly upon them seeing Tristem and Cao approach. there was complete and total silence which was brought on by the shock of seeing a pair of humans. This made Tristem and Cao stop in place.
“I don’t think we’re exactly what they expected to see today,” remarked Cao.
“Geez you think Cao,” remarked Tristem with a sarcastic tone in his voice. Cao shoved Tristem from behind sending him falling to the ground, “bite me!” Cao laughed in triumph up until she felt her feet leave the ground, her body was surrounded by a light green energy field.
Cao felt her body slowly turning until she came face to face with a jade colored unicorn with a dark green mane and tail. A green eight pointed adorned her flank.
“Hey let me go let me go,” protested Cao. The pony just glared at her with contempt. “No!” the pony finally replied, “I don’t know how you humans managed to approach our town without dying in the process, but I will not allow you two to commit acts of violence in this town.” Seeing that the ponies attention was focused on Cao Tristem took the opportunity to sneak away. Once he was out of sight Tristem climbed up on top of a house and contemplated how he was going to save Cao.
“Now,” said the unicorn a sinister smile on her face, “how are we going to punish you for your transgression.”
“Perhaps I can help with that,” said a voice from behind the crowd. Cao looked to see a white pegasus with a black mane approach the group beside him stood an almost totally black pegasus with only dark blue and purple highlights breaking up her otherwise monochrome appearance.
“Cao Su as I live and breath I had thought that you and your brother would have been smart enough not to walk right into a PER fortress town,” said the black and white pegasi. “and I see that you haven’t taken the opportunity in the last four months since I’ve seen you to join our great and wondrous pony race.”
“Daniel its nice to see you as well and I see that you haven’t changed either in the last four months, I’ve figured that the HLF would have killed you by now,” said Cao a defiant look on her eye.
This caused ‘Daniel’s’ right eye to twitch in anger, “My name is Fearless Leader, that name no longer bears any meaning for me.”
Seeing this the all black pegasi came up and affectionately nuzzled Fearless Leader on the neck, “Fearless don’t let Cao’s sarcastic quips get to you after all she is our friend and we must be tolerant of here abrasive personality.”
“I know Black Pearl,” said Fearless as he embraced Pearl, “I just can’t understand why our old friends are so resistant to the idea of conversion.”
“Don’t worry about that my love,” said pearl as she took a vial of pontification serum out of her saddlebag, “She’ll come around to our way of thinking in about 15 minutes, it’s a shame that your brother ran away like a coward Cao I would’ve preferred to have ponified you both at the same time.”
Cao then noticed that her brother was no longer lying on the ground. She then saw a glint of light overhead. She looked up and saw Tristem signaling her as he prepared to surprise attack the ponies below.
“Now Pearl you should know my brother better than that,” said Cao with a smirk, “You should know by know that my brother merely doesn’t like to directly confront his enemies, he’ll come and save me.”
This made Fearless and the other ponies present laugh, “Fine Cao, said Fearless, “use what bravado you want, but you and I both know he’s not coming,”
“Oh but he is,” said Cao, “as a matter of fact he might just be ‘right behind you’!”
On cue Tristem leaped off the top of the building and landed feet first right on top of Fearless the impact causing his legs to buckle, sending him violently crashing to the ground. This shocked every pony present including the unicorn that had been previously holding Cao who had accidentally released her from the telekinetic field. Cao immediately took the opportunity to tackle the unicorn punching her in the face and knocking her unconscious.
“Cao you alright,” asked Tristem as he ran over to her. “Yes I’m fine,” said Cao.
“Why you no good hairless apes I‘m going to convert you one way or the other,” yelled Pearl as she hurled the ponification serum at Tristem and Cao. Seeing this Tristem and jumped backwards the potion smashing onto the ground in front of them.
Upon landing Tristem took out a small cylindrical object from the pouch he had slung over his neck, “Ninja Vanish!” yelled Tristem as he threw the cylinder at the group of ponies. The cylinder exploded releasing a cloud of smoke which covered Tristem and Cao’s escape.
Unfortunately for Tristem and Cao Pearl flew up over the smoke screen and spotted them. “They’re escaping into town after them,” said Pearl as she and the other ponies chased after them.
Tristem and Cao ran through the town dodging confused ponies and jumping over obstacles in an attempt to shake there pursuers. Tristem and Cao could hear their pursuers gaining on them.
“Cao we need to find someplace to hide, we might be able to outrun the unicorns and earth ponies but we’ll never be able to escape from the pegasi,” said Tristem as he leaped over a crate
Cao and Tristem looked around for a way to escape and about ten seconds later Cao spotted an alleyway, “quick Tristem run into that alleyway.” said Cao.
They quickly darted into the alleyway and hid behind a dumpster. The mob of ponies that had been chasing them ran right past the entrance to the alleyway.
“Phew that was close,” said Cao as she sat down to rest. “We’re not out of the woods yet Cao we need to get out of this town and fast,” said Tristem as he tried to catch his breath.
“Who’d have thought that this town was the headquarters for the PER in this area,” said Cao. “Makes sense Cao, they’re so close to the barrier that the HLF can’t attack them here,” said Tristem as he looked over the edge of the dumpster to see what was going on.
“Well what do you think of the ponies now?” asked Tristem changing the subject
“What do you mean what do I think of the ponies now,” asked Cao. “Well yesterday you were basically being their cheerleader so I thought that this might have changed your mind about that.”
“I was not and besides I was talking about normal ponies not these PER maniacs,” said Cao an angry tone in her voice.
“Alright whatever Cao now’s not the time to be talking about this anyway, right now we need to get out of here its not going to take long for them to figure out what happened to us.” said Tristem.
Tristem and Cao turned to leave the alley from the other side, but they started to hear ponies moving about franticly from both sides of the alley.
“Where did they go,” yelled a voice. They then heard Fearless addressing the crowd, “Alright everyone calm down they couldn’t have gotten far spread out and search the alley and houses we’ll find them.
“Oh grip,” complained, “Now what we do?”
“Quickly in here.” said a somewhat elderly voice behind them.
Hearing this Tristem and Cao drew there weapons and quickly turned around. Standing before them was an elderly looking earth pony with a faded light purple coat and a graying darker purple colored mane and tail a trio of purple flowers adorned her flank.
“Who are you?” demanded Tristem. “Quick there no time get in here quickly,” insisted the elderly pony.
As Tristem and Cao weighed their options and decided that going with the elderly earth pony was their best bet. “Alright,” said Tristem, “we’ll come with you, but if you trick us you will regret it.”
They followed the elderly pony into what they assumed was her house. She led them up into the attic and told them to stay there until she called them.
How long had they been hiding in this ponies attic thought Tristem as he turned to look out the slants of a vent. He saw that the sun was setting so it had to have been at least eight hours. He looked over to see that his sister had fallen asleep. “Well that’s for the best Cao must be exhausted,” said Tristem as he turned and looked at the entrance to the attic, “I wonder why that pony helped us.”
Tristem sat back and began to ponder on the events of the last few years on Equestria’s emergence from the Pacific Ocean, the opening of the conversion bureaus, the interactions that Tristem and his sister had had with the ponies, and on how their world was slowly ebbing away.
Tristem then thought about the events of the day. “Cao always seems to think the ponies are kind and friendly but then you have these PER ponies who are basically forcing conversion on people. I wonder which type of pony is the majority.”
Tristem heard a creek as the attic door opened, “its okay now you two can come down,” said the elderly pony. Tristem quickly roused Cao from her sleep and followed the pony down to the kitchen.
The Kitchen was nothing too remarkable. It did have a pleasant feel to it though. “Thanks for hiding us,” said Cao as she sat down at the table. She fidgeted a little bit trying to get comfortable. The chairs were obviously not built with humans in mind.
“Oh your welcome my dear I had a feeling those misguided PER ponies were up to no good, by the way my name is Lilac though everypony calls me Granny Lilac these days,” said the elderly pony with a warm smile on her face. “I’m Tristem and this is my sister Cao,” said Tristem. “Hello nice to meet you.” said Cao returning Lilac‘s smile.
“Nice to meet you both,” said Lilac, “So tell me what brings a pair of humans to a pony village so close to the barrier. I didn’t think humans could get this close.” “Normally that is the case but me and Tristem aren’t effected by thaumatic radiation though I really don’t know why, and we often spend a lot of time in areas so we can avoid other humans.“ said Cao.
“Oh so you two don’t associate yourselves with other humans?” asked Lilac. “No not really the World Corp thinks we’re dead due to the accident seven years ago, and we‘ve been off the grid ever since,” said Cao, “We mostly just wonder around scavenging for what we can find.”
“I see,” said Lilac, “Tell me why haven’t you two converted yet? You both will be able to live better lives once you do.”
“Its not that easy Lilac,” said Tristem, “Me and Cao aren’t sure about this whole conversion business. I mean weren’t you apprehensive about it when you went through it?”
“Oh my dear I wouldn’t know I’m not a newfoal I came to earth hoping to help humans such as you get over your fears about conversion,” said Lilac, “Unfortunately, I have found that I’m ill suited for the task. Lilac hung her head low in disappointment in herself.
This took Tristem and Cao by surprise, “Wait a minute if you came here to convince humans to convert why aren’t you helping the PER?” asked Tristem.
“Simple my dear I want humans to convert so that their lives can be saved and so that they can lead better lives, but I also believe that it is a choice that they have to make for themselves its not right to force it on them,” explained Lilac, “Now come its getting late I’ll show you two were you will be sleeping.”
“Your going to let us stay here?” asked Tristem.
“Of course its not safe for you two to go outside you’ll never be able to get past the PER troops. So you two will have to stay here until we can figure out a way to get you out of Trottinheim.” said Lilac who gently nuzzled the side of Tristem’s face.
“Thanks,” said Tristem running his hand through Lilac‘s mane. “Tristem before we go to bed shouldn’t we write a letter to the Princess Celestia?” asked Cao. “Oh your right,” said Tristem as he got a piece of paper and a pen from his backpack.
“Princess your writing Princess Celestia,” Lilac looked surprised by this. “Why yes as a matter of fact we are, we thought that she could answer our questions and help us resolve our problems regarding conversion.”
“Oh what a wonderful thought I’m sure she can help you,” said Lilac, “Oh Celestia I thank you for helping these poor wayward humans.”
“So Tristem what are we going to ask her?” asked Cao. “I think we should we should start small like asking her a series of simple questions,” said Tristem. “Like what,” asked Lilac.
“Like what its like to be a pony, what happens to you mentally and physically when your ponified, and whether or not the PER are typical of all ponies,” said Tristem.
“I can promise you they are not we agree with everything Princess Celestia said about the PER,” said Lilac.
“Nevertheless I think we’ll ask her that anyway,” said Tristem as he readied his pen, “now if you excuse me.” Tristem set to work writing the letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I thank you for taking the time to answer our questions your highness it means a lot to me and my sister.
For our first question we actually have a series of smaller questions that we wish to ask you. I hope that that is alright. I will tell you in advanced that these questions have been asked by other humans many times before, however me and my sister feel compelled to ask them anyway.
First off I would like to ask you about Equines in general. Specifically what is it like being a pony? How does your species deal with day to day challenges like eating, performing day to day tasks like cooking and cleaning or building things? How do non unicorns manipulate tools? What are normal ponies like psychologically? How do ponies relate to each other, you get the idea. We just want to get a general idea about what life is like as a member of your species.
Second we wanted to ask about the conversion process. What will it change about us mentally and socially? What will stay the same? Finally what will happen to us after the conversion? Will we be able to maintain our current way of life if we choose to or we be forced down another path? This last question in particular is very important to us because we tend to be afraid of change and we would like to maintain at least some remnant of our former lives after we are converted.
Our final series of questions pertain to the most unscrupulous of your subjects namely the members of the PER or the Ponies for Earths Resurrection. Me and Cao have had the great misfortune of having multiple encounters with this group largely due to our former friends being members. This problem started when they converted almost two years ago and have since then they have taken it upon themselves to get us to convert whether we like it or not. Personally as I said previously I am not against the idea of conversion, but if and when it happens me and Cao want it to be on our terms. So I ask you do you support the PER and if you do, are you behind them? Finally I would like to ask if they are typical of Equestrians?
Well that’s all for now sorry about this letter being so long. I appreciate you helping us like this your highness.
Respectfully yours,
Tristem and Cao
It was almost a half an hour later when Tristem finished writing the letter. He looked over it to make sure he wrote it right and then rolled it up in his hands.
“Well that’s it then all we need to do now is send it,” said Tristem. “How are we going to burn it in order to send it to Princess Celestia we don‘t have a bonfire this time” asked Cao.
“You can use the stove,” said Lilac, “just be careful.”
“Alright,” said Tristem. He walked over and turned the stove on and carefully allowed the flames to consume the paper. Unlike before, however, Tristem could clearly see the paper turn into a strange green flame which traveled out the window.
“Did you see that,” an astonished Cao proclaimed. “I most certainly did,” said Tristem.
“I can’t believed it worked,” said Lilac. “Your surprised that it worked?” asked Tristem, “I thought this was common for Equines.”
“Maybe for those high society Canterlot folk, but not where I come from I’ve never seen it before,” explained Lilac, “All that aside I think its time for bed we can decide what to do about your guy’s predicament tomorrow.”
Hearing this Cao gave a very loud yawn, “sleep does sound nice its time for Super Happy Bed Time.”
Tristem nodded in approval holding back a slight chuckle. “Come I’ll show you to your rooms,” said Lilac.
Tristem and Cao followed her upstairs.
The Conversion Bureau: Letters From Midgard
Letters From Midgard
Chapter 2: The Third Letter
“Tristem… Tristem!… Good morning Tristem!”
Tristem opened his eyes the early morning sunlight temporarily blinding him.
“Come on Tristem we’ve got a lot to do today, we don’t want to be late,” said Cao. Tristem could feel her shaking him.
“Late for what?” asked Tristem as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light.
“Why the Nightmare Night Celebration don’t you remember we decided that this was an excellent opportunity to visit Ponyville,” said Cao.
This made Tristem snap his eyes open. Standing before him instead of his sister was a red earth pony with a yellow mane sporting Cao’s hairstyle.
“What the,” yelled Tristem as he tried to jump up onto his feet, a feat which resulted in him falling backwards since he could no longer stand on two feet.
… “OW!” complained Tristem as he picked himself up from the floor, “stupid dream.”
Tristem looked around he was in the guest room of Lilac’s house. Tristem looked over to see that Cao was still asleep her body curled up in the small equine bed.
“Huh! I’d have thought me falling out of bed would have woken her up,” said Tristem as he walked over to the window to look outside.
Tristem looked out and saw ponies patrolling the streets, “guess their still looking for us,” thought Tristem as he noticed a group of pegasi flying overhead. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to get out of here today,” muttered Tristem.
“I wonder if that elderly pony is up yet.” thought Tristem as he noticed a grey pegasi takeoff nearby and head straight for the barrier. Tristem turned away from the window and headed downstairs.
Lilac hummed to herself as she placed a skillet on the stove, “I wonder when those two humans will wake up,” Lilac thought to herself.
She walked over to the food pantry glancing over its various contents, “I wonder what humans eat?” thought Lilac.
Suddenly Lilac began to hear someone coming down the stairs, a few seconds later Tristem walked into the kitchen.
“Oh good morning Tristem,” said a very cheerful Lilac. “Meh,” commented Tristem as he sat down at the table.
“So how did you sleep?” asked Lilac seemingly oblivious to Tristem’s lack of enthusiasm.
“Well I’ve slept better its hard to be comfortable when I have to curl myself up in a ball in order to fit in the bed,” said Tristem, “still, its been years since I‘ve slept in a normal bed.”
“Oh really where do you and Cao normally sleep?” asked Lilac.
“Normally we sleep on what is essentially a portable bed known as a futon,” explained Tristem.
“I see, anyway what do you want for breakfast?” asked Lilac, “I wasn’t sure what to make since I don’t really know what humans can and cannot eat, are eggs okay?”
“Eggs are fine,” said Tristem, “as a matter of fact that’s actually something humans tend to have for breakfast normally.”
“Okay than,” said Lilac as she went over and grabbed the eggs, “oh by the way the Mail Mare came and left you two a letter its from the princess.”
“Mail Mare, was that the grey pegasi I saw flying off?” asked Tristem as he picked up the letter that had been sitting on the table.
“Oh yes she often comes and delivers mail to this village. A lot of ponies have friends and relatives inside Equestria,” said Lilac.
“I see,” said Tristem as he placed the letter back on the table and sat down.
“Aren’t you going to read it?” asked Lilac
“I will, but I’m going to wait until Cao wakes up,” said Tristem
Tristem and Lilac heard footsteps overhead as Cao woke and started walking downstairs, “speak of the devil,” said Tristem as Cao walked into the kitchen.
“Oh good morning my dear Cao, did you sleep well?” asked Lilac.
Cao stared at her, her eyes filled with contempt for the pony’s question. “No I did not sleep well,” yelled Cao, “you try and sleep with your body scrunched up like that.”
Lilac lowered her head and ears in response to Cao’s outburst a scared expression on her face. Upon seeing this Cao’s facial expression immediately softened, “I’m sorry Lilac I really do appreciate you letting us stay here,” said Cao.
Lilac raised her head in relief, “oh thank Celestia I thought you were mad at me.”
“No I was just blowing off steam, sleeping in that bed has made me stiff,” said Cao as she sat down next to Tristem.
Lilac walked back over to the stove and resumed frying the eggs. from behind her Lilac could hear Tristem and Cao talking to each other. Lilac tried to make out what they were saying, but they appeared to be speaking in some sort of foreign language.
“Tristem Cao,” said Lilac.
Hearing this Tristem and Cao turned to face Lilac, “yes,” they said in unison.
“I was wondering could ask you guys some questions?” asked Lilac/
“Ask away,” said Tristem.
“Why did you guys come to Trottinheim in the first place?” asked Lilac.
“We were coming to barter for supplies,” said Cao.
“I see, but why did you come here rather than someplace else,” asked Lilac.
“This town was close by, as for why we came to this area specifically we often come to this area because its remote and one of our hideaways is here,” said Tristem.
“I see, tell me you said that your government thinks your dead, why haven’t you two tried to rectify this,” asked Lilac.
“Because we faked our own death. Me and Tristem wanted to be free of their control so when we got the chance we pretended to die in a fake explosion that we instigated,” said Cao.
“But why would you two want to live like this wondering around without a home, and living off whatever you can find?” said Lilac unable to comprehend this. Lilac noticed that the eggs were done, “oh would you two like some fresh vegetables with your eggs?”
“Sure thanks for asking,” said Tristem, “Well to answer your question its because we love this lifestyle. This lifestyle is how humans used to live thousands of years ago and it’s the way humans are supposed to live. Besides we get to go where we want and we see and experience things no one else gets to experience. Did you have any other questions?”
“No I think that’s enough for now, breakfast is ready anyway,” said Lilac as she brought a pair of food laden over to the table. Tristem and Cao started eating.
“Not bad, thanks Lilac,” said Cao. Tristem placed his hands together and lowered his head closing his eyes in the process, “Itadaki masu!” said Tristem.
“What was that for?” asked Lilac.
“Sorry old habit,” said Tristem, “Its something your suppose to say before eating.”
“Oh okay,” said Lilac as her attention turned to the still unread letter, “aren’t you two going to read Celestia’s letter?”
“Oh yeah that’s right,” said Tristem as he reached over and picked up the letter, “no time like the present right Cao?”
“Indeed, I’m curious about what she has to say, and this way we can talk about it afterwards,” said Cao as she bit into a carrot.
“Okay then,” said Tristem as he undid the seal and began to read the letter out loud.
Salutations, Tristem and Cao!
I try my best to answer the questions of my subjects - and what may be my future subjects - because I believe that understanding is the bridge to all harmony, and harmony is very precious to me.
You ask what it is like to be a pony. To be a pony is to walk on four hooves, to swish your tail when you are glad, or to droop your ears when you are not. To be a pony is to run fast as the wind across endless green fields, or fly over the clouds and to walk upon them, or to sense and use the subtle powers of magic itself. My little ponies play and laugh and love like all creatures do, but they also build and paint and create, sing and dance and write. Everything humans do ponies can do, but they do them together. To be a pony is to be social, to be together, to not be alone.
Each of the three breeds of ponies has their own ways of dealing with the world. All ponies use the mouths and hooves and bodies to move and carry things. Ponies are blessed with a sense of balance and control that it is my understanding humans do not possess. They can balance things with ease upon their heads and backs and hooves, and never fear dropping them. But there are still more ways ponies can manipulate their environment.
Unicorns can levitate objects with the glowing field they produce with their horns, the best can hold dozens of separate items and move them about with ease. It is as if they had dozens of human arms and countless human fingers. Unicorns naturally handle the complex and delicate tasks, to which they are uniquely suited.
Pegasai can walk upon the clouds, and push and move them, and sculpt them as your human artists do stone or metal or wood. They can fly, and can extend that power into the things they hold or are linked to. A pegasus can pull a carriage behind it, or a cart, or carry another pony with ease in its forelegs. Pegasai are the helecopters and aerostats and jets of our world, but more than that they control the very weather, bringing sunshine or rain as needed.
Earthponies have the most perfect sense of balance and control of all ponies. They have incredible endurance and strength, and seldom tire. They can run for days or perform the most strenuous of work. They are the 'muscle men' - if I understand the term - of our world, but there is yet more they can do. Earthponies can, through the magic innate to them, grow crops and trees and all the delicious things of the world within minutes or hours or days. What would take your human farmers an entire season, or years, an earthpony can accomplish in the shortest of times. Earthponies are the backbone of Equestria, and though many are farmers, others use their perfect balance and control to perform any task that suits them. They are the best of athletes, and have the deepest connection to the land, and to the world.
A pony mind is kind and loving. Ponies naturally think of the feelings of others, not merely those they know or are related to, but all living creatures, everywhere. Ponies like making friends, and being friends, and it is our culture that friendship answers every woe. We know nothing of bigotry, war, violence or crime, and there are not even words for such things in the Equestrian language. We know of these things now, from your world, and stories of human lives often shock and terrify my little ponies, because they find it difficult to even imagine causing such harm to others.
This is not to say ponies are without mischief. In my long centuries, I have seen the most outrageous pranks and whimsical of farces, the most egregious of jokes and the most daring of stunts. Ponies are a playful lot, and it would be fair to say that the life of a pony is more concerned with fun, than with purpose as you humans understand such things. But nothing a pony does is malicious or spiteful. They may boast or brag, they may tease, they may jest and cavort, but in the end, it is always in kindness.
The conversion process has been made painless and simple. Your greatest human scientists have worked with our finest unicorn mages to perfect a serum that can transform a Human into an Equestrian. Our bodies are not very different in plan, despite outward appearances, and most of what is required is a shifting of parts into Equestrian form. This could not be done without the brilliant and amazing effort of your human engineers and their microscopic machines. Powered by Equestrian magic, the tiny devices swim through the blood and make all the changes needed while the convertee sleeps. Upon awaking, they are born anew, fresh and young once more, and fully Equestrian.
It is my understanding that without your unique technology, it is normal that humans should live only thirty to forty years. Your technologies, such as agriculture and medicine, have raised your lifespan to nearly a hundred for the vast majority, and up to almost two hundred for the elite of your kind. It is normal for an Equestrian to live to one hundred and fifty, and many make it to twice that with no special effort whatsoever. There have been ponies who have lived to nearly five hundred years, through the use of magic and rare extracts. Ponies do not age as you humans do, and suffer feebleness only in the last decades, spending the majority of their time in good health and youthful bodies.
I should mention, since it is often asked, that it is impossible to choose which breed of pony you should become. This is a matter of your own genetics, proclivities, and mind, the three acting together to determine what you will be. The odds have been statistically determined that any given convert should become an earthpony fifty percent of the time, a unicorn thirty percent of the time, and a pegasus twenty percent of the time. This should not matter, for each is equally important, equally valued, and each has unique and special gifts that compliment the others. Ponies always work together in kindness.
I hope that this answers your most pressing concerns, and puts your minds at rest. While conversion is your choice, I would most heartily recommend it - you will find a longer, happier, safer and more pleasurable life as a pony. Of that, I have no doubt. It is an easy, quick, and painless process to convert, and guarantees full citizenship and a place in Equestria.
Princess Celestia
Regent of the Sun
Diarch of the Royal House of Equestria
As Tristem finished reading the letter an awkward silence filled the room as Tristem and Cao quietly finishing their meal.
It was almost 5 minutes later when Lilac could no longer take the awkward silence, “why is everypony so quiet,” she asked.
“We’re just trying to soak in what she said Lilac,” said Cao.
“If you don’t mind Lilac me and Cao would like to talk about what she said in private. Could you please go somewhere else for awhile,” asked Tristem.
“Oh certainly my dear I was going to go out and buy some stuff at the market, I’ll be back in an hour so you two just take your time,” said Lilac as she grabbed her saddlebags and trotted out the front door.
Tristem and Cao sat their for almost 10 minutes staring at each other neither one knowing what to say to the other.
“So what do you think Cao?” Tristem finally asked.
“Well its about what we expected,” said Cao, “still now I feel more unsure about this than before.”
“Yeah tell me about it,” said Tristem, “but than again our uneasiness towards conversion all boils down to our two main problems with this whole conversion affair. One our moral objections to the “conversion” of our species, and two our fear of losing our sense of self. Not to mention our fear that Princess Celestia and Luna are behind the appearance and expansion of their realm into ours.”
“Yes I know, maybe that should be the main thing we should ask her about this time. Plus I think we should ask her about some of the statements she made in this letter,” said Cao.
“Good idea I would add two other things though, however,” said Tristem, “One we should let her know that she’s free to ask us questions if she likes. I get the feeling that their are a few things she would like to ask us, but that she might be too hesitant to ask since we‘ve never invited her to do so, and two I think that we should tell her exactly what our objections towards conversion are.”
“Agreed,” said Cao, “Well now that that’s settled what do we do now?”
Tristem shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know I guess we just wait tell Lilac comes back,” said Tristem.
Lilac slowly made her way back home. She moved much slower than other ponies due to her old age. She looked around the community and saw the PER patrolling the streets presumably looking for Tristem and Cao.
“I don’t think my human friends are going to be able to get out of here today,” said Lilac as she shook her head in disgust, “I hope Celestia straitens those ponies out some day.”
“Ah welcome back Lilac,” said Cao, “here let us help you with that.”
Cao walked up and took the saddlebags off of Lilac’s back and placed them on the table.
“Oh you don’t need to do that my dear elderly ponies are not nearly as feeble as elderly humans,” said Lilac as she sat down at the table.
“Okay then, so I’m guessing we’re not going to be able to get out of here today,” said Tristem recalling the patrols he saw outside.
“I’m afraid not, you two will just have to stay here until they give up looking for you,” said Lilac.
“Oh great how long will that take?” asked Cao.
“Probably a few days,” said Lilac.
“Well I guess we’ll just have to make the best of things,” said Tristem.
“Indeed,” said Cao, “in the mean time is their anything we can help you with Lilac?” asked Cao.
“Well do either of you know anything about clocks?” asked Lilac.
This made Cao literally spring out of her chair, “Just point me in its direction, Tristem can you give me a hand with it?”
“Sure Cao.” said Tristem.
Cao spent the majority of the day busy repairing the large grandfather clock that Lilac had brought with her from Equestria. Clock part’s littered the floor as Cao attempted to repair the damage done to it by what she assumed could only have been some kind of explosion.
Lilac trotted in and nearly tripped over one of the various parts strewn about, “My word Cao are you still working on that clock its almost evening,” asked Lilac.
“I had no choice the clock was in bad shape, but I’m almost finished now, said Cao wiping some grime off her face, “is Tristem done helping with preparing supper I could use his help.”
“I’m right here Cao,” said Tristem.
“Great, just stand their and hand me the parts in the order I arranged them in,” said Cao.
“I’m going to go and tend to supper,” said Lilac as she trotted back to the kitchen. Tristem and Cao got to work reassembling the clock.
“So did you have any trouble repairing it Cao?” asked Tristem.
“Not really it just took a long time for me to locate and repair all the damage plus I had to build some new springs for it,” said Cao as she got back to work, “you know Tristem working on this clock got me thinking.”
“About what?” asked Tristem.
“Have you ever tried to visualize yourself as a pony?” asked Cao.
“Not really have you?” asked Tristem.
“Yes for almost a year now,” said Cao, “Might as well since you and I both know that we’re probably going to get converted one way or the other, unless of course you intend on dying.” said Cao as she finished putting the clock back together and wound it up. She smiled as the gears began to turn indicating that she had been successful in her efforts.
“No I don’t intend on dying Cao,” Tristem paused for a moment to take in what Cao had just said, “However, I’m still going to continue my search for a third option,” said Tristem as he stood their with a menacing expression on his face.
“You honestly think that their is one?” asked Cao.
“Of course theirs always a way Cao,” said Tristem the expression on his face had become even more sinister, “one merely has to find it.”
This made Cao giggle, “sometimes I think you think you can march right into Equestria and psychologically cow Princess Celestia and Luna.”
“And why not, part of me would just love to see those two beg for mercy at my feet Muahahahaha!” cackled Tristem.
“And I would be their helping you every step of the way. No stupid barriers gonna stop me I’ll smash it into a million pieces with a time-space converting takion ray,” yelled Cao.
Both of them laughed in unison.
“I think I’ll do what you suggested and try and picture myself as a pony,” said Tristem as he sat down on the couch, “call me when suppers ready. During which we‘ll write our daily letter to the princess.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Cao.
About 15 minutes later Lilac called them into the kitchen. Before sitting down Tristem took out a piece of paper and a pencil.
“Your going to write the princess now?” asked Lilac.
“Good a time as any,” said Tristem.
“Come on Tristem lets get started,” said a very enthusiastic Cao.
“Right,” said Tristem as he and Cao started writing the letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I once again thank you for answering our questions I greatly appreciate it. However your last letter has raised some additional questions that I feel compelled to comment on before we get to the question of the day so to speak. First off you seem awfully silent on the subject of PER this could either mean that you don’t acknowledge their existence or that you approve of them and you just don’t want to tell us very hard say, but I won’t pass judgment unless for sure.
I found the ratio between the three pony races to be surprising I had assumed that the ratio between the three races was more or less equal in population. Also I’m surprised to find out that pegasi make up the smallest group of ponies I had thought that the unicorns were the smallest group since they often seem haughty and seem to be the strongest of all the ponies.
Finally I find the fact that ponies are incredibly social disturbing. Me and Cao and have spent are entire lives more or less alone and we like it that way. It has a nice alone like quality that we so enjoy, and we find the idea of conversion changing that innate tendency to be repulsive. After all other people only cause problems and complicate things.
Well now that we got that out of the way lets move on to the questions for today. Now your highness these next two questions are very important and will weigh heavily on both our opinion of you, and our ultimate decision on weather we will convert or not.
First off I would like to ask why you are going through the effort of saving our species in the first place. The earth is ruined and every other species on the planet is extinct. In all likelihood humanity will most likely follow suit, and we are to blame for all of it. We polluted the sky, sea, and land. We built weapons capable of unimaginable destruction, and we have driven every other large animal to extinction. So I ask why save a species who has inflicted its own destruction upon itself.
My second question is in regards to the slow assimilation of earth by your realm. there are those who would claim that you are responsible for this, and if that is the case than you are guilty of genocide. I know that the earth is slowly dying and I know that it will ultimately lead to our extinction, but from a moral point of view the assimilation of our world by yours is wrong. Since it will result in the in our genocide both literally, culturally, and societal. So I ask are you and your sister responsible for the appearance of Equestria in our dimension and are you responsible for its slow assimilation of our world? If you are indeed responsible for it why do you continue to allow this to happen since not every human wants to be a pony. Surely Equestria is large enough that it does not need to swallow up the rest of our world.
Now their are two more things me and Cao would like to say before we bid you adu for today. First we feel that perhaps we have not been clear enough on what exactly our objections towards conversion are so let us rectify that. First off is our moral objections which center around the essential genocide of our species caused by the absorption of our world by yours. Of course weather or not we truly have moral objections all depends on how you answer our questions in this letter. Than their is our fear of loosing our sense of self. These are the two main reasons why we fear the prospect of conversion. That and what we have previously. I hope this helps clarify our objections more clearly
The second thing we wanted to say was that we wanted to know if there are any questions that you would like to ask us. If so feel free to ask. Me and Cao will be more than happy to answer them for you. Well I guess that’s it for now. I look foreword to your response.
Respectfully yours,
Tristem & Cao
P.S. Me and Cao have been thinking about it not being possible to tell ahead of time what kind of pony you will be after conversion, and while that’s certainly true that has not stopped us from trying. Using our superior intellect we have brainstormed what we believe to be are most likely appearance post conversion. We made some sketches below hope you like them.
Supper was already over by the time they finished the letter.
“Did you said everything you wanted us to say Cao?” asked Tristem.
“Yeah more or less,” said Cao.
“That was terrible!”
Tristem and Cao looked over to see that Lilac hadn’t touched her supper. Her ears laid flat a sad expression covered her face.
“Something wrong Lilac?” asked Cao.
“Why are you two being mean to the Princess like that,” accused Lilac, “she’s nice enough to answer your questions and yet you two are accusing here of all these horrible things.”
Hearing this Tristem and Cao ran up and hugged Lilac. “Oh Lilac I’m sorry if we upset you,” said Cao, “We’re not acusing her of anything.”
“Your not?” a shocked Lilac asked.
“Of course not,” said Tristem, “in fact we want to believe that she is as wonderful as you ponies say she is. We just want to make sure is all, so we’re asking her these tough questions in order to be sure.”
This made Lilac’s ears perk up, “oh thank Celestia, so are you guys going to send the letter now.”
“Yes we are after which I think me and Cao are going to turn in. I feel awfully tired,” said Tristem.
“Oh okay then sleep well you two,” said Lilac as she trotted off into the living room.
Tristem went over to the stove and lit the letter on fire. Once again the paper burned up in a mysterious green flame that seemingly vanished out the window. Tristem and Cao than left the kitchen and walked up the stairs towards the guest room.
