The Conversion Bureau: Inhuman Nature

Penn's Creek was the kind of town where everybody knew everybody, we weren't the biggest town in the state by any means, but we weren't the smallest either. I guess you could say that we were somewhere in the middle, with a population barely over 19,000 people. People in Penn's Creek were known to be friendly and polite, but that was commonplace in southern rural towns, unfortunately, blatant racism and unwavering distrust of any newcomers were pretty common too.

When the potion came, all of those feelings suddenly had a new target, my friends and I saw our first example of those feelings being let loose at the bowling alley. But as time went by and the converts' strange behavior began to become more and more noticeable, these incidents became more frequent. People began complaining about the converts, to the mayor, to the police, and to each other. Families with converts slowly became blacklisted by people they had known for years, children's birthday parties were left without guests despite countless invitations being sent. If a family with a convert showed up in a grocery store, chances were the store would be empty a few minutes later.

Meanwhile, the converts seemed to become more and more distant, forgetting little things, like passwords or distant memories. Not all of them seemed to change their names, however, and some even seemed to be more grounded than others, like Kevin's brother or Erica.

Others...

Well...

July 27th, 2018, Thursday
Downtown Penns' Creek. Marianne Street.
12:05 A.M

"MY NAME IS SPRING BREEZE!"

A voice came from the open window of the SUV in front of us, grabbing the attention of everyone else on the street.

My dad slammed on the brakes of our truck as the vehicle ground to a halt, in front of us, a sky- blue pegasus with a white mane lept out of the window of the passenger side door. Surprising various people, as they walked between the various businesses lined up on the sidewalk. Some backed away quickly, re

Spring Breeze, I hadn't seen him ever since the catastrophe in the park...

A distraught woman flung open the driver-side door as the pegasus pawed the asphalt with a forehoof. It was Mrs.Deloach, her husband was another one of Dad's pals from the army, she and her husband always came over for Christmas, I remember always getting great gifts from them. Mr. Deloach and my Dad had done a tour together, with Deloach coming back with PTSD. He and Dad would have a beer on the porch while his daughter and I played in their yard.

But if that was her, then her husband...

"Well, shit." I thought, looking at spring breeze in a new light.

At the park, he acted like he had'nt even known me.

Maybe he didn't.

"I used to call him uncle Ed..."

Another car pulled up behind us as we listened to the scene unfold, its driver honking obnoxiously.

"Ed, please get back in the-"

"No! I'm done riding in that thing!" The Stallion tossed his head in frustration, "I have wings! I should be using them! We should all be using them!"

"Edward, we talked about this..."

"No, you are denying yourself and our children a better life!"

Spring Breeze walked to the front of the vehicle, disappearing behind it due to his decreased size.

"Edward, you're scaring the kids.." Mrs. Deloach followed Spring Breeze, who I assumed was her husband, tears falling from her already red eyes.

Meanwhile, I could hear the crying of children inside the car, the couple's other two daughters were still in their car.

"This can't be good..." My dad leaned out of the vehicle as the two continued to fight. "We were supposed to have picked your mother up from work an hour ago." He grumbled, sliding back into his seat with an annoyed sigh as the car behind us honked once again.

Dad had decided to take Mom to "Southern Temptations." one of Penns' Creek's few restaurants that required a reservation. I was supposed to stay home and play video games all night. On the road people began taking out their phones, holding them up to the scene as the telltale flash of lights that signaled the beginning of a video appeared on the phones throughout the slowly forming crowd.

"I'm tired of it Elise!" Spring Breeze's voice came from behind the car.

"Of what Honey?" Mrs. Deloach concerned voice replied.

"Everything You, the kids, this entire Celestia-damned town!"

The two of us sat up in our seats,

"You... heard that too, right?" I asked my Dad.

"Yeah." He replied slowly. "Tell you what Eli, stay here, I'm gonna see if I can-

"Ed..." I saw the grieved wife kneel down through their windshield, presumably to comfort her agitated husband.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

The sound of hoof-meeting flesh was distinct, and immediately Mrs. Deloach flew out from behind the car, crying out as she sprawled across the road with a sickening "Crunch!".

I stared at the woman's prone form, her eyes meeting mine for a moment before they rolled back into her head and she fell uunconscious.

Her children screamed.

Some of the people on the street screamed too, the entire crowd backing away from Mr. Deloach with shock written across their faces. Parents shoved their own children behind them as they gaped at the scene in a mixture of fear and anger. Teens watched in morbid curiosity, unable to look away, even one of the converts that had been watching from the sidewalk looked somewhat concerned.

"Son of a bitch!" My dad threw the door open and jumped out of the car before beginning to approach Mrs. Deloach, only to stop as Spring Breeze inched closer to his wife. His face a mask of fury as he turned to my father with a snarl on his face.

"What are you looking at human?!"

Spring Breeze's eyes suddenly filled with that hungry look again.

"Dad!" I warned, Spring looked like he was ready to attack again.

"Stay back, Eli!" My Dad laid a hand on the holster on his hip, ready to draw if need be. "Stay in the car!"

Spring Breeze tossed his head around, his white mane flying wildly around his head, as he glared at my dad.

"Edward... it's me," my dad held a hand up in a placating gesture, "Its David."

"My name... is Spring Breeze!" The stallion snarled, "How many times do I have to say it before you all understand that!"

He advanced on my Dad, furious, as he drew the pistol from his hip and aimed it at Spring Breeze in one fluid motion, people gasped and began to back even farther away.

"Stay right there, Ed!" My Father warned, "Not a step closer!"

Spring Breeze eyed the weapon with caution, fully aware of what it could do, he glared at my Dad again before turning to his wife.

"Elise, get up," Spring said, looking down on her with an apathetic expression. "We're leaving."

Mrs. Deloach was unresponsive, Spring turned back around.

"Elise?"

The convert slowly approached the prone form of his wife, he looked like he was in a dreaming, his eyes carrying that same glassy look as every other Convert had.

He stared at his wife like he didn't know who she was.

"E...Elise?"

Spring's eyes lost their entranced look, and realization dawned on his features.

"Elise?!" Spring's eyes went wide and the look of apathy was replaced with one of horror.

"OH GOD!" Spring ran to his wife's side, frantically trying to rouse her, tears forming in his tennis-ball sized eyes when she didn't respond.

"Someone...someone help!" He called out into the crowd, looking around as people began to walk away, either too scared or unwilling to help a convert. Spring desperately looked amongst the faces in the crowd, looking for someone that could help him.

Eventually, his eyes met my father's, and in them, I saw the same man that used to come to visit for Christmas with his family, the man who used to watch me when my parents went out to movies.

I saw Edward Deloach, Not Spring Breeze.

"David?" Edward said, his eyes full of hope, "David please." He pitifully gestured to his wife with his hoof, "I don't know what happened, I just..."

"Its gonna be fine, Ed." My Dad holstered his pistol and held his hands up, "I'm gonna help Elise, ok? I just need you to back up."

Edward complied, scrambling back before falling back on his haunches. "I... I didn't...I didn't mean... I don't want to..... oh, jesus." He stammered, choking on sobs as he stared at his wife, I couldn't imagine how he must of been feeling, at first I was afraid of him, but now I just felt sorry for the guy.

My father immediately ran over to Mrs. Deloach's prone form and immediately knelt beside her, looking over her wounds, he held a hand under her head, suddenly tensing as he did so.

"Eli! Bring the First Aid Kit!" He yelled, panic entering his voice. "You!" He pointed to Howard Mills, one of the town's most commonplace residents. "Call an ambulance!"

Howard whipped out his phone, nodding as he did so, he was a good guy by my standards, he ran the gas station at the end of town, Colin and I used to make trips over to the convenience store at the station to stock up on junk food, most of the conversation I ever made with him consisted of polite, light-hearted banter

I opened the glove compartment without a second thought, pulling out the red andwhite box as I opened the door and ran over to my father. Spring looked at me in a mixture of recognition and surprise, which turned to shame as he avoided meeting my eyes.

My dad's hands were stained red as he held one under Mrs. Deloach's head, the other checked for a pulse at the base of her neck.

"She's still here." My Dad breathed, "She's still alive, "Dad breathed a sigh of relief lasting a full second before turning his head to me.

"Alright, her breathing is normal, so is her pulse, I don't think her skull is fractured." My Dad said, sounding somewhat relieved, "I need you to hold her head and shoulders up while I dress the wound. "

I nodded, wordlessly crawling over to her head and placing one hand on her head above the wound and another on the small of her back, lifting her up slightly as my dad doused a cotton ball from the kit in antiseptic.

Blood ran through my fingers, making me squirm uncomfortably as I watched it drip down and stain my jeans. I waited for my father to finish preparing with a grimace on my face, watching as he placed the cotton ball in a large adhesive bandage and delicately positioned it over the wound. The blood flow stopped for the most part, and my dad stood up.

"You're going to have to keep her like that for a while until the ambulance gets here." He stated, closing the medikit and returning it to the car.

I nodded solemnly, not comfortable with the idea of sitting there with a bleeding, unconscious woman in my lap, but smart enough to understand this wasn't the time to argue.

"And you," my dad walked over to Edward, who was still crying and mumbling to himself, "You and I are gonna have ourselves a conversation."

Edward looked up at my father, his teary eyes full of defiance.

"I'm staying with my wife," he replied, his voice hoarse.

"No, you're not." My dad frowned.

"Yes, I am!" Edward got to his hooves, that glassy-eyed look starting to return.

"Ed, look at Elise!" My Dad gestured to Edward's wife, "look at your kids!" he pointed to the car, where two blonde-headed little girls stared at their mother's limp body with wide, tearful eyes.

"Do you really think staying here is going to do them any good!?" My father's voice was rising.

"Police are coming!" Howard called out, "Seven minutes! The ambulance arrives in five!"

Edward looked at his wife once more, then looked at his children, the second he did the two little girls screamed and ducked back into the car.

I could practically hear Edward's heart snap in half.

"Yeah... ok, let's go." Edward's head dropped as he followed my dad behind our truck, I wasn't quite sure what was said back there, and I wasn't sure I wanted to.

Before long the telltale whine of an ambulance came within earshot, the white vehicle pulled up on the other side of the road. The paramedics took over from there, asking me several questions about what had happened. I answered them as best I could as the men loaded Mrs.Deloach onto a stretcher and put her in. Two minutes later the police arrived, and out of the car stepped the worse possible person to introduce into this already delicate situation.

Officer Thomas Ellenburg.

Eric's father.

Officer Ellenburg was a highly respected police officer in Penn's Creek, he was the guy you called when things got bad, once upon a time there was a bar fight at Barrett's tavern, some out-of-town biker type had decided to get handsy with another resident's girlfriend, one thing led to another, and before long an entire biker gang and all the boyfriend's friends were going at it, both groups were as wasted as hell and Ellenburg just waded in. Five minutes and several broken limbs and jaws later both parties were either handcuffed to a piece of furniture or unconscious, with Ellenburg only suffering a broken finger and a black eye.

Problem was? He hated the converts and the potion with a burning passion, he had petitioned the mayor to set all converts on indefinite probation (including his own daughter.) When he wasn't on duty, he was riling people up, trying to get support to start protesting the use of potion in the town. The man alone was half the reason people were so scared of the converts in the first place, and while that fear may have been justified, his bias against them was not. Eric had told us that Ellenburg no longer treated his daughter like family after she snuck off to take the potion. Most of their conversations consisted of one or two-syllable words that were often said in passing, and when one of the two was home, the other often made every effort to ensure they were not.

"You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me." Ellenburg said as Mrs. Deloach was loaded into the ambulance, he strode up behind me with a frown on his face and a chip on his shoulder as he laid a hand on mine and spun me around."

"You were here when it happened?" He asked me simply, I nodded.

"Tell me."

I described the incident, the officer's frown growing with every detail I added to the story.

"Where is he?" He growled after I finished my story.

"Behind our truck with my Dad."

Ellinburg went off without another word, five seconds later he came back literally carrying Edward back to his squad car by the scruff of his neck. Edward hung limply from Ellinburn's grip as he opened the rear door of his squad car and practically tossed the stallion inside.

"Watch it, Steven!" My Dad warned, coming out from behind our truck, "the guy may not be human anymore but that doesn't mean he doesn't still have rights."

Ellenburg froze in place, turning around to face my father with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

"David, you're kidding, right?" the officer gestured to the Pegasus, "We both know Edward Deloach isn't there anymore."

My Dad was pale, and his hands were shaking, meaning whatever had been said between him and Edward hadn't been very comforting.

"He's still in there," my Dad said, "I don't know for how much longer, but he's still there."

I stared at my Dad with wide eyes. "What do you mean "how much longer?'" I interrupted, looking between the two of them.

Dad looked down at as if just realizing I was here again, "Get in the truck, Eli... I'll be done in a sec."

I opened my mouth to argue, but with the look on his face, I decided I was better off not knowing. I returned to the passenger seat in the car as the two talked, both of them wearing ever-deepening frowns as they spoke. I tried to tune out what they were saying, but eventually, it became hard to ignore.

Finally, after about five minutes, Ellenburg, red-faced and practically foaming at the mouth, yelled at my Dad.

"What do you want me to do, Hallanday? " He snarled, using my Dad's last name as he flung his hands up, "He nearly killed his wife for Christ's sake!"

"All I'm saying is that his two daughters saw everything!" My dad replied, his own frustration rising as he pointed to the car, "You take him now, who knows what that might do to them!"

Ellinburg looked to the car, sighing.

" I can't let this go, David, he was at the park on the fourth, when they started after our sons, they've been following Eric ever since, I know for a fact they've been following your son too."

My Dad looked back at me, I made an effort to look inconspicuous.

"Ed told me he's been forgetting things," My Dad said after some time, "He said he felt like something was eating him from the inside out, taking anything it wanted and then destroying the rest."

Ellinburg looked at my Dad with a grim expression. "I don't even talk to Sarah anymore," he admitted, "She won't shut up about Equestria or their God-damned Queen, they're starting to act like she is a God, David."

"I noticed." My Dad said Darkly, "You should still try-"

"Try to what, David?" Ellinburg growled, "That's not my daughter anymore, and sooner or later all of these... things are gonna snap."

"Take it easy Steve..." My Dad took a step back

"And when that happens we're all gonna have to make a choice, I've already made mine." Ellinburg pointed back at his squad car. "That thing in there, isn't Edward Deloach, just like that thing in my house isn't my daughter!"

The people still watching on the street began to talk amongst themselves, listening to the conversation between the two men.

"I know it, you know it, everyone in Penns Creek knows it! We're all just to scared to accept the fact that the converts aren't the people they used to be! They should all be rounded up and sent back to Atlanta!"

My dad remained silent, looking at the police officer with a pained expression, Ellinburg held my dad's look before shrugging.

"Look, Hallanday, there's this guy, a Reverend, he gave his daughter the potion to save her from Hodgkin's lymphoma, whatever the fuck that is, she started acting exactly like everyone else who took it did. One month later?" Ellinburg grimaced. "She ran off to Equestria."

"To Equestria?" My Dad looked skeptical.

"Yeah, didn't even say goodbye, just left a note."

"Damn."

"Guy's name is James Thomas, started up a support group for people like me, sort of like what your kid did." Ellinburg rounded his Squad Car. "Named it after his daughter, The Harriet Thomas Foundation, they've got a website set up and post a video to youtube every week. I think you should give it a look."

"I'll consider it," my dad replied, "before you drive off with Ed, call Rebecca, that's their eldest daughter, she should still be at home. She shouldn't be more than a few minutes away, she'll pick up the girls and then you can take Ed to the station. You know their house number?"

Ellinburg nodded after some thought, the two shook hands and my dad returned to the truck as the officer pulled his phone out.

"He's going to end up causing trouble."

My Dad said as we began to pull around the S.U.V, leaving the scene in the distance.

"I kind of feel sorry for him," I said, looking back at them in the rearview mirror.

"Which one?" My Dad looked at me with a forced smile.

"Take your pick."

He chuckled lightly, "Yeah, that's about right, he looked into the side mirror as the lights became less visible, the sun had just barely begun to touch the tips of the trees when this had started, now it just barely peeked out from behind them, my Dad looked at the setting sun with a sigh.

"So much for our reservation"

My parents began listening to Reverend James Thomas the next day, the Harriet Thomas Foundation had gained a lot of support in the weeks following its formation. As more and more incidents regarding the converts began to appear across the globe, people became more restless with every passing day. Despite this, various health organizations and professionals would insist the potion was harmless and preach about its benefits. It was like they were living in an entirely different world from us, they treated the convert's behavior as if it were nothing more than the side effects to some kind of cold medicine.

Some of the Equestrians themselves began to voice their concerns over the behavior of the converts, chief amongst them was none other than ambassador Lyra Heartstrings, who began to speak her concerns publically.

Most people, however, still supported both the potion and the converts, whether it be through purposeful ignorance or outright belief. There were also the people whose lives were changed by the potion, deviants, outsiders, people who society decided they didn't like and as a result, tried to forget they existed entirely. The potion gave them a chance to start over, or at least advertised a chance, and because of that people were willing to believe whatever explanation the FDA or any other medical authority had for the former humans' strange and disturbing behavior.

At the forefront of the people supporting was Dr. Jaqueline Reitman, who had become one of the potion's biggest advocates
as her work on the potion had led to her becoming the leading authority on the subject of 'ponification'. She had appeared in several media and news outlets across the world, explaining how the potion worked and why the 'newfoals' behaved the way they did. She was the source of a lot of the information regarding the potion and its effects, so when things first started going wrong, people started to come to her for answers.

They didn't like the ones she gave...

The worst of it was that she blamed the poor behavior on their environment, and that "the fact that we were calling them things like converts, or 'convies' as the more angry members of the internet would say, was contributing to a "widespread campaign of alienation." She stuck to the whole "chemical imbalance" story but insisted that the newly formed ponies were still developing and coping with the behavioral traits and instincts of the pony species. As a whole the Equestrian species was used to a great deal more peace than what was common for the average human living space, the fact that they are acting out, behaving strangely, and running away was apparently evidence to Reitman that humanity as a whole was just too 'chaotic' for a pony to develop under, and so they would naturally migrate to a place where they felt they would be most at peace.

Equestria.

In English... she was saying that humans were not 'peaceful' enough to properly accommodate a pony's mental development.

That was pretty much like telling an entitled parent named "Karen" she was a poor parent.

People practically foamed at the mouth online, and the number of dislikes on the video where Reitman gave her explanation surpassed some of the most loathed videos on youtube.

But despite that, people in Penns Creek just kept on keeping on, we begrudgingly coexisted with the converts over the summer, and slowly but surely the next year of high school loomed over the horizon like the abyss of night swallowing up the day. Soon enough, we came to a date that only served to remind us that summer was almost gone, that we would be thrown back into school alongside the converts for eight hours a day, five days a week.

Open House.

But that night did more than just that, it also brought with it two more surprises.