The Conversion Bureau: Bone
By Da Bunnana King
Prologue
I walked down the alleyway dragging the kicking pony to the base for it to be... processed.
Many thought the Human Liberation Front were a bunch of right wing hicks that went around killing for the fun of it. No we were more than that, we were ridding the world of the pony scum that had invaded us.
We were a shining beacon of humanity's survival in what was in this dying world, that ponies had dared to set a hoof on. Even as I dragged the miserable pile of bone and flesh we had our top scientist developing a way to get into Equestria, and take the fight to their doorstep.
I neared the back entrance to the base and I could smell the rotting flesh of the mass grave we had to drop the bodies in. They didn’t deserve graves, graves were for humans, animals die and stay on the ground where the vultures pick their corpse clean. I could hear her muffled sobs begin to emanate from the duct tape I had placed over her muzzle.
I knew it was a mare because of the pink coat and mane and her whiny high pitched voice. She also had one of those butt tattoos of three balloons, Two Blue flanking a yellow in the center, slightly higher. Urrrgg, I hated the way she kept on babbling and babbling on about everything she saw. I was just glad I had duct tape to shut that babbling trap of hers.
I walked up to the very solid iron door and punched the code of 1337 into the keypad which caused the large iron bolts behind the three inch thick iron to begin to grind open. Once I heard the heavy bolts click against the inner part of the door’s locking system I pushed the door open with my weight and that’s when the stench of death, flesh and the often smell of fecal matter.
I dragged the pony along the ground as I the cells I passed the ponies covered, but I found a relatively empty cell that was only populated by a lone human prisoner, in a pair of dark navy blue fatigues. He had short dark blond hair and blue eyes on a face that had been ravaged by war with the various scars he had accumulated and on his right arm he had a tattoo of a knife being suspended on a parachute inside of a circle with the motto of, ‘A little high and a little too low, but I always go in by HALO.’
I opened up the cell and threw the pony inside and she cried as her skull hit the wall, I let out a chuckle as the human traitor went over to her to comfort her. He whispered something in her ear and her coat almost seemed to lighten up from its dull grey pink to a bright pink it was when I hit her with the stock of my rifle.
I was tempted to shoot him in the arm for even helping the animal to a sitting position, but I sneered at him.
“So, what makes you think you're in control here?” the human prisoner asked in his deep Australian voice.
“What do you mean, you stupid pony loving fag,” I said as I wondered what game he was trying to play with my head.
“What makes you think I won’t get out?” he said as he began to attempt to toy with my head.
“Shut up,” I said as I entered the cell and hit him with the butt of my rifle. His face hit the back of the stony cell wall as the pony when to help him up, she only received the same treatment.
“Now stay in here while we ready the noose for your execution pony fag,” I said as I closed the door behind me, and it locked when it hit the other side of the cell’s iron frame.
I turned around and exited the prison as ponies cowered in the corner as I passed, I love the power I hold over them.
I entered the small guard station where I had stayed most of my day, waiting for something to happen. I would only go out if I felt like it but they told me to capture one of the pony ambassadors because of my military background.
I leaned back on my chair and watched the monitors for any activity, not that there would be any. Nothing ever happened let alone the executions and people bringing ponies to collect the hundred dollar bounty the HLF offered.
I picked up my rifle and looked over it. It was an M4 Carbine with a shortened barrel and a Wild Cat 3.5X magnification sight.
It had seen me through thick and thin, like that time I was stuck in a gas station fighting off the Royal Guard when we attempted to kidnap one of their ambassadors. We ended up having to retreat because of a breakdown in communication and the lack of training we received. Something about the comm relay turning to cheese, or so goes the story.
Most of us HLF soldiers were only told how to point and shoot and learn by shooting at ponies most of the day. We aren’t prepared for proper combat. I was, but thats because I was in the Marines 1st Recon Division.
I pushed the pins out of the the rifles lower receiver and the gun split in two, revealing the barrel and the gas system of the rifle. I began to remove the various parts to clean it with the tools I had scattered around the room.
Time flew by as I lubricated the blowback bolt and removed the built-up carbon from the barrel with the cleaning rod. I took the now immaculate parts that I had removed from the rifle and placed them back in with great care. I put time and effort into that rifle and it paid me back by never jamming and always being dead on accurate every single shot.
I felt the walls of the base shake as bits of the concrete from the ceiling fell. I quickly finished putting the rifle back together, and I cycled the bolt several times to make sure it was ready. I then placed the metal magazine into the rifle and pulled the bolt back, as I jumped out of my chair to make sure the prisoners hadn’t escaped.
I bounded down the hallway past my friends and fellow soldiers in the HLF as they moved to their battle stations.
All I could think was to make sure that none of the prisoners would escape. I had a gut feeling that the human and pink pony were involved in this.
I entered the long corridor that held the vile, four-legged scum. It made my skin crawl thinking of how they could throw off their notion of humanity and become an animal on all fours.
I strode slowly down the corridor checking the corners, to make sure there were two or three prisoners in each, but as as rounded the last cell it was open. It sent a shiver down my spine as a human prisoner was rumored to be SAS was lost. That and my retirement fund had gone, as they both had a nice price tag for their capture.
I raised my rifle and began to scan the only exit from the cell block as my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I tightened my grip on the rifle and began to move towards the door, making sure that he wasn’t hiding in the back cells.
I saw a shadow move from one cell to the next. I gripped it the rifle harder as I approached it.
I poked my head into cell and looked for any movement, but failed to notice the fist that collided with my face.
I stumbled back and hit the cell behind me as the man leaped out from the cell to punch me once again. I rolled over to the side which made his arm go through the iron bars, and into the cell. I hit him with the stock of my rifle but he ignored it and only responded with a boot to my chest which sent me flying onto my back.
He walked over to me, pulled my rifle from my hands and delivered a blow to my face. I plunged into a sea of darkness.
I felt like I had been hit by a train and my head felt even worse. I rolled onto my chest and began to push myself up to my feet. I could see that all the cell doors were open and there was neither hide nor hair left of my prisoners.
“Shit,” I swore as I felt blood trickling down the side of my head, I felt my head become lighter and I knew that I should see the medic.
I stumbled around towards the exit and felt the walls of the complex rumble. It felt like I was in a warzone and I was left behind by my squad. I could barely keep my head straight as my vision blurred from time to time and my gut felt like it was going to relieve itself of it contents.
I continued down the concrete corridors that made up the subterranean base which I called home and a fort where humanity staged its assault on the pony menace.
I rounded the corner where the R&D department was stationed but rubble was blocking my way from the exit from the base. There was another way out but it was through the R&D department, and I hated the men in there with a fiery passion.
Not because I hated because they were nerds, but the way they acted. They were always high on themselves, thinking that they were the main driving force of the HLF and thought the grunts were just cannon fodder. If it wasn’t for us ‘grunts’ they would be swiming in the ponification serum.
I walked through the lab that held various beakers of potion and what seemed to be a clear potion. Rumor said that it could change anything into a human, but it was dangerous. It was why we needed many pony prisoners.
I felt another explosion that shook the whole entire facility and knocked me off my feet. I knew that this base was built to be shockwave resistance but it seemed that they lied about it because the ground vibrated constantly.
“Jesus H Christ, what the fuck is going on?” I questioned myself as I pushed myself up with the help of a table.
I continued to limp towards an exit that was close to the cryogenics department where we were seeing if we could freeze ourselves and colonize mars or some other hospitable planet.
The room froze due to the cold air and the ceiling looked weak from the constant -
*rumble*
“Come on, come on,” I begged as I flicked the steel on my lighter. I could see the sparks hitting the stream of gas that came from my small lighter.
Then the moment I was praying for happened, the small flame had finally come forth from the lighter to light up my tomb.
Large stones encased me and even then they looked weak. It was a small confined space, not even enough for me to even roll over. I couldn’t believe my luck, stuck in here only to die slowly. Even though I had a sidearm it was buried somewhere in the rubble, that was if I had legs.
I couldn’t feel them but I could see the outline of them on my green fatigues. The pants themselves were tattered and slowly becoming red. I’m not sure how much time I had left but I knew that the end of the road was near.
I lied back down on the rubbled that encased me and I felt cold. I could feel a liquid seeping into my tomb, and it was cold to the touch. It was a blue that almost looked like it emanated light from it and it stained when I touch it.
“What the fuck?” I asked as I could begin to smell grape. Was the PER attacking and pumping a new serum or was it some sort of endorphins that my body was realising because I was dying?
I couldn’t tell what was what but it was getting cold and I my eyelids were heavy. I tried fighting the urge to close my eyes but I felt weak, and my fingers grew cold along with everything else. I closed my eyes and fell into the peaceful abyss of darkness.
Author’s Notes: I promise I’ll finish this story.
Editor’s Notes: You will? *makes travel plans to be away forever*
Chapter Two: Shock to the system
The Conversion Bureau: Bone
By Da Bunnana King
Chapter Two: Shock to the system
I felt weightless as I floated in the abyss. I still felt like I was surrounded by something as I couldn’t move my limbs. I had been in this state for what seemed like an eternity as I watched my memories play in front of me.
Right now a memory of my childhood was played out in front of me like a movie. It was one of me playing with a soccer ball with a childhood friend. It was nothing eventful but it passed the time as I waited for something to happen.
I then felt my right hand tingle, like something was almost gently gnawing at it. I ignored it but the feeling was still there until it moved up my arm and to my chest. From there it covered every inch of my body, it was strange to say the least.
I could also feel like I was also being peeled off a wall and being moved somewhere, yet my body remained in the same position I had always been in. It then felt like I was placed on a table made of wood as I could feel the texture on my exposed skin.
I laid there for what seemed like an hour or so until I began to feel a stinging sensation on my thighs and other places that I dare not mention. It felt like my flesh was being sewn back together and then cauterized. It should've felt painful but it fell dull and yet it was almost like a layer of insulation was wrapped around my leg.
It went on like this for hours and hours as bits of flesh were either mended or sewn on. I could never see it happening but I could feel it. Then I felt a small prick in my arm and a warm liquid entered me.
I slowly began to feel warm again and sensation began to return to me. It was almost like I was being given a blood transfusion, it felt... odd. The sensation of it felt like everything inside of me was going to burn, but it felt soothing instead. Then everything felt... better as the pain that emanated from the place where my flesh was cauterized had simply disappeared.
Everything felt quite nice, until I felt a charge building up around me. Then I felt a surge of energy rushing through my system, like the lightning of Zeus had struck me from the heavens above.
Every sensation began to lessen with each second along with my senses and respiration. I could taste blood mixed with dried saliva in my mouth and I smelt burnt flesh, hair and the stench of death lingered in the air. Then the pain began to hit as I felt the wounds begin to burn from the cold air hitting them.
“Urrrrggg,” I groaned as I tried to move my aching muscles that burned from lactic acid, “Where am I?”
“Don’t worry, you're safe but I need you to stay calm and remain still,” said a feminine sounding voice, “I still need to finish cleaning your wounds.”
I listened to her and braced myself for the pain of disinfectant hitting my opened wounds. Then I felt a sharp pain shoot through my system at my leg and I screamed in pain like a dying boar.
“Stop fidgeting, I’m nearly done,” she said again as I felt her tightly wrapping a bandage around my upper thigh.
“Are you done yet?” I asked as the pain began to throb through my body. I attempted to open my eyes but they only opened to darkness and a faint light seemed to shine through, as if my eyes were covered by a blindfold.
“Why can’t I see? Wait... where am I?” I asked as I felt a warm gentle breeze hit my body and I felt like I was outside.
“Don’t worry you’re safe, and I had to wrap your eyes in a healing salve,” she said as I felt her tug at the blindfold, “It might be bright.”
“Okay- aaahhhh!” I yelled as the light blinded me, it was almost like someone had set of a flashbang in front of my eyes.
“Oh sorry,” she said as she blocked the sun from my eyes with her head. All I saw was her silhouette, she had a long flowing head of hair that was corn silk blond.
As my eyesight began to adjust I could see here near crimson eyes and her skin was a strange shade of teal. It came off strange as a memory of a bubble arising from the ocean with a winged creature emerging from pure light. Then I saw her pointy ears extended from the top of her head along with a horn.
I raised my hands in fear as memories flashed before my eyes. The memories were not flashes of images but thoughts and feelings. They were of a nation that came in peace but I felt afraid and angered. I felt a warm embrace like a mother would give me and then it was torn away and a sad cold feeling came over me as an image of a mare with a golden coat and a cornstarch blond mane slowly fading from me as my mind tried to grasp it.
I found the unicorn mare replace the image of the first pony as she violently shook me free of my vision.
“Hey, come back to me. I didn’t spend most of my life listening to my grandpa about you just to have you go crazy,” she said as I grasped her mane and began to pull myself up.
“Hold on there big boy, let me help,” she said as she helped me up with her forehoof and some kind of magic, but I was sitting fully up and I could see my surroundings. I was in what seemed like a large medical tent. A small metal tray contained every surgical tool you would ever need to operate, and they were all coated with my blood. There were many empty packets full of what seemed to have been blood,and one bag was held up on a stand, and an IV line running from it into my arm.
She looked like a young mare, like she had just finished blossoming into one. She stared at me in awe as I began to flex my muscles and one of my joints popped, making a shiver run down her spine.
“That doesn’t sound good,” she said as she brought out a stethoscope and began checking my heart as a medical clipboard floated over to her.
“Ummmm,” I said as I picked up the clipboard from her grasp to see what she was scribbling down.
“Hay I need that,” she complained as she struggled to get it back.
“What is this?” I asked as it had a perfectly drawn replica of my body and what seemed to be incision lines for where replacement bone, flesh and blood were to be placed as well as symbols to be etched into the bones.
“Well, when I found you. You were a corpse, so I had to rebuild you quite a bit,” she said as she pawed the ground. “So I sewed you back together and pumped you full of Equestrian blood and used some dark magic along with runes to make you live.”
“I... I don’t get the magic part, but you sewed me back together?” I asked as I pulled up the sheet of paper that was covering my lower torso.
I saw my bits and bobs but I also saw many scars as well as various stitches. I then looked at my chest which had a large Y-cut which made it look like I had an autopsy. Then there were arms. Dear god my arms, they had stitches and in some places different bits of flesh sewn onto it along with muscle tissue.
“Well even though you were mostly well preserved, some of your body wasn’t so I had sew you back together,” she said as her ears fell flat against her head. “So I had to replace some of your parts as I said earlier. Now I know it’s a shock but it was the only way to keep you alive.”
“What do you mean alive?” I asked as my heart rate began to lower form its one beat per second it was half a minute ago.
“Well, you were frozen somehow. So all I did was thaw you out and mend your flesh and bone,” she said as she began scribbling notes on the clipboard that she snatched out of my hand without me noticing.
“Well, ummmm. Thanks, I guess... but you never did tell me your name,” I asked as she examined me with her eyes.
“Oh sorry, my name is Azure Magus. I’m guessing you're wanting to know all about me and where I come from and such so I’ll give you a short list because I really need to make sure you're going to stay alive. I was born in a small town on the edge of the Dragonic lands called Gemstone Junction, there I learned magic from my mother and became interested with the stories that she told me about humans. I ended up becoming an initiate in the Runic Order and studdied all about humans I could, then I found out through some diamond dogs I know that they found a frozen monkey man, then I found you,” she said as she finished taking my vitals. “But now the only question is, who are you?”
“Well I’m... I’m,” I began as I had trouble recalling my name, “I... I don’t know.”
“Oh my, this is very bad,” she said as she began to panic and gallop around to various tables looking for equipment to examine me further.
“What do you mean bad?” I asked as then it hit me, if I couldn’t remember my name then what else had I forgotten?
She returned with what seemed to be a small rock that had various carvings etched into it. She then shoved it into my hands and it began to glow a faint red.
“What... what is this?” I asked as I felt the energy from the rock begin to enter my body. It felt like electricity was building up around me and what was left of the hairs on my forearm stood on end.
“Its a memory rune, it should help you remember,” she said as the energy kept on building up and began spreading to the rest of my body.
“So how does it work?” I ask as a vague letters and images flashed before my eyes. They didn’t make sense at first but they began to take form and formed words. Some of them I knew and others took time, but they sped past me faster and faster.
“Just try and concentrate on something and it does the rest,” she replied as the energy encompassed my entire body.
I began to focus on my name, and as she said flashes of images and sound began to trickle into my head. Words along with numbers began to form on the image of a metal tag with a black rubber lining to it. The numbers formed seemed to be some form of code and the words just listed his blood type, age, height and rank, but there was one word that he saw that made me feel with glee. His name, I looked at it expecting it to appear, but it remained blank.
I began to concentrate on my name and my head almost began to hurt, as the world around me began to fade away.
Sounds of boots hitting concrete and random shouts were heard. I could smell the stench of death and burnt flesh. It also brought back pain, anger, sadness and yet honor. I then I heard a word repeated over and over again, it was in all different voices yet it was the same word, Bone.
“Hey, hey wake back up!” yelled Magus as she shook me violently, “Oh, please don’t die on me. I spent too much time and effort for you to die on me.”
“What?” I asked as my grip on reality was restored almost instantaneously.
“Oh thank Celestia you’re okay,” she said hugging me, “I thought I’d accidentally killed you, but I guess the rune worked.”
“Well, I’m alive... I hope,” I said as I dropped the stone.
“So, did you remember your name?” she asked as I picked up the stone again.
“Yeah, Bone,” I said as I grinned like a madman.
Author’s Notes: This took too long to write. Thanks to Aegis for helping me.
