The Conversion Bureau: Reality Break

by Fullmetal Pony

Saga 1: Part 4: Double Vision

Alvarez was breathing heavily. The graze wound on his shoulder hurt. He was praying the fat man’s men would just leave the warehouse he was hiding in. That was how life went for Alvarez: he was running, always running.
As a child, it had been from his father. He still remembered the night he had run away. His father and mother had been fighting as usual. Then there was a loud noise. Alvarez didn’t remember what happened after that. He just remembered being on the road and running far far away.

He actually liked the Bolivian streets more than his home. His father wasn’t there and there were others like Alvarez. Regardless of how they had left their homes, they were now all street children. Yes, they stole, but it was only to get food or money to buy food. Some of the other children were more violent, but Alvarez tried to never hurt any of the people he stole from. In a way, he became an example to the other children. Their group wasn’t organized and it certainly had no leader, but Alvarez stood as an example of how they should live there lives.

At least until the fat man came. No one knew what his real name was and his subordinates hadn’t spoken at all. Alvarez had known something was up as soon as he saw the tailored suit the man wore. Sometimes a drunk native or a lost tourist would stumble into their part of the city, but never anyone dressed that extravagantly. He had walked into the center of the street most of them lived on and had thrown down a huge stack of banknotes. “This is only a small amount of what you’ll get if you work for me!” He had called out.

Alvarez had remained in the shadows, no one ever gave anything away for free. But another boy wasn’t as suspicious, he hadn’t been able to steal any food in the last market raid. He had walked out into the middle of the street and was looking at the money with a delirious gaze. “What... what do you want?”

“Ah, a simple task, I want you to do what you children always do: run.” The man pulled out a small burlap sack and withdrew a small plastic bag from it. Even from his hiding spot, Alvarez could instantly recognize the white powder in the bag. “Only this time I want you to bring stuff rather than take it.”

“Naw man, we don-” In an instant the boy’s head was gone. One of man’s thugs was holding smoking rifle. That was when Alvarez and the rest of the children had scattered. They knew the alleys and the streets, where they cut off and where they narrowed or expanded. But everywhere Alvarez had gone, the thugs were there as well. All the time he had been running, he’d heard gunshots and screams. He’d screamed too when the bullet had hit him in the shoulder. It hurt worse than any shank wound he’d received.

He had gotten desperate and just wanted to escape, so he’d tried to hide in the warehouse. It had been abandoned, but it was still full of empty crates, their contents had been raided long ago. Alvarez clasped at his shoulder wound as he tried to quiet his breathing.

~~~

Atunga wanted water, a drink, anything. The Kenyan air was especially especially hot today. The sun hadn’t even risen yet and already the temperature was rising. Yet, despite the air, the clouds were still mocking Atunga as he made his way to the well. The Maasai never had their own well and the closest city had had its well dry up last week. So now he had to walk even further to get water. Normally, his mother or one of his sisters would go get it, but his mother had fallen ill and his sisters were taking care of her.

Thus, getting water fell on him. But he was weak too, he’d let his mother and his sisters drink the last of the emergency water. As the hot wind blew across his face, his lips cracked and bled a little. He moved his tongue around and spread the blood around his lips. Any liquid, any liquid at all, felt nourishing right now.

Then the well came into view over the horizon. He rushed forward. He didn’t see the stick that was on the path begin to move as he got closer and closer to it. He just wanted a drink.

~~~

“Boooyyy,” the fat man called out, “I know you are in here. You’re the last one, the rest are with me now.” Alvarez’s heart was in his throat, but he didn’t want to take a breath. “Surely delivery can’t be that hard?” As he talked, his men inched closer to where Alvarez was hiding. “Come with me and you can have all the food you want or anything else you desire. Don’t make me waste bullets.”

Alvarez clutched his mother’s rosary and prayed. He’d taken it the night he’d left home. Please god, help. A blinding flash answered his call. It struck him, the fat man, and his thugs. Despite being unable to see, Alvarez knew it was time to move. He pushed the containers with all his strength. He couldn’t hear the men’s screams over all the crates falling like dominos. When the dust cleared he could see again. There was a small bottle and a shot glass next to him now. The bottle looked like the whiskey bottle he’d stolen from a tourist a while ago. He’d regretted not saving more of that.

There was also a scroll next to the bottle. As Alvarez bent down to pick it up, a gunshot rang out and something struck him in the leg. “Boy!” the fat man had emerged from the wreckage and was now holding a smoking pistol, “You’ll pay!” He struggled to get up, but a piece of wood was embedded in his leg. “You brat!” he fired another shot, but the pain was making his aim shaky.

Alvarez grabbed the bottle and the glass out of instinct and tried to run. But the pain caused him to only limp quickly. But he was still faster than the man. He stumbled over the the exit and into the night, he left a trail of blood in his wake.

He limped over to an alleyway, but tripped over some cracked cement. His pants were quickly getting stained from his wound. He looked at the bottle and the glass in his hands. “Heh, the first time I’m ever given something and I’m about to die. Might as well have a final drink.” He shakily poured himself a drink. Whatever it was, he hoped it’d make his death just a bit less painful. “Sorry, everyone.”

~~~

He hadn’t heard the snake hiss as he passed it, but Atunga had felt the snake’s lethal venom as it sunk its fangs into his right leg. In shock, Atunga fell; the snake had struck and now it slithered off. Atunga tried to get up, but his body wouldn’t listen to him. His heart was beginning to hurt as well. Atunga remembered how his father had said his heart hurt right before he passed away. A snake had stuck him as well. But the well was so close, if only he could just get a drink.

There was a flash and then a simple water bottle and a plastic cup were in front of him. He didn’t even see the scroll next to it. He didn’t care that the drink was strange and purple. It was a liquid and that was what mattered. With the last of his strength he poured himself a cup and drank it. It was the sweetest thing he ever drank.
~~~

“Sister, is this right?” Luna asked. “They don’t know about us.”

“But they are strong, look how they would have died; they are what we need. All of them will know of us eventually. We have to start somewhere,” Celestia responded.

“I suppose, but...”

“Holy mother?” Alvarez asked. Damn, I must have gotten shot. “Where am I?”

“Wait,” Atunga felt odd, it appeared he was on a field, but there were three spheres in front of him: two large ones in the sky and a smaller green one right in front of him, “what is going on?”

“Jesus?” Alvarez asked the white sphere in front of him.

“Sister,” Luna interrupted, “one of them thinks you’re a deity again and he thinks the other seed is one as well.”

“I know sister, but it is the way this realm operates.” Celestia then turned her attention Atunga and Alvarez, “children, I apologize for this, allow me to try and explain. First, did you read the letters?”

“No, I’m sorry, um, mam, but I just needed drink so badly and the snake hurt so much an-” Atunga was nervous.

“That is fine child, if it meant saving your life than I am happy.” Celestia gazed at Alvarez now. “And you?”

“I...I apologize, um, what should I call you?” Is it god?

“I am Celestia, the ruler of the land of Equestria.”

“And I am Luna, the other ruler of Equestria,” Luna responded.

“But why am I...” Alvarez looked over at the white sphere that was next to him, “we here?”

“We have chosen you to help us,” Celestia’s tone grew serious, “a great peril faces both our worlds. I fea-” the field and the sky shook, “Oh no!”

“Sister, it has struck again hasn’t it?” Luna’s voice was nervous now. Alvarez felt like all the hairs on his back were standing up.

“W-what it is it?”

“Child, I’m afraid time has run out somewhere close to you,” Celestia’s voice was foreboding now.

“What about me?” Atunga asked nervously.

“No the sun is still shining on you, I can feel it. But...”

“The moon no longer graces your home,” Luna said to Alvarez.

“W-w-what does that mean?” The dread in Luna’s voice frightened Alvarez. In all his years on the street, Alvarez had never felt so afraid.

“You will be fine child, but when you awaken you will be alone... I apologize for this.” The sky above Celestia's sphere seemed to darken a little.

Brothers, sisters! Alvarez wanted to cry. “My family... are they gone?”

“I do not know, but you now have to power to save others from that fate.”

“I do?”

“Yes, both of you do now, but what is most important is tha-” another tremor shook the realm and then both Alvarez and Atunga were gone.

~~~

It was too quite. Alvarez slowly got up from where he had fallen. On instinct, he looked around to get his surroundings, everything looked normal but it felt... muted, like someone had sucked all the life out of everything. Then he saw the figure of the fat man and nearly died of fright. The man was looking straight at Alvarez, but he wasn’t moving. An insane look was frozen on his face.

“What the hell?!” Alvarez tried walking over to him but his stumbled on his legs... the second pair of them. “What did I hi-” His legs were green now, only they weren’t legs, they were hooves. “Oh god!” He flailed his hooves around looking for his rosary. Then he looked back over where he had fallen. His rosary was now just a a tattered piece of string, some scattered beads and an old cross.

He stumbled back over to where his clothes were and tried to pick up the remains of the rosary. “Mama...” he felt something wet on his face. He hadn’t cried since the night he’d ran away, but now the night’s events had been too much for him to handle. He tried to pick up the last reminder of his mother, but all his attempts failed at picking up the relic. At first, he tried with his hooves, but everything was too small to grasp. Then he tried with his mouth: he was able to clench the string between his teeth, but he nearly swallowed some of the beads. Eventually, he just decided to pick up the cross: it was the easiest thing to carry.

Lord almighty, what has happened? He looked up into the sky expecting to see the spheres from his dreams. But there were only clouds, clouds that were far too still. It had been a windy night before all this had happened. He drugged me, he had to have drugged me, if that is the case...

He slowly walked over to the fat man. The man’s maniacal face frightened him, but Alvarez wanted revenge for his fallen siblings. He thought of punching him, but his right forehoof kicked up instead. But instead of hitting the man, the kick went right right through him. Alvarez jumped back, he bit down on his cross a little harder. The fat man was still staring at where Alvarez had fallen with the same insane look. Something told Alvarez it was time to run. Whatever had happened here was a transgression against everything. He didn’t even care about the bottle anymore. He just wanted to get away. Fear propelled his legs now and gave him balance.

He quickly ran out of the his normal streets and into the tourist section of town. He stopped and looked around in horror. People with families, with friends, with gangs: all of them were frozen. Alvarez then noticed the headlights behind him. He jumped out of the way of the oncoming car only to see that the car wasn’t moving. But the old chrome coating still showed Alvarez’s reflection. He looked and saw that his form was a small green horse with purple eyes and a black mane. “Oh...oh god...” His cross dropped from his mouth onto the pavement, his dinner followed.

He’d seen horrific things on the streets. Boys tearing each other apart over a piece of moldy bread, girls pushing each other into the street to earn money from clients, brothers weeping over raids gone wrong; but nothing had prepared Alvarez for this. Everything had gone wrong, horribly, horribly wrong. The world as he knew it was now broken, a cog had sprung loose in its clock.

“They...they said I could fix it.” He trotted over toward a frozen couple, definitely American tourists: the man had some advanced cell phone in his hand and looked like he was about to take a picture, the woman was clutching the man’s other arm and smiling, and red dotted both their faces. “Please!” Alvarez cried out, “please move!” The couple remained motionless, their faces forever frozen in bliss.

He bolted, he bolted faster than he’d ever gone before. It was even worse than the night he’d run away from home. At least then, he’d known that there was life outside his house. But now, there was only the motionless abyss. He kept running until the city’s light’s fell away. He was in the jungle now. He smacked past a humming bird frozen in midair and then he stopped.

Something wet had hit his face. “R-rain?” He slowly trotted forward as he felt more raindrops. Then he collapsed to the ground; his brain was on fire. Acai over there, acerola over there, achocha there, ayapana growing a few feet to the left, camu-camu about fifty feet abov- “Stop it!” Alvarez cried out to his brain to shut up, but the information kept coming. Sloths in the canopy, a lone orangutan sleeping in the trees, bugs, so many bugs! Alvarez clasped his hooves against his head. He squirmed as he felt everything in the forest. “Shut up! Just shut up!”

He was on the ground for a while. The information kept coming, but eventually it stopped screaming in his head and softened into a loud buzzing. Alvarez now had the monster of all migraines. “Ugh!” He was barely able to stand. He stumbled over and rested on a nearby tree. It’s got a fungus infection, but it’s Lentinus so it shouldn't be poisono- “Be quiet!” Alvarez snapped at his own brain. “The white sphere, he was there too, gotta find the sphere.” He shuffled off into the dark night, unsure where he had to go.
~~~

The sun was burning Atunga’s eyes. He tried to shut them more but it kept getting in. It was more intense there anything he’d ever felt before. The temperature was abysmal as well, 98.769 degrees, far hotter than it should have been this time of year. “Gah!” He shuffled up to his feet, but he couldn’t keep his balance. He fell down again, his whole body felt wrong. “Damn! Snakebite must be ge-” his skin was white, although that didn’t shock him as much as the fact that his arm wasn’t arm anymore. It was a hoof.

“Ahh!” Something on his back moved and kicked up the dust and air that surrounded him. He slowly turned around and saw white wings. “Wh...what?” They flapped on instinct.

Then he remembered the dream. It was like something out of the stories his mother had told him when he was little, how guardian spirits watched over all everyone. He looked at his shadow. His shadow looked like a very thing cow and the wings were like nothing he’d ever seen before. As he stared, a strand of green hair fell in front of his face. He screamed again. “I... I need to get home, someone will know what to do there. If I hurry, the snakebite shouldn’t kill me.”

He then noticed the leg he’d been bitten on didn’t hurt any more. He looked back again and saw that his right hindleg was fine, there were no marks on it. He shook his head an chalked it up to an illusion, brought on by the venom. Then he noticed the bottle and the cup as well. “The drink!” Whatever it was, it was a liquid, he could give it to mother. Then she could get better. Maybe that’s what causing me to hallucinate, but at least it made my leg stop hurting.

He reached out to grab the bottle but stopped. He didn’t have hands anymore. He was prepared for this though. He’d had to carry stuff in his mouth before, on the Serengeti when his hands had been full of native fruits. He’d had to carry his club in his mouth. Everyone in the village had been happy with his spoils that day, but his mouth had been sore for days afterwards.

Now he carefully bit into the bottle. He noticed there were lines on it the bottle as well, indicating certain levels of the liquid. He was able to get a good grip on it and started to walk home. Luckily, some far-off clouds covered up the sun, its glare had been turning Atunga’s world white. After a few stumbles, he managed to half-trot, half-shuffle along the path. Halfway home, stopped and rested. By now he had gotten a little more used to the bizarre way he saw the world, but the sun still stung.

Atunga noticed a cloud float in front of the sun now. To block out that much sunlight, it has to have a significant amount of water. Atunga rubbed his head with a hoof. “What am I thi-” The cloud isn’t that far away it’d be easy to get to. He picked up the bottle,trotted away from his resting spot, and the looked at the cloud intensely. He thought back to how thirsty he’d been earlier that day, how thirsty everyone in the village was. The bottle wouldn’t help them all, but rain could. He zoned out.

The next thing he felt was something soft. He looked down and saw that he was high above the world. He was standing on the cloud. “I can touch the clouds... I can bring the rain!” He walked over to the edge of the cloud and looked at world far below. He still clenched the bottle tightly. I must have died on the road. But why am I still this strange creature then? He looked at the hooves again. It doesn’t matter, I can get water now, that’s what’s important. But how do I move th-

His wings flapped and the cloud moved a little. “Ah-ha!” He grinned with the bottle still between his teeth. He focused and felt the appendages on his back. They felt kinda like arms, but the didn’t bend the same way. After erratically scooting the cloud around the sky for about half an hour, Atunga had gotten a rudimentary understanding of his wings. He looked down at the ground again and traced the beaten path he had traveled to and from the well.

A storm was coming and he was going to bring it.

End Part 4

Comments

[voiddragon]

first awesome keep it up.

[Chatoyance]

If they summon Captain Planet, I'm leaving.

[Cloudhammer]

Loving this so far FMP, keep em coming

[Corsair]

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Friendship! By your powers combined, I am Captain Equestria!
I'm curious to see more details on whats really happening to the earth, we've only seen couple of quick flashes of strange occurrences.

[Fullmetal Pony]

304093
304229

>we've only seen couple of quick flashes of strange occurrences.

Incredibly evil smile
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091021170713/onepiece/images/e/eb/Moria_snap.jpg
293211
You know, there's only one really inhabited continent left

[Da Bunnana King]

DAAAMMMITTT FMP!!! Stop taunting me with Australia and write the bloody thing so I can get ponified.