John was startled from his thoughts by a friendly tap tap on his door. “Hello there,“ A cheery male voice issued from behind the door, then paused. John could hear the rustling of paper. “John, was it? It’s time for lunch, and you’re in luck, our first food shipment came in, we have apples!” The voice ended on a happy, encouraging note. John softly shrugged, making his way to the door, opening it to reveal the pony belonging to the voice just as he was about to knock again. “The name’s Cinnamon Apple, and it’s nice to meet you!”.
John smiled at the sincerity in Cinnamon’s voice, one of the things he liked about ponies, was the honest desire they had to get along with people. “My name is John, yes, and food was mentioned?”. John smiles, thinking of all the times Jacob, no, Light Winds, had raved about how good the food was. “Oh! It's nice to meet you too.” John grinned slightly sheepishly at his late response.
“Mentioned, delivered, and waiting for you in the cafeteria!” Cinnamon grinned, tossing his green hair back slightly. “Best apples in Equestria too, straight from Sweet Apple Acres”. Cinnamon started to lead John through the maze of corridors. “I hope you're not claustrophobic by the way, there wasn’t much space in the office we were given, so we built downward.”
“What about all the pipelines, and wires, and stuff? I didn’t even know you could dig that much around here.“
“Oh don’t you worry about that, we have some experts in digging over, we Equestrians can do anything if we all work together!” Cinnamon grinned up to John “Now, the cafeteria is the main area where we hold our daily meetings, and where we plan to welcome new people to this Bureau.”
“You sound pretty together for a new place. Do you take seasoned people, err, ponies from elsewhere?” John asked, ducking under a pipe as they headed downwards, leaving the bland office-like environment and into what looked more like the inside of a submarine from old pre-HD movies. The gentle click-clack of hooves against metal fills the corridor for a short time until the pair reached a carpeted area.
“This Bureau is a bit of an experiment, so while we haven’t done this before, we have had the value of learning closely from ponies who have.” Cinnamon smiled. “They didn’t leave anything out of their reports.” Shortly, they came to a slightly more open space. “Welcome to the cafeteria! We all eat here together, there's no private staff canteen here!”
The cafeteria had a pretty standard layout, even for its small space, with tables dotted around, and a heated counter at one end of the room. The counter was split into two parts, one with a red-colored bunting on the cover above, one with green. “Looks rather cozy, “ John said, “I take it this won’t be a particularly big bureau?“
“Oh, not at first. We may grow, it depends on what happens really.” A nearby pegasus spoke up with a grin.
Cinnamon looked to the pony who talked and rolled his eyes gently “This loudmouth is Cheery Breeze. Cheery, say hello to John. He is our first customer”
“Nice to meet you! I hope you enjoy your stay here!” Cheery grinned as she spoke, the exclamation points practically audible at the end of her statements, “Your world is weird, but I want to get to know everypony, err, everyone here.”
“Nice to meet you too Cheery, but I believe food was mentioned somewhere around here?”
Cheery looked up at John and nodded. “It is most definitely on its way, yup. No doubt about that.”
Cinnamon rolled his eyes and shook his head to motion him on.
“Cheery is, well, Cheery, we think she was born too close to the pink one, or something,“ Cinnamon explained. “Not usually a bad thing, she has yet to get too much on anyone’s nerves.” He sat on one side of a table with a small bench, leaving the other side, with some full chairs, for John to pick from. “As she said though, food is on its way. So are all the other ponies, who I'm sure want to meet you”
“I look forward to both.” John looked around “I don’t suppose you know where Miss Braytast is? I wanted to ask her about a friend of mine.”
“Ooh, you want to refer someone?” Cinnamon asked eagerly. “Of course! Just tell them the address, and they can arrive at any time, or tell us theirs and we will get them the message. Many hands make light work and all that.”
“No,“ John said, sitting back a bit at the earth pony’s sudden energy “Light Winds, he is my roommate. I wanted to know if he could visit... if you tell him I said this I will deny it six ways to Sunday, but I miss the big lug already.”
“Oh, I am sure Hisan will get the message, I don’t know if she is going to be here at the introduction, some big thing going on apparently. However I'm not sure if it would be allowed, we are an experimental bureau and all. Having someone from outside would probably 'taint our results,' or some such unicorn nonsense.”
“Unicorn nonsense? I could just not speak about what we're doing if it helps keep this important experiment or whatever going.”
“You know, Unicorn nonsense? Fancy magic-using types with their big words meaning simple things to make it harder to understand?” Cinnamon nodded. “I can definitely ask for you.”
“Thanks, and I would usually call that egghead stuff.” John grinned. “Of course, Light Winds was the egghead who saved my life lots of times.”
“Sounds like a nice pony, after you're through this place, I'd love to meet him, I am sure he cares for you.” Cinnamon grinned, then looked around. “Seems the rest of the gang snuck up on us while talking.”
Looking around, John found a couple more ponies were hanging around. From a nearby table, an odd pair of earth ponies grinned at John. One stallion had a red coat and a green mane, the other had a green coat and light red hair. They each looked like a negative of the other. On a table nearby, a blue unicorn mare had her nose buried in a book. “Hello,“ John gave a light wave to the pair looking to him. “I’m John, what’s your name?”
“I’m Crimson Rock and this is…“ The red-furred one replied before getting interrupted by his apparent twin next to him.
“Emerald Charge! It’s great to meet you!” The green stallion finished off with a smile. “The egghead over there’s Aqua. Please excuse her lack of welcome, she’s always been lacking…“
“...In manners.“ Crimson finished, causing John to slightly roll his eyes as he looked to the pair.
“Do you two practice the whole twin act?” John complained with a light smile. “I mean, it’s better than the Jameson twins, all they managed to do when they tried that trick was talk over each other repeatedly.”
Slightly delayed, Aqua raised her head and just blearily looked at Emerald and Crimson. “You try staying up all night, then be expected to be at lunch, and see how social you feel. Anyway, new kid, I’m Aqua, I run the desk at night. Don’t make any trouble and we’ll get along. If you feel like making trouble, you'll find out why I’m the reason we don’t need any of those Blackwater idiots.”
“Not exactly a kid, thanks. And I don’t plan on any trouble, I just want to spend my time here, drink that green gunk, then go back to my friend.” John frowned, before turning away back to Cinnamon.
“Aqua’s a sweetheart really, she just is a bit sleep-deprived,“ Cinnamon immediately stated, looking around “Looks like we’re almost all here, so lunch will be starting soon. I hope you don’t mind, with it just being you right now, it will be a case of grabbing a plate and grabbing what you feel like from the kitchen. I recommend saving your apple for dessert though.”
A door near the cafeteria table alcove opened, and a pegasus trotted out. “Food’s ready, hope you lot like carrot-dogs and fish pie.”
“Thanks, Caramel.” Cinnamon turned to John. “That’s Caramel Wings if you want to eat anything other than oatmeal, stay on his good books.”
“Fish pie? Light gets sick at the smell of cooked fish now.“ John asked with some confusion.
Cinnamon looked to Caramel. “It’s an acquired taste, some pegasi eat it to help their feathers, and I guess we just got used to it. We should probably take it off the menu, now we have actual customers, you know? The peppers and mash Caramel use just make it too good to pass up for this last chance.“
John nodded, as he made his way over to the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, a bunch of plates was on one side, and on the counter was a large batch of cooked carrots and bread rolls. Next to them was a ceramic dish full of some, admittedly good looking, fish pie. “You guys weren’t kidding when you said carrot-dogs were you?”
Collecting a plate, John grabbed a serving of fish pie, looking around, he soon spotted the small crate of apples near the door. Glossy and red, like something out of a picture book, they filled the crate. John even spotted one with a leaf still on it. “They’re not going to bite, you know?” Caramel spoke from the doorway. “Just grab one and make room for somepony else to get their food, you can admire it from a table just as easily.”
“I got it, I got it,” John smiled, grabbing one from the crate, and carrying it along with his food to a random empty table. Cinnamon soon took a seat by him, a similar plate transferred from a small tray on his back to the table.
“Since Hisan is busy I suppose there won’t be any meeting today,” Cinnamon said, starting on his fish pie. “So it looks like I will be the one giving you a schedule, I assume you know how the bureaus work and all that? Classes on how to be a pony, do pony things, et cetera.“ Cinnamon waited a second for a nod, before continuing anyway. “We may be experimental, but we still have most of that. Your schedule will have blocks set aside where you, and any other people who arrive, will have classes, stuff like which ponies have what kinds of magic, and what each can do. Basics on the government and economy and such, enough so that when you get to Equestria you know how to fit in.” Cinnamon finished his sentence with a slight grin. “Hopefully with how we do things, you'll know more than newfoals usually do.“
“So far that’s the same as what Light told me happened with him. What makes this bureau experimental, then? Is it just the surroundings?“ John asked curiously, taking another look around at the mix of hewed stone and metal making up the surroundings here.
“Oh, no. The classes are just what we were still required to do by your government to be licensed as a Bureau, Apparently, if something isn’t testable and taught in a classroom, they don’t believe you humans will learn it.“ Cinnamon rolled his eyes. “No, our experiment, if you want to call it that, is that apart from the classes, we all pitch in together, it won’t be just classes, if work needs doing, we all do it, from Hisan, right down to you and other potentials.”
“What sort of work do you mean? I hope you aren’t expecting much in skills,“ John asked worriedly. “I mean I was lucky to finish primary school, parents couldn’t afford secondary, so I never really got any vocational training in anything.”
“Oh don’t worry about it John, mostly it’s if something gets spilled, or stuff moved about. Provided you're not the type to burn water, Caramel may ask for your help if nearby when he is cooking. Basically, if work needs doing, whoever is nearby and is able to, is expected to help.“
“All part of the same team so to speak, “ John nodded. “You ponies do seem to like the whole togetherness thing.“ John looked away as a memory struck him, “When you aren’t pulling apart anyway.“ he continued bitterly.
“What do you mean John?“ Cinnamon asked worriedly, having already moved to sit by him. “What happened?”
John sighed and looked to the pony sat next to him. “Nothing, just remembering how things used to be with Light Winds. Ever since he quote, 'went pony,' end quote, things haven’t been the same. I know it's still him, just... I don’t know how to explain it.”
“That it’s still him, but without any edge?” Cinnamon asked, looking to John softly. “That’s a common problem with newfoals John. The switch from predator instincts to mostly herbivore ones seems to mess things about a bit. It’s one of the things we are hoping being included as part of the herd before the conversion will help with. It often takes a year or so for humans to get their edge back after going through conversion. At least, that's what records suggest. The hardware may have changed, but the software adapts.”
“Heh, you ponies certainly have adapted to our world well. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the bubble was the other way around.“ John smiled. “I hope you’re right, either way soon it won’t matter as much, right?”
“Don’t worry about it, John. I won’t promise that you won’t change. I do promise that we will be here for you as you do, as will the rest of this bureau.“ Cinnamon smiled, giving John a short hug before moving back to finish eating his food. “We don’t have any classes yet, with it being just you, so how about after lunch I get to showing you some recordings of pony sports? Perhaps we can help you get the advantage over Light Winds in one or two areas for when you next meet, hmm?”
John simply smiled, finishing his food looking around at his surroundings. “I would like that.”