//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Shock to the system // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Bone // by Da Bunnana King //------------------------------// 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.