Tib signed her application by pressing her thumb to a glowing patch of blue on the screen. There was a soft chime, then a chipper feminine voice said, "Thank you! Please notify the front desk that you are done. And welcome to Conversion Bureau Zero-Four-Two!!"
Tib got up and joined the queue lined up in front of the reception desk, where a young and rather harried-looking young woman tapped keys and handed out packets. When Tib reached the front of the line, the receptionist managed to scrounge up a smile for her. "Hi! You're…umm…" She checked the list in front of her, frowning a bit.
"Delphine Thibodeaux." No one in San Francisco seemed able to pronounce her name. "Tib," she suggested as an afterthought.
The receptionist brightened. "Right! Well, Tib, my name is Beth. I've got your room assignment, and some stuff for you to look over." She held out a thick manila envelope, and Tib took it. "You're scheduled for your entry checkup with the doctor at…let's see…sixteen hundred. That's four o'clock," she added helpfully.
Tib nodded.
"Quiet one, aren't you? That's okay. You've got plenty of time, so why don't you have a seat? You'll get a brief tour of the place, and then you'll get lunch in the caff. After that you'll be shown to your room and meet your bunkmate. How's that sound?"
"Great. Thanks." Tib moved to an area with a cluster of barely padded seating and took her place among the waiting herd.
***
Tib tried not to look uncomfortable but she didn't think she was succeeding very well. She wasn't used to being around people. She could feel them staring at her, and that was ridiculous because there was nothing about her to draw anyone's interest. A skinny Cajun girl with unruly hair and slightly buck teeth in a green jumpsuit. She was no beauty, but she wasn't ugly either. Okay, maybe she was a little too tall–just over six feet–but she didn't have any interesting body art or any scars at all, and her useless temple ports were hidden by her hair.
Thinking of the ports made her think of COREy. She shut her eyes tight to forestall the threatening tears. I didn't kill COREy. He self-terminated so I wouldn't have to. I just tossed a pair of empty, useless syncspecs off the levee.
Maybe if she told herself that often enough she'd believe it.
When she arrived in San Francisco, she found that there wasn't just one Bureau. Rather, there was just one Bureau, but the building held a number of clinics. She hadn't counted them, but if this one was 042, then surely there were a lot of them in this one huge place.
An odd sound came from behind her, almost like footsteps, as though someone were wearing hard-soled clogs on the tiled floor of the lobby. It sounded like a couple of people, actually, walking almost in tandem. She sensed the people near her stirring. Curious, she opened her eyes and turned around.
"Hi!"
Tib started back and almost fell out of her chair. She was face to…face?...with her own future.
Radiant blue eyes looked out from beneath a silken mop of luxuriant hair that shone like spun gold. The face behind those blue eyes was open and friendly, but it was in no way human.
The pony's coat was a soft lavender. The muzzle was short and rounded, but the mouth was perfectly capable of smiling.
"I don't mean to bother you, it's just that you looked kind of upset. Are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you." Tib side-eyed the people around her. Some were staring in frank astonishment at the new arrival, others were pointedly turned away. No one was looking at Tib, and she found that oddly comforting.
"My name's Lilac. Just Lilac. Some ponies have two names but I just picked one. Have you picked out a pony name yet?"
"What? I…no. No I haven't." Another name? What was wrong with Delphine Renee Angelique Thibodeaux? Well, okay, that was kind of long. "I'm Tib."
"Tib? I like that!" The pony, Lilac, pranced in place. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Tib! You'll be coming to the cafeteria for lunch after the tour, right?"
"Yes, I think that's what they said up front."
"Great! We can have lunch together. Okay?" Lilac evidently took Tib's blank stare as consent because she pirouetted prettily on her hooves and trotted off. Passing the front desk, she called out, "Hey, Beth! I just made a new friend. Her name's Tib and she's super nice!"
The receptionist looked over and gave Tib a smile and a small shrug as if to say Ponies. Go figure.
Tib sat back in her chair, blinking in gentle incomprehension. She was too flummoxed to be nervous anymore. That at least was something.
***
The tour guide's name was Lynn. She was actually the physician's assistant for the clinic's doctor, but she had obviously volunteered or been pressed into showing the new group of applicants around. This consisted primarily of pointing out the living quarters, the common room, the restrooms, the communal showers, and the places they weren't supposed to go until and unless summoned.
The last of these was behind a steelbound door at the end of a long hallway. The door had a prominent sign, the silhouette of a pony with a helpful "P" for emphasis. Less pleasant was the sign above it, a stern WARNING. Below both was the symbol that had been adopted to indicate thaumatic radiation, something that resembled a five-branched snowflake but far less friendly-looking. Right above the door was marked PONIFICATION ROOM.
"This is the room where it happens," Lynn explained with a wave of her hand. "Where the magic happens, and I mean that literally. Walk in on two legs, walk out on four. The transition takes about twenty minutes, give or take. We do three conversions a day, and–"
"Does it hurt?" This from a dark-skinned young man over to Tib's right. He looked nervous at the prospect.
Lynn's brow creased for a moment, whether in consternation at being interrupted or concern about the question. "We administer an anaesthetic adapted to your body chemistry right before giving you the potion. So no, it doesn't hurt a bit."
"I don't want to be knocked out." A sour-faced Asian woman of indeterminate but likely middle age stood with her arms crossed, glaring at the door as though it had insulted her ancestry.
Lynn bit her lip, then flashed a smile that was scintillating in its fakeness. "That's something you can go over with the doctor during your evaluation. Anyway, that's it for the tour." She clapped her hands. "Who's hungry? I know I am! This way to the cafeteria, folks!"
As they were led off, Tib cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder at the steel door to the Conversion Room. From Lynn's reaction, she thought that being converted did, in fact, hurt. A lot.
***
"Tib! Over here! I saved you a seat!"
There was no way not to notice Lilac. She was literally bouncing up and down next to a table, jumping so high her fetlocks almost cleared the crowd seated around her. Tib chuckled–she couldn't help it–and carried her sandwich and juice over.
The table was low to the ground, with cushions for seating. There were other tables at a level for chairs and most of the applicants had claimed those, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that chairs weren't built for ponies to sit in. Tib set her tray on the table and sat cross-legged on the cushion. "Thanks, Lilac. Everything looks great." That wasn't exactly true, but she was used to reconstituted and printed fare.
She noticed that Lilac's lunch looked very different from hers. She also had a cup of juice, but instead of a sandwich and chips her plate was piled with various greenstuffs. "Is that…?"
"Hay! And alfalfa…and…I don't know what this kind of purply stuff is but it smells delicious!" Lilac took a mouthful and chewed briskly, her eyes rolling with delight. "Mmm. Fafes gud, foo!"
"Great. Bon appetit." Tib bit with considerably less gusto into her faux turkey sandwich with pasteurized processed faux Swiss cheese food. It was edible, sort of, but it wasn't nearly as appealing as Lilac found her greens.
The lavender pony swallowed hugely. "This is really great stuff. Do you know, I hated eating my veggies before? I mean, really hated them. And salads? Yuck! Rabbit food. But now I just can't get enough of it." To illustrate her point, Lilac took another verdant mouthful and chewed with renewed enthusiasm.
Tib laughed out loud before she could stop herself. It wasn't a laugh of derision; it was a sound of delight. Yes, it was comical to see the pretty pony chowing down on grass and leaves, but it was also…wonderful. Tib had never seen anyone enjoy themselves so much doing anything, much less having lunch.
Still, she had laughed at her new friend. Tib didn't have a lot of social skills or experience, but even she knew you didn't just laugh at people. It was rude. She covered her mouth. "Sorry," she muttered behind her hand.
Lilac gulped. "For what? It is kind of funny. Besides, laughing is good for you! Lowers your blood pressure and stuff. And you look so cute when you laugh."
Tib lowered her hand and smiled. No one since her father had called her cute. "Thanks."
"Oh! I am a silly filly! I have a surprise for you. Hang on, I tucked it under my cushion so it wouldn't roll away." Lilac ducked under the table and shifted around, finally emerging with her prize. She was holding something round and red and shiny between her teeth, and she dropped it triumphantly on the table between them. "A shipment came in from Equestria this morning and I told Trev--he works in the kitchen and he's super nice--I told him I just had to have one of these to share with my new friend Tib. If you cut it in half, I'll take the part I bit into. Just wait till you try it!"
Tib stared at the the strange object sitting on the Fauxmica surface. It was as big as both her fists put together, red and rosy and nothing at all like the manufactured fruit she was accustomed to. "It's…an apple?"
Lilac giggled. "Well, it's not a coconut!" She paused, looking thoughtful. "Do they have coconuts in Equestria? I'll have to ask Trev. I really like coconut. Anyway, go ahead and cut it for us, Tib, please? I would, but I'm still learning how to work with silverware."
Tib picked up her plasteel knife and held the apple steady with her free hand. She put the blade to the dimpled top, then hesitated. It looked pretty and perfect, and it seemed a shame to cut it up.
"Come on, Tibby!" Lilac was bouncing on her cushion. "I'm drowning in my drool over here!"
"Okay, okay." Tib bore down on the knife and sliced the apple neatly in half. At once an amazing fragrance filled her nostrils, fresh and clean and sweet and irresistible. She'd never smelled anything like it. She pushed Lilac's half across the table, and the pony caught it up at once to munch on it.
Tib barely noticed. She brought her portion to her lips and breathed deep. Then she bit into it.
"'S good, innit?" Lilac mumbled.
Tib was too overcome to respond. Nothing she had ever eaten in her entire life tasted as good as that apple. She tried to savor it, but she couldn't stop taking one bite after another, barely pausing to swallow in between. Before she realized it, she was nibbling the last bits of apple flesh off her half of the core.
Lilac had long since finished hers and was watching her with deep pleasure. "It really is amazing. And from what I hear, everything in Equestria tastes that good. Even the grass!"
Tib put down the denuded half-core and rounded the table. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Lilac's neck. "Thank you," she said, her voice unsteady.
"You're…welcome?" Lilac put her muzzle over Tib's shoulder. "I mean, it was just an apple. A great apple, but…"
"No." Tib took a deep breath. Lilac smelled really nice, not like an animal at all. "Not just for that. Thank you for having lunch with me. Thank you for being so nice. For being…for being my friend."
"Aww…" Lilac nuzzled the back of Tib's head. "You're welcome, Tibby. And thank you for being my friend."
You'll make new friends. That's what COREy had said. It was one of the last things he'd said to her.
Tib smiled against the velvet softness of Lilac's neck. COREy had been right.
"Hey, Tib?"
"Yeah, Lilac?"
"Uhm...are you gonna eat that core?"
***