//------------------------------//
// And So Too Did Friends 
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: Preservation 
// by Westphalian_Musketeer 
//------------------------------//

I paced at the end of a hallway, white floors with white walls and white everything! A bench attached to the wall extended down the hall I was afraid of going down. I looked out a nearby window into the black of night, held back only by the constant energy that flowed through those same white lights I hated. I shouldn't have run when a friend needed me. Now? I doubted I could provide the support they needed when I had left them.

I stopped and slumped to the floor like a pile of hay tossed to the cattle. I faced down that way for minutes, a weak nausea holding me fast to the ground. I closed my eyes for a moment. I saw him pacing around, spewing out a stream of proposed code, a background noise as I dealt with the Higgs Boson.

I opened my eyes and stood up. He could still do that; he was still fundamentally the same. I hoped? I walked down the hall until I reached the room I had been told he was in. Nobody was there this late at night. I opened the door, and let my eyes adjust to the dim light.

He was standing by the window; it was open.

"Michael?" I asked. He didn't move, his fore hooves still braced against the window frame. I swallowed a ball of spit before asking again. "Michael?"

"Come in."

I wasn't sure if his shortness was his usual manner or if... No, of course it was because he was hurting. I stepped towards him.

"Glad you came, actually. Has been a long week." He lowered himself from the windowsill. I let out a sigh of relief. As he approached, my eyes finally began to discern something on his sides.

"Michael, you came out as a--"

"Pegasus. I know."

I bit my lip and looked at him as he stopped by his bed. His blue coat blended with the same-colored sheets.

"Doctors said I was lucky. Ate quickly enough that dosage for conversion didn't to stop halfway. Strange, don't feel lucky." He walked past me so that he was between the door and I. "Father, stunned. Mother, outraged, raising hell to find out who did it... this. Doing everything, blaming everyone. Even accused you of being reason for my conversion. Makes sense, maybe, Equestrian delegate, everyone focused on preventing HLF attack, never expect PER."

Looking at the ground, I said, "Michael, I'm sorry for running."

"Don't be. Was told one guest feinted." He sighed. "Better that you didn't see it."

"No," I said, "you were in pain and had been attacked, and I abandoned you. Friends don't do that, and for that... I apologize."

Michael's ears pinned back and his lips turned downward, exposing his teeth. "Attacked? Most definitely. Pain was excruciating. Nothing else until I blacked out. Was a violation!" He stomped a hoof on the ground, then shook his head as it sagged. "Never wanted this. Wanted to stay human. So many reasons."

"Michael, I know you're afraid of what's going to happen to you, but--"

"Know? Can't know this!" He walked back over to the window. "What's happened, it's... Used to know how things were going to be, get education, job, get rich, take on family business, but now... one hundred eighty year lifespan. I'll outlast the Earth. Sublime, really... when you think about it." He looked out the window. "Learned to fly today. Came... easily, very easily. Don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Tell me, do pegasi often think more clearly when in the air?"

"I don--" I stopped talking when he looked at me. I had wanted to tell him that he really shouldn't go off on his own, but the pain in his eyes trampled that idea. He needed time to think. "Yeah, some of my friends said that a flight cleared their heads."

He began clambering out the window. "Should be back by morning, feel free to stay." He leapt out of the window and soared out into the night sky. I sat there for a few moments before resigning myself to go to one of the beds. I lay down and was claimed by sleep before the sky began to brighten.


***


I awoke the sound of rapid footsteps just outside the door. It hissed open, and I looked back to see a human attendant.

She looked at me, worry clear on her face, and asked, "Where's Michael? And who are you?"

"Michael went for a flight in order to think on some things last night," I answered. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, one of Michael's friends." The woman brought out a DaTab and punched in some information. "He said he would be back by morning; is he in the cafeteria?"

The attendant looked up, the light from the window reflected of the gathering moisture in her eyes, her face quivering. She turned back and walked into the hallway.

"Hey! Wait!" I called, getting out of bed and following her. When I got into the hall, I saw Ishii standing there with the nurse. He had his DaTab out and next to the attendant's.

"I'll tell her, go." Ishii pulled away the DaTab, and then he removed his visor. His dark-brown eyes caught the light the same way the woman's had, but his face was stoically still.

"Tell me what?" I asked with as hard a voice I could muster.

Ishii sat on a nearby bench and brought up his DaTab. "Miss Sparkle." His use of my last name did nothing to relieve my fears. "A pegasus was found outside of Hingham. Shot. I'm sorry, but the description matches Michael."

My mouth hung open as I tried to digest what was being said. "No..."

"A man was found nearby with an automatic rifle, background check showed he had connections to HLF."

"No..." I collapsed to the floor, tears flowing down my face. "No! Wasn't there something they could do!?"

"Miss Sparkle, he was already dead when they found him," he answered.

I sank to the floor, sobbing for minutes as I pounded at the ground. After that I took a shaky breath to settle myself, and sat up. "I need to get back to the university," I said, going into a stand as I stared blankly at the wall before me.

Ishii stood up, and replaced the visor on his face, the dark glass hiding his eyes once more. I followed him as we made our way out of the Boston Conversion Bureau.


***


"Would Twilight Sparkle please come to the front of the room?"

I looked up from my desk to see the university dean and several other professors. They were seated along a desk, on a slightly raised platform, less than a foot tall. I stood up from my seat and walked to them, my hooves practically dragging. Some of the other students in the room made hushed whispers as I passed.

"Think she passed?"

"Don't see why not, she breezed through the bachelor's program."

"I don't know, you heard what happened to her friend recently."

"That was before she handed it in."

Stopping in front of the panel, I looked up at them. Keeping my face neutral was easy, as the intertwined hope of graduation and despair at a friend lost made me simply feel... empty.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle, or, more appropriately, Dr. Twilight Sparkle, your professors, instructors and several experts in the field of your chosen field, advanced physics, have reviewed your doctoral thesis, and found that its works and contribution to further understanding quantum theory in light of the recent advents of Equestria's emergence, go a long way in finding a way to reconcile the two currently divided schools of thought regarding thaumic physics. You have passed the program, and are now recognized as possessing a PhD."

"Thank you," I answered, inclining my head, and struggling to pick it back up.

The dean stood up and walked in front of the desk, framed document in one hand. I stepped onto the stage, and gripped the degree in my magic. I lifted a hoof, and allowed the dean to shake it. "I made sure everything was made from Equestrian materials," he said. I smiled weakly; I could take it back with me when I went back to Equestria within the next month.

But there was something else I needed to do.


***


"Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." A crack of lightning shook the building. It was hurricane season again, it always seemed to be hurricane season. The minister stood beside the pale blue body, looking at it with his small mouth's lips pursed to be even smaller.

He pressed a button on the wall, and the doors to the crematorium retort opened. The shelf Michael was lying on tilted, and he slid into the chamber. The doors shut, and the cremation began.

Looking all around, I saw Michael's friends, family, peers, and professors from the university. Michael's mother was sobbing uncontrollably, his father comforting her with an arm draped around her shoulder. She looked up briefly, and we made eye contact. She quickly looked back down and pressed a tissue to her face.

Soon, groups formed, of which I was a part of none. What was there to say? I turned to the room's entrance and walked out, followed shortly by Ishii.

"Dr. Sparkle," he said. "For what it's worth, I regret what's happened to your friend."

"Thank you," I answered.

"Is there any place in particular you wish to go?" he asked.

"Back to where it started, maybe I can find some advice there."