The Conversion Bureau: Ten Days

by Windchaser


The Second Day (AM)

Jay breathed slowly, his forehead pressing down on the backs of his hands. They themselves rested on the cafeteria tabletop, in front of a bare plate. His eyelids fluttered a bit during his moment of rest, as other people talked all around him, about nothing too loud. Jay was seated towards the end of the table with Austin seated next to him. Austin was talking away with Leah, Chloe, and Andrew, but Jay couldn’t hear what he was talking about. The words reached his ears, but their meanings remained aloof.

Jay scrunched his eyes tightly as he recalled the dreams.

They were jumbled images and sounds, devoid of structure and meaning, but they filled his head with a sense a sense of unease whenever he thought about them. One thing was common throughout the dream: he was in pain.

“Jay,” Austin murmured, elbowing him in the side. Roused from his rest, Jay sat upright and rubbed his eyes. Looking around he could see Peach Cobbler still tending to the kitchens behind the counter. She had served breakfast earlier, but Jay couldn’t remember what it was. Firecracker was sitting at a table by the back windows by himself, just like every meal before. He had a book open on the table in front of him, his nose buried in it.

A somber air hung over the cafeteria, and rightfully so. Conversions were starting today. One at a time, each one picked at the beginning of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Garnet, the unicorn who oversees the bureau had already called a boy by the name of Caleb Hastings. A tall and muscular teen, Jay vaguely recalled Caleb being a part of one of their school’s sports teams… or maybe all of them. He didn’t know Caleb too well.

The conversions reminded everyone why they were there in the first place. Their lives on Earth were just about over and gone, unless they dared to venture out and start over for themselves from scratch.

“… and he’ll come through those two doors over there any minute now. Just please be patient, you’ll see him, okay?” The bright green earth pony who normally tended the gardens, her name slipping from Jay’s memory, had just guided a middle-aged couple and a red-cheeked girl no older than nine into the cafeteria through the gardens.

The three of them sat at the table next to Jay and his group. The girl sat at the very end of the table, her eyes locked onto the double doors Caleb ventured through half an hour ago. The man put his arm around the woman and smiled at her as he whispered something in her ear.

A soft percussive noise began to draw eyes to the double doors. A pony stepped through the doors and held one of them open for another pony, which seemed to be having trouble walking, let alone standing. He was a navy blue earth pony with a black mane flowing down the back of his neck. His eyes were a radiant orange, blazing in contrast with his coat.

Apprehensively, he reached out with one hoof and placed it on the ground with an auditory clop. Then another clop followed that one. Then another. Bringing his gave up from his hooves, he looked around the cafeteria for but a moment until he saw the little girl staring at him.

“Annie…?” he muttered. The girl burst into tears and cries, jumping off the chair and bounding towards the pony, grabbing him around the neck. He brought a blue hoof up and wrapped it around the girl, still sobbing into his coat. A small tear glistened at the edge of his eye.

“What’s going on out here?” a voice called from the hallway. Garnet trotted out into the cafeteria. “Who’s this?”

The blue pony twisted his head around to meet Garnet’s eyes. “It’s okay. This is my sister Annie.” He turned his head back around and looked down at the girl. “What are you doing here? Didn’t they find you a new family?”

The girl slowly began to regain composure, trying to stifle the last few sobs. “I… I wanted… to see you again!” she said. “I… I want to go with you and all the ponies!”

Garnet trotted up behind Caleb and looked down at the young girl. “I’m sorry honey, but you need to be at least sixteen to consent to conversion without paren-” Garnet cut herself off, realizing what she was saying. The couple at the table stood up, the man clearing his throat.

“Ahem. That’d be us, ma’am.” Regarding them with a quizzical look, Garnet watched them as they walked up to the brother and sister. “We’re Annie’s foster parents as of yesterday.” The woman kneeled down and gave Annie a hug.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” she asked. Wiping away the tears with the back of her hand, Annie nodded her head. “Is this okay with you, Caleb? I don’t want to dump your sister on you like she was a burden.”

Caleb looked down at his smiling sister and back up at the woman with a big smile of his own. “Nothing would make me happier.”

“That’s it then. Can you show us the paperwork we need to sign, ma’am?” the man asked Garnet.

“Of course, sir. Come this way.” Garnet lead the couple back through the double doors.

Caleb began trying to walk to the nearest table to sit down at, his sister assisting him on his way over. Several of the people sitting at the tables around the cafeteria stood up and made their way over to Caleb and Annie, eager to find out what his experience was like. Annie kept her arms wrapped around her brother’s neck all the while.

“So what happened? What did they do to you in there?” someone asked from in the group of people. Caleb shrugged.

“They had me change into a hospital gown… thing… and lay down on my side on this big metal table. Really cold.” A visible chill ran through Caleb’s body. “They handed me this little plastic cup with the stuff in it to drink.”

“What stuff?”

“Well, I don’t really know what it was. It looked like some sort of purple Jell-o with glitter in it. Smelled like grapes. I drank it and that’s the last thing I remember before I woke up like this,” Caleb said as he brought his hooves up.

“What does it feel like?”

“Well…” Caleb began. “I feel… really good. And seeing Annie made me feel even better,” he said, planting a kiss on his sister’s forehead.

A few others asked Caleb some more questions, but the group began to diminish and return to their original places in the cafeteria. A few minutes later, the doors to the garden opened again, Garnet and Annie’s foster parents walking up to the brother and sister.

“Annie, I know we have no right to keep you from what family you have left. My wife and I are beyond happy, seeing you with your brother.” The man knelt down and gave her a big hug, the wife following suit. Garnet levitated a small folder into Annie’s hands.

“Here’s some information for you to give to your brother. I changed around the rooms a bit, so Caleb, Annie’s going to be rooming with you. You’re both moving into room 19A. And Annie, I switched around the conversion schedule so you will be our evening patient at dinnertime.” Annie tried to hide a glowing smile, but unable to control herself, she leaped up and hugged Garnet as well. The red unicorn wrapped her neck around the young girl in an embrace.

Jay turned back around to his table to see Austin and everyone else picking up their trays and plates, making their way to the doors. He hurriedly followed them, falling in behind Andrew at the back of the group. They walked through the hallway to the large common room. They all sat down in two couches facing each other as Austin ran to the other hallway to his and Jay’s room to grab something.

Leah and Chloe were talking with each other in hushed tones, Chloe softly giggling. Andrew stood up and sat down next to Jay, his large bulk sinking into the sofa, creating a pit that Jay felt the pull of. He leaned his body weight opposite of it, trying to keep himself from getting too close to Andrew.

“So, JJ, what do you think of that whole show?” he asked. Jay almost missed the comment for a second; not realizing it was aimed at him, even though Andrew directly addressed him. It was so uncommon for anyone to willingly talk to him that the entire idea of someone other than Austin striking up a conversation over something so… casual in a way… was alien to him.

“I, uh,” Jay mumbled, stumbling over his words. “It’s pretty cool, you know, from a technical standpoint. I mean, they changed his species in only half an hour. Something only thought possible through evolution over the course of millions of years, and even then, there wouldn’t have been such a drastic change.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure thing, pal.” Andrew said, passively. “I wonder if he still has the hots for girls… you know… not those girl ponies, but human girls.”

“Huh?” Jay said, caught off guard.

“I mean, I’ve heard of some freaky things going on between humans and those horses, but that’s still kinda out there.” Jay sat back and stared off. He kind of understood what Andrew was getting at. What if he got converted before Chloe? Would he lose all interest in her simply because she’d still be human? Or what if it was the other way around? What if she was put off by anything he tried while he was still human?

“Found it!” Austin called from the hallway behind Jay. In his hand, he held a colorful plastic disc, waving it in the air. Andrew immediately got up and followed Austin as he dashed to the door to the open field outside the common room, opposite of the gardens in the bureau. Leah followed them as well as a few of the rest of the others lounging in the common room.

Chloe sat in her seat with a small sketchbook and a pencil, the top of it flitting around over the edge. Nervously, Jay stood up and sat next to her, still over a foot away. He didn’t want to come off as creepy. He leaned over and peered into the sketchbook, but she pulled it away.

“Sorry,” she said as Jay sat back, his heart weighed down by tar. He made a fool of himself, forgetting to respect Chloe’s privacy. He proceeded to slam his head against a mental wall in his head out of frustration. His cheeks reddened out of embarrassment, and struggled to hide any other signs he was showing. The two of them sat in silence for a minute.

“I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember,” she said, breaking the silence between the two of them. “Whenever I felt happy or sad, I would draw. What I drew would be like how I felt while I was drawing them. I… I’d rather not let anyone see, if that’s okay.”

Jay looked up at Chloe. Her wavy auburn hair hung down her head, obscuring a bit of her face from view. She brushed it away, weaving it back behind her ear. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep drawing after my conversion.”

“Why?” Jay asked. “Unicorns are able to use magic, and I think it could act like another arm or hand.”

“I know, but that’s only a one out of three chance I’d become a unicorn. What if I end up as an earth pony or pegasus? How could I draw then?” Chloe’s voice began to tremble a bit.

Jay sat back and sighed. He knew there was no way to influence the conversion that any human or pony knew of. But seeing Chloe like this…

The gears in his head began to turn. They slowly began to creak to life, ideas coalescing before his eyes and subsequently getting tossed aside. Jay brought his hand to his chin and stared at the carpet before him.

“Maybe…” he murmured.

“Hm?” Chloe said.

“I think… I may know how to help. It won’t be exactly like drawing with your hand, but it may work.”

“No, don’t worry. It’s not a big deal. I’ll…”

Jay stood up and began to walk off, his mind still buzzing with ideas. He walked out of the common room, oblivious to Chloe’s protests. Chloe sighed and bright her pencil back to the paper, putting the details on the hair of her mother’s head.

---

 

“Firecracker!” Jay called out, barging into the small library. “Firecracker, are you there? It’s Jay! I need some help!”

“Quit yelling! This is a library, if you had forgotten, you half-wit… Oh, hello Jay.” The dark grey unicorn trotted up to jay and held out his hoof, shaking Jay’s hand. “Great to see you again. This time without any windows broken I see! Progress!” The pair of them smiled, remembering the frustration Firecracker had with the keyboard the day before. “So what can this stallion do for you?”

Jay sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs, resting his head in the cradle of his hands. He was struggling to keep the image in his mind. “Can you get me a pen and paper?” Firecracker’s horn glowed a bright orange, the desk his sleeping computer sat on opening. A small notepad and pen levitated out and fell before Jay. Immediately, he began to scribble down a crude drawing.

“What’s this all for? Hmm?” Firecracker asked.

“I’m making something for a friend of mine so she can keep drawing after she gets converted. It’s a brace, with straps to wrap around her… hoof. A small slot for a pencil, pen, or whatever, and a locking mechanism to hold it in place…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Firecracker called out, interrupting Jay’s stream of thought. “Why does she need some complicated thing like that? Did she ask you to make it?” Jay shook his head, the pen still scribbling away. “You realize most ponies draw and paint with their mouths, right?”

“What.” He said this more as a literal statement of confusion than a request for clarification.

“Yeah, well, other than unicorns. They hold the pen or pencil or paintbrush in their mouths and go to town. Easier than you think, trust me.” Jay stared at his paper and heaved a big sigh. Firecracker’s eyes widened. “Oh. Ahh. That makes more sense.”

Jay looked up at the unicorn, afraid of what he was thinking. “You’re trying to gain her favor. That does make more sense, even if it means wasting time on some useless hoof brace.” Jay’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t worry, Jay. I’ll see what I can do to help you out. But there’s one catch.”

“What is it?”

“You’ve gotta work that blasted contraption for me. I refuse to have anything else to do with it, after that whole episode yesterday. All you gotta do is check that… ee-mail for me and tell me if there’s anything important, and to write any that I need to send.”

Jay placed his pen down on the desk. “Is that it?”

“That’s it. And I’ll do whatever I can to help you on your little quest. So what do you need?” Firecracker levitated the pad of paper before his eyes and scanned the list. “I think I can help you find some of these things. Some of the labs in this wing are still under construction, and have junk lying everywhere. Follow me.”

---

 

Austin leaped into the air, extending his arm as far out as he could, catching the Frisbee with the very tips of his fingers. He came down landing on his one foot, taking a few steps forward to slow down. He looked across the field, picking out faces of those of his own team and those on the other team. He saw one of the guys on the other team running up to him, probably to hamper his line of sight for a pass. Thinking quickly, he jumped straight up, and twisted his body to give that extra bit of thrust to the disc, sending it soaring down the field.

He began sprinting after it, watching it spin as it descended. One of his teammates, Murphy, was back pedaling, his eyes locked on the disc. He jumped up, his hands almost around the disc when Andrew collided into him, sending him sprawling into the grass. Andrew was quickly back on his feet and grabbed the disc, looking for someone to pass it to.

Austin rushed past Andrew, who wore a smug look of satisfaction. He stopped next to Murphy and looked him over. His arm was folded under him at a strange angle, and his breathing was a little ragged. “Murph, are you okay?”

The blond teen before him only groaned. “Alright, come on, let’s get you looked at.” Austin helped Murphy up and held onto him. He seemed to be a little out of it, his balance shifting from one side to the other. He maneuvered his head underneath Murphy’s arm and guided him back to the main building. Leah fell in behind Austin.

“Oh no! What happened?” Chloe asked, closing her notebook as soon as Austin and Leah came in from outside.

“Andrew decked Murphy here during ultimate frisbee. I’m taking him to see someone about his arm.”

Austin hobbled Murphy’s weight down the hall to the main lobby, hoping that the receptionist could call for someone. Fortunately, Clementine was just coming in from the gardens, but the desk itself was empty. “Clementine! A little help over here?”

The orange earth pony trotted over, a straw hat with a wide brim sitting on her head over her yellow mane. “What happened? Is he hurt?”

“I’m not sure. Do you have a doctor or someone to look at his arm?”

“Yeah, we have someone in the medical wing that can look him over. I’ll take him from here. Thank you, Austin.” Murphy placed his hand on Clementine’s hat and walked off with the mare. Austin turned around and sighed.

“Is everything okay?” Leah asked. Austin hadn’t even realized she had been following him. Again.

“Uh, yeah. I think he just bruised it, maybe twisted it a bit at the worst.” He started walking back to the common room. He wanted to relax, maybe poke some fun at Jay.
 
“Jay should’ve taken the hit for him. Oh wait, he doesn’t do anything fun with anyone,” she said, disdainfully. Austin heaved a sigh, tightening his fists in frustration. Leah always took potshots at Jay, even when he wasn’t there to defend himself.

“Uh, hello?” someone asked from the lobby. Austin turned around at the new voice, unfamiliar with it. At the door stood a teen, he was around the same age as Austin and Leah, maybe a bit older. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, slightly worn away at the knees and heels, and a bright red open buttoned down shirt with a grey tee shirt underneath. His hair was a smooth brown, the light curls dancing just above his shoulders. He walked up to Austin, his hand outstretched. "Hey there. Name's Rob. Any idea where the receptionist is? I want to get signed up and everything."

"Sorry, we didn't see anyone here. I'm sure she'll be right back though." Austin looked at Rob, regarding both his demeanor and his dress. It was too refined for the area; nobody was able to afford such nice clothing just by working at one of the corporations. He was very friendly, that was a plus, but Austin wanted to be cautious. It had only been less than a minute since he met Rob, and that was nowhere near enough time to understand someone's characters entirely. "Oh, and my name is Austin. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Austin. What brings you and your girlfriend here to the conversion bureau?"

Leah blushed powerfully, her face turning scarlet. Austin chuckled. "I could ask you the same thing, Rob. You know that explosion at the Telios Chemical plant a few days ago?"

"Yeah, vaguely, though. What about it?"

Austin grasped for the right words. "Our… parents were all lost there. Everyone enrolled here, at least save for one guy. We were given a ride here by the company or a life contract for a, to be honest, quite shitty living. So what about you? How is it you wind up here with the rest of us?"

"Just the calling of a new frontier, really." The answer surprised Austin. "I mean, sure, it's a pretty big thing to do just out of spontaneity, but you only live once, am I right? May as well make the best of it, I say." Rob walked away from Austin and Leah, his neck craned up. He walked around the spacious lobby, looking out past the receptionist's desk to the glass doors to the garden in the middle of the complex.

"This sure is a nice place. I heard about them building this little spit of Eden out here in the woods. Did you know that most of the bureaus are out in the middle of nowhere?" Austin didn't. He assumed that they built all of the bureaus is towns across the world, in order to be available to as many humans as possible. "Oh, don't get me wrong. The biggest ones are in the cities, without a doubt. But they're always crowded, smelly, and quick. In, out, and done. See ya!" Rob said, waving to the empty lobby. "Then they build these little hamlets, away from society, in the middle of nature. Most ponies will refuse to admit it, but they hate the cities in our world. Crowded, polluted, dangerous. Frankly, I don't get why they came in the first place. But back to the topic at hand. These really nice bureaus; they're actually the best ones you can get yourself into. Its own little community."

Austin wasn't too surprised at any of this. Naturally, the ponies would hate any form of urban society since they always strive for more rural communities, but one thing did unsettle him. How did Rob know all of this? He may have come from one of the cities, maybe as far as New York City, but that was a stretch. His clothing was made of very high quality fabrics, his body was trim and fit, and his skin was positively glowing. He must have come from a rich family, but then why come to a bureau if you have such a nice life? Rob said he wanted adventure, but Austin wasn't too sure about that. There were undoubtedly ulterior motives at play. But part of him didn’t think it was right to be so suspicious of a new face.

One of the doors from the administrative wing opened, the same wing Clementine took Murphy to. It was a aqua colored unicorn mare, her mane a pale mint. She stared at the three of them for a moment before rushing to the desk, crying out "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Not a problem, miss. I'm here to sign up for my stay."

"Oh," she said. Her horn glowed and a clipboard levitated out from behind her desk and into Rob's hands. "Just fill that out as much as you can and hand it back to me. I'll give you a room assignment and some informational material concerning everything here. My name is Sea Foam. It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said, looking from Rob to Austin and Leah.

Rob took the clipboard and sat down at one of the foam chairs in the lobby. He began scribbling away with his pen, the scratches of it on the paper the only noise present. A few short moments later, Rob stood back up and handed the papers to Sea Foam, who took them and began typing it all in with her magic. She began writing something down, levitated several things into a simple green folder, and handed it to Rob. "You'll be in room 24B. Lunch should be starting soon, and I believe one of the history lectures is this afternoon."

"I didn't know we'd be having classes," Leah grumbled. “I bet Jay’s just gonna skip this class too.”

"It's nothing too boring, I promise you. I believe Garnet is going to be teaching about the history of our land. It's important you know about these things before we send you there. I also hear she has a bit of surprise in store as well," the unicorn said, smiling. "Now off you go! I hear Peach Cobbler has something amazing for dessert today! That mare sure knows how to cook!"

Rob, Austin, and Leah walked through the residential wing, towards the common room where Chloe was probably still sitting. Austin looked at one of the clocks in the hallway as they walked. It was almost noon! Definitely time for lunch. But Austin wanted to find Jay. He was going to get him out of his shell before they got converted even if it kills him. Austin chuckled at the concept.

---

"Hand me the scissors, Firecracker," Jay said.

"Hand me the scissors, Firecracker, PLEASE," the unicorn corrected.

Jay sighed. "May I please have the scissors, Firecracker?" The stallion smiled and levitated them into Jay's hand.

"Of course." Firecracker looked down at the contraption Jay had assembled. It wasn't half done, but it was taking shape. It had taken them the better part of the morning to find the things they had needed for it, but with many of the labs still under construction with junk all over the place, there was more stuff that was less than worthless to sift through. Jay trimmed the straps and wove them through the plastic clip, pulling on them until they tightened as if they were securing themselves to a hoof.

"Hey, Jay. Let's take a break. Lunch time." Jay put the incomplete device onto the library table, amidst a mess of parts and tools. He stood up and followed the grey unicorn out from the library and down the hallway to the cafeteria. There were many people already present, sitting down and talking with each other, but nobody had anything in front of them.

"Right," Jay said to himself. Someone was getting converted soon. The door behind them opened, and the red bespectacled unicorn walked past. Firecracker and Jay took seats at a table to their right, close to the windows at the edge of the room, looking out past the gardens and towards the woods.

"Hello, everyone! Will Miss Andrea Cobb join me up here?” A round of murmurs began coming from all around the cafeteria. A small girl in a wheelchair began rolling herself up to Garnet, who was wearing a pleasant smile. Jay had seen Andrea a bit when he was at school, but never got to know her, just like Caleb. She had been a cripple all of her life, unable to use her legs even as a baby. “It’s okay, dear. Follow me and we’ll get you started.” The pair exited through the doors, leaving the cafeteria in silence.

“Why don’t we go up and get lunch, eh?” Firecracker said. Jay followed the grey unicorn to the counter, each of them picking up trays from a rack. Firecracker had his gripped in a field of magic, the plastic floating in his orange aura. The counter was covered with a few trays of different salad toppings, along with hay and oats as a staple food for the ponies. Firecracker levitated a small bit of salad and hay onto his plate, topping it all off with a few daisies. Jay went with the salad and mixed in some cucumber, small sliced tomatoes, and drizzled a small amount of ranch dressing on top of it all.
 
Peach Cobbler finally rushed up to the counter, a tray floating in the air in front of her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Jay and Firecracker, her eyes growing wide. “Wait, wait wait! Don’t MOVE!” she yelled as she ran to the back of the kitchen. She ran back up, another tray in her levitation field. She floated two small dishes onto both Firecracker’s and Jay’s trays.

On Firecracker’s tray was one of the peach tarts she had made Jay for lunch the day before. Firecracker looked at the tart with hungry eyes and back to Peach Cobbler. “Thanks, Peachie.”
 
Firecracker walked off back to the table he and Jay were sitting at, while Jay looked at Peach Cobbler. She was frozen stiff, her eyes filled with surprise. Almost immediately, her normally yellowish pink coat betrayed her scarlet blush underneath. Her mouth struggled to form words. “Di… did… Did Firecracker… just thank me? And he called me Peachie?”
 
“Uh, yeah. I think so. Why?”
 
“Oh, it’s, um, nothing. Nothing at all!” Peach Cobbler struggled to pass it off with a fit of nervous laughter.
 
Jay looked down at his tray, noticing the dessert Peach placed there. It wasn’t a peach tart like what she gave to Firecracker before, but a sort of small cake. The frosting was a bright pink, with a strawberry cut into ribbons on top of it.
 
“Oh! This is one of my favorites to make. It’s a family recipe, but don’t tell anyone! I like to use strawberries rather than peaches for it. I like to experiment is all,” she said. Her gaze dropped towards the ground.
 
“I’ll let you know what I think, okay? And if it’s good you can make them for everyone. That was our deal, right?” Jay reminded her. She picked her head back up with a smile.
 
“Yeah… Oh right! I need to make more of those tarts and cobblers for dinner! Well, no time like the present!” She was off back to work before Jay even picked his tray back up. He walked back over to the table where Firecracker waited, though he wasn’t patient enough to wait before he began eating.
 
Firecracker dug his muzzle into the salad and munched away. Jay used his fork, and laughed to himself. With each bite, he imagined doing what Firecracker was: sticking his face into his food. Didn’t his mother say not to do that?
 
Wait…
 
No it wasn’t. It was Austin’s mother. He ate at Austin’s house a lot when he was younger since his parents were never really home.
 
“You okay, Jay?” Firecracker asked, his mouth filled with hay.
 
“I think so,” Jay said. “I have a question.”
 
“Okay, shoot.”
 
“Do you know where we’re all going? Like, when all of us get converted, we’re getting transported to Equestria. Where are we going after that?”
 
Firecracker swallowed a mouthful of salad. “Well, it depends on a few things. Families are usually sent to some of the new towns being set up in the countryside in Equestria. Plenty of space out there. Loners, like you and your pals here, are encouraged to go to particular places. Unicorns should go to Canterlot or one of the universities to work on their magic, pegasi to Cloudsdale for weather training, and earth ponies to… well, anywhere there’s dirt.” Firecracker levitated his glass of juice and took a sip until he noticed Jay’s confused look. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. Earth ponies are the backbone of our society. They grow our food like nopony else can. They just need to find somepony who knows what they’re doing with the dirt, and teach them how to grow things. Everything comes from the ground in one form or another, and earth ponies are the best ponies for getting them.”
 
“Is that what Honeybell was doing outside? And how they claim to be able to grow things so quickly?” Jay asked. He was more confused than he was when he started.
 
“Yeah. See, when earth ponies interact with their crops, by talking to them, loving them, and singing to them, it stimulates the plants with that pony’s magic, helping the growth process along. Don’t bash earth ponies, though. They’re as stubborn as they are strong. You saw your friend this morning, remember?”
 
“Caleb, yeah. What about him?
 
“He could easily buck a tree out of the ground with the muscles he has on him.”
 
“What? An entire tree?”
 
“Eyup. I’ve seen some pretty wild things, even before coming to Earth.”
 
Jay heard a tray fall onto the table next to him, causing him to jump in his seat a bit out of surprise. Austin took the chair, and patted Jay on the shoulder. “Good to see you making friends, Jay.” Austin held a hand out to Firecracker. “My name’s Austin, Jay’s social mentor.”
 
Firecracker chuckled as he met Austin’s hand with a hoof. “Firecracker. Jay’s my target for keyboard tossing. It’s a big sport where I come from.” The pair began chuckling as Jay slumped down and dug back into his food.
 
Firecracker and Austin both got back to their food. Jay finished his salad and looked down at his dessert. The strawberry was a bright red, the icing a brighter pink. He stuck it with his fork, tearing a small part of it off, and took a moment to look at the inside. The spongy yellow cake bounced back to its normal shape after he removed his fork, and the inside began oozing out. Between the two fluffy cake pieces was a glistening red jelly, chunks of strawberry mixed in. It began to drip down onto his plate.
 
He placed the piece of cake in his mouth, preparing himself for the full-on assault of flavor he came to expect from Peach’s desserts. If he wasn’t already sitting, he would’ve been knocked to the ground. The frosting was smooth and sweet, but not overly so. It had a small hint of strawberry, but the real focus was on the inside. The strawberry filling splashed across his tongue, sending his eyes to the ceiling. The cake was moist and spongy, soaking up the filling and adding body to the whole thing. He hungrily dug into it for another bite, trying his best to restrain himself from shoving the entire thing in his mouth at once.
 
“Dude, keep it in your pants,” Jay heard Austin say. Before he could say anything back, the cake was gone, the last bite in his mouth already. “Another one of Peach’s desserts?” Jay nodded his head as he swallowed the last bit of cake.
 
“Amazing. I’m so glad they got her as a cook here,” Jay said, placing his fork back down on the plate.
 
“Wait a minute.” Firecracker’s eyes grew wide. “That isn’t THE Peach Cobbler, from the famous Peach family, is it?”
 
“Uh,” Jay and Austin said together.
 
“Ah. Well, her family is fairly well known throughout Equestria for their dishes. Her father, Peach Crepe, was one of the greatest dessert chefs in Manehattan. All I know is that she shamed her father by serving somepony one of her family’s desserts by replacing the peaches with another fruit. Real shame. Her father all but disowned her after the whole ordeal was over with. Makes sense for her to want to get away from it all.”
 
“Wow. That must really suck for her,” Austin said.
 
Jay looked down at his empty plate, where his strawberry cake had been just a few moments before. Her father almost disowned her for making that? It was a shock to Jay since he was told that ponies were so much better than humans, pretty much devoid of negative emotions. Maybe… just maybe… ponies weren’t so much better than humans after all. Maybe they were more equal than anyone else thought.
 
It was a very surprising thought to Jay. Just about everyone who went through conversion came out happier and smiling, saying they never felt that happy before in their lives. Perhaps the threshold for negative emotions was much further away than with humans? Jay was curious to see what it felt like.
 
Without warning, the three of them, along with the rest of the cafeteria turned to the door to the administrative wing, where Garnet and Andrea had left through. A clattering of hooves on the hard floor preceded a cocoa colored mare with a cream colored mane, and a pair of wings splayed out on either side.
 
“Everyone! Everyone! I can walk! I can run!” Andrea shouted as she slid across the floor and into a table. A smile was spread across her face, her eyes frantic with delight. She struggled to her hooves and stretched out her legs. Everyone gathered around her, congratulating her and hugging her.
 
Jay was blown away. Not only was Andrea, a wheelchair bound girl, able to walk again, but she was also a pegasus now. She could fly, too.
 
“Yeah, I’ve heard this happens to humans,” Firecracker said.
 
“What?” Jay responded, confused.
 
“Yeah, humans who have injuries or handicaps have them cured through conversion. Diseases too.”
 
“Whoa,” Jay said, looking back at Andrea. She was still smiling and laughing with everyone else.
 
“Well, you two better get a move on. That history lecture is supposed to start in a little bit,” Firecracker said as he levitated his tray from the table.
 
“Wait, what? History?” Jay picked up his tray and followed Firecracker.
 
“Yeah, you gotta know at least a little bit about Equestria before you move there. Plus I hear Garnet got a special guest to help out, so I would recommend going.”
 
“I heard the same from a new guy out in the lobby,” Austin chimed in. “We should go. Not like we’re missing out on anything out here.”
 
Jay grunted. He still wanted to finish the brace for Chloe, and he wanted to finish it before everyone turned in for the night. He hated to admit it, but he was nowhere close to done. He was hoping it would be a quick build, but there were some parts and features he wanted to build into it like an angle locking mechanism that he came up with before lunch, but that would take a while just to find the parts to it.
 
Hopefully this history lesson will be over quickly, Jay thought to himself.