//------------------------------// // episode 4 part 6 adoptions, names, and fitting ends. // Story: Conversion Bureau: St George // by kryxel //------------------------------// TCB:SG 4/6 Written by Kryxel fixed by Ray10k Change is something most people have little issue with, given it takes a while. Few people indeed will respond with more than a minor grumble when, say, their favorite brand of chocolate changes the design of the wrapper. Nor will many have big problems with a multi-year project to make a big park nearby. However, just about everyone has problems with a big change happening suddenly. This was the reason why Sales was currently finding himself very confused and, quite frankly, a little afraid. After all, while he had had nearly two years to mentally prepare to give up his hands for a set of hooves, he had never expected to suddenly find himself in a body that was a good deal younger than his mind told him he was. “What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen to me? What did that white Pegasus do?” Calming down after having suddenly regressed to a toddler proved to be a bit of a challenge for Sales, but having been brought to the daycare, one of the more calm areas of the center, proved to be rather beneficial to said process. Still, at the moment Sales was (clumsily) pacing around in the playpen they had put him in, trying to calm down enough to make some sense of the situation. “Ok, Sales, calm down and think! What do you know?” Stopping his pacing, Sales started to make a list of things he knew. 1: He was a pony now. That part was a good thing. 2: He was a baby. “No, baby ponies are called foals.” A foal then. Sales was not entirely sure how he felt about that. 3: Diapers, although embarrassing, were a necessity for foals. The fact that he had been changed once already was proof of that. 4: Although he had wings, he couldn’t fly. Bit of a disappointment, but hopefully that would come later as his body grew. Again. 5: All babies learn of the world though their mouth. Then again, save for Unicorns, all ponies did. Besides, he wasn’t blind or deaf and still smart enough to obtain information through other means. 6: Although his mind was still as old as he was prior to conversion, his muscles needed to be "trained" again. On the other hoof, this meant that he could learn to use his body the way a native Equestrian would. Sales rubbed his temples as he sat down and went over the list a few times to digest the information, the mental exercise calming him enough to at least get some sleep soon. Rainbow Spring smiled at the new daycare addition. “Don’t worry Sales, you won’t be alone. I’ll be there for you.” When Spring first saw what had happened to Sales, she was more than just a little surprised. Her close human friend, suddenly turned into almost a newborn, was slowly coming out of his conversion-related stupor, only slowly finding out what had happened. When he looked up to her however, she saw only one thing: a foal without a mother. For her, the decision to adopt him had been an easy one from that moment on. Most of the people and ponies at the bureau knew how close the two of them were, and were in full support of her choice. Still, local, international and interdimensional laws would have raised a few issues in the form of a lot of bureaucracy and legal paperwork. Lucky for Spring, conversion had made things easier. As the world slowly crumbled, orphans became more and more common. Some lost their parents to accidents or violence, some were left at the doors of churches or hospitals, and in a few cases even worse things had happened. Regardless of how it happened, most orphans that survived were left in massively overpopulated and heavily understaffed centers where they got the absolute bare minimum to live another day. When the barrier appeared and the bureaus opened, a few less morally restrained owners of such houses started to bring some of their charges to the bureaus, hoping to get rid of them without any paperwork. To cope with the influx of underage and abandoned newfoals, some more flexible laws had been passed on both sides of the barrier to make adoption of newfoal orphans a lot easier. So, Spring had submitted a request to adopt a certain infant newfoal. Colgate had helped her find the right wording to use the newly created loophole, since the word of the law basically assumed that one’s age prior to conversion would be comparable to one’s biological age post conversion. Right now, the only thing standing between Spring and legal parenthood over Sales were three empty dotted lines, each of which needed to be filled with a signature. The first was without a doubt the easiest: an autograph of the current official legal guardian. Sales had no such person, so the law said the head official of the bureau he stayed at would take this role. Doctor Tennant had already expressed his support of Spring’s decision, so that signature would be just a matter of asking. Probably. Still, she hadn’t seen the good Doctor at all since the conversion, so she had become a little worried about this one. The second signature would be a little more difficult: an autograph from the mayor of whatever place the orphan in question was living in. At the moment, that position was in the hooves of Mayor Neighs, previously known as Mr. Rivers. He had signed up for conversion in a nearby Bureau a few months ago, and had discovered after some soul-searching, a few all-nighters and a shift taking the place of the lunchroom lady, that he was a Unicorn gifted in the art of making mouth-watering Sandwiches. Rumor had it that he would soon be moving to Equestria, so Spring had to hurry to get his signature since the next most likely mayor was rumored to have some connections with either the HLF or the PER, depending on who you’d ask. The last line was reserved for a signature that was relatively easy to get, but still represented an impressive task: an autograph from the official representative of Equestria. Spring sighed a little. Ever since first contact, Princess Celestia had been the one representing Equestria in any diplomatic, legal or social interaction. And while any native Equestrian knew that just sending her a letter would do fine and that she loved to help her subjects reach happiness, it was impossible to forget the fact that she’d be asking a favor from the one who gave the day its light, as long as she had been alive. Still, she had sent her request earlier that morning, and until it came back there would be little she could to other than wait. Besides, even as she was waiting, there was plenty to do as head of the bureau’s Kindergarten. "Alright little ones, bath time!" she said, a smile creeping over her muzzle as some of the foals tried to hide. ------------------------- Terrence walked alongside Victorious Shield. Shield had heard some rumor of the conversion going different, and managed to obtain a few parts of the story behind it. Terrance, who came looking for Sales to celebrate his recent conversion, had ran into him. So now the two roommates were discussing the strange case of Sales Kital’s conversion. "Well, that is... unexpected. I mean, it’s not something that happens every day. It’s not even an option normally, far as I know...” Terrence said, idly playing with his Stetson. "I guess they can now offer it. Although, I don’t know how many people want to go through potty training again. " Victor said with a slight chuckle. "If you think about it, every human who becomes a pony has to, in a way. They know the basics alright, but learning how to lift your tail out of the way... A new thing to add to the basics I guess. " Doctor Tennant suddenly bolted around the corner, hardly slowing his pace as he continued dashing down the hallway. "Oh, hello boys! If you see my pony self, tell him I did not go this way. Tell him I went to... Barcelona! Doctor’s orders!" the Doctor shouted before he disappeared around another corner, leaving behind a rather confused Terrance and a slightly befuddled Victorious. "Weird... Anywho! We have you and Sales converted now. One a Unicorn, the other a baby Pegasus... What do you think Hal and I will get?" Terrence said, trying to reanimate the conversation. "Well, you will possibly also be a Pegasus. I mean, you are rather protective of those you care about, you are fine working on jobs alone, all sorts of things that Pegasi seem to have. Hal would be a, let’s see, a slug! Or a piece of mold... huh." Victory said, suddenly turning a bit pensive. “Everything ok? You seem a bit out of it,” Terrance asked. “Yeah, I’m fine. It is just, I don’t- I mean, I can’t really enjoy thinking of watching him suffer for no other reason than him being a jerk. I guess that must be a non-pony thing, enjoying the thought of other people’s misery...” Terrance thought about it for a moment. “Then, how about this? He seems to have no respect for the fair sex, so how about he becomes a mare? Also, because he is always a bit mean to kids, what if he became a young filly?” Victorious thought about it, a slight smile forming on his lips. “That... that feels a bit more reasonable. A somewhat fair punishment for his crimes and mistakes doesn’t sound too bad...” At that moment, Doctor Whooves came barreling around the corner. "Don’t worry, I won’t bother asking you two where he went. But if you do see ‘me’ again, I want you to tell my past self that if he does not get to that meeting pronto, we won’t be able to get everything some ponies quite badly need. Also, tell him that running for me is pointless, and not just for the usual reasons!" The brown pony said as he galloped past the two males. "And again, weird," Terrence said before turning towards Victorious. "Anyway, care to try your luck at a game of battleclouds?” "Sure. Just don’t cry when I kick your flank all the way to Cloudsdale," Victor said with a massive grin. "Oh, you think you can beat me?" "I know for a fact that I can!" "Then how about we make it a little more interesting. How about a bet. Loser has to... " ------------------------- Sales ran around, trying to catch Spring's tail. At the moment, the foals were all playing with their parents. Normally she would take a moment off, but right now she had joined in, bonding further with the now-tiny Sales. She giggled, moving her tail so Sales would always miss only by a hair’s width. Sales had, for now, come to terms with his situation. Ever since the attack, he had been blaming himself for what happened that day, felling guilty for the death of his parents. The dream he had during his conversion was simple though: remember, but don’t stop moving forward. So now he found himself coming to terms with having a new mother, even if he would never forget his real parents. Spring grew thoughtful for a moment. "You know, Sales, I was wondering what we should call you now. ‘Sales’ is not really a pony name..." Sales paused, ignoring the tail, as he scratched his chin in thought. "Dawabana!" Sales said, pointing over to the almost room-sized bookcase in the main lobby. "Book Case? Why would you want to be called that?" Spring asked. Sales slapped his forehead, and started trying to push open the glass door. Sadly, he quickly found himself far too weak, even when he started to flutter his tiny wings. Spring smiled, seeing her soon-to-be son trying so hard. "Here, let me help." She pushed the door open and followed Sales as the little Pegasus was scanning the massive bookcase in front of him. After a moment, he spotted his quarry on the second shelf from the ground. Forcing his body to work as hard as it could, he managed to float up to the shelf, his wings beating as fast as those of a hummingbird. He managed to put one of his forelegs on top of the book, but when he trid to pull it out he found it was stuck between its neighbors. Spring walked up to him, taking a closer look at the book Sales was struggling to pull off the shelf. Igniting her horn, she levitated the book down to the floor. The cover showed a Pegasus, the splitting image of Sales save for age, with a heart-shaped shield cutiemark on his flank as he reared up on his hind legs, fighting off tendrils of something black reaching out to him as the sun rose on the other side of the cover, making him almost glow. Above his head, a banner declared the title of the book as “Forgotten light,” An entry in a series that was a little less famous than Daring Doo, about a Pegasus who repeatedly prevented the end of Equestria as a knight in Celestia’s service. Rainbow spring picked up the book and flipped through the pages, her eyes landing on the introduction of the protagonist. "Silver Aura... I like the sound of that," she said, gently nuzzling Sales. “No, not Sales anymore. My son, Silver Aura.” ////////////////// Ray 10k here. First of all, I’d like to apologize for the last half of this chapter. I was completely hammered when I wrote it, so be glad I didn’t write like Roxy Lalonde. (FYI, “completely hammered” means “I had two beers” to me.) Second, regarding the discussion Vic and T had, they’d probably be surprised how many would ask for that option if conversion was something that was happening today. < NSFW warning! > do NOT look up “infantilism” at work. Yes, it is a thing. < / NSFW warning! > Thirdly, why was Doctor Tennant running? Well, let’s ask my good old friend, the RED medic! *record starts* “So, why was he running?” “HA HA HA! I HAVE NO IDEA!!” *end of record* Finally, I am just about done moving into my new house. Internet will be connected sometime this week, so until then updates will be slow. Regardless, my school doesn’t care a lot about what we do with the internet connection they offer, as long as we turn in our assignments on time ;-). Ray10k out! ------------ kryxel here. first. homestuck refrence. gold. second: who wouldnt want the chance to become younger? i mean girls and guys both buy the "anti ageing" creame third: when does the doctor NOT run? also because he does not like meetings and having a "routine"