//------------------------------// // Her Finale // Story: The Conversion Bureau: A Mare's Tail // by HiddenBrony //------------------------------//         Fifteen minutes until the requested time, Violet finally clicked the radio of the Toyota off and ran her hand through her hair. It was everything she could do to not pay attention in any way, shape, or form to the back of the truck bed as she did, not wishing to even see the tousled sheets and blankets. “Just over a day,” she mused, but then again, Twinkle had decided that she would act decidedly non-pony. And after running a Conversion Bureau where there were bound to be couples arriving, and more specifically, new couples leaving after a night of ‘christening’ their pony bodies, Violet didn’t much blame the unicorn for her limited view of humans.         It was just embarrassing that she was right about their behavior.         Still, she holstered her handgun she received from Jorge and checked her gas mask. If things went down a bad way, she wanted to be ready. And considering unless the good Lieutenant felt like being a friendly guy and came quietly, she expected some sort of bullets to fly. Likely at her, but that was just something she had to deal with.         It’s not like it would be a change of pace for her at this point. Sighing through her nose, Violet mentally berated herself for not taking her hour to sleep soundly, or at least try, but all things considered she had been rather productive. She had found which magazines were interchangeable, finding that Jorge’s gun and the gun of the fallen soldier were not, but somehow the gunman’s magazine was the exact fit for Rose’s handgun. Spinning in her seat, Violet reached over and turned the truck on, shifting the headlights on in the failing daylight. Catching sight and sound, the ponies who were mulling about got up and moved toward the truck, Rose taking a moment to stop Rusty from getting in the cabin.         “No way, no how lover-boy. You sit in the back, where it smells of you,” Rose ordered, tripping over her hooves as she struggled to figure out which limb went where when it came to seating herself in a place meant for humans. Still, she ended up in a very close approximation of how Twinkle and Rusty sat, and soon reached a hoof out and closed the door, sighing wistfully as she did. “Don’t crash into anything, I don’t know how airbags react to ponies.”         Looking about the cabin, Violet shrugged. “Neither do I, Rose. Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?” she teased, but the ponified girl merely stuck her tongue out at the human - a comparatively tame response to her usual fare. Leaning back, Violet slipped the back window open as she saw Rusty assisted into the back with Twinkle. “Hey Twinkle, how good are you at enchanting ropes into a lasso?”         The pink pony in question hopped up onto the bed in the back, giving Violet an odd look. “Completely and utterly useless,” she said, deadpan. A moment later, she slapped a hoof to her face in exasperation, “Oh sweet Celestia you’re rubbing off on me.”         “Relish in it, girl!” Rose called back, her head forward as she drummed her hoof on the dashboard. “So, Violet, you were on that radio for awhile, I take it the Lieutenant was a hard sell?” Violet turned to meet her gaze, but soon shrugged it off. “Not really, I haven’t even contacted him yet, but right now the worst case scenario is on a hairpin trigger, and the only thing I’ve got right now is my voice.”         Rose grimaced, putting a hoof in her face as she rubbed it around. “So you’re gonna have to talk a madman down, or he’ll dump what is basically poison all over Santa Fe. Great plan, V. Real foolproof.” Violet smirked, reaching down for the radio as she shifted channels. Rose raised an eyebrow, turning over to the human. “So wait, I heard you talking - who were you talking to?”         With a smile, Violet gave a soft wink. “It really wasn’t that hard to guess what was going on, so I asked Twinkle about how she used to get in contact with the IHSA, and I kinda... extrapolated from there.” Pulling out of the store, the light sound of helicopter blades could still be heard as the truck started its trek through the city. “However, there are two things I need to get cleared out of the way, and the rest I’ll explain along the way.”         Making sure everything was set accordingly, the girl popped her radio on as she raised the receiver to her mouth. “Alright, Lt. Standish, I got a couple demands, and if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna go ahead and give them. See, turns out having a crack team of pony professionals with me is great for the karma, and things have been really working out in my favor since you said you wanted me dead. Oh, and thanks for the warning and an hour to prepare, great military genius that is.”         “Of course, you’re not really in the military. Not anymore, Sammy. Funny thing about going rogue, kinda strips you of your rank and pisses a lot of people off. So don’t think you’re safe out east anymore where the magic’s a bit thinner than here.” Violet watched the look on Rose’s face, gauging her reaction as she spoke. “Also, how’s the gas up there? You didn’t have time to refuel what little resources you had back at base, and I know you don’t have any AI units laying around to automate that shit. So let’s see, a trip to Albuquerque, a trip back, and now you’ve been hovering over Sante Fe for almost an hour after a rousing game of cat and mouse - where the mouse happened to kill a number of cats with a gun and a pick-up.”         “So here’s the deal, Standish. You meet me at the Bataan Building. Then we’ll kinda go from there. And as an incentive not to throw a bitch fit, this is literally the only option you have in staying alive to see the sunset. Toodles!” Clicking the radio off, the girl hung the receiver up and turned the radio off, taking all her willpower in not throwing the device out the window to prove a point.         However, that all didn’t quite sit well with a certain puce pegasus. “The hell was that?”         Violet smirked, pouring on the accelerator. “Common sense. He didn’t have any to start, so why not use my own against him?” Violet spent the next ten minutes outlining her plan, and then spent the next two hundred feet toward the building. “And lastly, I haven’t the slightest clue where the hell Arovista Park is.”         -----         Violet stood on the lower roof of the Bataan building, taking great pride in her state; to have built such a monument that, unlike some of the other fixtures of society, had decidedly stayed strong despite weathering and misuse. She felt almost bad that it was likely not to look as nice as it did when she arrived. “Mom would be furious,” she tittered, remembering her mother’s old motto. Always leave things how you left it... “Ponies not withstanding, Mom.”         Keeping an eye to the sky, eventually the girl saw the incoming helicopter, popping up from below a low hilltop. Violet felt quite proud of herself for evading capture in such a city - there weren’t too many tall buildings in Sante Fe, having only just released the restrictions on building heights a couple years prior to first contact. It made her smile, despite her given situation, a last shred of pride to take from this day. Her grandpa would be proud of her.         Making herself seen on the roof of the building, Violet soon brought herself close to a wall that would separate her and the helicopter, not allowing the man to take any sort of pot shot at her from his flying perch. The chopper circled the building a couple times before a low whine exhumed from the vehicle, and it wasn’t long at all before the human found herself with some company on the rooftops. Stepping out a little bit, Violet watched the man carefully as he exited the helicopter, his normal demeanor completely removed. However, he didn’t have a gun immediately drawn, so Violet took a step out into the open. She smirked as she resisted the urge to cross her arms, keeping her hand glued to her side, near the holster. “Good to see you, Sammy.”         “Lieutenant Standish, bitch,” the man seethed, his hand reaching for his gun. Just as quickly, Violet grabbed hold of the agent’s grip, raising her hand out and shaking her finger. “Nah-uh-uh, Sammy.” Her eyes flashed toward the pilot, who was obviously making no moves to interact between the two. She was glad that he was narcissistic enough to ride along in the helicopter. “I’m here to give you one chance to surrender, come quietly, and maybe you can live the rest of your days in jail. Or, you can die here, today, with no hope of a future, and your name to be tarnished from the records of history.” Standish shook his head through gritted teeth, his hand coming to rest on his gun. “You have no idea what you’re doing, girl! There are bigger things at play here, and you won’t stop it! Humanity is a dying breed, and it will go out gloriously! There will only be the best there is when we finally burn out. I’m doing good work.” “You’re doing shit other than committing genocide. Where else have you made your little test runs? There are tons of little towns and cities around here with dwindling human populations. They can’t all of been HLF!” Violet defended, her hand coming in full grips with the metal beneath it. “What was left either were or they refused us. Sloths! Roaches!” Standish barked his words like an animal, giving Violet legitimate pause. “You haven’t seen them, these useless bones, dwindling their days on what was, instead of what is! I tried to save them - ponies are a salvation for the pests! They weed out the weak and make them strong!” He was shaking now, his head nodding in agreement to his own words. Violet took a step back, her eyes furrowed. Her mind echoed the words of Jorge as she felt his gun concealed behind her, held there by her belt. Things have been getting riled up as of late - the brass says it’s the magic in the atmosphere, makin’ things go wild!         “Samuel, look-” Violet began, but soon found her words cut off as the sound of engines caught her ear. Looking about, the girl saw a number of cars, trucks, and the damaged semi coming up the road. “Oh sweet Christ... Tell me you didn’t...”         The ex-Lieutenant laughed aloud, “Oh, say my choices are to die or go peacefully? Well lemme present option number three - where you die, and I get back to my superiors and tell them our little mess has been cleaned up.” Drawing out his gun, Violet quickly withdrew her own and pointed at the man, turning herself sideways as she did. At the moment, the man merely chuckled. “What, you think standing that way makes you look good shootin’, hunny?”         “Not really, but I’m the one with the gun trained on you, so any sudden movements and I’ll blow your head off-” However, Violet wasn’t actually prepared for any sudden movements, and Standish quickly fired his gun, missing by a mile as the bullet collided with the wall behind Violet as he emptied his clip willy-nilly at the girl. Dashing toward some cover, Violet aimed down the sights of her weapon and shot off a couple rounds until she heard the tell-tale click of an empty chamber, swearing lightly as she dropped the magazine and put in Rose’s ammo clip, having expected the soldier’s clip to have held more bullets. “Son of a Bitch runs a shit ship,” she cursed, peering from behind cover. As she did, she reached behind her back and produced the gas mask.         “You’re a damn poor shot, hunny.” Standish laughed, the engines nearby roaring as they neared the building. “It’s a good thing my men are trained shots. It won’t take them long to down a couple of fuckin’ ponies.”         Violet smirked, keeping her head down. “Who said they were here?” As she kept behind the wall that kept her from Standish’s bullets, she heard a loud, high pitched ‘pssssh’ sound that could only come from a leaky gas valve. “And what makes you think I was aiming for you?” Or in her case, a crack caused by a bullet in an otherwise pressurized container full of gaseous ponification serum that was currently leaking into the air. Strapping her mask on, Violet took a second to peer at the hissing container, before ducking back under cover at the sound of gunfire.         Turning around, Standish could see the crack in the container, and that much pressure trying to force itself out of one container could only mean one thing. Taking her chance, the girl only had one shot to make it count, her mind buzzing with the idea that with all the men surrounding the building, her friends weren’t going to survive an attack, no matter her bluff toward the Lieutenant. Looking down her sights, the girl reflected how yesterday had started out like any other these past few years. Always in a fog, never remembering one moment after another. She barely remembered her time at the Tower, except for Alfred. He must be worried sick by now, she mused, her eye trained on the plume of purple smoke as the militarily dressed man started to wheel about. What an awful time she had over the last two days. Breaking down and crying in front of so many ponies in front of the Bureau... not to mention in front of Rusty and Twinkle. And then she was chased down by a semi-truck! But it wasn’t all bad. She saved the life of Rose, and she made friends with two very special ponies. She felt herself inwardly laugh. Guess it was three very special ponies now. The hammer fell, her gun twitching with the recoil of the explosion in her hand. To be fair, it reminded her of the initial hit of the semi against the back of Rusty’s Ford. That poor stallion, his feet are still bruised from bucking that grill, and no amount of modified socks is going to change that for at least a week. Still, he did eventually help dislodge the semi, instead of taking the truck with it. Violet wondered if she had thanked him for it. Twinkle sure had, that’s for sure. To think, only a day had gone by since some self-imposed imprisonment, and here she was, shooting at the best made plans by some terrorist cell. What a tale this was. The bullet collided perfectly along the crack, exposing a much larger hole in the exterior of the container, fitted just inside the open door of the helicopter that Standish so graciously left open for her. The hole created, the pressure was let out in an explosive manner as the metal casing exploded inside the helicopter. Standish threw himself to the ground, a wave of purple mist washing over him as another explosion erupted from the helicopter, and another - every tank of serum had exploded, until the entire aerial vehicle erupted in a fireball, its fuel tank gauged by flying metal shards. Making sure her mask was on proper, the girl let herself get washed in the mist, the thick fog raining over the building and cascading down toward the vehicles below. Three square miles of ponification serum all dumped in one spot, the cloud made its way around the assembled soldiers, completely taken off-guard by the rushing debris that fell over them. Despite the mask, Violet breathed very little, unsure if the headgear could take sure high amounts of potion, and she was unwilling to test its limits. All she knew was that there was little else to see outside the mist, and very slowly picked herself up to her feet. Looking about, the purple haired girl could hear the screams of the soldiers below as the were forcefully put through ponification. She didn’t wish such a fate on them, but she knew it was them or her friends, and there was no silver lining that could save both groups. Exhaling deeply, the girl replaced a little air in her lungs as she moved toward the burning wreckage next to the tower. The helicopter had literally blown a hole through the wall, exposing the staircase within. If anything, it gave Violet another way down. Tossing Rose’s gun to the side, she didn’t much think there were bullets left in it anyway. “Violet?” a voice called, the human girl identifying it as the voice of Twinkle. The unicorn appeared nearby, her head just barely above the ponification smoke around her, the thick gas barreling past them as Twinkle made her way over to her friend. “What the hell happened to the plan? I was going to rip the gun from like I did the agent, and we could have stopped him!”         Violet sighed deeply, shaking her head in response. “He surrounded us, Twinkle. There was so little we could do with all of his forces here, I had to make a decision - them, or us. It may have meant less lives... but I’m not going to regret it. Besides, maybe some of them will live on as ponies.”         Twinkle gave her a very disapproving stage, but Violet ignored it as best she could. “Sometimes, Twinkle, you have to take what little victories you can. He wasn’t... right, in the head. I don’t think there was any reasoning with him, gun or no.”         Twinkle sighed openly, but soon waived her hoof around, pushing the smoke this way and that. “I’m sure all this potion isn’t healthy for anypony, even you in your mask. Do you think we should just leave Standish up here-”         Bang.         There was a scream as a bits of pale pink pony flew off of Twinkle, the pony dropping to the ground under a mist of purple. Spinning around, Violet could see the form of a man in a gas mask, heaving deeply as he held a gun in his hand as a low chuckle emanated from below his mask.         “You will call me by my proper name and rank! Lieutenant Standish!” he bellowed as Violet stumbled back. Her mind clicking into fight or flight mode, Violet reached for the gun Jorge gave her and whipped it out, firing a blind shot toward the Lieutenant. Clipping his side, the bullet cut the man along his waistline, causing him to fall to his knee a moment. However, before Violet had time to react, Standish pointed his gun at her again, and she could feel the bullet whiz through her hair.         Breathing Twinkle’s name, the girl spun about, taking off for the hole in the wall, trying her best to ignore the heat coming from the burning wreckage or the bullets as they collided with the wall next to her. As she reached the stairs, Violet instinctively started to head down the steps, before pausing as her foot hit the first stair. Rose and Rusty were still inside, and she couldn’t rightly lead Standish to them. Looking up, Violet dashed up the steps along the tower wall and checked the magazine Jorge had left for her. Just a single bullet left, she could feel it. Taking off up the stairs, she could hear the heavy footsteps of the man she had come to hate so much come stumbling up the stairs after her. “Come here, hunny! Option three is still open, bitch! We gave your plan a try, now give mine! It’s only fair!”         “Fuck off!”         Reaching the roof of the tower, Violet looked about in a tizzy. Head high above the weighty purple serum, Violet couldn’t stand the restricted breathing the mask was giving her. Ripping off the mask, Violet took great gulps of fresh air as she eyed the entrance she came by, waiting, watching for her antagonist. Her eyes scanned the roof below, the billowing smoke and purple mist making it hard to see. Down below, however, she could see the a faint outline of the fallen unicorn, bolstering Violet’s resolve. She would see this through. Crouching low, her mind suddenly through of the mist, and she suddenly jumped to her feet. She didn’t even know if she was safe anymore.         “What took you so long, Violet?” The girl felt a shiver run down her spine as Standish called up to her. “It’s been so many years. Why now?” Violet wiped her forehead with her forearm and kept her gun trained on the entrance to the roof. “I think I know why. It’s because you’re just like them. Another weak and pathetic sloth. You’re a blight on humanity. You’re worse than the HLF! You are worthless.”         Violet froze. She was not. She had driven the truck from the maw of the lorry. She had saved Rose from the fall off the expressway. She evaded trained personnel in an urban setting and outsmarted an officer. She was so not worthless. Aiming the weapon, the girl strode forward, catching glimpse of the man’s upper body as she called upon thunder. Pulling the trigger, Violet’s bullet cut itself through the man’s collarbone cracking his left side. Holding the weapon where she fired it, Violet stared hard at the man as he took another step forward. And another.         And another.                  Fear welled in her heart as Standish kept moving, his body bleeding profusely. Stepping unto the top of the tower, he raised his gun at Violet, his left hand reaching up and tearing his mask off his face. “Ahh... Fresh air...!” he called out, his eyes unfocused. “Hello, Violet. I’m here to kill you.”         Violet remained still, her eyes hard on Standish’s face. “Yeah, I gathered that much. I’m just happy you’ll die long before you get attention for that wound,” she snorted, the man’s face contorting to anger.         “No! I am strong! I am the best humanity has to offer!” he shouted, his gun starting to tremble in his hand.         “Then humanity isn’t worth anything.”         “Violet!” Rose shouted, the pitterpatter of hooves signifying the rush that Rusty and Rose were making up the stairs. “We can’t find Twinkle and-” The ponies stopped short of the entrance, seeing Standish move his gun toward Rose’s forehead.         Standish’s smile never wavered. “If I am worth nothing, these ponies are worth less than nothing!” Violet felt everything at once. Pain, anger, sadness... Rose had had enough happen. She was going to be okay. She would will it into existence if she had to, but that pegasus would live! Standish went to pull the trigger. A loud snap. A scream. Holding his left arm, Standish felt another unnatural snap issue forth from his forearm, his fingers on his left hand starting to meld into his palms. “W-what is-” Along his side, the cut where Violet’s bullet had torn into his skin shimmered and bubbled with serum, providing direct access to his bloodstream. “N-no! I can’t! I’m the best!” His right arm shot out again, the gun again trained upon Rose. “I. Am. The. Best!” Violet couldn’t care less. Lunging forward, the girl collided with the man, pushing his hand out of the way as the bullet fired harmlessly into space. However, the two kept going, crashing into the old wooden railing. Their momentum shared, the two humans tumbled over the side, the screams of dismay coming from both pegasus pony and Earth pony. The two humans found themselves plummeting towards the ground. Violet sighed as she found herself falling through the air, closing her eyes as she dreamed she could fly. She really did want to be a pegasus; to fly through the air, not a care in the world. Standing on clouds would be cool too, taking naps on assembled droplets of water. And she could fly to and from Equestria as she pleased - she never really had to leave her home, just visit people, places. She’d soar through the air, maybe see if she couldn’t gather up a bunch of pegasi and make a city out in the Atlantic, or in the Pacific near Hawaii. Maybe she’d even take Albert up on that date. His letter had alluded as much. She hoped he’d find a mare that would actually appreciate him a bit more than she did, though. When he disappeared, Violet didn’t even go looking for him. That’s why she was in this mess in the first place, really. Because she had gone and let herself be closed off to the world. Violet smirked. Well, never again, she promised herself. For as long as she lived, she’d be very open with everyone, and actually try and enjoy life this time around. Violet got a chuckle out of that. What was there to enjoy in the time it took the hit the sidewalk? Certainly not classical music, she’d never make it through a... what was it called? Certainly not a verse, or a line. Oh, she was never any good at music. But she could act. Perhaps she could admire the works of Sir Anthony Hopkins? Now there was an actor who could command a stage or a film. Violet wondered if ponies had movies, or actors. She remembered having some conversation with Albert about it. It was like it was yesterday. Ah, it actually was yesterday. It’s how he got his cutie mark. It was comedy. Opening her eyes, Violet looked toward the direction gravity was pulling her, her body encompassed in the gas below. Funny. Violet guessed hers would have been tragedy.