The Conversion Bureau: The Land Downunder
By Da Bunnana King
Chapter eight: It’s all in your head
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“Alex, you are a bloody mad man, you know that?” Asked Bruce as he put my Colt 1911 on the table, alongside a knife.
“Well, it is a good plan,” I said, picking up the pistol and checking the magazine, “Two rounds... dammit.”
“I’m telling you, its a bad idea. You’re going to get stabbed in the back, you know,” he pleaded with me, pushing the gun gently down to the table.
“I know; but in the end I am.” I said slamming my fists on the table, “going to be a pony. I’m just going to talk to them to see if they will help. I mean the PER does have a thing out no the HLF, so what’s the worst that could go wrong?”
“They forcefully convert you.”
“I’ll end up as a pony at the end of the week anyway, so it doesn’t matter that much.”
“Most minds can’t stand being forcibly converted. Some ponies come out super happy and brain bleached or some come out confused and they never properly adjust to ponydom... and some just never wake up at all.”
“Yeah but I really am ready to be ponified.” I said, pulling my hands away and strapping the combat knife to my left thigh.
“Alex, please don’t’, You have so much to live for; Don’t do this. Look - just stay here for the night and get your head on straight. Please” he asked, putting, my pistol back on the table for the final time.
“Fine... but in the morning, I’m leaving. No ifs, ands, or buts.” I said, taking off the holster and the knife and leaving them with Bruce before leaving the room.
===
I walked back into the cafeteria, only to see the dead corpses and spent rounds on the ground from the firefight earlier. Knowing that ponies wouldn’t want to see a room full of corpses I took it upon myself to get them out of the room and give them a proper burial.
‘Why would you even do such a thing Alex... They were regular people like you and me,’ said the voice that began to sound more and more like a mares voice.
‘They were before they joined the HLF. Now they’re monsters... just like me.’
‘Alex you’re not a monster; Alex, you had to do that deed.’
“I AM A GODDAMN MONSTER! I FUCKING MURDERED ALL THOSE PEOPLE AND GOT MY FAMILY KILLED, DAMMIT! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed, at the voice that was in my head.
I stood there shocked at what I had done; I had just yelled at a voice that talked to me. A voice that seemed to be my own thought but, wasn’t my own, it also sounded like a woman.
“What... what are you?” I asked, as my world began to crumble around me.
‘Call me Rose... and I am you Alex. I have always been with you.’ Rose said, as I could hear hooves hitting the linoleum floor.
“Alex, are you alright?!” said Caramel, as she galloped through the door, not phased at all by the corpses that I had been moving.
“Yeah... yeah... I’m alright...” I lied, but she could see straight through it.
“No you’re not. Now tell me honey; what is on your mind?” she said, ushering me over to a table away from the corpses and the blood stain that my friend had left.
“Well you got one part right there,” I said, taking a seat on the lunchroom table as I buried my head in my hands.
“What do you mean?” she asked, sitting next to me on her haunches and putting her foreleg around me to give me a hug.
“Well, ever since orientation a... a voice in my head has been talking to me. Heck, it even has its own voice and name.”
“Well I’m no psychologist, but I think it’s all the stress. You were just attacked and stabbed tonight.”
“Yeah... I guess so.”
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” she pressed,
“Yeah you could say so,” I replied, letting out a long breath out as I felt my burdens slowly being lifted off my shoulders.
“Well, spit it out.”
“The whole ponifiying myself. I mean, I know it cures all and in the end, all of humanity will becoming ponies; but could I be a good pony with all the evil I have done?”
“You’re not evil, no one said you were... you’re just being hard on yourself.”
“Look at the bodies behind you, and the bloodstains on the wall and ground. I did that; I brought the HLF here. I got my parents killed... I am not a good person.”
“Alex, it wasn’t your fault that the HLF came here; nor was it when your parents were attacked,” She said, comforting me.
“It is. Heck, I lead them right to the house, I even had my rifle with me. But I let my guard down, and then... then...” I stuttered, as tears began to form and roll down my face and the horrible day began to reveal itself before me again.
===
It was a silent night; the acid rain was making a soft pitter patter under the ceramic roof tiles. I was lying on my bed on a small holo-computer that I had manage to get off Jude who no longer needed because it was outdated, but I didn’t care; it worked just fine. I also had on my bed a pamphlet on this new thing called a Conversion Bureau.
I had considered going there myself, as most of my comrades and superior officers had gone there already. I began to look into it more as I felt something at the back of my head saying, ‘go for it.’ Even one of my friends Connah decided to sign up; He turned out as an earth pony, and worked as a baker in a town called Hoofington.
“Tango three,” I heard a voice whisper, braking my concentration. I got up from my bed and looked out the window to see four men with silenced submachine guns at my screen door. They were dressed in black jumpsuits with a tactical vest overtop, and had night vision goggles on.
“Oh fuck,” I said, before they shot at the glass. I jumped backwards over the bed and looked for my service rifle that I’d brought home with me. Sadly it wasn’t there, but next to the screen door.
“The boss wants him and the family alive, you moron! Now get them!” One of them yelled, the others complied and began to bash the screen door open.
“Shit shit shit shit shit.” I said to myself, grabbing my sidearm and running toward my parents room that was only ten meters away, only to be stopped by a large man who clotheslining me.
“Remember me?” he asked, before punching me in the face knocking me out cold.
===
Pain; pain was all I felt. My whole body ached, and it was the worst in my face. Once again, I received a punch to the mouth; I could feel one of my teeth break and the flavour of blood mixed with my saliva.
“This is what you get for being a pony fag, and going against the Human Liberation Front.” The one beating me said after spitting in my eye.
“Go... to... hell,” I managed to say, before being kneed in the gut.
“Well, I might as well send you before me,” He said, as he motioned the two other assassin to let me go. I dropped to the ground and I felt my rib cage fracture as his boot struck me in the chest.
“Mark, let up. The boss wants him alive,” One of the faceless assassins said to his assistance.
“Yeah, we may as well bring out. He won’t want to miss this,” He said, picking me up by my arms and dragging me outside on the the back veranda.
I saw both my parents who were beaten badly, but I had a feeling that this was the end; mum was crying now, and dad was on the verge of it but was holding a brave face.
What seemed to be the leader of the group walked out in front of us with a high powered Browning pistol in his right hand. I knew that this was the end of the road for us.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here boys; the pony - loving faggot and his family,” he said as he walked over to me, “ Now, tell me - What made you think that you were safe from the HLF?”
“An AA-12 next to the bed, and the 31st SASR squadron.” I struggled to say, as my breathing became laboured.
“Alex. Alex. Alex... You know that we do have friends in your company and within that building that you barely leave.”
“Well... fuck... you then,” I said, before being pistol whipped in the face, I felt my nose broke and the smell of blood overwhelming my senses.
“SILENCE!” He screamed at me, taking time to readjust himself.
“Now where was I?” he said walking over to my father, who was now being dragged out in front of my mother and myself by two men.
“Ah thats right,” he said putting the pistol against my fathers forehead, “Any last words?”
“I hope Satan is extra hard on you in Hell, you evil bastard.” my father said, before his head snapped back.
“DAD!” I yelled as I struggled to get up, only to be hit in the back, bringing me back down to the ground in pain, I said looking at him and his pistol which was now soaking in my fathers blood, “I’ll kill you and your whole family.”
“I’d like to see you try,” He said, before signalling to the others to drag my father’s corpse away, “Bring the bitch here.”
“I’m going to hang you from your own intestines.” I vowed, as my mother screamed as she was dragged out.
“Any last words?” he asked as he put the barrel to her bruised and bleeding head,
She just remained silent. Staring down the gun of the barrel, showing no fear.
“No? Well then say hello to your husband for me,” he said, before he pulled the trigger.
“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” I yelled again, as a man lifted me to my feet.
“Take her away.” he said pulling a rope with a noose in it, “Now, back in the old west of America, most criminals were hung from the gallows or trees.”
“What are you implyi...” I said, before I was cut off by a kick to the gut.
“Didn’t your whore of a mother teach you not to interrupt others? Now, as I was saying, when there weren't any gallows they would hang criminals from trees but letting their toes touch the ground,” he said as he put the noose around my neck and threw it over a metal girder that supported the roof. He hoisted it until my toes were the only thing supporting me from suffocating to death.
“After a while they would become tired and hang themselves. Slowly. Now I think you know how your story ends. Goodbye, Alejandro Linstrom; see you in Hell.” The leader laughed, and walked away, flanked by the assassins as I was left there struggling to stand up and to breath.
===
“Nonononononononono.” I said, as I rocked back and forth in a fetal position not too far away from the table.
“Alex, please calm down.” A brown pony with a black mane and light blue eyes said to me as he shook me,
“What? Jude, is that you?” I asked, as I poked his muzzle.
“Oww, and yes.” He said as he accidentally punched himself in the jaw, “Owww. Darn hooves are really really hard.”
“Don’t worry Jude, you’ll get used to them.” said Caramel, as she patted Jude’s back, “Now, it’s nearly midnight so I suggest you both go to your rooms; and since both of you are sharing a room, I think Jude can show you to your room while I talk to Bruce.”
“Alright Miss Caramel; let's go Al.” Jude said as he pushed me out of the room with his head.
“Jesus Christ Jude, when did you get strong?” I asked, as I knew I was a healthy 60 kilograms.
“All Earthponies are really strong, didn’t you know that?”
“No.”
“Oh yeah, first day here... don’t worry they’ll teach you everything tomorrow; but why were you crying earlier?” he asked, as he lead me down the hallway to the dorm rooms.
“I relived the day that my parents were killed, and I got hung,” I said, as I bumped and tripped over him.
“What? Wait, if you were hung, then how are you still here?”
“Well,” I said as I pulled myself together, “One of the patrol groups were dispatched to me as my lifesigns went dark, and there were reporting of VIP HLF targets in my area. So they came and found me, cut me down, and took me to a Bureau as one of them found the pamphlet for one on my bed.”
“Oh, so thats how your mum got ponified then... but why didn’t you?”
“Revenge,” I said, as we arrived at the room.
“But he was still alive today.”
“I was also on the run at the time... but now the time has come to exact it,” I said, as I jumped onto a bed.
“Alex, please don’t leave us. Please.” He begged, as he trotted up to the bed and pulled a sad face that nearly made me shed a tear.
“We shall see in the morning, after breakfast and a shave. Goodnight Jude,” I said, as I closed my eyes and drifted into a somewhat peaceful sleep.
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Authors Notes: Wow this took a bit longer than expected. So be sure to thank Silvertie, JaySteeny, Aegis and MidnightShadow for their editing and funny comments(I’m looking at you Shadow.) So I will be trying to write some more until then the bush calls me to survive in it.
BUNNANA AWWWAAAAYYY!!!
-Bunnana King