Conversion Bureau: St George

by kryxel


episode 5 part 5 MINECRAFT: let our battles begin

The winds shifted across the empty plains, the faint breeze barely stirring the tall grasses covering the hillsides, an endless peaceful ocean of green.
Lindie found herself here, her silver hair forming the only contrast against the backdrop of the unending meadows surrounding her.
As she rose to her feet, she found herself surrounded by the Herd, the ideals of ponykind forming a circle of almost ghostlike ponies around her.

For one endless moment they simply stood there, all eyes focused on her as if they were looking straight into the very depths of her soul. Then, with the sound of a hundred hooves striking the ground in perfect unison, they started to run.

At first, Lindie could only try to keep up, but as the run continued she noticed her arms stretching until they hit the ground, her hands and feet turning to hooves as she joined the herd, and the herd joined her.

Through the valleys and over the hills they ran, for a moment that lasted a lifetime, until they reached a tall cliff stretching out over an ocean reaching to the horizon and beyond. No pony in the herd slowed down however, as they raced over the edge of the cliff and into the sky, chasing the setting sun.

Lindie ran along them, the herd becoming clouds that carried her ever further towards the eternal sun, and for the first time in years she experienced something she had almost forgotten:

Joy.

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As she ran into the light of the setting sun, Lindie felt the clouds under her hooves giving way to... something that felt suspiciously much like grass, but at the same time felt distinctly wrong somehow. Looking down, she saw a pair of slightly translucent hooves standing on what appeared to be a picture of grass.
No way, it has been ages since I... She looked up, taking a closer look at her surroundings. From where she was standing, an endless world of blocky hills and strangely square trees spread out in front of her. To anyone else it would have been just some random playground, but to her it was something more.

“My first minecraft world!”

After she had scraped together her first computer, the first game she played on it had been minecraft, and laid out before her was the world she had come to love so much.

Due to a small bug, her world had a pair of rivers colliding with each other, making a small island right in the middle. She walked down the familiar path, crossing a self-restoring bridge (created after one too many creeper explosions ruining the old bridge) and walking past a piece of farmland as she reached her pride and joy: her old house.

Many others would have built a square of cobblestone, or some elaborate mansion. Lindie however had opted to build a giant computer tower in the middle of her island, made from dyed-black wool, some glass and a few other odds and ends to decorate it. As a matter of fact, the house had started her tradition of turning the virtual reality of her newer computers into a similar (albeit more detailed) construction.

She climbed through the door on the front of the black building (turned into an USB port thanks to a texture pack), smiling as she lost herself in memories for a moment.

“Yes, this world you made is quite a sight to behold, isn’t it?”

Lindie turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. She soon found herself face to face with a large white Alicorn with a long flowing mane in all the colors of the Aurora.

"Princess Celestia," Lindie said in amazement, as she dropped into a respectful bow.

"Yes. My dear sister Luna was going to be here too, but she stormed off. She said something about a certain ‘Urist Mc UselessImmigrant,’ any idea what that was all about?" Celestia said with a kind smile as a round tea table appeared next to her. "Care for some tea?"

Lindie nodded, and sat down on the cushion opposite the white Alicorn.

For a moment both were silent, until Lindie decided to say something. "So... is this the point where you give me some kind of earth-shattering revelation about myself?"

"Hmm... perhaps." Celestia replied sipping her cup. “Depends on what you know about yourself already though.”

"Well, that is a useful answer," Lindie said. The words had hardly left her mouth before she realized how rude she had been to the pony Princess sitting across her. “Er, I mean- I-”

Celestia chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not that easily offended. What I mean is, most ponies or humans know more about themselves than they think, so what one might consider old news might be an ‘earth-shattering revelation’ to somepony else. Besides, to find out who you are is an important part of life. Taking shortcuts there is hardly ever a good idea.”

Lindie scratched her head with her new hoof. "so... what do you have to say?"

For a moment, Celestia’s expression hardened just enough to be noticeable. “Only one thing.” Her expression returned to her usual serene mask, as she continued to speak. “You have known pain, but the future holds mostly joy for you. Still, there is one more painful experience you must soon go through. How you will respond to that is up to you, but keep in mind that your actions will decide how your life afterwards will be.”
Celestia sipped at her tea "Some friends may become enemies, Some enemies will become friends. The Sun, The keeper of Twilight, and the Night will be there to help. You just have to help get them there."

Lindie swallowed hard. “Ominous. Is it far away? What will happen? Can I prepare for it in any way? Is there-”

“All will be clear in due time, my little pony. Now, please. Drink your tea before it gets cold,” Celestia interrupted the rambling mare with a smile.

Lindie looked down at the teacup and picked it up with her lips, drinking the pleasantly sweet drink in a few gulps.

When she had put her cup down and looked around again, Celestia was nowhere to be found.

"Cele-"

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"-stia?" Lindie felt the cold of the metal table, smelled the scent of antibacterial soap, heard every chatter of the three ponies there to help...

and saw the door.

"My eyes... Oh Celestia’s Sun! They are back!"

The human Doctor stepped into her view, smiling. "Well, I’m glad you came out of that okay. You had a LOT of wiring in you. Hard to say what could have happened but everything went fine. Anyway, before you ask for a mirror..." The Doctor pulled a small doohickey out of one of his pockets, and slid it over Lindies eyes. "Viola, comp-specs! I figured since you no longer have your implants, you could have some use for these to reach your computer."

Lindie slid the glasses up, putting them to rest on her forehead. "Okay, now where is that mirror?" she said as she slid off the bed... right before her new hooves folded up underneath her, causing her to collapse on the floor.

"Take it easy there, you only just got those new legs. Lean on me while Colgate gets the mirror," Berry said as she helped the newfoal up.

Within seconds, Lindie was looking at herself. Her mane and tail were teal, contrasting with her Taupe coat. But the things that stood out to her the most were her scarlet eyes, and the horn peeking out between her forelocks. "Niiiiice..." Lindie said as a grin spread across her face.


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Ray10k here.
So, first of all, here is the code for what I imagine Lindie looks like now:
2S2S000100483C32FFC49D00001FF2400UN1837000000000E0008080FF7FFF0J107F3FCC004CB2
Use it with the Generalzoi Pony Creator, input is under the ‘advanced’ tab.

Second, my apologies for the delay. Life has been keeping me busy recently, but things have calmed down for now. I may be a little out of practice, so please do forgive me if I let some errors slip in.