The First Day
The shrill alarm blared into Jay’s ear, rousing him from his deep slumber. Groggily, he slapped his palm against the clock in an effort to silence it, and after a couple of unsuccessful tries, the room was filled with silence once more. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Jay tossed his covers to the side and hung his legs off the side of the bed. He dropped down onto them and dragged himself to his bedroom door. He opened it and slid his hand across the exterior, feeling for the note, but there was none there.
“Oh,” he whispered to himself.
Jay was upset with himself. He had forgotten what had happened the night before so easily. Part of him felt like it was insulting his parents that he didn’t remember immediately, and another part of him wondered why he didn’t experience the same level of sorrow Austin the night before. Why was that? He loved his parents, didn’t he? Why wasn’t he in mourning as much as the rest of his friends?
That’s right. He was going with eleven of his friends to the Conversion Bureau to get… converted.
Jay dragged his feet to the bathroom and stripped down as he turned on the shower. He stepped in and didn’t move as the hot water washed over his body. He grabbed a bar of soap and began scrubbing along his torso, letting the foam pick up the detritus on his skin before rinsing it off. He leaned on his arm, resting it against the tiled wall of the shower.
He knew there were countless emotions going through his head, but he couldn’t pin any down. He had no idea how he felt. Was he sad that his parents were gone? Of course he was, he’s their son! He should feel sorry for losing them. But another part of him felt like Jay should feel more than sorry that his parents were gone. He should be crushed. Devastated. His heart should be torn to pieces.
But… he wasn’t.
For some unfathomable reason, Jay only felt sad. Sad that he couldn’t hear his mother’s voice as she and her father got home as he was drifting to sleep. He was just sad. Not crushed, not devastated, just sad.
A loud knocking reached his ears even over the shower head still pouring the water over him. He quickly washed his scraggy brown hair and turned the shower off. He quickly toweled off and dressed in his clothes. He walked back into his bedroom and grabbed his bag, taking his time as he took one last look around his room. He didn’t have any posters or any kinds of decorations. The only times he was ever in his room was when he was waking up or going to sleep. Either he was always hanging out with Austin or he was downstairs finishing his homework in front of the television.
Jay double checked he had everything and slowly made his way down the stairs. In the foyer stood the same man who picked him up last night, only this time he wasn’t covered in rain. Jay and the man walked outside into the brisk morning air. Behind him, the man closed and locked the door to Jay’s house. Jay opened the back door of the black sedan and tossed his duffel bag in. A muffled grunt caught Jay off-guard.
“Hey!” a voice called out. Jay moved into the car and sat down in the seat as his bag was thrown to the floor by Austin. “Oh, hey Jay.”
“Sorry about that, didn’t see you there,” Jay said, playing off his ignorance with a smile.
The man started the car up in a familiar hum as he pulled out into the street and down the road. Jay watched as the houses and scarce trees whizzed by as the thoughts from before began working their way back into his head. Before he could think any further, Austin interrupted him.
“Uhh, Jay? I wanted to apologize… for last night. I’m sorry you had to see that…” he said dejectedly. He fumbled with his fingers, his cheeks beginning to get a bit rosy.
“Hey. It’s perfectly alright. I’m sorry you… I’m sorry this had to happen.”
“By the way, I was meaning to ask you,” Austin began. “Why did you choose the bureau? Why didn’t you just go on your way?”
Now Jay was fumbling with his fingers. “Uh, I… uh…”
“I knew it!” Austin said with a smile. “It’s Chloe, isn’t it?” Jay sighed and nodded. “Yeah, Leah told me she was really broken up last night. She went right to Andrew’s house afterwards and spent the night there instead of going back to her place.”
Jay’s heart skipped a beat. “She’s still with Andrew?” he asked.
“Yeah, you didn’t know? As much of a piece of trash as he is, she still stays with him. According to Leah, he’s even coming with us to get converted. Chloe asked him to.”
Jay’s stomach dropped. Chloe had been in a very… uncomfortable relationship with Andrew, a senior at their high school. Two years older than her, he frequently ignored her and made jokes at her, even when she wasn’t present. Jay hated seeing them together. It was beyond him why she had been staying with such a deplorable person, but going as far as to get converted with him?
“I know, I know. But Leah said that he was truly sincere with her when he agreed to go.”
Jay crossed his arms in frustration. “I don’t get why she talks to you plenty, but never so much as says ‘hi’ to me.”
Austin smiled and leaned back contentedly in response. “Sometimes it helps to be social, pal.”
“I’m social! I hang out with people plenty!” Jay said defensively.
“Sure you do,” Austin responded sarcastically. Jay gave him a stern look and rested in his seat.
“Ass,” Jay murmured under his breath.
A few minutes of silence passed between the two. “So, what do you think about getting converted?” Austin asked.
Jay shrugged.
“Wait. Let me get this straight. You’re giving up your own identity as a human being to be a pony because of a girl who’s already with another guy?”
Jay shrugged again. “Well mister fancy pants, what’s your reason?” Jay rebutted.
“Uh, well… I’d rather keep it to myself, at least until after I get converted. That okay?” Austin smiled sheepishly.
“Sure. So where is this place? We’re pretty far out of town…” Jay looked out the window at the multitude of trees lining the road, a few cars traveling along the road away from them.
“I heard that the ponies prefer to be ‘closer to nature’ as they put it. They like to place some of their bureaus away from cities and big towns. We should be getting closer to our bureau.” Jay leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The electric hum of the car began to lull him back to sleep.
---
Austin shook Jay awake as the car began to slow down. Jay blinked lazily and let out a long yawn. His stomach began to rumble; he still hadn’t had any breakfast yet. Austin pushed open the door to the car on his side and wiggled his way out. He reached back in and grabbed his bag, closing the door rather forcefully after he pulled his bag out.
Jay snapped his eyes open again and followed suit. He stood outside next to Austin as they both looked at the bureau. The building itself was long; it had a large center building that was two stories tall and two wings that seemed to stretch out and curve back behind the main building. The side wings were only a single story tall, but they had windows stretching all along the sides. The entire complex was situated in a small clearing surrounded by the thick forest. Jay could see small hints at a garden behind one of the side wings.
Several other black sedans were parked outside the bureau; each one had two of the people he recognized from the night before, at the Telios building. The man with Austin and Jay led them towards the building as the other groups closed on it as well.
“Can I get those bags for you two?” someone asked from behind Jay and Austin. Jay turned around to greet the person, only to have his eyes assaulted by a blob of bright orange and yellow.
“Ahh!” Jay yelped in surprise. Austin turned around and laughed.
“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” the pony squeaked. She raided an orange hoof to her mouth in concern from Jay’s startled reaction. Jay felt his heart slowing down as he caught his breath.
“Oh, don’t worry about Jay. My name’s Austin. It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss…?” Austin held out his hand.
“My name is Clementine! I work at the bureau! It’s a pleasure to meet the two of you as well!” Clementine met Austin’s hand with her hoof in a shake. “I can take your bags for you, if you’d like.”
“That would be splendid, Clementine. Thank you for your generosity,” Austin said as he slipped the strap of his bag around the mare’s neck. “Jay?”
“S-Sorry about before. It’s nice to meet you, Clementine.”
“It’s not a problem at all, Jay.” Jay slipped the strap of his bag around her neck on top of Austin’s. The mare began trotting back to the bureau ahead of them along with ponies of all colors coming from each of the other groups.
“You see, that’s what I’m talking about!” Austin said, poking Jay in the shoulder. “I had to drag you into that conversation! It didn’t help that you yelled in that poor pony’s face either,” Austin said, grinning.
“Not my greatest moment, I know.”
The two joined with the rest of the group and walked through the sliding doors into the bureau’s atrium. The large open room had a large circular desk in the middle, with a glass wall in the back, displaying a colorful garden that was enclosed by the circle-shaped bureau. On the other side of the flowers and plants, he could see a largely glass structure, with the same curving wings joining with it that came out from the main building they were currently in.
“Welcome, fi- erm, I mean ladies and gentlemen!” a rosy red unicorn called out over the group. On her nose sat a pair of glasses, with a darker purple mane falling down the back of her neck. “Welcome to our new Conversion Bureau! Your group will be the first to undergo conversion in our new facility. Each one of you will be given a clipboard with a sheet of paper we ask for you to fill out.” Her horn began glowing with a scarlet light, twelve clipboards floating through the air to everyone in the group.
Jay stared at the clipboard that floated in front of him until Austin grabbed both his and his own, the red glow fading from them. He handed Jay his paper and looked down at it.
“Once you finish filling this form out, I’ll ask you hand them into Fleet Feather, our resident flight instructor,” the mare raised and pointed her hoof at a white coated male pegasus standing to the side of the group. He nodded at her with his stern face breaking for a grin. “My name is Garnet, and I will formally welcome you all during the orientation meeting in an hour! Feel free to stop at the cafeteria; it’s the glass building through the garden, before then!” Garnet walked to Fleet Feather and began talking to him while the group began to fill out their forms.
Jay pulled the pen out from the clip and looked at the remarkably short paper. Name, gender, proficiencies, known allergies? No ridiculous agreements? No signing his life away? Well, he was signing his life away, but his human life. He walked over to one of the sofas in the atrium next to Austin and read the paper over and over again.
He was signing away his humanity. The final passage and signature stated that all too clearly:
By signing below, I pledge to become a lawful citizen of the nation of Equestria and a subject of the royal princesses Celestia and Luna upon the completion of my conversion.
It was certainly a lot of his identity that would be gone in such a short agreement.
Austin finished signing his form and walked over to the white pegasus and placed the paper on the table next to him. He gave Jay a wave and walked out into the colorful garden with a few of the others, on their way to breakfast.
Jay looked back down at his form. Was he really going to do this? Forgo his humanity? He wasn’t familiar with the process himself, but from what the talk had been, it was horrific. But the line for listing allergens… it said that it was to determine what sedative they would use to put him under during the process. That was one relief for his mind.
“Everything okay over here? You going to sign or what?” Jay jumped in his seat as the gruff voice reached his ear from right behind him. He looked back to see the scowling muzzle of Fleet Feather looming over him, his wings extended out.
“Uh, I, um…”
“Lay off the poor kid, Feather. Don’t you know what they’ve all been through?” Fleet Feather backed away as the unicorn from before, Garnet, trotted over to the two of them. “Everything okay, dear?” she asked endearingly.
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine. I was just reading everything over a few times. That’s all.”
“Don’t worry; it’s perfectly normal to be apprehensive. You don’t even need to get converted if it comes down to it. We’re not forcing you into anything.”
He could reconsider? If things didn’t work out during his stay… he could always just leave.
“Thanks, Miss Garnet,” Jay said. She gave him a smile and as he looked back down to his paper, he heard them turn around and begin to walk away.
“You do realize that all of those kids lost all of their parents, right?” Garnet said to Fleet Feather in a hushed tone.
“What? That’s absurd! How… Why…” he tried to respond.
“All I was told was that it was a big accident. Please be thoughtful to them, okay?”
A very audible sigh came from the stallion. “Fine.”
Jay began filling out his form and reached the final signature line. He traced the curves of his signature and placed his pen down. He released the breath of air he had been holding and stood up. Looking around, he noticed that everyone around had already left for the cafeteria. He walked over to Garnet and Fleet Feather, who were in conversation until he slipped his paper onto the stack of others on the table.
The white pegasus trotted up to Jay before he turned to leave. “Uh, I wanted to apologize. For how I acted before.”
“It’s okay. Thank you.”
Jay turned to leave. As he passed through the doors into the garden, he hard Garnet speak to Fleet Feather. “See? That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”
The doors closed and cut off any reply that the pegasus was about to give. The pathway through the colorful garden was made of simple woodchips and dirt, with arches of ivy and bright flowers reaching over the path every few feet. On either side of the large garden area were several mounds of freshly turned soil, dark with water. Small green sprouts could be seen coming from several of them, the new plants coming into bloom.
“Goo’ morfning!” a green colored mare called from the side of the garden, a water hose in her mouth. She carefully stuck the end of the green hose by the base of a few bushes, soaking the dirt by them.
Jay smiled and waved, picking up his pace. His stomach rumbled again. He needed food sooner rather than later.
When he stepped through the set of sliding doors, he looked around for Austin. He was waving to Jay from a table towards the front of the room, by what appeared to be the meal counter. A few small groups of the others were scattered around the cafeteria, but as Jay approached Austin he saw who he was sitting with.
“Welcome back, buddy,” Austin said as Jay took his seat.
“I bet he was too busy making out with that red pony, am I right?”
Any bit of cheerfulness Jay had vanished in a heartbeat. Andrew sat at the table next to Chloe, his slick black hair combed back. His eyes were squinted from his laughing from his own joke, but nobody seemed to be joining him. Chloe gave him a scowl. “What? It was a joke. Can’t I make a joke or two?”
“Don’t listen to him. How are you holding up, Jay? Everything alright?” Chloe asked, her voice light and airy, but weighed down with concern.
“I-I’m fine. I was just caught up with filling out the paper. That’s all.”
Chloe’s expression lightened her curly brown hair bouncing as she leaned back. As she did, Andrew stretched his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight. “I’m here for emotional support. I’d go to the ends of the Earth for her if I had to. What happened to all of you last night was horrible.” Andrew straightened his posture as Chloe looked up at him with a smile. She leaned on his chest, placing a hand on his collarbone.
“Well I’m going to collapse if I don’t get something to eat.” Jay pushed his chair out from under the table and trudged over to the counter. A peach-yellow unicorn wearing a hairnet smiled at Jay as she levitated a plate from her side of the counter.
“What can I get you this morning?” she asked.
Looking down at the selection, Jay mulled over the choices in his head. “Um, do you have any bacon or sausages?”
The unicorn’s smile wavered for a moment, the plate dipping in her loosened field of magic. “Um, uh, we d-don’t serve meat at the bureau… It’s a part of the conversion process, to wean humans off of meats and onto a vegetarian diet.”
Jay smacked his forehead with his palm. “Of course. I’m sorry. Then can I get two of those pancakes and some of that fruit salad there?”
“Of course!” The mare’s smile was back in full force again. “By the way, my name is Peach Cobbler. I’m sorry we don’t have any meat for you, but I sure hope you like the fruit. We grow all of our fruits and vegetables outside in that garden there,” she pointed with her hoof out to the garden Jay had walked through, “and all around the back. Grown from fresh Equestrian fruit seeds too!”
She levitated the plate weighed down with two large pancakes and the pile of colorful fruits to Jay. He thanked her and walked over to get a fork, picking up a bottle of juice as well. He walked back over to the table and took his seat next to Austin once more.
“When did you start eating fruit?” Chloe teased.
“When they ran out of bacon,” Jay replied as he ate one of the brightly colored pieces of fruit.
The explosion of flavor in his mouth was instant. The sweet juices spread from the fruit to coat his entire mouth in no time whatsoever. He finally bit down, the fruit resisting only slightly. It took him a second, but Jay was able to identify the fruit piece as watermelon. Not watermelon flavoring, or watermelon substitute, not even synthetic watermelon. Real, red, juicy, watermelon cubes.
Swallowing the succulent fruit, Jay greedily snatched another piece of fruit, this time what looked like pineapple. A similar experience followed, but the flavor was much tarter than the watermelon. Austin and the others had finally gone to the counter to get their food as Jay continued to dig in. “Maybe being a vegetarian won’t be so bad after all,” Jay mused to himself.
---
The rest of the group enjoyed their breakfasts as well. Before long, Fleet Feather trotted into the cafeteria. He announced that the orientation meeting was going to begin shortly in one of the bureau’s classrooms. Everyone cleared their plates off and handed them to Peach Cobbler, who placed them each in a sink filled with foamy water for cleaning.
“I didn’t know they had classrooms here,” Jay moaned. “It’ll be like school all over again!”
“Oh hush, you. They’re going to teach us about Equestria, so we aren’t bumbling children when we get there,” Austin chided.
“That doesn’t make listening to a lecture any better, you know,” Jay said.
Fleet Feather led the group to the door to their right as they entered the cafeteria. This section of the bureau looked to be home to many offices and open meeting rooms, as well as what appeared to be a small library. When they were about halfway around the wing, Fleet ushered all twelve of the orphaned teens as well as Andrew into one of the rooms. They all took their seats at the tables spread out across the room. Garnet stood at the front of the room, by the whiteboard.
“Everyone take a seat please,” she asked. When the last person sat down, she cleared her throat and smiled. “I apologize for the… unusual choice in location for this, but since there are so few of you, I felt it was a waste to use the seminar hall. Well then, let’s get this started! Welcome to the Conversion Bureau! As you know, my name is Garnet. I’m the facility director, here at the bureau. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to come to me. My office is in the main building you all came in through when you got here, on the second floor. Just ask anypony here if you need directions.”
Fleet Feather as well as a few other ponies stepped out and stood to the side of Garnet. “These ponies here will be your instructors. Fleet Feather,” the white stallion nodded at his name. “He will train any of you who become pegasi in proper flight.”
“Some of you may have seen her in the gardens on your way to breakfast earlier. Honeybell is our earth pony instructor.” The green mare from the garden trotted forward, her hooves still streaked with dirt, her mane still a little wet in places from the hose. She wore a handkerchief on her head, holding back her mane from falling in her face.
“Believe it or not, earth ponies have just as much magic as both unicorns and pegasi!” A couple of the listeners leaned forward. “While it may not be as obvious as telekinesis or weather control, earth ponies have a powerful connection with living things such as plants and animals. Honeybell grows all of our produce here and can help a tomato plant bear fruit in three days from the day it was planted!” The green mare blushed, trying to cover her smile with her hoof. A few of the listeners gasped and began murmuring amongst themselves.
“And last but not least, our resident librarian Firecracker will instruct new unicorns to control their magic.” A dark grey stallion with a mane of orange with streaks of blue just frowned, without making any other movements.
“We do conversions here in a randomized order and one at a time. Every day, before each meal, we’ll call for one of you to come to the conversion room for your procedure. We do this before meals, simply because the process is much easier on you if you have an empty stomach.” A hand shot up in the back of the room. Garnet looked over the rims of her glasses and pointed her hoof in his direction. “Yes?”
“Can we choose what we become? Like… what kind of pony?” The boy was a little older than Jay, his dark tanned skin standing out from the colorless wall behind him. Jay knew him only a little bit. His name was Sean, but he never really took any time to get to know him personally.
“I’m sorry, but the process has no real discernible outcome until after the fact. Some believe that the process for selection is random, while others think it has something to do with your DNA.” Garnet looked around the room. “Any more questions?” With nobody raising their hands, Garnet began handing out small folders to everyone. “Inside you will find the schedule of seminars designed to ease your integration into Equestria when you arrive. Also, you’ll find your rooming assignment for the next ten days. If you have any issues, please feel free to ask.”
Jay opened the folder he plucked from the air and leafed through the papers to his rooming assignment. “Looks like we’re rooming together,” Austin said, elbowing Jay in the side. They were rooming together. But there was also a third name.
“Dammit,” Jay hissed.
“Looks like we’re gonna be best buds, right fellas?” Andrew said, resting his arms on both Jay’s and Austin’s shoulders.
---
The rest of the morning passed without trouble. Austin and Jay found their room on the other side of the bureau from the seminar room they had the orientation meeting in. The room was cozy, two beds lined up against both walls with a third awkwardly jammed in between them against the back wall. Andrew didn’t stay long; he dropped his small bag onto the floor and kicked it under the bed before leaving.
“Why?” Jay moaned. “Why does he have to room with us? Is this some kind of cruel joke?”
“Sheesh, quit being so melodramatic. You don’t have to hang out with him if you don’t want to.” Austin stared at Jay as he flopped onto his springy bed. “Oh. Oh that isn’t fun. Well, not for you at least.”
Jay curled up on his side. “We leave for Equestria in ten days. I’ll likely never see Chloe ever again after that. Gah!” Jay grunted, throwing his limbs out in frustration. “Why the hell does he have to be here? His parents aren’t even dead!”
Jay turned his head to see Austin sitting on his mattress, staring at the linoleum tiles on the ground. He wasn’t smiling or moving aside from his chest. “Austin… I’m so-”
“No,” he said, raising his hand. “You lost your parents too. You don’t have to apologize.” Austin sniffed loudly before picking his head back up. “And you’re right. There’s no way that jerk is just abandoning everything just for Chloe. And if he was, then I’ve been entirely wrong about him all this time.”
“That’s still a big stretch,” Jay said as he sat back upright. “I’m going for a walk. I’ll see you at lunch. I want to clear my head a bit.”
---
Jay sat on one of the wooden benches scattered throughout the center bureau garden area, the sunlight washing over the side of the building onto the hungry plants below. Honeybell was busy tending to the plants by the cafeteria. Every so often Jay could swear he heard her laugh or even sing, even while she was by herself. She was probably just passing the time.
Jay looked at his watch. 11:45. Lunch was going to start soon. Conversions were going to start tomorrow. Was he going to be one of the first to… go pony? He was really hoping against it. He didn’t want to be the ‘test run’ for their group. He didn’t want that kind of attention.
Jay stood up and walked over towards the cafeteria, tired of doing nothing. The glass doors slid open to an empty room, but as Jay looked, he could see Peach Cobbler milling around the kitchen behind the counter. He walked over, hoping to get an early start on his lunch. He hoped that they had more of that fruit from breakfast.
“Oh, hey there! Uh, what was your name again? Wait! Don’t answer that… Give me a minute… Jay?” Jay nodded. “Yes! I’m trying to learn all of your names by the end of the day. I gotta say… human names are tough! No way to relate it to what you do! I grew up on a peach farm and always helped my mom with her cooking… oh but enough about me. What can I help you with?”
“Is there any way I can get lunch just yet? I’m pretty hungry… and that fruit was awesome from breakfast! There’ll be more, right?”
“Oh, sorry honey. Lunch starts at twelve thirty. Garnet would have my flank if I started any earlier! But I’ll be sure to relay your compliments to Honeybell when she comes in later.” Raising a hoof to her chin, Peach thought for a moment. “You know… I think I know a way you can pass the time. You remember Firecracker, right? The librarian?”
Jay thought back to the orientation meeting, the three instructors: Fleet Feather, Honeybell, and Firecracker. “Grey with orange and blue and the scowl?”
“Yeah, that grouch! Oh, but don’t tell him I said that,” Peach said in a giggle. “He’s having a bit of trouble with the computer in his library, do you mind helping him out? It’s been driving him up a wall all week.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure. I’ll see what I can do.”
Peach smiled and pulled him close with her hoof. “If you can get the old coot to cheer up, I got a little treat for you when you get back for lunch. How does that sound?”
Jay leaned back, a little uncomfortable at the sudden intrusion of his personal space. “Yeah, sure thing. Sounds great.”
Jay turned around and headed for the office and labs wing of the bureau as Peach Cobbler waved goodbye. After he cleared the doors, Jay relaxed a bit. He began looking around, trying to remember where it was he saw the library earlier in the day. He began tepidly walking down the gently curving hallway, past several darkened rooms devoid of life. Jay looked onto one of the windows on his left. The room appeared to be some sort of laboratory, but the darkened lights made it difficult to discern any real details about exactly what the room was for.
A shattering noise behind Jay was the only warning he got before a blinding pain erupted in the back of his head. Jay’s head was shoved forward from the force into the glass window of the lab he was just looking into. The window didn’t break, but it still hurt.
“Oh Celestia, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you out there!” A grey stallion galloped out from the door behind Jay. He managed to turn his head to see the shattered remains of an old plastic keyboard in pieces on the ground beside him. One mystery solved, it seemed. “Here, come in here, I’ll patch you up.”
Jay staggered to his feet, his head spinning as he stood in place. He felt himself loosing balance, and reached out to meet a warm, soft surface to lean on. The stallion had moved in front of him, supporting his weight.
“Come on,” he said. The stallion guided Jay into the library and led him to a wooden chair beside a wide table. Jay fell into the hard chair and leaned back. His head was throbbing, but it didn’t seem to hurt too badly.
“I’m very sorry about that. I… lost my temper. How are you feeling? Still dizzy?” he asked, moving behind Jay.
“I’m… better. Just hurts. A bit.”
“Lean your head forward. I’m just going to check for any cuts or glass.” Jay let his head slump forward as he felt the stallion’s hard hoof moving his brown hair to the side. Each touch made the pain worse, drawing gasps from Jay.
“Okay, you look clean. No broken skin. Just a mean-looking bump. My name’s Firecracker. I’m sorry about that, the keyboard.”
Jay leaned his head back again, feeling the blood swell around the back of his head once more. The throbbing was slightly better, and would probably go away by the end of the day. “I’m Jay. Peach Cobbler asked me to help you out with your computer… but it looks like you took care of that,” Jay said, looking back out to the hallway, the shattered remains of glass and keyboard strewn across the floor.
“I guess… I could use some help. The humans who helped build the bureau insisted on installing one of those accursed contraptions for me, promising that it would make my life easier. Fat load of good it did me,” Firecracker huffed.
Jay took a moment to look around the library he was in. A dozen bookshelves lined the walls of the room, filled to the brim with large tomes and scrolls, much different than the ones he remembered seeing in his school.
“You like it? It’s a part of my personal collection from back in Manehattan. I donated it to the bureau to hopefully get at least someone to read them. They’ve been just collecting dust, so I figured why not?”
Jay stood up and wandered to one of the shelves and skimmed across the various lavishly colored books. “Might want to steer clear of that section. Those are spell tomes, not really for anypony or human not learned in unicorn magic. Just trying to read the diagrams and script in one of those will assuredly give you a headache.”
“It’s… an impressive collection you have, Firecracker. But, did you want my help with the computer at all? I mean it looks like you have just about everything covered in your library by yourself.”
“That’s what I kept telling them! I don’t need some infernal machine doing the work I’ve done for years! But they kept insisting.” Firecracker grunted as a clattering of hoofsteps could be heard from the hall.
“What in Celestia’s name… Firecracker! Is everything okay?” Garnet asked, her glasses slipping down her muzzle.
“Kinda. I accidentally hit our friend here in the head with that keyboard, but it looks like he’s made of some sterner stuff than the window was. Barely a scratch on him.”
Garnet looked back to the hall at the mess on the floor. “I’ll get somepony to clean this up and to replace that window. Are you alright?” Garnet asked, looking towards Jay with concern.
“I’ve been better, but nothing I can’t get over.”
“Well that’s a relief. I’m glad you’re okay. And as for you, Firecracker,” Garnet said, turning to the grey stallion. “You need to learn how to control yourself. We’re gonna have a nice little talk later, okay?”
“Okay, okay, fine. I get it. Don’t worry, I’ll keep myself in check.” Firecracker tried to shoo Garnet off with a few waves of his hoof.
“Oh, don’t think you’re getting off that easily! My office in an hour.” Garnet disappeared from the doorway and down the hall.
“You got a broom or something? I’ll help you clean this mess up, if you’d like,” Jay offered. Without speaking, Firecracker trotted over to the doorway and levitated a trash can in an orange aura over to him. The debris on the floor was enveloped in a similar aura, lifting the small shards of glass into the can as well as the shattered remains of the keyboard. “So much for my help,” Jay murmured.
“Don’t take it the wrong way. I just didn’t want anypony cutting their hooves walking down the hallway.”
“If you don’t mind me asking… What was driving you mad with the computer? I always found them pretty easy to work with.”
“It’s not even that!” Firecracker grumbled as he slid the filled trash can against the wall. “I can’t for the life of me press the button I want! See these?” the stallion said, holding up his grey hoof. “Obviously not build with these in mind. I try and press one of the little buttons and I hit them all! Drives me crazy, I tell you.”
Jay chuckled and nodded. “I don’t think they intended ponies to be a target demographic for computers when they designed them. Can’t you just use your magic for it?”
Firecracker did a double take. “What kind of- Wait. Like pressing those tiny buttons with magic? Not using my hooves?” Jay nodded. “Those lugs who installed it kept on telling me how the keys needed to be pressed down with something solid, like some sort of tactile response…”
“Really now?” Jay asked. He stood up and walked over to the trash can and peered at the contents. “Nope, it’s just a regular analog keyboard. Not one of those capacitive touch keyboards… I think those ‘lugs’ played a joke on you is all.”
“Well,” Firecracker said with a huff. “That explains that.” He tried to hide his embarrassment at the fact, but the scarlet on his cheeks was bleeding through his dark coat. “Well I do believe that lunch should be served soon. Shall we depart?” he asked hastily.
“Sure,” Jay said. The throbbing in the back of his head was considerably weaker from before.
---
“Thanks, Peach.” Firecracker levitated his plate of food, a combination of hay, grass, oats, and a small pile of flowers, and went to find a table.
“Whatever you did, he seems to be a bit more cheerful!” Peach Cobbler whispered to Jay.
“Really? I couldn’t really tell,” Jay said back.
“This time he thanked me! Usually he just grunts or huffs or just storms off, but now! Oh you have to tell me how you did it!”
“I’m not entirely sure how I did it myself,” Jay murmured. “Turns out he was getting frustrated with his computer, and thought he needed to use his… hooves on the keyboard. A joke played by the men who installed it for him.”
Peach burst out in a fit of laugher, tears streaming from her eyes. “He was… With his hooves? All week? And he didn’t think to use his…? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard since I got here!” Jay smiled and chuckled shyly. The scene with Peach was drawing the eyes of the entire cafeteria. “Oh! Before I forget, I already assumed you’d fix that chip on Firecracker’s shoulder, so I made you your little treat while you were gone!”
Jay took his plate from the pinkish aura. On it was a small salad, a sandwich, and a small peach tart. “We don’t often get peaches to serve for meals, so when I get them I always want to do something special with them! I made one of my favorite desserts from back home just for you!” The unicorn smiled widely as Jay inspected the treat. “Let me know how you like it, okay?”
“Sure thing,” Jay said before he grabbed a bottle of juice and walked over to the table Austin sat at.
As Jay took his seat, Austin turned to face him. “What on earth did you do to the poor pony?”
“Nothing?” Jay said innocently. “I just helped her out with something is all. She gave me this for ‘payment’,” Jay said, pointing at the tart with his fork.
“Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You actually made social contact with a sapient creature without my help?” Austin broke out in a quiet clap. “Sir, I am impressed.”
Austin’s head bobbed forward suddenly. Shortly after, a great pain erupted in the back of Jay’s head where his bump from the keyboard was. He cried out in pain, grasping at the spot with both hands. “Geez, I only brushed you with my elbow. You don’t have to be so dramatic about it!”
Andrew and Chloe took seats on the other side of the table from Jay and Austin, Jay still grasping at his head. Tears began to form in the corners of his eyes from the pain, but he blinked them away. “Doesn’t help that I have a golf-ball sized lump where you ‘brushed’ me with your elbow,” Jay spat.
Andrew frowned. “Well warn me next time, alright? Geez.”
“What did you do to get that?” Chloe asked.
“A bad encounter with a flying keyboard.” Jay began picking at his salad with his fork.
“Care to explain?” Austin asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
“This is one I gotta hear,” Leah said as she sat down next to Chloe.
“Can I just eat my lunch?” Jay asked, his cheeks feeling warm from all the attention suddenly on him.
“Nope, or you get a smack to your lump!” Austin threatened with his grin still plastered along his face. He raised his hand in a joking manner, about to take a swing at him.
“Fine! I was going to help Firecracker, the dark grey unicorn over there,” Jay pointed to the lone unicorn munching on his lunch. “He got frustrated with the computer he was trying to use and chucked it out the window on the door to the library. Hit me in the back of the head. That’s it. Can I eat in peace now?”
Austin lowered his hand and took up his own fork. “Sounds like you had a fun time before lunch.”
“Laugh it up,” Jay said before taking a bite of his sandwich. The food he was eating for lunch, like breakfast, was full of flavor and color, much unlike the frozen foods he always had at home. The sandwich was pleasantly filled with greens, and the bread fluffy and brown. Each bite was a moist crunch, the juices filling his mouth with a variety of flavors both smooth and mellow.
Jay finished off his main course and looked down at the peach tart Peach Cobbler made for him. Browned slices of the yellowish fruit were coated with a sprinkle of big sugar grains, the outer crust shiny and brown. The dessert was about the size of his palm, so it wasn’t a monumental effort for Peach Cobbler to cook, but he promised he would let her know how he liked it when he was finished.
He stuck his fork into the colorful dessert and pulled out two slices of peach, with a small piece of the crust stuck to them. With a slow and careful motion, he stuck the fruit in his mouth and began chewing.
“Oh god…” Jay moaned. “This is amazing.”
“Really? Can I try some?” Chloe asked. Jay nodded, his heart elated. He graciously held out the small dish towards Chloe as she pulled some of the tart out with her fork and took a bite. “Wow! This is good!”
Jay smiled and placed the tart back onto the table. It was nearly gone; maybe one or two bites left. He rounded up the rest of it and jabbed it with his fork, smiling as he felt the juices touch his tongue once more.
Content, Jay picked up his plate and half full bottle of apple juice and made his way back to a smiling Peach Cobbler. “So? How’d you like it?”
“It was fantastic! Even my friend Chloe liked it. It’s too bad that you don’t get too many peaches to make more. I’m positive everybody here would love them.”
Peach let out a breath that she was holding. “Thank Celestia! I was terrified that you would hate it… I kind of… lied about the peaches. We have plenty. I just wanted to make sure that people liked my cooking before I made a big deal about it is all.”
“Peach, that was quite possibly the most delicious dessert I’ve had in years. Whoever made you think your cooking was bad is dead wrong.”
Peach took Jay’s plate in her pink aura and dunked it in the foamy sink. She chuckled half-heartedly. “I’m glad you like it. Let me know if you’d like to try some of my other desserts, okay? You can be my taste tester! If you like it then I’ll start making more of them for everypony here, deal?” Peach stuck her hoof over the counter and met Jay’s hand with a shake.
“Deal.”
---
Jay lounged in one of the fluffy sofas in the bureau common room. Halfway long the residential wing was a large open room filled with tables and couches as well as a billiard table and a large television. The area was for everyone to be able to mingle and socialize, for newly converted humans, newfoals as the ponies would call them in jest, to talk about their experience.
Jay had switched to the news channel. A camera was showing the flaming husk of a building surrounded by houses and parking lots. The headline across the bottom of the screen read >TELIOS CHEMICAL PLANT TRAGEDY: 120 CONFIRMED DEAD<. It was the accident from yesterday that claimed his parents… and the parents of everyone else here. He turned the volume up to hear the commentary.
“…ion happened around six last night, burning well into today. The cause of the accident is still unknown and will likely remain a mystery until well after the chemical fire is put out. The president of Telios Chemical released this statement today:”
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of the facility and out workers. We will not stop until the truth of this horrendous accident is brought to light.”
“Stocks for Telios dropped a staggering ten percent today as investors were made skittish of the company and the possibility of other plants having similar accidents.”
An orange earth pony trotted up next to Jay’s chair. “I’m sorry about your loss…” she said mournfully. “I didn’t know about it earlier this morning.”
“You’re Clementine, right? The pony who took my bag when I got here?”
The orange mare nodded. “I’m one of Honeybell’s garden helpers.” Clementine frowned as she sat down, folding her legs under her torso beside Jay. They watched more of the newscast in silence, Clementine glancing over to Jay every few moments.
“Are you sad?”
“What?”
Clementine looked over to Jay. “Are you sad that you lost your parents?”
Jay sat in silence. He turned his head back to the television, unsure of what to say. He was sad, wasn’t he? Even if he was sad, which he was quite sure he was, how would he convey the emotions properly? Should he just stay silent and stare at the news? Should he make his voice tremble as if he was trying to fight back tears?
Jay brought his hands and cupped them around his face. He leaned forward, resting his head on his palms. He was just thinking of ways he could fake emotions. Emotions about losing his parents.
“What’s wrong with me?” Jay mouthed to himself.
“I’m sorry… you don’t have to answer. It was insensitive of me.” Clementine stood up from where she was sitting and trotted away, towards the exit of the common room. Jay picked his head up and looked at her as she disappeared past the doorway.
Frustrated, Jay just decided to relax and kick up his feet onto the sofa, laying his head down. He stared at the ceiling as the television droned on. Steadily, his eyes began to lose focus and he closed his eyes.
---
Jay woke back up to someone lightly smacking his face. “Hey. Hey sleepyhead. Come on, we’re getting dinner.” Austin stood up straight, his arms crossed as he waited for Jay. He rubbed his eyes and smacked his lips a bit. He looked down at his watch. 7:00. How long had he been out?
He rose to his feet and took a few steps forward, letting his attention return to full strength before going any further. Austin and Jay walked out from the common room towards the cafeteria along the back part of the residential wing.
The cafeteria wasn’t as filled with people or ponies as it was during lunch. Jay and Austin walked over to the counter where Peach Cobbler stood, her hooves dunked in the soapy sink scrubbing dishes. “Hey there! Just in time too, last batch of dinner just finished. Tonight is vegetarian lasagna! And for you,” Peach said in a smooth voice, “I have a new dessert for you to try. Please please PLEASE tell me how it is! And don’t just be kind about it!”
Peach Cobbler levitated two dishes of the lasagna out from behind the counter, the meals piping hot with trails of steam rising from each one. Another, smaller plate was given to Jay. On it was a small danish, oozing with some sort of fruit filling. Peach went back to scrubbing plates while Jay and Austin grabbed themselves each a fork and sat down at a table.
The lasagna was very hot; Jay burned himself just trying to test it with the tip of his tongue. He dropped the fork onto his plate and took a sip of the juice he took this time: Cranberry.
“How in the world did you get special treats from the chef?” Austin asked. “It sounded like she has a thing for you, too.”
Jay choked on his drink as his eyes went wide. He began coughing and hacking as the pain in his throat began to worsen. After a moment of more coughing, he cleared his throat, freeing any more juice from the wrong tube. “What? No. I’m just trying out her desserts is all.”
“You seemed to enjoy eating her peach dessert earlier,” Austin said, a sly grin growing with each passing second. It took longer than Jay cared to admit until he got what Austin was saying.
“God! Shut up! No. Well, yes. I mean, uh.” Jay shut himself up by shoving a piece of lasagna into his mouth, realizing all too late how horrible of a decision that was. Austin burst out laughing as Jay spat out his food with a yelp. His mouth began throbbing from the burn. He took another mouthful of juice and held it in his mouth, relishing the cooling sensation.
“You are easily the smoothest person I know,” Austin chuckled. He took a forkful of his lasagna, blew on it, and took a bite. After swallowing, he took another slow bite, blowing the heat from it again.
Jay swallowed the juice, his mouth a little bit less sore than before. Austin looked up from his plate, and dropped his fork. He took a gulp of juice and hopped up from his seat. “You mind taking care of this for me? I gotta take care of something important.” Before Jay could get a single word in, Austin rushed over to a red pony just leaving the cafeteria to the lab and office wing of the bureau. From what he could tell, it was probably Garnet.
“Sure,” Jay said to himself. He took a nervous bite of the lasagna, and fortunately he didn’t burn away any more of his mouth from the effort.
With the last scraps of the lasagna spread across his plate, he looked at the new dessert Peach Cobbler cooked for him. The danish had a shiny glaze on top with a bright red jelly oozing out from the sides. He picked it up gingerly, trying not to get too much of the glaze on his fingers. He took a bite, his mouth suddenly filled with more jelly than he had expected in the first place.
The jam was thick and sweet, the taste of strawberries greeting his taste buds. The fluffy pastry was amazing by his standards. Why in the world was Peach so nervous about nobody liking it?
He finished off the dessert and stacked his plates and placed his fork on top, walking back over to the counter to a very nervous unicorn. “S-So? How was it?”
“Even better than the tart you gave me this afternoon,” Jay said. Her expression dropped to a frown.
“Are you saying the tart was bad?”
“No! No, of course not! It was great! I’m just saying that the danish was great as well!” Jay was nervous. He didn’t mean to upset her!
“Okay…” she said, wiping away a tear with her hoof. She took Jay’s plate and dunked it in the sink and began scrubbing. Jay wanted to say something but came up with nothing. She was probably just overreacting, but how do you tell someone that, without coming off as a jerk?
Jay just walked away and hoped that Peach would feel better in the morning. He decided he wanted to take the scenic route to his room. The boys and girls rooms were split on either side of the common room, the girls closer to the cafeteria. Jay walked out into the garden, now bathed in a bright moonlight. He heard the insects chirping away in the dark, the soft floodlights lighting the sides of the building and smaller lights lighting the path through the garden.
He strode along the woodchip path, his hands hanging in his pockets. He looked up at the moon; part of it was starting to vanish behind a large cloud. A cool breeze began to blow across the garden. Jay picked up his pace as he folded his arms. He saw something in the shadows to his right, along one of the branching pathways.
In the dim light, he could make out the two figures: Chloe and Andrew. They hadn’t noticed him, but he wasn’t in too much of a rush to make himself too well known out here. He picked up his pace and took a right at the center of the garden towards the common room. The glass doors slid open as he approached, warm air greeting his chilled limbs once more.
A few of the others in the common room paid him no heed while a few looked his way then back to whatever they were doing beforehand. He turned to his left and towards the rooms, his destination firmly in place in his head.
He exited the open common room and into the dimly lit hallways. The lights were dimmer than before, likely to make it easier for anyone trying to navigate the bureau after dark without blinding them with oppressively bright lights.
Jay looked along the left hand wall, keeping his eye out for his room. When he came to it, he opened the door to a very dark room. He flicked the switch on the wall beside him, bathing the room in a sickly white fluorescent light. His bag was still sitting on his bed, the sheets still ruffled a bit from when he was lying down before lunch with Austin talking to him.
8:00. His eyes were heavier than he was used to from his lack of sleep the night before. He decided now was as good of a time as any to get some rest. He stripped his dirty pants and put on some light shorts and tossed his bag under his bed. He walked back to the light switch and clicked it, drowning the room in darkness once more. He pulled back the sheets, but as he was about to get into bed, he door opened and the lights were flicked back on once more.
“Oh, sorry Jay.” Austin walked in with a smile he was trying desperately to contain.
Jay only grunted and climbed in bed. “Can you hit the lights? I want to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, no problem. I’ll be quiet when I come back in later. Can’t say the same for when Andrew gets here, though.”
Jay closed his eyes and curled up a bit under the thin covers. He heard the click of the light switch, the lights on his eyelids going dark once more. He heard the door close and footsteps disappearing down the hall.
It took very little time for Jay to get to sleep, but not before a twinge of sadness crept up on him when he remembered his parents.
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Another good read, hoping to see more soon
This just keeps getting better; I am enjoying the sensuality of the meals, and the details of every little experience. It's interesting to visit a high-class Bureau, something rich and wealthy compared to the usual, more industrial settings. This Bureau is positively pastoral. I'd like to go to this one, it's fun.
I am absolutely looking forward to the next installment, and I am really enjoying this. Very nicely done.
63466
I had a very distinct image of the bureau in my head. I tried my best to capture as many details of what I saw in my writing. It's a bit of a combination of architectural inspirations. A very utilitarian design with a both simplistic and yet complex layout. The world in which this story takes place isn't as dark and horrible as the Earth from 27 Ounces and your other stories, but it very well may be on its way there. Bland, prepackaged meals is a norm for most lower and middle class families should they be able to afford them. Companies having almost complete control over their employees through tight contracts.
The experiences in the bureau are supposed to be full of color and life, compared to life back 'outside', whether it be through the ponies or the food. I wanted to capture just about every experience Jay would come across throughout the day.
I can't help but wonder quite what's up with Peach...
I must say I'm impressed with the descriptions of the bureau, even though there's some 'dark spots' where you don't know where the character is, (That would only be 2-3 times that happens and it seems to be there to not slow the story down too much.) I must say, this is already one of the better stories I've read - and you're only on the second chapter.
Kudos to you.
You've done it again Windchaser. This story is starting out wonderfully, what with the fine details and somewhat sad premise. I must say that I would find Jay unbelievable if only for the fact that he doesn't seem to be deeply saddened by his parents passing, but I quickly realized that he really didn't seem to know them. So I guess it wouldn't be unrealistic to feel that way. On another note I bet that Jay is still just allowing everything to "sink in" so he probably isn't thinking much about it.
Loving how you portray all the new experiences that the group is going through, can't wait to see how this develops.
fantastic
I too am likening this story so far. But I don't know if it's just me reading too fast, but it feels that your environment is lacking. Is this world as futurisitic as the other TCB stories?
64892
No it isn't. I see this story maybe taking place in the latter half of the century, but not as decrepit or 'shiny' as most futuristic settings portray the future. Drastic changes in society are much more gradual than what many people believe. In the 50s, they thought everyone would be driving around in flying cars by 2001. The actuality of the future almost always falls short of the reality of the future. I will go into more detail about what the world is presently like in future chapters, though.
I think that it might be better to go back and try to make it clear that the time frame is 2000s and some meta would be nice, seeing that you may want to explain the ponies position on taking over, even though we are not in a decline just yet.
64996
I don't want to really put much attention on the outside world because that's not the focus of the story. The story is about the people and ponies in the bureau and their interactions. I'll let the reader come up with those details on their own, should they desire to. I'm sorry if this detracts from your enjoyment of the story, though.
This is the third time I read this
Well, Windchaser, it looks like you are quite skilled in the art of TCB writing. I enjoyed Last Man Standing immensely, and I can already see this one turning into something quite special.