Clark

November 01, 2051.
5:23 P.M.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, United States of America.
1,500 km from the Barrier.

“We’ll cover you! Just get to the ship!”

I yelled, as I took my rifle from the counter and ran with the others to our inevitable ponification. It didn't take long for the sound of gunfire to echo around the now abandoned NASA base. Our two friends needed cover, they were our only hope to save mankind.

Trey Miles and Mitchell Fedorson had been selected for being the first time-travelers in history. They would go into an experimental time-machine built a few years ago, the “TASV”. Human corporations had noticed the resource possibilities that laid in Equestria when Celestia showed them their world: Endless beautiful scenery, masses of natural resources, a bountiful of rare metals, which in their eyes looked like a complete gold mine. They had secretly invested in a way to make humans travel to Equestria through the Barrier so that their resources could be exploited. Progress stopped when conversion was made mandatory, leaving the untested “E.D Mark 1” ship at a hangar at the other side of the world, already covered and destroyed by the Barrier.

The Barrier. The pinky-purple magical wall that protected Equestria from humanity. Equestria first appeared in the Atlantic back, way back in 2036, first discovered when the ISS took pictures of an entire new landmass in the middle of the ocean, no hints as to where it came from whatsoever. The pictures revealed a beautiful land, many thought Atlantis had rose from the depths, but it was not to be.

Almost immediately ships were sent to scout the island out, but no one could get close. As soon as they got near, any machinery would be destroyed and many humans would suffer horrible radiation sickness and burns. A lot of men died trying to reach this mysterious land.

June 2nd 2036, that's the date when she appeared. Princess Celestia. She had noticed all the attempts to get into Equestria, to pass through the Barrier. She apologised for all the deaths and revealed the world the only way to get past the Barrier and into Equestria. Convert into a pony.

If Celestia had proposed this a decade earlier, I highly doubt it would have got the same reaction. Earth used to be as beautiful as Equestria but industrialisation had almost turned it into a wasteland. Little running water, few crops, trees being cut down and not enough being planted. The air was so full of carbon dioxide the sky was turning more yellow than blue. Humanity was pretty desperate, and Equestria seemed like the only option.

The Conversion Bureaus were built, where man could become pony. Princess Celestia had asked that only native Equestrians could run Bureaus, and the Governments of the world saw nothing wrong with that notion so they allowed it. Twilight Sparkle, her protégé, managed the construction of the first three Bureaus: the English one, the USA one and the Russian one.

For a while, things were fine. Some ponies moved from Equestria into Earth, some humans got themselves ponified. The only significant thing that happened was the formation of the HLF. It originally started outside the Washington DC Bureau as a non-violent protest group but quickly spiralled into something much worse.

When ponification was made mandatory a few years later in 2040, with the excuse of “saving us from ourselves”, it was not long for the HLF to concentrate on a way to counter the effects from the Potion. They had only concluded that Celestia had a strong magical connection to it, meaning that if they wanted to un-ponify the converted, also called “Newfoals”, Celestia had to die. The problem was however, she was a goddess, an immortal. Human ingenuity however was at it’s finest, with the introduction and research of magic. The Human Liberation Front had created a one-use device to kill Celestia, the “Mortuum C”. A small device filled with poison developed by top Earth HLF scientists to hit the goddess and kill her. Only the top HLF leaders knew it existed. It had been stored in the last functioning base of the HLF a couple years ago, until it was taken over and destroyed by the Barrier as it expanded. It wasn’t until October 11, 2050 that the Barrier had finally stopped its expansion, but had already crushed any hope to save mankind. Well, almost.

The “TASV” was the first experimental time-machine that was being built in secret decades ago, long before Equestria even appeared, and now it was the only way to save humankind. The machine however could only go so far in time, the limit being 3 years from zero-point. They knew their mission: They would go back to 2048, acquire the “Mortuum C”, use the “E.D Mark 1” to get into Equestria and assassinate Celestia for good. Me, along with the other 40 survivors, were making a final stand to cover our two friends to get to the time-machine.

A siren began, with the sounds of gunfire and small explosions getting closer. I knew I was going to get converted, I knew that within a few minutes, I would be forcefully given the Potion and somehow accept Celestia as my princess and obey her. I would join the herd. But not without a fight. I arrived at the entrance of the building, where they were all taking cover behind walls and counters, throwing grenades and avoiding the splashes of Potion on the floor.

“Clark get down here for Christ’s sake!”

Said one of them, as I ran slided to get to cover behind the counter. I could see the others in different positions across the wide hallway. Some taking cover behind turned tables or walls. The ponies could were getting closer. Earth ponies in front and the Unicorns behind them, launching the Potion at us.

“Did ya set the TASV yet?!” He yelled, as the loud gunfire was at it’s peak. He was reloading his light machine-gun.

“Yeah, for 5 minutes! It should be enough for them to get in and to lift-off before they get close!”

I responded, as I began to ready my rifle. The man put a hand on my shoulder.

“It was an honor protecting your work sir. Now let’s show these horses who they are messing with.”

He said, as he stood up and placed the light machine-gun on the table, aiming at the invaders. He began to curse at the invaders, who had advanced greatly. I had my rifle ready and came out of cover. The scene was complete chaos. I could see how just a dozen of us were left. A blue earth pony with red mane armed with a shock device on his nose, stunning a man on the ground behind a table that had served him as cover. A wall of unicorns of different colors at a distance, aiming at anyone in sight. People losing their position and retreating towards my side of the stand, only to be either tackled or shot by a pony from their backs. The transformation was surprisingly quick, a mere 30 seconds at most, until they got up and joined the rest. I aimed at the nearest ones.

“You bastards! Monsters!”

Said the man beside me, as he held the trigger and took down about a dozen Earth ponies. That was, until a Potion grenade exploded just in front of our cover. We quickly took cover to avoid getting hit.

“Give up! It’s over! Just accept it and join us!” Said a mare I could only hear at a few meters of distance judging by the volume. Can’t they just understand we don’t want to? Can’t they just let us live as humans and them to stay at their home?

Then, I heard an extremely familiar voice.

“Humans, please understand we are on your side! You don’t need to do this! You will be enlightened soon, a new perfect life in Equestria awaits you all!” It was Celestia.

I took my radio and called. “Mitchell?! Trey?! Celestia is here! Get your asses into that ship before it’s too late!” I put my radio down.

“Those sons of bi-” I interrupted him. I had no idea what his reaction was going to be.

“Nick, you got some on...” I said, pointing at my right cheek. He mimicked me. He touched the splashed drops purple Potion on his cheek. He had a look of fear in eyes, but then, he gave a smile.

“It doesn't matter. Once they succeed, it will all reset.” He said, as he took out his pistol and aimed at his head. I quickly turned away and covered my ears. Then I heard him pull the trigger and the bullet went straight into his head. I felt the blood from the shot splatter onto my bare hand. Farewell. It was nice meeting him, he always did his best to protect our work and us. His corpse lay against the counter. I got up and faced the army.

They were all there. Earth ponies and Unicorns, ready to convert me. I pointed the gun to my head, ready to pull the trigger.

“Stop! Please Clark! Don’t do it!” Said a familiar voice. It was one of my former comrades, now a green coated Earth stallion with brown mane and tail. “We aren’t here to harm you!”

“You… you disgust me. I rather die than become on of-” My sentence was cut off by being tackled to the ground from my back. I never saw it coming, I dropped the gun by accident from the sudden push. “Ahh!” I exclaimed, as I feel to the ground.

“Stun him, quick!” Said one of them, as the herd came and it was all I could see. In a few moments, I'd be a part of it myself. An electric current ran through my body, as a pony stunned me from my back. There I was, laying helplessly on the ground with my head tilted sideways. They had levitated my gun away.

“It will all be better soon Clark, trust us.” His former comrade said. “Ruby! Get everyone after the ship! We can’t let it lift-off!”

“W-Why’d y-you do i-it Fra-ank?” I said, as electricity was still running through my body, making me convulse and made it hard to speak. “Y-you traitor...”

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand now...” He gave a smile, trying to comfort me. I could hear the echo of the others galloping away towards the ship, leaving the place in silence. The green stallion had visible Potion on his hoof.

“Don’t… please...”

“Trust me. You’ll understand.”

Then, he touched my neck with his hoof. The warm, feared purple liquid made me extremely drowsy. I felt something strange in the core of my being. It made me happy.

Mitchell Fedorson
A few minutes earlier

“Quick man! A group of pegasi could be on their way!” Shouted Trey, looking back at me.
“I’m going as fast as I can, it's a little hard with this bloody pack being so heavy though!” I yelled back.

We kept on running through the first floor of the building, until we reached the exit towards the launch pad. There it was, a huge rocket with the mysterious time-machine on it’s top. It was designed to go up to the thermosphere and release the machine. It would theoretically break the sound barrier when going back to Earth, with a parachute for the landing into the past. We kept on running through the open space of concrete floor with a few cracks and garbage strewn about.

"How much time will it take to launch?” I yelled to Trey.

“Clark told me he set it for 5 minutes, so we are in a huge hurry right now! If we don’t get there in time, it will leave without us!” Trey said, looking back at the abandoned base, leaving his other friends behind. They were practically sacrificing themselves to buy time for us, giving up their humanity in one final stand. I noticed how Trey glanced quickly at his watch.

I put on an extra burst of speed and caught up with Trey. I could just hear the sounds of warfare in the distance,

“Good thing we’ve made so much ground,” I commented, no longer having to shout, “we can be out of here before the ponies even realise we’ve left.”

Trey looked at his surroundings, probably looking for pegasi. Then suddenly, a loud voice, as if a speaker were being used, was heard from the base.

“Humans, please understand we are on your side! You don’t need to do this! You will be enlightened soon, a new perfect life in Equestria awaits you all!” We both knew that voice, it was Celestia.

Trey looked at me. “Did you just hear that?! I think that was Celestia!” But before I had a chance to respond, Trey’s radio was talking. “Mitchell?! Trey?! Celestia is here! Get your asses into that ship before it’s too late!” Clark had said, while sounds of gunfire were heard, along with the trotting of hooves.

“Oh we’re screwed,” I said as we ran, now starting to get near the rocket.
Trey glanced quickly at his watch, “Three minutes, ten seconds!” He said, as he glanced to his back quickly and saw a few ponies coming outside the building.

Then, his radio spoke again. “Trey! Mitchell! Don’t do it! Please, we’ve been fighting for the wrong side! Don’t d-!” Trey threw the radio to his side, breaking it into pieces. Clark, the leader of this group, had been turned into one of them. Now Trey and I were the only humans in the whole planet.

“They are coming for us!” Trey yelled while signalling with his head behind him as we ran, I could tell he was in total fear.

“Well what the hell did you think they would be doing? Tap dancing?” I replied, as equally afraid but tried to hide it, “any moment now they will be right behind us, we need to get into the ship! We can't let their sacrifices go in vain!”

We finally arrived to the launch site’s center. The huge metallic ship now beside us, possibly the most advanced piece of technology ever created waiting for us at the top. Now we had to get into the small elevator to reach the time-machine. Trey and I quickly got into the elevator and I pushed the button. The elevator began to slowly move upwards, as the Earth ponies were getting closer, and a few pegasi were flying on top of the NASA center.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?!” Trey yelled at himself, as he started taking a few deep breaths. “Ok, can’t do anything about it...” He took another breath and looked at his watch. “Two minutes left before lift-off.”

“It’ll take them a while to figure out what this is,” I said, trying to convince myself more than anything, “we have time.”.

“They can keep memories man, I think they told them everything before they even asked.” Trey said, as the elevator was halfway up, the ponies getting closer, and the timer counting down. Trey looked at his watch again. “One minute and a half. You are kidding me!”

“The last thing I wanted today was a surprise visit from Celestia, we are going to make it. We’ve got enough time and once we’re up there they can't do much to stop us,” I said, “c’mon, we’re the last humans, we can't fail this!”

The elevator seemed to go slower as it reached the top, as Trey noticed a pony getting dangerously close to the launch pad. He took out his assault rifle with a scope, aiming at the pony.

“Wait, stop! Don’t-!” Shouted the pony, until Trey pulled the trigger, putting him down. The other ponies behind him went past him, with two stopping to heal him. Trey was about to shoot more of them, but he would need that ammo for the future, or is it the past? After about 30 seconds the elevator reached the top, opening the gate and showing a small bridge to the entrance of the time-machine, one of humanity’s biggest dreams. As this happened, the rest of the Unicorn and Earth pony squads arrived.

“No! Snow, get the Pegasi Squads here, they’re getting away!” A male voice shouted meters below them. “They are on the way! Celestia is almost here, she’ll deactivate the ship, don’t you worry!” A female voice responded.

“We’re almost there Mitchell! We’re so close!” Trey said, as we ran to the entrance with our heavy backpacks. The floor shook, as a few Unicorns were damaging the main thrusters. As soon as we got in I threw off my heavy ass pack, sat down and started flicking switches. Trey did the same, sitting in the co-pilot seat and put on his seat-belt. He gave a sigh of relief.

“T minus 5, 4, 3, 2,1” I counted down, putting on my seat-belt and grinned, “we have lift-off.” I paused and added, “see, I told you we’d make it!”

Trey’s response was simply a nod, followed by him closing his eyes and resting his head against the seat, taking a few breaths from the whole chase.

The rocket started juddering and shaking. After a painstakingly long second the rocket lifted off the ground and started its journey, the large explosion from the take off hopefully killing some ponies. I couldn't help but give a cheeky wave to the pegasi watching, powerless to stop the rocket as it boosted its way towards the thermosphere.

.

Author's Note

A/N
11th May Update: Gone through and fixed some spelling a grammar mistakes. -MTB.
MichaelTheBoss: Hello! I'm finally doing a collaboration! Welcome to The Conversion Bureau: Reset! Co-authored by hourglass24, the author of TCB: Force of Will, and me, author of TCB: To Fail When you Succeed and Family in Equestria. Go check them all out if you want. Comment your thoughts and like if you enjoyed. Anything to add, hourglass?
hourglass24: Also my first time doing a collaboration, and it was great! I have really enjoyed reading TCB stories and writing with someone who likes it as well is great. I’d be happy to write more chapters and I hope you guys liked it.
See you in the next chapter!
MichaelTheBoss: Have a good day/night

MichaelTheBoss