Chapters The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Clark
November 01, 2051.
“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
“Quick man! A group of pegasi could be on their way!” Shouted Trey, looking back at me.
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.
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
MichaelTheBoss
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
The Past is in The Future
Background Music
Trey
November 01, 2051. 11:16 P.M.
“Incredible.” I whispered, as I stared out the window looking at the sun setting behind the ocean. I could see the stars clearly once the sun was no longer visible, leaving the interior of the ship in darkness. The blue interior lights of the dashboard and the small light spot in the small ship were the only ones illuminating the place, with only the darkness of space and it’s countless stars our the front window. I continued to stare outside, as I could see the Barrier near the place we left off, covering about half of the USA.
And somewhere in there, there is another world. I thought. Too late Celestia, too late. I gave a smirk at the thought.
“So Mitchell,” I said, as I turned to Mitchell. “how’s the anticipation going? We’ll become the first time travelers in the history of humankind in just...” I glanced at the dashboard with the blue number countdown. “7 minutes.”
“Well, if this time travel attempt fails, at least we’ll die free men. Not under Celestia’s control. What do you think it would be like to be ponified?” Mitchell asked me.
I have thought about it for a long time. How could the Potion change your mindset in just an instant? Would it be like dying, or simply wanting to join them? The thought of getting ponified gave me shivers. As much as I hate admitting it, I have always been curious on how it would be like. Of course, I don’t want to find out any time soon.and scientist. I remember when he would spend entire nights working on the machine, never taking a break. Then in just a few moments...he was on their side. ” Now I was looking out the window, looking back at the darkness of Earth since power ran out in most part of the world.
“Scary, isn't it. That's all in the past now anyway, or is it the future? Oh this is going to give me a headache,” commented Mitchell.Let’s see… canned food, can opener, water filter, events notebook, US map, solar panel charged GPS, Medi-kit. It all there. “Yeah, we have everything. Do you have the temporal Potion? I think they put it in your bag.” I said, turning to Mitchell.
“Lemme check,” Mitchell replied, undoing his seat-belt and floating over to his pack,
“Let's see. Rope, water bottles, spare ammo, aha! Here it is!” Mitchell held up the containers of temporary Potion, modified to not interfere with the brain and to make the human to pony transformation temporal, about one month.
“So what’s the plan when we land? Where will we land?” Mitchell asked and checked the dashboard, “entering lower thermosphere. Prepare for the drop,”
“We are dropping somewhere near the launch base in a 500 km radius. If we are lucky, we won’t fall to the ocean.” I explained. “Once we arrive we’ll use our GPS to get the the last HLF base in California to acquire the Mortuum C. Then, we go to France to get the E.D Mark 1 and get into Equestria. Not too hard eh?” I said, chuckling at the end, nodding my head sideways. Two guys for this whole mission. Seriously?
“Hard part is getting a transport to France. Last I heard the Pegasi had a tight hold on all the airspace.” Mitchell replied.
“Time travel. If we do it quick enough, we can take a plane and go to France before they had secured all airspace.” I said. “Of course, there will still be a great number of Pegasi on the skies.” I glanced at the timer. 2 Minutes...
“Oh yeah. Almost at the height needed to reach the terminal velocity to pull this off,” Mitchell said, “strap yourself in tight,”
As Mitchell finished saying that, the time-machine disconnected from the ship. The ship suffered from a bit of turbulence as it began to position itself with it’s small thrusters, pointing back at Earth.
“It won't, I have full faith in Clark’s handiwork. But, look at that view,” Mitchell said. Pointing back at Earth had given them a full view of the planet. Whilst it was partly covered by the Barrier, and infested with Ponies, the sight was still tremendous.
My heart began to pound, as I could begin to hear the main thruster at our feet begin to turn on, making the whole thing shake. This this was going to break the sound barrier in a few seconds once it got into the atmosphere. I took my rifle and made sure it was well strapped to the seat and had no bullets in. As I finished doing this, I glanced at the timer. “24 Seconds.” I said, being a bit less audible because of the noise from the thruster beginning to rise.
“Oh shit, my gun!” Mitchell said and quickly unloaded his pistol, stuffing it all into his bag in record breaking times.
“10 Seconds.” I whispered, as my heart began to pound faster than ever but still tried to remain calm. I was no longer audible because of how loud the engine was. We still didn’t take off, but the noise was still there from the engine preparing for the ride. I glanced at Mitchell at my right to see his reaction.
Mitchell was nervously grinning, eyes wide with anticipation. Even though I couldn’t hear him, I could read his lips. “Three, two, one.” He said, counting down with the timer.Holy fucking shit, holy fucking shit, stay calm! Don’t lose it! I thought as the ship moved at an incredible speed downwards. I opened my eyes and saw us quickly approaching Earth. I turned at Mitchell, as the loud noise of the engine was the only thing I could hear.
From what I could see, Mitchell was deep in concentration over the controls. Clark had drilled him time and again on how to operate the TASV, he hated it at the time but I guess now it was paying off. We had already set the time a few hours ago since we lift off, checking and re-checking, I turned to the pilot window, as we were beginning to enter the atmosphere into some clouds. It was all dark since it was night-time. Now the only light were the blue ones from the dashboard, showing digits and computer terminal text.
The sound barrier broke. The ship then got hit by a strong turbulence, wobbling us about and the ship made a sound unlike anything I’ve heard before.
Mitchell was poised over the controls, glancing at the numbers on the dashboard as they slowly stopped going up. “TERMINAL VELOCITY REACHED, ON MY MARK FLICK THAT SWITCH TO GET THROUGH THE VORTEX!” He yelled over the roar of the engines, pointing to a red switch.
I looked at the window once again, this time to be met a a bright blue spiral-like light against the glass. That light was all I could see out the window, illuminating the ship. I looked at the window on my left, to be met by the darkness of the night and the clouds rushing quickly at it’s side.
“NOW!” Mitchell yelled. “QUICK, FLICK IT OR WE’LL MISS THE WINDOW TO STOP! WE’LL CRASH INTO THE EARTH!”
Slightly blinded from the bright light, I managed to reach for the switch and flicked it. A loud ‘boom’ was heard in all directions and everything went completely white. We were both left with our ears ringing. I had closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, the small pilot cabin was now well illuminated, with sunlight coming from the windows. That can only mean one thing. I thought. We were still going at an alarming speed to the ground, as I tried to find the parachute switch with effort since my eyes were still adapting to the light. The sound of wind was heard rushing by the ship.Come one, you can’t fail now! Would it have been that hard to give this thing parachutes that auto-deploy? I thought, as I extended my arm to reach for the blue switch at a place I remembered. We had been trained so much in this part that we almost knew the control pannel by memory.
I flicked the switch.
The parachute was released, and speed suddenly ceased. I got pushed forwards because of the inertia of the sudden stop, but the seatbelt avoided me from getting hurt.
“Welcome to the past,” Mitchell said, no longer having to shout as the noise from the engines was getting quieter, “would there be a paradox if I talked to myself, as in, my past self?”
“Nah, that’s just movie cliche. There is no reason on why a paradox would be made in that case, so we shouldn’t worry about it.” I said, now much calmer and my heart starting to pound in a more relaxed manner. “But we shouldn’t do it anyway, as we don’t want to interrupt the timeline where we get to the time machine. So we should stay away as possible.” I faced the window to my left and saw ground approaching slowly. Lucky. I thought. “Mitchell, is there ground on your side of the window?”
Mitchell looked out of his window, “yep,” he said, “looks like the landing will be okay. Get ready though, we could be attacked by ponies any second, and I highly doubt no one saw that landing,”
True, I have not thought much about the ponies since we lift-off. I felt so safe up there, away from everything. “Got it.” I said, as I untied my backpack and my assault rifle. I took out the ammunition from the backpack and loaded my gun. I looked out the window, searching for ponies. We seemed to have landed in a small grass field surrounded by trees. “Ponies don’t usually patrol in the wilderness, so that will give us time.” I said.
“Good,” Mitchell said, taking out his automatic pistol and reloading it, “now where was that HLF base again? California?”
“Yes, it’s a hidden underground base inside the mountains near Gull Lake. It will takes us weeks to get there, but we’ll find the Mortuum C inside.” I explained. “By the time we get there, the place will be abandoned.” I took my small leather book from my backpack’s front section. “This book contains all important events that will happen within the next 3 years. Where pony armies attacked, where the Barrier arrived and when, safe places, vehicle locations, this book has it all.” I opened and went to the first page. “Ok, so that last HLF base will fall in a month from now, about the time we arrive there. Then, one month later, it will be covered by the Barrier, so there’s our deadline.”
“If we get there before it falls, we should warn the HLF base. We need to alter history as much as possible to put more odds in our favour of winning this war,” Mitchell suggested, “I mean, the more we can change the better, right?” He absently scratched his hair.
“Maybe. Though, once we murder Celestia, all Newfoals should be changed back to normal and the Potion would be rendered useless. The Barrier would also weaken to the point it allows humans to pass through. So we could help them, but at the end it doesn’t matter much really.” I explained him. I paused for a moment in thought. “Actually, that’s a very good idea! We could get them to help us get to France safely since we will be more armed and in a bigger group.”
“Yeah, I mean, we have two guns between us. If we joined forces with the HLF then it would be a lot less dangerous. Safety in numbers.” Mitchell grinned, “we all know how fantastic my aim with guns is, but I only have a certain amount of rounds, and once we run out, we run out. The HLF can give us more ammo and weapons. So this Mortuum C, is it like a crossbow or something?”
“It’s kinda like...” I began to motion my hands to give an idea of how it looked. “Um… It’s like a medical needle, only that a bit thicker at the base which is made of metal, containing the potent charged poison.” I tried to explain.
Suddenly, the whole ship came to a stop, making the whole ship shake for a split second. We had landed. I looked out the window to see a small area of grass and a wall of trees ahead. The parachute soon fell, covering the windows.
“Well,” Mitchell sighed, “let's get started then.”
Author's Note
11th May: Changed some spelling and grammar mistakes. -MTB
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember this is co-authored between hourglass24 and I.
Why not leave a like if you enjoyed, feel free to add some constructive criticism so we can improve in the future and if you really liked it, favourite it and track it.
Have a good day/night
MichaelTheBoss
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Mitchell
Unknown date. October-December, 2048.
I undid my seatbelt and had a good stretch. I let out a sigh of relief, relief that we had escaped the ponies, relief that the TASV worked, relief that we didn't crash-land. Relief in general, really. Trey was getting his seatbelt off and he stretched as well.
“Ahh. Ok, I’m ready.” He put on his backpack and took his rifle as he yawned. “I heard jet lag dissipates after a while.” He commented as he scratched his eyes. “Let's get out of here.”
“You know that was one of the most commonly used lines in movies?” I blurted out.
“Nope.” Trey said, as he approached the thick metal door and pulled a lever. Something was heard inside the door, probably the lock releasing. Trey tried to push the door, putting his weight against it, but it wouldn’t open. “Well this is embarrassing. A little help?”
“Here, let the master do it,” I grinned and flexed my muscles, pushing Trey out of the way. I pushed on the door, not with my full strength but a fair amount of it. The door was jammed tighter than a screw.
I shoved my full weight against it, but the door would simply not budge. “I think we’re gonna have to do this one together,” I said, as I swallowed my pride.
Trey and I both pushed against the door, as we could hear something breaking from the outside. “What got this thing so stuck? Damn.” Trey said as he grunted. Suddenly, the door slowly opened, revealing the small grassland we had landed in. We both heard something breaking outside, like if it were ice.
Background Music
We exited the ship, as we noticed it was frozen from the base and had frozen part of the door as white fog fell to the ground from the low temperature. We were now stepping on grass in a small open field surrounded with trees and a small gap between them, possibly an exit with a path.
“So, which way to California?” I asked, I didn't know much about America, being a true Englishman at heart.
“One moment...” Trey said, as we crouched and took off his backpack and set it on the floor as he opened it. He took out our GPS and extended it’s small metallic antenna. The device looked an awful lot like the Wii U’s tablet. Trey kept staring at the device, as he made a confused expression.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“It’s not turning on. I swear I checked it was fully charged before we got into the ship.” He said. “Nothing to worry about though, it’s charged with sunlight.”
“How long will it take to charge?” I questioned.
“It takes about an hour or so to charge fully, but even then, it should turn on this small light at the corner. It signals it’s still functional, and I don’t see it” He explained. “Could the vortex have done something?”
“Maybe,” I said, turning around to look back at the TASV, to take a final glance at the human machinery that quite possibly saved the human race.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to use the map for now.” Trey said, putting the malfunctioning GPS back to his backpack, then taking the US map. He expanded the map with both his arms. “Here, look. See this red circle in Florida?” He said, now taking half the map and pointing with his finger.
“Wait, what year is it again?” I asked, hoping, but not wanting to get my hopes up too much.
“We are somewhere, no.” Trey corrected himself. “Sometime between October and December of the year 2048.”
“Oh my God he’ll still be alive!” I exclaimed happily, “my brother! He’ll be somewhere in New Zealand helping the HLF there! I need to get a radio call to him!”
“Wow, wow, stay focused man. We were sent in a specific mission and we were specifically told to not deviate from the mission at all costs.” Trey told me, raising his voice a little. “If we succeed, it will undo, remember?”
“Are you saying,” I started to get angry, “that I cannot prevent my own brother’s conversion into one of those horse fuckers! What if we fail, huh? Then what? I will not let you tell me I can't save him!”
“Listen, if we fail, everyone would get converted at some point. Even us. The only way to save your brother is by sticking to the plan alright?” Trey said, trying to calm me. “I know it must hurt, but we need to make the best choice possible, even if it seems wrong at first.”
“The best choice would be to warn every piece of resistance we can about upcoming pony attacks so if we do fail then at least we will have saved them!” I argued, “if I can radio a message to Stan then I can tell him when and how he’ll be ponified and prevent it!”
“And how do you plan on contacting him now? He is at the other side of the world, and by the time we get there...” Trey fell silent.
“He gets ponified in January, a fair few weeks after the HLF there fall. That’s more than enough time to get to the HLF base, who have sophisticated communication devices. I can tell him from there. We agreed before we got separated to use a specific radio station to contact each other on.” I said, figuring out the plan in my head.
“Ok, ok. I guess we can do that since we would be heading to the same base. It should be fine I guess.” Trey said. “As long as you don’t tell him anything about us time traveling.”
“Well what else will I say? Hey bro, I know the exact time, date and location of your ponification and how you can avoid it, love you lots! ” I said sarcastically.
Trey opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say a word, we both heard branches crack at a distance. We quickly changed glances. Trey’s eyes were wide open.
“Are you crazy! There's no cover there!” I tried to call after him and drew my Glock 19.
Trey turned around and crouched while approaching back to the ship. He had only made about 3 meters of distance. Trey got into the ship.
“Will you pipe down!” I hissed at him, “you're creating more noise than an electric drill!” I followed him into the ship and closed the door. “Barricade the entrance,” I said.
“What are you thinking?! They could throw a potion grenade if they opened it!” Trey whispered.
“-s that thing?! Commander Pearl, do you have any idea?” Said a male voice outside the ship.
“I… I don’t know.” A female voice responded with an amazed tone. “I mean… it looks like some kind of ship.”
I glanced a Trey, his back against metal with the circle window above his head. He had his rifle aiming at the entrance. I too, had my Glock aimed right at the entrance, ready for the ponies to come bursting in.
“Should we take a look inside? I mean, now that I think about it, there could be someone inside.” Said another stallion in a nervous tone.
Trey was trying to get calm, taking a few breaths. Personally, I was as prepared as I could be, my gun arm was not too relaxed but not too tense, my breathing was slow and steady and my mind was clear. I waited for the door to open, for the first opportunity to spill pony blood. The door began to open with a pink aura of magic, revealing a light-pink unicorn outside. She gasped in horror as soon as she saw us both aiming at her.
“Surprise motherfucker,” I said, and pulled the trigger, my gun kicking upwards as the bullets entered her skull.
“Pearl!” A male voice cried out, coming near the fallen pink unicorn. “Pearl, please talk to me!” Said a white stallion pegasus.
Without warning, Trey got up and got to the entrance with his rifle. He took the stallion with one arm and held him hostage, with his rifle pointing at his head. “Drop your launchers now or he gets it! I’m serious!”
“They won't negotiate!” I yelled at him, “they’re Ponies, they’ll just shoot their Potion at you! Get back in here!”
Trey did not listen to me. He still held the stallion hostage. “If you saw their faces Mitchell. They care too much for him to risk his life, isn’t that right?” Trey said, directing his attention to the stallion being held from his chest.
“Y-you monsters! Bastards!”
“That’s what happens when you join Potion squads. Now everyone stay back or I will kill him.”
“Trey! Just kill the arsehole, they're not going to listen to you! I do not want to see you ponified before we can even get anywhere near the location we need to be,” I yelled, careful not to reveal where we were headed.
“Ok.” Trey whispered loud enough for just me and the stallion to hear. “At the count of three, I release him and you shoot everyone.”
“Arseholes! This is for my parents and brother!" I cried out as I burst out from the ship, firing my Glock expertly into the Ponies. Countless hours of training back in the old NASA base had allowed me to be able to handle the weapon perfectly. I managed to take down two of them by sheer surprise and good aim, then the others had managed to load their Potion weapons. I made a way to get away from Trey, if I could draw their fire it would be a lot more helpful for him. Potion splattered a bit to my left and I reloaded my gun, throwing the empty mag down. I shot the one who fired the Potion and the other one started to run, I let him get a bit away then shot him in the back, quicker deaths then they deserve, I reckon.
Trey had put the stallion down and kicked it in the stomach, grunting in pain and leaving him vulnerable.
I glanced at Trey, who had his foot on top of the stallion’s stomach, aiming at his head with his rifle. “You make any sudden movement and you die, you hear?” Trey said, trying to intimidate the stallion.
“Oh for God’s sake just kill it,” I grunted, “you’re such a wimp,”.
Trey snorted at my insult. “He can have valuable information of nearby patrols. I think he’s worth more alive at this moment.”
The stallion, still in pain, looked up at Trey. “W-why do you do this? Can’t you see we want you to be happy?”
“And can’t you understand it’s not necessary to be converted? You are wrong, not us.”
“What? No, you are wrong! You are misguided! We are saving your kind, how can you not see it?!”
“Look here arsehole, you’ve been going around destroying any humans you find and turning them into goddamn horses. That’s genocide mate,” I said.
“Genocide?! This is nothing like genocide!”” The pegasus exclaimed. “Ever seen somepony regretting being converted? Huh?”
"No, because you mind-rape them with your goddamn Potion!" I exclaimed angrily.
"We do not, the Potion is as pure as Princess Celestia herself!" The stallion objected.
“It surely messes with their minds in someway. So what do you know? Speak.” Trey said, aiming his rifle at his forehead.
I could notice the stallion hesitated on his answer. “I...I’m not saying anything.”
“Trey, just kill him. A grunt like this won't know anything. The only one who was worth anything was their commander,” I stated.
Bang!
Without a warning, Trey had pulled the trigger. The stallion now laid on the ground, lifeless. Trey looked away from the body. The place was once again silent, not even birds were heard.
“I’ll be honest here Mitchell.” Trey said. “Call me a wimp, but I really hate killing anything at all. Even though you probably already knew that.”
“If you saw what they did in England…” I trailed off, “you wouldn't spare them any mercy. There’s nothing clean, nothing pure on their side of the war, Celestia is an animal who needs to be put down.”
Trey sighed. “And you’re right I guess. Never really got to fight any ponies in the HLF. Someone else could of heard our gunfire, we should get moving.” Trey said, with his backpack and rifle lowered. Now we both were walking to the path we had noticed a few minutes ago. Everything was peaceful once again. Trey and I are going to be together for a long time now, might as well get a conversation flowing.
“You know, I haven't seen my brother since we parted ways in England." I said, "I came to help in America, and Stan went to New Zealand. We only communicated every once in awhile via radio. I received news of his conversion as he was travelling with a small group of the former HLF there. 12th January 2049, Tuesday, 15:09. I’ve memorised that date ever since I was selected. I've had the plan to prevent it since a day later.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Trey said, as we now walked down a dirt path with trees at the sides. “You told me your parents willingly converted huh?”
“Yeah, my brother and I… We ran away that day. I was only 15. We found the HLF there in London and joined up. It's where I learned to shoot. One year later, the Barrier destroys England and we go our separate ways. I wasn't even meant to end up here, Pegasi made the plane crash over Cape Canaveral, dumb luck made me find the base.”
“I see.” Trey responded as he walked down a now concrete road. “Yeah, pegasi can be very dangerous. Silent, fast, agile. I didn’t know they could take an entire plane down though.” Now birds could be heard in the background. “There were stories of HLF bases in England literally getting vaporised going around back on our base,"
“The Pilot panicked, I’m pretty sure he deliberately crashed the plane. I barely survived myself.”
“Well, you were very lucky to find the base. Who would've known it was going to be the last one standing huh?”
“Yeah, I was literally just stumbling around dazed, bruised and cut up all over,” I said, reminiscing.
And like that we kept on walking down the road. Not sure where or when we were, but we would find out soon.
Author's Note
12th May: Fixed some grammar and spelling, redone some sentances to make more sense.
hourglass24: Ponies.
MichaelTheBoss: Anything relevant to this story? No? Well then.
Have a good day/night
MichaelTheBoss
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Trey
Unknown date. October-December, 2048.
“Trey, do you have any idea where we are actually going, or are you just pretending to?” Mitchell asked. We had been walking for about half an hour now along the road with trees at our sides, along with the sound of the birds chirping.
“Yeah… No clue where we are. We need to find something that gives us a clue of our location. Like a newspaper or a sign, then I can search for it in the map.” I said back.
“Newspaper? I doubt there’s many of them hanging around anywhere,” Mitchell exclaimed, “you know how I joined the time travel project and got to stay? They were gonna kick me out, leave me to fend for myself.”
“Well, I guess it was better if you joined the group. The more people the better don’t you think?” I said back. “Not to mention your aim...”
“I held a gun to Clark’s head, threatened to kill him,” Mitchell admitted sheepishly, “the same one I use now. I was serious, I was actually going to kill him if they didn't let me stay. That would have screwed up the project.”
“That would’ve been catastrophic for the project indeed.” I agreed. “Clark...”. That doesn’t matter anymore. Clark is still a human, somewhere a few kilometers from here. We cannot fail this.
“When he was ponified?” Mitchell asked, confused.
“Yeah, I still can’t believe it. How can it change you to the core so fast?” I said. “Scares me to think what it feels like.”
“All I know is that I heard it tastes of grapes, makes you really tired, then mindfucks you. I will admit I am a little curious as to what it would be like if I drank it, or got it on me,” Mitchell said as he walked down the road, “I mean, if it could change a guy like Clark that quickly, that shit must be powerful. Would I really just slip away like that?”
“Scary to think.” I admitted, as I looked at my surroundings. “That serum must have some very complex composition to do such a thing. But I also wondered if it could be used for medical purposes, such as limb regeneration, but without the conversion. It would of been a huge medical achievement. What a shame.”
“It was a huge medical achievement,” Mitchell commented, “they found the blasted cure for cancer and what have you. Mind you, we still haven't found a permanent cure for the common cold, so I'm not that impressed with its healing power.”
“True that.” I responded, as I looked at the trees at my right. “Maybe once this is all over, they’ll be able to modify the potion for healing.”
“Maybe, but everyone will be so busy trying to get the world back on track, and we will go down in every history textbook ever: The two young adults who ended the worst war in the history of humanity. We’ll be famous!” Mitchell yawned, “It's been a long day, we need somewhere to rest.”
“I think I can see a building over there.” I said, as I pointed forwards. Above a few trees, you could notice a tall metal fence. “I’m pretty tired as well.”
“That's one hell of a garden fence.” Mitchell remarked, gesturing at the metal structure.
We kept walking towards the fence, having to pass by some trees and bushes. It was an abnormally tall fence. Why was it so tall? Oh well, it was a sign of civilization, which was both good news and bad news. Towns, and especially cities were definitely not the safest places to be in. Often there would be either a group of raiders installed, or an Equestrian camp installed in some building. But the good side of it was shelter, since living out in the wilderness is not very safe from animals, weather conditions, along with other threats. At least that was what I’ve been told, since I had been lucky enough to join the HLF as soon as conversion had been declared mandatory. Yeah, I only heard the stories of the squads sent outside base, while I worked on the center of operations. Lucky me.
We finally got past the trees and bushes blocking our way, until we reached clear ground to be met by a very tall fence. It didn’t take long to realize what this place was. The two tall fences one behind the other. The squared, one floor white buildings. The limited grass field, which had overgrown a bit. The bars on the windows.
“This is a prison, isn't it?” Mitchell said, “you got wire cutters?”
“Not from what I remember.” I responded. “I guess we’ll have to go around and go by the entrance.”
“It's not like anyone's preventing us from just walking in.” Mitchell commented.
I gulped at that. A prison is a very good place for a base. It has the fences, light towers, alarms, surveillance cameras… It’s not crazy to think that a Potion squad would set up a camp here.
“Look man, it's time you and I had a talk.” Mitchell said, as he stopped walking and so did I.
Well, they technically don’t destroy or kill… or do they? It had been a big moral conflict between the two points of view for a lot of people. It it destroying, or is it reforming? Is it killing, or is it fixing? That was one of the reasons why so many already joined them willingly in the beginning. They had lost faith in our species. But I, along with the remaining ones, didn’t. Yet, I still have mercy to them. From their point of view, it looks like they’re trying to help us, with honest good intentions. Still, it’s wrong, awfully wrong, but they can’t see it. But he’s right, it’s them or us. They’re sacks of meat. A bag of organs. Nothing more.
I sighed. “Ok. Got it.”
“Good, this is important. If we're ever stuck in a shootout situation with a large group of the bastards, I need to be able to rely on you to help kill them.” Mitchell said.
I wish they’d just leave humans alone. Stupid equines getting themselves killed thinking they’re doing the right thing.
“See anything camped in there?” Mitchell asked me, “If we’re lucky, we’ll be the first here unless the ponies already came in and ponified the inmates.”
We both fell silent as we examined the area. Only the chirping of of birds and the leaves of the trees moving a couple meters behind us were heard. There was no movement on the place from what I saw, but I couldn’t be sure of the inside.
“I can’t see the inside. I guess we’ll have to go by the entrance quietly to find out.” I said, as we began to walk again by the fence, switching our attention from our front and the prison constantly.
“The alarms probably got power from the generator or batteries, batteries would be long dead by now and the generator will hopefully be out of juice. Nothing to prevent us from just strolling in.” said Mitchell.
“Alright.” I said, as we kept walking by the fence. Within a minute or so we had arrived at one of the corners, from we could see a parking lot, along with the entrance. The place was quiet but a bit windy. When we arrived to the entrance, we could see the place had broken windows, but no signs of dry Potion.
“I say we check out the armory.” I said quietly, as Mitchell opened the door and I followed, getting my rifle ready. “We should secure the whole building first though.”
“Imagine being a prisoner in there, one day all the guards run off because of some unknown threat and you have no idea what’s happened, then when you finally manage to get out of your cell you emerge into a world like this. Must have been quite the piss-take to see a bunch of pastel coloured horses saying they will ‘perfect’ them by converting them,” Mitchell said, “we’ll check the armoury tomorrow, I'm dead tired.”
“Yeah, same here.” I said as I yawned. “I can imagine their reaction when they escaped. The world being taken over by colorful little horses, like, really.”
“That is, if they escaped at all,” Mitchell added, “they could still be in there.”
“If they didn’t escape, then they either starved to death or got converted and taken away.” I said, as we entered the cells building. All doors were unlocked, which convinced me
“These doors,” Mitchell spoke up, “they're electronic locks, probably just swung right open as soon as the backup generators power died.”
We arrived to a cell block, all cells open. To be honest, the only thing in my mind by this point was to go to bed. Tomorrow we would worry about what to do next, figure out where we were and when. But for now, all I wanted was some sleep.
“So… I guess we should secure the block first?” I said, but I was almost sure the place was empty.
“If there was something, or someone, in here, I'm sure they would have heard us and came rushing in now,” Mitchell yawned, “I’ll take first watch, I’ll wake you in four hours for a switch. Next time, you're taking first watch though.”
There was no way I was going to say no.
“Trey, wake up,” said the exhausted voice of my partner, Mitchell Fedorson, as he shook me awake with a flashlight, “it's your turn on watch, and I'm bloody tired.”
“Yeah...ok...” I said as I yawned. I scratched my eyes and looked at my digital watch as I stood up from the bed. 11:35 P.M. I looked for my backpack and searched for my flashlight. I took the metallic flashlight from my backpack and turned it on, aiming at the ground to not blind Mitchell, who went for bed as soon as I left it.
“Goodnight,” Mitchell yawned, shrugging off his dark brown trench coat, he curled up on the bed. I heard him rustling the sheets as he got comfortable on the hard prison mattress.
I stepped out the cell with my backpack and my rifle, sitting on the floor beside the cell. With my flashlight still on, I decided to check the map for a prison within the red circle I had drawn.Let’s see here… Aha!
We had a long journey ahead of us. Who knows what awaited us ahead. Tomorrow we would check out the armory and possibly get better weapons and gear, if we had luck. I observed the map closely and examined the type of places we would go through. We’ll need a car if we want to call Stan Fedorson in time.
This whole invasion was devastating. It’s much more difficult than a war against someone who wants to kill you. Replace kill by convert, and you manage to keep an army from being destroyed. Plus, the converted are more than willing to give any useful information to their new side. Invasion by conversion is much more effective it seems. And as if that wasn’t enough, they can use magic, they can fly, can run much faster than us, and all it takes is for one single drop to touch you and you’re done.
Author's Note
12th May: Changed some spelling and grammar. The dialogue in this chapter is somewhat random because there's just two of them who will be with each other for a long time so they keep conversations up to prevent it being awkwardly silent whilst travelling. -MTB
Have a good day/night
MichaelTheBoss
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Mitchell
8th November 2037 “No! I'm not going!” I protested, I was not going, I would never go. Ever. I knew what that Potion did to people, messing with their heads and all. Stan was clenching his fists so hard his knuckles were turning white, glowering at mum and dad in silent fury.
“Don't be difficult, Mitchell,” my Dad sighed, “don't make me drag you into the car,”
“You know you wouldn't,” I fired back. Glaring at him.
“He’s right,” Stan agreed with me, “Mitch and I are staying human, we’re not going to the Bureau with you, ‘kay?”
“No,” Mum replied, “this was a family decision.”
“No it fucking wasn't, you two decided that this would be a bloody good idea last night.” I yelled at her.
She slapped me. Rings and all. It stung like a bitch, a sharp noise resounding when it happened.
I was stunned, Stan looked horrified, it was the first time Mum had slapped any of us.
I ran. Out the door, swiping the car keys from the windowsill, where Dad had put them as we were about to go out. Stan ran after me.
“Mitch, where are you going?” He called out to me as I unlocked the car,
“Away from them,” I grunted,
“Mitch, you barely know how to drive,” Stan sighed, “I'm coming too, I'm not letting them turn me into a horse.”
“But where are we going to go?” I asked as he clambered into the driver's seat and I rode shotgun.
“Where do you think?” He replied, “the HLF.”
“Why there?” I questioned,
“Because we have nowhere else to go. Wake up, Mitchell. It's your watch again. WAKE UP!”
Unknown date. October-December, 2048.
“GAH!” I jolted out of the hard prison mattress and bumped my head against the top bunk, “ow, damn,” I muttered, rubbing my head.
“Mitchell, it's been 4 hours.” Trey said.
“What? Already?” I grunted, he nodded as conformation.
“Yippie,” I groaned, “c’mon man, it's 3am. It's when creatures are at their weakest. When most deaths occur in hospitals. Can't we just skip watch tonight?”
“Fine with me. I wanted to check out the armory.” He said, as he had his flashlight on pointing to the ground. “We might find something useful.”
“Fair enough,” I replied, rubbing my eyes. Thoughts drifting to my dream as I donned my trench-coat and got my flashlight out of my bag. Why did mum and dad do that to us? Why couldn't they have just left us alone?
We began walking by the hall in the middle of the night. I could see Trey had his portable hacking station with him as he illuminated the way with his flashlight.
“Why can't more places have solar panels? At least then there’d be power for lighting,” I commented, “this place, it's eerie enough as a prison in the first place.” if one of those fuckers did pop up, I’d put a bullet into its skull I wanted to add but refrained from saying it.
We kept walking for a few minutes, while crickets were heard outside. Trey’s flashlight illuminating the way as we walked. That was, until we found a metal door without handle, with the word “Armory” on top. It had a keypad on the wall. Trey could surely hack its password, but there was no power.
“Let’s see here...” Trey said to himself as he gave me the flashlight and forced the plastic keypad open, revealing cables and other components. Trey disconnected one of the cables while he took his portable terminal cable, connecting it to the keypad. The small screen illuminated. “I’ll just make it share it’s battery to work...”
“Hey, when we’re done in here, can we go to the communications room? I want to take a look at the radios here, maybe I can talk to Stan. Haven't talked to him since before we arrived here in the past.” I said.
I haven't seen his face in years. We parted ways one week before England was destroyed by the Barrier. Whilst Trey never saw much action in the HLF, I saw almost too much of it. People literally vaporised by Purity Patrols, others shown no mercy and ponified by force. A child and a mother, the child couldn't have been older than seven. Probably too young to understand what was happening, the potion forced down her throat as her mother watched in grief. Then the child turned on her own mother. I had to shoot it and the pony that ponified him before they got her mother. There isn't a day that goes by without my thoughts dwelling on that child in shame. Still, it had to happen. It was the enemy and would've ponified it's own mother without a second thought.
“Sure, just give me a second aaand...” Trey said, as lots of code moved through the screen while he typed on the small keyboard. Suddenly, the thick metal door made a loud “click”, making both of us jump for a moment. The door to the armory was now open.
I walked into that room like a kid on Christmas Day. Pouring over the weapons and ammunition and marvelling at it all when a slight problem popped into my head.
“Hey, Trey, where are we going to store all our stuff? We can't carry everything around in backpacks.” I asked my companion.
“We’ll just take what is necessary, so choose wisely...” Trey responded as he walked in, placing his hacking station back to his backpack. He began to search inside the metallic drawers.
“Whatever’s necessary, got it,” I replied and took a closer look around. I'm not a big fan of automatic rifles, I prefer just hand cannons. They're easier to use but it won't be much use in a proper shoot-out situation, which we might very well end up in.
My eyes felt drawn towards a rather magnificent looking, old but still looked like it fired true, BMCR Combat rifle. I walked over to it and picked it up, getting a feel for its weight. Not too shabby I thought to myself.
I picked up my Glock, which I placed onto a table to pick up the rifle. I put the Glock into the holster that I had for it which I looted from the dead body of a HLF member.
“Perfect.” Trey said. “Thermal imploders. Best. Explosives. Ever.”
“Grenades?” I asked as I turned to face him.
“Oh yes, but not just a regular grenade.” He said as he took one from the open drawer.
“I'm not that keen on grenades; too messy,” I commented, rummaging around for ammunition.
“I’m taking some with me.” Trey said as he took about 5, placing them into his backpack. Trey then kept looking around, as I did the same.
“Better safe than sorry, I suppose,” I said, “you taking a new gun?”
“Yeah, I’m still looking” Trey said back, as be opened other drawers. “Oh, there we go.” He said as he dropped a stun-gun, a couple of batteries and some extra ammunition into his backpack.
“Why the stun gun? Best to just end them where they stand. You know they don't want to be ponies, whatever that Potion does to them it kills them, they just don't know it yet. The human part of them wants to die.” I said.
“Well... I guess it could come in handy if we need to capture somepony alive and we need information like I tried last time.” Trey said back. “And yeah, I’m still not completely comfortable with killing them. But I will if necessary, I’m sure of it.”
“Fair enough,” I shrugged, “is this all we need from here?”
“I guess...” Trey said, looking at the fair amount of guns and ammo still left. “So, you wanted to check out the prison’s radio?” Trey said as he put his backpack on and held his flashlight.
“Yeah, it seems like a good time to try and make contact with Stan. To make myself clear, I am telling Stan about how he can avoid his death and I will explain the time travel business,” I stated.
“Wait, so you’re telling him about the time machine? We weren’t allowed that, remember?”
“Clark is dead, his rules died with him. This is my brother and you’re not going to stop me from telling him,” I coldly replied.
“Mitchell, think on what you’re doing” Trey said, avoiding raising his voice too much. “Telling him about the machine could screw everything up! You can warn him without giving him an explanation on how you know!” He responded, still lowering his voice.
“He’s my older brother, I’ve thought about this long and hard. I am telling him. I’d trust him with my life. You would if it was a relative of yours, would you not?” I asked.
“I… it’s complicated. You’re putting the life of BILLIONS of people at risk.” Trey said back.
“This whole mission could be a waste anyway, who’s to say the Mortuum C actually works? bloody hell the thing’s never been tested! I'm telling him, I don't care how risky it is,” I argued, slowly getting more and more angry.
“It’s the best shot we got! And IF it works, your brother will get transformed back to normal, remember?”
“And if it doesn't, he’ll be stuck as one forever! I'm not willing to take that risk!” I clenched my fists. Trey doesn't know, he doesn't understand what it was like to receive that news that your brother is now your enemy and will be killed on sight.
“You said it yourself: if it doesn’t work, he’ll be stuck as one forever. If it doesn’t work, he WILL get converted at some point. If it does work, he’ll be saved.” Trey said back. “I’m not stopping you from warning him and saving him, but I don’t think it’s necessary that he knows about the time machine. And by the way, Clark is technically still alive, so...” Trey said, as he shrugged with his shoulders.
“Not our Clark. That Clark has no idea whether his crazy plan worked or not. You don't know my brother, he’ll just think I'm joking around if I don't tell him how I know. You have that book with all the key events from now until the time travel day, Trey, the best course of action would be to tell every piece of resistance we can about it them, it’ll give us the edge on Celestia, she’ll never expect it.”
“And all it takes is for ONE single newfoal to be made of them and it all goes to waste. I trust Clark’s intended plan. I know it sounds wrong at first, but all of those HLF bases will have to be sacrificed TEMPORARILY until we kill the tyrant. If she dies, everyone gets changed back. If the Mortuum C doesn’t work and we warned them as you say, they’d get converted sooner or later, as their only chance of keeping their humanity, the Mortuum C, would of have failed. Warning those bases not only will it change the timeline and make our safe traveling to California harder, but it would risk everything if just ONE of them gets converted. Everyone you know: Stan, your parents, the whole goddamn human race! Would stay forever converted as those smiling fucks. Our buildings demolished, our history erased, our inventions eradicated! It would only take one person with the knowledge of the time machine to get converted, and it would all end right then and there. The less people know this, the better. So I don’t care what it takes, but if you warn your brother, you’ll have to either convince him without giving him an explanation, or ask him to keep the time-travel stuff secret… and kill himself if he’s about to get converted.” Trey finally said as he walked out the armory and began to search for the radio room.
I aimed my rifle at his back. It was so tempting, just one shot, one squeeze of the trigger. I could pull this off alone, my way. My trigger finger was itching me to press down, my mind was extremely conflicted. Could I do it though? Could I kill him in cold blood?
I've seen so much wrong, done so much wrong myself, surely one more bit of blood spilled onto my hands wouldn't make that much difference, but… He’s my only companion, he’s the one with all the fancy technology, he’s the one who knows how to use it and where to find everything; the E.D Mark One, the Mortuum C. As much as I hate to admit it, I need him alive. Killing him, no matter how much I want to, would be suicide. The end of the human race perhaps. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let him boss me around and just do what he says. I lowered my gaze from the rifle’s sight and followed after Trey, knowing full well what I am going to do.
Author's Note
A/N
MichaelTheBoss.
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Unknown date October-December, 2048
Mitchell
I walked into the radio room just behind Trey, still pissed off at him. I will admit I may have overreacted a little bit though. I pulled up a stool and switched on the radio. Luckily for me, there was still enough power for it to work and, slowly but surely, lights started blinking on. I stood up and pulled out all the plugs for the equipment that I wouldn't need to conserve as much power as possible and found the station that Stan and I agreed to use to contact each other on. There was little static noise, but definitely no attempts by Stan to talk to me.
“Stan, it's me, Mitchell, are you there?” I called into the radio, not bothering with the ‘overs’. There was no reply.
“Stan, are you there, it's Mitchell Fedorson?” I repeated and this time heard a reply coming from a stern, New Zealand accented voice.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” The voice asked, it sounded slightly like how I imagined Stan would sound, but more deep and accented.
“Stan?” I asked,
“Little brother?” His voice lit up.
“Yeah, it's me Stan,” I chuckled down the mic,
“How's it been, Mitch? last I heard you had joined a group in Cape Canaveral,” he said, eager to hear what I had to say.
“About that, Stan listen, this is important. I was with a group of scientists and engineers. They had a plan, a crazy one, but it worked and I need to tell you something,” I tried to explain without mentioning time travel.
“Mitch, what was the plan?” He asked, I could tell he wasn't going to back down from asking that question.
“The plan was, well, time travel Stan, we’re going to kill Celestia. I'm actually your age now, at least, this version of me is,” I said. Trey was glaring at me.
“What? Is this another Mitchell wind up?” He asked,
“No, Stan you can't tell anyone about this, keep it strictly to yourself. I'm from the year 2051, our base was the last one standing against Celestia. Everyone else had either took the easy way out or gotten ponified. You were caught two years beforehand, you were ponified attacking a Ponification Patrol camped in a cottage on Tuesday the 12th of January 2049 at approximately 15:10. Please, for me, remember this and don't attack the cottage.” I said.
“You serious?” Stan asked me, I could tell from his voice that he was completely dumbfounded.
“Yeah, I swear I am,” I confirmed.
“Holy…” Stan said, “So, you’re my age now?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, “Stan, we can't talk much longer, it's not safe to keep this line open, the ponies can trace us. Before you go, what is the date today?”
“Today, I think it's the 7th of November 2048,” Stan said, “the HLF over here fell about a month ago, on October 15th, it's been a few weeks since that, so yeah, the 7th of November. I've been with a group of people, ex-HLF,”
“Yes, I know. You told me, or you will tell me, it's one of the two,” I said, “so as I was saying, avoid any pony confrontation on the 12th of January next year,”
“Won't this mess up the timeline of events?” He asked,
“Yes, a bit, but for the better. Trust me, just please, I can't lose you, Stan, not again.” I choked back a sob,
“Yeah sure, little bro,” Stan said affectionately, “12th January, Jesus, I didn't have long left, did I? Well, I gotta go, but I promise I’ll do nothing on that date. Love you, Mitch.”
“Love you Stan, over and out.” I said and turned the radio off, turning round to face Trey.
Trey
“Mitchell, what the hell?!” I raised my voice at him, he’d deliberately told Stan about the time-machine and plan. He didn't even tell Stan to kill himself if he ever did get ponified. Does he even listen to me when I tell him what’s best?
“I had to, Trey, he’s my brother and last family member I have left, I won't lie to him,” he replied angrily,
“You could've ruined this whole mission! Clark would be so pissed right now!” I exclaimed,
“Clark isn't here, is he?” Mitchell shot back, eyebrows very narrow in annoyance at me, “now let's get moving. We need to get to that HLF base as soon as possible,”
“Fine,” I said, glaring at him and followed him out of the room and back to where the cell with we were sleeping in was. He knelt down and unzipped his backpack.
“But first, breakfast!” He said in a cheery tone and brought out a bottle of water and a few cereal bars.
“Fine,” I said, taking a all natural ingredients cereal bar but when I turned it over, it had all sorts of chemicals printed onto its wrapper. They didn't seem all natural to me. I unwrapped it and bit off the end, chewing and swallowing it with a slight sigh. Mitchell swigged from the bottle of water then offered it to me.
“Thanks,” I said and took it, wiping and them drinking from it. Mitchell ate his cereal bar and I finished mine. He sat there, deep in thought.
“Mitchell,” I said, trying to catch his attention but he didn't hear me.
“Mitchell!” I said again, slightly louder. He shook his head and looked at me,
“Sorry, just thinking of 2040. What is it?” He asked,
“We should go now, get as much time travelling as possible,” I said,
“Okay,” Mitchell slowly got up and picked up his BMCR rifle and shouldering his pack. I got up and followed him through the corridors, donning my own backpack. We could actually see the dull grey walls as it was getting lighter outside now so we didn't need our flashlights.
“When did you leave England?” I asked Mitchell,
“A week before the Barrier took it in 2041. I was thinking of when I used to make supply runs back in those days for the HLF,” Mitchell said with a sigh.
“What was it like out there?” I asked him. I never went outside the HLF base back before I was transferred to the Cape Canaveral.
“Horrifying,” Mitchell commented, “The things I saw happen, the things I did to survive out there. Trust me, you were lucky not to see any action. I told Stan about the TASV and all that because I couldn't bare living with what would've happened to him,”
“I understand,” I sighed heavily. “It's done now anyway, no changing it,”
We reached the exit and walked outside. It was a cold day, with many clouds in the sky. It looked like it might rain later. Mitchell shivered slightly and pulled his trench-coat tighter around himself.
“Feeling cold?” I chuckled,
“It's bloody freezing, and that's coming from a Brit,” he replied.
“It's not so bad,” I grinned, “we need a car, preferably with bulletproof glass,”
“No shit,” Mitchell said. Does your book of information have anything?”
“Well, there was a small HLF camp not too far away, they could have something,” I said,
“Is it in walking distance?” He asked me,
“Yes,” I confirmed,
“Then it's settled. We reach this small HLF camp next.” Mitchell said, “are there still people there or…”
“No, they were found. Perhaps even by the Patrol we killed, it's a possibility,” I replied.
I sighed again, so much death. But then again, us humans aren't exactly innocent. Hell, we could've wiped each other off of the face of the Earth with all our silly nukes and h-bombs.
Maybe Celestia is doing the right thing…
No, well, she’s right in that the human race is imperfect and filthy but she’s the one committing the xenocide. I suppose it's a matter of the lesser of two evils. Maybe if I went out more in the HLF and fought against them personally instead of working computers and gathering information then I’d feel the same as Mitchell, but I didn't.
“Trey, I’m sorry about all that,” Mitchell said, he turned to look at me and I could see it in his eyes that he really was.
“It’s okay,” I replied and we continued on walking. It was starting to warm up and looked like it could be a nice day, nice being a relative term considering how messed up and screwed the world is.
“Did you hear that?” Mitchell suddenly asked me, out of the blue.
I strained my ears to see if there was anything but from what I could tell there was nothing.
“No,”
“I could've sworn I heard clopping,” Mitchell replied, his eyes darting about and his hand instinctively reaching for his Glock.
“It's nothing, you’re just a bit jumpy, that's all,”
“To be jumpy is to be good,” Mitchell replied, looking very alert, “jumpy is what will keep you alive in a shootout,”
“Another piece of Mitchell gun advice?”
“Yep, don't forget it,”
I brought out my map and studied it whilst we walked, “okay, according to my map, we’re close. I don't know if there will be any ponies here but be careful. Use that rifle of yours, I’ll Hotwire the car and you check for ponies, got it?” I explained the plan,
“Got it, do your tech thing and I’ll kill anything that tries to stop you,”
I sighed, “yes, basically.”
The truck was dead out in the open, if I actually thought about it, I should've realised that it was the perfect ambush spot, but I was more focused on actually getting it open and working.
Mitchell slinked off, as silent as a cat. I knew that he was finding the most defendable place to stay and cover me so I knew he was set.
Showtime.
I hastily approached the car and set my backpack down. I brought out a pin to use to pick the lock. I shoved the pin into it and twisted it, trying to get it open. Keep calm, no pressure.
I got it open and an ear-splitting alarm started to go off! I recoiled horribly, jumping away from the car and stumbling backwards.
shit shit SHIT
I rifled through my bag and brought out my hacking terminal, which was still somewhat powered from the door. I held it against the car dashboard and coding flashed down the screen and the alarm stopped, giving me immense relief.
Mitchell suddenly appeared behind me, he was panting heavily and was red faced,
“There’s a patrol coming, a Potion one. Nearly snuck up on me,” he gasped,
“Shit! How far away are they?”
“They’re close,” he replied, “too clo-”
“Mitchell, is that you my boy? All grown up now, I see,”
We had let our guard down and we're almost surrounded, but I saw the blood drain from Mitchell’s face, which had never happened before even when facing Patrols. He looked like he was about to have a full on breakdown.
“Dad?”
Author's Note
A/N: So, dun dun duuuuun and all that. Le plot twist. Hourglass24 has left the collaboration, we haven't had a falling-out or anything, don't worry about that one. I’ll be writing this alone from now onwards unless he decides to join back. If he’s reading this now, hello!
I bet there's going to be a dislike rise in this now, but 50 likes and over 800 views has made me so happy, you guys have no idea. Thank you so much.
My writing for this story won't be as good as it was for these past chapters, that's just a heads up but I will continue updating. I promise!
Have a good day/night
MrLongSurname
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
Mitchell
7th November, 2048
I lowered my rifle. My heart was pounding so loud it was all I could hear. My head was spinning, and I did not know what to do. Along him were four other ponies, one pegasus and three earth ponies.
How was he here? Why was he here?
“Yes, Mitchell my boy, don't you recognise your own father?” he said, “where’s your brother? Where’s Stan?” The abomination, the pony that was once my father replied. His eyes seemed loving, almost friendly but as I stared deeper into them I saw what he really felt. I saw into his soul. I’d heard it said that you could see into a person’s true self through their eyes if you looked deep enough, but I’d never believed it until now.
I could see my real father in those eyes.
And it will haunt me, for the rest of my days. The Potion’s brainwashing was strong, scarily so but it can't destroy everything.
I saw sorrow, shame and despair. My dad, my real dad, was still in there somewhere. Now, Whenever my eyes would close for rest, his opened in my mind.
“Dad, I-” I tried to speak but I couldn't. My voice was all choked up and I couldn't form the words my brain was telling me to.
“Mitchell, your mother and I have missed you so very much, she’s in Equestria.” Dad stepped towards me. his smile was wide and stretched between his cheeks in a most horrifyingly unnatural manner.
“Mum…” I trailed off. Thoughts of my parents from before Equestria were bombarding my head. I could be with them again, we could be a family again, all together once Stan joins us. Why should I do this mission anyway? Why can't I just be with my family?
“No, don’t listen to him! He’s not himself anymore dammit!” Trey warned me from behind.
I turned my head towards Trey, slowly, dazed. He had his rifle raised to the ponies. Part of me wanted to listen to him, wanted to believe him, but my dad’s voice was still ringing in my ears, cutting through Trey’s, promising me a better life in Equestria with him and mum.
“Trey,” I murmured softly. My dad still making promises and smiling the awful smile.
“Mitchell, you just need to drink this.” Dad handed me a vial of Potion and I limply held it limply. In my mind I was deeply conflicted. Drink or not drink. Pony or Human. Family or humanity.
“You better drop it, now!” Trey warned me as he pointed his shaking rifle towards the Potion squad. “All of you better back off this instant!”
“Who’s this, Mitchell? is he a friend of yours? He's very rude. We can make him like us, too. He’ll be a lot happier and better than he is now,” Dad grinned. Two of the squad members took a few steps forwards.
Trey shot a few rounds to the sky, making them stop on their tracks. “Shit, shit, shit...” he whispered.
I flinched at the noise of the gunshots and shook my head. They had brought me back to reality, the almost trance-like state I was in broken. I dropped my rifle.
“Dad,” I said.
“Yes son?”
“I love you.” I drew my Glock, shut my eyes and fired. My dad’s body fell on its side, blood dripping from a gaping wound in his neck. Just before he died I heard him rasp once last sentence.
“I love you too, son.”
He then let out a final breath and his body went limp. Dead.
I threw away the vial of Potion dad had handed me, immediately whirled around and shot the pegasus before it could take to the air, while Trey had targeted the earth ponies. They only had a fraction of a second to react, giving them no chance to make a move. Shots echoed as the bullet shells fell to the ground with a familiar metallic, clinking sound. One Potion vial was thrown our way, but it was poorly tossedand harmlessly shattered somewhere behind us.
we were soon alone again in the empty street. They hadn't put up much of a fight as they weren't very well equipped; they didn't have one Potion Launcher between the lot of them, just vials on top of vials of Potion.
“What the hell was that?! How did he find us? Did-didn’t you say he was sent to Equestria?!” Trey stammered, as he put his back against the truck they had found, resting his rifle against the vehicle.
I didn't listen to him. I walked over to my father's lifeless body and fell to my knees. Tears started to uncontrollably fall down my face and before I knew it I was curled up into a ball sobbing my heart out. I didn't care who saw me. I didn't care that Trey was standing right nearby. All that mattered was my father’s body and myself.
“I want to cremate him,” I choked out.
A few moments of silence followed.
“I’m not stopping you. Do as you wish,” Trey said. He left his things on the ground and got inside the driver seat, probably testing if the vehicle worked.
I immediately looked around and gathered some sticks to create a fireplace. I didn't need anything fancy, just a place to say goodbye.
I scrounged around for an hour or so, slowly building up my pile of sticks and kindling from the nearby wilderness until I had enough to start a fire. I dug around in my pack and brought out a box of matches. Lighting one up, I dropped it into the fire and it slowly caught alight. Once it was large enough I heaved over my dad’s body and said a quick prayer. I was never one for religion but it just seemed like the respectful thing to do. I kissed his body and then set it onto the flames.
I sat there and watched as my dad was reduced to ashes. I didn't move, I didn't eat, I didn't drink. Mum was still alive! If we succeed I can live with her again! But… I’ll have to tell her about dad…
My small fire burned out. I scooped out Dad’s ashes before they could blow away and dug around in my pack for an empty container. I found one and carefully placed my Dad’s remains inside and sealed it tight so none of them would spill out and get lost.
“Trey,” I said, trying to divert my mind from the thoughts of my Dad, “does the car work?”
Trey was on the truck's driver’s seat with it’s door open, examining his map. He turned his head as I called him. “Huh? Oh, yeah. It works fine. I guess you didn’t hear when I turned it on a few minutes ago. Tank ¼ full though.” He said, as he folded his map into his backpack. “That prison back there was Florida’s State Prison, by the way. So now we know our time and location.”
“Well at least we have some transport for a bit.” I sighed. “Let's just leave, I want to get as far from here as possible,” I heaved my pack into the back seat and clambered into the front, making sure my rifle’s safety was on before putting it in between my legs. Trey started the engine, and now we were moving. I noticed a troubled look on his face as he began driving. After a few minutes, that got me worried.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Trey? What is it? What's wrong?”
Trey glanced at me, but then directed his attention back to the road. “Something’s not right. How- Wasn’t he sent to Equestria?”
I sighed. This was the last topic I wanted to talk about. “I guess he signed up for patrols and it was just bad luck we ran into him. He said Mum is in Equestria though.”very un-” Trey stopped mid-sentence as he glanced at me. He looked back at the road with small open fields at it’s sides, giving a small sigh. “Sorry. I can’t imagine what you just went through, Mitchell.”
“I’m-” I choked back a small sob, “it was stay as a human or-or be a pony. I almost drank it, Trey. I almost sold out my humanity and jeopardised the whole mission.” I turned away from my partner and stared out of the window, watching the scenery go by. I felt the cold metal of my gun between my legs and felt slightly sick. How many people had that weapon killed in its time? How many died because of human creations?
No, I’ve got to stop thinking like that. That's how Celestia wants us to feel about ourselves. I've got to hold myself with honour and pride, how my family and lost friends would have wanted me to. How Stan wants me to.
We’ve been driving for a while now, and the sky began to clear. Trey told me we were heading for a place called Lake Butler not so far away from here. It might be a good idea to re-fuel our vehicle there since the “Events Notebook”, as Trey has come to call it, does not mention any dangers there… nor does it mention anything good. Truth is, it hasn’t been cataloged. A Hardee’s sign shortly came into view ahead.
“Trey, how much longer until we’re at this town place of yours?” I asked him.
“It’s at the other side of the country. And it isn’t a town by the way, it’s a lake. Gull Lake.” Trey said. “It would take around… what, a month? Around a month if we were to go by foot. Using a car however can take a couple days.”
“All right, is there anywhere we can fill up? That petrol meter is looking dangerously low,” I said.
“There should be a gas station here, but I’m not so sure we can fill up that easily. There might not be any electricity.”
“Petrol station,” I jokingly corrected him in an attempt to lighten my mood from the earlier… events. Oh God, I have to tell Stan I killed Dad at some point.
The Hardee’s sign was getting closer.
A sudden loud pop startled both of us. I flinched and my hand fell down to my knee, where my Glock was.
“What was that?” Trey said the moment he jumped.
“Shit! Trey, I think we just lost a tyre.”
Trey opened his door looking down, as the car was still in motion. “Yeah, a tire popped. Maybe it can be fixed or replaced? Might as well look for another car soon.” He closed the door, as the truck began to advance slower and slower.
“Hell, we might as well just see if there’s a spare tyre around anyway, easier than getting into a whole new car,”
The truck had stopped.
Trey stepped out of the vehicle as he took his pack and rifle out.
I did the same, opening my car door and heaving out my pack and rifle, patting my waist to make sure my Glock hadn't fallen out into the car. “Watch the trees,” I said,
I could hear Trey whisper to himself, “I fucking hate this ”, as he began to walk forwards.
I suddenly whirled around, I could've sworn I had heard a stick snap or something in the trees. I slowly raised my rifle and pointed it in the general direction of the sound. “Show yourself!” I said with obvious authority in my voice and I had no fear to show it.
There was only silence, along with the chirping of the birds.
“I think it was only a-” Trey said before taking cover, when someone fired his gun mere meters from us.
I instinctively fired back into the air, I was used to confrontations like this, we called them Jackers back in the HLF, they were scavengers and some of them could be real nasty. We had both fired our warning shots so I spoke again before it turned into a real shootout, “We’re not here to kill you, please, we need help,”
“Uh, Mitchell… They’re coming from behind” Trey said, as he was covering my back. As he said that, people came out from the trees in front of me. Men and women of different ages in slightly ragged clothing, about half of them armed. A couple of them had noticeable eye bags and were bandaged. The armed people stepped first in front of the unarmed, which were carrying backpacks, protecting them.
“Look, everyone,” I said, “let's put our guns down, we’re not meant to be fighting each other, Celestia is the enemy. Please, we need help,”
“You put yours down first!” Said one of them, the rest being quiet.
“Fine, sure,” I said and lay down my rifle and Glock, “Trey, do what they say,” I said, as I looked back.
Trey had already left his weapons on the ground.
Trey
Our first day back in time, and everything goes to hell.
The point of a rifle poked my back. “Don’t stop.” Said the voice behind me as I kept walking behind Mitchell, both of us held hostage with our hands on our heads.
I didn’t even stop you-! Ahhhh… Great. This is just great.
“Look, we’re running an important mission for the HLF, we just want to-” Mitchell tried to say but he was cut off by an angry man with a heavy Russian accent.
“YOU SHUT!” The Russian man yelled at us in an extremely angry tone, “NO TALK! NO STOP! YOU FOLLOW US!”
“VODKA!” I yelled back, only to be hit in the stomach by his rifle’s stock, making me cough in pain.Ok, joke wasn’t worth it. , I thought. I needed to lighten my mood a bit from everything going wrong in the past few hours.
The point of a rifle once again poked my back as I briefly stopped from the hit in my stomach. “Don’t stop.”
”Don’t stop”. Are those the only words you know?
I heard Mitchell quietly snigger and my joke as he walked slightly in front of me. The group had our weapons but we still had our backpacks, thank God. Who knows what they would do if they saw the stuff that we were carrying.
“Wait here,” The Russian said, gesturing to a clearing in the thick bushery that surrounded the road.
“What’s with all the unfriendliness? Celestia wants to divide us so we should stick together and not be arseholes to each other,” Mitchell said as he stopped in the clearing.
“So, two strangers appear after having their car break down right near our camp,” A voice called. It was a female’s voice and definitely American.
“Let me do the talking,” Mitchell muttered to me and then spoke again, “yes, we’re running a mission for the HLF, top secret, and our vehicle broke down,”
“Bullshit.” The American said, “You know what I think? I think you two are part of the PER and stopped here to infiltrate and attack my camp,”
I gave a sigh.Great, just great man. I thought, but remained quiet.
The Ponification for Earth’s Rebirth or PER for short were an organisation of rabid environmentalists who believed that all humans should convert despite being humans themselves. Their favourite tactic was Potion Bombing but they were known to infiltrate HLF and military camps then ponify them when they were off-guard.
“No, I swear hands down. I am Mitchell Fedorson from the English branch of HLF, this is my partner, Trey Miles, we need to get to the Gull Lake,” Mitchell said desperately, “look, we have no potion on us, check us if you want to,”
“Your friend is awfully quiet,” remarked the American, “what about you? Do you have anything to say?” She asked me.
I simply forced a smile when mentioned. I was getting a little pissed by the precious time we were wasting, but at the same time felt scared from what these people might do to us.
“Cat got your tongue huh? Or are you mute? Never mind, come with me,” she said and turned around and started walking.
“Where are you taking us?” Mitchell asked as he started to walk behind her,
“My tent. We can talk there. I want to know all about this top secret HLF mission and why you need to get to the Gull Lake,” she replied.
“Can we at least have your name?” Mitchell questioned,
“Fine, my name is Ashleigh, now please, no more questions until we’re inside my tent,”
“Hmph, have it your way,” I heard my partner grunt as we moved through the trees until we came upon a rather large tent with sticks and leaves crudely scattered all over it in a desperate attempt to make it look like it blended in with its surroundings.
I silently snickered at it at first sight.
It was no time to laugh however. They now knew about our mission, and they wanted answers. Not like they would believe the truth anyways. And Mitchell was wrong, we do have potion with us. Black, modified temporal potion. If we lost that, we would not be able to move around freely without ponies chasing us.
We’re now inside the main tent, slightly wider and taller than the rest. There was a wide table with a map, surrounded with small, metallic chairs.
“Now we can talk,” Ashleigh sighed as she sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the table, “what are you doing here?”
“I already told you,” Mitchell said, exasperated, “we’re running a top secret, top priority mission for the HLF. Our vehicle’s wheel burst and we had a run in with your stragglers. Who even are you lot? you're not HLF that's for sure,”
“We’re just a group of ordinary survivors,” Ashleigh admitted, “I was the first one and the rest just… arrived here, I suppose,”
“Can we have our weapons back?” I finally spoke up, I need to make sure Mitchell didn't reveal anything important about the mission.
“Sure,” Ashleigh surprisingly agreed with me and right on queue, the Russian man from earlier hauled in our guns and backpacks and left them on the table as he promptly left.
Did she really just?
“So what's this mission?” Ashleigh raised an eyebrow at us,
“Extremely classified,” I replied, “Not allowed to share that information, as if someone with that knowledge got converted, it would seriously compromise our mission.”
“Besides,” Mitchell snorted, “even if we did tell you, you would never believe it anyway,”
“Huh, I see.” She replied as she extended her arm for my backpack. “We’re going to have to check your things though. You know, for safety...”
I quickly took hold of it, stopping her. “Wow, wow! Confidential, remember?”
“Fine,” Ashleigh sighed, “I get it, there are a few people here who are Ex-HLF and they were a bit like that when I wanted to check their stuff,”
She let go as she finished that sentence.
“So what now? We just leave?” I asked, half-expecting her to tell us we couldn’t go.
“If that’s what you want to do,” Ashleigh said, “you can go on your way,”
Oh
I simply nodded and took my stuff.
“Good luck,” Ashleigh smiled at us. Mitchell had taken all of his stuff back and we turned around to leave.
Mitchell looked back, “you too,” he grinned.
We were now outside the tent, back to the wilderness now slightly darker than before, making our way back through the trees and bushes. The walk was void of conversation for a minute or so.
“I was honestly expecting much worse.” I finally spoke up.
“Nah, us humans need to be friends,” Mitchell commented, “well, all apart from the damned PER,”
“Crazy people who chose the wrong side.” I said as I followed our footprints.”By the way, got any ideas for when we get to the road?”
“Well, a new car would be nice,” Mitchell said as I nearly tripped over a rock I didn’t notice.
“Shit, is it me or it’s getting a whole lot darker?.”
“Trey, we should head back. The air feels really thick and I think it’s going to rain like it did in England pretty soon. We could stay with Ashleigh’s lot for a bit,” Mitchell said, sounding a bit more worried than usual. Leaves were beginning to make much more sound by the increasing wind.
A white flash illuminated the trees and bushes around us for half a second, revealing much more detail of our surroundings from the lack of light..
“One, two, th-” I counted until I was interrupted by the strong sound of lightning, startling a couple of birds on the trees around us. “Less than a kilometer from here. We need to get back and fast!”
“Shit! Run!” Mitchell almost yelled.
We wasted no time and went our way back sprinting. I took the lead since I had my flashlight out, illuminating our way. It surprised me how quickly climate could change.
In a matter of seconds of sprinting, I began feeling the droplets of water falling on my neck with force. It wasn’t just a normal rainfall. I was beginning to consider it was a tropical storm. My flashlight was now illuminating a whole lot of water droplets as we ran.
“You know, I'm starting to think some Pegasi are pissing about with the weather!” Mitchell said in between taking long breaths.
I slipped with one of the rocks, falling hard on my chest. When I stood up again, the flashlight had broken. “Shit!” I yelled in anger as we kept sprinting back.
“Don't worry, we still have mine!” Mitchell yelled back, “we’re nearly there!”
The violent sound of the intense rain and lightning, along with the loud noise of the thousands of leaves moving from the fierce wind, made for an absolute, chaotic storm. I was now following Mitchell, careful to not trip again.
“I think it’s this way!” Mitchell turned a very hard left and soon enough, coming into view between the trees and sure enough, I was beginning to be able to make out tent shapes through the darkness of the storm.
We reached for the nearest one we could and entered without warning.
“Kurwa!” The Russian man from earlier stood up and pulled out a sharp knife with a serrated edge.
“Wait, stop! Look!” I said haphazardly as I dropped my rifle to the floor.
“What you two doing here?” He said in broken, accented English.
“T-the storm. It catched up with us.” I responded a bit more calmly.
“And we need a new car,” Mitchell butted in.
“It's cold out there, you to need something to warm you up?”
I looked around the tent, noticing other people sleeping with a few oil lamps on the corners.
‘We’re on the same side. Finally some help. ’
“Thanks.” I said, nodding while chaos unfolded less than a meter behind me.
“You speak to Ashleigh in the morning,” The Russian said, “tell her you staying for a bit,”
“Alright, thanks again.” I said as I sat near one of the oil lamps for some heat.
“No problem. My name is Ivan by the way,”
“Trey” I said, shaking hands with him.
“I’m Mitchell, Mitchell Fedorson.”
After a while, they were all napping. I stood awake to “guard”, but I doubted there would be an attack anytime soon with this weather. As I sat there, beside the oil lamp, I began to gloss over the Events Notebook, specifically looking for information about this area.
Florida, Sector 4. 2048-2051. Hmm… 2048, October.
I read for a few passages with useful information.
‘The last operating generator is…’
2048, November.
‘Increase in patrol number…’
2048, December.
‘All area is confirmed to…’
Jesus christ...
I looked up to the people around me, sleeping in blissful ignorance. I looked back at my notebook in shock, heart pounding.
Jesus fucking christ.
‘All area is confirmed to be clear of any survivors. Last group reported was discovered by a Potion Patrol around July 11. Location of hideout is unknown, but is suspected to be hidden somewhere in the wilderness based on the path the Patrol took. Pegasi Patrols are highly imminent however, and seem to have adopted a tactic of erratically changing the weather and are suspected to have bases in local towns, so it’s best to avoid urban areas.’
The report then showed a satellite image of the area, pointing out potential hiding spots, vehicle locations, and other useful information.
How can we save them without altering history?!
If the so-called “butterfly effect” was real, then saving this small group can result in a domino effect of events which will render the predictions written here useless!
I closed the book on my lap and stood there, listening to the storm.
The thought of dozens of pegasi, possibly even hundreds of them, flying above us at this very moment, gave me chills.
We need a vehicle as soon as possible. Before it’s too late...
Author's Note
A/N: MrLongSurname: Wow that took a long time to write. It's pretty much double the length of a normal chapter. I believe that we will be doing this for every chapter now, having a 4000 word one. Yes, hourglass and I are writing together again. Whoopee!
By the way, RK_Striker_JK_5 edited and proofread this chapter. Go check out all of his stuff.
The Conversion Bureau: Reset
The Abrupt End and an Explanation
Author's Note
Wowie. It has been a hell of a long time since I've touched this story. It's about time I address the situation and explain as much as I can as to why there has been and will not be any more chapters as well as explain the endings hourglass and I had planned.
First item on the agenda: Will this story be continued?
Second item: Why has there been no updates in the past year and a half?
Third Item: The end of the story
Everything goes as planned, Trey and Mitchell successfully assassinate Celestia and everything goes back to normal.
The Bad End (lovingly dubbed the Treytor End by myself)
Somewhere along the line Trey's sympathy for the ponies gets the better of him and at the last second he knocks the Mortuum C from Mitchell's grasp just before the Celestia kill and Mitchell just escapes as Trey is ponified. Mitchell goes undercover and joins Celestia's army in the final attack in the NASA base to warn Past-Trey and Past-Mitchell of Trey being a traitor however is shot and killed by Trey in the first chapter as the pony that yelled "Wait, don't! Stop!" When it got too close to the launch site. Then the pony that stopped to help was none other than Trey, with Mitchell dying in his hooves. This is the end I was going for hence why it is the most detailed.
Continuing from after the end of the Bad End, ponified Trey suffers a head injury in Equestria long the fall of the last resistance goes back in time to warn Mitchell and Trey whilst they were on their mission of Trey betraying Mitchell. This would then continue with the original Trey being tied up and gagged the whole rest of the sotry with Trey2 taking his place or Trey changing his ways and not sympathising with the ponies leading to Trey2's eventual nonexistance.
Well, that's all, everyone. Below is as far I as got with the next chapter before giving up. It's been a fun ride And as always:
Have a good day/night
MrLongSurname
The Abrupt End and an Explanation
Mitchell Fedorson
27th February 2041 London
Chaos.
It had just all happened too quickly.
One minute, we were simply scouting for supplies and food, the next minute there was a horde of Newfoals bearing down on us. The quiet London street suddenly filled with an extremely large amount of deranged smiling ponies.
“SHIT, AIR SUPPORT! WE NEED AIR SUPPORT!” My Commander yelled into a radio and we all dived behind cover and those of us with rifles set them to automatic.
I don't have a rifle though. I have a Beretta 92 semi-automatic pistol. Not the ideal weapon for this situation. Not at all.
Luckily, there are thirteen of us here in this group. Nine of us have rifles and the others, like me, have pistols.
We sprayed the street in a hailstorm of bullets. The Newfoals just kept coming though. They were all smiling, completely unaffected that they were running through the carcasses of their fallen right at us.
God it felt like hours, it felt like every shot took a minute to fire and hit its target. It was like someone had taken the timeline and stretched out this moment to make it feel like it was lasting forever.
I was aware of someone yelling a few metres away. He wasn't speaking anything with meaning, just cursing and swearing at the Newfoals over and over as we fired.
Then all of a sudden, as soon as it started, it stopped. The street was clear.
Blood painted the street roads, everywhere I looked there was splashes of that liquid. I felt sick. There were pools of potion amidst the blood which had mixed to form a disgusting sparkling crimson liquid.
“Damn good shooting, boys,” My Commander said, pulling out the radio again. “Never mind, we’re clear.” He grinned as he faced us but as I saw him, I felt sick.
There was a trickle of Potion dripping from his uniform onto his bare leg.
He was going to become a pony.
“What?” He asked us as we stared, faces white with horror at what was about to happen to him.
Suddenly he lurched forward and with a series of sickening wet crunches, all the bones in his leg snapped at once and started reforming into hoof bones.
My Commander had fallen over and has now writhing in agony on the street. His breath was haggard and his eyes conveyed all the pain he was experiencing.
“Run!” He whispered to us in a throaty voice.
“My God, oh my god! It's a failed conversion,” someone said behind me. She was right. The process was taking far too long to complete and he was experiencing way too much pain and not falling asleep.
“What do you mean, ‘failed?’” somebody asked,
She turned to him, eyes alive with fear and horror, “Either he was hit with some of the prototype potion, or there was something in him that caused the change to stop.”
There was silence for a few minutes as well all registered what had happened. Our Commander now a twisted, twitching mess of blood, muscle, bone and fur.
“What do we do?” Someone else asked,
“We head back. Mission failed. Without a Commander we’ll be screwed.” The woman who said it was a failed conversion replied.
And so we did. We began the trek back to the London HLF HQ. We didn't know it at the time, but the horde was a warning sign. The Barrier was coming and Celestia’s Liberation Army would come first to ponify all of London.
The Battle of London was about to begin.
England’s final stand, and I was fighting on the front lines.
8th November 2048 Somewhere in Florida
“Mitchell! Wake up! Dammit wake up!”
Trey shook me out of my slumber, speaking with an urgent tone, with a panicked countenance.
“What is it?” I grunted, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
Trey thrust the Events Notebook, open to a specific page, under my nose, “You need to look at this!”
“Huh? Eh? What?”
“Just do it, Mitchell!”
“Fine, alright.” I said and skimmed through the information.
“Florida sector four… Last operating generator… November increase in patrol number… Holy fucking shit.”
I looked at Trey, my expression now matched his troubled one.
“We have to leave. We can't interfere with what's going to happen,” Trey hissed at me. I nodded, not bothering to argue on this one.
“I agree, it's too dangerous to change something like that. Maybe we can save one or two of them though. We don't have to tell them about the mission, just stop them from getting ponified.” I suggested.
“Too dangerous, any changes made could render all the information useless,”
“Yes, I know. But… You're right.” I sighed, “they’ll all change back once we kill the Solar Bitch anyway.”
Trey raised his eyebrow. “Really, you're not going to argue?”
“No point. Let's just get out of here as soon as possible. We need to get to Gull Lake.”
“We’ll need a car if we want to get there before the HLF base falls.” Trey stated the obvious.
I let out a long yawn “So it's agreed then. We stay here until we have a car and enough supplies, then we head for Gull Lake, get the Mortuum C, get on a plane to France, get the ED Mark One then bust into Equestria, drink the temporary potion and somehow kill Celestia.”
“What you saying?” Ivan butted in on the conversation.
“Oh, nothing.” Trey quickly said, paling slightly, “just outlining the plan for when we get out of here.”
“Ashleigh will be up now, I suggest you go see her.” Ivan grunted in his thick accent
“We will,” I stood up, picked up my backpack which I used as a pillow and then put on my trench coat which I used as sheets. I patted my waist to make sure my Glock was still there, then I slung my BMCR over my back with my pack. Trey got all of his stuff together and soon enough we were stood outside of the tent on the soggy ground. I looked up and I could've sworn I saw a flutter of pegasi wings in the cloud, not attacking just… watching… I was about to point it out when I heard Ashleigh call.
“So what are you two doing back here?”
Trey and I whirled around, “oh, uh, we were leaving but then it started to storm and our car had broken down so we decided to come back,” Trey shook his head to clear away some confusion.
Ashleigh nodded in understanding, “I see. I suppose you want to stay until you can get a new car,”
“Indeed,” I smiled, “then we’ll be on our way to Gull Lake to the HLF base there.”
Trey shot me an annoyed look but I had figured that revealing that piece of information wasn't going to harm anyone by telling them it.
“Gull Lake huh, that's a long drive. You’ll be going through the battleground that is Chicago,”
“We’ll be lucky to make it through,” Trey said, “I heard Celestia has sent the full might of her Liberation Army, including the airship Divine Authority and its sistership the Solar Grace there.”
“She has?!” Ashleigh was astounded, “God save the military and HLF there, then.”
“Yeah, all that and the PER potion-bombing civilians. Chicago’s got to fall soon. There's no surviving all of that.” I added. Of course, we already knew that it would. Celestia herself would lead the final assault and when Chicago fell that was when people realised there was no way we would win this war. With luck, we’ll get there after it happens.
“Last we heard from any resistance was of Luna leading an army into Czech, Slovakia and Poland in an attempt to crush the Slavic Resistance Army.” Ashley said.
At the beginning of the war, in 2041, the three Western Slav countries formed a heavy resistance army and managed to completely force all ponies out of their countries, destroying all the bureaus there. Backed by the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians and the newly reformed Yugoslavia, it was became a famous symbol of Slavic unity from countries usually at each other’s necks.
Luna’s army would be lured into a huge trap, being led into Kraków then be completely surrounded by the Slavic Resistance, and almost completely destroyed. Luna would escape, of course, but not without having sustained huge casualties. The battle would later be known as The Battle of Kraków, becoming a huge symbol of hope for all.
Eventually though, the Slavic Resistance had to abandon Eastern Europe as the barrier expanded through most of it, before coming to a stop just outside St. Petersburg, where they would aid the Russian Resistance, until it would finally end in late 2050 with Celestia leading her finest legions and airships against them, and resulting in near-total destruction for both sides: they fought to a stalemate so the Resistance finally ended it with nuclear bombardment, destroying themselves and Celestia’s army.
Rumour has it that one sect of the Resistance survived though: The Winged Hussars; named after the old Polish elite cavalry, famous for the largest cavalry charge in history against the Ottomans in Vienna.
Not that it mattered, considering the Slavic Resistance was literally the last hope for mankind and their destruction confirmed our loss. A few months later our base would be found, and, well, you know the rest.
“That was a few months ago, I think,” Trey said, “I should fill you in on what happened. The Slavs defeated Luna’s army, and still hold Eastern Europe.”
“Damn, maybe there is a chance we could still win!” Ashley said, surprised.
“Yeah, who would've thought out of all people it was the Slavs that would be most successful,” I chuckled.
“Mhm,” Ashley trailed off, “okay, speaking of Slavs, tell Ivan that he will be accompanying you on your scavenge trip,”
“We can handle this alone, thanks,” Trey protested.
“I insist,” She replied, “safety in numbers, and an extra gun can't hurt, can it?”
“Well, not to us I hope,” I said, “but maybe it would to the ponies.”
“All the more reason to take him.”
“Fine,” Trey gave in, “he can come.”
“Okay, now if that's all, I have important things to be doing.” Ashley said and walked back into her tent.