A young brown colt with brown hair and a propeller beanie hat sat at a news desk as a camera recorded him.

“Our top story: notorious terrorist group ‘The Friends of Harmony’ have issued a statement to the President to step down and acknowledge the authority of the organisation’s leaders, the ponies known to the public only as ‘Princess Celestia’ and ‘Princess Luna’. The statement made no mention of the hostages the group had recently captured nor why the President should heed such a ludicrous demand. The president hosted a press conference to publicly answer the demand.”

A clip played of an elderly green coated mare with a white mane tied in a bun who stood behind a podium with two secret service agents standing at her sides, behind her a mock up of the American flag was raised behind her.

“The Friends of Harmony expect me to simply do as they say, thinking Ah can be persuaded to join their ‘cult’.” The mare said to a large crowd of reporters. “But Ah say NAY! I am President of this country, and as my forebears before me, Ah shall not give into the demands of terrorists! Return the people you have kidnapped to their families and cease your attempts to subvert the order of this great nation ours; you are not the heroes fighting a corrupt system! You are merely cowards and monsters if you think Ah’m just gonna roll over and let you have your way, you have another thing coming!”

The clip ended, returning to the colt at the news desk. “Police are still asking that witnesses who spotted suspicious behaviour from potential members of the group should stay safe, especially if they are ponies themselves, and to call local law enforcement. And to the terrorists who may be watching: please, realise what you’re doing is wrong and stop, you’re helping no one with your actions.”

H sighed and regained his composure as an inset of a filly with pink coat, pale purple and white hair and a diamond tiara on her head appeared in the top right corner of the screen. “In related news, suspected crimelord Zeke ‘Diamond’ Harder, seen here in his current pony form identified as ‘Diamond Tiara’, had once again stood trial for his suspected criminal activities...and once again, was voted by the jury as ‘not guilty’. Coinicidentally, and tragically, the presiding judge of the trial, who was recorded as calling Harder a ‘vile, repulsive man who surely deserves the chair’ was found dead 16 hours after the trial’s end, having apparently crashed into a park lake and drowned under suspicious circumstances. Police are still investigating.”

A jingle began to play as the colt shuffled some papers. “After the break, we head to the street and ask the average citizen their thoughts on the ponification condition on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the first sightings of the outbreak. This has been Suzanne Welker, Channel 15 News.”

Kevin Harris gripped his hooves firmly around the steering wheel as he drove along the streets of suburban New York, trying very hard not to wonder how he can grip something with hooves. One would think he’d just get used to it, but his human mind kept reminding him of his lack of fingers and opposable thumbs and how he by all rights shouldn’t be able to grip anything, let alone carry something or hold his gun in one hoof.

He put the car to a stop as he spied some young men standing threateningly around a young woman and a stallion pony.

“Hey babe!” One of the harassers said to the woman. “Why you walking with that filthy animal? You a Horsefucker, huh!? Is that it, bitch!? A fucking Horsefucker who needs some animal to get off!?”

“Leave us alone!” The stallion shouted angrily, he was a yellow coated earth pony with a brown mane.

“Noone asked you, Horseman!” One of the youths drew a nice...then cried out in pain as a truncheon was swung hard between his legs, causing him to collapse.

Kevin glared at the other two youths as the third struggled his feet while clutching his groin. “Alright break it up. I’m letting you off with a warning but if I ever see you three harass anyone else, I’m hauling you to the station!”

“Fuck off, bitch!” One of the young men swung a fist, only for Kevin to dodge it swiftly swing his truncheon into the elbow, making him scream in pain.

“I won’t warn you again.” The Pegasus growled threateningly. “I want you and your intolerant shithead friends OUT OF THIS SIDEWALK!”

The two injured youths got up to fight again, only for the uninjured one to grab them by the shoulders and drag them away till they were out of sight.

Kevin turned to see how the couple were doing after the ordeal...only to find they had already run off during the fight. He sighed and trotted to his car, continuing his drive home.

Much as he wanted to help that couple, he had to get going himself, he was already late as it was.

A person walked into the hospital, stepping to the front desk.

The nurse at the desk looked up at the person in question. “Can I help you?”

The person, a pretty female nurse with orange hair, smiled. “Yes, I was asked to give one of the new patients a quick look for the doctor in charge of her? She’s a purple unicorn pony, I think?”

“Oh right, yeah she’s lucky, good thing ponies are more resilient than normal people.” She handed the nurse a sheet of paper as well as directions and a room number. “We’ll need to see about identifying her soon, and the police have been notified.” A thought occurred to her. “Dr Smith didn’t really say anything about sending a nurse my way...”

She looked up but the other nurse was already gone.

Said nurse calmly walked along, reaching into her pocket to firmly hold onto a capped syringe...her hand briefly touching the knife beside it.

Kevin Harris pulled up in front of his house, parking his car in the driveway as he stepped out of the car and trotted back into his house, closing the front door behind him as he walked down the hallway to the lounge room where his wife, a woman with short brown hair and wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, sat playing a videogame on their LCD television.

The pegasus nuzzled against his wife’s side, who in turn reached a hand gently stroke his mane, pausing her game. “Welcome home, hon.”

Kevin smiled and leaned upwards, giving her a gentle kiss on the lips. “What’s for dinner tonight, Rachel?”

Rachel smirked and chuckled, shaking her head. “Ohhhh no, loverboy, it’s your day off, it’s YOUR turn to make dinner. Or were you hoping I forgot about that?”

“Pasta it is.” He looked around. “So where are the kids?”

Rachel looked past his shoulder. “Well, Monica’s here.”

Kevin blinked and turned, and saw a young 14 year old girl with long red hair styled in a ponytail peeking in from the edge of room’s entryway, before scuttling off and running upstairs to her room.

The blue Pegasus sighed softly to himself. “And what about Lock?”

“He should be on his way home from school in about an hour. And since Monica’s giving us the cold shoulder for now, I think we have some time to ourselves for a while.”

Kevin smiled at the love of his life, one of the people who helped him cling to his humanity so long ago...then frowned as he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. “Dammit, way to kill the mood....” He pulled the phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. “Oh, hey what’s....now hold on, I’m on off duty, I just got home, you can’t just...alright, alright fine, if there’s no one else available I’ll handle this....” He ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket, frowning in annoyance. “It was work....”

Rachel folded her arms, looking at her husband evenly. “What happened?”

“An unregistered pony got caught up in a car accident, she’s currently in hospital.” He looked down. “They want me to head off and go see if they’re healed enough to be taken down for registration and identification. Apparently everyone else is swamped in other cases and work right now, I’m the only one available to get it done...” He sighed deeply, frowning in disappointment.

His wife frowned as well, but forced a wry smile. “Hey, I understand, don’t worry about it. It shouldn’t take too long to get that all sorted through, right? Just go, see how they are and follow procedure, and you should make it home quick enough to enjoy the rest of your off-time, right?”

Kevin smiled slightly. “You’re the best, hon.”

“Nah, just a good spouse.” She winked at him. “Go on; get going before the kids come home and I start regretting letting you be responsible.”

Kevin nodded and gave her a quick kiss before hesitantly turning and trotting out the door, thankful for having married her for the umpteenth time in his life.

A small yellow pegasus sat in a prison cell, quietly watching television, idly drawing a bluebird into a page of a notebook. “You really shouldn’t give me so much...”

“Look, the prison is simply giving you concessions for your good behaviour.” The guard said. “Honestly, it’s kinda boring keepin’ guard over ya, you don’t really need it.”

“Yes, but it’s nice to talk to someone, Trevor, even if I don’t deserve it.”

The guard sighed, knowing the prisoner well enough not to argue to say anything regarding that. “What are you watching anyway?”

“The news. I like keeping up on current events, it helps me keep track of the world outside these bars.” The pegasus smiled softly to herself. “I can pretend that I am normal, for just a little while.”

She frowned as there was loud noise, followed by Trevor walking off and then crying out in surprise. Following that, she heard foot...no, hoofsteps clopping over to her cell door, the door sliding open as an orange earth pony mare stood before her, a large brown Stetson on her head.

The mare grinned. “Don’t fret, sugarcube, help has arrived to getcha outta here!”

The pegasus frowned and shook her head. “I appreciate the effort, but no, I’ll stay here.”

“What are ya sayin’ Fluttershy!? It’s me, Applejack, Ah’m yer friend!”

“I am not Fluttershy.” The pegasus closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. “I am a vile human being who deserves to be incarcerated in this cell for the rest of my life. Please, just leave me here and go home.”

“That’s jus’ them tryin’ ta brainwash ya or somethin’!” Applejack argued. “We’re gettin’ everypony home, especially you an’ the others!”

‘Fluttershy’ continued to keep her eyes closed, then opened them wide and gasped as a cloth covered her mouth, eyes fluttering as she quickly fell unconscious.

Applejack caught the pegasus in her hooves as several other ponies came into the cell. “Don’ worry sugarcube, we’re gettin’ ya out of this nightmare. All of us.”

A purple unicorn lay sleeping in a hospital bed as a nurse approached her, stealthily holding a syringe in her hand. The nurse kept her features calm and composed as she held reached out, the tip of the syringe inches from penetrating the soft, cartoon skin of the pony before her.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes flung upon, horn glowing as she teleported a foot away from the nurse, eyes wide in fear, a hoof clutching something large to her chest as her magic fired a blast at the woman’s hand, destroying the syringe and its deadly contents. The unicorn teleported out through the door and started running down the hall, several doctors and nurses and some patients crying out in alarm as she ran past.

The nurse frowned, pulling the gun from out of her pocket, deciding subtlety had been thrown out the window, forcing her to act far more rashly and publicly then she would have liked.

However.

A doctor stepped into the room. “Are you alright? She didn’t hurt you did she?”

The doctor screamed as the nurse fired a bullet into his heart, and then into his forehead, silencing him as his corpse fell the floor.

The nurse silently stepped passed him and into the hall, gun held steady as she marched off, firing a shot at those unlucky enough to see her. Mentally, she recited something to herself.

No Princesses. No Heroes. No Elements. No Witnesses. cc����9

Author's Note

The Friends of Harmony are considered one of the most wanted groups in America, where they are at their most active. Despite having a low number of casualties to their name, they nevertheless have committed several crimes such as destruction of public property, assault, assault on an officer and most especially kidnapping. Made up of several ponies who refused to accept their humanity, the Friends of Harmony actively believe humanity is an enemy that took them from their ‘home’, and so their members most often kidnap ponies, particularly those who have undergone therapy, and try to ‘remind’ them of their ‘friendship’ and ‘true lives’.

Their leaders are Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, the latter being named ‘Public Enemy Number One’ due to the Hoover Dam Incident, where Celestia used her magic during an encounter between her group and the local law enforcement. This act caused several injuries, maiming and a small number of fatalities as a few people were sent flying back by a ‘force field’ into cars, concrete...and over the edge of the dam itself.

The Friends of Harmony are so named due to their first public statement that was aired on national television, wherein they were referred to as ‘Friends of Harmony’, decrying humanity as ‘Enemies of Friendship. Ever since then, the name has stuck.