TCB - Zero Hour

Chapter 6

George was running along the corridor back towards the directors office. He had received a frantic call from Cribben a few moments ago, something about chess. When George entered the office it was a mess; papers and files lay strewn over the floor and on the desk, piles of leather bound books had been pulled from their shelves and piled haphazardly on every flat surface. On the only clear area of Cribben’s desk George noticed a small black chess piece, a knight.

Cribben himself was ransacking a filing cabinet beside a large, floor-to-ceiling bookcase. George cleared his throat and the director looked round.

“Ah, Agent Van-zantan. Please have a seat. if you can find one”, the director returned his attention back to the filing cabinet. George could hear Cribben muttering to himself as he searched. “Where are you? Damn it... why can I never find things when I need them?” George studied the chess piece on the desk; it was beautifully carved, likely by hand. Upon closer examination he noticed that near the base of the piece, there was a grouping of three apples carved into the material. He could also see the material was not wood, as he had previously thought; but was, in fact, Obsidian (volcanic glass), with veins of dark red running through it.

“Aha!” Cribben exclaimed, “Found it!” He crossed the room and cleared his desk, shoving all of the papers and books onto the floor. A brown paper file was then slapped down onto the desk, it had a red CLASSIFIED stamp on the front, and a picture of a large, golden V on a black background paper clipped to the front page.

“Agent”, George looked up from the file, “This file and the information it contains is so highly classified, that not even the United Nations Defence Council is aware of its existence. You will not speak about what you see today outside this room." George nodded, not liking the look in his employer’s eyes; but at the same time intrigued about the file's contents. Seeming pleased with this response, Cribben opened the file and pushed it across the table so that his subordinate could read it.

File ident no.102846-A
Subject: Veritas Consortium (Organisation)
Threat to Current Operations: Extreme
Threat to Future Operations: Extreme
Last Confirmed Activity: 24/3/2013
Last Unconfirmed Activity: 4/7/2014
Location of HQ: Unknown

Cribben sat back in his chair and sipped his whiskey, watching as George Van-zantan read the first page of the file. Once George had finished he looked back at his employer, “I understand that these people are dangerous sir, but what does this have to do with... that?” George pointed at the chess piece on the desk.

Cribben smiled, “A few days ago I put a plan into action to remove the threat of the bearers of the elements of harmony...”

"Sir, they are no threat," George interrupted, "We've locked the elements away, and without them what harm could they possibly do?”

“Don’t be naive George”, Cribben snapped, becoming slightly irritated at being interrupted, “they are still heroes to the equines, and forget not that Field Marshal Exley has reported that some of them are discontent with what we are doing”.

"What we're doing, sir?

“Removing power from the Royal Guard... do you not realise that, with or without their precious elements, they are still a serious threat to us?"

"I take your point, sir." George said allowing his employer to continue.

“Good, now where was I... ah that’s right, I had a team of Spec ops prepared to assassinate Miss Applejack, when she arrived at Austin International Airport, the only problem was... that she never arrived”.

“Yes, I heard about the crash”, George said, “You don’t think this Veritas group was involved?”

“I don’t think”, Cribben said taking a sip from his glass, “I know they were, and not just involved, but responsible”

“My god!” George exclaimed, “THEY killed her?”

"No," Cribben said, “I don’t think they did”. George looked confused, “If we wanted her dead, then Veritas would have wanted her alive... what I don’t understand is why”.

“So you’re sure that Veritas is targeting us?”

“I’m convinced!” Cribben picked up the chess piece and turned it slowly in his fingers, “The last chess game that Veritas played was with Celestia... and they won. THIS!” Cribben held the piece in front of George’s face, “proves that their next game is going to be with us... and they’ve made the first move”.

George was about to reply when the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a tall man wearing a dark, pin-striped, three piece suit, with a red shirt and a black and red tie. His face was hard and cold, his dark crimson, almost black eyes were devoid of all emotion, and his dark brown hair was pulled back into a small ponytail.

Ian Mercer was Augustus Cribben’s personal assassin, spy and general gun for hire. He was known for being cold, calculating and brutal; and his reputation for ruthless efficiency made people wary of him. His astounding reputation for finding and eliminating targets, no matter how far or fast they tried to run, had earned him the nickname “The Interceptor” from his colleagues.

"Ah, Mr. Mercer." Cribben said noticing his lackey, "You're dismissed, Agent." He waved his hand as he beckoned Mercer forward. George got up and walked towards the door. As he passed Mercer, he could feel the man staring at him; his eyes following him as he opened the door and exited the office. Once outside George leant back against the door and mopped his brow with a handkerchief. He could hear Cribben and Mercer talking, their voices muffled by the wood of the door.

“I visited the crash site as you instructed”, Mercer spoke, his Scottish accent was so subtle that people often didn’t hear it .

“What did you find?” Cribben asked, refilling his glass from the crystalline decanter.

“The wreckage was there, the target was not... Veritas must have got to her first”.

“Damn it!” Cribben sipped his whiskey thoughtfully. Mercer merely stood perfectly still, waiting for Cribben to speak again. “Okay, plan B, go to Ponyville and meet up with Sergeant Stern’s squad, and then tonight, eliminate all primary targets.” Mercer nodded and exited the office.

As soon as George heard someone moving towards the door he hurried back down the corridor into his office. As Ian Mercer walked past the open door, he stared at George momentarily and George was convinced that he had heard him, but then Mercer just carried on down the corridor towards the entrance hall of the castle.

“Oh god”, George said to himself, “I’ve got to warn someone... the director’s gone mad!”

(Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville)

For Rainbow Dash the world had come to almost a complete halt, it had become almost like tunnel vision; in the fact that the only thing that she could only focus on the gleaming barrel of the firearm being directed towards her. She didn’t know what to say or do, so she just hovered there, staring at the agent. The rest of her friends were all still sat around the table, their mouths agape, not quite believing the scene that was playing out in front of them. After what seemed like an eternity there was a shout.

“AGENT STAND DOWN!”

Twilight looked around gratefully to see Josh running towards them through the snow, one arm in the left sleeve of his coat, the rest billowing out behind him. Running along beside him was a mint green unicorn with a gray scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Agent Connors... stand... down." Josh panted as he reached the group, and finally finished buttoning up his coat. The agent holding the weapon hesitated a moment, before placing the Glock back into its holster. He sat down and continued reading his paper as though nothing had happened. “What was all that about?” Josh asked as the cafe returned to normal.

“Rainbow was ranting about how she thought that you lied to us and then she got mad because he was spying on us and knocked his coffee off the table then he stood up and pointed a gun at her!” Pinkie Pie blurted out without even pausing for breath.

“I see” Josh said, “Miss Rainbow Dash, are you alright?”

“Am I alright!” Rainbow yelled flying up to Josh, so that her muzzle was only inches away from his face, “I’ve just nearly been shot!”

“Rainbow Da...” Lyra started, but Josh silenced her with a wave of his hand.

“Yes, and I apologise for the incident, the Office of Human Relations will of course pay you compensation; and Agent Connors will, of course, be reprimanded”.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes for a few minutes, “I still don’t trust any of you” she growled at him.

“Yes” he replied in almost a whisper, “I don’t blame you”. Rainbow Dash returned to her seat and Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy began to fuss over her. Meanwhile Josh approached the agent, who lowered his newspaper and stared impassively at his superior.

“Agent Connors, you will surrender your weapon over to me now, you will finish your coffee and then you will be suspended pending an investigation”.

“Only the director can suspend...” Connors started.

“I will contact the director once I get back to the office”, Josh interrupted. “Surrender your weapon now!”

Agent Connors glared at his employer as he stood up and removed the Glock from its holster, he paused a moment, staring at the weapon in his hand before placing it in Josh’s.

“My goodness that was just awful”, Fluttershy spoke as soon as both Josh and Connors had left; all five of the friends were deeply shaken by what had happened. In her usual, brash way Rainbow Dash assured them that she was fine and she, ‘had the situation totally under control’.

“That was quite terrifying darlings”, Rarity agreed

“You see”, Twilight said, “They’ve just proved our point... they’re all dangerous”

“I know that agent Connor’s over reacted, but aren’t you tarnishing them all with the same brush Twilight?” Rarity reasoned

“No! I don’t!” Twilight snapped back, “They’ve got their soldiers everywhere, they’ve virtually replaced the Royal Guard; and now they’re threatening to shoot people. They’re EVIL! EVIL! And I’m going to prove it!” Twilight stormed off towards her library.

(OHR Ponyville Office, Ponyville)

When Josh got back to his office he went immediately for his desk phone and dialled the number for OHR’s Main Office, in Canterlot.

“Get me the operations director”, Josh snapped at the operator.

“Augustus Cribben”. The director answered

“Director, its Field Marshal Exley at the Ponyville office. I am requesting permission to suspend an agent under my command, for drawing his weapon in a public place and threatening to shoot a civilian, I have multiple witnesses that can testify to the validity of my claim”.

There was silence for a moment, before Cribben agreed to suspend the agent pending an internal investigation. He then asked Josh to submit a report detailing exactly what had happed, and that Deputy Operations Director Van-zantan would take it from there.

Josh spent the remainder of the morning writing the report, and then walked the short distance to Sugar Cube Corner to get his lunch.

“I would like a cheese/salad sandwich with tomato and red pepper chutney, a portion of your salted crisps and one of your delicious white chocolate and blueberry muffins, if you please Mrs Cake”. Josh said stepping up to the counter.

Sugar Cube Corner was a popular lunchtime destination for many of the OHR personnel in Ponyville. The cakes, obviously, served no meat, but they had started serving more savoury and varied dishes to be more accommodating to human tastes. One example of this was that they had started making their own salted potato crisps, all hoof made, which went down very well with both humans and equines.

As Josh was leaving with his lunch he met Lyra, who was munching on an apple she had bought at the market.

“Hey” she greeted him, “Things seem to have calmed down since... this morning’s incident”.

“Yea” Josh agreed, “We were lucky, I knew that Connors didn’t like ponies, but I never expected he would react like that”.

“What do we do now?” Lyra asked

“Well, the director has agreed to suspend him and I’ve submitted my report, so I guess we just wait”. Josh shrugged

Once the two got back to the office it was empty, most of the staff only worked a half day on Saturday and didn’t work on Sunday, Josh and Lyra however worked a full day on Saturday and a half day on Monday. Josh put his lunch down on his desk and walked into the small kitchen to make a cup of tea, while Lyra turned on the TV.

It was a news story about the outbreak of a mutant strain of feather flu in Manhattan; the outbreak had reportedly started on Wednesday, with the first case, a Pegasus pony named Droplet, being reported at 6:30 in the morning. By 7:30, just an hour later, four more ponies had been admitted to local hospitals, all with the same symptoms, and worryingly, not just Pegasi but also an earth pony and two unicorns. By Friday there were over 50 known cases in the Manhattan area, and more worryingly still... it had begun to infect humans. As Lyra watched a White House spokesperson was answering reporter questions.

“Is this the start of the next flu pandemic?” One reporter asked.

“We don’t know” Answered the spokesman

“How long before this disease spreads to other parts of the US?” Another asked

“It’s impossible to say” Admitted the spokesman reluctantly

“What is the government doing about this?” The first reported asked

“We are working with other national governments, as well as the OHR Biohazard Countermeasure Service, in conjunction with the World Health Organisation, to determine the likely impact of this disease if it eventually does spread globally”.

The report ended with a chilling reminder of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and the predictions of bird flu in 2010.

Lyra looked over and saw Josh watching the TV, sipping his tea slowly with a stony look on his face. Lyra didn’t need to ask anything, the look in her eyes was question enough.

“Yea, I’m worried too”, he said, “But to be honest, I’m surprised that this is happening now”

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked

“It was one thing that both the UN and Celestia were worried about before the war, the transfer of diseases from Equestria to Earth, and vice versa. I think that this was always going to happen, it’s just taken a while”.

“What do you thinks’ going to happen?”

“Probably nothing, hopefully this is going to be an isolated incident and nothing is going to come of it”. Josh smiled and started on his sandwich.

Just then one of the off duty agents came in, a Pegasus named rook. He was thickly built, like Shining Armour, or Big Macintosh. He had charcoal coloured eyes and a steely silver mane and tail.

“I know I’m not supposed to be here today”, He started, for such a thickly build stallion he was surprisingly softly spoken, “but I just saw a group of Spec-ops guys poking around near Carousel Boutique”.

“Spec-ops?” Josh asked, and Rook nodded.

“What would they be doing here?” Lyra asked Rook

Rook thought for a moment before answering, “I think they were asking about the old observatory outside the town and about that creepy pony that lives there”.

Josh thanked Rook and he left, immediately Josh got up and began to pull his grey overcoat on.

“Do you think they know?” Lyra asked, as Josh took his grey, military cap off the stand, as she herself tied her scarf around her neck.

“I don’t know, but we’re going up there just in case”, Josh replied Good move Cribben, very good move, but you’ll never see mine coming Josh thought as the two exited the building.