TCB - Zero Hour

Chapter 7

Josh arrived just in the nick of time. He and the contingent of OHR soldiers with him had pulled up just as Atom was being forced into the back of the Spec-ops Humvee. The soldiers had spilled out of the covered trucks and formed up in a wide semi-circle around the Spec-ops troops, who in-turn, had raised their weapons.

“Who’s in command here?!” Sergeant Stern yelled at the gray clad soldiers around him.

“That would be me”, Josh said, stepping forward in a confident manner. Upon seeing a superior officer Stern immediately snapped to attention and offered Josh a crisp salute, “I was not informed that you would be gracing us with your presence Sergeant”.

“I received orders from the Deputy Operations Director to arrest this pony, sir”, Stern said, his eyes never once leaving Josh’s.

“I see”, Josh replied, “Unfortunately my investigation is not complete; and you arresting him would hamper it. Once my investigation is complete I will then, of course, hand him over to you”.

“I don’t believe you heard me properly sir”, Stern said stiffly, “I received my orders from the Deputy Operations Director of OHR”.

“No,” Josh replied again, “I heard you perfectly, and my point still stands, I need you to release that pony and accompany my men back into town”.

Stern opened his mouth to respond, but Josh quickly informed him that it was a direct order. Seeing that it was an argument he couldn’t win Stern relented, offering Josh another crisp salute, he ordered his men back into town. Once they had left and he had dismissed his men, Josh and Lyra made their way into Atom’s home, Atom was sat on a group of cushions in the centre of the room.

“What’s your plan?” He asked without even looking at them.

“So you’re willing to help me now?” Josh asked.

Atom nodded, “They invaded my home and tried to arrest me, you’re planning to stop them, so yes, I’ll work with you again”.
“Meet us at the Shady Trough, tonight, 7:30pm”, Josh said as he and Lyra left the room.

(Ponyville Library, Ponyville)

Twilight was fuming; she had come in and thrown herself down on her bed without even acknowledging Spike.
“Twilight, you okay” The tiny dragon asked as he cautiously approached the bed.

“I don’t know Spike, OHR’s taking over Equestria and I can’t do anything to stop them”, the lilac unicorn replied burying her head in her pillow.

“Don’t worry you’ll figure it out” Spike reassured her, and then offered to make her a cup of dandelion tea.
Was the Princess right about the humans? Twilight wondered to herself, her mind wandered back to the last interview that she had before the war. She had been contacted by World News Network (WNN) and offered an interview, Princess Celestia had thought that the interview would be a good idea, a chance to give the humans answers to the questions that they had regarding the changes occurring to their world... and she had blown it. She had started a war single hoofed, and made the nightmare of the Office of Human Relations a reality.

(Flashback: 27th June 2013)

Twilight settled herself into the plush yellow armchair opposite her interviewer; the man was sat cross-legged, talking to a member of the production crew. Another member of the production crew approached her, “We’re almost ready to go now Twilight, just answer the questions as best you can and you’ll be fine”. The production crew counted them down, and the interview commenced.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to WNN, I am joined tonight by the Equestrian ambassador Twilight Sparkle”, the interviewer began, “Miss Sparkle I think I should start by asking the obvious question, why is Princess Celestia so adamant that only ponified humans enter Equestria?”

Twilight flicked her mane as she answered, “We’ve all seen what the greed and corruption of big business has done to your world, the Princess is only trying to protect the purity of Equestria”.

The interviewer looked slightly taken aback for a moment by her response, but this quickly vanished. “But in your opinion ponification ‘fixes’ whatever is wrong with humanity?”

“Ponification fixes all the problems with your people. We get rid of that pesky human nature and reconfigure you to live in peace and harmony with others.” Twilight answered giving her tail a light flick to the side.

As the interview went on things just got worse and worse, the interviewers jaw became set, his sharp features betraying very little emotion, and he sat more rigidly. Twilight seemed to be becoming more agitated, her tail flicked from side to side and her stance shifted until she was almost standing on the chair.

“What I don’t understand”, the interviewer started again, “Is why Equestria is claiming all of the territory that the barrier destroys? For example, Cape Town was reduced to a small village of thatched houses, the population was simply displaced. How can you justify that?”

“If the people of Cape Town truly wanted to stay where they were then they would have ponified themselves” Twilight replied quite matter-of-factly. In the background she could hear several members of the production crew gasp, the interviewer’s face hadn’t changed but she could see in his eyes that he was disgusted.

“Aren’t you worried that people might be... less than accepting of that arrangement?” He asked, struggling now to keep the resentment out of his voice.

“Look” Twilight sighed in an irritated manner, “The Princesses are goddesses, goddesses that we know exist I might add, we trust them, and so should you!”

“Okay, and finally Miss Sparkle, with the recent string of deaths at Bureaus around the world, people are beginning to speculate that there is something wrong with the serum, can you comment on that?”

“I can assure people that there is nothing wrong with the serum and that they should just simply keep going to the Bureaus, after all, it is your only option”. Twilight said dismissing the question.

The interview ended not long after and the production crew again swarmed her, taking off the clip on microphone and telling her that she “did a perfectly fantastic job”. Once she got back to her hotel room however, she saw on the news that the human’s reaction to the live interview was not at all what she expected, there was public outrage and violence, and things only went downhill from there.

(Back in the present)

When Spike returned with the tea and a slice of cake on a tray, he had a letter wedged under the plate holding the cake.
“This came through the door while I was making the tea,” the dragon announced as Twilight levitated the letter of the tray and opened it. As she unfolded the thick, creamy coloured parchment; she noticed that there was a watermark in the centre, a large, golden V. The text itself was written in beautiful calligraphy, obviously by hand, using a quill or fountain pen. Twilight read the letter out loud as spike poured two cups of tea.

Miss Twilight Sparkle,

I would tell you my name but that may make you mistrustful, I would also tell you the name of the organisation that I represent; but you would not know of its existence and so it would mean nothing to you. Instead I will tell you that you and your friends are in grave danger, not for anything you are doing, have done, or will do in the future, but for what you represent. Your very existence is enough for certain people to want to destroy you.

You believe that the Office of Human Relations is simply overreacting or being ‘unfair’, both with the number of soldiers they possess; and with the amount of control they are exerting over the citizens of Equestria, but it is in fact much worse than you think. OHR poses a far greater danger to both Equestria and Earth than anyone realises.

I and the organisation I represent want to stop OHR from destroying everything that we have worked so hard to create. If you feel the same way and wish to make a difference, meet me at the Shady Trough Pub tonight at 7:30pm.
The choice is yours alone to make Miss Sparkle.

Yours Sincerely

Mr Black

“What do you make of that?” Twilight asked the young dragon

“Sounds like a trap to me” Spike answered, folding his arms, “you’re not going to go are you?”

“I don’t know Spike; it could be a trap, but...”

“But what?!” Spike asked exasperated, already knowing what Twilight was going to do.

“I’m going to go and meet… whoever wrote this, I mean what it said about OHR is true, they have soldiers everywhere, they’ve effectively blocked all access to Canterlot; and who’s to say that it's not going to get worse? We have to at least try to stop them don’t we?”

“Well at least be careful” Spike said hugging Twilight

“I will” Twilight returned the baby dragon’s hug before heading out

“Wait! You forgot to eat your…” Spike yelled after her, then looked at the slice of cake that he had cut for her and licked his lips, “ah well, more for me then”.

(Isla azul agua, Caribbean Sea)

Applebloom was chatting away to Santiago, telling him all about the Cutie Mark Crusaders and her continuing search for a cutie mark. Santiago was listening carefully, nodding and smiling at the young filly, while trying, and failing to finish his bowel of muesli.

“Applejack!” Applebloom exclaimed as her older sister entered the room, Applejack joined them at the table and helped herself to a grapefruit.

“Good Morning Miss Applejack” Santiago greeted her

“Oh you don’t need to call me Miss” Applejack waved away the formality

“Very well” Santiago agreed, “I’ve just been talking to your sister about her little group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders wasn’t it?” He asked, turning to the filly.

“Yea, we’re committed to searching Equestria high and low until we discover our special talents and get our cutie marks” The little filly answered with great enthusiasm.

“A cutie mark… that’s the pattern on your flank is it not?” Santiago asked Applejack

“That’s right, every pony gets one” The orange mare answered with a mouth full of sweet grapefruit

“I’m currently studying pony biology, I find it fascinating…” Santiago was going to continue when a maid entered and told him that he had a phone call from someone called Mr Black.

Once Santiago had left the room Applejack turned to her sister, “I thought I’d lost you, when the plane crashed”

Applebloom came round the table and hugged her sister, “I remember you telling me not to let go… then I woke up on Santiago’s boat, they were looking for you. When they found you I thought you were dead, you were cold… and you wouldn’t wake up, even when I called your name”. Applebloom began to cry into her sister’s chest, Applejack also began to cry. All of the emotion of the past few days came spilling out as the two siblings embraced.

Once they broke the embrace they noticed that Santiago had entered the room, and was standing silently in the doorway.
“I’m a mite sorry Santiago, it’s just that I thought my sister was dead and… and…” Applejack choked on the last words. Santiago raised a hand, letting her know that it was alright.

“It’s alright” Santiago said, “You don’t have to be sorry, what you and your sister have been through over the past two days, I’d be concerned if you weren’t emotional”.

Applejack smiled at Santiago, then at her sister. Across the room Santiago cleared his throat again.

“My employers want to meet you Applejack; later on we’ll set off for Malta were they’ll be waiting for us”

“Malta?” Applejack asked

“Yes, that’s all I’ve been told… oh and you’re friends are going to meet us there”

Applejack was about to ask what he had just said, but he had already left the room.

(Shady Trough Pub, Ponyville)

Twilight walked into the pub, not sure what to expect. The inside was smoky and full of people sat around small wooden tables drinking pints of beer, cider, glasses of wine or soft drinks. Running along the back wall of the pub was a long bar with pumps and glasses, bottles of whiskey and other spirits adorned the back wall.

She noticed her friends were sat around a table in the corner, each with glasses of cider; and sat with them was… “Josh!” She exclaimed as she neared the table.

“Ah Twilight” The OHR officer greeted her as she sat down between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. No sooner had she settled herself onto the cushion that a cold, frothy mug of cider was placed in front of her.

Along with her friends there was another pony that she didn't recognize sitting sat next to Josh. Twilight took a long drink from her mug; the cider had the unmistakable sweet, slightly tart rich flavour of Apple family cider.

“Now that we’re all here I'll begin. I assume that you all received the letters” Josh began

“Yea” Rainbow answered, “I knew OHR was up to something!”

“I’m afraid it’s much worse than you believe” Josh said

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked

“Let me explain” Josh said as the other leaned forward to listen

(OHR Ponyville Office, Ponyville)

Ian Mercer turned to Sergeant Stern. "Are the men prepared?"

"Yes, sir," Stern answered.

“Good” Mercer replied “Order the attack”

Outside the pub a platoon of OHR soldiers had gathered under the command of Lyra, she had been briefed by Josh that the Spec-ops may try something like this; and she had been instructed to go along with it, so that was what she was going to do.

“Alright men!” She said loudly addressing the assembled soldiers, "Our orders are to arrest Field Marshal Exley, the Elements of Harmony, and Doctor Atom Discharge. They are believed to be inside this pub, and we're going to go in and get them. Do not fire unless fired upon!"

“YES MA’AM!” The soldiers yelled in response

“Alright then, let’s go get them."