TCB - Zero Hour

by Professor Vector

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Adventure, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Dark, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna
Length: 22371

Twilight Sparkle uncovers secrets long burried

Set two years after humanity won "The First Contact War" with the ponies of the alien 'pocket Dimension' Equestria. Once the barrier had fallen humanity had suffered casualties in numbers not seen since World War 1; but eventually human forces penetrated deep enough to threaten Canterlot with nuclear attack. The Princesses had surrendered and been imprisoned, they had been replaced with Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour. The victory also gave rise to a human organisation called the OHR (Office of Human Relations) which was formed to make sure that Equestria could never again threaten Earth or the human race. In a bid to understand why the war had happened and how the Princess had known about Earth's existence Twilight Sparkle uncovers secrets that both the Equestrian Royal Family and Humanity had tried so hard to cover up.

Join Twilight and her friends on an epic journey to uncover the Truth behind the Conversion Bureaus

Warning! Contains scenes of Violence

Published 2012-09-23 03:04:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-26 10:26:18 UTC

Prologue part II. The trial of Celestia

Prologue part II. The Trial of Celestia

Princess Celestia was being led through the halls of the Nuremberg court rooms, the same walk that her sister Princess Luna had made only days before. When she arrived at Court Room 5 – where her trial was to be held – she could see that it was already a buzz with activity. The prosecution was readying his notes and consulting with other senior barristers and the jury were talking amongst themselves. Her guards led her into the dock and stood either side of her, stony faced waiting for the trial to commence. She looked over and saw that the bearers of the elements of harmony were present – they had been cleared of all charges a few days ago – to see their Princess charged as a criminal
.
Eventually the court was told to rise and the Judge entered, he was an older man with silvery hair, a bushy silver beard and small watery blue eyes. As the court came to order he addressed her.

“Princess Celestia, you have chosen to defend yourself...is that correct?”

“It is” She said confidently

The judge nodded before continuing, “Very well, Princess Celestia of Equestria, you stand charged with crimes against Humanity and conspiracy to commit genocide...how do you plead”.

“I plead not guilty, for I have committed no crime” She answered firmly

The judge nodded and sat back in his chair to listen to the opening statements. The prosecution was the first to speak:

“Your honour, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury. You will hear today presented before you evidence that proves that Princess Celestia, being in her right mind and with malice of forethought did create the barrier that surrounded the land of Equestria. You will hear how she created the thermatic radiation that leaked from the barrier and poisoned our world, and you will also hear how – with monstrous precession – she expanded that barrier with the express intention of wiping us from the face of the galaxy, and with diabolical intent constructed a web of lies to hide her true purpose both from us and her own people”.

With his speech concluded he sat down again, but not before looking over at Celestia to see if he had rattled her. He was disappointed. The Princess of the sun stood tall as she walked from the dock to the front of the court room, and began her opening statement:

“Your honour, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury. I am guilty of no crime against your people; I only wanted to help your people. To save you from a world devoid of magic and love, today you will hear evidence that proves that I am a friend not an enemy”.

With her speech finished Celestia returned to the dock. The prosecution then stood again and cleared his throat.

“Princess Celestia says that she is our friend and that she only wanted to save us, were we ever once asked whether we wanted to be saved. And if she only wanted to save us then why did we have to convert into ponies, why not save us as we are. Your honour I call my first witness”.

The clerk of the court then stands and says, “Call Twilight Sparkle”

The Lilac Unicorn walked slowly to the witness box, and swore the oath. The Prosecution then began speaking. “Miss Sparkle could you tell the court what your relationship to the accused is”

“Princess Celestia is my mentor...she’s been like a mother to me since I first came to her school” Twilight stated.

“Now if I understand correctly...you represent the element of magic, is that correct?” the prosecution asked

“Yes that is correct” Twilight answered

“With that responsibility and being the Princess personal protégée she must trust you immensely, did she confide in you her plan?”

“Yes” Twilight stated

“The entirety of it?”

“Yes” Twilight said firmly, “She said that you humans were violent, devoid of love and that the only way to make you worthy of our friendship was to ponify you...all of you”

“I see, and did it ever occur to you that what you were doing was wrong...that maybe your Princess was wrong...that maybe she was, dare I say it, lying” The Prosecution asked her.

“Of course not, the Princess would never lie to me...or any of us for that matter” Twilight answered defiantly.

The Prosecution nodded slowly before saying, “So never once whilst you were leasing with Earth did you think that what you were doing was wrong?”

Twilight thought for a moment before saying, “No...Princess Celestia said what we were doing was right, she’s a goddess...a real goddess that we can prove exists. She is also kinder and wiser than any other pony in Equestria, how could she be wrong?”

The prosecution turns to the jury before saying “so it would be fair to say that you were just doing you were told” Twilight nodded and the prosecution stated that he had no further questions

Princess Celestia then proceeded to the front of the court room to cross examine the witness.

“Twilight, did you believe what I was doing was right?” Celestia asked

Before Twilight could answer the Prosecution shouted OBJECTION! The judge nodded to say that he could continue. “This question has no relevance, your honour. It is based purely on belief not fact and could therefore mislead the jury”.

The judge nodded and said “Objection sustained, Princess you must follow a line of questioning that can be based on fact”.

Celestia now looked frustrated and so instead questioned her student about what she had seen on earth. Twilight answered that the humans – although they had a bad history – were starting to work together and were very friendly towards her and eager to accommodate all of her requests.

“now Twilight in all the time that you have known me, have you ever known me to lie?”

“well...no never” Twilight answered

“Then why would I lie now?”

“I don’t know Princess...but if what they’re saying is true then...I don’t know anymore” Twilight said

The Princess returned to the dock. The Prosecution then questions the other elements and higher members of the Royal Guard, all give similar testimonies to both sides. One Royal guard becoming so angered at the prosecutions questions that he had to be removed from the court room. Then the Prosecution called Celestia as a witness. Slowly she made her way to the witness box and the prosecution began his line of questioning.

“Princess Celestia, when you came to Earth you created the barrier that surrounded Equestria, we can understand that you were simply looking out for your people, but could you please explain to the court what the purpose of the thermatic radiation was”

“I needed a way to make sure that people were ponified...” The Princess started but was cut off by the prosecution

“You told us that ponification was always a choice, yet by admitting that the purpose of the thermatic radiation and presumably expanding the barrier as well was to pressure us into conversion, you have just admitted to everyone in this court room that you lied. So Princess, why did you want to destroy humanity”.

The Princess was taken aback; things were not going her way. “I never wanted to destroy...” the princess started only to be interrupted again by the prosecution

“But you’ve just admitted that you wanted to destroy our physical forms, our cities, our art and our culture. The question I am asking you is why?”

The Princesses calm demure finally crumbled “Because your...human nature would have polluted my perfect world. I saw your society, your gambling houses, your violence, your soulless technology; I couldn’t let that ruin the happy lives of my little ponies. So I created the conversion serum and the barrier and the thermatic radiation to destroy that annoying human nature of yours and turn you into good little ponies. But then you ruined all of that when you started that war, you selfishly never thought that I was offering you a better life, thus proving why you needed ponifying!” she exploded, then calming down she looked at the faces of everyone in the court staring at her, mouths agape in shock.

The prosecution smirked and said “No further questions your honour”.

“Very well” the judge said, “Princess do you have anything further to add”

Princess Celestia shook her head, incredulous at what she had just done. The judge then asked the prosecution if he had anything else to add, the Prosecution stood and began his closing statement:

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the testimonies of some of the Princesses closest friends, they have presented evidence that shows that what Celestia was planning and what she told her people were two very different things. You have also heard Princess Celestia herself admit that she wanted to destroy us and our very way of life. I trust that you will now make the right decision and find Princess Celestia guilty.”

With his speech completed he sat down and the judge then addressed the jury, telling them that they had heard all of the evidence and that they must now go and deliberate. With that the jury left the room but returned less than five minutes later with their decision. Once the jury had settled the judge addressed them.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a decision by which you are all agreed?”

“We have your honour” a man from the jury said standing

“Very well” the judge said nodding, “On the first count of Crimes against Humanity, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?”

“Guilty” the juryman answered

“very well, on the second count of Conspiracy to commit genocide, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?”

“Guilty” the juryman said again before sitting back down, his task complete.

The judge then addressed Celestia herself, “Princess Celestia of Equestria please stand”. The Princess stood without a word and only stared at the judge; she had incriminated herself and now calmly awaited her sentence. “Bring in the other defendant” the judge commanded; and Celestia was shocked when they brought her sister Princess Luna into the court room and stood her in the dock beside Celestia. She wore a stern face but Celestia could see the fear in her eyes and gently nudged her to reassure her. “Princesses Celestia and Luna you have both been found guilty of Crimes against Humanity and Conspiracy to commit Genocide. You are both dangerous individuals to the people of Earth and it is my belief that as long as you are free you will attempt to destroy us, you have both told an uncountable network of lies to cover your tracks and to ensure that there was no resistance to your diabolical scheme. If there was one human that your actions resonate with it is a man by the name of Adolf Hitler, he and his minions ‘the Nazis’ instigated a plan of genocide against the Jewish community because they too believed that a race of people should be destroyed. It is also ironic that his followers were tried in this very court room over 60 years ago, and here we are sentencing two more individuals for almost identical crimes”. He paused for effect before continuing.

“It is now down to me to sentence you. Under normal circumstances I would be passing a sentence of death for these crimes; however we are not even sure if we can kill either of you. So instead you will be imprisoned for life, at the conclusion of this trial you will be taken from this place to a facility specifically designed to contain you, and there you shall be imprisoned from now until the day you die. You shall never again set hoof in Equestria’s green pastures, and you shall not only be cut off from your own people but all of civilisation...and I think that this is a rather fitting fate for both of you. Take them down”. Celestia was shaking as she was taken down from the dock and lead out of the court room, she looked over at her sister to see tears running down her cheeks and splashing onto the floor; leaving a trail of sorrow in their wake.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was another beautiful day in Equestria and Twilight Sparkle and her friend Rarity were watching another amazing demonstration of flying daredevilry from Rainbow Dash. As Twilight watched the cyan Pegasus was swooping, diving and barrel rolling. Her new routine to impress the wonder bolts was truly spectacular.

“Wow! This is amazing” Twilight exclaimed as Rainbow Dash pulled out of a spectacular nose dive mere inches away from the ground; and went swooping away into the sky once more.

“I have to agree darling she truly is dazzling”, Rarity agreed as her eyes followed Rainbow across the sky.

“She’s Dazeltacular!” Pinkie Pie yelled popping out of a hole in a tree nearby in a very Pinkie Pie-ish way.

“Pinkie, what are you doing in a tree?” Twilight asked

In response the pink mare popped herself out of the tree and walked up to Twilight and said, “the better question Twilight is why you’re not in a tree”.

Twilight didn’t quite know how to respond to that, so instead turned her attention back to Rainbows performance. Now entering its final stage she had only one more manoeuvre to perform, a six cloud spin. Rainbow Dash cleared her mind and focussed on the six clouds that she had lined up in anticipation, she flew round the first cloud fast enough to get it spinning, then she moved on to the second cloud and set that spinning. She soon had five of the six clouds spinning like tops, but once she moved onto the sixth cloud her right hind leg caught in the fabric of the cloud sending her reeling towards the ground; and into the hole in the tree that Pinkie Pie had randomly popped out of only moments ago.

“See Twilight” Pinkie Pie said “Rainbow Dash is in a tree”.

At Sugar Cube corner

Twilight was sat with her friends at sugar cube corner; they were discussing the build up to Hearths warming eve and what they planned to do with the holidays. Applejack was going to visit her cousin Braeburn who had moved to Earth a few months before, Rarity was going to Manehatten to show off her latest fashion collection, Fluttershy was staying home to look after her animals, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were also staying in Ponyville. Twilight was glad that she would have at least some company this holiday. She had planned to go up and visit her parents and brother in Canterlot but OHR had blocked access to Canterlot for non OHR employees for the ‘Christmas’ holiday season, something about large congregations of ponies posing a riot risk.

Twilight snorted at the thought causing her friends to look at her in a concerned manner.

“You ok sugar cube?” Applejack asked

“I’m just frustrated that OHR think that they can just deny us access to our capital because of their ill-conceived suspicions” Twilight said a bit louder than they intended.

“shhhh, I wouldn’t say that too loud if I were you sugar cube” Applejack said motioning to a man wearing the grey suit and black shirt and tie of the OHR, as she watched the man sipped his coffee but had seemed not to notice her comment.

“They have every reason to be cautious Twilight, after all we did try to destroy their home” Applejack reasoned.

“I agree with Twilight” butted in Rainbow Dash loudly, “what right have they got to....”

She was cut off by applejack hissing, “do you want to get arrested”. To which Rainbow shook her head, and with that the group returned to their hushed conversations about the holidays.

OHR Main Office Canterlot

Joshua Exley sat behind his desk and yawned loudly, it was 12:05pm and he was bored. Working for the Office of Human Relations was not as glamorous as people believed; the higher ups had a privileged working life, they lived and worked in Canterlot Castle itself and often had dinner with the Royal family. His job was to monitor the Town of Ponyville for any signs of rebellion, not that there ever was any. So his job was basically staring at a computer screen, bored out of his mind, from nine in the morning till five in the evening. Josh in fact even lived in Ponyville and was friends with the element bearers. He sighed and cupped his hands over his face resting his head on the keyboard.

“Bored?”

The question caused him to start; as he looked up he could see a mint green pony stood before him. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings; she also worked for OHR and in fact worked on the desk next to his and was the most human pony that he had ever met.

“Yep, bored and wanting sooo badly to go home” he answered smiling at her. It was Friday after all and all of the office staff were looking forward to the weekend, but as a Friday it was dragging and every minute felt like an hour.

“Well don’t forget you’re giving me a lift back to Ponyville” She said before sitting back down behind her own desk and began clacking away on her keyboard

“I won’t” he replied chuckling slightly. Josh looked back through the many emails he’d received from his agents in Ponyville, most of them were the activities of various ponies and about a meeting in the town hall.

He was about to give up on trying to do work and switch his internet browser on to Youtube; when a brown file was slammed down on his desk. He looked up to see a tall grey haired man wearing the same grey suit, black shirt and tie that he was. George Van-zantan was the deputy operations director of OHR – and he looked a lot like the Architect from the Matrix films – he spoke in a very low, precise tone and never ever broke direct eye contact with the person he was talking to.

“I want you to take this case Mr Exley and investigate the pony that it concerns,” he said motioning to the file that he had placed on the desk. Carefully Josh reached out and opened the brown paper file and – under the watchful eye of his superior – read the white paper documents inside. Once he had read the brief he looked up at his boss and asked.

“Do I have a choice in this sir?” to which Van-zantan replied that he didn’t before turning and walking out of the office.

Lyra trotted over from the photocopier and said in a concerned tone, “what’s up? What did Mr Van-zantan want?”

“Nothing..erm..I’ll explain in the car” Josh said quickly, stuffing the file into his desk draw. Lyra nodded and returned to the copier.

In truth Josh wasn’t fine, he’d been dreading this day ever since he’d joined OHR and seeing what was in that file made him feel sick. He’d known what it was even before he’d opened the file and he’d also known why Van-zantan had brought it to him and no one else.

This was the day when he’d have to bring down one of his closest friends.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Five o’clock finally rolled around and in the OHR main office in Canterlot; the office staff were
packing up to leave for the weekend. Josh tapped his foot impatiently; he was – as usual – waiting
for Lyra to finish packing up her desk, she was always the last one to leave the building which meant
that they got stuck in the traffic jam that formed on the road between Canterlot and Ponyville.
Seeing that Lyra was nearly finished Josh took his field grey military style overcoat and field grey
peaked officer cap off the peg by his desk and put them on. He always felt powerful when he was
wearing them; OHR had its own small military force that was separate from the UN forces. Many of
the senior agents – like himself – also served in the officer corps of the “OHR Armed Division”, he
himself held the rank of Field Marshal.

He then unlocked the bottom draw of his desk and pulled out the brown case file, he studied it
quietly for a moment – knowing full well what it meant – before tucking it in the inside pocket of his
coat.

“I’ve got to come up with a plan...and fast” he thought to himself.

Lyra finally finished packing up her desk as the last of the office staff were leaving and the lights
were going off automatically.

“Last ones to leave again...this is getting embarrassing”. Josh joked shaking his head as the two
walked out of the office; closing the door behind them.

Outside the office building it was snowing heavily – it had been for the last five hours – and there
was a thick carpet of snow blanketing the ground. Josh was holding his car key in the air and pressing
the button repeatedly trying to locate his car in the blizzard, it was funny but this scenario brought
back fond memories of his holidays to Disney Land in Orlando, Florida; and he and his parents would
try to locate their car at the end of the day using the same method – of course it was warmer then –
he chuckled slightly at the memory.

Eventually there was a muffled “bleep” and a slight flash of amber from under a mound of snow, the
entire car was buried.

“Looks like we’re going to have to dig the car out”, Josh said to the mint green mare who was trying
to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

“Don’t worry I got this”, Lyra said smiling. She then proceeded to levitate the snow in a solid block
off the car and dumped it in a pile two feet away. It always amazed Josh how they did that, because
of their magic Unicorns had become invaluable to human industry; and could be seen everywhere
from foundries and steelworks – where they helped to create more evenly blended alloys – to
factories and shipyards – where they helped with final assembly.

The two then got into the car and exited the office buildings car park and began travelling along
Canterlot’s main street, the windscreen wipers working furiously to cope with the snow. Canterlot’s
main market street was largely pedestrianised - only OHR vehicles and other delivery vehicles had
access – making progress slow, Josh kept his eyes focused on the snowy road as they crawled along
at just ten miles an hour.

As they drove Lyra watched out of the window as people – human and pony – hurried past; some so
laden with presents as to almost obscure their vision. There was a group of young fillies with a stall
selling a drink that the humans called “Mulled Wine” and “Mince Pies”, Lyra had tried the “Mulled
Wine” but didn’t like it. Josh liked it though, and could often be seen sipping a steaming mug full on
frosty evenings. She liked the “Mince Pies” though, very sweet she thought. They were made with
a drink that the humans called “Brandy” which she liked a lot, although Josh had warned her not
to drink too much; something about waking up chained to a lamppost. They also passed a group of
humans and ponies singing Christmas Carrols surrounded by a crowed that had stopped to listen.
Lyra marvelled at how similar Christmas was to Harth’s warming eve even though they came from
two different worlds.

Eventually the car made its way to Canterlot’s main gate, which was – as always – guarded. As the
car approached one of the OHR soldiers guarding the gate stepped out in front and held a hand up,
in accordance with the guards wishes Josh stopped the car and rolled down the driver side window
as another guard approached. The OHR soldiers were wearing black helmets, and heavy field grey
trench coats, rifles were slung over their shoulders.

The guard approached the car and glanced at the officer’s cap on the dash board, seeing this the
soldier instantly snapped to attention and offered Josh a crisp salute.

“Sir” the guard greeted him relaxing his arm

“Good evening Sergeant James” Josh replied handing Sergeant James his ID badge, James checked
the ID badge before handing it back to Josh and calling for the barrier to be raised, he then offered
Josh another crisp salute saying

“Have a good evening Field Marshal”

Josh drove through the main gate of Canterlot and set off along the cliff-top road back to Ponyville.

(Departures lounge, Ponyville International Airport)

Twilight, Applejack and her sister Applebloom were sat in the departure lounge of the Ponyville
International Airport – although Canterlot was Equestria’s Capital city, it was impossible to build
a runway there long enough for commercial jet aircraft – as Applejack and Applebloom waited to
board their flight to Earth.

“Applebloom..Sit still” Applejack scolded her sister, who had started jumping about excitedly
drawing disapproving glances from the other passengers.

“But I’m just so exited!” Applebloom exclaimed

“I know you are sugar cube..but you’ve got to be patient, we’ll be boarding soon I promise”.
Applejack smiled at her sister, Applebloom was staring out of the large viewing windows at the
various jets going past trying to work out which was theirs.

“So how is Braeburn?” Twilight asked grabbing applejack’s attention

“Oh he’s fine, been hard adjusting to life Earth-side. As they have no magic over there the human
farmers had to develop all kinds of machines to help them, you remember that crazy contraption
that those Flim&Flam brothers had?” Twilight nodded to indicate that she did. “Well the humans
would consider that primitive, they’ve got all kind of advanced dohickies....”

“HEY!” Applejack’s head snapped around to see her sister had run up to a man in a black tunic with
gold buttons and carrying a black suitcase.

“Applebloom!” Applejack exclaimed getting up to drag her sister back. Meanwhile the young filly
was staring with fascination at the gold pin on the man’s lapels; it was of a pair of wings with a
crown in the centre.

“Are you a pilot Mister?” The young filly asked him.

“Applebloom, what did I tell you? I’m terribly sorry sir” Applejack apologised but the man waved her
away smiling at Applebloom.

“Actually I’m the captain of the plane you’re going to be flying on” The pilot answered warmly

“Wow!” Applebloom breathed “what’s it like to fly?”

“Oh it’s one of the most wonderful things in the world” Applebloom was wide eyed in amazement,
“say...how would you like to come and see the cockpit once we’re in flight?”

“Oh you don’t have to do that sir” Applejack said

“Nonsense I insist” The Pilot said walking towards the boarding gate glad to have met the excited
little filly.

Applebloom returned to her seat grinning from ear to ear sure that she would have such stories to
tell the other crusaders when she got back.

(Ponyville)

Josh and Lyra were sat in a traffic jam just outside Ponyville – the one that Josh had wanted to avoid
– and they hadn’t moved in and hour and a half. Josh was drumming his fingers on the steering
wheel irritably waiting for the traffic to start moving again; Lyra was sat with her head in her hooves
in a kind of coma.

“You know Lyra, when I tell you to hurry...this is why” Josh sighed gesturing out of the window at the
stationary cars.

“I know” Lyra said sounding like a scolded foal, “hey” she said perking up “I know what we could do
to pass the time”

“What’s that then”

“You could tell me about Earth...You know...before we came”

“Weeeell... Alright then...where to begin”

I was born in a small-ish town in the North-East of England on the 4th March 1994. Earth was a rather
turbulent place before you lot arrived, it seemed that through the large part of my childhood not a
day would go by where there wasn’t something violent going on somewhere in the world.

“Like what?” Lyra asked

Well there was the Columbine High School Massacre in April 1999, then there was Virginia Tech
a few years later, then...there was 9/11 which I don’t want to talk about. Then there was the 2 nd
Gulf War and finally a persistent conflict in the middle-east against Al-Qaeda. But don’t get the
impression that the human race was trying to blow itself up all of the time, there was also amazing
scientific work going on like the big Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Anyway, Earth was an amazing place...before you lot showed up magic only existed in fiction so we had
to use other methods to aid us. The corner stone of human technology is electricity without it none
of our science works, the problem is that the method by which we produce electricity usually involves
burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. This causes pollution, which in turn damages the
planet. If Equestria hadn’t shown up when it did I don’t know what would have happened.

“What do you mean?”

The thing about fossil fuels is that their finite and when they ran low it would have sparked up
another war and if that happened, you may have come to a nuclear wasteland. But luckily Celestia
intervened although it has to be said that I didn’t think much of her method.

Lyra nodded to say that she understood. “wow, it sounds like a time bomb”

“Oh it was Lyra...you can think of Equestria like a pressure release valve, you came just in the nick of
time to save us from ourselves” Josh said

“You really think that your people would have destroyed themselves?”

“eventually yes...nuclear weapons were both the greatest and most terrifying weapon ever built by
man”

The traffic began moving again and soon they pulled up outside the lodgings that Lyra shared with
her marefriend Bon bon, as she stepped out of the car Josh called after her that they were going to
be working in Ponyville up until the start of the Christmas Holiday.

After dropping off Lyra, Josh –instead of going home – drove out of Ponyville and up and dirt road to
the old Ponyville Observatory. Josh reached into the inside pocket of his coat to make sure that the
case file was still there; before banging hard on the large oak door.

There was the sound of hooves on stone and a key grating in the lock before the door glowed and opened. In the doorway stood a maroon unicorn stallion with dark glasses and a black and
white mane, “I was wondering when I’d be seeing you next” the strange stallion said in a calm voice.

“I think we have a problem” Josh said pulling the brown case file out of his coat so that the stallion
could see it.

The stallion nodded before saying quietly “well they had to use their brains eventually”.

(OHR Command, Canterlot Castle)

George Van-zantan was walking through the halls of Canterlot Castle on his way to see his boss, the
operations director of OHR Augustus Cribben. The walls of the corridor leading to the office were
lined with OHR Spec-ops, they were all dressed in white body armour with helmets and gas
masks; they all had swords clenched in their hands with the blades on the floor. All stared silently and
emotionless at their colleges on the opposite wall.

George nervously adjusted his tie, the atmosphere of the corridor making him uncomfortable. As he
neared the ornate oak door of Cribben’s office the small security camera above the door frame
locked onto him and tracked his movements as he approached. He sighed nervously, knocked on the
door and entered.

Cribben was sat behind his desk, his chair facing the large floor to ceiling window opposite the door.
George walked into the large office and stood by the door waiting for the director to acknowledge
him.

“I assure you Mr Ewing everything is as you stipulated in our agreement…yes I understand
the urgency…yes…the first barrels will be there by the end of the week…yes have a good
Christmas…goodbye Mr Ewing”.

Augustus Cribben put down the phone receiver and turned to face George.

“Our friend Mr J.R Ewing…the Texas Oil Baron wondering when his promised oil is going to
arrive,” Cribben said gesturing to one of the plush leather chairs in front of his desk. George sat and
accepted the glass of famous grouse that Cribben offered him.

Cribben settled himself behind his desk and took a sip from his own glass.

“Did you deliver the briefing to the specified agent?” Cribben asked splaying his hands

“Yes…although I still don’t understand why you specified Field Marshal Exley” George answered
looking quizzically at his employer.

Cribben sat back in his chair and smirked; George instantly felt uncomfortable and took a
large sip of his drink.

“Tell me Mr Van-zantan what do you know of Veritas?”

George leaned forward in his chair trying to work out where the director was going with this. Across
the desk Cribben’s smirk widened.

“If I’m right things are about to get very interesting…prepare the spec-ops team”

“Yes Sir” George said, placing his empty glass on the table and walking out of the room, the door
closing behind him with a soft click.

Across the room Cribben swivelled his chair to face the window again and took another sip from
his glass.

“Oh yes…very interesting indeed….”

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Applebloom walked close to her sister, looking around with wide eyed amazement as they
proceeded down the jet bridge. When they reached the door to the aircraft Applebloom looked
down through the small gap between the bridge and the skin of the aircraft, through it she could see
men on the tarmac below walking around and unhooking pipes from the aircrafts fuselage; she could
also see one of the aircrafts “Hyper-fan” engines. The engines were developed for Boeing by OHR
researchers one year after taking control from UN forces, the engines can run faster because unlike
conventional jet engines the blades of the turbines are held in place, and rotated using a semi-
frictionless material. This allows them to run at a higher RPM reducing journey times by about half.
The entire aircraft was designed after the De Havilland Comet to show both humans and ponies that
they had entered a new, glorious era for all.

Applejack and Applebloom walked to their seats overlooking the left wing and made themselves
comfortable for the 4 hour flight. Soon the last of the passengers boarded and the aircraft was
pushed back from the gate and began taxiing to the runway, Applebloom was glued to the window
watching the airport role past. Finally the aircraft came to a halt at the end of the runway and the
captain’s voice crackled over the intercom.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen/Fillies and Gentle-colts my name is Jonathan Langford and I will be your
captain onboard this United Airlines flight from Ponyville to Dallas Texas. This evening we
will be cruising at 35,000ft at a cruising speed of 590 knots. Expected journey time is 5 hours so we
should be landing at Dallas JFK Airport at 10:00pm this evening. Again on behalf of myself and the
crew I would like to welcome you onboard and wish you a pleasant flight, thank you’

After about 5 minutes the aircraft was given permission to take off and its powerful Hyper-fan
engines span up to full power, the passenger cabin was filled with a deafening roar and began
shaking as the aircraft thundered down the runway. Applejack had her eyes tightly closed as she
pressed herself into the back of the seat; she’d never experienced anything like this before. Then
there was a slight feeling of vertigo as the plane lifted from the ground and began to climb into the
gathering dusk.

‘Applejack you’ve got to see this’ Applebloom said excitedly gently shaking her sister. The orange
mare cracked an eyelid checking to make sure that they were in one piece.

‘Well I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life’ Applejack sighed looking out of the window
at the ground far below, they were approaching the cloud layer and still climbing.

‘Hey! What was that?’ Applebloom suddenly exclaimed putting a hoof to her ear, Applejack watched
her sister as she flinched again.

‘What is it?’ she asked

‘My ear just....popped’

‘Popped?’ Applejack asked confused and then her ear popped as well. The Orange mare flinched
and brought a hoof to her ear ‘Mine just did too’ she said alarmed.

An old man in the centre isle who had been listening to their conversation chuckled lightly and
smiled in their direction.

‘First time on an Airplane is it...hehe...Your ears’ll pop for a while cos of the pressure’. Both sisters
simply looked at him quizzically. ‘In order to fly at these heights the cabin has to be pressurised
to the same level as the ground, helps keep the passengers comfortable. I used to be a pilot
see..hehehe..back before they had aircraft this big’.

Soon the aircraft levelled out and all Applebloom could see out of the window was a blanket of
cloud. There was an audible bing and the illuminated seatbelt sign disappeared. A cabin attendant
approached their seats and asked if they were Applejack and Applebloom and then asked if they’d
like to come and see the cockpit.

(Canterlot)

Twilight and her friend Rarity were on their way to watch the Harthswarming eve pageant at
Canterlot Castle. Canterlot had been virtually locked down for the holiday period, the only people
allowed in were OHR personnel, people dropping off supplies and people with tickets to the
Harthswarming eve pageant. As Twilight and Rarity walked along the bridge leading to the city of
Canterlot , re-named by Cribbin to Coldwings Bridge a message came over a loud speaker.

Attention citizen. A curfew is now in effect, absolutely no unauthorized foot traffic is allowed across
Coldwings Bridge between the hours of 6:30pm and 9:00am. Any persons possessing tickets to the
Harthswarming eve pageant tonight must have their tickets prepared to show to OHR Security Forces
upon entering Canterlot City, if the authenticity of your ticket cannot be established you may be
subject to search at the discretion of the City Watch.

Twilight and Rarity joined a long queue of ponies waiting to enter Canterlot City. Soldiers walked
up and down the line asking for tickets, Twilight glared at a young blond-haired corporal who
approached them and asked Rarity to show him their tickets for the pageant. He was polite and
apologised for any inconvenience that he had caused them; then wished them a pleasant evening.

‘See Twilight their not monsters’

‘I just don’t see the need for all this fuss. Initially yea I could see the need for them to be cautious
but it’s been two years for Celestia’s sake’ Twilight said in a quiet yet aggravated voice

‘Well let’s just have a good evening and try to forget about OHR’

Although the line was long it moved quickly and Twilight and Rarity found themselves at the head
of the queue. The head of the bridge was illuminated by powerful flood lights mounted on the
battlements above the main gate and soldiers patrolled behind them, more were milling about near
the gate itself or standing around portable heaters. Twilight was beckoned forward by an OHR agent
seated inside a small wooden hut erected beside the main gate.

‘Good evening Miss Sparkle’ the man greeted her. Twilight merely nodded in return, levitating her
ticket through the window to him. The man checked the ticket and then ripped the end of it.

‘Please proceed through the main gate and head along the marked path up Celestia’s Boulevard and
past Luna’s Watch. Once you reach the Castle proceed into the Grand Hall and find your seat, if you
have any questions please ask any OHR employee once you are inside the Castle. Have a pleasent
evening’

Twilight scoffed slightly and walked to meet Rarity on the other side of the Gate.

‘Can you believe this?’ Twilight growled ‘how can they get away with this?’

‘I don’t know...but let’s not make a scene’ Rarity nuzzled Twilight

Twilight and Rarity walked along Celestia’s Boulevard towards the white washed walls of Canterlot
Castle, the moonlight making the castle appear to glow softly. As they got closer to the castle they
could see more OHR troops stationed outside the doors and patrolling around the gardens. Dear
Celestia they’re everywhere Twilight thought as she counted a surprising amount of OHR soldiers –
all of them armed – but strangely no Royal Guards.

Once they were inside however the number of OHR soldiers diminished considerably, and were
replaced by the familiar golden armour of the Royal Guard. There were still OHR personnel inside
the castle but these seemed to be agents and other administrative staff. Twilight could see the
guards eyeing them distrustfully, even though some were ponies.

‘There she is’

Princess Cadence bounded over to them

Sunshine sunshine

Ladybugs awake

Clap you’re hooves

And do a little shake

Twilight could see several of the human agents staring at them and murmuring to one another

‘Ignore them, the rest of us do’ Cadence gently placed a hoof on the lavender mare’s shoulder
noticing her discomfort.

‘Are there always this many?’ Twilight asked

‘I assume you noticed all of the soldiers outside’ Twilight nodded. ‘Sometimes I think they’d rather
replace the Royal Guard entirely’

‘Why do you let them get away with it?’

‘I don’t have a choice Twilight...if they weren’t supposed to be doing what they’re doing then I
assume the United Nations would stop them’

Suddenly there was a commotion coming from the other side of the hall. Her brother Shining
Armour emerged from a door guarded by two humans in white armour; they braced and tightened

their grip on the swords they carried until he was a good distance away. He seemed to be in a rage
over something and was attracting a lot of attention; not only from guests but also from Guards and
OHR agents aswell.

‘Oh my’ was all Cadence said

‘Prince Shining Armour...Your Majesty...please’ Shouted a gray haired human who emerged from the
door only seconds after her brother had. He weaved his way across the entrance hall towards them,
avoiding servers and guests; and apologising hurriedly when he nearly knocked the drink out fancy
pants’s hooves.

‘Please wait a moment’ he wheezed as he reached them, ‘please let me explain’

Shining armour glowered at the man who was doubled over, hands on his knees puffing to get his
breath back. Once he had recovered sufficiently he addressed Shining Armour again.

‘You must understand the director meant no disrespect to either yourself or the Royal Guard...he is
under a lot of pressure right now’

Shining armour raised an eyebrow as the man moved closer to him and continued in a low voice that
Twilight had to strain to hear.

‘I understand your point of view, truly I do. I’m not a big fan of what the director is doing either...I’ll
talk to him once he’s had a moment to cool off and see if I can get him to at least lessen the troop
presence around the Castle’

Shining armour smiled evidently pleased at the resolution

‘I would also ask to speak to you and the princess in private at the earliest possible convenience’

Shining Armour nodded and the gray haired human bowed before walking to speak to a group of
officers near the door.

‘What was all that about?’ Twilight asked her brother

‘I just had a meeting with Augustus Cribbin to discuss his plans to strengthen the garrisons in our
major cities...when I suggested giving the Guard more power he became very defensive, even
hostile’

‘Is that what all the commotion was?’

‘Yea...that man is insufferable sometimes’ Shining armour growled with a backward glance at the
door.

‘Well let’s just enjoy the evening’ Cadence said rubbing her head in Shining’s mane

He smiled and the group walked up the stairs leading to the royal booth.

(Disused observatory, outside Ponyville)

Josh was sat opposite the maroon coloured pony in the central room of the observatory. The pony
– Atom Discharge – was sat reading the contents of the brown paper file that Josh had brought with
him, the file that contained Josh’s orders regarding Atom.

Target Name (Pony): Dr Atom Discharge

Target Name (Human): Joshua Conrad David Harrison Stockly

Last Known Location: London, England, United Kingdom, Earth

Current Location: Unknown

Danger posed to current objectives: High

Danger posed to future objectives: Extreme

Current Standing Orders: Apprehend or Eliminate

Known Affiliations: Veritas Consortium

Atom looked up from the file,

‘What does this mean?’ Atom asked passing the file back to Josh

‘We’re at war Josh, no one wants to admit it but Veritas is under attack’

‘How so?’

‘About a month ago’ Josh sat forward and steepled his hands, ‘people with a connection to Veritas
began disappearing, no trace, just gone. Through some digging I managed to find out that OHR is
linked to the abductions’ Josh held up the file, ‘this proves that OHR is coming after us’.

‘I’m not part of Veritas anymore…this is your problem not mine’ Atom said standing up and walking
towards the door.

‘You think that’s going to protect you’ Josh said shaking the file ‘You’ve seen what’s in this…Cribbin
Is coming after you…regardless of what you think of Veritas, of Me, we have a common enemy here’

Josh walked up to Atom standing by the front door.

‘If we do nothing then Cribbin is going to destroy Equestria. Veritas needs you back Josh, at least
think about it’ Josh thanked Atom for the tea and left

Atom crossed the room to a small work table beside the large copper telescope; he opened a small
ornate box and stared wistfully at its contents. It was a broach with a large golden V surrounded by
stars held in a silk casket. He picked the broach up and held the cool metal in his hooves. He knew
that Josh was right; but the question that plagued him was not whether or not Veritas needed him
back, it was whether he was prepared to go back.

(BA Flight 2864, Somewhere above the Pacific Ocean)

Applejack and Applebloom entered the cockpit of the aircraft. The filly was staring around at array
of buttons, switches and displays that adorned the walls and ceiling of the cockpit. The captain that
they had met in the terminal building was sat in the left hand seat adjusting some of the dials above
his chair.

‘Wow this is amazing!’ the little filly exclaimed excitedly drawing the attention of the captain

‘Ah Applebloom is it?’ the captain beamed, his smile widening as he noticed the excited look on the
fillies face, ‘I take it your impressed’

‘I don’t understand’ Applejack said looking at the digital display screens ‘what does all this do?’

‘All of the controls in this room either control or show information about the aircraft’ Applejack
looked confused ‘let me explain’ he said drawing their attention to the airspeed indicator, ‘this
shows me how fast the aircraft is traveling…I can adjust it with this control here’ he pushed the
throttle forward and they watched the digital needle jump.

‘Wow!’ Applebloom exclaimed

‘So you can control everything from right here?’

‘That’s right my little filly’

Suddenly there was a loud bleeping sound and some text came up on the centre screen.

‘Oh’ the captain said placing his hands on the control column, ‘it appears we’ve lost the auto-pilot’

‘Is that bad?’ Applejack asked worriedly. The captain shook his head saying that they were perfectly
capable of flying the aircraft without it. Suddenly there was more bleeping and more text coming up
on the screen, the first officer began to read them out. An ever increasing list of errors began to be
reported and the captain began to become worried.

Applejack and Applebloom backed into a corner as more and more alarms began to go off, things
were very quickly spiralling out of control. The first officer was talking hurriedly to someone on the
ground when it happened. There was a loud bang and the entire aircraft rolled so far to the right
that Applejack though that they were going to turn upside down.

The pilots were red faced with effort as they stamped down on the rudder pedals desperately trying
to regain control of the stricken aircraft. The cockpit was a maelstrom of noise, there was the scream
of the engines, the scream of passengers, alarms, a computer voice calmly stating that their ‘bank
angle’ was too high, and the first officer was yelling at someone on the ground.

‘Mayday, Mayday, this is BA 2864 we have a suffered a right rudder hard-over!’

All that was mixed in with her own screams and those of her sister as the aircraft hurtled, out of
control towards the inky black waters of the Pacific Ocean far below them.

The pilot was wide eyed with terror, desperately trying to lift the nose of his plane. The first officer
let go of the controls completely and covered his face with his arms, screaming in fear. Applejack
gripped her frightened sister tightly and screwed her eyes shut; and then, they hit the water.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Applejack's eyes fluttered open as she slowly regained consciousness. Her head felt like a lead weight as she examined her surroundings; her vision was blurred and she had a pounding headache. She was laying half-in half-out of the water, on top of a piece of floating wreckage. She could see other, smaller pieces of the fuselage floating around her, as well as burning pools of jet fuel and bits of luggage that would never reach their destination.

The water was freezing, and she could feel its icy chill creeping up her body. It was unpleasant, but at least it chased away the last of the grogginess and dulled the pounding in her head. It was then that she realized that Applebloom was not with her.

"APPLEBLOOM! APPLEBLOOM!"

The orange mare yelled into the darkness, but there was no reply. The only sounds that she could hear were the gentle lapping of water against her "raft" and the crackle of fires burning around her.

"APPLEBLOOM!"

She tried again, but again; only silence answered her call.

"Applebloom..." Applejack sniffed, a tear slowly tracking its way down her cheek as she realised the painful truth. Applebloom was gone. She replayed those last few moments over and over in her head - seconds that felt like an eternity - right before they hit the water.

"Don't let go! No matter what happens, don't let go!"

Applejack had screamed to her sister over the noise of the aircraft coming apart around them, and then what had she done... she'd let go. Applejack vividly remembered the look on Applebloom's face; it was burned into her memory. Applebloom had looked terrified, her eyes tightly closed with tears streaming down her cheeks. She had gripped onto Applejack so tightly. Then the impact had torn the frightened filly, her precious little sister, away from here.

Applejack then became aware of a strange sound, "puttputtputt". She cocked an ear. "puttputtputt". There it was again! She scanned the area around her searching for the source of the strange noise. Then she saw it; a small sloop making its way cautiously through the floating debris field, a searchlight mounted on the bow sweeping the wreckage.

"Hey... over here." Her voice was cracked and broken. The salt in the air had made her throat raw and painful, and she could barely manage more than a weak whisper right now.

"Hey... over here." She tried again, but it was no good; they weren't going to hear her. How to make them hear me? Applejack couldn't yell because her voice was too broken, and she was too tired to wave. Then she got an idea; it was risky, but she had to try... she was definitely dead if she did nothing.

Applejack entered the water with as much of a splash as she could manage. Her world was suddenly very dark and quiet. Her limbs felt like lead weights pulling her down into the dark, crushing depths below. She tried to swim upwards, but she was too tired to move.
They had to have heard me, they had to... oh, sweet Celestia, what the hay have I done?

Applejack began to panic. If the people on the boat hadn't heard the splash, she would drown. Her lungs began to burn and she had to fight to stay conscious in her weakened state. Then the water above her lit up like the gates of Heaven.
Stay awake... got... to... stay... a... wa... ke...

Her vision was beginning to go dark. She tried to stay awake, but she was too tired. The last thing that

she remembered before blacking out was being grabbed and pulled upwards.

(Mount Inostranka Prison Facility, Mount Inostranka, Alaska)

Blake Sterling walked down the cold, dimly lit corridors of the mountain fortress. Hugging his woolen coat closer to his body he blew a visible cloud of breath into his mittens. The base was largely unheated - well, it was supposed to be a secret - and was freezing year-round. I'd hate to be stationed here, thought Sterling. Coming here had always made him nervous, especially considering what they were keeping locked up down here. The design and atmosphere of the Mount Inostranka Prison Facility mirrored perfectly with the people that owned and ran it.

They were simply called, "The Department", and just like the facility that Sterling was in, they didn't exist. The Department operated in the shadows, behind the scenes. They solved problems that governments didn't want to recognize; whenever a world leader wanted something buried they called in the Department.

Roswell - and UFOs in general - the shooter on the grassy knoll, the Philadelphia experiment. They were all events that "never happened", in files that "don't exist". Sterling was nearing a large pair of hangar doors covered in a thin layer of frost; he flashed his security pass and typed the security code into the console beside the doors with practised ease. The doors then slowly slid apart, groaning and shedding icicles that had grown along the top.

Sterling then entered a circular room that looked like a metal bell jar, with two wire mesh doors at either side. As he entered, a security camera above the door locked into him and tracked him as he approached the semi-circular device in the middle of the room. The man sitting behind the desk looked up from his terminal and stood to greet Sterling. He was wearing a long woolen coat, a ushanka, and a pair of woolen gloves - this room didn't have heating, either. What a ghastly place to work, thought Sterling, as he shook the man's hand.

"Please go on through, Mr. Sterling. She's waiting for you."

Sterling approached the wire mesh door to the right of the desk, pushing it open when he heard the loud buzzing sound. From there he proceeded down another corridor to a door similar to that of an industrial fridge. Sterling placed his hand on the handle, which glowed amber for a few seconds before changing to green, allowing Sterling to open the door. There was a hissing sound as the door opened, and Sterling was hit by a blast of warm air.

"Ah Mr. Sterling... it's good to see you again."

A warm, sweet voice greeted him from inside the room.

(OHR Ponyville Office, Ponyville, Equestria)

It was 6:45 AM, and Josh was at work in the OHR office in Ponyville. He'd been at work for 2 hours already, and was reading through emails from his agents operating in the town. All of the emails had to be checked either by himself or by Lyra, and appropriate paperwork needed to be filled out on their contents. The emails contained the same information that they always did.
Investigated event, found nothing out of the ordinary. No action required. Event report closed.

It was stupid. They'd been here for two years and in tha time there had to be a grand total of three events that had caused concern... and none of them were in Ponyville. Still, the orders came through from HQ in Canterlot. Investigate this pony, spy on this meeting, and if you encounter any situation that may lead to "dissident activity" - which they never did - then appropriate action must be taken. Josh sighed and carried on filling out the event report for a meeting in the Ponyville town hall the other day to discuss the Summer Sun Celebration.

The celebration had been banned in the early days after the war by the United Nations, but recently they had received a communication to allow the ponies to celebrate it again... though how they were going to do that without Princess Celestia was beyond Josh.

"Moning, boss. You're in work early." The sudden noise startled Josh. He looked up and saw a mint green unicorn switching her computer on. Levitating in front of her were two cups in a cardboard container.

"Morning, Lyra." Josh smiled as Lyra levitated one of the cups over to him; he took it and pulled off the plastic lid to reveal steaming, golden-coloured liquid. He thanked her for the tea and then went back to the mountain of reports on his desk as she turned on the TV.

Lyra settled herself behind her desk and clicked into her email account. There were a few emails from various agents and a couple from HQ regarding the Summer Sun Celebration. After reading through a couple she sat back to watch the news.

"Good morning, fillies and gentlecolts, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the World News Network," announced the anchorstallion, dressed in a sharp grey suit.

"The top stories at 7:00 AM. Tensions continue to grow as Great Britain moves three more of its new aircraft carriers into the area surrounding the Falkland Islands, as a response to Argentina's threats of a second invasion. In a surprising move, the United States has pledged one of its Ohio-class nuclear submarines to the defence of the island. President Obama stated in a press conference at the White House yesterday, "The United States will not abandon its European ally. Argentina is intentionally violating the wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands to remain British, and they need to be aware that this will not be tolerated". The Argentinean President has yet to respond to this revelation, although there has been no reduction in its fleet presence in the area."

"In other news, Ewing Oil Ltd. is set to become the first oil corporation to supply oil from the Equestrian territory of Saddle Arabia. Mr. Ewing, the multi-millionare CEO of Ewing Oil, stated that he was incredibly excited about this new venture, and will be proud to personally switch on the first drilling platform next month."

"The Office of Human Relations is set to expand its operations into territory held by the Griffon Kingdoms after negotations during the past week. The deal apparently includes access to the vast stockpiles of uranium that exist within the mountainous terrain of Griffon territory, although what the Griffons have asked for in return is still a mystery."

"Last up this morning, a trans-Atlantic Boeing 747 operated by United Airlines has crashed in the South Pacific, close to Peru, killing all on-board. The aircraft was flying from the Equestrian town of Ponyville to Dallas, Texas when it ran into technical difficulties. The plane went down shortly after reporting a problem with their autopilot, and the investigation into exactly why the plane crashed is still ongoing."

"That's it for this morning. Our next bulletin is at 9:00 AM, have a great morning."

As the broadcast finished Lyra turned to Josh and said, in a shaky voice, "Wasn't Applejack on a plane to America yesterday?"

Josh nodded, slowly grasping what she was saying. "I'll phone Central, see if there's anything we should know."

Lyra nodded and returned to the pile of papers on her desk, but found it hard to concentrate. She hoped and prayed that Applejack hadn't been on that plane. Across the office she could hear Josh talking to someone at the head office in Canterlot. When he came off the phone his face was ashen, and her heart sank.

"I think we need to speak with Twilight and her friends."

(Isla Azul Agua, Carribbean Sea)

Applejack opened her eyes slowly. Soft shafts of amber light spilled across her face, causing her to squint, as her eyes adjusted to the light. She looked around, discovering she was laid on a four poster bed made of dark wood; a warm breeze was blowing through an open window on the other side of the room, causing the silk curtains to flutter gently. There was a knock at the door and a man entered, wearing a dark suit and tie. He approached the bed and smiled warmyly at her.

"Please forgive me. I did not know that you were still asleep."

"Where am I?", asked Applejack uncertainly.

"You are in the Villa La Luna on the Isla Azul Agua. My employer wishes to speak with you when you are ready... one of the staff ran you a bat, by the way." The man nodded politely and left the room, closing the door with a soft click. Applejack rolled off the bed and walked into the white tiled en-suite bathroom. In the center of the room was a ceramic bathtub full of steaming water; it was surrounded by candles that gave off a scent of vanilla.

The orange mare lowered herself into the warm water - it was the perfet temperature - and inhaled the comforting aroma of the candles that surrounded it. She rested her head against the back of the tub, fully relaxed.

Some time later, Applejack woke with a start. She did not know how long she had been asleep, but the bath water was now cold. She got out, wrapped herself in a towel, and proceeded back into the bedroom, the amber light of dawn replaced by the deep orange light of evening. She walked over to the bed and noticed her trademark Stetson has been placed there. They must have fished it out of the water, Applejack thought, as she flipped it onto her head.

As Applejack exited the room, she saw a young woman in a maid's outfit arranging flowers in a vase.

"Excuse me," she said. The woman jumped and turned to face the orange mare.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Applejack apologized.

"No, it's no trouble Miss Applejack. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I was told that someone wanted to speak with me."

"Oh, yes... Mr. Santiago is on the balcony," replied the woman, gesturing to a pair of French doors leading out onto terra cotta tiles. Applejack nudged the door aside and walked out into the still warm sunlight. Before her sat a man in a white casual suit. He had steel gray hair - though he didn't look old - combed back, as well as bright blue eyes and tanned skin. He smiled warmly at her, cradling a glass of red wine in his left hand.

"Ah, you're awake... I assume you slept well," he spoke, with a strong Italian accent. Applejack merely nodded. "Please, come... sit." Santiago gestured to a wicker chair opposite his own. "We have much to discuss."

(OHR Ponyville Office, Ponyville, Equestria)

Twilight and her friends had met outside the Ponyville town hall, where the OHR office was located. Everyone was there; Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Everyone except Applejack. Well, she's on Earth... so you can't expect her to be here, reasoned Twilight. The door to the office opened, and Lyra beckoned them in.

Twilight spoke. "Hey, Lyra. Any idea why we've been called here?"

Lyra smiled sadly. "Hey Twilight. You should speak to Josh."

Twilight followed Lyra across the office - which was by now full of people sitting at their desks or exchanging papers - to a desk at the back of the office, directly opposite the door. Behind the desk sat Josh, wearing the standard OHR uniform of a grey suit and a black shirt and tie. His expression made Twilight uneasy. She and her friends sat in the chairs that had been arranged for their arrival. When they were settled, Josh leaned forwards in his chair and steepled his hands.

"Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie. I'm so, so sorry to have to tell you this... but your friend Applejack is dead."

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Twilight felt physically sick, she couldn’t believe what she had just been told. Her mind was racing, drowning out Josh as he continued to offer his sympathies. She can’t be dead, she just can’t be. Yet that was what she was being told. “How did it happen?” Rainbow Dash asked her voice unusually shaky.

“From what I’ve been told it seems that they encountered a problem with their auto-pilot shortly after takeoff. They disconnected the auto-pilot – probably believing it to be faulty – and then, for reasons yet unknown, the plane’s rudder failed... and they simply dropped like a stone”.

“But why did it fail?” Rainbow asked sounding slightly agitated.

Josh shrugged, “I’m not sure, as soon as I know something I’ll let you know”. Rainbow wasn’t satisfied with that answer but she could see that arguing wasn’t going to get her anything more.

Shortly after that the friends departed from the OHR offices. None of them spoke as they made their way slowly to Sugar Cube Corner. Followed, as always, by their OHR shadows. Agents in OHR uniform instructed to follow them and relay their every activity back to OHR HQ in Canterlot. They sat in silence around an outside table, drinking the hot chocolates that the Cakes had brought them. The OHR agent sat on the table next to theirs drinking a coffee and reading the paper.

“I can’t believe it... how can she be dead?” Rarity asked

“You heard what Josh said” Twilight replied, “Sometimes these things happen”

“HORSEAPPLES!” Rainbow exploded, everyone in the café stopped what they were doing and stared at them. “That’s a load of horseapples” she said quieter.

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked looking around at the ponies and humans staring at them.

“He’s lying... there’s something about that plane crash that he’s not telling us”. Twilight was worried. The OHR agent had put down his newspaper, and had his eyes fixed on the fuming cyan Pegasus. His face was unreadable and his gaze unwavering.

Rainbow noticed the agent staring at her and spun around in the air, her eyes aflame with pain, loss and rage all rolled into one. “What are you looking at!” she yelled. The agent was on his feet in an instant, but not angry, not threatening. He just stood and stared at her with the same blank look on his face. “Why can’t you people just leave us alone?!” Rainbow knocked his coffee to the ground, gritting her teeth and Seething with anger. This time the agent reached inside his grey jacket for his Glock 23 handgun, everyone in the café gasped.

Rainbow’s heart was pounding in her throat. The world around her slowed down to a crawl as she watched the agent draw his weapon, the sunlight glinting off its gleaming barrel. Her eyes tracked the muzzle as it was levelled at her exposed chest. She knew that just one bullet at this range could kill her. The agent’s storm grey eyes were fixed on hers, daring her to lunge at him...to give him a reason to shoot her.

Twilight’s jaw was nearly on the table. Never... never in the two years since OHR had been set up in Ponyville had an agent ever drawn their weapon, and now one of her friends was staring death in the face. Literally.

(Isla Azul Agua, Caribbean Sea)

Applejack sat opposite Santiago on the balcony. Looking out at the rolling waves, she glanced at Santiago. He was staring at her with those piercing blue eyes. She watched as he sipped his wine, his steely hair blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. Usually, if someone was sat staring at her like that it would unnerve her, but she felt strangely at ease in Santiago’s presence; odd considering the fact that she knew next to nothing about him.

“I was surprised you know.” The sudden sound made the orange mare jump. “I received a call from my employer late last night; warning me to be on the lookout for something strange. I guessed that the passenger plane falling out of the sky and smashing into the ocean at 500 kilometres an hour was what he meant.”

“Wait,” Applejack interrupted, “They knew that the plane was going to crash”.

"I assume so." Santiago shrugged. "No sooner had it happened, than the phone had rang again. This time, my employer told me to send a boat out to search the wreckage for you. I admit I was skeptical... but my employer has never been wrong before so I played along... and found you half drowned.”

“Did you find Applebloom?” Applejack asked frantically leaning towards Santiago, who looked nonplussed, “A little filly with a maroon mane and a pink bow."

Santiago took a moment to consider this and then said, “Yes we did find a filly... I assume she’s related to you”

"My sister..."

“Ah, then you’ll be glad to know that she’s safe and unharmed”. Applejack felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her. No longer able to hold it back, she burst into tears. Hot streams were pouring down her face and splashing onto the cream fabric she was sitting on. Santiago got up silently from his chair and put an arm around the mares shaking shoulders; Applejack buried her face into Santiago’s chest and began to cry harder. All of her emotions from the crash, nearly drowning and thinking her sister was dead came pouring out like a tidal wave.

It was at least ten minutes before Applejack managed to get her wracking sobs under control. She apologized to Santiago for the huge wet patch she had made on his pristine white jacket. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. You've been through a hell of a lot in the past 24 hours," Santiago said as he sat back down and drained the last dregs of his wine.

“Can I see Applebloom please?” Applejack sniffled. Santiago nodded sympathetically and said that he would have something to eat sent to her room later. Then one of his staff – the maid that she had seen earlier – led her through the villa to a small dining room... and there sat at the table, munching though a plate full of roasted aubergine in a tomato sauce, was her precious Applebloom.

(Prison Facility, Mount Inostranka, Alaska)

Princess Luna struggled against the leather straps that held her to the chair; she was sat in a pool of light generated by the surgical lamp above her which was the only light source in the room.

“Princess Luna, how are we feeling today?” A voice asked her from the darkness.

“We would feel better if we were released from this chair," she answered continuing her struggles.

“Now, I couldn’t do that now could I, remember what a mess you made of my lab the last time we let you out?" The man whom the voice belonged to stepped forward. Doctor Edgar Quade was rather small in stature, his gaunt face was pitted with wrinkles and his small watery blue eyes were yellowing at the edges. A few locks of black hair were all that remained atop his head, combed over to give the illusion of more. All in all the 73 year-old man had definitely not aged gracefully.

He crossed the room and bent down near her face as he fiddled with the metal stand beside her chair. His breath smelled of black coffee mixed with cigarette smoke and she moved her head as best she could to escape it. Doctor Quade finished what he was doing by pushing a small hypodermic needle into her front right leg; it was connected via a clear plastic tube to a small glass receptacle on a stand beside the chair. As she watched her silvery blood filled the tube and began to drip into the receptacle. This had been going on almost since they arrived at the facility; periodically they would be taken out of their cells to the labs, and then either a blood sample would be taken or they would be interrogated.

Doctor Quade took a seat near the edge of the light pool, put on a pair of half-moon spectacles and began reading from a book that he always had with him. There would be no conversation today.

On the other side of the facility Blake Sterling was settling into a chair opposite Celestia, who was sitting on her bed. Once he was settled he held up a paperbound book.

“I brought you a present” Sterling said as the Princess of the sun took the book from him and examined the front cover. She was surprised to the see that it was a picture of her, and then she noticed the title: "Secrets, Lies, And Genocide: The Equestrian Crisis".

Celestia opened the book and read the first paragraph out loud. “History has known many great liars, Richard Nixon, Goebbels, Neville Chamberlain. But there have been none quite so vile as Princess Celestia - who not only lied to us, but also to her own people in order complete her insane plan for mass murder.” Celestia put the book down to see Sterling smiling at her.

“It’s a best seller," he said, his smile widening. “You should read the rest of it when you get some time." Sterling chuckled at his own joke knowing full well that the Princess had nothing but time.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Sterling slapped his thighs and got to his feet, “I have an appointment to see Doctor Quade so I’m afraid this will have to be the end of our little catch-up session”. Sterling crossed to the door.

“What’s going on in Equestria?” Celestia asked suddenly, Sterling paused, and looked over his shoulder.

“Things are interesting”.

(OHR Main Office, Canterlot)

George Van-zantan was again in director’s office; Cribben was sat behind his desk sipping his ‘after lunch’ glass of whiskey as George explained to the director why they should give more power to the Royal Guard. Cribben waited for George to finish, and then he got up and walked round his desk to come face to face with his second in command.

“Agent Van-zantan, are you aware of why this office exists?"

“Yes… of course, sir," George replied, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.

“And do you honestly think that the UN would order us to give power back to the Royal Guard, taking into consideration the fact that they killed hundreds of our soldiers, and therefore present a serious security risk?"

"No sir."

“Oh… then you must be suggesting that I defy an order from the United Nations, and go behind their backs!"

“N… no of course not sir.” Van-zantan stammered.

“Then we have nothing further to discuss. You are dismissed, Agent”. Cribben waved his hand at George and sat back down.

Once outside the office George mopped his brow of sweat and walked along to his office. George checked his watch, 12:07pm. He shrugged casually, pulled out a hip flask and took a large swig. He then picked up the phone. “This is Deputy Operations Director George Van-zantan, confront Field Marshal Exley and if he fails to take action eliminate the targets”.

George put down the phone receiver and buried his face in his hands. He didn't like where this was going. And it definitely wasn't what he signed on for.

Back in the director’s office Cribben finished reading the report on the failed operation to capture Applejack.

"Shit." Cribben finished the last of his whiskey and poured himself another. He then reached into his desk and took out an envelope he had received that morning. On the front was emblazoned a large, golden V. Carefully he opened the envelope and pulled out the white sheet of paper inside. As he did so something fell out of the envelope and fell onto the floor. It was a black chess piece, a knight to be precise. Then confused, he read what was on the paper. Two words.

Your move.

“What game are you playing?” he mused aloud, and then a thought occurred to him. He brought up security footage from one of the hangers at Ponyville International Airport; he then searched the archive for footage of the repairs being made in the cockpit of the plane that Applejack had boarded. Zooming in on the jumpsuit of the mechanic present he noticed something. Embroidered onto the handkerchief that he was using to blow his nose was a large, golden, V.

"Of course," he said to himself. "White always moves first."

Chapter 6

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.

Chapter 7

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."

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Twilight ducked down behind the upturned table as bullets slammed into the wall above her head, she could barely hear herself think over the noise that now filled The Shady Trough. Screaming, gunfire and pained yelling all blended together into a symphony of chaos that discord would have been proud of.

It had all happened so quickly, one minute Josh had been explaining why he needed their help, and the next; OHR soldiers had burst through the door and started shouting at everyone to get down on the ground. A young stallion had stood up, obviously drunk, and proceeded to push one of the soldiers to the ground; and as the soldier fell the rifle he was holding went off. The round ricocheted off the floor and hit a gruff, thickly built stallion in the flank just above his cutie mark. Enraged, the stallion had turned around and smashed another soldier in the jaw, breaking it with a shower of blood and sending him crashing into a nearby table.

Meanwhile the young stallion that had pushed the soldier to the floor was advancing on another grey clad figure, the soldier in question was a young corporal, barely sixteen years old. The look in the boy’s eyes was one of pure terror, he knew that the advancing pony could kill him very easily, so he had raised his rifle and ordered the stallion to stop, his voice trembling slightly.

“STOP!” He had shouted louder when the pony failed to respond, his breathing had become faster and he had started to sweat. Lyra had noticed the warning signs to late, before she had a chance to open her mouth the corporal had panicked and loosed off three rounds. The stallion, impressively, had managed four complete steps before collapsing; he slumped against the table at which he had been sitting, blood pumping from the bullet wounds in his neck and gurgling in his throat. Then all hell had broken loose.

Twilight felt a pair of hands grab her by the shoulders and pull her roughly to her hooves; Josh was yelling something unintelligible over the noise; and pointing to where her friends were standing by the back entrance. Receiving no response from the lilac unicorn Josh pushed her towards the door, then turned back to put a round from his pistol into the nearest soldiers chest.

It had started to snow heavily again, white flakes swirled about them in the chilly night air, filling in hoof prints and wheel tracks alike; and creating a fresh, white blanket, ready for the next day. A light breeze was blowing through Ponyville, lifting their manes and blowing snow into their coats.

“What now!” Twilight heard Rainbow Dash ask.

“We have to cut through part of the Everfree Forest. I have a makeshift airstrip there and a plane will be waiting for us,” Josh answered.

“Come on darling,” Rarity said nudging Twilight to get her moving. Then they were running, crashing through the Everfree Forest’s thick, snow covered undergrowth. As they had entered the trees an OHR soldier had noticed them and raised the alarm. Now they could hear soldiers behind them; and see the beams from their torches.

“They’re gaining on us!” Rainbow yelled. Just as she said that a shot rang out from behind the group, and part of a tree to Twilights left exploded, showering her with splinters.

“Just a little bit further!” Josh shouted back. Ahead of them Twilight could see a large clearing with some snow covered tents, and a long smooth dirt runway cut out of the Forest and cleared of snow. Once they reached the clearing Twilight could see a jet standing at one end of the makeshift runway, it was large but not quite as big as a passenger plane. The whole aircraft was painted black with gold trimmings and embellishments, and a large golden V adorning the nose cone.

Just then Twilight heard a scream from behind her, an OHR soldier had tackled Fluttershy to the ground, and had her pinned there. As she turned back to try and help her friend Josh grabbed her.

“Let me go!” Twilight yelled, struggling against the human’s grip.

“You can’t help her now!” Josh yelled, as he desperately tried to drag the unicorn away.

“Josh is right,” Atom said gently, pointing to where more OHR soldiers were approaching, “You’re no good to her dead”.

The world became a blur of tears as Twilight allowed herself to led away towards the waiting aircraft, through the tears she caught one last, fleeting glimpse of Fluttershy’s tear streaked face, before her view was blocked by grey coats.

(Isla azul agua, Caribbean Sea)

Applejack was lying on a wicker sun lounger out on the terracotta patio; she had her trademark Stetson pulled down over her eyes and was dozing. She could hear the sound of the waves lapping against the cliffs of the small island, and the sloop that had scooped her up after the plane crash knocking gently against the wooden jetty to which it was moored. The warmth from the sun felt wonderful against her orange coat. It was all very relaxing.

In his office Santiago was on the phone to his employer, the mysterious Mr Black. Santiago’s office was a light airy room with two open doors leading onto the patio; the furniture was of neoclassical design and there were potted plants on almost every flat surface.

Santiago himself was wearing an immaculate white suit with a casual shirt underneath; he was holding a phone receiver in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other.

“Yes sir, we should arrive by noon,” Santiago stated, taking a sip of wine, “There were a few OHR ships around the wreckage, but I don’t think they found anything”.

After a time Santiago came out onto the patio and sat in the chair next to Applejack's. The two of them just sat there in silence, enjoying the warm, sunny weather; and watching Applebloom play in the pool. Watching the young filly reminded Santiago of his own daughter Annabelle, she had been killed along with his wife in a PER attack at the Palazzo Sentagorio a year ago, during a garden party hosted by the Italian Prime minister Enrico Letta.

“Santiago,” Applejack said suddenly, breaking him out of his trance, “tell me who you were before all this.”

“You mean during the war?” he answered absentmindedly, “I was a politician in the Italian Cabinet, I had a wife and a daughter, she was about the same age as Applebloom”.

“What happened to them?”

“They were killed in an attack by PER. A lot of people died that day. You see, PER were using a home brewed serum; and it didn't work properly, it just… killed people”. He trailed off; the memories were clearly causing him pain.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you relive that,” Applejack said gently, placing a hoof on the man’s knee, “Can you tell me about who exactly we’re going to meet?” Applejack changed the topic.

Santiago suddenly became nervous and fidgeted in his seat, “I can’t tell you much about that,” Santiago said after a pause, refusing to meet her gaze. “All I can tell you is that they’re the reason that you’re alive today”.

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked, she was sick of people not giving her a straight answer.

Santiago thought for a moment, “Come with me, I have something to show you,” Santiago led Applejack to his office, where he presented her with aerial photographs of the crash site.

Applejack's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open as she flicked through the photographs, “I survived that?” Applejack breathed, for the first time she viewed the horror that she had lived through.

“No one else on that plane survived,” Santiago took the photographs, “save for you and your sister. If I had to guess, I’d say my employers are the only reason you’re alive”.

(OHR Main Office, Canterlot Castle)

Augustus Cribben sipped a cup of piping hot tea as he watched the wall-mounted clock, 9:05pm. Come on; come on. Cribben’s hand was hovering over his phone receiver. He picked it up as soon as it started ringing and, not waiting for the caller to announce himself snapped, “Is it done?”

Cribben’s knuckles went white as he listened to Ian Mercers response, “No sir, it has only begun”. Cribben slammed the phone receiver down and buried his face in his hands. They've escaped! They've escaped! Cribben’s mind screamed, stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He scolded himself.

Then there came a knock at the door; and a minute later George Van-zantan entered carrying a white document in his hand, he cleared his throat and handed the paper to Cribben, “There’s been an incident in Ponyville sir… its bad”.

Cribben felt his blood run cold as he read the report. He had sent Mercer to apprehend seven POIs (People of Interest); and now 23 ponies were dead, gunned down by OHR soldiers in front of a town full of witnesses.

“I must also inform you that the Prince and Princess have requested to speak to you in their chambers immediately”.

Of course they did, how could they not? thought Cribben. "Thank you Agent Van-zantan you’re dismissed,” Cribben said, and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

(Veritas Consortium Headquarters, Malta)

Two men were sat in a large wood panelled dining room. An open faced, wood burning fire crackled in the ornate fireplace. On the opposite side of the room to the two men was a large LCD screen mounted on the wall, on which was a caller ID, similar to what you would see on Skype when the video function is turned off.

“Do we know what this virus is yet?” One of the men asked, taking a sip from the crystalline glass he was holding.

“Not yet,” came a reply from whoever was on the screen, his voice was digitally disguised, sounding deep and gravelly.

“Well, what are we doing to remedy the situation?”

“We've discreetly taken one of the victims to our Detroit facility, there blood and tissue samples will be taken and scrutinized against surviving samples of Phorris-B, and hopefully we won’t get a match”.

The man took another sip of his drink before replying, “And if we do get a match?”

“I’m not sure, there were never any protocols for an accidental release. Phorris-B was always meant to be used as a weapon of last resort… and of course, in its original form it wasn't capable of infecting humans, so there was never any need to create a countermeasure”.

At this point the other man spoke, he was sitting in a wheel chair and his voice came out metallic, “It must be remembered however, that viruses are prone to mutations in their genetic code, creating new strains, with new abilities. Phorris-B would be no different”.

“Except Phorris-B has been sealed up in a freezer at the CDC for the past two years,” the person on the screen replied.

“So you’re saying that it never occurred to anyone that we may need a vaccine or something?” The first man asked incredulously.

“By the time we started developing a countermeasure it had become clear that the human race would win the war conventionally, therefore the chairman deemed the virus irrelevant and ordered all but a few samples destroyed,” The second man said.

“And of course, there’s no need to develop a vaccine for something that ‘no longer exists’,” the man on the screen added.

“All right, I take your points. For now, send me all of the data we have on the original strain of Phorris-B; as well as likely mutation models. Also; contact The Department, see if anything they gleaned from their latest acquisitions can help us,” the first man finished as the screen went dark. He turned to the second man and said, “The chairman should arrive by this evening, I suggest we call a meeting as soon as he touches down to bring him up to speed”.

(Prison Facility, Mount Inostranka, Alaska)

Celestia finished reading the book and flopped down on her bed, placing her head on her hooves. "They see us as monsters Luna", Celestia whispered to herself. Not long after that sleep claimed the white alicorn… but it was not a restful one. As soon as her eyelids closed, she was catapulted back to the fields outside Canterlot, during the last true battle of the war… before the siege began.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Celestia found herself standing on a hill just outside of Canterlot, the fresh, vibrant Equestrian grass felt wonderful under her hooves. Slowly she bent her head and took a mouthful of the grass; it tasted amazing, after two years of eating only dried hay the sweet, juicy stalks were like ecstasy. The white alicorn closed her eyes, and a small moan escaped her lips as she chewed and swallowed the mouthful.

She was about to bend and take another when a heavy explosion shook the ground and shattered the silence that had prevailed. As Celestia looked about, trying to locate the source of the explosion there was another, then another and another. Boom... Boom... Boom. The sound echoed through the still air, scaring the birds from their perches in the trees with a clattering of wings.

Celestia took to the air, desperate to find the source of the explosions. She didn’t have to travel very far before she came upon a bank of artillery, five pieces in all, and looking around, she could see five more perched on top of a neighboring hill. As she watched the guns opened up again, firing one after another. Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom. As the last gun fell silent, she tracked the trajectory of the shells as they arced into the sky; and landed in a sort of no-man’s land between two armies. On one side, figures dressed in green camouflage were lying prone behind earthwork defenses, firing at the advancing Royal guard, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off the magical shield surrounding the golden armoured ponies, who were returning fire with arrows, spears and multi-coloured bolts of magic.

As they got closer to the humans the unicorn guards were beginning to show signs of strain, many of them were panting and sweating with the effort required to maintain the shield under the hail of lead. Eventually the shield collapsed and the bullets tore through the earth ponies and unicorns like tissue paper. The guard had realised very early on in the conflict that, against a 5.56mm round traveling at twice the speed of sound, their armour was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

Celestia watched as the order was given for a retreat and the guard began to flee the battlefield, the unicorns still firing multi-coloured spells at the humans as they ran. The whole engagement was over in less than five minutes. Even though the defeated guards were fleeing, the humans did not pursue them. They would not approach the city, this fact made the white alicorn smile; it was a testament to her power.

As the last few ponies disappeared behind the pink coloured shield surrounding the city, the human’s artillery resumed its bombardment.

As Celestia listened to the rhythmic pounding of the human’s guns she became aware of darkness in the corners of her vision. She stared as darkness began to grow, spiralling quickly inwards, and filling her field of vision like a large, black stain. The white alicorn began to hyperventilate as the “stain” covered her body and moved up her neck, she felt as though she was being smothered. As it passed her mouth, she squeezed her eyes shut, wishing it would stop, and then, quite suddenly… it did.

Celestia opened her eyes to bright sunlight, the darkness was gone and in its place was bright green Equestrian grass. She was seated at a small, round table on one of Canterlot Castle’s many patios.

“Are you not going to drink your tea?” The voice snapped Celestia out of her trance.

“Huh”, the white alicon answered, looking in the direction of the voice. Sitting opposite her, with a confused look on her face, was her sister Princess Luna.

“I said, are you not going to drink your tea?” Luna repeated. Celestia looked down to see a delicate china cup filled with golden liquid, almost without thinking she grabbed the cup in her hooves, not bothering to use magic, and drank the contents almost in one gulp.

“Is there more?” Celestia asked almost frantically. As her sister poured her another cup Celestia looked around, the first thing that she noticed was that there was no barrier, just a clear blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. Then her ears picked up tinkling laughter, Twilight Sparkle, her friends, Shining Armour and Cadence were sat on the sprawling lawn beside a neat flower bed. Judging by the scowl on Shining armour’s face, she guessed that a joke had been made at his expense.

“Are you quite well this day sister?” Luna asked, drawing her attention.

“I’m fine Luna, I just… never mind.” Celestia smiled and closed her eyes. It had been ages since she had been this relaxed, and combined with the warmth of the summer sunshine made her want to fall asleep right then and there. Just as she was starting to dose, however she heard her sister gasp. Opening her eyes Celestia saw her sister wide-eyed and open mouthed, pointing at the sky. As Celestia followed Luna’s hoof, she saw something bright orange streak across the sky, trailing white smoke.

The white alicorn screamed internally, knowing exactly what this “mysterious object”, which by now had been noticed by all, was; but as she opened her mouth to scream externally, the object vanished in a flash so bright it seemed as though the sun itself had materialized above the castle. The ponies on the lawn turned away, shielding their eyes from the flash. The world appeared to slow down as Celestia watched each pony in turn writhe as their flesh was consumed by flames, as the temperature of the air around them skyrocketed.

Celestia finally did scream when she looked down to see that her own white coat was covered with dancing flames, though she screamed not because of any physical pain, but the mere sight of the flames forced a scream from her throat, as a pony who had swallowed a fly may be forced to gag. Celestia was so focused with her own burning flesh that she barely noticed the ear splitting boom; or that her student, Twilight Sparkle, her friends and even her own sister were now nothing more than greyish, carbonised statues.

Then the shockwave shattered her brittle and burned body into a thousand pieces, sending them flying through the air. Through all of this she was awake, staring, screaming…

Celestia woke, gasping for air and drenched in cold sweat. “It was a dream, it was just a dream”, she said to herself trying to calm down. Once she had stopped hyperventilating, she lay down again, but try as she might sleep proved elusive, the images of the nightmare were haunting. Images of what could have been. Of what almost was.

(Bell Reve Internment Camp, Equestria)

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, the room she was in was dark, but she could just make out a sliver of silvery moonlight shining through a boarded up window. It took her a moment to realize that there were ponies huddled all around her.

What in the world? She thought, dazed. Where am I?

A jolt rocked the entire room and shook off Fluttershy’s tiredness. She looked around and noticed that there weren’t just ponies in the room, but also buffalo, a lot of buffalo and also a few zebra, most of them were shaking in fear. Some of them were even crying. A putrid stench of stale urine and vomit pierced Fluttershy’s nose causing her to wince.

“Um… excuse me” Fluttershy asked a blue maned stallion standing next to her, “Where are we?”

The stallion looked down at her almost sadly, “We’re on a train”.

Fluttershy could see it now, although all of the furnishings, seats, carpets and curtains had been ripped out, it was still recognisable as a train carriage. OHR had even boarded up the windows to ensure that almost no light made it into the cramped interior.

“Where are we going?”

The stallion knelt down beside her, “I don’t know; I was going to lunch with some of the other guys in my unit when they came for us…”

“Who?” Fluttershy asked.

“OHR, their soldiers burst into the mess and said that we all had to come with them immediately. They told us not to ask questions, and that everything would be explained once we got to the train station… but when we got to the station they just bundled us onto this train and left”.

Another blue maned stallion then piped up, “I’ll tell you where we’re going… to our deaths, that’s where. You think that those buckers are just going to let us go when we reach wherever the hay we’re going!” He shook his head violently, “No man, this is a one way train ride… return ticket not included”. Then the stallion flopped down and started whimpering.

“Ignore him” The stallion smiled, “I’m sure that they’re just taking us to a holding camp, like the United Nations did during the war, besides, why would they go to the trouble of putting us on a train and transporting us hundreds of miles just to kill us”.

Another jolt shook the room, causing several ponies to fall over. Fluttershy hoped that the stallion was right, but she had a horrible feeling that something very, very bad was about to happen.

(Veritas Private Jet, over the Mediterranean Sea)

“I still can’t believe they just started shooting like that” Rarity said shaking her head.

“I told you they were evil!” Rainbow said loudly, banging her front hooves on the table, “I knew they’d do something like this”.

“Don’t you think we should be more worried about the fact that… THEY TOOK FLUTTERSHY!” Twilight interjected.

“What do you think they’ll do to her?” Rarity asked Josh, who was sitting in a cream leather chair watching them intently.

“Nothing good, I imagine” Josh sipped his glass of brandy, the ice tinkling at the bottom of the glass, “I don’t think they’ll kill her though if that’s any comfort”.

“I can’t believe we just left her there” Rainbow Dash fumed.

“There was nothing we could do” Atom answered, up until this point the brown unicorn had been staring silently out of the window, “There were too many soldiers”.

After this the four friends went back to talking amongst themselves. Atom however, was staring intently at Josh. He couldn’t work out whether Josh intended for Fluttershy to be captured by OHR. He certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

Atom watched as Josh handed a white envelope to the stewardess, asking for it to be posted as soon as they landed.

This has something to do with you, Atom thought as he went back to staring out of the window. It always does.

Prologue

Prologue

In the Year 2012 a mysterious bubble appeared in the Pacific Ocean. It’s inhabitants, sentient pastel coloured ponies offered humanity a chance to drink a special serum (part magic, part technology), and become a pony in order to emigrate to Equestria. Their Princess Celestia said that the barrier that surrounded Equestria was expanding and that she could not stop it, the barrier would eventually cover the entire earth and that if humanity did not all convert into ponies then they would perish. At first humanity worked with Equestria and established Conversion Bureaus to accommodate the conversion of humans to ponies, but then people began asking questions for which Equestria’s representative Twilight Sparkle had no answers.

The final straw came when Twilight Sparkle insulted humanity on a global news program, after this event relations between Equestria and Earth began to deteriorate. Equestria had already swallowed much of South America by the time that humanity finally declared open war, the combined Air and Naval power of the nations of the world pounded Celestia’s barrier like a drum. Until on 22nd July 2013 the barrier finally fell and the invasion of what the ponies called “the Exponential Lands” began. The war lasted 5 long, bloody months and claimed millions of human lives, but a bigger toll was taken on the Equestrian Royal Guard; of whom 75% were decimated. Eventually Humanity penetrated deep enough into Equestria to threaten Canterlot with Nuclear attack, seeing the impossibility of making a deal with human military leadership Princess Celestia and Princess Luna surrendered unconditionally. The two sisters were taken back to Earth to stand trial for crimes against humanity, they were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment at a facility specifically designed for the purpose.

After the trial of Celestia and Luna Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour ascended to the throne, humanity also created a government controlled organisation called the OHR (Office of Human Relations) to ensure that Equestria could never again threaten Earth. The OHR quickly expanded its power, eventually becoming the most powerful human entity in Equestria. It has been 2 years since the human victory and the establishment of the OHR, now Twilight Sparkle has begun a research project into chronicling the war and the events preceding it, unfortunately the OHR are being less than helpful, almost as if they don’t want the truth to come out.

Join Twilight Sparkle as she searches for the truth, and uncovers an unprecedented cover up by both sides.