It had been nearly two weeks since I had heard from Cherry, but it was not for lack of trying on her part. I would come home from a long day of staring at papers and listening to voices played through a tinny mechanical headset to find various confectioneries waiting for me. We had adopted a series of notes over time. Little light-hearted messages to remind the other one that they were still alive or to try and make the other one laugh. It was so strange... The feelings I was having for her were not of a attractive nature at all.

She was a pretty mare, but her personality and mine connected on a completely different level. It was like a strong friendship or even something like siblings. What we had was a near spiritual connection to each other. It wasn't something that I feel either of us really wanted to sully with thoughts of love or sex. Truth be told, I can't say that I would mind if such a thing were to happen on its own, but neither of us were trying to move in that direction.

We were friends, best friends even, but nothing more than that. We were the ears that the other needed when times got hard or the shoulder to cry on when things were just too much. Even through our notes I could feel that we both had been making progress towards a better life. Me with my depression and darker thoughts and her with her lack of self worth and self image. I had been so selfish the first few weeks that we had talked... When I finally saw my own folly by not asking enough questions, I began to pry into Cherry's life.

I had learned that she was hurting still, even after all this time past her resolution. I had just assumed that she had been teased and picked on growing up, just as anypony would have assumed. But I had never thought that scars could run that deep or that the lack of words could be so deafening. She had in fact been picked on for her height over the years as she was growing up making her childhood a... difficult one.

Nopony wanted to play with her when they began to out grow her and had resorted to name calling and pranking her at every opportunity. But the real pain came later on in life when she was nearing graduation. Ponies just stopped talking to her. Nopony wanted to date her, everypony just assumed she was a filly and ignored her when she would speak and due to the stigma she had been placed with growing up, most ponies shunned her all together.

She had said that it was not what ponies said about me, it was what they wouldn't say. I was that lack of validation of being in a conversation, that nonexistent social life thanks to a few cruel words and remarks that stuck with her. The time alone and the time sat watching others, wanting desperately to be part of the group or to be heard... all had been taken from her and left as a victim of circumstance. To everypony else it wasn't their fault that she was short, she did not adhere to the social decorum.

It was like some kind of twisted joke that the very same ponies that had teased and tormented her had grown up, paired up and started families in her small town. It was a life that Cherry wanted. Nothing special, she didn't want diamonds or gold, she didn't want money beyond measure... She just wanted somepony to talk to, maybe somepony to call her own. She just wanted an average run of the mill life that we feel is due to us at some point. Something that seemed to be given so freely that it was almost a mild inconvenience to our lives to obtain it.

She was just another pony, I could see that, but why couldn't anypony else see it!? Things had become too much for her after the death of her father. With the family looking to her as the oldest to get things done, she shouldered the load and picked up the slack. Long hours in the field, long nights making deliveries, barely getting any sleep all caught up with her in time. She missed her dad dearly, she wanted to do more for her family but with her little sister just now growing old enough to work the fields, it was all on her to set it aside and pull the plow as she said.

There was no team cheering her on, no awards, just work. When her day had finished and she trotted to her little bedroom for what little sleep there was to be had, she was alone. Nopony to share the bed with, nopony to talk to about what was hurting her... Just silence.

I had not known what she meant when she told me that the silence hurt the most, but now I could identify with it on a whole new level of pain. One night it had come to a head. She was over worked and had been stiffed on two of her deliveries. It had been money they all needed to get by for the month. She was broken and barely breathing air when she stumbled to the train tracks on the cool evening. The sun was setting on another day when she stepped onto the tracks swearing that she couldn't take the pain anymore.

That was her point. The world had found just the right amount of weight to break her down to the lowest point of her life. She wouldn't tell me what brought her back around, what had saved her, but I had to assume that it was a lucid moment in what seemed like a nightmare for her. She told me she bucked up and dug deep. She said that she didn't want the world to get the best of her.

From that point on she was the mare she wanted to be. Gone was the timid mare who barely spoke, if she was there, everypony knew it. Even if they ignored her, she would move on passed them and live her life to make her happy, not them. It was surprising to hear a mare of her age have that insight to overcome those odds. My father used to say that his hard won knowledge was that he had learned that we, as ponies, buy things we don't want with money we don't have to impress ponies that we don't even like. It was a simple statement that said volumes for society. There was countless causes and effects of the matter but one thing was an absolute fact... Ponies are assholes.

"Director! We have traced a communication from the M.O.P to an unknown server in Zebrica!" The grey mare named Clack shouted as she barged through the door. I had been lost in thought, the long hours and sleepless nights had left me longing for a talk with Cherry about how this job was stressing me out so much that I had been re-reading her last note over and over again. To be honest, I think some pee shot out when Clack threw the door open.

"This is what we have been waiting for! Tell Click to request authorization for camera feeds at the M.OP from the O.I.A on a alpha level! I want everything!"

"Sir! That's a delta level clearance request! Such a thing would need your signature on it!" She said out of breath.

"If there is a camera in the bathroom I want it! I'll meet you in central control to sign the papers." I said as I stood.

"Sir... forgive me, but do we really want to send out an order of that level? A ping like that could come back on us."

"Clack, if this is a 100% hit on one of the ministries contacting and unauthorized server of one of our enemies... the probabilities are endless. The ministries are our main line of R&D, if somepony is compromised or worse, a double agent, it could turn the tide of this war and I assure you it will not be in our favor!"

"Copy that sir!" She shouted as her white tail shot out the door and down the hall, no doubt to find Click. The two of them were rarely see apart... good ol Click and Clack, sisters but Luna have mercy they are enthusiastic. Day one Clack ran into my office to tell me that she thought Zebras had taken Click because she had not seen her in over five. Whole. Minutes...

Sweet girls... Crazy as all hell, but very smart. I trotted down the hall to central to inspect the data myself. If this was true then what Limestone had said was true, there was a leak in the dam that needed to be plugged... A leak that I would find and that I would plug myself! But first, I had to be sure. There was no going off half cocked, this had to me solid evidence before I could send out the order for the hunt.

"DIRECTOR ON DECK!"

"Damn it Palomar! This isn't the navy! Sit down!" Specks shouted. The room, apart from Palomar, stood silent. My little team was all gathered here to pour over the findings and see my reaction. This was a major moment for us. From an order to a small underground team and we were about to see the fruits of our efforts. Results had been demand of us and results are what we had been working on since day one. We were nopony to anypony, operating on first names and code names only.

Despite the swiftness at which things came together, we were already operating as a unit. We played off one another to the point of telepathy and watched out for one another. They came from all trots of life, some the navy, some the air-force and others from OIA logistics. Nopony here had officially worked for a ministry, but rather the O.I.A or civil-service. Officially, we did not operate at all. Nothing was left to chance, even Limestone had no clue as to what was going on apart from ordering the assignment.

I leaned into the monitor to see the data, but there was none. Just a sole audio file had been pulled from the transmission, but in many ways this was much worse. Audio meant that somepony was connecting directly to somepony... or some Zebra else.

"Have you listened to it yet?"

"No sir. Not yet." Tinker said as he passed me his headphones.

"Who found it?"

"We all did sir. We were running a routine check of the outgoing mail when it lit up the servers." Clack said from behind me.

"Something like that is ballsy." Palomar said over my shoulder.

"Or very clever... if they were wanting something to go unnoticed, hiding in plain sight would afford them that." Koppy replied.

I placed the fur lined muffs over my ears and took Tinker's chair. With a hoof tap, I played the audio file. there was so much static that the voices were muffled beyond recognition.

"Put this on intercom, Tinker."

"Roger-doger." With a few swift clicks, the room filled with muddy white noise. The sound was near bludgeoning and piercing at the same time.

"Great Flanks! What is that!?" Palomar shouted.

"It's been shadowed! Tinker! Run it through the filtering software and back the gain down!" Clack shouted over the cacophony. Gradually, the static reverted to a males voice and the muddied tones swapped tones to a high pitched voice.

"Is that..."

"This suffering has to end. I have a solution for both sides. We have found a way to heal everypony in the clap of a hoof and every Zebra. What is the point of fighting and suffering if we all live in the end!" The mares voice sounded desperate, pleading and tired. But even still you could feel the passion in her words as she begged for an end to the war.

"Yes. We are listening. But I fear that any further communications via our coms will hinder the process. This will require a face to face transaction."

"THIS IS NOT A TRANSACTION!" She shouted, I had never heard her shout before, it was... un-nerving. "This is not a transaction. This is the end of all this madness! I just don't want to see anypony get hurt anymore!"

"Very well. We will set up a meeting point and be in contact directly. For now however, it would be best to end these communications."

"Promise me this will end! Promise me!"

"We give you our word."

The transmission ended with a pop and a hiss. Nopony wanted to speak, nopony dared to breathe. I looked around the room at the stunned and shocked faces, but I could only see one thing. Heart break. The very thought of one of the ministry mares colluding with Zebras was grounds for treason. But the fact that the voice we heard was none other than Fluttershy's... Brought tears to the eyes.

She was being played. We could all hear it. Anypony with a logical mind would know it just by the tone in the Zebra's voice. What had gotten into her head!? What had happened that could have pushed her to the point of swapping secrets, if that was what she was doing, with Zebras!? How did one of the most loved of the ministry mares fall so far!?

"Sir..." Clack said, trying to jar me. My world had been turned upside down. I had always looked up to her as the compassionate mare she had always seemed to be. But this was different, she sounded so desperate in her please, but how could she be so... so... stupid!

"Um... Sir? What do we do with this information?"

"Forget the orders."

"Sir!?" A collective gasp said.

"Forget the orders, Tinker. Pull the file for me and delete the records of this."

"Sir that's..."

"Treason. But this is weapons grade explosives we have on our files. Best not to leave anything to chance. We will deliver this information ourselves..."

"Rodger-dodger sir!" Tinker said as he worked his magic. "Click. Clack. Front and center." The two mares shot to my vision at attention. "Listen closely... Go to the OIA hub down the block and get in contact with Sassafras in the cafeteria, order one yellow cupcake. Say nothing more."

"Sir?" Click asked.

"Are we celebrating or..." Clack responded.

"No... Just do as I asked. You will be given a yellow cupcake, then come back here. Don't talk to anypony else, if they say hi, you ignore them. I don't care if Celestia herself trots in front of you, you do as you are told. Understood?"

"Can we eat the cupcake?" They both asked in unison. I sat on my haunches and began to squeeze my head in my hooves.

"Yes... you can eat the damn cupcake... No leave before I have a stroke!"

"Yes SIR!" They both shouted as they ran out the door.

I had given THE order. It was an emergency signal to a contact with the OIA that marked we had a house of cards scenario under way. Things had not fallen yet, but they are on their way down. I had reflexively signed over the documents to Tinker to order a full observance snatch of any and all access to the four major MOP operation headquarters. On the outside my team saw the stone cold pony they had come to know. Numbers and data was my forte', they knew nothing more.

But on the inside, I was ruined the same as they were. They didn't show it much, but their faces were broken with the marks of betrayal and heartache. The whole nation loved Fluttershy, she was the element of kindness, a shining light to all those hurting and she had just pushed us all in front of the bus. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, indeed. Part of me wanted to believe that this was all a dream and that it wasn't actually happening.

I have no clue as to what spell she was talking about, but such a thing that could heal everypony in the 'clap of a hoof' means something huge! If something like that were to become weaponized it could have monumental consequences! Stone cold as I was, I was freaking out in my mind. I was mid panic attack as I found my way back to my desk and my hidden bottle of whiskey in the bottom drawer.

I poured a glass and prayed for the numbness to hit me quickly. I wanted to forget this day. It was like somepony handed me the future and it was nothing more than fire and brimstone. What do you do when you are staring down a barrel like that!? I know what I'm doing, I'm getting shit faced.

Hours passed, Click and Clack finally found their way back to my door after me wondering if Zebras had gotten them.

"Sir..." The both said.

"What..." I said from the floor.

"Um sir? Somepony is here to speak with you."

"Great, show them in and fetch another glass... also more whiskey, I lost all mine." I couldn't help but grin at the yellow cupcake stain on Clacks lips. I guess she got to the icing first.

"Oh I think I can find my own way, thank you." A gravely voiced buck said as he sat in the chair across from me. "Please, would you mind closing the door?" Click and Clack closed the door softly and retreated slowly down the hall.

"Mr.Chance... I don't believe was have had the pleasure of meeting."

"Pier review..." I stammered from the wall that was holding me up.

"Ah yes. I remember now. I suspect that you are aware of who I am?"

"Yes. Golden Blood. Everypony in the OIA know's you."

"Ah, well. I suspect you have information for me, otherwise I would not be here."

"Yes sir... I said stammering to my hooves. "Drink?' I asked, passing him the half empty bottle of whisky from my other drawer.

"No thank you. I have never been a fan of spirits."

"Very well." I said as I opened the bottle and took a shot. "Here. It's all in there."

"Oh I do enjoy a good file as much as any other pony, but I can not help but wonder... What is it that you have found to have reverted you to such a state."

"Oh just some light treason. End of the world stufffffffffffff. You know, the usual."

"Treason."

"Yes sir."

"Where?"

"Ministry of Peace."

"Who?"

"Sir... it's Fluttershy. She has been contacting a source in Zebrica. She claims to have some spell that can cure ponies, lots of them all at once."

"I am aware of such a spell... But such things do not lie within the MOP. Are you certain?"

"Yes sir."

"Then your work for the day is done. I'm sorry, but I must be going."

"SIR! Did you here me correctly!? I said that Fluttershy is passing off ministry tech to the Zebras, sure as houses!"

"Yes, I did. I will review the file and address the matter. We expected results, you have delivered them and for that I thank you, indeed so does the nation. But such a matter must be handled delicately. You and your team will continue to operated as ordered. I have granted your request for access to all MOP communications and surveillance. A new prime directive will hit your desk Monday morning."

"Sir? What do we do until then?" I asked as he began for the door.

"Go home. Take the rest of the day and the weekend off. I suspect that your team will manage without you."

"Why me? Why do I get to go home? Everypony in that room over there got hit just as hard as I did. Why do I get special treatment?"

"Chance... I have seen your file. I have no clue what it was that brought you back from such a tragedy, but whatever it was, I suspect that you need a little more of it at this moment. If what I'm holding here is conclusive, I suspect we will all need some of it. Now come, I have arranged a chariot to bring take you home."

And just like that, the matter was out of my hooves. I wanted nothing more than to have not been the one who found out about the matter, but it was my team who uncovered the rabbit hole and it was going to be my team that went down it. The very feeling of having to not trust Fluttershy of all ponies was so... wrong! She was so perfect! How did this happen!?

I was screaming and crying in my head, my heart felt like it might explode and the alcohol in my blood was boiling. I have never felt so alone in this world. If this came to light in its worst outcome, I would die alone. So many ponies would be hurt by this, so many more lost! What would happen if the Zebras got their hooves on this and made it into something that could wipe us all out in a flash!? What would happen to our world if such evil was unleashed.

Through my questions and thoughts in my head, one thing stood out above all. Even though I was dealing with treason of a high ranking official, possible leaked information about spells that could end the world if fixed to do so and the fact that Golden Blood himself came to my office... One thing was being screamed at me over and over again in my mind.

"I-I need Cherry."

"Pardon?"

"I need my friend right now..."

"Come, Chance... Let's get you home." Click and Clack said as they helped me into the cart destine for ponyville.