//------------------------------//
// Radio Zero 
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: The Last Chapters 
// by Parcly Taxel 
//------------------------------//

Pinkie was the first to wake up in the morning. “Rise and shine, the party's about to go!” she said.
The rest of the ponies were still drowsy, but heard her call. Pinkie continued. “Don't you want to miss out on the fun? I'm so excited!”
“Uh... Please, we know you're there, and this isn't a party!” Twilight snapped, her violet eyes starting to open.
Ethan added to the conversation. “Yes, I'm waking up. Please be patient.” To him, that pink pony was both a joy to see and an annoyance. She could be helpful, but only in times of despair. The rest? Comparable to trolling.

Once everypony was awake and fresh, they ate their breakfast, and then gathered around the table for a final briefing by Twilight. The purple-maned unicorn began dishing out the instructions. “The attack is likely to be underway right now. However, don't panic – the magic barrier is still rather strong, even after all this time, so Equestria will be mostly harmless. Do you get what I'm saying?”
The other ponies replied in unison. “Yes.”
“Barry, you'll be the one who makes the demoralising broadcast over NPR. Pretend to be de Lancie regretting over his actions. I've already taught you how to teleport across walls, so use it to infiltrate the building. You're critical to our success – make it fast and then come to the building we're at. Get it?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan, you'll be keeping watch over the operation, flying over the buildings, safe from the human rebels. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you'll be stopping the rebels and keeping the station safe, in case they try to shoot it down.”
“Got it.”
“Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie will come with me to a building right next to the magic barrier. I'll work on casting the spells, while they will guard my back. Clear?”
“Yes.” But Pinkie started to jump up and down, cheering. “We're going to have a party at the end of the universe!”
“For the zillionth time, stop thinking this is a party!” Then she put her right hoof into Pinkie's mouth.
Barry, dismissing all the action between Pinkie and Twilight as delaying the point, sighed. “OK, I want to do this now.”
“I'm glad you asked. Let's get this thing on.”

When the eight ponies went out, they saw total chaos. Nothing they experienced or expected nine hours earlier, when it was night and everyone was sleeping, with no signs of preparing for what was now. Newark, once a peaceful city in the day just like Ponyville, was ravaged by the signs of war. The buildings, formerly shiny, tall and a symbol of human achievement, now either disintegrated, in flames, or just plain wrecked. Humans, in all shapes and sizes, were wielding various weapons across the streets that were strewn with shattered glass – a modern-day Kristallnacht, to put it another way. Some female, but for the most part male. Some running, some walking. But all were directed towards that transparent bubble. Towards the kingdom that was in fact their best chance at redemption and salvation.

Towards Equestria.

Ethan was gobsmacked. He never felt such devestation strike his heart like that. What he perceived as a normal human city, now suddenly taken over by all of them, as if it was a coup d'état. “This... what is this?” he uttered.
“We're splitting up now!” Twilight commanded.

Barry, Ethan, Rainbow and Applejack soon arrived at the NPR station. The windows had not yet been shattered and the doors were locked. “Twilight was right? OK, I'll have to do this,” Barry exclaimed. Then it happened – his horn went green, and glowed harder than he had ever done before. Concentrating, he suddenly disappeared in a flash of white, and reappeared instantly – inside the building. He said to himself, “OK, there's no time to lose. I'm going up.” Ethan, Rainbow and Applejack could not hear this, but knew what was to be done. This is about to become the moment of my life, the purple pegasus thought to himself as he flew up to circle the skies.

In the 10th floor of a building where the barrier between Newark and Equestria crossed, the other four ponies and Spike were waiting for Barry's speech.
Pinkie was impatient. “Come on! Where's the speech? When's the action coming?”
Twilight snapped back. “Don't think it's coming immediately. Barry has to get up, sort through the tangled mess of cables and rooms and then put on the headphones before any words can come out!”
Fluttershy was all the more timid than ever – she had acrophobia and fainted at the sight of weapons. Rarity was setting up the spells, in anticipation of the words about to ring across the city. “Checking them to see if they're ready... Loyalty Spell, Kindness Spell, Hon-”
The loudspeakers and radios suddenly burst into life. “This is NPR. My name is John de Lancie... leader of the Human Liberation Front. Sorry if I interrupted you, but... but... I REGRET IT! I REGRET... REGRET WHAT I'VE DONE TO... TO ALL OF YOU! Please stop this... stop all this fighting... it would be nice if... if you... if you became a pony...”
“I couldn't tell if that was de Lancie or Barry. Anyway, Honesty Spell, Generosity Spell...”
“Problem solved!” Pinkie random'd.
Twilight, seeing the sudden turn of all the rebels to the Conversion Bureaus, congratulated herself. “Thanks, you just saved Equestria. Now to cast those spells.”

Barry, having done the broadcast and teleported back out of the building, now was heading towards where Twilight and her friends were. Ethan, having seen no signs of impending danger, continued to circle above the NPR office. “Nothing that could ruin the plan so far... Hold on, what's that?” A black, moving spot came into view, and he swooped down to investigate.
“Even though I'm 20% cooler, he's giving us a hard time! Help us!” Rainbow Dash cried.
“Bad dog! Bad dog!” Applejack mocked helplessly.
Upon closer investigation, the black dot turned out to be a tuxedo. In that classy piece of clothing was de Lancie himself.
“You there! Go get yourself ponified!” Ethan ordered.
The sassy leader of the offending group responded with a smirk. “No. I couldn't have made that. You impersonated me over the radio, right? I don't think three little ponies can stop me!”
“Well of course we can! Your selfish ideas cannot win over our friendship!”
“Can you claim that the most advanced technology in the world – or fighting skills perfected over years – can fall to something as childish and absurd as magic? Instantly?”
“The answer is yes!”
“I reject your reality and substitute my own! Stay away and let me run this!”

Twilight, rather exhausted after casting a medley of complicated and powerful spells, heard the door open. “Hello? Is that... Barry?”
“Well of course! I did it, but Ethan, Rainbow and Applejack are having problems with de Lancie!”
“We'll go look at that. In the meantime, let Fluttershy check you for any injuries.”
Once again, Pinkie made a comment for no reason. “We're safe – foreeeever! Let's throw the bestest party for life, the universe, and everything!”
“That was a more appropriate time to say that than the 10-to-the-10-to-the-10-to-the-963 times before it. But no.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack had backed out under de Lancie's intimidating voice, but Ethan had not. “If you think three ponies, half the size of yourself, can't win, how about one?”
“Then the victory is even more dramatic! Humans will win!”
“You leave me no choice.”
Ethan McCullough, who had come a very long way from being ponified, making friends with fellow ponies in Equestria and travelling more than 4600 kilometers across 11 states just to return, now made his move. Putting his hooves on the tuxedo, he spread his wings and pushed de Lancie, the man which all ponies in Equestria severely disliked (not hated), into the glass window of a Subway store. A sound of shattering glass rattled throughout the now-empty city, which then dissipated.

And then there were none.

John de Lancie, once proud and brash over his plans and actions, now reverted to his old self, the self before he became corrupted by the love of power. Dying, he stammered, “You... purple pegasus...”
Ethan replied, weak and on the edge of unconsciousness. “Yes?”
“That white princess... would banish me... to the moon... if I was a pony...”
“And?” 
“I now understand... friendship... is... magic.” With these words, de Lancie died.
“Thanks... yes...” Ethan's field of view slowly faded into blackness, and he went into syncope.

“Ethan? Where are you?” Twilight was desperate to find her closest friend since she met up with the quintet of Ponyville citizens.
“Right here!” Rainbow shouted, pointing to the Subway store.
“Ethan!” Celestia's most faithful student was deeply concerned. “Can you hear me?”