The Equestria Offensive

Caelian Military Base, Time and date unknown

The group sat outside of the gates to the military base they had been looking for. The only objective here was to find a helicopter and get out. After that, they would go to Castrum to find and kill the griffin behind the war. Fortis.

The sun was just setting over the western tree line. Soon enough, they would have the shroud of darkness to

“All right. Anypony have a plan?” Midnight asked.

Ace almost seemed to be snapped back to reality while at the same time completely out of it. A dark grin crossed his face. “Thunder, you see those two guards at the front gate?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Take this.” He threw a dagger to him and twirled another one in hoof. “You get the one on the left, I’ve got right.”

“Uh, got it.” The two moved quickly and came up next to the griffins at the same time and both plunged their blades into the guards’ necks.

The group could all see something with Ace was off. “Hey, Ace.” Midnight asked, “How’re you holding up?”

“Endlich fühle ich mich lebendig, Midnight. I feel like I could kill six million griffins!” The grin grew from ear to ear.

“How well do you think you’ll be able to handle getting us our chopper?”

“Haha. You want a chopper? I’ll get a chopper. Gib mir nur eine Sekunde.” With that, he was off, in the camp faster than they had seen him ever go. He surprisingly avoided the sights of all of the guards. A knife through the throat was all it took and he was onto the next guard in a flash. He cleared a small path for the rest to catch up to him. “Vell? Vhat do you think?”

“I’m amazed but I have a lot of questions.”

“You vant to know vhat’s wrong, don’t you? Vi are vhat you vould clinically call...schizophrenic.” He snapped into another tone of voice, “No! Don’t tell them that! Täuschen!” And back again. “I’ll tell them vhat I vant. Sag mir nicht, was zu tun ist. Remember that vi told you vi was a medic before?”

“Uh...yeah?”

“Vell, not really. Vi are vell versed in ze medical field, but not in a way you would guess. Many of the procedures we took vould fall under ze category of...taboo. Genetic engineering, using science to bring back the dead to make a sort of super soldier, you know, that sort of thing.”

“Wait...what?”

“Ja. Vi weren’t very happy with ourselves so we came to fight for Equestria for a change of venue. Vi guess it’s harder than vi thought to hold back a part of yourself, no matter how hard vi try.”

“I think,” Thunder said, “I can understand that. It’s hard to hide a part of your identity, especially from those close to you.” There was a long pause. “If I don’t make it out of this country alive...and one of you does...can one of you please...go to her for me...I want somepony close to me to give her the news. She lives in a town called Gero. Are you all...okay with that?”

Everyone nodded. “I’ll agree to that,” Midnight responded, “As long as you agree to do the same for me. She lives in the town of Ponyville. If she’s not there, she’s most likely in Cloudsdale or on some crazy adventure with her friends...*sigh*...I miss home.”

“We’ll make it back, Midnight.” Star responded. “I promise you.”

The small group had a break in the sorrow. It was something they had needed; just that little push to keep them going through it all. They knew they had the security in each other's company. “Now. Who’s ready to grab a helicopter ride out of here?”

“Right.”

With that, Thunder and Ace were both off. Above the camp but still carefully invisible. They picked off guard after guard and hid them in the shadows. Midnight and Star began to search the grounds for their ride out. To their luck, it was there; a courtyard of gunships, lined up and ready to take off. They picked out an Mi-8TVK up in the second front row. They had yet to wait, though. They had no idea where Thunder and Ace were.

“When they show up, I’ll fly and you take the gun.” Star commanded.

“Roger. But where are Ace and Thunder? We can’t just leave them behind.”

“Don’t worry. They are trained killers. They will be fine.” Star reassured Midnight.

“That’s true. I suppose they can take care of themselves” Midnight said in agreement.

Midnight looked around to make sure the area was clear before moving. He moved slowly and quietly as not to attract any unwanted attention. Star followed closely behind him.

Thunder and Ace were about on the other side of the base. By now, they had removed a good amount of the guards from the picture. They had hoped the other two had found their escape route by now. “Midnight. Status.” Thunder questioned

“Waiting for you for extract on east side of base.”

“Roger. Ace, let’s go.” And like that. The two were on their way.

“Awesome.” Midnight declared, “Things might actually be going our way.” And with that, a siren went off overhead. “Well...shit.”

“We gotta get to one of the helicopters.” Star said

“What?! We can’t leave Thunder and Ace!”

“I know, we’ll grab them. Don’t worry. We just gotta get our ride secured.”

“Right. Let’s go.” The two trotted across the field over to their choice of Mi-8. They ran across the open field as the searchlights were barely visible in the setting sun to follow them. Reluctantly, they made it to their ship without any bullet wounds. After a short hotwiring from Star, the two were in the air. Midnight hopped to his gunner seat and began to tear up the other airships below. He wasn’t gonna let them be followed out of the base.

“All right, I think we’ve done enough damage. Let’s grab Ace and Thunder.”

“Got it.” Thunder and Ace were further into the base, tearing down as many Caelians as they could, and there were a lot of them; way more than they had anticipated. It was near impossible for them to stay in one place from the fire below.

“Ace. Thunder,” Midnight called out, “It’s too hot here. We’ll find a new EZ. Just get out of there.”

“No can do, Midnight.” Thunder replied, “We can’t let them follow you.”

“What?! No! We’re not losing two more of our squad!”

“Midnight.” Ace replied, “Wir wissen, was wir tun. We’ll be fine. Just get to Castrum.”

“I can’t stay here! We need to leave now!”

“No! We’re not leaving them!”

“They said to leave, and we need to leave! We’re going!” Star took off, leaving the Caelian base, Thunder, and Ace behind.”

“No!” Midnight frantically jumped on the guns and started shooting back at the base behind them. Hoping it would do something. “Go back! Go back! Ace! Thunder! Do you copy?! Ace?! Thunder?!” No response. Midnight’s heart sank. He sat down in the back of the helicopter. Tears rolled down from his eyes as he covered his head, rocking in place.

Forests south of Castrum, time and date unknown

There was almost no conversation passed during the flight. It appeared to Star that Midnight wasn’t happy with her decision of leaving, and didn’t want to talk. Regardless, she felt as if she had to try. “Midnight, I...I’m sorry.”

“I know. I wanna be angry, but I can’t. It wasn’t your fault that we lost them.”

“So tell me. Do you still wanna do this?”

“You mean take out Fortis?”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

“I should let you know now, then. I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’s the best idea. Castrum is the most secure place in all of Caeli. This could easily be a suicide mission. We can go back to find Equestrian forces and execute this in a safer way, but if you’re still planning on going in now, go on alone. Cause I won’t follow.”

“So just like that? You’re giving up on the promise we made to all of them?”

“No. This isn’t giving up, this is letting go. Letting go for now. I know if Fortis died, the war would be over, but I don’t think this is the best plan of attack.”

“Then I want you to do something. Get me as close as you can to Castrum, then drop me off. You can go about your way, and I’ll go about mine.”

“Really? Are you sure you want to do this?”

The two paused looking into eachothers’ eyes, Midnight showing all confidence. “I’m sure of it.”

“All right. I won’t stop you.” And with that, Castrum was within sight. “I guess I’ll be seeing you then. I hope.”

“I’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ve been in many near death situations and made it out fine. I’ll see you when the war is over.” With that, he jumped out of the side door, and flew down  to the forest floor as Star flew away.