It begun seven years ago. The diplomacy between Equestria and the kingdom of the griffin was never a stable one; until one fateful day, it came to a boil. Nopony really remembered how or why the conflict started started, but the wounds that this war brought left scars will be etched into Equestria until hereafter.
The griffins started with the bombings, leveling down entire pony cities and settlements, completely disregarding the innocent civilians lives they were taking. Fear spreaded fast between the ponies and soon, an internal turmoil started, even though the presence of the forever-shining beacons of hope, the Royal Sisters, were present to comfort all their little ponies. But something else changed on those fateful seasons; soon, every town had posters asking for ponies, independent of their ethnicity, to join the Royal Equestrian Army. Pamphlets relaying crude military survival information were distributed amongst the population.
Celestia achieved a sense of unity between her ponies, stopping the riots that threatened to crumble her beloved country from inside. Equestria was never the same after. Not even in the Age of the Elements ponies were known for such selflessness towards their comrades. But no matter what the ponies did, the griffin always were at par with them; be it in numbers, strength or strategy. Some will argue that magic was the element that made ponies win the war, but that would only be half the truth.
The war only came to an end when a special task force, composed only of highly trained unicorns, sent by Celestia herself, toppled over the griffin borders and took their country by force, permanently ending the griffon menance.
* * *
“Hey, kid. Can I have some fire over here?” Asked a light-blue earth pony covered in head-to-hoof in military equipment. His back was rested on top of his metallic helmet, leaving him nearly at eye-level with the plum unicorn who sat with his back facing him.
“You know you’re not supposed to smoke, sir.” He said in a stern, reprimanding tone. “It could give away our position, sir.” Much to Tint’s surprise, the earth pony began to laugh at his insubordination.
“Drop the fucking attitude, man. First of all, Corporal, my name is Buckshot. I told you to address me by it a million times by now. And second, we’re on guard duty! There are no griffons around for miles. Relax a bit, will you?” Tint grumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he approached his commanding officer. With his horn enveloped in a lime-green aura, he conjured an ivory spark that soon morphed into a orange flame that slowly danced according to the restless wind.
“There you go...” Buckshot said, leaning closer to Tint and lighting the small, fetid cigarette that he held between his pressed lips. “Thanks a bunch Flint.” He said, smirking at the unicorn.
“No problem, Cheapshot.” Tint said, dropping a comeback of his own.
The commander gave a heartily guffaw at the friendly taunt and patted the unicorn in his shoulder. “You see? Lighten up, newbie. Those dirty hybrids are busy fighting the pawns at the front. We’re completely safe in here.”
Tint couldn’t help but form a smile of his own at his commander’s humor. But that was only on the outside. Tint knew the implications of not following the strict army’s regulations. He couldn’t help but think about his little sister whom he believed was safe in Manehattan. All he could think about was to get out of there as quickly as possible.
* * *
“Princess Celestia, your Highness.” A white pegasus adorned in a golden plated armor bowed after crossing the door into the Royal Sister’s throne room.
“Please rise.” Celestia said, gesturing him with a hoof. The white unicorn nodded and soon resumed his walk towards the princess. “What is it that you were so adamant in seeing me?”
“General Skywatch’s report on Outpost Delta, your highness. He ordered me to deliver this report to you, and to you only.” The pegasus lifted his wing and proceeded to grab the envelope carefully tucked away below it with his mouth. It was soon enveloped in a golden aura and floated freely from the stallion’s mouth to the princess. The princess eyed the envelope wearily for a moment; taking note of the big red letters that spelled ‘CLASSIFIED’ printed on top of it and the safety seal that remained intact. Her concentration was soon broken when she saw the pegasus whom delivered the report, gazing back from the princess to the envelope.
“Anything else you need to report?” Celestia asked him, politely dismissing the pony.
When the words made sense into his brain, he bowed apologetically. “I’m sorry, your Highness. There is nothing left to report.”
“Very well, then.” She said, tucking the envelope underneath her own wing. “All of you, leave now. I have to consort with my sister right now.” As soon as the echoes of her booming voice stopped reverberating against the walls, all guards bowed. “HAIL EQUESTRIA!” They all shouted in unison, before rising once more and methodically leaving the throne room.
* * *
“Kid, get out from that machine gun, for Luna’s sakes! Our turn is almost over.” Buckshot gestured to the unicorn pony who sat behind the big machinegun mounted on the ground. The rusty edges seemed to make it improper for a combat of any kind, but the commander said that the gun was lubed up and ready for action.
“I don’t think I should be leaving my post, si- I mean, Buckshot.” The commander groaned audibly at this reply, but gave up on trying making the young unicorn relax.
“Alright kid, then at least come over here and light me up another ciggie.” Buckshot said, flickering his still lit cigarette over to somewhere beyond their post. Sighing wearily, Tint slowly walked towards his commander. He couldn’t help but think how did a pony like him end up being his superior.
Tint neared Buckshot and lowered his head, and focused on his horn. The instant he felt the green veil enveloping his horn, a metallic scraping noise followed by a force that pushed his head backwards broke his concentration. He instantly recovered and looked into Buckshot’s eyes, which stood unnaturally wide. Tint opened his mouth to ask the commander what happened when both heard the sound of a firing weapon.
BANG!
Adrenaline kicked into Tint as he thought about the situation. ‘The sound of the gunshot came after the bullet hit my helmet... that could only mean-’ Tint’s eyes too widened as the sudden realization came to him.
“SNIPER!” Buckshot yelled. “KID WE GOTTA MOVE, THERE’S A SNI-” At that instant, Buckshot’s head simply exploded, coating Tint’s face in a mixture of bone, blood and brain. Mere seconds passed before the gunshot reverberated through the camp, making sure to awake every soldier in it, if the first shot didn’t that is. Without a second of hesitation, Tint galloped up, trying to reach the big machinegun, whose shield was big enough to cover him.
“OH SHIT! OH SHIT OHSHITOHSHIT!” Tint yelled as the sounds of swooshing bullets that passed right by him made him retain his focus. He reached the backside of the machinegun and focused his magic on it, causing the whole metallic monster to be embraced by a translucid, lime-green veil. His heart raced with such force against his chest that he felt he would die of a heart attack. His throat and lungs burned with such intensity that would rival a knife stab to the haunches.
Tint’s wide eyes frantically searched the skies above as well as the ground below. When the slightest movement caught his eye, he made the machinegun roar to life, pumping round after round against his assailants. “FUCK YOU, HYBRID FREAKS!” He yelled with everything he got, but the sound was easily overpowered by the incessant noise of mowing fire. Tint focused on following the tracers’ projection in order to uncover more hidden griffons. The tracers illuminated dark paths in the woods before him, before colliding with a tree or a rock.
“DIE! DIE! DIE!” He yelled, concentrating his fire on the moving shadows before him. He had mowed down a good chunk of the forest, but was unsure if any griffon was killed in doing so. A bashing impact against his skull threw him away from the machinegun, which began to spin slower and slower until stopping dead. Tint felt an oppressing weight against his chest and legs, pinning them in place against the dirt ground. Looking up, his eyes widened once more at the sight before him. It barely gave him time to register it though, as a gun was practically shoved in his face and the trigger was pulled, ending his existence.
* * *
WARNING: This document is confidential and it’s meant for the eyes of our Highness, Princess Celestia only. Anypony else found in possession of this document faces imprisonment or more extreme punishment.
#General Skywatch (PDP1376)
*Princess Celestia
Little was found after our scouts searched the remains of Outpost Delta. Every single pony in sight was reported dead with bullets wounds to their heads amongst many other things. A body count revealed that the entire platoon was annihilated by the attack the night prior.
A few pony bodies were found outside Outpost Delta, but were close enough to help us establish the total battle time in roughly 10 minutes. Few units of A-Team 11 were found dead on the site; their bodies have already been teleported to a secluded place, where they’ll be properly dealt with and later, cremated.
The members of A-Team 11 are currently being held for debriefing in the royal dungeon.
General’s final note: A-Team project is deemed a success. The planned assassination of Outpost Delta was carried out without flaws and in record time. A-Team 11 will be euthanized by tomorrow at eighteen-hundred hours (1800), after the debriefing process is concluded, as per Her Majesty’s request.
HAIL EQUESTRIA!
After both her and her sister were done reading the document, Celestia telepathically raised it and, in a burst of light, it burned in a fiery red until all which remained were ashes. Celestia watched the paper crumble to the ground, wind dispelling its illegible remains. “Do you think that was necessary, sister?” Luna said, looking rather gloomy after reading the classified document.
Celestia stomped her hoof on the ground, visibly angry, and turned to look upon her sister with a reprimand look etched into her face. “You think I wouldn’t order it if it weren’t? Think about it, sister.” Celestia said as she walked slowly toward her balcony to stare into the night sky, leaving her sister inside the giant Throne Room. “We needed to create these high skilled assassins. We needed to test them somehow. With them, we will be able to-”
“Yes... but couldn’t we just unleash the A-Team 11 into griffin territory for that?” Luna cut celestia off, tears brimming her pleading eyes.
“No. Tomorrow, news will be all over the front that Outpost Delta fell. This will affect our ponies’ morale. They will be so frantic and bloodthirst that no griffon army will be able to stand out assaults... not to mention that we will have the full force of the A-Team to help them.” Celestia said, looking with pride at the moonlit sky.
“But they were innocent ponies! They were as much part of Equestria as we are, Celestia!” Luna said, allowing the tears to pour from her eyes in shallow sobs. Celestia merely walked to her sister and nuzzled her lovingly.
“We must be strong, Luna. For Equestria! War isn’t won without sacrifices!” Celestia said and put a forehoof over her sister’s shoulder, smiling lightly. “No matter what, dear sister, Equestria will prevail!”
