When all else fails, get out alive. Your cause won’t fight for itself tomorrow.

-Wisp

Three and a half years before…

Weight. Every day that it was time to leave the safer parts of the world and press on into danger, it was always there. Plate steel gilded with a spell was the garb of a guard. Armor skillfully enchanted to ensure the even appearance of a warhorse, ready to stomp everything before him into oblivion. And it was heavy. Metal on the shoulders, metal on the hindquarters, hoof-gauntlets on each leg, the plumed helmet trying to force the neck and head down. Pride held them up, a fierce devotion to do the right thing. That pride remained, but the weight was gone.

As Shadow sprinted behind Dive to the teleportation chamber, the only thing that weighed down on him were the saddlebags, lighter than he’d pack for a day hike into the woods. No armor covered his head and shoulders, nothing would protect him for the first time in his life that the bullets would fly, and yet he was carrying more ways to kill quickly and quietly than he’d ever done before. This was real.

The pentacled chamber filled with the soft thumping noise of their padded hoof-falls as Timberwolf team filed in, one standing in each point of the symbol. Waiting in the middle circle, Sure Splint sat, eyes alert.

“Make sure to come back nice and quick, I’ll be making breakfast for you all while you’re out.”

“Oh I think we’ll be fine. I don’t suppose you could make me an onion omelette?” Dive gave his wife a quick kiss.

“I can, so long as you bring our colt back in one piece.”

Her eyes were like Shadow had seen so many times during his training. Each time he’d come in with a broken leg or a bleeding side, she’d patched him up without question, sometimes to see him run back out only moments later. This time the eyes were softer. They pleaded with him, to make sure to come back. I will for you, mother.

“Transi aevo vincula...en hanc vim meam ab eis…”

As Sure Splint chanted, the world shifted around Shadow. Gray walls soon faded to the darkness of an early morning sky. Until the last vestiges of the stone faded, his body stayed where it was, though the feeling of standing on no more than air grew until it became reality. It was then that everything clicked into place. Inside, somewhere deeper than his conscious mind, he knew he was facing a few degrees east of south. That instinct clenched, and his wings spread to catch the air as gravity reached up to take him. Holding level, Shadow spun around several times to take in all the sky. The alpenglow had yet to stretch its edges over the eastern sky, and the only light within sight was from the lights of Canterlot on the horizon far to the north.

“Hey rookie, turn on your camouflage and lets get going already.”

Oh, right. Stop goggling at the damn not-sunrise and focus. Though his body was nearly invisible in the darkness of the night sky, it became impossible to see as it seemed to fade from reality. Outlines appeared in his vision--four pegasi carrying saddlebags like his were outlined in white, flapping gently to hold position in mid-air. In the space between those outlines, there was nothing other than the night sky. Data scrolled along the corners of the helmet display, no longer static. Altitude showed nearly fifteen thousand hooves, and current coordinates and objective coordinates were listed in a gentle glow.

“Ok, enough staring.” Dive spoke no longer as the kind father, but now as the stallion in charge. “Team, in wedge position. Lieutenant, I want you on left rear. Make a lot more room than usual. Move out!”

Crash took point, with Dive and Savage following on the right. They waited several moments to give room; an entire five hundred lengths. Flight vortices only pull out to about fifty...putting the thought from his mind, Shadow took off after Chaff, giving the same vast space. Perhaps it was the early start, or maybe the adrenaline from going on his first combat mission, but Shadow felt himself picking up speed quickly. Oh well, the drag will kick in soon. I won’t overshoot Chaff.

But the airspeed indicator only kept ticking up. Over one hundred and fifty lengths per second, and still going. Moreover, Chaff was getting further away. As if reacting to a wish, the display pointed out that Chaff was over a thousand lengths out and only putting more distance between the two, while climbing sharply. It would be moments before somepony noticed, and told him to cut out the idiocy, forcing him into the position of a fool. Even if it was because of knowledge he did not yet know, that was just unacceptable. Time to see what this combat skin can do.

Flying was not just a strain on the wings, but on the muscle in the back that pushed them, on the legs to keep a fully aerodynamic posture, and of course on the cardio. Flying was like running, or sprinting if a pegasus went at it hard enough, and right now was sprint time. Magical reduction of flight drag or not, it quickly turned into work. Catching up with the sergeant would have been a trick of its own; each wingstroke quickly adding a tiny bit of burn to the back muscles.

Inside of Shadow’s mind there was little room for thought. One goal covered everything else: catch up. There was exactly one way to do that--fly faster. That dictated his form to be perfect, breathing regular, and focus narrow. Breathe in-wings up, breathe out-wings down. Repeat and repeat.

In this single-minded state, nothing broke through until the green display of the velocimeter shifted to yellow. Giving no pause in the flight, Shadow flicked his eyes to see that the readout in lengths per second had been changed to ‘B x 0.93.’ The second digit crept up as he struggled to figure out what what the new reading was for. B by what? Boom by? No...that can’t be--

The air shook around him, and then tore apart. A slam of dark blue light flared from behind in a giant arc, but there was no noise other than the rush of the wind going ever faster. Now, the distance marker to Chaff was reversed, and Shadow was gaining. The velocimeter now read at 1.07, removing all doubt out of his mind. Between the reading, the flash of light, and an innate sense of speed deep in the subconscious of the pegasus mind, Shadow knew he was going supersonic.

Beyond the barrier, the going was hard, but not too much harder than the other side. Each wingstroke pushed him faster, and soon the boom meter read one and a half times the speed of sound. The feeling was exhilarating, even if somewhat muted by the helmet and combat skin. Here he was, going faster than the very speed of sound. Only one pony had ever done that before, and now he was following in the hoofsteps of Rainbow Dash of all ponies. Perhaps magic had helped him to it, but now he knew why she enjoyed it so much.

“Slow down there rookie, and stay in formation. Supersonic is fun, but we don’t want to get there early, or announce ourselves with that much noise.”

Snapping out of his high, Shadow saw that he had just overshot Chaff, and winced. Leaning to the left, he pulled up and to the side, bleeding speed until he dipped back to subsonic and again took his place in the wedge.

“Sorry sir, didn’t realize that would happen.”

“It’s alright, just save it for when we’re really in a hurry. And we don’t really want to arrive on site making that much noise. Anyways, we’ll be leveling off at ten thousand lengths up.”

“Why so high?”

“Air’s thinner up there, it will make it even easier for us to get there, and have a good bird's eye view on the whole thing. Optics in these helmets make for an easy recon, and intel back home would like to see what’s going on too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shadow grinned and slipped into the the monotony of holding an even pace. Even subsonic, he was flying at nine-tenths the speed of sound higher than he’d ever flown before. He’d enjoy every minute of it until they got to their destination, and try to avoid thinking any further than that along the way.

“Ok, that’s all the confirmation we need, Timberwolf One. Move in, and conduct the operation. I’ll be on standby.”

“Roger that, Firesword. Ok boys, let's get on down there.” As Dive spoke, several markers appeared in the helmet display, pointing to the ground far below. “Lieutenant, I want you down somewhere on the west side. Looks like the best overwatch is down there. Get your gear out, and we’ll move in when you’re ready.”

“Yes, sir!” Descending would take a few minutes to do quietly, and Shadow was determined to use every moment of it to take in what he needed. The sun was still a quarter hour away, leaving the foggy landscape in half-light. While not so wet as the bogs below, the hills harbored almost as much mist, and it was only with the helmet filters that he could see through them from so far up. Few trees grew on their bulk, but the same clinging marsh-grass covered them. The whole mess was a mix between green and gray, shrouded in the morning mist. Central to the marking point lay a set of hills slightly higher than the rest, overlooking the most shallow approach to the camp.

That camp was more or less the same as Argent Fire had described, if not a bit bigger. A number of lean-to’s and molded slime earthen huts littered the small valley. Nowhere near any source of food, and with several changeling forms toting rifles standing guard, it was clearly not some innocent settlement. Two were posted outside of the largest tent, and other than that, the whole camp appeared to be asleep. No one was standing guard by the paths leading in or out of the camp, or in front of whichever tent held the explosives. And why should they? They were camped out of sight, fifty miles outside of the Equestrian border.

The hilltop underneath the grass was damp but not muddy, giving slightly as he spread himself out along it. Trying to locate the straps on his saddlebags took a few too many seconds of groping blindly at the air. I can’t see where my leg is, or the strap. Oh fuck this. It took just a few more seconds to crawl back down from the crest of the hill and let the cloaking spell go. A few seconds more that the dawn was waiting for, and the camp was closer to waking up.

Fast was important, but quiet came first when putting on gear. His pistol was resting on top of the mess crammed into his bags. Somehow, between armament and survival gear, he’d managed to fill most of the extradimensional pocket. Setting it to the side, he pulled out the magazine harness and slipped it around his midsection. The pistol went on the right, and the knife on the left. One blade, one firearm, fifteen rounds for the pistol, and fifteen more in the weapon. Thirty lives, or ten if the bullets were flying and adrenaline was kicking. That didn’t count the fifty larger rounds cradled in their magazines hanging from the belt. Winter was waiting.

She lay disassembled; the scope, stock, and barrel all cased in hard plastic and nestled in foam. Save for the two former, everything else had been left where it was attached. Each piece went together seamlessly, welded by some arcane energy. Ray had promised it would set right back to how it had been sighted in before, courtesy of yet another spell. It would have seemed like cheating, but with his foe waiting over the top of the hill, a fair and honorable fight sounded like a very bad idea.

Slipping the first magazine off his belt, Shadow took a moment to admire the brass within. Each cartridge was longer than his hoof was wide, and surely would pack far more of a punch. With practiced ease from the night before, he slid the magazine home, giving it a slight tap beneath for good measure. One flick took off the safety, and two more sent the bolt forward, and then down. Willing his camouflage back online, he slowly put one leg forward and then the next, dragging himself back to the crest of the hill. Setting the bipod down, he released the helmet visor and leaned forward to the scope. It was a few moments before he had the nearer of the tent-guards lined up.

“Five, in position. Overwatch is up.”

“Understood. We’re three to the dirt.”

Those changelings were nearly half a mile away. Plenty of space for a nice, quiet shot. Movement caught his eye, the second changeling was gently setting his rifle down on the ground. While the first one gave a wide-fanged yawn, the second removed his coat. When they both sat still again, they were slouching. At the distance, it was hard to guess if it was exhaustion, hunger, boredom, or some combination of all of the above. They reminded him unsettlingly of the guards he used to be in charge of, when they got stationed at odd points in the castle where nopony would see them. He’d sneak up quietly to find them chatting, reading magazines, and even napping. These changelings were barely any better, and they were going to be nothing more than a crater in a few minutes. Suddenly, white outlines of pegasi appeared in the scope, as Dive and his stallions landed like a whisper a dozen lengths away from the guards by a second tent. Three kept their weapons trained on the guards, while the last one opened the tent flap and poked his head in.

“Empty. But there are indents in the dirt. Looks like they were here before,” whispered Crash.

“Split up. Savage, you’re with me. Check the other tents and structures quietly.” Dive took the lead toward the next tent further down. At the same time, Crash and Chaff turned toward the closest slime-hut. Still Shadow waited, his aim unerring.

“Negative on this tent.”

“Over here! Found them.” Shadow jumped as an image of a view into the inside of the hut winked into existence in the left half of his vision. His right eye was still pressed to the scope, and he took a moment to re-adjust his aim before paying attention. The hut was dim, but lit up by night vision. Two crates, a length square to a side rested on the inside, as well as two changelings asleep on a cot. Is this what Crash is seeing? Fascinating or not, seeing two things at once was distracting, and he needed to focus on the guards. Reacting to his will, the scene faded out, but the sound of Crash and Chaff cutting the throats of the changelings still came over the comms just fine. Steel meeting chitin and flesh made a sound not too different from sticking a knife into a meat grinder.

“Hut’s clear.” Chaff raised his voice just a little.

“Good work. Get that crate open, and we’ll be right there.”

Dive and Savage darted between the huts and tents like wraiths in the morning mist. Shadow followed them with his eyes, but didn’t move his forelegs. The seconds were long, but still merely seconds by the time all four of them were inside of the brown and green earthen structure. Sounds of a cutting torch echoed through the radio, and as it started, the changelings by the tent stood up. Shadow took a sudden breath, and gave the bad news.

“Guards have been alerted, standby.”

“Can you give us your view?” asked Dive.

“Uhm...hold on.” Shadow stopped to focus on what was happening, willing whatever spell controlled his helmet to broadcast the image. The guards began to chatter animatedly with one another, gesturing at the hut with legs and guns. Some kind of decision reached, one sat down to use his other foreleg to brace his rifle, while the other walked cautiously over toward the hut. Leading the changeling ever so slightly, Shadow followed him with his scope.

“LT, take the one by the tent, I’ve got this sap.” Chaff sounded almost happy.

“Copy.” It was the tiniest of changes to shift back over to line up the shot on the other guard. The scope said the guard was a few lengths short of half a mile away, where the rifle was sighted in. Gently he teased the crosshairs over the torso-and waited. Two long moments, waiting for the other changeling to finish making his way to the tent. Chaff began counting down the shot. Shadow inhaled and exhaled, then inhaled again, exhaled halfway, and held it. Shit. This is it.

“Three, two, one, mark.”

One flex of the foreleg, a familiar twinge of pain in the soft part of his hoof, a slight click as the trigger cycled, and the striker dropped. The slam of Winter kicking him in the shoulder all seemed to happen too fast, and he waited. Not quite one second passed, and the changeling exploded. Green blood and slime coated the ground and dripped down the tent canvas. The head and three legs scattered into the dirt, but the last leg crashed through the tent flap. At that moment, Chaff reached out of the hut, and yanked the approaching guard inside. Shadow winced at the clink of the knife-work. Still watching the tent-flap, he called the comms up again.

“Be advised, camp may be alerted.” Reaching back to cradle the bolt action, he cycled it up and back, then forward and down. One smoking brass case flew to land on the grass beside him.

“Noted.” Dive sounded no more rushed than before leaving the base. “Crash, how much longer on those crates?”

“Halfway. They’re damn thick.”

A bead of sweat ran down his forehead, tickling the skin underneath. Each hair shoved aside protested with another plea to be relieved, but Shadow kept his focus like a razor on the tent. Five seconds passed without any change, and then ten. Without moving his trigger hoof, or eye from the scope, he slowly shifted he left foreleg up and wiped off the sweat. Just as slowly, he put it back down to brace Winter again. Two more seconds passed before the alarm sounded.

Green spell-light flooded the camp, erasing all the glow from the dawn as a high-pitched shriek echoed through the valley. It forced the last measure of adrenaline to flow through his veins and make his stomach feel light. Every inch of his being demanded that he get up and fly, go do something to help, but reason kept him firmly grounded. Reason and fear were given no more time to bicker when the tent finally opened, and a changeling halfway into her body armor stepped out and looked around. The second trigger squeeze was easier, and the rifle kick helped force him back to reality. She went down just like the guard before her -- torso shredded beyond recognition and limbs oozing into the dirt. Some use the body armor had been. Shadow cycled the action again.

From the motion in the tent-cloth, something was hiding just behind it, trying not to be seen. One blue eye peered through, trying to find out where the shots were coming from. Another trigger squeeze, another slam into the shoulder, and the cloth was torn away. Green innards of the changeling splattered the inside of the tent, covering several beds and two tables. All the furniture had been overturned, and any remaining occupants were hiding behind it.

Satisfied that nothing would be venturing forth soon, Shadow turned his attention back to the rest of the camp. Some fifteen changelings were already out, garbed and armed in all sorts of motley gear. A group of six were making their way toward the command tent, but none were moving decidedly toward the hut where Shadow’s team was waiting. Shifting his gaze again, one of the changelings was making a bolt for the path out of camp. She was running in a straight line, and hadn’t even taken flight. Oh you fool. One more leg squeeze, one more twinge of pain, and one more mess lying in the dirt.

“Movement out front, engaging!” That group headed toward the command tent had turned to investigate the crate-hut, and were firing shots through the door from behind barrels and other tents. Two dropped to the ground bleeding green as Savage and Chaff returned the favor. “Rookie, lend a hoof?!”

“On it.” Sliding the crosshairs over the changeling holding a griffon-made heavy rifle, he took the shot. This time, he didn’t wait to see it impact before cycling the bolt and moving to the next target. His team was in trouble. Now crouched behind a rain barrel, the next changeling was blindly looking up to the hills, trying to find where the incoming fire was coming from. He was rewarded with a round right to the face. The last two made a break for the nearest hut, and the one in front was immediately stopped by Chaff and Savage. The latter hesitated for a moment at the sight of his comrade lying in the dirt. You’re mine. Once more Winter kicked, and the last changeling lay in pieces. “You’re clear outside.”

Shadow worked the bolt one more time, and took a moment to count his shots. Four left in the mag. The pile of smoking brass to his right had grown considerably. Most all of the hostiles below had taken some kind of cover, and most of it was pathetically insufficient. Perhaps it would have held up to a ground sweep, but from his bird’s eye view, they all stood out. Black on brown, and black on gray, all easy to see in the faint light of the just-rising sun. Several of them were pointing toward the hut with the explosives, but none moved. Chaff cut onto the comms breathing hard.

“There, got it! Charge is primed. We’ve got thirty seconds to clear out.”

Another flash of light overpowered the green glow in the camp, as one of the tents winked out of existence, replaced with a dome-shaped energy field. At even points around the field, changeling adepts were holding the spell in place. It wasn’t the mages that had Shadow’s gut sinking again. It was the large Royal Guard issue mounted chain-gun that a fifth changeling was leveling at the hut. No, not at the hut, the doorway. A hail of lead covered the only exit his team had from the hut. Without any more thought, Shadow leveled the crosshairs on the gunner, hazy through the wall of green. The round impacted, causing the shield to flare as it shrugged off the impact energy.

“Shadow, the mages! Shoot them!”

Not wasting time on reply, Shadow put a round right on top of the nearest mage, causing him to split and shower the nearby changelings with ichor. The second mage went down just as fast, Winter ever so happy to oblige. The third took a moment longer to aim for, as one of the regulars had put his own body between the adept and the incoming fire. It was for naught, and Winter tore them both to pieces at the same time. With each kill, the shield became more transparent. As he moved to shoot the last caster, his stomach sank further.

“What are you waiting for?! Kill them!”

Cycling the bolt and tapping the magazine release were actions he could complete in concert, but reaching for the next magazine on his belt was a more difficult motion, and took just a little bit longer. With Dive’s order and plea still ringing in his ears, he slammed the magazine into the slot, and cycled the bolt back forward. One more changeling waited, and this time nothing stood in the way. Winter slammed into the sore muscle of his shoulder, and the last mage died as the rest had before him. The spell-shield faded away, and the gunner was exposed. Still mindlessly tearing the air in front of the hut, the changeling never stood a chance. Blood splattered the gun, which fell silent. In that reprieve, four figures tore through the hut opening and took to an immediate vertical. Four explosions, blue, gray, navy, and a darker gray radiated outward as they took to supersonic. The sound of the sonic booms was drowned out as the entire valley was consumed in fire.

A split second after the first explosion, a second just as great rocked the ground where Shadow lay. From the thermal on his optics, the blast alone covered several hundred lengths in all directions, and the dirt and smoke a thousand more. After five long seconds, bits of earth began to fall on his backside. Now several thousand lengths up, the rest of the team halted to look down on their work below.

“Scanning all frequencies...nothing. They’re all gone.” Shadow let out a breath of relief as Dive gave the all-clear. It came out with a shudder, the cool resolve brought on by necessity quickly abandoning him to shake like a foal being told ghost stories. Again and again he inhaled, tasting the acrid smell of cordite in the air, rising from Winter’s barrel and the pile of twelve empty casings beside him. “Mission accomplished, boys. Come on LT, pack up your gear, and lets get on home.”

“You know, I’ve had a lot of close ones, but I don’t recall ever having to sit beside a crate of demo-explosives rigged to blow by my own hoof and not being able to go anywhere.” Crash mused as the landscape passed below. “Pucker factor of ‘I’m going to need a lot of fiber with my breakfast.’”

“Or coffee,” chimed Chaff. “This is going to be the best mug I’ve never had. Heh, breakfast after shooting things. I love my job. I’m pretty sure I confirmed both of those kills as mine, Savage.”

“Perhaps you did, though you have little right to brag. Crash got all of them.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right. Though honestly, with that much firepower who wouldn’t have?” chided Crash. “Though I’m pretty sure Shadow Wing here is the stallion of the hour. I was too busy cutting through several inches of steel to keep an eye on the video feed, but how many did you bag?”

Shadow started at the sudden change in discussion. “Uh...Eleven.”

“Well holy eclipse. And I’m pretty sure ‘saving our sorry rumps’ counts for just a few more than that. Well done, Rookie.” The team chorused their thanks until Dive stepped in.

“See, what did I tell you? I knew you’d do just fine.”

“Yes, sir...I guess you did.” Ok...what else do I say to this? Right. “You know, if it weren’t for me, our cover wouldn’t have been blown at all.”

“Come off it right now. You’re lucky Ray just gave you an overpowered rifle instead of one packed chock full with signal flares. If you hadn’t shot that guard we would have been given away anyways, so quit dwelling on it.”

Silence ensued for several minutes, and Shadow savored it. Far below, the verdant fields of the south of Equestria soaked up the morning sun. The air was cold, but crisp and refreshing, and it left him with time to ponder everything that had just happened.

It had all been so fast, and yet it seemed to have taken forever. Now replaying those moments in his mind’s eye, barely a minute would elapse before it was over. None of the changelings had found him, even though many had tried. Not one bullet was fired at him, and yet the adrenaline had been more intense than he had ever felt before. How could it not have been? His father and brothers in arms would have died if he had not shot.

There had been no question, no hesitation. When Chaff had asked, Shadow had known he needed to shoot. Once that first changeling had been turned into bloody oblivion, there was no time to think, only to act. Each shot had been given only the time it needed to be perfectly lined up to ensure another changeling went on its way to Tartarus.

Eleven lives. He’d woken up that morning having never caused more harm than a hoof-fight back in boarding school, and now...now there was this. It wasn’t as if they would have lived anyways. When those explosives leveled the camp, there was nothing left. Death by Winter was probably almost as fast. So much trauma would have snapped the spinal cord, had the heads of his victims not completely been torn off. Shadow shuddered at the thought.

Each one had died, bloodily and horribly, at his hoof. He was the one who had pulled the trigger, and it was him who had stared into their eyes as the bullets landed. The oath he’d taken upon becoming a royal guard had him bound to serve his kingdom as so ordained by the Princesses, and that included killing those who would murder the innocents of the land. Duty, honor, and reason demanded that his team should come before the entire species of the changelings, and there was no doubt in Shadow’s mind that he had made the right choice. He hadn’t expected it to feel good, but what exactly he was feeling wasn’t the elation of a successful mission, nor the joy at seeing his team alive and well.

This day had been coming, one way or another. From the day he’d completed his indoc, having taken an oath with the words far stronger than a guard’s oath. I said, no, I swore that I would kill with my brothers. That no power in any world would stop me from delivering death and destruction to those who would harm my country, and I would do what is right no matter the cost to myself. Even...even if that cost is my own conscience.

There were no words for that sorrow. His body, he knew could suffer whatever tribulation was heaped upon it, and his mind was ready to fight through the challenge of thinking after days of sleeplessness. To give up his innermost self though, it would take some time. But I will have to. They can’t train another pony for this soon, and even if they could, he would still have to face the same as I. And I promised I would do this. So I will. If father can do it, if Wild Wind, Storm Crasher, and Razor Wings can steel themselves to this grim vocation, then so can I.

The fields gave way to rolling hills; the southern approach to the Azurite Mountains. At the pace they were holding up, it couldn’t be more than twenty minutes back to base. Each wingstroke was somewhat strained; the weight of the gear on his back cumbersome after a morning in the field. Wait a second...it’s been way too quiet for Chaff being here. And Ray said the comms could be used for select groups...they’re leaving me out of it. Clearing his throat, Shadow pinged the team.

“Hey uh...you guys all still there?”

Chaff was the first to respond. “Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Just thinkin’, you know? So anyways, how you doing, LT?”

“Uhm...kinda sweaty?” That earned a chuckle from everypony.

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Well...my neck and shoulder hurt where I held Winter.”

“Ok, let me be as blunt as you are. How does it feel to be a badass?”

“Oh. Uhm...feels kinda the same, except the tired of little sleep has hit, I’m hungry, and sore. Why, anything else I should be feeling?”

“Other than the thunder of hundreds of mares rushing toward a stud like yourself? Probably not. Being awesome usually leaves me being hungry and tired too. But I was thinking...when you were up there saving our rumps from those changelings, you kept your cool like you were out there hunting wendigos. A stallion, his rifle, and a bunch of dead changelings. One at a time, nice ‘n easy. Bam, bam, bam.”

“Exactly!” added Savage. “Shadow Wing out on a hunt for changelings. Making sure he gets every last one he wants. Leme tell you, Hunter, you were doing better than Chaff ever did as our designated markspony.”

“Wait, what did you call me? You can’t be serious.”

“I think you’ve just earned yourself a name there, Hunter.” Crash paused, weighing his words. “Say what you will, but that’s who you are now. Better get used to it.”

“Heh, he won’t need to get used to it. You love you new name, right Hunter?”

Must even my name remind me of this? “Yeah, I do.”

Breakfast and brief, or this case, debrief, followed as soon as the team got back home. Still wearing their combat skins, but having ditched the helmets to let their manes out, the Timberwolves chowed through everything Mama Wolf put in front of them. Not just Dive, but everypony had some kind of favorite ‘after-guns snack.’ Chaff had already finished most of a coffee pot, and was now chewing through every donut he could reach. Crash was working his way through a plate of biscuits and gravy, while Savage was eating an entire loaf of bread, plain.

Finding something he actually wanted to eat took a little while, but Shadow soon settled on some thin strips of what appeared to be meat. Not exactly a common part of the pony diet, but it was hot and salty, and something to chew on. Apparently it was called ‘bacon’, and could only be found in Gryphemi. It was supposed to be expensive too, but right now he didn’t care.

Argent Fire strode into the room, this time wearing his gilded armor with red and gold plumes. “Alright! Got just a few words and then I’ll let you get on your way for the day. I imagine you have a lot of important things to take are of. First things first, you blew up everything that needed to be blown up. Good job. You guys know the ramifications, but Princess Luna asked me to pass on her personal thanks for a job well done. Now, as per usual, we’ve got nothing in particular lined up, so stay sharp for the next time one of our intel boys passes down something else that needs to get broken. Any questions or concerns you’ve got for me?”

The question was met with the quiet noise of chewing from the assembled stallions, before Chaff took another loud slurp from his coffee.

“That’s what I like to hear. Last business item then. Lieutenant, make sure you report to Ray and go over weapons specifics. Having reviewed your helmet feed from the mission, I think a few changes are in order. Ok, well you all have a good day.”

When Argent left, the room dissolved back into conversation through half-full mouths. Still not very hungry, nor eager to join in the chatter, Shadow got up and made his way down to the armory. The door was shut, but opened to his touch. It was heavy, but weighted evenly such that a simple push sent it inward. All of the lights were on, and the field from the transformer by the door caused his coat hair to stand on end, and his mane to rise ever so slightly.

Nothing was moving or making noise, and the clanging of his guard's shoes echoed harshly off the walls. Row upon row of one-of-a-kind weapons and contraptions he had no name for passed on both sides, but they were not what he was after. Right at the back of the room was a scene out of his college days. Wedged into a nook in the wall were a table and a mini fridge, and Refract Ray was asleep, dead to the world hanging halfway off a sagging brown sofa. He did not stir as Shadow drew closer.

“Hey, Ray, wake up! Ray?” Shadow nudged the scientist gently on the foreleg, and was rewarded with a twitch before he continued to snore. Letting out a terse sigh, Shadow whacked Ray on the back on the head. “Wake up, you asshole!”

Ray jumped, then sat back down, stretching wide and yawning loudly. “Oh hey, short guy, why’d you get me up so early? You know evil geniuses are made when genii like myself don’t get enough sleep.” Meeting no response from Shadow other than a deadpan glare, Ray continued. “I suppose you’re here to talk about weapon modifications.”

“Lucky guess?”

“Naw. I stayed up to watch the whole thing from the briefing room. Pretty damn cool. The colonel and I agreed that you might want some adjustments. Be thankful. I’m not paid to be nice.” Shadow gritted his teeth. “So what can I do for you?”

“Well, I’m sure you saw the rifle was a bit...high-powered. It sure made the targets go down, but I wanted them to drop, not...disintegrate.”

“Hmm...that’s not quite how I would have described it. Here, I’ve got the file on my datapad so we can review it and figure out exactly what needs tuning up. Tip-hoof top secret and all that jazz.”

Sitting next to Ray on the moulding couch, Shadow was treated once again to what he’d already remembered dozens of times that morning. The video file was from his helmet, and Ray had loaded from right as he was scoping out the first guard.

“Ok, so range on the helmet and the scope agree, a bit over half a mile out. Your sight in looks good...ok lets move this forward. First shot is...here. Oh geez! Ahahaha!” At the sight of the first changeling exploding he let out a snort of laughter, and then caught himself. “Wow, I didn’t they’d work that well.”

“That what would work, exactly?”

“Oh, glad you asked. See, the rounds for Winter are not just special in that they hold their accuracy at long ranges, but I put a spell on them to start tumbling just before contact with soft targets, so that whatever got hit would be utterly torn up. I’m pleased to see that they were a success.”

Shadow took a slow breath. “And you didn’t think to tell me about this before I went downrange?”

Ray grinned and slapped Shadow on the back. “Well, no? I figured you’d just want the most destructive weapon you could get. This way it works in case they decided to transform into something big, like a manticore. It sure worked, didn’t it? Those changelings got what they deserved.” Resting in Ray’s forehooves, the datapad showed the scoped in view of the changeling fleeing the camp. Fear was etched onto her face, her rifle bouncing around by its sling. No longer staring through a haze of adrenaline, Shadow could see she wasn’t running to get help, she was running for her life. “And look. This bitch is about to get it so hard. Hah!”

As Ray chuckled again, Shadow felt something snap inside. He knocked the datapad clear out of Ray’s grasp, causing it to break on the steel floor. Before any protest left Ray, Shadow reached over and grabbed him. Rearing up on his hind legs, he pinned the unicorn to the wall and screamed at him.

“Do you hear anypony other than yourself laughing? Huh?! No? That’s because it’s not fucking funny! You didn’t have to watch everything go horribly wrong from behind the scope. The whole damn time you were sitting on your rump six hundred miles away in safety. You didn’t have to see them fall to pieces when you expected them to go down quietly. I know you think I’m a new piece of shit here that you can jerk around, and that’s damn fine. But as soon as your idiocy causes the lives of Dive, Crash, Chaff, and Savage to be on the line, you’ve crossed it. If you can’t bring yourself to think that I’m worth helping and keeping alive, then you’d better at least tell me when you’re doing something like that for their sake. You got it?”

Eyes wide and shaking, Ray avoided Shadow’s gaze. “Look...yeah. I’m sorry. I’ll...I’ll make sure you get told of every last update and change to any of your gear, and what it might do. I was...worried, because I really wanted that tested, and it doesn’t do crud to those paper targets you practiced on. I wanted to see what it did to real meat. And I was certain you wouldn’t like it.”

“Well, you were right.” Letting his legs fall back, Shadow released Ray to fall back on the sofa. He took one more moment before sitting down too, letting his head hang with a sigh. “Look, I’ll test whatever you want me to, just so long as I can test it when I know it is feasible to do so.”

“For what it’s worth, I probably already have the fix that you want. I put together two more barrels for Winter, each with their own ammunition. You can swap them out by hitting the correct release with the hook on your guard’s shoes. All of it will fit in the saddlebags, and the sighting should more or less hold, though it’s still undergoing fine tuning. Then you can use the one on there now for extreme distance work, and the other two for shorter and middle ranges. And I appreciate that your offer a lot; the rest of them long since stopped helping me.”

“Sure, though I can see why they did.”

“Yeah...I’m sorry, Shadow.”

“Me too, Ray, me too.”

Back in his room, Shadow stashed the saddlebags and combat skin beside the bed. It somehow wasn’t dirty, despite him having lain in the dirt and sweated buckets. It was still late afternoon, and he was tired. Not sore, or physically worn out, but his body still seemed to be drained of energy. After half an hour lying on his back, slowly letting his eyes flutter back open to stare at the ceiling, he’d given up on sleep. Still, having cleaned Winter and taken a shower, there was nothing else to do. Training was over, and nopony was in his room screaming at him to get up, and no new training or workouts had been announced. Perhaps I can just go get dinner.

As Shadow opened the door to head down the hall, he was greeted with the smiling face of Savage without his combat skin, one hoof poised to knock.

“Hey, Hunter! Was wondering where you’d been. The boys and I’ve got a little surprise for you out back. Come on down, I think you’ll like it.”

“Will there be food?” Dive did say something about an initiation this morning.

“Oh you bet there will, but don’t ask me more. Kinda ruins the effect.”

Together they walked through the hall to the stairs, and took the steps up to the highest floor of the sub-mountain base. A room like the teleportation chamber below, but smaller and imbued with a permanent spell left them standing in the meadow behind the mountain once again. The sun was behind the nearest peaks, but the sky was still blue. And it’s only been a day.

“Over there.” Savage gestured, and the two of them took flight back over toward the mud pit and pull up bar. Dive, Crash, and Chaff were all there, likewise divested of gear. When they landed, it was Crash who spoke up.

“Hunter, you’re one of us now. Your name is well earned, and you have done as you swore in our oath. Today, you fought with, saved the lives of, and killed for your brothers. That bond in words is now an oath bound in blood. Remember well what you said. There is nothing too petty to be asked for our sake, because there is nothing too great you can ask of us. But, I’m sure you’ve had more than enough of the grim and solemn for one day. Shall we get to the celebration?”

Trying to ignore the gurgling in his stomach, Shadow nodded. About time we got to food. Dive smiled right back at him.

“Oh good. Well, in that case, boys, he’s all yours.”

Wait, what? Like a bird of prey, Shadow jumped and spread his wings, but was far too late. Savage tackled him from behind and the sheer force of the impact took them both into the mud pit. Being smaller was both an advantage and a hinderance. Shadow was faster, but couldn’t match Savage’s raw strength. For several moments the two grappled, utterly caked in mud, until Shadow slipped a hinderhook in, and flipped Savage completely over. Letting out a yell of triumph, he pounced on top to pin the larger stallion down. Secure in his victory, he never saw Crash and Chaff coming.

Knocked clean off of Savage, the weight of two more opponents drove the wind clean out of him. One took his forelegs, another his hindlegs, and the third sat cleanly on top of him. Struggling had no effect other than to evoke laughter from one of the Timberwolves. Realizing it was useless, he stopped shoving, and soon one of them let go of a foreleg.

“Well, tap out, filly!”

Facedown in the mud and unable to breath, the only obvious choice was to reach his one free foreleg out and tap whoever it was who was sitting on his upper back.

“Ok, let him up boys.”

The air was sweet. It really didn’t matter that he’d just been dog-piled by his brothers in arms, or that he was coated from ear to hoof in mud, he could breathe again. “Wow guys, you really got me. Totally forgot that Dive mentioned that this was a thing.”

“Heh, well glad you liked it. Because here’s round two.”

Wings now mud-logged, Shadow didn’t even get a chance to dodge the three forms converging on him. After just as short span of time, the second round was over. And then the third. Thankfully, they stopped after that, and helped him out of the pit. Somepony dragged out the nearby hose and cranked on the pump, dousing them all in freezing creek water to clean up. Shivering, they huddled around the fire Dive had built while they were wrestling.

“Ok, now that you’ve had your beat-up session, I think it’s time we had some fun.” Dive ruffled Shadow’s mane, and then dragged over a bin filled with junk food and a large number of brown and clear bottles. “If you can walk without falling over your hooves by the time we’re done here, you’re doing it wrong. But make sure to put this on first.”

Dive hoofed Shadow a small leg-band, containing a phial of clear fluid. The rest of the team already had them on.

“What’s this?”

“Well, you know how you got called out of training due to an emergency, and we had to go quickly? That was a long time compared to how long we normally have to get ready. So, if you ever want to go drinking, you’ve gotta have one of these on. The serum in there will purge all the alcohol and by-products out of your system in under a minute, and it will hurt like hell. After that, you’re good to go.”

Nodding, Shadow put it on. “About going out drinking, did you mean like other than out here in the middle of a field?”

“We’ll get you outfitted with gear like a pager watch and a skyphone tomorrow, as well as deal with finding you work back out in society, so you can live a normal life while you’re not here, but again, that’s for tomorrow. For now, we celebrate.”

The hours passed, and Shadow listened to their tales. Stories of their best shots, closest calls, best and worst decisions, and places that they wanted to see again some day. Regrets, hopes, dreams, fears, and stupid things they’d done with mares they’d met. Between the booze and the insistence of his friends, he told them about Sherry Berry, and why he’d joined the guard.

Midnight had long since come and gone by the time Shadow found himself back in his room. For the first time since he’d left it he stopped to think, and realized the haze of the alcohol kept him from remembering in clarity what had happened earlier that day. I can...feel peace. This is probably a really bad idea...but so long as it’s not too often...it could work. Pressing the end of the bottle into his muzzle, he drank.

On his nightstand, twelve spent casings rested. I don’t remember leaving those there...oh well. Even if I’m ready to forget for now, I should remember who I am upon waking.

No memory was left of climbing into bed, nor of pulling up the covers. Just the echo of the voice of a mare speaking to him as the darkness of sleep took over.

You have found yourself, young warrior. Now you know that you are a hunter, a hunter of those who do not deserve to live. Rest well, knowing that the next time will be easier, and the next easier still. Do not fear what it is you will become, for it is closer to me. Be joyful…

be…

content...

Author's Note

Fast-written, and even faster edited. Thanks again to Dizzy for editing on less than a day turnaround. Also thanks to SwiftArgentine for nuking my typos.

And still, I'm dumping more and more sequel fuel into the story, which in turns leads me to wanting to write a bigger and bigger universe. When will it end...?