De Luce et Tenebris Umbra

1 hour earlier

Dan made his way hurriedly through the underbrush of the forest on his way to the small settlement that he had found. He knew that he didn't have much time to look it over, but the possibilities that could be opened by just discovering the local sentient species were enormous. If he could sneak around and hopefully record some samples of their language, it could open up possible negotiations and perhaps trade.

'No...stop it! I can't afford to let myself think like that! The mission comes first, and with the Van possibly in the area, the possibility still stands that it's deserted, ...or not.'

Dan kept moving and tried to make as little noise as possible as he tried to move as quickly as possible. There was no telling what lived in this forest as they hadn't encountered any real wildlife yet except for the occasional rabbit or squirrel. As he walked around a close clump of trees he spotted a clearing up ahead.

'Hmph... It's as good as any,' he thought as he started to creep to the edge of the trees. Setting up inside of a bush he waited for the noise of his passage to settle before attempting to listen for anything as well as looking around with his thermal optics.

'Look's clear, and there's no real heat signatures that I can see...I'll just pop the drone here and try and see where I am.'

He started to rummage through his pack before pulling out two objects, one was board like with what seemed to be small metal protrusions at one end, while the other was what seemed to be a small cylinder made up of multiple rings.

He quickly took the cylinder and began to twist the rings in an order before pulling on the ends to reveal the inside.

It was an F4T tactical field surveillance drone. The rings were actually its four rotors, and inside was its main module.

As it popped out into shape Dan hooked it onto his shoulder and started to look the board over. It was of his own creation and was loosely based on something he had seen in an old movie. It had two rotors, front/rear, and a rudder at one end. The other end, or the front, had the metal protrusions, which were actually two sheathed blades. The board, or MRTB (Multi-Role Tac/Surv/Bot), was made to be a second unit to the original F4T, both for surveillance and if needed, a throwaway distraction. It was quite the scary sight when there's a drone with very large blades speeding towards you. That and the small explosive laced containers that were paced at intervals around its rim. These small containers were half-cylindrical in shape and were filled with an a very powerful accelerant surrounded by ceramic ball bearings. These could be attached or detached to add or decrease weight, or even dropped to act as an anti-personnel weapon. In a pinch, Dan had planned the use of the modules could be extended to act as a mobile antipersonnel mine. How all of this came from the possibly flying skateboard that he wanted was a terrifying thought.

{————-}

The possible surveillance applications had been seen by Ghost, but the real cinch had been when Pick had needed to mine a position but had not brought enough explosives as it had been a quick decision to a FUBAR plan. Dan being the only other one near enough, had used the newly created MRTB to attempt to transport the explosives. It was only halfway to Pick's position when it flew over a Van resupply convoy.
Dan had debated the possible outcome if he attempted to sabotage it, but his decision was made for him when the convoy started to approach what had been identified as the Van's FOB.
Under Ghost's orders, he had dropped the drone into the largest of the supply vehicles and waited until it had entered the building to detonate the mostly incendiary explosives. The loss of the drone was regrettable but the time that it had given them was worth it in the end.

{--—--———}

Dan decided to revoke the use of the anti personnel attachments and settled for getting his drones in the air as soon as possible.

{----------}

'Holy...'

Dan sat wide eyed as he stared at the footage streaming into his helmet. He had thought, 'sure there's some sort of intelligent life here'. He just hadn't been expecting the town to be something almost straight out of a cartoon.

'Is that a gingerbread house? What the hell man?'

He moved his drone closer but kept the board-like one in reserve for a quick getaway. He had the drone cruise around the town slowly as he scanned the streets for any sign of life.

'Considering that there's probably a Van presence if doesn't take much to imagine what could happened here.'

Even though he assumed the worst as a precaution, Dan still felt hope that some of the villagers were still alive, as the streets weren't covered in blood and craters. Bodies wouldn't have been found either way considering the Van's diet.

'I need a closer look,' he thought as he began to do some scans of the architecture.

As the drone dropped in altitude Dan could begin to make out the designs of some of the more prominent buildings in the area.

'Victorian style architecture huh? Old fashioned but elegant either way.'

Moving the drone even closer he watched as the altimeter broke the 200 meter mark, well within the sight range for any being on the ground.

'Their architecture and system of planning structures are remarkably human, though considering he theories about parallel and alternate dimensions, I'm not that surprised,' Dan's thoughts switched back and forth along different subjects as he analyzed the town for anything that could provide information, to whatever could be useful for their mission.

'The town looks completely uninhabited, but there's nearly no damage to speak of towards the inner areas, and the outer structures are relatively undamaged. '

He started to move the drone towards the far end of the town but saw something dart from the shadows near what he took to be a giant tree.

'What the hell was that?'

He dropped he drone another 100 meters and tried to find whatever creature still resided within the town. While he hoped that it was of the original inhabitants, he still readied the drone's mounted weapon, a 9mm rail-gun. It wouldn't do much against a shielded Van, but could cause quite a bit of havoc on an unaware group.

'Should I pull it back though? I don't think we can afford to lose it...maybe I should call Ghost?'

Dan tapped the side of his helmet and watched as the team commas began to connect.

'...wait a sec, connecting? The team comms should always be up!'

Dan watched disbelievingly as he communications failed to find any other sources. He had personally gone over the team's comms before they came through the portal, and they were all working optimally. The only thing he could think of was that the Van had some sort of jammer, but his sensors weren't picking anything up, plus the drone was still active, as well as his squad map.

'Whatever it is, it seems to only be affecting direct communication, and he drone operates on a different channel, but a jammer should be affecting all channels.'

He checked through all of the backup channels that he had and found that they were also blocked, whatever was blocking them only affected his team's direct communications.

Dan knew that under these circumstances he should regroup with his team immediately, but knowing Ghost, he would want to track down the source of the interference and all chances of finding some of the native, apparently sentient, species would be lost.

'I know I shouldn't, but the benefit is potentially greater than the danger, besides...maybe I could snag something that isn't bland rations.'

'Now let’s see where that sneaky bastard is...'

[=====]

Moon Shadow darted from shadow to shadow as she tried to avoid the gaze of whatever was currently observing them.

The recent strikes by the Ursa Menors had been steadily increasing along the outlying towns and cities in what seemed to be a slowly progressing line toward Ponyville.

They're disappearance and subsequent reappearance had thrown the military off as they seemed to suddenly appear and strike before melting away and disappearing from even their best tracking magic.

And now this 'thing' that was watching them could only be some infernal beast under the Menor's control.

Her sensitive hearing could pick up the beasts incessant buzzing and the slight clicking sounds it was making. She had been wondering why some unicorn artillery hadn't shot it down yet, but apparently their magic could not detect it, and at best they would just annoy it.

She snarled as she and the other Pegasi could not fly up to intercept it either. Reports from towns that were attacked told of these flying beasts that could intercept Pegasi with unknown weapons, but there were no real descriptions about the beasts themselves.

She looked around from her hidden position and saw many eyes staring at her out of boarded up windows. Waving back at them she moved as silently as she could using her wings for little speedy hops from cover to cover, all the while keep one eye on the creature, who continued to descend.

[----]

Dan lowered the altitude slowly as he shifted the drone's settings to thermal imaging and jumped back at the sudden flares of heat that had erupted on the screen.

'They’re hiding in the buildings!'

Dan was excited about his new revelation and panned the view around until he caught sight of a figure moving rapidly between cover.

'Ha! Can't hide from me forever!'

He dropped the drone to 100 meters and dared not go any lower, he already knew that anything on the ground looking up or paying attention would have already spotted the drone...and by the looks of it, the quick figure already had.

He could see the humanoid figure staring up at the drone and slowly move around the building. Dan stared after her for a few seconds before steering the drone for the town center, over what looked to be some sort of main plaza, and made the drone climb back up to 300 meters.

From this altitude he could see that while most of the structures had above background heat signatures, there were only a few that were glowing with heat, and only one that was trying to blind his drone.

Dan switched between vision modes several times before he accepted where the heat signatures were coming from.

'The tree!?'

[------]

MoonShadow ran/flew from shadow to shadow as she went a round-about way to her rendezvous point. As she ran along the walls of homes, she glanced up to check on the flying beast, only to see it moving toward the library.

'Damn!'

She started to move directly across the road to get to the tree over open ground, when she was tackled back into the shadow of an alley.

"Umph!"

She was about to strike at her attacker when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"What in Tartarus do you think you're doing?!"

Star Watcher was holding her to his chest as he pressed her into the shadows.

"What in blazes were you thinking?"

She stared at him in disbelief and a bit guiltily. She had decided leave on an assignment as a messenger without informing him. She had not wanted to wake him up from his rest in fear that he would aggravate his injuries in order to keep her safe or in an attempt to go with her.

(----)

Watcher had volunteered to be one of the patrol who escorted a Ponyville native named Fluttershy, to her cottage near the forest. While they had secured the area, StarWatcher had been caught in the path of a raging wounded manticore that had erupted from the forest. He had been knocked unconscious and was almost mauled before the others had rescued him.
The details had been a bit sketchy from the other guards, but apparently she had managed to calm it down and inspect its wounds. This was where the story went sour.

The many wounds that the beast had suffered were a combination of severe lacerations and what they had first assumed to be thorns.

It wasn't until closer examination that showed that they were not thorns but in fact spikes that were embedded deep within the flesh of the beast.

The sight of the ammunition used by the weapons of the Ursa Menors had caused several of the guards to panic, until they were calmed as well by Fluttershy. She had patched up the manticore the best she could in the time she was given by the commander of the group before she forced them to leave.

It was on the way back that Fluttershy had taken a closer look at StarWatcher only to find that her initial evaluations of his injuries were incorrect.

The concussion had been worse than she thought, as well as well as that she had not had enough time to find that he had several broken ribs from the impact of the barging animal.

(-----)

MoonShadow stared into the eyes of her compatriot and saw only worry. She was flattered that he cared so much for her and yet indignant that he sought to stay with her at nearly all times, that, and he seemed to be keeping a secret from her, one that she had been patiently waiting for him to reveal ever since she visited him in the hospital.

{----}

She entered the hospital foyer and slowly walked to the nurse at the front desk to get StarWatcher's room number.

Looking around, Moon could see a clear split between the uniforms of the Solar Empire and the New Lunar Republic. While there were some groups that had uniforms intermixed, the majority still seemed to have some sort of grudge against each other.

'Looks like some rivalries still haven't been absolved,' she thought as she passed several NLR soldiers who attempted to snap to attention before she waved them down with a slight smile. Approaching the front desk she smiled at the receptionist who asked who she was there to see.

After getting Watcher's room number she walked briskly to the stairs, eager to see her comrade and yet apprehensive as well.

The first few times that she had seen him, he had been heavily bandaged and in a coma from the range of his internal injuries caused by the spike during the battle.

For reasons that the doctors could not explain, the damage done by the spike seemed to somehow hamper the healing effects of their magic for a time. To Moon's horror, Watcher had been clinically dead for a short time before a unicorn with an affinity for electricity brought him back.

Now after a week of recovery he was healing normally and would be out of the hospital and back into her squad soon enough.

As she entered his room, she could have sworn that he had hidden something under pillow. After a short talk where she berated him for his arrogance on the battlefield they moved on to more peaceful topics.

Throughout the whole time, Moon had seen him twitch several times almost as he was going to reach behind his back but never went past a few inches, always trying to pass it off as an itch on the arm or such.

She was curious of what he was trying to do, but didn't push the issue. He would reveal his secret at some point or another as was his nature, and she would wait patiently as she did all those years ago when he had given her a portrait of the Moon's rise over the mountains for her birthday.

{------}

Dan

Dan slowly piloted the drone until it hovered about a foot above a two story building that resided about 150 meters from the tree, or as he had now discovered, the very literal tree-house. He switched between the different views on the drone and examined the tree by thermal and metallic imaging as he switched the drone to its land form.

The rotor cowls spun until they reached a form similar to wheels, and the drone fell the short distance to land on the roof of the building, making a soft *clonk* as it did so.

The drone slowly creeped to the edge of the roof and Dan watched with curiosity as the two beings that he had seen before darted through what seemed to be a front door.

Dan shook his head and waited until the thermal images of the building had calmed down before he drove the drone off the roof at full-speed and began slowly maneuvering around buildings and through back alleys until he reached the tree.
The thermal cameras were showing him that there were a large cluster of unknowns within a room of the tree, while a large part of it remained cold. This should not have been possible considering that the tree was a major hotspot not a few minutes before.

‘Hmm…let’s see if we can’t a peek shall we?’

Dan’s curiosity was growing with every passing second as he guided the drone to a window, using the onboard grappler to hook onto a branch that was directly above the window, which allowed him to observe quietly without the incessant buzzing of the drone in its airborne form.

{-----------}

Princess Luna was currently waiting in her sister’s most favored student’s library, listened to a report from one of her Special Forces Operatives. Her face was grim as she remained on a padded chair and slowly leaned forward to tap her subordinate on the shoulder.

“Rise Lieutenant, and go assist your fellow.”

She motioned towards the other soldier who was trying to replace fallen books to the shelves of the once proud Ponyville library. The bandages wrapped around his chest were hampering his ability, and the two could tell that he was in pain even if he did not admit it.

Moon Shadow nodded and moved quickly to steady Star Watcher before he teetered over from the large stack of books in his arms. He had been insistent to the resident librarian that he would help to clean up the building as it was his earlier bumbling that had knocked over the shelves in the first place.

Luna sighed and reached over to a small coffee table that held her notes and several maps. It was placed close to the chair to allow her ease of access when the War Room in the basement was too crowded. As of right now, it was surrounded be two of her generals, her sister, and two Solar subordinates.

The report was troubling to say the least. The patrols had picked up traces of increased movement within the Everfree forest and several had not returned, grim news indeed to the princess of the night. This along with the sighting of one of the Ursa’s accursed beasts that was flying over the town, were the cause of her sister’s recent anxious movement within the War Room.

‘They couldn’t have discovered our presence here…could they?’

Luna was worried, recent events had shown that the Menor’s had been searching for something, something that garnered the use of the majority of their forces. Her own intelligence forces had not been able to gather any hard evidence of what they were searching for. Any attempt she made was easily countered, much to her great sadness and fury. She had already sent eight of her best Stallions and Mares to their deaths before receiving word of their discovery. She had immediately recalled all the others that she had in the field, fearing for their safety, and refusing to sacrifice anymore lives for a fruitless search for answers. The most that they had been able to gather was that, the Ursa Menors were traveling between the major population centers of Equestria, occasionally making raids on small outlying villages.

(------)

This in itself infuriated both her and Celestia a great deal. They were cowards who preyed on the weak and disappeared before any of the quick reaction forces could reach them, most having to settle for clearing up the bodies.

It wasn't until they had executed a strike on the Canterlot Castle that they discovered the object, or rather beings, of their interest…the princesses themselves.

And so began the terrible game of cat and mouse that the two sides had been playing for the past week. This knowledge was not public of course, but rather only those in high positions and each princess's own personal guard were privy to the information. The ever changing locations and roving command center were taking a toll on their organization, and protection, but so far they had been able to avoid being discovered.

Ponyville was by far one of their least favorite decisions as a place to hide, but under the pestering of their advisors, they submitted. The presence of the elements, and the three garrisons of intermixed troops (Neutral, NTR, SE) provided an almost inconspicuous defense for the residents.

(-----)

Luna slowly rose from her chair and arched her back as she stretched attempting to relieve the taught muscles of her back, and moved sluggishly to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. The drink had become on of her closest compatriots during these trying times, and she would not allow anything to spoil her few moments of peace.

She stared out the kitchen's window to gaze upon the small town as she gently tipped the mug and took small sips from the steaming liquid. The heat coursed through her body and she savored the small rush of energy that the caffeine provided no matter how short. She knew that with this new found alertness, she could clear the fog in her mind and be better able to react to any situation that could arise, as well as be better tuned to her surroundings...especially that low buzzing noise that was outside the kitchen window.

{-----}

Dan watched the short conversation between the female soldier and her apparent superior, and marveled at the interior of the building and was practically salivating at thought of the plethora of new, raw information that resided only a few meters from the drone's claws.

He moved the drone up its cord and used its claws to drag it carefully along the branch towards one of the upstairs windows, intent on gathering at least some literature for study, even if they'd probably never come here again.

(-----)

10 minutes later

Dan moved he drone out the window he had come in and slowly began to lower it to the ground, precious cargo secured firmly in its claws.

As the drone came level with what he had discovered to be the kitchen window, it came to an abrupt stop. Dan's eyes were wide as he looked down at the figure who was staring out of the window. He immediately recognized her as the soldier's superior, but stared at her clothes which consisted of a pair of shorts and a light dark blue blouse. Her hair was a deep purple and seemed to flow in a nonexistent breeze.

'She can't be much older than her early twenties!' he thought.

He watched as she lifted up the mug of steaming liquid and took careful sips of it. He was entranced by the way she moved, studying every little gesture to attain some sort of understanding of who she was.

'The lifted finger, delicate semblance, light complexion, and...a tiara? Must be part of the ruling class then...'

Dan continued to study her features and admired the way her eyes lit up as she sipped the drink...until she looked up.

'Oh Shit!'

He made the drone climb as quickly as he could back forge safety of the branch, disregarding stealth for speed. The last he saw of the young woman was her widening eyes and he heard her cry, "GUARDS!"

"Damn it..."

Once he had unlatched the drone from its cable he made it leap off the branch as it converted into its aerial form, the weight of the book making it dip down close to the ground before it began to rise.

(------)

Luna saw this 'thing' hovering just outside the window and watched stunned as it moved upward out of sight. She had no idea what it was of course, but that didn't stop her from making the most logical assumption that she could.

"GUARDS!!"

She turned and ran to the main hallway of the library towards the entrance to the basement. Already, the heads of her two special forces soldiers popped around the shelves that they were organizing, followed quickly by the rest of their bodies. She could here the clatter of broken clay behind her as well as the heavy thumping footsteps coming up the basement stairs.
The two soldiers flew past her towards the entrance to the library drawing their weapons. Luna didn't need to explain what happened, recent events had already shown the nature of the situation.

CRASH

Luna whipped her head around as the basement doors flew open, revealing her sister and their generals.

"Twilight teleported to the hospital to warn her friends and the mayor," Celestia spoke first as her orange sundress billowed around her and the generals moved to take up positions, swords drawn and magic at the ready.

Luna still had apprehensions about working with her sister, but the safety of their subjects trumped their views. After all, what good would a government be if their were no citizens?

Luna skidded to a stop as she reached her bag, which held her armor and weapons, and quickly began to outfit herself. While she could summon her armor of the night, lessons with one of her quartermasters had taught her to not rely on her magic armor.

(-----)

He had challenged the effectiveness of her armor and fought her in a ring to prove his case. No magic and dulled weapons were his methods. His favorite weapon being a wooden staff which he used to beat her in over 15 matches. Since her armor required a certain amount of concentration to hold in existence, he used the staff and clever stances to distract her and break her concentration. Once her armor was gone it was only a matter of seconds before he had disarmed her. By the end of her lessons, along with a good collection of red welts, Luna had learned to always go into battle with her magic armor overlapping her real armor, providing a double defense and allowing her to concentrate fully on her battles.

Celestia operated with only light leather armor under her Solar armor, she depended much more on her magic, but was able to hold her armor in focus longer due to her experience with her poker face in the day court, listening to the prideful aristocrats.

(-----)

Celestia stood in her sundress watching as her sister prepared herself for battle. She was tempted to follow her sister's example, but was still skeptical of the 'possibly' incoming attack. Her sister had an eye for the unusual and the reports brought in by her covert operatives was troubling. It wasn't enough to warrant either a mobilization or a relocation but it was better to be safe then sorry.

"Luna...do you really think that they would be able to strike so quickly?"

Luna's eyes centered on hers as she tightened the straps of her boots.

"By all the accounts of your specialists," she sneered, "the Menors are still around the area of Manehatten though they have not done any hostile actions as of late."

Luna was about to reply when a bright flash of light erupted in the center of the room revealing a bleeding unicorn who was clutching at a spike in his thigh.

"The...," he gasped in pain his face twisted into a horrible grimace, "the beasts are at the town's western edge...they attacked a group of citizens who were retrieving some of their possessions from what remains of their residence, the element of laughter was assisting them."

He finished his report and groaned as he tightened a strip of cloth around his leg.

ROAR!!!

{-----}

Dan took the book from the claws of the drone and began to feverishly flip through the pages like a man possessed, only stopping for a brief moment to read the cover.

It read, 'A Brief History of Modern Equestria' by a Professor Do.

'A brief history? This could provide all the information that I need!'

ROAR!!

'Oh no...'

Dan's eyes darted upwards as he tried to determine the source of the sound and quickly reached for his weapon, undoing the safety as he switched his view to the drone that he still had buzzing around the town.

'Where the hell did that come from?'

Looking at the drone's display he could see the 6 hostile indicators that revealed the positions of the attacking, now retreating, Van. Scanning them, Dan's mouth became a grim line as 5 more unknown signs appeared accompanying them.

He flew the drone as quickly as he could towards the group before they disappeared into the forest. They were a few meters from the forest when his HUD identified the unknowns.

'What the hell? They took hostages?!'

A/N: So everyone...New chapter is up and I'm late for an event so if you find any mistakes please let me know.
I'll try an have the next one up by early Nov.