After my tinkering, we had forty five minutes till final mission brief. I finished the five suits in fifteen minutes. Hell, I even managed tweak the gear to use less power and managed to drop the discharge by a full magical ampere! As far as our date with shining, I’d have Puzzle cover for her so Shining doesn’t connect the dots. Night Fury is a big girl, she can understand that this takes priority. Fun fact about the distance from canterlot to Trottingham by train it would take at least a week and a half and that's without stops. A normal flight would take about a day, so I’d have to hazard a guess. I’d be flying the team on my carrier.

Whilst I was formulating my plan, someone bumped into me. "Ah, sorry about that. I can be a little clumsy when I'm in a rush!" I could tell by the voice that is was Sunset. She seems a bit off. My eyes caught a view of the goods and she knew it. Sunset stood upright and her face was redder than her hair.

I better apologize before I get reprimanded. "Sorry Captain, I should have paid more attention to my surroundings. It won't happen again! " I threw in a Japanese bow for good measure. And she's totally laughing at me right now, isn't she?

"At ease, Sergeant. I'm a squad captain, not a Captain. My actual rank is Specialist. Celestia just likes calling me that." Wow, that's one hell of a misunderstanding.

There was another problem with this conversation. "Why the hell are you doing grunt work?" Sunset put her head down and to the side. What was she trying to get her mind off of? She’s not being bullied...is she? Diving into her emotional cocktail of grief sorrow and unwanted lust, I confirm my suspicions. She’s someone's plaything! Her pride must be stopping her from going to Celly. Well this might be blunt, but it has to said. "Sunset, who's abusing you, and don't lie to me."

Sunset froze in both terror and shame. "I'm waiting, my little pony!" Maybe that was too forceful. How about a different approach. "Sunset, I just want to help you. You don’t need to be afraid of me. The only one I'm gonna hurt is whoever's been emotionally beating and actually raping you!"

"Take a look in the mirror, hotshot." Why do I need to look in a mirror, Eris? She gave me an audible sigh that screamed 'just do it'. Craning my neck to the mirror (which the castle is full of). All of my blades were unsheathed and I was smoking and what's worse is she was now afraid of me. I need her to know I'm not the bogeyman here.

I took a breath to calm myself and sheathed my blades. As soon as I was calm I put my tail on her shoulder. "There are two ways this can go, they both involve Celestia and only one spares you your dignity. Just tell me who it is so I can shove my tail up their ass before I leave for my mission."

Her ears drooped. "I can't tell you!" She must be terrified of this guy if she doesn't think I have what it takes. "No seriously, I can't tell you. He's got this gag spell on me. I've tried telling the Princess twice already and both times it came out as gibberish." If she can't dispel it then it's gotta be some next level shit.

If she can't tell me then I'll guess. There’s no way any of the petty officers have the mojo to gag her like this. She’s in a special unit that take orders from... that's it! "What, tell me, tell me!" You'll find out in a minute. "How long has the Archmage been using you as his plaything and are there others?" Good, she’s smiling; that means I get to frikase the little shit. Time to write a letter

"Yo, Celly. The Archmage has been raping and belittling Sunset Shimmer and others under his command. This letter has a few memories attached thanks to my, well you know. By the time you get this I will have already beaten him to an inch of his life to force him to undo the gag spell so there will be witnesses. Oh and if he hasn't begged you to throw him in Tartarus, I will send him their the other way and enjoy it." I wrote that shit after I beat him senseless. Oh almost forgot! I shove my tail up his rectum and bump my tail and commenced tail raping him without any lubricant in front of the group that had been freed. The sick fuck actually came two minutes later. The other girls headed for the court with my papers in hoof *Burn* letter sent.

"Get used to being someone's bitch. Shimmer, help me take care this?" She started sucking my dick. "Oh shit yeah! As good as this is, I meant send him to Celly." She did that without stopping the attention my dick was getting.

"I've been forced to fuck that pig for months! Now show me what a real stallion can do." Since I flew shimmer and I here, I have about thirty five minutes to give her what she wants.

"We got ten minutes for fun then we gotta go for briefing. Yes you heard me right, you're one of mine now. Oh yeah, welcome to Echo."

Fifteen minutes later

"I thought you said ten minutes, sir." Great, she’s being a smartass...she's kinda cute when she laughs though.

"You're lucky you're cute or I might have to reprimand you." Sunset wiggled her eyebrows as we neared the briefing room. "Not that kind of punishment, dork!"

"Ahem" Shimmer and I were the first to get here. But that voice can only belong to one person, Celestia. "Thank you for little 'delivery', Storm. I had my suspicions he was up to something and based off your behavior, the two of you were up to a little something of your own. Sunset, I cannot rid you of your horrible experience. But I shall leave you in Storm Shadow's care in both meanings of that statement. Make each other happy and keep it professional when you're on assignment." We both gave a happy affirmative and I got to teaching Sunset her new role.

Twenty minutes later

We were all assembled for a final briefing about ten minutes prior to mission. Before us was the Colonel and Celestia. "Echo, your mission shall commence once this briefing is terminated. Sergeant Storm Shadow, the floor is yours."

As soon as I had the go ahead, I stood up. "Echo this is a time sensitive matter, as you are all aware. Normal means of travel would have us in Trottingham in anywhere between twenty four hours and a week. We cannot afford to waste time here. My plan is to have you travel in a subsonic carrier I had been working on and have confirmed its integrity. This method will have us on site within six hours. The carrier will land here in a remote area outside of the town. The carrier shall serve as a CIC to which our newest edition, Specialist Sunset Shimmer shall be running from now on. Medusa, you're sitting this one out. It's pretty cold up there around now."

The Colonel raised an eyebrow and Celestia had a confused look on. "Sergeant Doe will be filling in for you. I really can't have you hibernating on us. Doe, I'm trusting you to not undermine my authority. Please dont make me regret this decision. Shimmer, I've equipped the carrier with a control console for surveillance drones, which will be cloaked as well. Please keep in mind that the main goal is to terminate the situation with as little fatalities as possible. Echo, let's move out!"

As the crew left, Celly stopped me with a worried look on her face. "Please be careful Storm." She whispered as she hugged me. I gave her a smile and carried on to put my gear on and strap myself in.

"Smack her on the ass, you know you want to!" As tempting as that may seem I would be so grounded after this op was done. So no, I won't be doing that. "You're no fun sometimes!" Yeah, well I'm fun most of the time.

Medusa wasn’t happy about missing the action but she knew my decision was sound. She actually saw us off with a smile. "Kick this douchebag's ass something brutal!"

"You heard the lady Echo, Let's kick some ass!" Everyone yelled out an oorah to that. With the assistance of the launching catapult, we were airborne. Getting this thing airborne alone might be a bit of a bitch. But hey, one thing at a time. Ten minutes later, we arrive at the drop zone about a thirty minute trek away from town.

Shimmer deployed the drones that were recently equipped with an active camo mod. They seem to be working pretty well. "Okay Echo, here's your tutorial. Keep cloaked movement slow. The drones are small enough that they won't have this problem. But if you run, the cloaking field will fluctuate briefly. Another important fact you're cloaked, not invisible. Don't get too close to a target unless you can drop their asses quickly. The townsfolk are being mind controlled, so avoid lethal takedowns if possible. And lastly keep it quiet. Let's move"

I went with Doe and Landers and Soul were in the other group. Crows nest each with two guards were at our sides. Landers and I dropped them with arrows. We slowly advanced into the the town, keeping our eyes out for enemies and our ears open for any intel that Shimmer might feed us. A shaggy looking diamond dog was creeping on our location. Shit, he's sniffing us out.

"Echo, I've got multiple diamond dogs fixing on your position. I suggest making their neutralization your primary objective."

"Copy that, control. You heard her echo." With that we began our hunt for the dogs. The one that was near me looked right in my direction. Gotta slow my breathing and see if he's in his right mind. Doe had the same idea and was creeping up on him. Oh shit, he's got her scent. I got a glimpse of his eyes, which weren't glowing, he's a henchman. I clawed his throat out before he could get any closer to Doe and she moved the body into a nearby irrigation ditch. I dropped another dog that was in our path.

Cool thing about my being mostly dragon is I have superior senses to those dogs and just about anything I feel like hunting at the time. I let myself get surprised earlier, I don't think I want that happening again. It almost cost Doe her life. We turned the next corner and met up with Landers and Soul. "All clear Echo, nice going. Continue with primary objective. There should be a building a few meters northeast from your location. Cutting through the building should allow you easier access to the secure area." I'm sensing a but here. "There are Griffins there"

"Are their eyes glowing?"

"Yes, they also appear malnourished and weak. Infrared scans of the infrastructure indicates there's a lot of em. Caution is advised." We only have a few sleep canisters on us and we may need them later. But we can't exactly sneak past all those hungry griffins no matter how mindless they are.

"Alright Echo, switch to negotiator mode." The non lethal functions I had imbued into our weaponry was now active. Landers and my bows changed in format to deliver a mana arrow that would render targets unconscious for hours. Soul and Doe kept dart launchers at the ready. As we silently breached the building, we saw three groups. One was in the back and in a corner where we couldn’t get a shot off. They're currently pounding away at what I assume to be a female. It's too soon to initiate direct conflict and they're obviously not gonna kill her since they're horny, not hungry. The vic is on her own...for now. The second group was fighting over a piece of meat. The last one was. fighting for something higher up... oh ancestors, it’s a filly and she's still alive. This group was definitely hungry and would tear the girl to shreds. The team was in agreement, we ain’t watching this! We all fired on the fuckers without hesitation, taking down wave after wave of the hungry and horny griffins.

"Okay this is ridiculous! Flash bang!" That dazed the remaining griffins and allowed us to rescue the fillies. One of the fillies was a unicorn with pitch black fur and a violet mane. Poor thing has minor lacerations and bruises on her body but she fought them off. I also noticed that she was leaking semen from her fillyhood. Whoever was in charge used her till she couldn’t go on anymore then threw her in here. I guess it's the same for the other one. One problem at a time. I uncloaked and made my way to her.

"Easy honey I'm one of the good guys. Your mayor made it to Canterlot and my team was deployed to deal with this issue. What can you tell me about the current situation miss...." *hollow roar* One of the griffins got up and charged us. Doe dropped the dumbass and uncloaked, the others followed suit. "Soul, patch the other one up first. I'll burn that carcass." He did as I asked and got to doing doctor stuff with the other filly.

Gratitude was on her face. But is if for the rescue or that we did it non lethally? Could be the later since she's a filly. "My name is Black Lotus and I'm the mayor's daughter. I can tell you how it all happened."

According to Black Lotus, the one in possession of the apple is named Silver Rain. He was one of the main mine technicians to go missing in the cave in. He and his crew were thought dead. That thought had been confirmed false. Based off this information, it ain't hard to conclude that he found the apple during the time they were trapped.

Silver Rain must have compelled the dogs by using the apple. Considering the fact that these griffins are semi-mindless husks, he must’ve had some time to practice with it. "How long ago was the cave in, Lotus?" Doe asked as she moved to her. Lotus shrieked and cowered behind me.

She feels safe with me, nice. "Lotus, aisuru ko, I need you to answer that question."

She looks at me and smiles. "Watashi wa besuto o tsukushimasu. It was about two years ago and he did all this in two days. My friend Silver crow, the pegasus your dragon friend"

"Dragoon" I just had to Correct her on that one.

"Right, Silver and I didn't go down without a fight. We tried our best, but We're just two fillies! We didn’t stand a chance since most of the city's heavy hitters either fled, fell, or are currently under his control. We, as in Silver and my honor guard, the griffins you fell so easily. Attempted to take back the city. We failed, of course. To make a point Rain used the relic to compel all 12 of the guards rape and beat Silver and I in front of the townsman. And that was only six hours after my mother and Silver's father had escaped with their envoy to attain reinforcements. To make things worse, he had the griffins turned into what you saw." *Sniff*

I put my claw on her shoulder and let her cry in my chest. Silver walked over worse for wear than Black but she had been taken care of by Soul. The potion he gave her after stitching her up should help fix the rest. "Silver Crow and Silver Rain, any relation there?" Landers just had to address the elephant in the room!

"Miss Doberman, that fiend ain't no kin a mine! Just because two ponies have similar soundin names don't mean they got any relation!" She stomped her hoof to prove her point. I took the chance to get a good look at her. True to her name, she was pure silver in coloration. Her eyes were a deep blue and unlike lotus, she had her cutie mark. Which kinda reminded me of Led Zeppelin's take on Icarus... if they were a pony band. Not forget that she was cute as well.

"Control, we've located two VIPs. Please advise."

"Scans say your area's not clear yet. I suggest you clear the building before you carry on"

"Repeat that." I cannot be hearing this right.

"Area still has live targets, Sgt."

"Roger, will keep searching for bogies. Doe and Landers stay here and guard the girls. Soul with me, I'd like another fire breather with me just incase." I got no arguments from my crew at least. Lotus grabbed my tail and but those big purples to work. "I'll be right back. My friend and I just need to see if this place is safe." Lotus released my tail and got between Doe and Landers. Silver Crow grabbed pipe and added herself to the defensive formation as if it was second nature.

"What? I'm a cadet in the guard academy! I can be of use in a partial diamond formation around a VIP!"

I chuckled at her gusto. She must’ve made them work for it. "Iron's cool, but I think you'll fare better with Draconic steel." I handed her a katana I had forged and intended to give to Soul. "It's yours now, take good care it Draconic katanas don't rust and can cut through most things like a hot knife through butter." Soul looked a little disappointed. I gave him a pat on the back. "She needs it more than you do." He accepted my statement. Soul and I went into the final part of the building and were found that horrid smell near a small hole in the wall.

"Sergeant, the bogies are in front of you. They appear to be severely frightened. Take caution."

"Control, we're two dragoons this hole is big enough for a few onies at best. I think we'll be fine." Soul said his piece like the smartass he is. But he's got a point.

"If you're in your right mind come out this instant or we'll burn you alive. And just so you know, it will be a green and white flame. So expect soul crushing pain and motorary dysfunction leading on to an agonizingly slow death." They'd be dead in minutes but it would feel like hours. Way to work the crowd Soul. A group of four ponies (one unicorn and three earth ponies) came out of their hidey hole and followed us back to the main area.

"Control, I've got a few faces that need IDed."

"Copy that, Sergeant. Scanning IDs now. They appear to be some of the city's aristocrats. Give em the VIP treatment."

"Copy that, control."

"You cowards! I should take this blade and run it through your hearts." Silver cried in what tasted like righteous fury.

"Hold up pup, why would you do that. Did these guys do something wrong?" Landers asked with a puzzled look on her face. Actually, I'd like to hear that one myself.

The girls both had looks of pure rage on their faces. Eris you eating fucking popcorn?! "Less talking more Tom Clancy! I have a feeling this is going to be good!" Fine just mute the mic while you're eating that shit, ne? "Hai!"

"These maggots...no these amoeba pushed an innocent civilian into a flock of hungry behexed griffins, yeah that carcass you burned was a pony and a good one. She died so these fuckers could live! Then they put up a barrier and left us out of it and you know the rest." Shit, she’s telling the truth.

"Control, I rescind that statement. We found those other VIPs DEAD."

"Dead, sir?" I retold what I just heard for Shimmer. "Copy that Sergeant, give em what they deserve!"

"Girls, I don't think you want to see this." I said said as both my and Soul's mouths went ablaze.

"The fuck we don't, Midnight Ember was a saint to the community! We Owe it to her to watch these fuckers burn!" This cadet is hardcore, I want her! I'm gonna have to file the proper papers. Considering that Trottingham is a fucking city state they have a nice academy, but Canterlot's is the best. Chances of her saying yes after this are high.

As we drew closer, they began to tremble. "You're the good guys, you can't do this!" Wow, they're begging for their lives. Any mercy I would've shown them is now down the shitter.

All of Echo and the girls smiled toothy smiles. I think Soul and I were the scariest since our mouths were still smouldering. "Good guys, yes. Heroes, no. We're spec ops, pal. This mission don't exist and soon neither will you. Lotus restrain them, if you please." She did so and "Ready, Soul" he nodded and the dead men shook their heads I took a breath. "Fire" I did my best put a little soul in it.

"I love that song, Storm. Fire by the Canterlot Players, right?" I point a finger at Doe, she’s got taste! The screaming wouldn’t last long and it wouldn't raise any attention either, since that's what this place was intended for. By Rain's design at least. In a few minutes, they were dead and gone. And I put out the fire before there were any clear signs of said fire outside. A pile of smoke might of given us away.

"You girls have been through enough as it is but, I think we've breached protocol enough as is. You're gonna have to come with us." The drones "Control, expand the drones' cloaking field around these girls and guide them back to you slowly though. The cloaking field won't be as effective at fast speeds when you do that."

"Copy that, Sergeant."

Lotus and gave me a frightened look. "Have some faith in Silver and my coordinator, they won't let you down." She started crying a little.

"The girl really likes you Sarge, why don't you take her back. We can rest up here for a bit." I raised an eyebrow at Landers. "Not everyone here has a healing factor that kills fatigue, sir" She had a point and even Doe was looking fatigued. I shook my head and escorted the girls to the carrier and made it back without incident. The whole trek took about ten minutes. I'm just lucky there's no snow right now.

Walking back to the makeshift base camp, I noticed the team seemed in better spirits. "We ready to go, Echo?" Everyone took one last swig from their flasks and we were back on mission.

"So, Lotus has got the hots for you huh, didn't know you like em young."

Great I get to explain my aging process again! "Quit bitching and explain" That hurt Eris. "No, it didn't". Ok, you got me there. Well, here we go.

"Let me enlighten you on how dragons age mentally and physically. While I have the mental capacity of an adult of about twenty two years of age. That is not my age. By dragon standards I am technically a minor barely over eleven. The only reason I was in the army was dragoons mentally and physically age to a point at an accelerated rate then stop. While the age the mandatory enlist is fifteen (dragon) I was enlisted at fifteen (standard). Dragons age at a rate of 1 year for every two. Dragoons hyper age to eight within the first full (dragon) year and then age normally afterwards. After a dragon (or dragoon) reaches adulthood (25D), half aging ceases. As you all know, Dragons will live until they are forcibly terminated. Now can we get back to our regularly scheduled systematic slaughter of a group in possession of a 404, please." Irritation was oozing out of me. The crew could feel it and shut up.

We cut through the building as Shimmer suggested. We're surrounded by larger buildings the streets are paved and the air isn't as clean, we're in a urban area. "Good, you've made it downtown. I've managed to trace the 404's signal to an area further in. This area is going to be heavily guarded. Please be careful, guys." We all gave an "aww' at her concern and moved out.

"Control, route. Cloaked or not I'm not, I'd rather not be in the street."

"Won't have to look hard, I've found the 404 and its wielder! Take the alley to your left and walk it till you reach fourth and mane then you'll find the building where Rain appears to have set up shop. Be warned he's got heavy hitters under influence in there. The girls have given me some details on what a few of these warriors are capable of. Lethal takedowns may be necessary. You're not gonna like the building he took, Sir."

"Don't tell me...he took the academy?"

"Worse. He took the armory, sir." Chikushoume! Not only do we have to deal with glamoured elites, they happen to be well armed. I didn’t want to have to do it but I guess we really will have to kill some of the controlled. No, drop the thought. I'll deal with that when it's time. Rain's smarter than I thought. Not only did he take the armory but he has convoys of his own men (mostly dogs) patrolling the area for any possible threats. Hell, he's even got griffins doing skyward patrols. If we weren't so well cloaked, we'd or rather my team would be dead meat.

"Local knowledge, either one of you know of any tunnels near the barracks and armory area?" I'm just hoping for a long shot at this point. All other POEs are absolutely suicide.

"Local crow, here. There's a tunnel entrance about a half a klick southeast of your position. I'd use it to sneak out sometimes. Not many know about it, so you should be good." Nan seiko?!

"And how is that, was your mom an architect or something?"

"Actually sir, yes she is. She also flew away before Rain had control over the griffins or access to artillery. I'll give you directions as needed when you're down there and the code to make the path open into the buildings. It will only get you in near the academy but the buildings are interconnected via breezeways so you should have no trouble getting to Rain." If I hear one more coincidence, my mind might have to reboot. "I just remembered that there's a lot of concrete in the tunnels. Miss says we might not be able to talk to you so here's the code. Line up the kanji for Storm, Chaos, and Sun. In that order top to bottom." *kchuck errrrr*. We are experiencing technical difficulties, please bear with.

"Honey, I don't think now is the time for you to be crashing on me. Now get your obsidian ass back in the game or it's a cold war for the next two months!"

"...We need. Hey Sarge, we can't speak or read Japanese which characters do we need?" Doe asked

"Sorry guys. I went somewhere else for a second. Er, twenty minutes" I turned to Soul with a look of surprise. "You can't read the script of your homeland. Sekai de nani?"

Soul holds his claws up in defense. "Second generation Equestrian-Draconian, I speak it and practice a few of the customs for my grandparent's sake. You're the one from the motherland here. Think you could do your thing, sir?"

We've been uncloaked in these tunnels for about fifteen minutes, the cloaking systems should be fully recharged by now. "Cloak up Echo. We're going in."

Author's Note

Sup, readers. In case youre curious or have no funk background. The song Storm was singing was Fire by the Ohio players, I used Canterlot since I couldn't think of anything Mlp related with an O. Sorry that took so long to get this out! The next chapter will have a little more actual combat and a little less ghost action. What's in store for Echo squad. FIND OUT NEX TIme on MMM!