Once more, Dear friends

*Saddle Arabia, Palace Dungeon*

Twilight adopted a fighting stance as well her horn lighting up and stood in front of Luna glaring

“Identify yourself!” The unknown pony was silent only staring ahead. Twilight took the moment to look them over. She saw that they had a rifle of some kind on their back. Several grenade looking objects and a few knives. They had the appearance of an assassin. Yet they did not try to strike her from behind and their stance was relaxed, ready to move at a moment's notice. The pony took a single step forward, another explosion went off that shook the room slightly, Luna and Twilight stood unfazed by it.

“I won’t ask again!” She growled and glanced at the prisoner moving in front of him tensed and ready to defend him while Luna watched the intruder with an unreadable look on her face as she pulled two short swords from under her wings.The pony looked around the cell for a moment and then looked over to Twilight meeting her eyes, Twilight noticed something very odd about the ponies eyes. There was no excitement, no fear. None of the usual feelings that a normal pony felt when facing down an enemy, their eyes were focused and their body relaxed.

“These chambers….They were built long ago. They were made specifically to hold the most dangerous prisoners while interrogating them. In most magic does not work….This is the only one where it does. Curious is it not?” The pony’s voice identified them as a mare.

Luna frowned looking at Twilight as she glanced back at her as she pulled her combat knife from her shoulder and pistol from her hip.

“Put your weapon down or I will use lethal force. That is your one and only warning.” Luna slowly moved towards her while Twilight stayed watching the mare closely.

“ I don’t know why don’t you tell us why it’s the only chamber?” She frowned at the unfeeling look in the mare’s eyes while keeping her pistol training on the mare and standing in front of Madul.

“It is because this chamber houses the royal escape tunnel….And one of you is standing over the entrance right now.”

Twilight out of the corner of her eye saw Luna fall and fired as the mare disappeared appearing to her right with the barrel of her rifle to the Majors head only to be knocked aside as it fired the bullet going into the roof as Twilight fired again, the mare began dodging the bullets and swung the rifle at her while Twilight dodged and turned lashing out with a kick that was blocked and got one in return, knocking her away as the mare aimed at Madul only for the rifle to be shot out of her magical grasp as it clattered to the floor.

Twilight moved in firing as the mare seemed to phase away from danger and pulled her own knife charging back at Twilight silently as she ran out of ammo and dropped the pistol pulling her knife in front of her as they slammed into each other rolling on the floor as sparks flashed and the two scrambled to their hooves as her hood fell back

Twilight finally got a good look at the mare. She was very odd looking mare, she had cold blue eyes with a pale white coat. Her mane was a very pale blue and had a single scar over her left eye. Twilight surmised she was middle aged, but beyond that could not read the mare.

“Impressive Major. Not many ponies can say they have lasted this long against me. But this fight of ours must be cut short, we will meet again.” The mare threw a grenade at Twilight. Twilight caught it with magic but it exploded instantly, causing odd colored smoke to fill the room, Twilight started coughing as the room started to spin and she fell over onto the floor, she saw the mare take her knife and dive it through Madul’s skull and pull it out in a moment. She thought she heard Madul say something a word, a name she wasn't sure. Ciper she thinks it was. The mare turned around and left the room, Twilight rose to her hooves and staggered towards the door before falling to the floor. She heard the sound of wings behind her and heard Luna call her name.

“Twilight!” The alicorn moved through the room and found her major on the floor coughing and their captive dead growling as she picked the mare up putting her on her back and saw a shadow of the attacking mare and growled giving chase

The mare ran down the hall vanishing around the corner.

Luna heard several guards yell at her to stop and then heard the sound of somepony falling to the ground. She turned the corner and saw the guards falling over with their hooves near their throats as they coughed with black smoke surrounding them. Luna used her magic to disperse the remaining smoke and ran past the guards, she hoped they would be okay, but could not allow the mare to escape.

As she pursued she felt Twilight stirring on her back, worrying her greatly she hoped that what Twilight breathed in was not going to kill her. She felt anger rise up inside her, she wished to unleash her power and destroy the way out for the mare, but she knew if she did that she could endanger the lives of many others.

The mare turned the corner and the running stopped, she heard a small explosion and the sound of something falling over and glass shattering. Luna Turned the corner and growled there were 2 exists now. One out of a large window the other through a hole in the wall large enough for a pony to fit through. They both went in opposing directions and the wrong choice would allow the mare to escape. She heard hoof steps behind her and saw a medic along with some guards and the prince.

She heard Twilight groan as she sat her down while the medics and prince ran up to her.

“Take care of her. We will pursue the enemy.” She took off going through the window.

Luna saw the mare jump from one roof to another and turned her head to look at luna. Her hood was back on and the mare's face was hidden. The mare looked down and jumped out of Luna’s sight.

Luna took to the skies and flew over to where the mare was keeping a watchful eye out for an ambush or sniper. The mare was nowhere to be seen and so Luna realised a magic pulse to look for the mare, the pulse told Luna that the mare was running through an alleyway nearby and Luna flew just above it spotting the mare, she was about to unleash a spell to wound the mare when a young stallion and a young mare came into sight the young mare hid behind the stallion yelling out in shock and fear as the unknown mare threw a bomb at them. Luna growled and quickly teleported the young ponies out of the way of the bomb which exploded with white smoke. Only a normal smoke bomb.

She growled and shot into the sky looking around sending another pulse but couldn’t find her as she started to search the area. The mare having smirked and hid in one of the shops shielding herself from the alicorns pulse as the princess flew away making her smirk wider waiting for her to be out of view and headed out of the shop when a blinding pain hit her in the jaw.

“You’re trying to hard to hide yourself.” The mare looked up to see Twilight as she frowned when she heard the sound of a rifle being cocked and looked to see the prince and a few guards pointing their rifles at her while she sighed and went to bite down only for Twilight to shove her blade between her teeth.

“No easy way for you.” She reached into her mouth pulling out a suicide pill making her frown and glare at her.

“Common Imperial Tactic. Kill yourself to avoid capture and torture.” She tossed to the ground as she crushed the pill.

The mare had an angered glare on her face and looked around, she had been found out as an agent of the Imperium...But there was no way out of this for her, she could make it so they didn't think she was Imperial.

“Imperial? Of course an Infidel like you would assume that, the Imperials betrayed us long ago, to die in service of our holy war against the false Shik and his bastard son is a great honor. Madul was a great general who lead us for years against you. It pained me to end the life a great leader such as him.” Her accent was perfect, gained from years of practice and spending time around rebels. Twilight frowned, it was clear she was now unsure if she was Imperial. When last they spoke she hid her Imperial accent in case she was in a situation like this. She spotted a slight glint in a far off window and several others.

Twilight frowned as she stared at the mare while she remembered something that Madul had said.

“A perfectly executed assassination, an attack to disguise it. If your great general was so great then he would have had a better plan to attack me in the desert yesterday When it was only I and the prince that knew of my accompanying of the Arabians. This attack was flawless well...Until this point… Wouldn’t you agree? Cipher. It’s very suspicious how you can pull this off to kill our prisoner just as he was going to tell us who his contacts were.” She growled pulling robes open more seeing the signs of torture and conditioning she had seen before.. From Vanguard spies that were caught.

“Cipher 1 had been very hard to break… But in the end we got what we wanted. And you’re going to tell me what I want.. Imperial spy.”

“A SPY!? From the Imperials!!!? You dare attack us when we have shown no hostility to you!?” The prince glared at the mare as his soldiers pushed the rifles into her temple.

“You forget that I’m hunting you Vanguard. And I’ve learned a lot from my encounters and battles with you. You’re crafty and very tricky but that’s where you expose yourself. It’s too perfect.” She smirked at the glaring mare.

“It’s nice to see some emotion on that blank face dear. We will take this one your highness. It seems your dungeon is no longer secure” She smiled at the spy.

The spy then had a look on her face of frustration. Not towards Twilight, or the situation even. But the kind of frustration Twilight only saw when one was forced to do something before they were ready for it.

“This operation has been compromised, all agents are now in danger. This operation must be purged.” Her voice was almost robotic, at that moment two of the prince's guards fell over dead and several more looked around in shock for hostiles, two more fell over dead and Twilight checked the roof tops and the buildings for signs of a sniper, but there wasn't one it was at that moment she realized what had happened. The shop was an Imperial safehouse most likely and now she had walked right into their hooves. The spy smirked,

“I believe you won't be taking me anywhere, as for Princess Luna...She will be delayed chasing me...Or so she thinks. I had not expected things to turn out this way, but this is quite fortuitous. Major Sparkle, tell me how does it feel to be trapped like a rat?” Twilight had a look of fury in her eyes but looked over to the prince, if she killed the spy the Imperials would kill the prince and she could sense that Luna was too far off to return to help her in time. She snarled and backed away from the spy,

“All of you drop your weapons, you are now guests of Imperial Intelligence. We never dreamed we would capture the prince. This operation has been compromised, but not unsalvageable. The rest of the prince's guards won't be arriving to help him either. They will be busy with a little...Rebel incursion in the palace. The only ones who know that the Imperium is involved...Are right here and won't be going telling their friends anything.”

*5 minutes earlier with Luna.*

Luna flew high in the sky and realised another pulse looking for the unknown mare when felt a sudden rush of danger and raised her shield as a sniper round bounced off it, she looked down to see the mare in the same Blue robes run into the trade district, which had many shops open and ponies and other races going about their business. She growled and landed, knowing she would have to play the mares game to find her, she used an illusion spell to disguise herself as a normal pegasus with bright blue fur and entered the crowds.

Luna scanned the area and spotted a pony in a blue robe similar to the one she was tracking. The pony turned their head and she saw it was a stallion bartering with another pony. She frowned and continued scanning the crowd, the many sounds and smells of the trade district made it difficult to focus for most, but not her.

She listened and watched, for a good few minutes she simply walked through the crowds before feeling something approaching her from behind. She prepared to draw her knife and turned around quickly only to see it was a tourist who tried to ask her for directions. Luna easily disappeared into the crowd and continued onward, she felt like she would never find this mare if she kept on like this.

But then she spotted a pony in a blue robe enter an alleyway trying to slink away and Luna followed. She entered the alleyway with her guard up and spotted the pony in robes who threw a smoke bomb down and after the explosion started to run. Luna pursued and shed her disguise and followed the mare once again.

The mare dropped several balls which rolled towards luna. Luna raised her shield as the black smoke filled the air and she ran through it, Luna stopped once she was through the smoke and looked around the mare had vanished. Luna looked around and realised another pulse once finding the mare who was close by hiding behind a stand.

Luna knew that the mare was trying to lure her in and stepped out into the street and then used her magic to blast the stall, the stall exploded and the mare was sent flying. Luna went over the mare pinning her and ripped the hood off only to see a frightened young mare with a green coat and red mane who was crying. She recoiled slightly and released another pulse. Finding only the young mare here.

“P-p-please don't hurt me. S-s-somepony grabbed me and made me put this robe on a few minutes ago. I ran away from them and hid behind the stand...Please don't hurt me I don't want to die.”

“Then you will come with us. This cat and mouse game ends, if you try to run we will not hesitate to use force.” She heard an explosion go off at the center of the city making her go wide eyed.

“What is going on?!” She grabbed the mare with her magic and took flight towards the city center.

*With Twilight at that moment*

The mare sighed but didn’t move from her spot and could see a few shadows coming towards her.

“Sorry but I know what you Imperials do to captives. You Vanguard being some of the most brutal in your interrogations… Well your part of the Vanguard anyway.” The mare looked at her confused as Twilight’s horn lit up and the prince disappeared as her horn glowed brighter letting off a pulse and finding the sniping positions and the emotionless agents.

“You will come with us Cipher.” She hit the mare in a pressure point as she blacked out while Twilight grabbed the dead guards rifles and started to fire into the windows with quick precision picking off the snipers as automatic fire came from the safehouse while Twilight charged her horn and fire into the building reducing it to rubble

*Eagledor, Talon City 2 Weeks Later*

“Roger that darling, ETA 30 seconds to drop point. Flight of 6 fighter/bomber squadrons are on the way and will be there to provide CAS. Put smoke on your position darling, it wouldn’t do to have you turned to paste by our own.” Rarity leaned back sighing as she pulled a cigarette lighting it blowing out a cloud.

[Roger that sugarcube!] Rarity could hear the sound of gunfire and explosions in the background.

Command had a new interesting idea. With the use of thousands of pegasus and griffons that were going to bomb the entire front line of the Imperial line. And then launch a massive Armored Invasion that was going to hit in three waves under the cover artillery fire. Their latest attempt through the tunnels had spurred the Allies to step up Operation Breakout. 14 Armored Divisions, 20 Infantry Divisions and more than 60 artillery batteries would be just the kick off of the operation.

The first would attack and break through the Imperial first and second line. Then reinforcements would push past the first wave chasing them back while retaking the City of Lions the Capital of Eagledor and hold their ground against any counter attacks while the last wave would reinforce the second and destroy the any enemy left from the counter attack. After that the first wave would move up and secure the capital while the second and third would merge chasing them all the way to DoeHo with close air support where they will retake their positions they lost and hold until supply can reach them with reinforcements.

Though such a thing wouldn’t be very easily hid from the Imperium who seemed to have a way to find things out. So they called on some of their best to make it seem like they were weaker than they really were. Keeping most of the up building of forces behind the lines and under cover while Germane, Equestrian and Griffon’s devised a way to keep the operation under wraps by seeming to build up in another strategic location , and that was Dream Valley.

It was genius to put it lightly as they placed fake tanks and buildings while having dummies of ponies and griffons on little pulley systems to make it look like there was personnel manning the site and down to laundry hanging on clothes lines. The Illusion Corps was formed and all they could do was wait for Twilight and Luna to return and give the word on the new tanks.