Subversion

Rainbow Dash was laying on her bed, relaxing a bit to unwind from the fact that she was pretty much at the academy whenever she wasn't training with her team. She was getting quite bored, sure the training was intense, but it just didn't have the feel of a challenge with consequences that an actual mission would have. The door opened, and she turned to see Blaze walk in and shut the door.

"We have a mission." Blaze paused and walked to the table in the center of the room, Rainbow Dash and Hunter quickly joined him for their briefing. "It's a stealth mission, infiltration, avoid combat."

"What's the target?" Hunter asked.

"A Zebra weapons lab. They're researching into bombs using the magic capacitors, command has been unable to get intelligence regarding it and feels the need to send a special ops team to infiltrate and gather the intelligence needed." Blaze replied.

"So an infiltration mission to gather data?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes, Rainbow. We should take light armor, the one with the cloaking enchantments, it would make it easier to avoid detection, should also take small, light weapons, would allow us better mobility."

"Is there a timetable on getting in and getting out?" Hunter asked.

"No, the lab is well hidden, and because of that they don't have many guards, but it could still be problematic." Blaze answered.

Blaze pulled out a map of the area where the lab is and placed it on the table, "Okay, here is the lab, here is the treeline, and here is our infiltration point." Blaze said, while pointing at each location.

"The lab is inside a mountain?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes, it makes it more difficult to detect and approach by land, but that's why we're going. We don't have to approach by land." Blaze paused, "To reduce the risk of our detection we will leave and arrive separately at the infiltration point, where we will meet, it should go without saying to be careful getting to the infiltration point, we will wait until we're all there to begin, unless something happens to change this."

"When do we start?" Hunter asked.

Blaze smiled, "Ready up, we're moving out immediately."

"Yes sir." Blaze and Rainbow Dash said in unison, and went to get their gear.

Hunter silently glided through the air, looking for the infiltration point and the rest of his team, he didn't see them yet, but the infiltration point was well hidden, so he kept looking. A few minutes later he spotted it and silently glided down to it and landed silently, the sound being muffled by the cloaking enchantments on the armor he wore, Ghost and Blaze were already waiting there for him, if it wasn't for the detectors built into the helmet he wouldn't be able to see either of them due to the cloaking enchantment.

"What took you so long, Hunter?" Blaze asked.

"Sightseeing." Hunter said sarcastically.

"Right." Blaze paused, "Ready team?"

Both Hunter and Rainbow Dash nodded their heads.

"Good, follow me." Blaze said and took off into a jump off the cliff, his target a overhang reaching out from the facility, a few hundred feet below, Rainbow Dash and Hunter both dived off after him, descending at a rapid pace, when they were less than a hundred feet from their target they spread their wings to slow their descent. They landed with a muffled thud, even the cloaking enchantments had it's limitations.

"You alright?" Blaze asked Hunter, whom had hit a little harder than expected.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay, good." Blaze replied and scanned their surroundings, "Looks clear, form up on the door." he ordered.

Rainbow Dash and Hunter hurried to the door, and took position on either side of it, awaiting Blaze's orders.

Blaze silently walked over to the door, and attempted to open the door. "It's locked, breach on three, one, two, three."

Rainbow Dash and Hunter simultaneously kicked the door in, it gave way and Blaze quickly moved inside to make sure they hadn't been detected. "Clear, move up." Blaze ordered.

Rainbow Dash followed Hunter inside, it was a small room, it had a long tunnel in the back that sloped downward, and was well lit.

"Stay on com channel three two seven." Blaze ordered and set his magic communicator's frequency to the correct channel, and preformed a quick test once they had all set it up properly.

"Okay, you know the plan, we each take a different section, Hunter, you're going to borrow one of their bombs, Dash, you have to get to the data core and extract the information onto the crystal you brought, while I go to a security room to make sure we're not going to all end up dead."

Rainbow Dash walked slowly down the corridor, it was well lit, and despite having the cloaking enchantment, she still didn't want to move any quicker, cloaking was not perfect, there was still a visible distortion, but if you weren't expecting it and weren't looking closely enough you wouldn't notice it. The hallway was empty but there were doors on both sides of it, one problem could arise if she was in front of a door when it opened. She heard a noise, and turned, a zebra had walked into the hallway and was reading a paper, probably containing some research notes, Rainbow Dash held her breath and stayed still as the zebra passed, paying no attention to the area where she was. Rainbow Dash exhaled, that probably wouldn't be the last time that happened.

Rainbow Dash started walking again, she had to find the data core, if she remembered correctly, and if the schematics were correct the data core should near the center of the lab, and she was nowhere near the center. Rainbow Dash stayed close to the wall, and peered around a corner, the hallway had a guard in it, and a zebra researcher was coming out of another room towards the end, she ducked back behind the corner to decide what to do. Okay, so there is a guard, with the cloak enchantment, if I walk slow enough I should be able to get past him, and even if he detects me, I should be able to handle him, although that is not a desired outcome... Rainbow Dash peered around the corner again, the researcher was gone by now, but the guard remained. Rainbow Dash inhaled and exhaled, before stepping out into the hallway, she stayed close to the wall to reduce her chances of being detected.

Rainbow Dash slowly inched down the corridor. So far so good... Then a door opened right in front of Rainbow Dash, the sudden shock almost caused her to jump, especially when a guard exited the room, followed closely by a zebra wearing an orange vest. What are they doing with convicts here? After the door shut and the guard and convict had passed on Rainbow started again, but froze when the guard guarding the door on the opposite side of the room looked at her. The guard starred right at her, she gulped, fearing she had been detected. The guard blinked, and turned away from her, Rainbow exhaled, and took another step forward, and paused, expecting the guard to charge at her, however when this didn't happen she slowly continued on her way.

Having reached the end of the hallway there was a new problem, the hallway she needed to go down had a door that required a zebra hoofprint to open, and that hadn't been in the schematic.

"Rainbow Dash, Hunter, I've made it to an unoccupied security station, where are you?"

"Outside of a research material storage area, there are two guards, I'm not sure I'll be able to get in undetected, may try to get one from a lab room instead." Hunter said over the com.

"I'm stuck at a door that shouldn't be here, it requires a zebra hoofprint to open." Rainbow Dash said, to an outside observer there was barely a sound made, but she was talking in a conversational voice.

"Okay Hunter, just get a bomb and get back to where we entered and wait on us, Dash, that's going to be a problem." Blaze paused, "I hate to say so, but you may need to take out a guard to gain access, think you can handle that Ghost?"

"Uh, I thought we were supposed to avoid combat?"

"We were, but plans change." Blaze paused, "Do whatever must be done to get the data, we need it."

"Yes sir, Rainbow out." Rainbow Dash replied and exhaled, turned and looked at the guard that had nearly detected her earlier. Rainbow Dash looked down at her legs and her hoof-blades, and quickly crossed to the other side of the hallway, and paused, checking the for oncoming traffic. It was clear, she then slowly approached the guard, when she was a few feet from the guard, he turned and looked directly at her. Rainbow Dash could tell the guard knew something was wrong, and quickly lunged at the guard, the guard wasn't expecting something like that and was knocked to the floor, unable to grab his sword to engage his assailant. Rainbow Dash held the zebra down, and quickly put her hoof-blade to the zebra's throat, then slid the blade across his throat. The guard's eyes revealed he knew what was happening, and it only took a few seconds for the guard to bleed out, she'd have to worry about the mess later, she grabbed the zebra and slowly pulled him over to the other side of the hallway and to the door, upon reaching it she put the guard's hoof on the panel, it flashed green and the door opened.

Rainbow Dash peered around the corner, it was clear. Rainbow Dash then quickly ran into the new hallway, she knew she wouldn't have much time now because of the guard's death, but with any chance they would be long gone when the realized what had happened. She looked around, according to her memory the data core should be... There. Rainbow Dash looked around, upon making sure it was clear, she bolted across the hallway for the data core room. The door on the other side of the hall opened, and a guard walked out, fortunately, the guard took off in the opposite direction from where the dead guard's body was. When the guard had passed she put her hoof on the handle of the door, and slowly turned, it wasn't locked. She opened the door partially and walked inside, she closed the door silently, except the door make a ding when it closed, and she winced at the sound.

"Okay... Now to retrieve-" She heard a noise coming from behind her, the door was opening. Rainbow Dash panicked slightly and jumped into the air and silently flew into a corner, Two guards walked in.

"I swear I heard something."

"I'm sure it was nothing, you're just imagining things, don't worry about it."

"Still, it's better to be on the side of caution due to the research we're doing here, isn't it?"

"True, but I think you're just being paranoid."

"Maybe you're right."

After the guards left and the door had closed Rainbow flew back to the floor, and she walked over to the data core console, she took the crystal she had, and found the import export interface, and she put the crystal inside of it, the crystal glowed blue, signaling the terminal had accepted it. Rainbow Dash then ran a program on the crystal to automatically extract the information the data core held containing the magic bombs, a few minutes past. That must be a lot of data it's gathering... A few minutes later the crystal's glow turned green signaling it had completed the transfer, she then quickly and carefully pulled the crystal out of the interface and put it safely back into the pocket that she had specifically for it. "Okay, now to get out of here without any more incidents-"

"I have a major problem!" Hunter shouted over the com.

"Go ahead Hunter, I read you." Blaze responded.

"I accidentally set off one of the bombs, guards are rushing to the scene now, they're sounding the alarm!"

There was a loud buzzing sound and a light started flashing red.

"Hunter, don't bother trying to get another bomb, just get out of there, Rainbow, grab the data and get out of the data core room, this complex just got active-" Blaze paused, "I've got guards headed my way, I have to go, Dash, the guards found the body, get out of there, now!"

And with that being said she didn't hesitate a moment, she quickly ran to the door and opened it, and jumped out, not bothering to check first, and she jumped right into a guard, they both hit the ground. The guard let out an 'ugh', and Rainbow Dash quickly recovered, and got to her hooves, there was another guard whom had seen what had happened, Rainbow needed to act fast, she quickly stabbed the dazed guard on the floor with her hoof-blade in the chest, she aimed for his heart, she penetrated his armor with a single power backed punch.

The other guard realized what was going on and drew his sword and swung it at Rainbow's distortion, it hit her armor with significant force, denting her armor, she buckled under the force, but quickly recovered and sidestepped the guards next attack, but the guard quickly brought his blade to meet the distortion that had slain his comrade. The sword glanced harmlessly off the armor, and Rainbow Dash quickly swung her hoof-blade at the guard, however it didn't penetrate the guard's armor, nor did it stun him. The guard then quickly stabbed at Rainbow with all his might, the sword impacted Rainbow's armor at a crystal and broke through, penetrating her armor, and damaging the armor's enchantments, her cloak failed, and the sword continued through into her chest some. Rainbow Dash let out a yelp of pain from the sword penetrating her body, something she hadn't expected nor experienced before, the guard then pulled the sword out, sending another shock through her body. She fell down to the ground, wounded. The guard then brought his sword to bear and sent it down on Rainbow's body armor yet again, aiming for another weak point, the sword impacted and penetrated into her body, Rainbow let out another cry of pain, then the guard pulled his sword out and put the tip of his blade at Rainbow's throat.

Rainbow gulped, but saw something behind the corner of the wall.

The guard had managed to take down the slayer of his comrade, he was preparing to finish her when something strange happened. She smiled. He however, did not have time to ponder this as he was hit by another assailant, the force of the hit knocked him down to the ground. The guard was then impaled by another hoof-blade.

Rainbow coughed, "Thank's, Blaze."

"Come on, Rainbow, we have to get out of here, can you walk?"

"I think so," Rainbow moaned as she stood up, moving the parts of her body that had been cut into hurt, badly, but she needed to move, if she was to have any chance of survival. "Yeah, I can walk, not quickly though."

"Come on, I'll help you." Blaze said, "Hunter, this is Blaze, Dash has been injured, and her armor's enchantments have been broken, get out of here and report back to command immediately, don't wait on us, we'll figure a way out of here."

"But sir!"

"No, this is an order, command needs to know what happened, now go! We'll be right behind you!"

"Yes sir..."

"Come on Rainbow, we need to go now!" Blaze put Rainbow on his back and took off towards their exit point, where they had entered. He rounded the first corner with no problems. He moved as quickly as he could while carrying Rainbow Dash, which was still significantly slower than it should be. Blaze heard something from around the next corner, and he paused, and looked around the corner, "Two guards. I'll take them out and then we can continue." he said as he put Rainbow down.

Blaze moved quickly and quietly behind the first guard, and moved up on his side, and impaled the guard in his neck with his hoof-blade, the guard collapsed and the other guard turned to see what was happening only to be met with a swift kick, and he hit the wall. Blaze then rushed the guard, held him down and slit his throat. "Clear." Blaze said, and turned to go get Rainbow Dash.

"We're almost out, how're you holding up?"

"I'm... fine."

"Good, stay with me." Blaze rounded another corner, "So tell me a little bit about yourself."

"Well, I live in a cloudhouse in Ponyville..."

"Really? I heard those are nice."

"Yeah, quite spacious, I built mine myself."

"Heh. I'd like to have one of those someday, preferably before I die." Blaze smiled. "So what's it like in Ponyville? Also, Isn't that where Princess Twilight Sparkle has her castle?"

"It's nice, but, you'd think it'd be quite being a small town, but it's pretty chaotic most of the time. And yes, That's where Twilight Sparkle lives."

"You know the princess personally?"

"Yes, why?"

"What's she like?"

"She's kind, and nice. She's the type of pony who would do anything for a friend in need, she's a bit of a egghead. Which there's nothing wrong with that, It's just that I'm more athletic. Heh."

"Interesting, she sounds like a good friend." Blaze continued carrying Rainbow Dash until they got to the point where they had entered, "You can fly on your own right?"

"Yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash, of course I can fly on my own..."

"Okay, good, just be careful, stay close to me, your armor's enchantment has been damaged so you're visible."

"I noticed."

"Right, okay, well come on." Blaze said as he leaped off the ledge and spread his wings to take flight, Rainbow Dash simply started flapping her wings to take flight, and quickly met up with Blaze.

"On your left, Blaze." Hunter said over the com, Blaze turned to see Hunter form up.

"I thought I told you to report to command."

"Like I'd leave you two behind."

Blaze mumbled something under his breath, "Come on, let's get back to the academy before news of this gets out..."

Griffon Empire scientists share schematics for weapons with Equestria, Scientists create modified version to suit Royal Guard needs, mass production starting 'soon'.