Subversion

by SC_Orion

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Dark, Adventure
Length: 25120

Something dark is looming over the horizon, dark forces now threaten Equestria and the princesses, with the royal guard otherwise occupied, it's up to Pegasus Team 3 to save the day.

A dark plan is set in motion, a plan threatening to destroy the peace loved by so many.

Eclipse is an unicorn who's special talent is manipulation and assassination, one of the most wanted threats to Equestria, and now he has been given a new job opportunity, and it pays well. The job? Start a war. Piece of cake. Or rather it would be, if it wasn't for unforeseen elements. What will happen to Equestria and the Princesses? What will happen to Eclipse?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-09 04:18:40 UTC

Wonderbolt Special Recruiting

Rainbow Dash rolled over in her cloud bed, enjoying herself just lying there in the warm, blissful comforts of home, the sun barely peeping into her room. She rolled over again, hoping to fall back to sleep, but the sun's rays fell upon her closed eyes and would not relent. She closed her eyes harder, groaned, and opened her eyes. The bright early morning sun nearly blinded her, forcing her to squint until she sat up and her eyes were no longer bombarded by the sun's light. She sat there for a moment, inhaled deeply, and sighed. "Guess now is as good a time as any to get up..." she said while starting to get up. She let out a yawn and walked for the kitchen, she was hungry.

Upon entering her kitchen she looked around, trying to decide what to eat, "Hmm... cereal sounds as good as anything." she went over to the cabinet where she kept the cereal, took the box out and put it on the counter, she then went over to another cabinet to get out a bowl, and then she got the milk out of the refrigerator. After fixing her cereal she decided to go to the living room and eat breakfast while watching some television. She sat down on a puffy cloud chair. "Huh? Where did I leave the remote... Oh, ugh, I left it on the couch." having realized her pressing issue of not having the remote at hoof to turn on the tv, she sighed, put the bowl of cereal on the table beside the chair and went to grab the remote. Having returned with the remote she turned on the television and looked for something good to watch while she ate her breakfast.

"And the weather for today is sunny..."

"Cloudsdale weather workers strike demanding pay raise..."

"Now we see the snake in it's natural habitat..."

Rainbow Dash flinched slightly at the sight of the snake on the television, then chuckled before switching the channel again.

"Come to Quills and Sofas for all your quill, sofa, and bed needs! Located...."

"Oh, the calamity! What a crash, ooh, that's going to take him out for a while..."

Racing, that was good, Rainbow Dash liked fast things, and racing was, obviously, fast. Having finally found something to watch, she began eating her cereal, and she took her time, enjoying the race as much as her cereal. "Come on, come on.... Yes!" Rainbow leapt into the air, knocking the cereal bowl over, fortunately, she had already consumed all of her cereal, so there was no mess to clean up.  Having finally woken up fully from watching the race, and eating her cereal, she turned off the television, picked up the now empty cereal bowl and flew into the kitchen. She placed the cereal bowl in the sink, she could wash it later, but right now she needed to take a shower.

She stepped out of the shower, having finally cleaned the sleep off of herself, she took a towel and started drying herself off, she then walked in front of the mirror and smiled, "Looking good, Dash." She then finished the rest of her morning routine quickly, and decided to get go outside and enjoy the day, as she walked out the door she remembered she hadn't checked the mail from yesterday, she then flew over to her mailbox and opened it, sure enough there was a letter in it. She took the letter out and examined it, it looked like a normal letter, then she turned it over, and it had the stamp of the Wonderbolts on it. "Heh, what's this?" Her interest now perked, she opened the letter and examined it closely, and then read.

Maj. Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt Reserve,

You have been chosen to be eligible to apply for special assignment, the following  contents of this message are classified and you are to disclose to nopony, except one with high enough security clearance, I.E. a princess, or high ranking Wonderbolt, the opportunity now given to you.

CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET

A spot has become available in a Wonderbolt special forces team, Pegasus Team 3, you are one of several eligible applicants to join as the third member of Pegasus Team 3, a highly specialized, one of the 7 highly elite, highly classified Pegasus Special Forces Branch of the Wonderbolts, being a member of Pegasus Team 3 would require a large amount of effort on your part to become elite enough for you to be instated as the third member, but you've already proven yourself superior to many of your competitors.

Joining would mean you would take a much more active role in not just the Wonderbolts, but also in covert operations, and special assignments, it would also be very dangerous for you. Should you apply and get chosen for this position it would bring with it an immediate promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, along with a massive pay raise, to compensate for the increased danger, and time spent on your part protecting Equestria and serving the princesses.  Should you choose to apply, we will expect you at the wonderbolt academy on the 7th of the 10th moon, 1001 CR.

Dated, 3/10/1001.

"Wonderbolts. Special Forces? Me?" Rainbow Dash shot up into the air with joy "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! This is so awesome! I can't wait to tell-" then she remembered it was classified. "My friends..." she finished and slowly fell back to her cloudhouse. "Well, it did say I could at least tell a princess, and Twilight is a princess and one of my friends, so I can tell her!" Rainbow Dash folded the letter and shot off into the sky to find Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow Dash flew quickly to the first place where she thought Twilight would be, her castle, upon arriving she hovered in the air for a bit before landing, she inhaled deeply, she was excited about her new opportunity to join Pegasus Special Forces. She walked up to the castle door and knocked, half expecting nopony to hear due to the castle's size, however after a few minutes the door opened to reveal spike panting.

"Oh hi... Rainbow... Dash what... are you... doing... here?" he asked as he panted.

"I came to find Twilight, also Spike, you don't look so good." Rainbow Dash replied, Spike obviously had ran quite a distance to get to the door so quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know... I was on the other side of the castle reading a comic... Anyway, Twilight's not here, she said something about visiting Fluttershy today, you should check with her." Spike replied with his now stabilized breathing.

"Okay, thanks Spike!" Rainbow replied and shot off into the sky for Fluttershy's cottage to find Twilight.

"You're welcome." Spike grumbled and said something under his breath as he returned into the castle to continue reading his comic.

"It sure is a lovely morning, isn't it, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with a smile on her face, it was a beautiful fall morning, a little on the chilly side, but still nice. The birds were singing, and there was barely a cloud in the sky, she enjoyed mornings like this, so calm and peaceful, with as hectic as life could get, it was nice to take a break and relax every once in a while. Twilight levitated her tea cup to her mouth and took a sip.

"Why, yes, it is a beautiful morning. I'm glad you wanted to come over Twilight, it was nice of you to have morning tea with me. Normally it's just my animal friends and I, sometimes Discord is over, which is nice too, but, um, he can be a bit outgoing... not that I dislike that..." Fluttershy said and inhaled the cool fall morning air, the birds sang their beautiful songs, and it was peaceful, she loved it.

"How often is Discord over anyway? If you don't mind me asking." Twilight asked.

"Every few days he will have morning tea with me, he also likes to go on picnics with me." Fluttershy replied.

"Really? That often?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Well, yes..." Fluttershy replied shyly.

"Sorry, Fluttershy, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable by my asking."

"It's fine." The sky suddenly got slightly darker, "Oh my what is-"

Rainbow Dash plowed right into the ground, sending dust flying and animals scattering. She groaned slightly, "Maybe I shouldn't have been flying so fast..." she said to herself.

"Rainbow Dash? Are you alright? That looked like it hurt." Twilight said still overcome with shock of her friend falling out of the sky, something she should be used to, but was not.

Rainbow stood up, "Uh, yeah, sorry, hehe, was just a little over excited... So, anyway, Fluttershy, can I talk to Twilight in private?"

"Oh, of course Rainbow, I'll just go over there and leave you two alone until you want me to come back." she said pointing towards a tree. She took flight and flew over to the tree and called her animals to her.

"Rainbow, what's this about? Why did you want to talk to me in private? Is something wrong?" Twilight asked, wondering what was so important that she had to be flying that fast, and why she wanted to talk to her alone.

"Everything is fine, Twilight, I just got some awesome news in a letter though, it's uh... kinda classified so I can't exactly tell anypony... but you're a princess so I can tell you! ...Right? I can tell you right?" Rainbow Dash asked, anxiety and energy building up.

Twilight chuckled, "Yes Rainbow, I have security clearance... Wait, why would I need that to let you be able to tell me what's up?" Twilight frowned slightly.

Rainbow handed Twilight the letter she had received earlier, with a big smile on her face. Twilight took the letter with her magic and began to read it.

"Wow, Rainbow, congratulations! Being eligible for that position is an honor in itself,  but uh, aren't you a little worried about it, I mean, it's special forces, Rainbow, the kind of thing that could get you in trouble and possibly...killed." Twilight shuddered having finished saying that.

"Pft, relax Twilight, don't you remember who I am? I'm Rainbow Dash! I'm the best flyer in all Equestria! It'll be a piece of cake, plus it's not like we're in any conflicts, or in any deteriorating relations with any other nations." Rainbow shrugged off Twilight's comment.

"Rainbow, It's special forces. Most ponies wouldn't know what special forces do during times of 'peace', it's still dangerous for them. And since you have been given the opportunity to try to become special forces... I suppose I should warn you..." Twilight trailed off nervously, eyes darting around quickly, she eyed Fluttershy and smiled. "Hey Fluttershy, Rainbow and I are going to go for a short flight, we will be back shortly."

"Oh um, okay then." Fluttershy replied.

"Twilight what's this about?" Rainbow asked and leapt into the sky following Twilight.

After a few minutes of flying and making sure they were alone, away from other ponies, Twilight finally began to speak. "Rainbow, special forces are deployed even in times of peace for special operations, even inside our ally's territories, it's dangerous, if you were to mess up, we wouldn't be able to rescue you without causing an incident, which is something we can't risk. Heck, Rainbow, I've even issued a special operations order to..." Twilight trailed off, realizing she was about to say something she shouldn't, but Rainbow caught that.

"To what, Twilight?" Rainbow asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Twilight quickly replied.

"Tell me, Twilight, I won't tell anypony, you can trust me." Rainbow attempted to convince Twilight, who decided to continue her story.

"Fine... But if you tell anypony... I'll have to issue a special ops hit mission on you." Twilight replied and glared at Rainbow.

"Haha, good one Twilight, but really, get to the story."

"I'm not joking Rainbow." Twilight replied with a serious look on her face.

Rainbow realized what Twilight meant. "Haha... uh... right... I won't tell anypony..." like i'd risk seeing Twilight follow through on that... Rainbow shuddered at the thought.

"Anyway, as I was saying... I once had to issue a special operations team to... uh..." Twilight gulped, fearing what Rainbow's response might be. "To... kill somepony... who was a threat..." Twilight looked at Rainbow, whom had not been bothered by this revelation.

"Okay... so you had to make a hard decision? I'm sure you made the right one, Twilight." Rainbow replied.

"That makes one of us..." Twilight sighed, "The operation was a complete bust, the target got away and only one of the pegasus survived."

"Really...? Only one survived? What happened?" Rainbow asked slightly shocked.

"We're not entirely sure, but from what we discovered in the aftermath, it seems like he knew we had sent special forces after him, he led them into an ambush. The survivor was lucky."

"Who was the target?" Rainbow asked.

"I really shouldn't say..." Twilight replied.

"Come on Twilight, I already said I wouldn't tell anyone." Rainbow argued.

"I've already told you too much..." Twilight sighed, "Might as well tell you the full story, The target was a violet unicorn whom had been at least partially responsable for the return of King Sombra and the Crystal Empire... We didn't know his name, nor do we know it now..."

Diplomatic envoy from Equestria to the Griffon Empire is preparing to leave to discuss further cooperation among aspects of joint interest. In other news the Griffon Empire have developed magic projectors that rely on the recently developed magic micro capacitors that are capable of unleashing highly focused bolts of magical energy, this is currently being researched for use in weapons...

Gryphon Weapons Research and Development

King Tafkal sat in his throne, awaiting a science report from his top scientists discussing status of development of new magical weapons relying on the magic capacitors, last report was quite promising, indicating that the magical charge stored and released through the focusing lens was strong enough to incapacitate targets hit by it, with further refining it could prove quite lethal. He smiled thinking of the potential military uses of these new weapons they were developing, and the defense possibilities the magic capacitors opened up would be worth exploring. He was, however, slightly displeased that due to their treaty with Equestria they would have to share they weapons technology with them, he didn't like the idea of sharing technology that could be used against them. His thinking was finally broken when there was a knock on the tall door. "Enter."

A griffon wearing a white lab coat and glasses walked in, "Your highness, here is the report on the status of weapons development you requested, it is proving quite promising, the new improved lenses we have been testing appear to focus the magical energy enough to nearly penetrate standard body armor." said the scientist as he approached the king's throne.

"Good, I look forward to further progress on development of weapons our infantry can use." the king said as he reached out his paw to take the report. He looked it over, "I will have to further study this, thank you for this report, keep up the good work."

"Yes, your highness, anything else I can do for you?"

"Please send the next report as quickly as you can, dismissed." said the king.

"Of course." the scientist then turned and walked out of the door into the long dark hallway adorned with the red flag of the Griffon Empire, he past another Griffon walking hurriedly for the king's chamber. He didn't bother to greet him, he had work to do.

Back at the weapons development facility, the griffons were hard at work, developing advanced weaponry, their empire's greatest researcher, Yorvic, was leading development of enhanced lenses to further focus the magical energies for enhanced weaponry, while other great scientists were busy experimenting with capacitors and their storage and release of magical energies.

Yorvic needed to take a break from lens designing, it was painstakingly complex, making sure every angle was exact to the smallest measurable distance, and recording exactly how to build them for mass production. He decided to walk on over to the weapons design section, currently working on designing paw-held magic emitters for their infantry.

"Testing Magilance mark two in three... two... one..." and with that the griffon soldier helping with testing weapons fired the Magilance at the target, there was a flash of light, and a magic bolt flew towards the target, a lightly armored griffon dummy target. The bolt of magical energy impacted and penetrated the armor. "Clear"

Two scientists then walked over to the target to examine the damage. "Armor penetration... successful, body penetration... non-lethal, severe injury, armor appears to have significant effect on protecting from the magic projector..."

"Maybe we should try using multiple capacitors, could improve the energy release and allow for further penetration."

"No, you would need more enhanced lenses in order to handle the increased power, plus it would make the weapon more bulky." Yorvic replied to the question that wasn't entirely directed at him.

"That's... true, you make a good point, but at the current rate the weapons are not as lethal as they could be, what would you suggest Yorvic?"

"The weapons need better lenses, it's taking time to develop them, perhaps you could find a way to emit increased energy from the capacitor, however, it would reduce how long lasting the capacitor was, but if we can improve the capacitors that wouldn't be a problem." Yorvic replied, he thought for a moment, "Although, if we could mass produce the capacitors, and make them interchangeable in the weapons, it wouldn't be as much of a problem."

"Interesting concept... interchangeable capacitors would mean we could increase the effectiveness of our weapons without sacrificing too much longevity, that could work. Thanks for the idea, Yorvic, we'll have to think about that and discuss it."

"Of course, I am here to spearhead our research." Yorvic replied and then walked to the door and down the hallway.

Diplomatic envoy from Equestria to the Griffon Empire arrives in the Griffon Empire capital city, Princess Luna has been seen attending Griffon military parades with King Tafkal. In other news the Wonderbolts have increased recruiting and training...

Diplomatic Envoy

Princess Luna watched as the Griffon Empire's military parade continued it's march, while not as uniform as the Equestrian Royal Guard, the griffon military was still a sight to be held, it was the pride and joy of the Griffon Empire, being one of the three super power nations, alongside Equestria and the Zebra Nation, each having their own unique military protocols. The griffon military was more than a match for most nations in conventional warfare, but recent events have been stirring up a new tech race, nations now seek to enhance their military power through magical projectors, giving the nation that would develop the most easily mass produced, efficient, and portable projector the advantage. It was something that could tip the balance of power greatly, and was not something to be taken lightly. Of course, the research and development treaty between Equestria and the Griffon Empire put them at a great advantage to other nations, but Equestria would still need to develop their own specialized magic projectors for their military.

"Truly an impressive sight, is it not, Princess Luna?" asked King Tafkal, whom was sitting beside Princess Luna on the balcony, watching the last few groups of griffon soldiers completing the parade before it ended.

"Yes, it is indeed an impressive sight, King Tafkal." Luna replied with a smile.

"And soon, we will be able to replace the weapons of old with new, more powerful, magic projector weapons, and our armies will protect our nations for years to come. No nation would risk war with us then, thus securing peace for both our nations." the king replied with a smile. "Of course, off the record, we both know it would only be a matter of time before other nations reach our technological level and are able to pose a threat once again, but that time is a long way off."

"Equestria wishes only peace with her neighbors, and now is not the time to contemplate the future, King Tafkal." Luna paused, "However, I am here to inquire into your progress on weapons development and research, have you made any breakthroughs we should be made aware of?"

"Ah, yes, it would seem the time has come for formalities. Yes, Princess Luna, we have made major progress of towards the weaponizing of the magic projectors, once we have more viable projectors and lances, we will send you the basic schematics, so your scientists may make modifications to suit your needs, and duplicate the weapons."

"I see, your progress on research and development of these weapons is remarkable." replied Luna.

"Now, what progress have your people made towards enhancement of the magic capacitors?" the king asked.

"We have made minor progress but our scientists are reaching their wits end, Princess Celestia is considering asking Princess Twilight Sparkle to assist her in attempts to improve upon the design."

"I see, well, I wish you luck with that enterprise." the king paused while the crowd cheered the end of the parade. "Our military has definitely made us a proud nation." the king paused in thought. "Perhaps... we could consider joint training exercises of our troops? What a better way to enhance the effectiveness of our military cooperation, it would enable us to better work together to defend our nations should we come under attack and need assistance."

"That may be a good idea." Luna agreed, and paused in thought, "But I would have to discuss this with Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight Sparkle, however, with my recommendation, I'm sure we could work something out..."

"Take your time, Princess Luna, but don't take too long, I'm not immortal, unlike you and your fellow princesses."

"I will take it up with them upon my return." Luna promised.

"Excellent, now that this order of business is taken care of, shall we return to the embassy and invite our minister of foreign trade to partake in discussions of increasing our trade partnerships, and reducing red tape to streamline our trade?"

"It would seem an acceptable proposal, please, lead the way."

The king got up and started inside the castle, Luna followed, and was followed by two griffon guards.

Princess Luna sat at the table, they had been waiting on the Minister to arrive for a while, she was curious at what was taking so long. She waited a few more minutes before asking, "Where is your Minister, King Tafkal?"

"I apologize, it would seem he got caught up in something, I'm sure he will be here shortly." the king paused in thought, "He could be-" the door opened.

"I apologize for my late arrival, King Tafkal, Princess Luna." he stepped inside the room and sat down next to the king, across from Princess Luna.

"Shall we begin discussing trade now?" the king asked.

"It would seem all parties are accounted for, please, let us begin." Luna replied.

"We would like to propose..."

Princess Luna's diplomatic envoy to the Griffon Empire success, further trade agreements reduce red tape, increase productivity. In other news, unconfirmed reports that the Zebra Nation has begun testing uncontrolled release of magic capacitors...

Pegasus Team 3

Rainbow Dash was stretched out, laying on her bed, awaiting news from Spitfire as to whether she had made special forces or not, it was taking so long, the wait was painful. The past two days she had been trying her hardest to get qualified as special ops material, still, her competition was pretty good, even by her standards, she didn't know his name, none of them knew the other's names, but he had managed to take on five royal guards at once,  Rainbow Dash was only able to beat three at once, she was a little concerned that she might not get to join special ops because of this. The minutes passed away, then rolled into hours.

"Maj. Rainbow Dash, please report to Gen. Spitfire's office."

Rainbow Dash looked up at the intercom and smiled. "Looks like I did it..." Rainbow got off the bed and walked over to the door, her wings were bustling with excitement, she had to prevent herself from jumping and taking flight constantly, as much as she would have preferred to fly, she wasn't wanting to risk her new job.

Gen. Spitfire was sitting at her desk, awaiting the arrival of Rainbow Dash. She looked at the clock, it had been two minutes since Rainbow has been asked to come to her office, she had half expected Rainbow Dash to bust through the doors flying at full speed immediately after she had heard it announce on the intercom. The clock ticked away. She returned her eyes to her papers, she was going over Rainbow Dash's profile. Yeah, Rainbow Dash, you'll make a good special operator... she thought. Sure, she had only been able to fight off three royal guards at once, but she was the fastest pegasus they knew of, and she had the attitude of a winner, plus she represented the element of loyalty. She smiled, she only needed one last thing before she approved it. Rainbow Dash's presence. She glanced at the clock again, three minutes. She already had a callsign picked out for Rainbow Dash, Ghost, it was, perhaps, not the best fit, but because she was fast, it made sense that she could get in and out of a situation rapidly. There was a knock at the door, this made her raise an eyebrow, "Enter."

Rainbow Dash walked in, "General Spitfire." she saluted. "Major Rainbow Dash, Reporting as ordered."

Spitfire returned the salute, "Guards, please excuse yourselves for a moment." she motioned for the door. The guards saluted and stepped outside the door. "Major Rainbow Dash, are you sure you can fulfill the role of special operator?"

"Mam, yes mam." she replied without hesitation.

"Then i hereby immediately promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Welcome to special forces, Lt. Col. Rainbow Dash."

"Thank you, mam."

"Now we should discuss some important information, before you meet the rest of the team." she paused, "You may not discuss the other members of your team with anypony without security clearance. Pegasus Team 3 has a training mission scheduled soon, you should have the info in the packet next to you." she paused for Rainbow to look over the packet. "The other members of your team are Blaze and Hunter. Blaze is team captain, you will follow his orders, and he receives orders from high level Wonderbolts and the princesses." she paused, "Go report to Blaze, you should be able to find him with the info in that packet, also, do not lose that packet. Dismissed."

Rainbow Dash saluted, grabbed the packet and walked out of the door. The two guards returned to their previous post standing guard beside the door.

Spitfire smiled, That'll be one heck of a force to reckon with.

"So Blaze, who do you think the new recruit will be? Probably some rookie right out of flight school?" Hunter paused, waiting for a reply.

"Hunter, this is special forces, we don't babysit. I'm sure whoever we're going to get stuck with can handle themselves." he paused, "But, on the slight chance that you're right..." he smiled. "One hundred bits says the pegasus we're stuck with has seen combat experience before."

"You're on, Blaze. You're so going down." he chuckled. "Have you heard about those new magic weapons that the griffons are developing? I've heard they are quite lethal."

"Yeah, I've heard about those things, command says we should be developing similar weaponry soon, of course special ops will get the first combat ready weapons of those." he paused, "Intel on those weapons currently indicates they can only weakly penetrate light armor though, don't get your hopes up, wouldn't be surprised if it goes nowhere."

"You underestimate the griffon's obsession with perfecting weaponry, and, perhaps our own scientists ability to make it work."

"Not true, I just don't know how practical they'd be, we're not unicorns, we're pegasus, our innate magic gives us the ability to fly, unlike unicorns who can project their magic to do a lot of things." Blaze replied.

"They'll figure it out, they're smart."

"Yes, they are, Hunter, yes they are." Blaze paused at the sound of a knock on the door, he walked over to the door and opened it. "Hello?"

"Um, hi, are you..." Rainbow Dash looked at the packet, "Blaze, right?"

"Who's asking?" Blaze replied.

"Uh..." she looked at the packet, "Your new team member."

"Ah, you're the new special operator, right? Replacing Parrot?"

"Uh, yeah i guess so." she smiled.

"What's your name?"

"Rainbow Dash, sir."

"Well, don't just stand there, come in and meet Hunter, his eyesight is better than a crow's."

Rainbow Dash walked in and Blaze closed the door behind her, "Hello, Hunter, I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash, you should get yourself acquainted with the gear before we head on out to the training course."

"Right." Rainbow Dash replied and walked over to the weapons and armor rack, there was an impressive amount of equipment there, ranging from swords, daggers, light armor, crystal armor, and much more. "What would you recommend?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Whatever suits you best." Blaze paused, "Say, have you seen any direct combat before?" he inquired.

"Uh, no, I've not seen any direct combat before... Is that a problem?" Rainbow answered.

"Yes, it is, because I just lost my bet to Hunter." Blaze sighed, "I guess I owe you a hundred, heh, maybe next time."

Hunter chuckled, "Right, never doubt my instincts, you should know that by now."

"Anyway, we should probably get suited up and ready, not much longer till we start." Blaze said.

Blaze walked over to the armor rack and took a suit of dark metal and a helmet with three white dots on it centered above his eyes, when he put on the helmet the suit of armor was complete and the enchantment took effect, changing his tan coat to white, he now resembled a royal guard, meanwhile Hunter had put on his armor, and his gray coat was now replaced by a similar shade of white to Blaze's.

Rainbow Dash decided to use light metal armor, that offered enhanced mobility at the cost of reduced protection, the armor was yellow, similar to the royal guard's armor, but more sleek. Having put on the helmet the Suit was complete and the enchantment took effect, her blueish coat changed to white.

Now the only noticeable difference between the three of them was their armor, and gender, Rainbow Dash being the only female. Rainbow Dash walked over to the weapons rack and looked over the weapons. "Any suggestions?"

Rainbow Dash, Blaze, and Hunter stood outside an old abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, or rather, the middle of a large Equestrian military base, the building was a training compound, it only appeared abandoned. Rainbow Dash looked to her left, Blaze was standing beside her, and Hunter on Blaze's left side, in a triangular formation, awaiting the siren that signified they were to start. Rainbow Dash checked her armor, it was tightly secured to her body, offering good protection, she then checked her weapon, she had opted for a hoof mounted sword, for ease of use, and mobility. She was growing impatient, patience was never her strong suit, and waiting around was always hard for her, she had only just now thought of that possibly being a problem for her in special ops.

The siren sounded, signaling the start of the training mission. Rainbow Dash anxiously awaited Blaze's orders.

"Hunter, take point, Dash stay close." he paused while they moved up in unison towards the door, "Breach on three... one, two, three!" and with that they bucked the door down and stormed in keeping close and clearing the first room without incident.

"Clear!" Hunter shouted, signaling that the room had been cleared, he swiftly moved to the next door, and waited on the others to stack up. "Breach in three... one, two-" click the door swung open forcing Hunter clear, three royal guards came charging out weapons drawn, Hunter was slightly dazed by what had happened but was recovering quickly.

The first guard moved to engage Blaze, whom had already prepared his sword to meet the guard's blade. The guards weren't real, they were magic projections being projected by unicorns, manipulating them for training purposes, the swords they wielded would not kill but would hurt and stun you if you had been hit by one.

The other two guards moved to engage Rainbow Dash, and due to the tight spaces she couldn't take flight to get an advantage. "Guess we'll do this the old way." she thought. The first of the the two royal guards charged at Rainbow Dash bringing down his sword as he closed the cap, Rainbow Dash brought up her hoof-blade to block it, but the other guard had now closed the distance and was preparing to strike, she quickly jumped back barely dodging a blow from the sword, she quickly checked on Blaze who was locked in combat with a guard, and Hunter had jumped to his hooves and was preparing to kill the guard attacking Blaze, Rainbow Dash quickly turned back just in time to see a blade impact her side, fortunately, it impacted her armor and glanced harmlessly off, although she still felt a decent amount of force from the impact, Rainbow grunted from the impact, "Yeah, that may bruise." she thought. She quickly sidestepped as the other guard began bringing his sword down in an attempt to hit her head, the guard having under estimated Rainbow's reflexes was caught off guard by a swift kick in the chest from Rainbow Dash, the guard was knocked clear, leaving the one other guard to deal with, she quickly brought her hoof-blade to bear in an attempt to penetrate the guards side armor, the guard saw this and sidestepped, however he didn't see Hunter waiting in anticipation for this. The guard met Hunter's swift blade and quickly faded. Rainbow watched as Blaze quickly walked over to the immobilized guard and thrust his blade into the back of his neck where the shoulders were. Rainbow flinched slightly at that sight.

"Clear..." Blaze called out, and shot a quick glance over to Hunter, who simply shrugged.

"Dash, take point, Hunter, guard our six." Blaze ordered, Rainbow Dash quickly took the lead followed by Blaze and Hunter, she quickly stormed through the next door and scanned the room for more signs of danger, "Clear."

Blaze walked forward, scanning the room for sings of trouble. "Three doors, we should split up so we can cover more ground quickly. Hunter, take left, Dash, take right, I'll go straight. Assume you're on your own, that the others are dead and can't help you, don't screw up again Hunter. Move out."

Rainbow Dash quickly headed for her door, and lined up behind it, her heart rate had increased from the previous fight and she wondered what was beyond this door, she inhaled and let out a inaudible sigh. "Show time." Rainbow thought as she turned and bucked down the door, the quickly walked in scanning the hall that lay before her, it was dark and looked like the paint was flaking off, there was a red and blue door at the end of the hallway, she quickly took off towards it, scanning the hallway constantly on the look out for danger. She slowed as she approached the door, she stopped at the door and listened, nothing. "Maybe this'll be easier than I thought..." she thought, then turned and started to buck in the door only to be met with the door opening, withing nothing for her legs to crash into she lost her balance and fell over, she heard movement coming from the room and quickly rolled over to see a sword impacting where her body had been, impaling the floor a good 4 inches, "Yeah that would have got me..." Rainbow gulped and quickly took to her hooves, as the guard re-readied his sword Rainbow had launched her counter attack, the guard however was quick and blocked it, forcing her to recoil, the guard then quickly thrust the sword straight at Rainbow Dash, who jumped, only to find the guard had expected that, she felt a tingly sensation in her chest as the magic sword impacted her armor with enough force to break it, had it been a real sword. Rainbow was having some trouble breathing now that her chest had been partially stunned, but she had an opportunity to counter attack she would not pass up, she quickly brought her left hoof-blade to bear and swung it with all her might as the guard, who moved his sword to block, she then recoiled and swung her right hoof-blade quick enough to impact the guard and knock him over. She quickly walked over to him and bucked him as hard as she could, knocking him unconscious, and then buried her hoof blade into his stomach. She then paused to take a quick break from that combat. She sighed, even if the guards were just magical projections, she was not a cold blooded killer, the guards looked so real, perhaps she wasn't cut out for special forces after all.

Rainbow Dash inhaled, and exhaled, and walked into the room, scanning it cautiously, they were supposed to retrieve a package, and not to leave any signs of who had been there, she spotted a crystal, she remembered that the package they were supposed to retrieve was a green crystal, it was hard to tell in the dark, but that crystal looked like the right one. She quickly walked over to it and picked it up, and put it in her armor, she started to turn, but something caught her attention, a file folder, while it hadn't been specified it looked important. She thought for a moment, it wasn't in their details, but in special ops they might not have all the details. She grabbed the file folder and put it in her armor also, she started to turn, but saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned her head and looked in that direction, she didn't see anything. She starred at the general direction for a second longer and reluctantly turned her head back towards the door and started to take a step when she saw a shadow move. Now she knew she wasn't alone. She quickly turned around and scanned the room, nopony was there. But she wasn't alone. She took a closer look at the corners, empty, she took a closer look at the shadows, and that's when she noticed a distortion. "Oh bu-" her thought was interrupted when the cloaked unicorn realized he had been detected and charged at Rainbow, the distortion field rendering him invisible was not perfect, but it would appear almost completely invisible when not moving, but when moving, the distortion was obvious, like glass changing how light passes through it.

The cloaked unicorn charged at Rainbow and she brought her hoof-blade to bear expecting a sword to block, instead she was hit by a bolt of magic. "Ugh..." Rainbow moaned, the spell had clearly been designed to penetrate armor and stun, the tingly sensation in her chest was now much stronger, but she had to keep going. The glow of the unicorn's horn made the cloak easier to detect, thus alloying her to dodge the next bolt of magic, but the next one would have hit her when she landed, but she raised her hoof-blade to absorb most of the impact, her leg was now slightly stunned and numb. "Okay maybe that wasn't the best idea..." she thought as the tingly sensation made it hard to move her leg. The unicorn jumped into the air and charged it's horn. The glow rendered the cloak practically useless, this was a big one. Rainbow groaned, her leg was slowing her down, and she wasn't sure if she could dodge this one. The unicorn released the bolt of magic and Rainbow Dash jumped to the side, but the bolt struck her left hind leg and seemed to be drawn into it, her leg was now completely numb, she couldn't move it. "Crap..." she thought as she collapsed, now unable to bear her own weight on her legs. With no viable alternatives remaining, she used to wing to push herself up with enough force to keep her in the air long enough to start flying, there wasn't much room in the building, but it was enough, getting through the hallway would be problematic. She scanned the room for the unicorn, having lost sight of it during her fall, once she saw the glow of it's horn she immediately forced herself at it, with her hoof-blades extended as far as she could, she managed to impact with enough force to knock the unicorn to the ground, and the unicorn faded.

Rainbow Dash, of course, still had one fully stunned leg, and one partially stunned leg, this was more than she wanted, and she was once again laying on the floor. She sighed as she pushed herself up again and started flying in the air, she checked to make sure she still had the document and crystal, she did, "Good..."

And with that Rainbow Dash flew through the door into the hallway and then into the second room of the building. She stopped to wait on the others for a minute, they should have already been here, she was concerned by this. She was starting to regain feeling in her hind leg when Blaze walked out from his door.

"I didn't find anything, what about you Dash?"

"Yes sir, I found a crystal like the one described, and some documents." Rainbow replied.

` "I see, Hunter should be along any moment now... As long as he didn't screw up like earlier." he paused, "Come to think of it, he should be here by now..." he thought for a second, "Dash, you good?"

"My two left legs are slightly stunned, but other than that, yes sir."

"I see, in that case, I'll take point. Stay close." Blaze ordered.

"Yes sir." Rainbow replied and landed slightly behind Blaze, following him closely as she limped on her tingly left legs.

Blaze walked down the hallway that Hunter had been down, it was well lit, unlike the other two hallways, and it had windows, which were broken, letting crisp, cool air inside the building. There was a door at the end of the hallway, it was yellow with blue corners and a green center panel, they slowed as they approached it, it was closed. "Form up." Blaze ordered, Rainbow Dash backed up to the door on the right side, while Blaze took the left side, "Breach on three." he whispered, and paused, "One... two... three, breach!"

Simultaneously they kicked the door in with their legs, the quickly turned and prepared to face whatever was laying in wait for them. Blaze cautiously walked inside the room, followed closely by Rainbow Dash, he constantly checked the corners and shadows, "Clear..." Blaze said as he continued scanning the room, it was similar to the hallway, peeling paint, broken windows, and just as well lit. Rainbow Dash was being even more cautious than Blaze, she had fought a cloaked unicorn earlier, and since she was partially stunned, she figured it would be better to be safe than sorry, Rainbow Dash motioned towards a staircase leading to the upper level.

Blaze nodded and slowly walked over to the staircase, Rainbow Dash followed closely behind him. Blaze slowly started up the stairs, but paused when the first step let out a creaking noise. Blaze thought for a moment, looked at Rainbow Dash and readied his wings, Rainbow Dash nodded. Blaze leaped into the air, followed closely by Rainbow Dash, they both flew to the top in unison, staying under the top and peering out to attempt to avoid detection, the room looked empty. Blaze flew up and was scanning the room, and then landed, "Clear..."

Rainbow Dash landed next to Blaze, and was scanning the room, it was well lit and didn't look abandoned like the rest of the rooms, it looked like it could have been a control center, but it was empty, or so it seemed. Rainbow Dash noticed something move out of the corner of her left eye, it was a slight distortion. Rainbow quickly turned towards it, "On the left!" she shouted out, startling the cloaked unicorn, whom immediately sent a surge of magical energy at Rainbow, but she was able to avoid it, Blaze was now moving to intercept and counter attack, but there was a flash of light and the distortion had disappeared. "Where did it go?"Rainbow thought as she looked around the room for the tell tail distortion.  Nothing, Blaze was also scanning the room, still no sign of Hunter. Rainbow Dash thought she heard something from above her, she quickly looked up just in time to see a bright flash and a stream of magic coming right at her, she attempted to sidestep but her right leg took the hit and was now paralyzed. Having lost her balance from the paralysis in her right front leg and her left legs still being weak she fell over, Blaze had jumped into the air to attack the cloaked unicorn, but it had teleported again. Rainbow felt pressure on her back and she turned just in time to see the unicorn thrust a magical energy blade into her chest, through her wing. She now couldn't do much of anything, her wing and most of her body was paralyzed. Blaze was quickly turning in every direction attempting to find the cloaked unicorn, he was blissfully unaware that the distortion was behind him, "Behind you!" Rainbow Dash called out, the unicorn's magical blade formed and it brought it down upon Blaze, but he sidestepped and turned, he then counter attacked with his sword, which met the magic blade, their intense sword fight continued, all the while the unicorn occasionally sent a bolt of magic at Blaze, who managed to dodge it every time.

Rainbow Dash still had feeling in her left front leg and right leg, so she reached out and started pulling herself forward, she had to do something to help Blaze, who appeared to be losing, the unicorn had managed to land a few hits on blaze, and blaze had only managed to land three hits on the unicorn, who just refused to lose. Rainbow Dash slowly inched closer to the fighting, the unicorn didn't realize she was doing this until she was right below it. Rainbow Dash thrust her hoof-blade at the unicorn's distortion as hard as she could, the blade stopped just shy of hitting the unicorn, stuck in a light blue energy field.

The unicorn chuckled, "Good job, I yield." the unicorn said, the voice was strangely familiar, and surprisingly calm for having been in a tense fight for a few minutes. The unicorn levitated Rainbow Dash beside Blaze and carefully set her down. The unicorn uncloaked and bowed. Except it wasn't a unicorn. It was Princess Luna.

"Wait what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Princess Luna raised her head and smiled, "Congratulations, Rainbow Dash, you managed to best me." Luna paused, and smiled slightly, "But only because Blaze had me occupied." she paused, "This was meant to be a test for your team, Blaze, to see if you could work well enough together with your newest member to beat me, I applaud your success."

Blazed bowed slightly, "Thank you, princess." he paused, but if I may inquire, where is Hunter?"

Luna smiled, "He didn't fair as well as you two, he's in the next room... Tied up and stunned." Luna smirked, "I may have had a bit too much fun with him..."

Blaze leaned over to help Rainbow Dash up, she could barely stand from the paralysis, but she would have to make due.

"Oh, and one more thing, you have two minutes to rescue Hunter and get out before none of you will be walking out of here." Princess Luna smiled and teleported, and a light on a control panel started flashing red.

"Move now!" Blaze ordered as he ran to the door to the next room to rescue Hunter, who was indeed tied up and paralyzed.

Blaze and Rainbow Dash quickly worked on untying Hunter, who appeared to be asleep, "Dash take point, I'll carry Hunter, go!"

Rainbow Dash nodded and started off as quickly as she could on her still slightly paralyzed legs, they tingled with each step, she paused at the stairs and scanned below them, it looked clear, so she started down the stairs, once at the bottom she quickly glanced around the room, "Clear." she called out, awaiting Blaze to catch up.

Rainbow Dash quickly moved to the next room and checked for danger again, "Clear." she shouted again, and she took off without waiting on Blaze who was slowed by carrying Hunter, she approached the door they had entered from, it was shut, she tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. "Door's stuck!" she shouted as Blaze approached her.

"Stack up, breach on three!" Blaze paused while they both took up positions on either side of the door, "One... Two... Three!" they bucked the door down in unison, and quickly ran outside as quick as they could, they barely made it to where they had started from when a bright flash of light engulfed the abandoned building.

"Wow, what was that?" Rainbow Dash asked as Blaze set Hunter down.

"Magic stun field bomb, if we were caught in that we all would have been paralyzed and would have failed." Blaze replied and looked at Hunter, and then walked over to Rainbow Dash. "You did good today Rainbow, for your first 'combat' mission, even if it was only simulated." Blaze paused, "I think you'll make a great addition to our team..."

Rainbow Dash smiled, "Thanks, Blaze."

The king of the Griffon Empire, King Tafkal has announced that he and his Minister of Trade will be visiting Canterlot; rumors of a plot against the Griffon Empire circulate, Equestrian government officials wave it off as nothing. The Zebra Nation has announced plans to rapidly increase it's military preparedness level, and greatly increase troop reserves...

Zebra Weapons Lab Test

The amount of magical energy stored in the magic capacitor was limited, this much was known, there was a maximum charge they could hold, and any more added after that was simply wasted. Testing had shown this, thus one line of inquiry had been eliminated. The weapons being developed by the griffons and equestrians used small, short, controlled bursts of magical energy extracted from the capacitor, giving them stable, long lasting, effective weapons. The zebras had been working on developing these weapons for quite some time, but they hadn't had an effective means to power them, until now. But now, with an accident that had happened in an earlier experiment, they had discovered something quite useful. The magic capacitors could release all of their stored magical energy in an unfocused detonation. It took a lot of time to figure out how to trigger such a detonation, but they had finally figured it out.

"Room cleared, detonating in three, two, one." the zebra scientist pressed a button, and there was a large flash of light inside the containment room, a large purplish explosion had sent out a shockwave which was now reflecting back in on itself from the walls which were designed to reflect magic, as the waves of magic interacted sparks of magic lightning were released, at first they were white, but over time the increased chaos and increased rate of decay caused the lightning to change to blue. "A promising test, I must say, we should report these results to the Prime Minister at once."

"Perhaps we should preform another test, outside of a sealed room?" the zebra paused, "To see if it would be viable for close quarters combat, this weapon could give us a significant benefit on the battlefield if it is successful."

"You have a point, testing this outside of a sealed room would allow us to see the results of a normal detonation, I shall submit a request immediately."

"Clear the room!" a voice shouted over the intercom, the room was already emptied, but it was still done as a precaution.

"Room cleared, preparing for test detonation in a non-sealed room in three, two, one." the zebra pressed the button, there was a bright magic flash and a purplish shockwave was sent out, it began to fade rapidly as it spread out, by the time the wave had hit the wall it had practically disappeared.

"A very promising test, yet we have no data as to what the effects of being in proximity of the detonation are, I think it's time we contacted the Prime Minister and asked for some... test subjects."

"I agree, this holds great promise."

"Test detonation in three, two, one." the zebra pushed the button and the magic capacitor detonated, releasing it's signature wave of blue magical energy, the convicts in the room shielded their eyes from the flash of light, the convicts were stationed two, five, ten, and fifteen feet away from the weapon, which they had come to call a 'grenade'. The convict two feet away had been vaporized by the blast, the convict five feet away was laying on the floor a few feet from where he was originally at, he was dead. The convict ten feet away was pushed back some, and unconscious, quite probably paralyzed from the blast, the one at fifteen feet had been knocked to the wall, and was groaning.

"Gather what data from this test you can and send it to the Minister of Science, he should overview this data before reporting to Prime Minister."

"Yes sir."

Magindustries Incorporated stocks up 22.3% due to recent increase in magic demand. In other news the Crystal Empire has accused the Zebra Nation of espionage...

The Plan

Eclipse smiled, his plan was complete, it was a simple plan, an elegant one, one that nopony would expect. He figured that the best way to start a war between the Griffon Empire and Equestria would be to somehow cause a Equestrian special operation to go haywire and end disastrously. He had several options to choose from, from having a team sent into a trap, to preforming a hit on who they thought was a threat, yet was actually a government official, or to simply stage a fake assassination attempt. Or, he could use his other multi-staged backup plan which would involve multiple assassins that he would have to hire, but he could afford to do that, especially due to the amount he was getting paid.

Eclipse inhaled, and put on his 'borrowed' Royal Guard armor, it had been easy enough to acquire, nopony had been the wiser for it. As he donned the helm he smiled as his violet coat turned white, the enchantment taking effect, he levitated the package that contained the information he intended to pass off to get the ball rolling. He then took a sword and sheathed it, he wouldn't need it, but it would help make it look urgent and official, not that the package wouldn't be enough. He smiled, and walked out the door to his destination, Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle.

Twilight Sparkle was asleep, or at least she was until a knock on the castle's main door woke her, the magical enchantment on it meant you could be at the farthest point from the door and yet hear it, it could be annoying at times. Twilight sighed, got up, and then tiredly started walking out of her bedroom and to the main door of the castle, but then she remembered she could just teleport herself. There was a flash of light, a noise, and Twilight disappeared- and reappeared behind the castle's main door. She used her magic to open the door, expecting to see one of her friends there. It wasn't one of her friends. It was... a royal guard.

"Hello?" Twilight asked.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," the guard bowed, "I come bearing urgent news that requires your immediate attention, from Princess Celestia herself, she needs this matter taken care of immediately, and it is within your department to facilitate what must be done." Eclipse then levitated the package over towards Twilight.

"Ugh, it's the middle of the night, what could be so important?"

"I wouldn't know, it's above my pay grade." the guard replied.

Twilight sighed, and took the package in her magic, "I see, thank you, I shall attend to this immediately, dismissed."

The guard saluted Twilight, waited for her to return it, and then started off back to Canterlot.

Twilight watched for a few moments before turning back inside and shutting the door with her magic, it was the middle of the night and she wanted to sleep, but the guard had said it was urgent, so she decided it probably couldn't wait until morning, especially since he had said it was in her department to take care of. At the suggestion of Princess Celestia, a few weeks ago, Twilight took the position as the Director of Special Operations, replacing Princess Luna who formally held the position, Celestia and Luna agrees it would have taken her some adjusting to get used to, but it would be beneficial, of course, for the first while Celestia and Luna gave Twilight advice, but eventually decided she could handle it on her own. Celestia trusted Twilight's decisions, and Luna trusted Celestia. Princess Twilight Sparkle now headed Special Operations alone, Celestia and Luna would only check in every months for a brief report and summary of what had happened, or if there was an emergency.  Twilight Sparkle still had the group of advisers Princess Luna had used to assist her in decision making, Twilight would have to get them to the Castle in secret, or would have to go to the Wonderbolt Academy and assemble the advisers, but they were useful.

Twilight walked into her throne room, and sat down on her throne, it was surrounded by six other thrones, one for each of her closest friends, and spike, of course. She opened the package with her magic, and looked over the file inside of it. The file bore the mark of the ESIA, the Equestian Special Intelligence Agency, something that Twilight had next to no knowledge about, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had told her about it when she had been made Director of Special Operations, but made sure not to go into details about it, but they had mentioned that they get reports quite often from ESIA, providing them with intelligence they needed to be made aware of, such as the return of The Crystal Empire. "Okay, what do we have here..." Twilight said to herself as she began reading the information on the file.

CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET

To Princess Twilight Sparkle, Director of Special Operations,

Urgent action is required to eliminate a threat to the seat of Griffon power, a radical group within the government is planning a coup, they disagree with King Tafkal's views on the Griffon Equestian Alliance, and want to eliminate the king and several ministers and replace them with griffons who will shatter our alliance and would most likely find an excuse to start a war with us, we know this would seem like something to tell the Griffon Empire, but due to how we acquired this information, we can't tell them, we believe the best course of action would be to eliminate the threats at once, special ops teams could get in, eliminate the threats, and get out without anyone being any wiser, more information on the targets is on the next page.

We have reason to believe these threatening elements will act out their coup within a month, we apologize for the short notice, but we only recently became aware of the issue. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, it requires immediate action.

Twilight Sparkle read the file again, and turned to the next page to look at the information provided. "This is not good..." Twilight said under her breath, the seriousness of the issue meant she needed to act fast, there were five targets, and they had limited special operations resources, they needed to act fast or risk an all our war with a nation that currently had the upper hand in military technology and size. She needed to talk with her advisers immediately. She teleported herself and the file into her bedroom, walked over to a wall, and using her magic, revealed a secret room, she stepped inside. She quickly grabbed her crown along with a grayish blue uniform, it was adorned with yellow lining, and bars, along with having Twilight's cutie mark on her front shoulders. She used her magic to put the files inside a pocket specifically  for classified information, and then stepped outside the room and sealed the door with her magic, the door faded into the crystalline architecture of the castle, leaving nothing to indicate it's existence. Twilight then teleported into Spike's room to inform him that she had to do something important and not to tell anypony that asked that she wasn't here, and to let nopony in, She finished by saying she didn't know how long she would be, but she should be back before morning. "I'll be back... sometime." Twilight said and then teleported herself directly to the Wonderbolt Academy, more specifically, the briefing room for the Director of Special Operations, once there she went over to the wall and pressed a red button, it would inform the advisers that they were needed.

Twilight then calmly sat down in her chair at the end of a long table that could seat 12, but there were only 7 chairs, including hers, ironically, most of the time all of those chairs weren't even filled, and she was rarely here as it was, due to her role as a princess, needing to deny valuable information that she was the director, and having a life. She waited in silence for a few moments, knowing that her three main advisers would be here shortly. The door opened, and in stepped the sub director of the Pegasus Special Operations, also the one whom generally ran special operations, except for the ones Twilight was specifically needed for, this was something Celestia had recommended to assist Twilight to help maintain her role as the princess of friendship.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle." General Spitfire saluted Twilight.

Well, that's one down, two left to go... Twilight thought, "At ease general." Twilight said while returning her salute, and General Spitfire took her seat. They sat in silence until the second member arrived, the unicorn general, and sub director of the unicorn special forces, General Ruby.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, General Spitfire." General Ruby acknowledged and saluted.

"General Ruby." Spitfire acknowledged.

Twilight returned the salute and General Ruby took her seat, now they just need the earth pony general to arrive. Not thirty seconds later, the earth pong general, General Jack, arrived.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, General Spitfire, General Ruby." General Jack acknowledged and saluted.

Twilight Sparkle returned the salute while the others acknowledged him.

"Princess, what is it that is so urgent that requires we assemble immediately- and in the middle of the night?" Inquired Spitfire.

"This," Twilight levitated the file out of the pocket with her magic, and passed it to General Spitfire, who then read it over before passing it to General Ruby, who read it over carefully, and then gave it to General Jack, who seemed to just skim over it. "This requires immediate attention. I wan't your opinions."

"I can see why you wanted our advice, this is a lot of information, and we do have more experience than you do, and this could cause an international incident... and a war." General Ruby paused, "But perhaps we should each have a copy of this file to look over while we discuss this?"

"That would probably be a good idea." Twilight agreed, and took the file and went over to the copier and made four copies of it, and put the original back in it's pocket, she then returned to her chair and levitated a copy to each of them, and kept one for herself.

"It would seem time is against us, leaving us with little to no room for error, I would suggest using Pegasus Special Forces." General Spitfire suggested. "Even if we do have the most limited special forces..."

"It would take a decent amount of resources to pull this off, General, I'm not sure that Pegasus Special Forces has the resources to pull it off, however, Unicorn Special Forces have the manpower, resources, speed and precision to pull this off." argued General Ruby.

"I see, both are valid arguments, General Jack, what do you have to say in this?" Twilight asked.

"Well, all I can say, is we need speed, precision, and coordination, and while it's true that the Unicorn Special Forces have the precision and manpower, Pegasus Special Forces has all three, but not the manpower. So perhaps it would be wise to use a combination of both, deployed effectively to take out what would be the easiest target for them." General Jack suggested.

"General Jack makes a valid point, but, unfortunately we have scheduled training and operations for most of the pegasus special forces, so perhaps it would be best to use General Ruby's suggestion." General Spitfire conceded.

"I see, it would seem we're going to use Unicorn Special Forces then, we need five teams, what teams do you have available, and how quickly can we launch a coordinated strike?" Twilight asked.

The Crystal Empire has backed out of it's trade arrangements with the Zebra Nation over the spying scandal. Griffon King Tafkal set to arrive in Canterlot next month...

Espionage Op

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'.

Visit from a Friend

Twilight Sparkle was getting ready for bed, she had brushed her mane, preened her feathers, and had made sure Spike was asleep in his bed, convincing him to go to sleep had been difficult, he gets into those comic books as much as Twilight could get into a good book. She looked into the crystalline mirror at her mane again, checking to make sure it looked right, then she turned and stepped out of her bathroom and into her bedroom, she stretched her wings out and yawned, it had been a long day, she was tired. She slowly walked over to her luxurious bed, and pulled back the covers and slipped into it slowly. She pulled the covers over her tightly, relaxed, and let out a sigh. She closed her eyes and smiled, then there was a knock on the main castle door. The fact that the enchantment on the door meant that knocking could be heard all over the castle was annoying at times. Especially these times. "Ugh, It's late, who could this be?" Twilight said as she frustratedly threw the covers off of herself, got out of bed and walked to the door, opened it and walked out.

Spike was peeking out from his room, Twilight motioned him to go back to bed, Spike sighed.

Twilight chuckled slightly, Spike had been reading. She turned down the hallway and started for the main door. One disadvantage of having a castle of your own was the immense size, and all the wasted space. It bothered her slightly that she didn't have a use for three fourths of the rooms in her castle, and the library was massive, and not even halfway filled, it bugged her.

Twilight approached the crystalline structure that was the castle's main door, she stopped, inhaled, exhaled, and used her magic to take hold of the doors and open them, they opened with little resistance, despite their size and being crystal, the doors were well balanced, and she was quite talented with her magic.

"Hello? What can I do for you?" Twilight asked as she was opening the crystalline doors, then she saw it was a pegasus wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, with an insignia for a messenger.

The blue pegasus saluted her, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, Director of Special Operations, I'm here to inform you of an incident in a special ops mission involving espionage of a Zebra weapons lab." the pegasus paused, and reached into a pocket on her uniform, and pulled out a file folder. The pegasus waited for Twilight to take the file folder with her magic, "Inside that folder are all the details we know of what happened and what went wrong. Now, Princess, if you will excuse me, I am to report back immediately."

Twilight opened the file folder with her magic and paused, "Yes, thank you." Twilight paused, "Dismissed." she saluted.

The pegasus crouched down, and leaped into the air, flying off to wherever she was going now.

Twilight sighed, then turned around and closed the door, as she started back to her room, she decided that the report probably couldn't wait, so she chose to start reading it.

Operation Izel report summary:

Status: Questionable success, team made it in undetected and retrieved data, but not a functional weapon. Team was unable to get out undetected, one operator was injured by a sword, condition stable.

Mission summary: Pegasus Team 3, Blaze, the team leader commanded this operation. Operative Hunter made a mistake which caused a bomb to explode, resulting in their detection, he was unable to retrieve a bomb for study. Operative Rainbow Dash was able to secure the information contained in the lab's data core, crystal memory being analyzed now. Operative Rainbow Dash was unable to get to the data core without causing an incident, there was a door blocking her way that required a zebra hoofprint to open. Operative Rainbow Dash took out a zebra guard and used his hoofprint to unlock the door. After Operative Hunter's mistake, Operative Rainbow Dash encountered two zebra guards, she managed to kill one without problems, however, the second guard was able to injure Operative Rainbow Dash, she was almost killed, but was saved when Blaze snuck up behind the guard and managed to kill him. Blaze then assisted Rainbow Dash in their escape, they encountered limited resistance, only having to nullify two guards. Operative Hunter had been ordered to return to command to report, but disobeyed that order to instead wait on the rest of his team. The team was able to escape with the data, but no bomb for direct study. Lt. Col. Rainbow Dash is now recovering in the Wonderbolt Hospital.

Twilight's eyes went wide as she read what had happened to her friend Rainbow Dash, she had to see that she was alright. She decided that before she left, she should tell Spike what she was doing. She smiled, he'd probably be more surprised if she teleported in there. She reached out with her magic to Spike's room, locked on, and used her magic to teleport herself into his room with a flash of light.

There was a flash of light, Spike jumped and looked up. "Ah!"

"Spike, I told you to go to bed." Twilight paused, "I have to go check on Rainbow Dash... You better be asleep in bed when I'm back, Spike."

"Uh, okay... What's wrong wrong with Rainbow Dash?"

"She was hurt doing..." Twilight paused, trying to think of an excuse. "A uh... A trick."

"Is she going to be alright? Did she break a wing like that one time?"

"No, she... Ugh, nevermind, and she had better be alright..." Twilight paused and smiled, "I'll be back soon Spike, and you had better be asleep when I'm back." Twilight reminded him.

"Okay, okay." Spike replied.

Twilight smiled, and reached out with her magic and then teleported herself into her room. She frantically looked around, and went into her bathroom, her mane looked fine, and her feathers looked good. She quickly walked out into her backroom, she turned and looked at the hidden door. "Should I put on my uniform?" Twilight trailed off, and thought for a moment. "No, I'm just going as her friend in an unofficial visit..." Twilight paused, "Maybe I should tell the others..." Twilight paused in thought for a moment, "No, I'll talk to Rainbow first, and tell them later."

With that Twilight Stretched out her wings, focused on General Spitfire's office at the Wonderbolt Academy, reached out with her magic, and teleported in a flash of light, with a small popping noise.

General Spitfire heard a pop and saw a flash of light and looked up from her desk, she had been up late reviewing reports and requests she needed to attend to. "Princess Twilight Sparkle?" she inquired.

"Spitfire, I'm not here on official business, no need for formalities, now, please, tell me where Rainbow Dash is, she's my friend and I'd like to see her." Twilight said as she folded her wings and approached Spitfire's desk.

Spitfire looked around her desk for a file telling where Rainbow Dash was currently, she found it and moved it closer to herself. She looked over the paper, "Room  twenty-two, level one. She may be asleep right now, she needs rest to heal from her injuries, Twilight."

"Thanks, Spitfire, and how bad are they?"

"They're not that bad, but still, bad enough." Spitfire paused and lowered her voice, "She could have been killed though, I'm not sure if she's cut out for this, Twilight. I hope your recommendation wasn't misplaced."

Twilight smiled wryly, "Don't worry, she'll be able to pull it off. But perhaps it wasn't my best idea." Twilight paused, "Thank you Spitfire, I will check in back with you before I leave."

"Of course, Twilight." Spitfire smiled, and returned to her work.

Twilight smiled back, and turned and walked out the door, into the hallway. Room twenty-two... I don't know where that is so I can't just teleport in there, looks like I'm going to be walking. Twilight quickly took off towards the infirmary and room twenty-two.

Rainbow Dash sighed, her wing and chest were bandaged to her body, it hurt slightly to breathe, and move. The doctor had said it would most likely be a few weeks before she could go, which was something she was not looking forward to. "A few weeks, ugh... Might as well be a few years, ugh!" Rainbow Dash was alone in the room, talking to herself, she looked at the desk beside her bed, there was a lamp and a clock on it, along with a glass of water. She sighed, last time she was in a hospital she had to stay in at least she had a book, even if she initially refused to start reading it. She quickly overcame that though, due to boredom. But now she was alone, and had nothing to do. Nothing. At all. To do. "Ugh."

Rainbow Dash rolled over onto her side, "Ow." Rainbow quietly yelped as she rolled onto her injured wing. She looked out the window at the dark star filled sky, the moon was slowly rising into the sky. She thought back to the time before the moon looked like it did now, back when there was still the Mare in the Moon. Rainbow smiled and chuckled, "Ow, maybe I shouldn't laugh..." Rainbow trailed off and continued thinking about how her friends and herself had been brought together. "Who would have thought defeating a great evil would have led to some of the closest bonds I've ever had." Rainbow whispered to herself and smiled.

She heard the door click, and open. Probably the doctor back to check in on me again, probably trying to make sure I'm asleep... Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and feigned being asleep. She heard slow, steady, quiet hoofsteps as the doctor approached her. The hoofsteps stopped as the doctor reached her bed. She felt the doctor looking at her, it was slightly creepy.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight whispered.

Rainbow Dash heard her name, and it wasn't the doctor's voice, it was Twilight's. Rainbow Dash perked up, "Twilight?" Rainbow asked as she turned her head towards Twilight. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you to make sure you're doing okay."

"Well... Thanks, Twilight. But, uh, how did you find out about this?"

"I got a report. I'm the Director of Special Operations." Twilight answered

"Oh..." Rainbow Dash paused, "You're not going to... kick me out of special ops for this are you?" Rainbow Dash smiled slightly and laughed slowly.

Twilight smiled, "No, but be more careful next time, Rainbow Dash, your friends would hate to lose you." Twilight gulped at that thought.

"I know, Twilight. I... I kinda screwed up, didn't I?"

Twilight smiled and shook her head, "Kind of. Want to talk about it?"

Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled over, "Ow. I guess..." Rainbow trailed off.

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked in a concerned voice.

"I'm fine, Twilight."

"Okay, you sure? Anything I can get you?"

"Twilight. I'm fine, really."

"Okay." Twilight paused, "Mind if I sit down beside you?"

"Uh, sure."

Twilight got on the bed and laid down beside Rainbow Dash and smiled, "So what happened, Rainbow Dash, I read the report, but I think you could explain it better."

Rainbow Dash sighed, "Right." she paused, "Well, my team and I were able to get to the infiltration point without problems, we got in without problems, and then we split up. Blaze, the team leader, went to a empty security room to keep tabs on everything. Hunter went to a lab to get a bomb for study, somehow he accidently set a bomb off which sounded an alarm... But before that had happened, I was sneaking through a hallway that had a guard in it, I was about halfway through the hallway when a door opened in front of me, I wasn't scared, of course, and a guard walked out, he was followed by a zebra in an orange vest with his hooves chained."

"They had prisoners there?" Twilight asked.

"I guess, no idea why though."

"That's strange... Unless they were... No, they wouldn't use the prisoners as test subjects... Would they?" Twilight shuddered at the thought of such cruelty.

"Um... I certainly hope not, that's just... Not right." Rainbow Dash was spacing out, then shook her head, "Ugh, anyway, where was I?"

"You were sneaking through a hallway."

"Oh, right. Um, so anyway, after I had gotten to the end of the hallway there was a locked door, it needed a zebra hoofprint to open it, so I had to kill a zebra guard to unlock it to get in." Rainbow Dash paused.

"You know you didn't have to kill the guard right? You could have knocked him unconscious..." Twilight trailed off.

"I uh... I didn't think of that at the time..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her head and looked slightly embarrassed. "After that I managed to get into the data core, before I was able to access it two guards walked in, they didn't see me, and they left. After that I was able to get the data onto the crystal without any problems, then Hunter said over the com that he accidently set off a bomb, and that guards were now swarming him. Blaze told him to forget about the bomb and to get out, he then told me to get out of the data core room because guards were coming. He had to go too, guards were approaching him." Rainbow Dash paused, and sighed, "And then I made the mistake of jumping out of the room without checking to make sure it was clear, and i ran right into a zebra guard, I managed to take him out but not before the other guard realized what was going on, and he engaged me." Rainbow Dash paused, and shuddered. "The guard could have killed me... He was about to..." Rainbow Dash was hit with sudden realization that she could have died.

"Rainbow Dash, you alright?" Twilight asked. No answer.

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked again.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, and rubbed a hoof across her eyes, "Uh yeah, I'm fine." her voice crackled slightly.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, it's okay..." Twilight paused and put a leg around Rainbow Dash and pulled her into a hug.

Rainbow Dash sighed, "Thanks, Twilight."

"Of course, Rainbow Dash. What are friends for?" Twilight smiled.

Rainbow Dash returned the smile, and pulled out of the hug, "Ow... Ugh... Say, I don't suppose there is anything you could do about this, is there? Maybe numb it or something?" Rainbow chuckled slightly.

"I can do you one better, Rainbow." Twilight smiled and focused her magic on Rainbow's wounds, slowly healing the wounds.

Rainbow Dash scrunched up her face from the pain, it wasn't bad but it was still unpleasant. There was a slight tingling sensation now, but the pain was gone. The tingling stopped, and Twilight's horn stopped glowing. "What did you do?"

"I healed your wounds. But that now means you have to go back to work." Twilight teased slightly.

Rainbow Dash laughed.

"It's good to see you doing good again, I'll go talk to the doctor and Spitfire, then I'll come back."

"Okay... And thanks, Twilight. It means a lot to me."

Twilight was walking down the hall from telling the doctor about her having healed Rainbow Dash, much to the doctor's surprise, it wasn't so much the fact that she could heal Rainbow Dash, so much as it was the fact that she did heal Rainbow Dash. Twilight had to explain to the doctor that Rainbow Dash was one of her best friends, and eventually the doctor understood what she meant. She turned the corner to the hallway leading to Spitfire's office, she would explain to Spitfire that she had healed Rainbow Dash, but wanted to give her a day or two off to recover emotionally, then she would report back to duty. She approached the door, stopped, and knocked on the door, not wanting to barge in on her.

"Enter."

Twilight used her magic to open the door, and walked inside, the two guards looked at her and saluted as she stepped inside, Spitfire looked up from her desk and saluted as well. "I'm not here in an official capacity, you don't have to salute me." Twilight said, paused for a moment, and returned the salute. She sighed, she didn't really care for having to do that.

"What can I do for you, Twilight?" Spitfire asked.

"Well, I told you I would stop by after checking in on Rainbow Dash, I figured I should let you know that I healed her wounds, and have checked her out of the infirmary, I'm going to take her home, and I'm giving her the next..." Twilight paused and thought, "Two days off active duty."

"Okay, I'll put that down, what about her team?"

"You can give them that time off as well." Twilight paused, "Actually, make it three days off."

"Yes mam, anything else?" Spitfire asked as she wrote something down.

"No, that will be all, thank you." Twilight said, and turned and walked out of Spitfire's office, leaving her to her work. Twilight shut the door quietly with her magic. Twilight started back to the infirmary and Rainbow Dash's room to help her out. She trotted quietly through the halls of the Wonderbolt Academy, it was slightly eerie when it was night, quiet, dark, little movement, which was a major change from during the day. Twilight slowed as she walked past a window, and she stopped and looked outside. The moon was still rising into the sky and was halfway directly overhead. She slowly started walking again and turned her head away from the window.

Rainbow Dash was laying on the bed looking straight up at the ceiling. She was once again bored. "What's taking Twilight so long..." Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. She rolled over and looked out the window, and saw a shooting star. I wish Twilight would hurry up. Rainbow Dash thought as she got up out of bed and walked over to the window, she paused and just looked out at the night sky. The door clicked open, and she turned around as Twilight walked in. Heh, guess those wishes really do come true. "Jeez, Twilight, what took you so long?"

"I had to explain to the doctor why I healed you... More than once." Twilight paused, "Maybe I should have just mentioned I'm the princess of friendship." Twilight rolled her eyes while saying that.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and walked over to her, "Well, you ready?"

"Yeah, everything is taken care of, oh, and you have the next three days off."

"What? Really?"

"Yes, I gave you and your team the next three days off, so you can relax."

Rainbow Dash sighed, "Right... Relaxing. That's... So... Not... My thing."

Twilight chuckled, "Come on, I'll teleport us to your house." Twilight said as she readied her magic.

"Wait, Twilight, why don't we fly back?"

"You sure? Teleporting would be quicker."

"Yeah, I'm sure, while teleporting would be quicker, I need to burn some energy from being cooped up in a hospital bed."

"Well, okay then." Twilight said and opened the door with her magic for Rainbow Dash to walk out, and then followed her. They walked in silence until they got outside.

When they stepped outside the cool, crisp fall night air filled their lungs as they breathed, it wasn't unbearable cold yet, but it was getting there. The stary sky was clear, not a cloud in sight, the moon was shining brightly, all in all a perfect night for flying.

"Rainbow Dash, don't forget I'm not as fast of a flyer as you." Twilight said as Rainbow Dash was flaring her wings. Rainbow Dash turned her head and looked at her.

"Right, I wasn't going to go that fast, I am kind of wanting to relax and enjoy flying." Rainbow replied and smiled, and then jumped into the air and flew to the edge of the structure, and folded her wings, letting gravity pull her downwards, increasing her speed.

Twilight shook her head and smiled, and took off running towards the edge, once she reached it she jumped and reached forward with her front legs, forming an aerodynamic shape, reducing the wind resistance on herself, allowing her to fall faster. She pulled in her wings more tightly as she closed the distance on Rainbow Dash, "On your left." Twilight shouted at Rainbow Dash whom had her eyes closed. Rainbow Dash was startled by this and instantly opened her eyes and looked at Twilight just in time to see her fall past her.

"Oh I don't think so!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she pulled herself into a more aerodynamic shape, increasing her speed significantly, Twilight turned her head and looked at Rainbow Dash and smiled right before she reached her. Then Twilight flared her wings, instantly bleeding a significant amount of speed, catching Rainbow Dash off guard, as Rainbow Dash zoomed past Twilight whom was now gliding carelessly through the air. Rainbow Dash flared her wings, and flapped them to reduce her speed, her pegasus wings weren't as large as Twilight's alicorn wings, but she had more experience, and strength in her wings, allowing her to more quickly reduce her speed and catch up to Twilight above her.

"Got that out of your system, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked as she smiled.

"Yes."

"How long have you been wanting to do that?"

"A while." Twilight smiled.

"I bet." Rainbow returned the smile.

"Do you want to tell your friends in the morning about what happened?" Twilight asked.

"Well, it's sort of classified, Twilight, you know that."

"I meant, tell them that you were injured in the military and could have been killed."

"Right, should probably leave that last part out though. Last thing I need is all of them to be thinking I'm a softy."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Rainbow." Twilight paused, expecting a comment which never came. They continued flying in silence until they reached Rainbow's cloudhouse.

Rainbow Dash landed first, followed by Twilight landing closely beside her and to her left. Rainbow Dash walked up to the door and put her hoof on the handle, and then paused and pulled her hoof back. Rainbow sighed, turned around and had the kind of smile you have when you screw up on your face. "I kinda forgot my keys..." Rainbow scratched her head as she said that.

Twilight facehoofed. "Well, you can stay at the castle until morning I suppose, there's plenty of room." Twilight paused, "I mean, I have like, twenty spare unused bedrooms." Twilight said in sarcastic annoyance.

Rainbow Dash laughed, "Well, you sure?"

"Of course, the castle has the room, and attempting to teleport inside your house would be impossible because of magic security enchantments. What else would you do?"

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, "Well, okay then."

Twilight smiled, "Excellent!" then grabbed Rainbow's hoof and reached out with her magic and teleported them both into her castle's throne room. Twilight looked around, and then at Rainbow Dash, her wings were standing straight up, she hadn't expected that teleport.

Rainbow Dash saw her looking at her wings and quickly folded them. "So where am I going to sleep?" Rainbow asked with a yawn.

"You can stay in the room across the hall from mine." Twilight smiled and teleported them both into the room of which she spoke. She looked at Rainbow Dash, whose wings were straight again, and laughed.

"What? You can't tell me you've never been startled before." Rainbow replied defensively.

"It's just that, you're in special ops and you don't seem like it." Twilight paused and pointed at the bed, "You should have everything you need in the room, feel free to look around and use anything you need. If there's anything you need, just come get me, I'll be in the room directly across the hall." Twilight smiled as she stepped out of the door and closed it silently with her magic.

Rainbow Dash looked around the room, it had the same crystalline design as the rest of the castle, but looked luxurious compared to the rest of the castle. It appeared to be a master bedroom, or at least she would assume it was, the bed looked like Princess Celestia could use it, that thought made her wonder what Twilight's room looked like. She walked around the room and over to a window. She starred at the sky for a moment, before turning to investigate a side room. She walked over to the crystal door and pushed it open. "Personal bathroom, heh, really is a castle fit for a princess and her guests." She then turned her attention towards the door on the opposite side of the room, and opened it. It looked like it had been meant to be a closet, but it was empty, not surprising considering that only Twilight and Spike lived here, what was, however surprising, was the size of the closet. It looked enormous, like something Rarity would have. Rainbow Dash then turned and walked over to the bed and laid down. The bed felt nice, and was surprisingly comfortable for not being a cloud bed, she pulled the covers back and then on top of herself and closed her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

Zebra Nation runs massive military preparedness drills, tests flight suits.

Breakfast

Twilight slowly opened one eye, and then the other. It was morning, early morning, she was still tired from being up late, but she was the kind of pony who just had to get up early in the morning and start the day. Twilight moaned and rolled over, and remained still for a few minutes. She finally sighed, and got up. As she stood up on the crystal floor she stretched out her wings and legs, and let out a yawn, she then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she walked over to the window to look out at the sunrise. It looked beautiful, the sun was just halfway over the horizon, the vibrant night sky was fading to daylight. Twilight sighed and walked over to a door and opened it, revealing a balcony, which she then walked out on. The crisp fall morning air filled her lungs and jump started her to be more fully awake. She inhaled deeply, and let out a content sigh as she closed her eyes. Twilight unfolded her wings and stretched them out as far as she could and then folded them back into place. She watched the sun rise for a few more minutes before heading back inside to clean herself up before breakfast. "Hmm, maybe I should invite all my friends over for breakfast, it'd be short notice, but I'm sure they'd like it." Twilight said to herself as she closed the bathroom door. She walked over to the mirror to look at herself, she'd definitely need to brush her mane. Twilight used to magic to turn on the water in her shower and grab the shampoo. Twilight waited a few minutes for the water to warm up and stuck a hoof under the running water, A little too hot. Twilight thought as she turned the temperature down slightly, the water temperature quickly adjusted and she checked it again, and then stepped inside the shower to begin cleaning herself off.

The warm water washed the sleep out of Twilight's fur and mane, slowly reinvigorating her with energy for the day, Twilight grabbed the shampoo with her magic and poured out a decent amount on her body and used her magic to rub it in, thinking all the while about what actions needed to be taken due to recent events. Twilight eventually finished rubbing the shampoo in and washing it off, and stepped out of the show, she used her magic to levitate a towel over to dry herself, she started with her head, gently drying her mane, and then carefully drying her feathers on her wings, and then worked her way to her tail. After drying herself off Twilight walked over to the mirror and levitated a brush off of the sink and started brushing her mane, eventually brushing it to perfection. She then carefully looked over her wings and feathers, making sure that none were displaced, she had to maintain her appearance of being a princess, as tedious as it was. After exhausting a decent amount of time making sure she looked perfect by her standards, she stepped out of the bathroom, inhaled, and let out a content sigh, feeling refreshed and ready to hit the day running. Twilight's stomach growled. "Well, better see if my friends would like to come over..." Twilight trailed off as she teleported four letters to herself and picked up four quills and began writing letters to each of her friends separately, without making any mistakes, multitasking was something Twilight was good at, and the fact that there was very little difference between the letters helped this also. Twilight then levitated the letters and started spinning them around her, and teleported them one by one to each of her friends, extending an invite to come over for breakfast. Twilight didn't know how many- or if any of her friends at all would show up, but she would at least be nice and offer them the opportunity.

Twilight walked over to the door, and paused for a moment, she still admired the beauty of the crystalline architecture of her castle, the colors don't really suit her, though. Maybe I could see about changing the crystal's colors... Twilight thought and shook her head, she would think more about that later. Twilight opened the door with her magic, and stepped out, she turned to the right and walked over to the crystalline door that was to Spike's room, she knocked gently before opening it and walking in. Spike lay asleep curled up into a ball in the middle of his bed, with a comic book beside him, Twilight smiled at the sight of Spike sleeping. Twilight walked over to Spike's bed slowly, avoiding making a noise as she walked towards him, once she had reached his bed, Twilight levitated the covers off of Spike. Spike stirred but didn't wake up. Twilight chuckled, she then turned and looked towards the window, Spike kept the curtain he had Twilight install closed all the time, Rarity had made the curtain and it looked beautiful, and did a good job at blocking the sunlight. Too good of a job... Twilight smiled slyly, and used her magic to peel back the curtains slightly, to see where the sunlight would land. The light landed right below Spike's face, Twilight smiled wider and quickly used her magic to carefully pull open the curtains to let sunlight flood the room, and Spike's sleeping eyes. Spike squinted and tried to shield his eyes from the light with a claw. Twilight slowly extended one wing, "Spike, it's time to get up."

"I don't wanna get up..."

"Now, Spike, we have company... You really should get up."

Spike mumbled something inaudible.

Twilight sighed, "Spike, last chance."

Twilight waited for a reply which never came, she smiled and giggled slightly, she extended her wing fully and gently stroked a feather on Spike's unprotected belly, and then started tickling him awake.

"Gah, okay, I'm up! I'm up, stop it already!" Spike said in between tickle attacks.

Twilight smiled, "Good morning, Spike."

"Good morning, Twilight." Spike said as he stretched and rubbed his eyes. Spike licked his lips and swallowed, "So, what do you want for breakfast, Twilight?"

"Don't worry about it today, Spike, I'll fix breakfast." Twilight paused, "Since Rainbow Dash spent the night here, I decided to invite the rest of my friends over for breakfast... How do pancakes sound?"

"Sure, pancakes sound okay." Spike paused, "Well, you'd better get to it before they get here then."

"I suppose you're right." Twilight paused and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Twilight then turned and headed back out the door.

Twilight entered the hallway and looked to her left, she turned and walked over to the room where Rainbow had slept, she paused at it and knocked softly, not wanting to disturb her friend. No answer. She must still be asleep then, not surprising. Twilight then stepped back from the door and reached out with her magic and teleported into the castle's kitchen.

The castle's kitchen was quite large, and Twilight had kept it well stocked on food, she walked over to the cabinet that held her cooking recipes, and levitated out the book on breakfast and quickly flipped through the pages with her magic to find pancakes, under P. She levitated the book before her and looked at the ingredient list and the amount of pancakes it made. Twilight debated for a few minutes how many batches to make, but she decided on six, not wanting to not have enough for everypony to have as many as they'd like. She quickly used her magic to assemble the needed ingredients from the storeroom, and levitated out a bowel to mix up the batter in. Twilight then also decided to add blueberries, and levitated a bag out and set it on the counter. A few minutes past as she was preparing all of the batter for the pancakes, and it looked like it would make more than she had expected, but she would worry about that later. After mixing all the ingredients in she turned her attention to fixing the pancakes, she used her magic to light the stove after putting the pan over the burner, and then slowly poured out the right amount of batter to make the perfect sized pancake. Eventually she had finished all the pancakes, and it had, indeed, made more than she had expected, not that Pinkie Pie wouldn't eat what the others didn't eat, anyway. Twilight then levitated the pancakes, stacked taller than Princess Celestia, into the dining room, along with 7 plates, and arranged them accordingly. Twilight figured that she had better wake up Rainbow Dash now before the rest of her friends that were coming arrived so she could take a shower and make herself look presentable, so Twilight teleported outside of Rainbow Dash's door just as Rainbow Dash was taking a step out. Startled at the sudden appearance of her friend, Rainbow jumped back slightly and her wings shot up.

"Ah! Twilight, don't do that to me, you know it makes me jumpy when you teleport around me." Rainbow said as she regained her composure and folded her wings in again.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you, I was just coming to wake you up."

"Well, as you can see, I'm already awake, and scaring somebody who just got up is a real great way to wake them up." Rainbow said in sarcastic annoyance.

"Sorry." Twilight paused, "I hope you don't mind, but I made breakfast and invited the rest of our friends over."

"That's nice." Rainbow paused, "Wait, when will they be here?"

Twilight thought for a moment, "Probably sometime in the next fifteen minutes if they're coming. I hope they're coming, I made a lot more pancakes than either of us could eat."

"Ah, well I uh... I should take a shower." Rainbow replied slightly concerned.

"I didn't figure it would bother you that much or I would have woken you earlier."

"Well I need to look awesome if I'm going to be around my friends for breakfast."

"Right, well you get to it then, Captain Awesome."

"It's Lieutenant Colonel." Rainbow replied slightly annoyed.

"More like Major D." Twilight replied mockingly with a slight grin.

Rainbow glared at her before stepping back inside and shutting the door to go take a shower.

Twilight giggled as Rainbow closed the door. There was a knock on the main castle door. "Looks like they're here." Twilight said to herself as her horn glowed and she reached out with her magic to teleport to the door. There was a flash of light, a pop, and she disappeared and reappeared at the castle's main door, she used her magic to grab the door and open it to reveal all four of her other friends standing there. "Girls! I'm glad you could all make it on such short notice!"

"Well, of course darling, your castle is simply divine, why would i pass up an opportunity to marvel in it's glory?" Rarity answered first.

"He-he, of course we came, Twilight, it's always super fun to have breakfast with friends!" Pinkie Pie said happily as she bounced on through the door.

"Thanks for the invite, Twilight." Fluttershy said as she calmly walked inside.

Applejack started to walk in but paused, "Say, where's Rainbow?"

"She's taking a shower."

"She's already here?"

"Oh, um, I guess... I kinda forgot to mention that in the letter." Twilight said slightly embarrassed, cheeks turning slightly red.

"What is she doing here anyway? She in some kind of trouble or somethin?"

"You could say that..." Twilight mumbled, "Uh yeah, I'll let her explain... if she wants to, but I can't really go that far into it for... Uh..." Twilight paused to think for a moment, "Princess reasons." Twilight said in a more asking than stating tone, Applejack raised an eyebrow at that.

"Right..." Applejack said as she walked inside.

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the shower, she had been quick and efficient about it, hoping to get done before the others had showed up. It felt a little strange, using a shower that seemed to have been designed for royalty and their tastes. The shower was nice though, and the water was even more refreshing than that of her own shower. Rainbow Dash found a towel and dried herself off thoroughly, before finding a brush to brush her mane with, she quickly brushed her mane into it's normal style, and then took care of her feathers. Rainbow Dash checked over her mane, tail, and wings one last time before stepping out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. She glanced out the window quickly before exiting the bedroom and entering the long crystal hallway. Rainbow Dash walked slowly along, she had never really noticed how dark and gloomy, and just plain depressing the color scheme of Twilight's castle was. Shades of violets, with green outlines, although the architecture was impressive, it just felt cold. As Rainbow approached the stairs she started to hear voices, which she realized were her friends. "So they got here before I was done..." Rainbow sighed, and flew down the stairs, down the hallway, turned a corner, and then flew into the dining room. "Hey girls."

"Ah, Rainbow Dash, how nice of you to join us." Rarity greeted as Rainbow took a seat.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Right, you say that now..." Rarity mumbled.

"Jeez, Twilight, sure looks like ya made a lot of pancakes." Applejack said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I didn't realize it would make that many." Twilight replied as she slowly rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Well, dig in." Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate pancakes to everyone. They ate in silence aside from chewing and swallowing for the next fifteen or so minutes.

Rarity levitated a napkin to her mouth and wiped it before saying, "So, Rainbow Dash, darling, whatever were you doing here?" All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, whom looked at Rarity, and then at Twilight.

"Uh, hey, Twilight, can I speak with you for a moment in private?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure, Rainbow." Twilight answered her and got up and walked right past Rainbow who had started to stand up, but Twilight cut her off and used her magic to levitate her to follow her.

"Um, Twilight... What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Taking me somewhere against my will."

Twilight laughed, "You said you wanted to talk in private."

"You could have just teleported us, let me follow you, or you could have even cast a sound blocking spell."

"True."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I have my reasons as a princess- and more or less as your commanding officer."

"Uh, right." Rainbow paused as Twilight lowered her to the floor, "So, Twilight, how much am I... allowed... to tell them, you know... uh, about how I was injured?"

"The mission was classified, so no details about the mission. For instance, saying you were injured at work would be acceptable, saying you were doing a covert mission, or anything about the mission, wouldn't be." Twilight paused, "How about I just cut you off whenever you start to screw up?"

"Hey! Who says I'm going to screw up?"

"Sorry, Rainbow, I uh... Just have a bad habit of thinking in worst case scenarios..."  Twilight paused, "That all?"

"Yes, that's all."

"Good." Twilight answered and took Rainbow in her magic again, except this time she teleported herself and Rainbow back into their seats.

"I wonder what that was about." Applejack asked.

"I um, don't know. What if-"

Rarity interrupted Fluttershy, "I wonder if they're-" Rarity was interrupted by a flash of light and looked to see Twilight and Rainbow sitting back in their seats, Rainbow's wings were extended.

Rainbow moaned, "Twilight, tell me before you do that for ponies sake!"

Everyone except Rainbow Dash giggled at that.

"ANYWAY... If you want to hear the story about why I'm here..." Rainbow paused and looked at Twilight, "Well, yesterday I was... Working..." Rainbow's eyes glanced at Twilight, who nodded approvingly. "And I got... stabbed a few times." Rainbow again looked at Twilight, who wasn't making any motions this time. Maybe too many details...

"Oh my goodness, you were stabbed?" Fluttershy asked in concern, "Who would do such a thing!"

"Knowing Rainbow Dash, she probably started it." Rarity said, which made Rainbow glare at Rarity.

"Wait, you were stabbed? More than once? What!" Pinkie jumped out of her chair, "Then I should throw you a get well soon party." Pinkie paused and thought for a moment, "No, wait, you're already better... A welcome back party?" Pinkie again paused, "No, I'll throw a..."

"Pinkie." Twilight interrupted.

Pinkie slowly sat back down, saddened that her party planning had been interrupted.

"As i was saying, I was stabbed multiple times, and my t-" Rainbow paused and glanced at Twilight who was shaking her head 'no'. "Um, I mean, friends took me to the infirmary." Rainbow had meant to say hospital. She kicked herself mentally for screwing up. Twilight was glaring at her.

"Wait, infirmary? Not hospital? Wouldn't that mean you were doing something..." Rarity paused and swallowed, "In the military?" Rarity let the word hang in the air for impact. Rarity looked around at everypony, she noticed Applejack's eyes had widened, Pinkie had a strange look on her face, or rather strange for her, Fluttershy had shrank back into her chair, and Twilight didn't seem phased at all by her comment. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but paused to think, "And this happened yesterday? And you're fully healed now?"

"Yes."

Rarity thought for a moment, "How is it you are fully healed, was it not that bad?"

"No it was bad I could have been..." Rainbow noticed Twilight motioning her to stop.

It looked like nopony had realized what she was going to say- except Rarity, who's eyes had widened.

"Twilight heard about it, and came to check on me, and she healed me with her magic."

Rarity looked at Twilight who said, "Well, making my friends feel special is a talent of mine." with a smile.

Rarity coughed and turned back to Rainbow Dash, "Please continue, darling."

"Twilight flew back to my house with me, but I had forgot my keys, and since I didn't feel like going back and getting them Twilight offered to let me stay at the castle."

"Anyway, Rainbow Dash has the next three days off from... work." Twilight said.

"Wait, Twilight, darling, how do you know that?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I'm her commanding offi-" Twilight paused and winced, she had definitely meant to avoid saying that.

"Say what?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight let out a sigh, "I'm her commanding officer." Twilight paused, "She's in the Wonderbolts, not just the reserve now, but more active duty..."

"Wow, wow, wow, so wait, let me get this straight, you're Rainbow Dash's commanding officer, so does that mean you can boss her around and do things like that to her?" Pinkie Pie asked wide eyed.

Twilight thought for a moment, and smiled widely, and turned her head towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow shrank in her seat. That's not good.

"Yes. Yes it does, Pinkie Pie." Twilight said happily.

"Uh, Twilight, you wouldn't do anything you'd regret... right?" Rainbow asked slightly concerned by the smile on her friends face.

"Of course, Rainbow." Twilight said in such a way that unnerved Rainbow Dash.

"Ha...ha...ha... Okay, I'm going to go now. Have to get my keys back, Okay, bye." Rainbow said quickly as she got out of her seat, spread her wings and flew out of the kitchen towards the castle's main door, being trailed by a faint rainbow.

Twilight laughed.

Griffon weapon shipment set to arrive in Equestria tomorrow, Equestrian unicorn scientists overjoyed.

Prologue

Eclipse walked slowly down the long, dark corridor, his hoofsteps echoed on the cold stone floor, eyes darting about from left to right, half expecting to see a shadow jump out at him. He stopped when he thought he had heard something, he paused, and listened. Nothing. Eclipse sighed, "Keep it together, why am I so paranoid about this..." he whispered to himself, and resumed walking down the corridor. He finally approached his destination, a dark crystalline door, with a torch on either side of it. He stopped, and inhaled. He tapped the door with his hoof. The silence was deafening, the wait seemed to stretch on for minutes, when only seconds had actually past, and finally the door opened.  He walked inside the dark room, and he approached the throne sitting in the center of the room, it's occupant was a dark, robed figure, with yellow glowing eyes.

"Ah, Eclipse, it is good to see you again, I assume you have been keeping your skills honed?"

"Of course I have kept my skills honed, few ponies have as many reasons to keep them honed as I do." Eclipse replied, his skill set was one of manipulation and assassination, he could shatter alliances between the closest of allies, or forge allies of the most hated nations in the world, few knew he existed, but those who did would swear his abilities to manipulate rivaled Discord. "But I doubt you called me here just to ask me how I was doing, now did you?" he asked.

"Perceptive as ever, Eclipse, it would seem that you do indeed keep your skills honed, very good. Yes, I have need of your abilities..."

"My abilities don't come cheaply you know, stop wasting time and get to the chase." Eclipse replied.

"Very well, Eclipse, I need to figure out a way to... nullify the princesses of Equestria." he said and smiled, with a dark evil grin. "And you have just the right skill set to complete this plan."

Eclipse stood half shocked by what he had said, it took him a moment to regain his composure. "I may be skilled, but I'm not skilled enough to eliminate an alicorn." he paused, "Unless that's not what you're asking..." he smiled slyly.

The dark figure on the throne smiled, "No, Eclipse, I know you could never take out an alicorn, even being a unicorn as talented as you." he waited for a reply which never came. "No, I have bigger plans, much, much bigger."

Eclipse stood still and thought for a moment, "What plans could you have that are bigger than eliminating the princesses of Equestria?"

"Starting an all consuming war between two nations, Eclipse. I want you to force a confrontation between the Griffin Empire and Equestria. Such a confrontation would weaken both nations and if the war doesn't result in the deaths of the princesses, they would be vulnerable enough to finish it."

"Any specifics on how you want me to start this...confrontation?" Eclipse asked.

"You're smart, Eclipse, you'll figure it out, after all, it's your special talent. Oh, one thing, however, make sure nobody knows the events are being manipulated, if they find out, the conflict could end prematurely. And I wouldn't like that."

"Of course, but there is one last matter..."

The dark figure smiled, and chuckled. "One hundred million bits up front, and another hundred million upon the start of the conflict."

Two hundred million bits. Two hundred MILLION bits. It was like releasing discord all over again, granted, that hadn't ended as his employer had hoped, but he still made a lot of bits from that. "So, two hundred million bits for this? That's million with a M, right?"

The dark figure nodded.

"And all I have to do is start a war between the Griffon Empire and Equestria?" he chuckled, "Piece of cake."

"Then I look forward to news of the start of a long, bloody conflict." he smiled.

Eclipse turned, and started leaving, he smiled, and chuckled. He began to formulate a plan, after all, he had a job to do.

Griffon Empire Equestrian relations hit new high, many credit it to the recent joint development and sharing of advanced magic micro capacitors capable of storing large amounts of magic energy, possibly allowing for...

Equestrian Weapon Development

Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne, awaiting news of the arrival of the shipment of weapons and research materials from the Griffon Empire, so she could analyze them and then send them off to the Equestrian scientists to begin replicating, and mass producing the weapons for deployment on the battlefield. Celestia was deep in thought, paying no attention to her surroundings at the moment, not that much had changed in the past few years to take note of. We need these weapons modified to suit our needs quickly, intelligence suggests something big is going to happen soon... The scientists might need help with the research and development, I suppose I or Luna could assist them... But we are busy running Equestria... Maybe Twilight could assist. That could work, Twilight does represent the Element of Magic... And she doesn't have many administrative duties, aside from running special ops, although she hasn't had many problems with that, and she isn't needed for most of the stuff that goes on, because of General Spitfire's assistance. Yes, Twilight could help, she was a quick learner, and had studied magic very diligently. Celestia did not hear the doors to the throne room open, three science ponies, unicorns, approached in white lab coats, one of them was holding one of the griffon magic projectors in his magic, another was holding some papers, and the other was holding a crystal.

"Your highness." acknowledged the head scientist as all three of them bowed, Celestia looked up from her thoughts, "The griffon shipment has arrived, you asked to see some of the equipment and notes they had brought, along with one of the crystals containing schematics." he paused and all three unicorns moved their items closer to the princess with their magic.

Princess Celestia took the items one by one and examined them closely, the looked over the magic projector noting the placement of the magic crystals, then she moved her attention to the notes, she took a few minutes to read through them and understand them, "Very interesting." she said as she turned her focus to the crystal, as she took it in her magic she closed her eyes, and the crystal glowed brightly, she was accessing the information with her magic. "I see, very interesting, yes, this will be useful. Tell me, how many copies of the data crystals were brought?"

"They sent three copies of the data crystals, your highness." the scientist replied as he took the data crystal in his magic and examined it closely, "They all contain the same data and schematics, what should we do with them?"

"Take two for study and research, however, send one along with a magic projector to Princess Twilight, I will send her instructions to assist you in your research, it is likely she will want to deploy the magic projectors in special forces before we deploy them in a large scale for the army." Princess Celestia answered.

"Princess, it could be months before we are able to mass produce these weapons in sufficient quantities for the army, how are we supposed to develop them for special forces so quickly?"

Princess Celestia thought for a moment, she considered the available options, "I have faith in you to develop them quickly, and safely. You are more than capable, are you not? And even if you are not as capable as I believe, Princess Twilight Sparkle will be able to develop schematics that can be easily replicated quickly." Celestia paused, "But... It may be necessary to..." Celestia paused and considered what she was about to suggest, "It may be necessary to accelerate time within the research facility."

"But time manipulation is banned your highness-"

"I am aware, but if it is necessary, I shall revoke that in this case. It is vital we have these weapons, something is coming, I can feel it..." Celestia paused deep in thought, she looked down slightly, as if pained, "And without access to the elements of harmony, we need whatever advantages we can get. See to it these weapons are developed in mass within a month, whatever it takes."

"A month? Your highness, surely you can't be serious-"

Celestia looked up, and looked directly into his eyes, he saw something inside her eyes, concern maybe, no, fear. It was fear, coming from Princess Celestia, their monarch for thousands of years... Upon seeing that he had stepped back slightly, in concern, once he regained his composure he nodded in affirmation, "We will have the weapons completed within a month, Princess Celestia." he paused, "Perhaps we could contact private industries to assist in production?"

"That may be necessary, yes." Princess Celestia paused, "Yes, contact what private manufacturing companies that could help, and figure out which ones could most effectively assist us."

The unicorns started to leave, but their leader turned and faced Celestia, and approached her, "Princess, if I may ask, what has you so worried?"

Celestia looked at him and smiled, "Nothing you need to worry about."

The unicorn slowly turned and started walking out the door, he bowed as Princess Luna entered the room, he continued out after the rest of his research team.

Princess Luna approached Princess Celestia's throne, "Sister, what hast thou decided to do in regards to the development of weaponry?"

"Luna, I have decided that we will use whatever means we can to develop enough weapons in time, including private industry." Celestia paused, "I will authorize the scientists to manipulate time to speed up the development of weaponry, also."

"I see, sister, while I am not sure that is wise, I will defer to your judgement." Luna paused, "Have you informed Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence of what may be coming, sister?"

"No, I have not Luna. But I will contact Twilight and ask her to assist in developing weaponry. She is talented in magic, and smart. She should be able to figure something out. I am sure of it."

"Yes, I believe so sister." Luna paused, "Have you... Considered asking Discord for assistance?"

"Luna, Discord can't assist us in this. His chaotic nature would cause worse results."

"Fair point."

Twilight lay on her large bed, relaxing, Spike was cleaning up the mess she had made of the kitchen and her friends had left by now, leaving her and Spike to themselves. Princess Celestia had been keeping her informed on what was happening in the diplomatic realm with the Griffon Empire, and she excited about the advancements being made, but she was also uneasy about the weapon development. She knew Princess Celestia was slightly worried that the magical weaponry could eventually pose a threat to alicorns. Princess Celestia had also mentioned how Twilight, being a young alicorn, has nowhere near developed her potential, especially being the embodiment of the element of magic, Celestia had refered to her potential as 'limitless' and being able to 'eventually outmatch the combined power of Luna and I,' could be more seriously threatened by the new weaponry. Twilight had not really thought how far her magical talents might grow, she assumed she would die before something like that would occur, but Celestia had said that it would take a few hundred years for her to develop that kind of power. When Celestia had said that she asked her what she meant by that, "You're an alicorn, Twilight, alicorns do not die from the natural aging process, however, we are not invulnerable. We can be killed, it's just incredibly difficult." She had never thought of Celestia being able to be killed, even Nightmare Moon hadn't killed her when she struck her with her magic, although, it may have been for not entirely wanting Celestia dead.

The door opened and Spike came in holding a letter in his claw.

"What's this about, Spike?" Twilight said as she levitated the letter to herself.

"I don't know, something about politics and research, you know, princess stuff." Spike replied and then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, let's see here..." Twilight said to herself as she opened the letter.

Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I require your assistance in developing weaponry for our soldiers and special forces to use, using the new magic capacitors and focusing lenses, I have a few packages being delivered to you, and they should arrive shortly after you have read this letter, the packages contain data crystals and parts for you to work with, if there is anything else you need for your work, just ask. I am asking this of you because you are not as busy as Princess Luna and I are, and you are talented and smart. You should be able to figure something out. I look forward to quick results.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.

Twilight looked up from the letter and her eyes were wide with excitement, she would get to study and develop the new technology and help spearhead their research and development of something possibly vital to the defense of Equestria. Twilight jumped up and down with excitement, smiling and shouting 'yes' all the while, not noticing that she had gone into the hallway and Spike was staring at her.

"Twilight? Are you okay?" Spike asked

Suddenly hearing Spike's voice shocked her back into the world, and she realized what she had been doing, "Oh uh... Yes!" she said and blushed slightly at how she had reacted to the letter from Celestia.

"What has you so excited?"

"Princess Celestia wants me to help research and develop advanced magic technology, Spike! I'll be leading the way in development of magic weaponry!" Twilight paused, "Isn't this exciting Spike? It'll be just like old times!"

"Oh, um, I guess so, wait, did you say weaponry?"

"Err, well, yes. I did. Didn't I?" Twilight paused to think what to say, "Maybe it won't be -just- like old times." Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, "Oh well, I should have a delivery soon so I can get to work. This is going to be tons of fun!"

"You sure you're okay, Twilight?"

"Of course I am Spike! I'm just so excited!" Twilight paused when she heard a knock on the main door, "I imagine that's the delivery, well Spike, I better get that and get to work!" Twilight paused, lit her horn and teleported.

She had been wrong, this wasn't fun. This was complex, and tedious. It wasn't just fun, it was awesome. Twilight had spent most of the day studying up on the griffon research, she had found some very interesting concepts in their notes, such as using multiple magic cells in conjunction to increase magic yield, however it required more focusing lenses to channel the power without burning out. She had found out that due to the griffon's having talons, they were able to easily manipulate the weapons, making it easier for them to develop ways to fire them, however, this method would not work for ponies, due to having hooves, rather than talons. She wasn't quite sure how to overcome this, she had a few ideas, such as possibly an enchantment to link to the mind of the pony wielding the weapon, allowing them to fire it with their mind, however she realized that could prove difficult and cause problems for some ponies. Another idea was to use magic sensors to detect certain movements within a hoof and fire it based upon certain movements, that did look promising, but could still cause problems, another idea was instead of mounting the weapons on hooves would be to instead mount them on shoulders, but this would make it more difficult to engage in tighter areas. She would have to determine which would be most efficient.

Twilight sat back in her chair and put the crystal she had been holding down onto the desk, and sighed. She had the resources and capability to create prototypes, but she didn't know which one to work on first, each idea had different benefits and drawbacks, and she couldn't decide which would be best, and Celestia was counting on her. "Ok, let's think. Mind-link benefits. Fire when thinking or something of the like, just need the mental capacity to control your mind. Drawbacks, would require training and intense focus, and not everypony would be able to control it successfully, also weapons being linked to an owner would probably reduce combat effectiveness." Twilight compiled a mental list, and decided the drawbacks would make this option not viable, she could always come back to it if needed. "Hoof-mounted and movement sensing... Benefits, possible better accuracy, speed, control, adaptability, probably easier for most ponies to get used to... Drawbacks, possible misfires, increased wear and tare..." Twilight compiled another mental list, and pondered for a moment. "Well, I guess the method is clear, I guess I should start on a prototype..."

Twilight lit her horn and brought forth boxes containing different parts necessary for designing a prototype, she pulled out sheet metal which she would make a mental schematic of and download it into a memory crystal for others to access, and create a casing to house the parts. Twilight began warping the metal into a ovalish cylinder, and then measured the diameter of her hoof, and took three more pieces of metal out, fashioned one into a hinge to allow the other two pieces which she had shaped to interlock, open and close on a hoof, allowing the wearer to easily take off the weapon, while remaining secure on a hoof during combat.

Twilight then levitated three magic containing crystal cells and fit them inside the cylinder which would house the projector, but paused. "Wait... This design wouldn't be as effective... I should redesign the projector to use an interchangeable power cell..." Twilight frowned and took out another piece of metal and began shaping it into something which would house magic cells to power the weapon...

Twilight closed her eyes, sighed and sat back, she was exhausted from the mental labor, it had taken her several hours of trying and re-trying to find what would be the perfect design, and it still might not be usable by average ponies, but she had did it in under a day, she had a prototype. Twilight opened her eyes and looked out the window, the moon was high in the sky, she smiled, and yawned. She had mentally kicked herself earlier because she had forgot one step of an earlier prototype magic projector, and couldn't completely store the information to make it in a memory crystal, after that she was worried she had not recorded something correctly, and went through and re-designed it, recording each step as she did it. It had been fun, frustrating, and exhausting. She yawned again, "Well, I suppose that I can wait to send this to Celestia tomorrow... She did want this as soon as possible though... Althought, she probably doesn't expect me to have completed a prototype already." Twilight yawned again and the argument was settled. She levitated the prototype and the memory crystal containing it's schematic into a safe, along with the leftover parts, she paused and locked the safe, and then turned around and looked at the twisted parts of metal lying on the floor. "Yeah I'll have to clean this up tomorrow." she sighed, and teleported into her bedroom...

Zebra prisons empty at alarming rate, prisoners nowhere to be found. The Zebra Nation has arranged a trade agreement to obtain magic crystals...