A Lone Rifleman in Equestria

[Twenty minutes after the events of chapter nine.]

“Alright, that should do it. You’ll be able to carry out your mission without any caution of reopening that wound. The magic in those stitches should close that wound within the hour.” explained the doctor as he finished up with patching up the gash that Wolf had on the side of his face.

“You ponies never cease to amaze me, thank you for your help doc.” said Wolf.

“Anytime, now if you’ll excuse me I have other matters to attend too.” said the doctor as he finished disposing of the used medical equipment and headed towards the exit from the clinic room that he operated in on Wolf.

After he left the room and Wolf got back on his feet, a guard came into the room to instruct Wolf.

“Follow me to your quarters.” the guard instructed and with that the two of them left the royal medical clinic and into the housing quarters of Canterlot castle, this being where the princesses and guests who would stay overnight at the castle be temporarily kept until their time of departure from the royal grounds. As they walked, Wolf spoke up to his now depleted escort.

“Hey, where did the rest of my escort go?” Wolf asked as they walked down the halls of the castle to their destination.

“As you were getting looked at, they were instructed new orders. I were assigned to stay with you for now.” the guard explained.

“What were those orders?” Wolf asked with despite having a good guess of what his answer would be, but felt like asking it anyway to make small talk with the guard.

“That’s none of your concern sir.” the guard replied.

“Still giving me the cold shoulder eh?” Wolf remarked.

“It’s not like that, we’re not permitted to reveal that kind of specific information. Especially to unknown individuals like yourself. It’s nothing personal, it’s just protocol.”

“I understand, you’re just being cautious.”

“Exactly.”

After some more walking the two make it to their destination.

“Here’s your quarters, it has everything including your confiscated belongings.”

“Thank you, one last thing before you leave. But where I am I supposed to meet up with everyone to go over my ops?”

“They’ll come to you.”

“I see, well thanks for everything. See you around.” Wolf said as he entered his room.

“You’re welcome.” replied the guard as he walked away.

Wolf took a few minutes to look around the nice room that they gave him for the time being, he was impressed by it as much that a man who has minimal interest in decor would be. After noticing the awful stench that came from him and his clothes, Wolf made his way into the bathroom for a shower. To his surprise the bathroom also came equipped with a washing machine for his disposal, after undressing and starting the shower. He stepped into it to clean himself from his current filthy state.

After an hour of cleaning himself up and letting the washing machine do it’s thing with washing his clothes, he got himself dressed and took a moment to rest. Wolf took his weapons to the kitchen table and had a seat with the intentions of cleaning though his weapons.”

“There’s nothing like tending to your C14, especially when it has these kinds of upgrades to her. Our enemies never stood a chance.” Wolf thought and chuckled to himself as he carefully cleaned the parts to his rifle, with spending extra care and attention to the special modifications that were part of his rifle. Wolf did the same with his colt 1911, but cleaning tending to it took less time than it did with the C14, due to it having lesser parts to clean and no special modifications to it that would need extra care when cleaning. After he was finished with tending to his rifle and sidearm, Wolf decided to go take a nap so that he could be completely ready for his op. He slept for a good while till he heard a knock on his door. He awoke and noticed that it was around noon with how the sun had lowered since he had last seen it, before he went to sleep for his nap. After a moment's pause whoever it was that was behind that door continued to knock at the door.

“Alright, I heard you the first time! Give me a minute!” Wolf called out to whoever it was that kept knocking on his door.

Wolf got up and put on his pants and undershirt, that he had previously taken off, and made his way to the door. He unlocked it and opened it to see that one of the armored guards from before was standing out on his doorway.

“Greetings, You’re to come with me at once for the debrief.” said the armored guard who had a deep male voice.

“Alright, just give me a moment and I’ll be out in a minute.” said Wolf who after getting a nod from the guard went to go retrieve his equipment that he’ll need in this upcoming mission.

After getting his equipment, Wolf followed the armored guard to wherever they were gonna be meeting up with the rest of the team. After a while of walking they made it to a small armory where the other armored ponies from before were looking over some crossbows, swords, and pieces of armor  that Wolf assumed to be there’s. They weren’t wearing their helmets and as a result, Wolf could see what they actually looked like. The first one he noticed was a male colt who had a white coat of fur, blue and slightly purple mane/tail, and orange eyes. The second one was also a male colt, but was a Pegasus. The Pegasus had a grey coat of fur, a white mane/tail, and yellow eyes. The third was a female mare that just so happened to be a Pegasus. The had a similar look to the first guard with the white fur, but it had a blue mane/tail, and had light blue eyes.

“Well look at what the private dragged in.” The third one said as she noticed Wolf and his escort enter the room.

“Can it Violet Rain.” said the first one with a serious tone. Violet Rain grudgingly complied and went back to what she was previously doing.

“I’ll be taking my leave.” said the armored guard and with that he left the room.

“So you must be Wolf?” asked the first one who stood from his seated position.

“That’s right, it’s good to meet you.” Wolf said as he extended his hand for a handshake.

“Likewise, I’m Solar Metal. The loudmouth with the wings is Violet Rain, and the one with the horn is my brother, Midnight steel.” said Solar Metal as he introduced everypony else to Wolf and ignored the glare that he got from Violet for that loudmouth comment  They all greeted each other and wasted no time in getting down to business. Solar Metal laid out a map on a table that was on the opposite side of the room.

“Alright everypony, our objective is believed to be here.’” said Solar Metal as he pointed towards an area that was connected to the north eastern end of the large Everfree Forest and towards the mountains of the north east

“We’ll take this trail that our scouts had marked out for us that are along the bases of the mountain side and the Everfree Forest, by doing that we’ll be able to see clearly and if we spot anything the forest is right there for us to take cover in. We will also be taking a Pegasus carriage to the path, from that point on we walk.” explained Solar Steel as he pointed towards a marked path on the map and how they will be traveling to their objective.

“Why don’t we just take a carriage to the changeling hive?” Violet Rain asked while interrupting Solar Steel from his debrief.

“It’s so that we don’t get spotted, from the air, by any possible enemy targets.” Solar Steel explained with a hint of annoyance from his fellow pony in arms that had just interrupted his debrief.

“When we get within surveillance range of the changeling hive, we’ll observe the area for any weak spots and move forward from there.” Solar Steel finished explaining, and with that the group collected their equipment and made their way out of the palace.

Eventually the group made their way to some sort of pad that had carriages and other Equestrian military equipment on the premises. A carriage was waiting for them and after they loaded their equipment in a trunk like component in the back of the carriage, the group took their seats within the carriage. Despite having to have his head down, due to the small space that he was in, Wolf was able to take a seat with his new team, and after everything was situated they took off to their destination.

After half an hour of flying in a crammed carriage, those occupying that carriage made it to their destination. They unloaded themselves and their equipment from the carriage, and began the walk to the hive.

“So Wolf, how long do you think this walk will take us?” asked Violet Rains.

“For as long as it takes us, kid.” responded Wolf.

“I’m no kid, I assure you of that.” snapped Violet Rains.

“We’ll see about that in the upcoming hours.” Wolf calmly replied.

“I suppose we shall.” said a slightly ticked off Violet Rain, who turned back to the trail they were on, abandoning any chance for small talk with Wolf, who she thought was a bit of a douche at this point, despite his polite nature that he had demonstrated in the small amount of time that they had known each other.