My Little Operator

The warm, compassionate Grey Vulcan Twilight knew as a filly was destroyed by the cold, unempathetic drill instructor he had become. Constant working, constant moving, only four hours of rest and fifteen minutes for two meals. For a month, all operators were pushed past their limits and grew stronger. Twilight realized this after the first week when drill became easier.

After the month long, intense physical and mental training combined with team building, came the month of learning tactics and weapons training. Grey returned to his usual self, and everyone participated in morning warmups before being instructed by Onyx. By the end of the month, all the operatives knew the ins and outs of every single weapon and how to utilize them properly.

They were not the only ones training and learning. A rising threat was also training, learning, plotting, and biding their time. Soon, the day would come where they could enact their plans. Ponies, Yaks, Griffons, and Dragons would not know what hit them. Soon, all would learn true fear, hopelessness. . . terror.

Grey blinked at Darklon. "You never told me you had kids, Four."

"Echo and Hibana are not my children," Darklon stated.

"What? They are a splitting image of you! The tufted ears, the bat wings, the fangs, the leathery tail!"

Darklon face hoofed. "How did Six choose you over me?"

"You say that like it's a difficult choice," Grey jabbed.

Darklon groaned. "I have been training Echo and Hibana the past two months I've been away. They are up to the task."

Grey walked over to the two rigid Bat ponies behind Darklon to examine them. He eyed them intently while he rubbed his beard. "Who are you?"

"That's"

"Can they not talk for themselves?" Grey cut off Darklon. Darklon clenched his jaw and kept quiet. Grey returned his golden eyes to the stallion. "Name."

"Echo."

Grey frowned. "You would have gotten major brownie points if you had said, 'My name is Echo Echo Echo Echo'." Grey chuckled. He looked over at the mare.

"Hibana Hibana Hibana Hibana Hibana. . ."

Grey guffawed, and Hibana cracked a small smile. "You're a fast learner. Would you like to become the new Four?"

"Oi!" Darklon interjected.

Grey laughed and started to walk to the main building. He motioned for them to follow him. "You got here just in time. Because today, today is special equipment training!"

"Like kids in a candy store," Onyx mused to himself as he watched the operators inspect their new weapons and gadgets on tables in front of them. Onyx clapped his hands together and grabbed their attention. "Alright, boys and girls, these are your new friends. Each of you has a different, unique weapon or gadget that you will utilize in the field."

"Weapons created by yours truly," Grey bowed to the right of Onyx on the platform above the operators.

"Gadgets created by me with the help of Twitch," Darklon informed to the left of Onyx.

"Right," Onyx rolled his eyes, "Anyways, Ash, what's on the table in front of you?"

"A grenade launcher," Rainbow Dash answered.

"Pick it up and fire at the target down range."

"Yes, sir!" Rainbow Dash rushed over to the table and quickly shouldered the grenade launcher. She finds the target, a stone wall, down the range about one hundred yards and fires. For three seconds nothing happens, even after the round hits the target. Then. . . BOOM! "Wicked!"

"That is a modified M120 that fires Compact Rifle Entry Munition, a forty millimeter grenade with a drill bit that allows the round to burrow into hard surfaces and create new entry points," Grey boasts.

"Next," Onyx said, "Castle, you see that rolled up mat on the table? Set it up on the door frame in the range. You're going to need that nail gun, too."

"Yes, sir," Limestone walked over to the table, placed the nail gun on her back, tucked the mat under her right foreleg, and hopped over the guard rail of the range. She strode over to the white, standard size door frame, stood up on her hind legs, unrolled the mat to cover the red door, and nailed it in place with the yellow nail gun.

Gunfire erupted in the range, and the operators hit the ground. Thatcher's laughter from above made them cautiously pop their heads up.

"What the fuck was that!" Limestone shouted up at the officers. Her eyes went wide when Thatcher pulled out his side arm; she hid behind the black mat. The fifty caliber thundered and echoed in the range.

"Excuse me?" Thatcher said with a shit eating grin.

"What the fuck was that, sir!" Limestone shouted from behind cover.

"That," Thatcher fired his sidearm again at the mat which absorbed the lead, "is your new best friend. It is made of organic polymers and organic plastic. Fifty times stronger than Kevlar and half the weight. Courtesy of one special pony back in Ponyville."

Limestone peeked around the mat and saw Thatcher's guns holstered. She then checked out the mat and saw that the metallic front side had plenty of lead in it, but the back side was unmarked. She was impressed.

"If we ever have to hunker down and fortify a position, you will be there with the Universal Tactical Panels to do so," Onyx explained.

Mute spoke to Maud, "With your geo-scanning technology, I improved it where it can pick up living, organic materials. Meaning, with the device on the table, we will be able to see enemies on the other side of walls as well as see their equipment."

"That will come in handy," Maud replied.

"Thermite," Onyx addressed the pink mare who kept her eyes on her gift on the silver table before her, "That is your new bundle of joy. Thatcher upgraded your original thermite formula and added a secondary explosion. Care to try it out?"

A smile slowly crept across Pinkamena's lips, and she nodded her head in a similar manner. She walked over to the table and picked up the explosive mat. In the middle of the range stood a twelve-foot tall, ten-foot wide, four-inch thick steel wall. Pinkamena unrolls the magnetic mat onto the wall. She bites down in the pin and pulls it. She took a couple of steps back and marvels at the sparks flying. She took a few more steps away from the wall after the thermite finished burning.

KABOOM!

A perfect six-by-six-foot square hole was created in the wall.

Pinkamena breathed in the smoke as if the scent was a bouquet of roses and released a satisfied sigh. She skipped back to where her teammates were lined up.

"Huh," Grey grunted amused, "So Griffins and Bat ponies can get wingboners, too."

After the winged operators had control over their excited extremities, Onyx continued and smiled down at his favorite operator. "Buck. I know you have an affinity for snipers and shotguns so I give you the Customized Auxiliary Markspony Rifle System. "

"The CAMRS," Grey continued, "is an eight by sixty millimeter IOTA markspony rifle fitted with a ten-gauge, semi-automatic 'Skeleton Key' shotgun. I don't know why Glaz was so insistent on the Skeleton Key since you will mostly be overwatch but there you go."

"Thank you," Marble replied with a small smile.

"Smoke," Mute said, "due to safety reasons, your remote detonated smoke charges will not be demonstrated today. They release a thick smoke that, not only provides cover but also is filled with a devastating irritant. The irritant is potent enough to cause permanent blindness and even death."

"You had me at 'due to safety reasons,'" Brutus cracked.

"Jäger, I made your idea a reality," Mute stated. "That device is called an Active Defense System, and it intercepts grenades of any type and destroys them before they detonate."

"Could have used that a decade ago," Gilda commented dryly.

"Rook!" Thatcher called out.

"Sir!" Price went to attention.

"Shoot Fuze in the chest."

"Excuse me, sir?" he questioned and cast an uneasy glance between his uncle and brother.

Grey threw his sidearm at Price. "Erschieß ihn."

Price catches the pistol with his light blue magic and just stared at the black gun.

"How about this, you don't shoot him in the chest, and you both are out of Rainbow." Grey threatened.

"I. . . I can't!" Price sets the gun on the ground and glares up at his uncle, "I won't."

"Fuze, shoot Rook in the chest," Grey ordered.

Avenging Defense picks up the pistol with his lime green magic and shoots his brother in the chest without hesitation.

"Autsch!" Price exclaimed and fell to the ground. He held his chest and groaned on the floor.

"Thank you, Fuze," Grey said.

"So why didn't he die?" Avenging Defense inquired.

"Same reason you wouldn't have." Grey used his magic to undo the velcro strap in front of Fuze's armor and pulls out a plate of armor. "Ceramic plating encased in Dragon Weave. If shit hits the fan, Rook can armor us up." Grey picked up his gun with magic and glared at Price. He shot Price one more time in the chest, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Sorry!" Price groaned weakly.

"I think he needs to be shot one more time," Brutus gibed.

The gun points at him. "You aren't wearing a Dragon Plate nor a helmet," Grey stated.

"Enough," Mute spoke up, "put your gun away."

Grey teleports the pistol to its holster. "Happy?"

"Never," Mute cracked.

Grey smirked.

"Fuze, you like what you see on the table?" Onyx asked.

Avenging Defense turned his attention back to his table after helping his brother up. "What does that contraption do?"

"Kill," Grey stated.

"I love it," Avenging Defense grinned.

A red flash in the center of the range grabbed their attention. A mockup room, with four concrete walls, stood in the middle of the range.

"That is the 'Matryoshka,' developed in the Motherland for clearing rooms," Onyx informed Fuze. "Technically, it is still in development and not permitted by the Concord. It can be mounted on any flat surface, just press the black button first to lock it in place, then the red button to start the drill."

Fuze picked up the Matryoshka device with his magic and walked to the wall that faced him. He placed the device against the wall, pushed the black button which anchored the device. Two seconds later when the drills finished, he pressed the red button, and the two-foot piston began to drill into the wall.

"Step back, Fuze," Thatcher warned.

Fuze took four steps away from the wall. Three seconds later, five explosions go off in succession inside the room.

"Get back to the line," Mute ordered.

Fuze walked back to stand on the blue line where his fellow operatives stood.

"Twitch, roll out the drone," Mute stated.

Vinyl Scratch saluted and drops the black case on her back to the ground which opens up flat. The case contained a drone, a remote control with a large screen, tools, spare parts, and extra ammunition for the drone. Twitch levitated the remote control to her with her blue magic and with a push of a button the screen came to life. Twitch manipulates the sticks of the controller, and the drone zoomed out of the case, down the range.

The television on Twitch's table switches on and all the operators can see in real-time (in high definition) what the drone is recording. The drone rolls under the door of the room, and everyone awed at the destruction. Five black marks litter the floor where the grenades exploded, yellow ballistic gel dummies are ripped to shreds and ooze "blood," furniture is destroyed, and in the corner, there is a blue ballistic gel dummy that is as mangled as the others.

"As you all can see, Matryoshka destroys indiscriminately; that blue dummy represented a hostage. Which is why it will only be deployed if the situation requires." Onyx explained.

Twitch returns her drone to its "garage", as she calls it, and stores the case on top of the table, behind the TV.

A phone ringed, and everyone stopped to locate the sound which came from Thatcher's pocket. Thatcher removed the phone from his chest pocket with his magic and frowned at the screen.

"We are in the middle of training, Six, what do you need?" he answered the phone.

"Grey," Six spoke softly, "there has been an incident in Canterlot. We are activating Article Five."

"What kind of situation?"

"A horrendous one. Reports will be on the plane for you to go over." There is a long pause before Celestia continued, "I am sorry."

The line went dead, and Grey stared at his phone grimly. "Something has happened in Canterlot, and we are all going. Gather your things, and we leave in ten. Dismissed!"

The Rainbow Six operators saluted and quickly gathered their bags of equipment while talking amongst themselves.

"What's the situation?" Darklon asked.

"I don't know, but I have a terrible feeling about this," Grey answered with a heavy sigh.