Task Force Harmony

The sudden shift from the warm but confined interior of the EDF headquarters to the vast nothingness of a desert dune left several members of the team momentarily disorientated. Aurora was used to the sensation of environmental change that came with teleportation and found himself more affected by the cold that came from the cloudless night, thankfully somewhat mitigated by his armour. As soon as everypony had regained their bearings they dropped into a crouch and took stock of the situation. As Luna had said, they had been placed in a relatively open patch of the sandy wastes, far from any mapped civilization. Their target couldn't be more than a few hundred feet away though. Facing down two powerful rogue ponies and attempting to rescue any number of civilians in the process. As tough as it sounded, everypony knew there was a good chance that this was going to be a normal job for them now. There was no room for error.

"Soul, do you feel anypony in the area?" Cipher asked quietly, his voice coming out in the same modified version as it had in the armoury. Aurora focused for several seconds, though for the others the only sign of life coming from him was a white glow from the exposed tip of his horn.

"Yes, a few," He answered after a few moments, his voice coming out the same as Cipher's had. "Straight ahead and down. We're on the right...Something's wrong. I just felt a lot of fear from somepony down there, even from this distance."

"There's more than that." Bulwark commented, pointing up into the sky. Several of the others followed his gaze, initially seeing nothing but a typical starlit sky. The focus of his point became clear quickly though, the moon. Normally a shining beacon of peace and light amidst the inky blackness of space that surrounded it, right now it was shrouded, partially hidden by rising smoke that was briefly illuminated by the moon before being lost to sight again.

"Is it too much to hope it's just an outdoor campfire?" Water Flare commented, less a joke and more thinking of a different angle to what could be causing it.

"I doubt there'd be enough space for one that big, considering how the compound looked," Flash Sentry replied. "More likely a full blown fire. I hate to say it sir, but this could be our chance to get a good look at the ponies present down there while they're focused elsewhere." Cipher looked back at that suggestion and nodded.

"Good point. Crash, Flow, take point and move up until you can see what's happening. We'll follow closely and get a situation update from there."

Rainbow Dash nodded and motioned for Flare to stick close as they advanced up the dune ahead, keeping their movements fast but quiet, shadows in the night. In spite of the situation they were advancing toward, Cipher couldn't help but give a small smile of satisfaction on seeing the two performing the maneuverer so well, especially the energetic but twitchy Water Flare. The rest of the team followed with the same low movement as they made their way to the top of the dune and were almost out of sight over its peak before they stopped. Both of them hesitated for several seconds before Rainbow motioned for everypony to move up. The others caught up to them quickly and stopped as well. They were standing on the top of the cliff that made up one wall of the compound, only thirty feet high but enough to provide protection against the sun and wind. Their attention was focused on the sight below them though, if the mouthplates allowed for it a number of jaws would have dropped.

The pristine, methodical layout they had been expecting for the compound looked more like an active warzone. Many of the houses along all three rows were damaged in some capacity, some of those had been devastated or gutted by fires and a small number had outright collapsed already. The only constant among them were tell tale signs of the primary damage being done by magic attacks. The surrounding wall wasn't in much better condition, a hole twenty feet across had been blown open in the section to their left, while the longer wall across from their position was a raging inferno. The whole wall was also marked with scorches and holes punched through by beams of magic, as well as a conspicuous pony sized hole smashed open near the main fire. Overall, the whole site looked like an angry alicorn had gone through it already.

"Sweet Celestia..." Flash Sentry breathed, finding his voice after taking it in.

"Holy..." Flare added, biting her tongue before she let another s-bomb fly.

"Is there anypony even alive in there?" Rainbow asked, looking over at Aurora. The minimal glow told them he was still looking for an answer.

"Down there." He replied with a small sense of relief, pointing beyond the compound. Everypony looked that way to see the silhouettes of a number of figures on a dune, illuminated by the flames. Even from the little they could see, some of them seemed to be in a bad way, two of them seemingly lying immobile.

"Crash, check it out. Zippy, Soul, be ready to move in." Cipher ordered.

Rainbow's wings shot out and she took off, kicking up sand around the others as she passed over the compound, riding the thermals of the fire to glide into an easy touchdown in front of the mysterious group. The others watched and waited silently, praying they would be able to make some headway in uncovering what happened here. After several seconds, Cipher's ears twitched as Rainbow's voice came in through the web of magic Moondancer had weaved into the helmets. This time it came through in her normal voice, which was a small mercy as it also came in a bit too loudly, as if she had her muzzle was only a foot away from his ears.

"Commander, it's them. Still need to verify but it looks like just about everypony on the list." She said, causing him to crack a proper smile. He'd seen the missing pony lists recently and from the sound of it, they were about to bring a lot of relief to a lot of ponies if she was right.

"Are either of the targets among them?" He asked, the smile fading as he waited for an answer. He knew the pause was from Rainbow checking the crowd over but it did nothing to allay his fears of who might be there.

"Yes sir, suspected target is here but was incapacitated before arrival," Rainbow's voice was sharper and more urgent now. "Get Stable down here double time, we've got multiple wounded civilians."

"Do you recognise any of the ponies there, the target?" Mentally, he was kicking himself for prioritising that over the bigger situation but the thought had come before he could stop himself.

"Actually, I do recognise three of them, target included."

"Alright, do what you can for them. We'll come to you and plan our next action from there."

"Yes sir, will standby here. Out."

Cipher shook his head slightly as he tried to regain his focus. Three recognisable ponies didn't help him much but the target being one of them? He allowed himself to shunt the train of thought he'd had off to the back of his mind for now, reasoning that if Rainbow recognised them, it was more likely to be Starlight Glimmer. That was that, now to resume what he was supposed to be doing. At least the others had heard what was happening as well, the magic didn't differentiate between who it was meant to be for.

"Okay, you all heard what we have waiting for us," He told the others, looking at each of them. "Soul, get down there pronto and see what you can do. Zippy, transport Stable over there for field treatment. Wall, Flow, we're going to have to take the long way. Move out!"

Rainbow Dash felt the magic carrying her words to Cipher fade as she stopped focusing on it and looked back toward the assembled ponies. Considering the destruction that had occurred at the compound before they arrived, she wasn't surprised to see that nopony present was completely unscathed. At least a dozen were badly injured, three of those seemingly unable to stand without support. Another, the one closest to where she'd landed, lay unconscious, her coat singed in places and revealing a number of cuts and bruises underneath it. The most striking thing about them though was their identity. No doubt about it, it was Starlight Glimmer, already defeated before the team had arrived. Though given who the three earth pony mares just behind her were, maybe it wasn't so surprising.

Sitting on the left of the trio was a sapphire blue mare with tired but focused saffron eyes, a platinum grey mane that had been cut short, about halfway up her forehead, and a black peace symbol for a cutie mark. There were little details in her stance, even from her current position, that clearly showed Rainbow's trained eye that she had EDF training and likely had or was serving in some capacity. If the scout that had been mentioned was still alive, odds were this was her.

The mare in the middle was more familiar but in the worst shape by far, pale yellow of coat with an amaranth mane and tail, orange eyes and a saw cutie mark, as well as a sky blue neckerchief for an accessory. Rainbow remembered her easily enough, it was hard to forget a girl like Apple Bloom after all. She seemed very weak though, to the point that she needed to use another pony as a crutch just to sit up. Her front right ankle was a mess as well, looking painfully dislocated with a patch of freshly burned fur and skin the size of her pupil on the front of it that exposed a older scar running across the same spot. Whatever she'd been through, it hadn't been pretty.

The third pony, the one that was acting as Apple Bloom's crutch right now, was even more recognisable. Pink, pink and more pink with some light blue for her eyes and blue and yellow on her cutie mark. Her presence explained a lot about how this had happened to Rainbow. When a pony like Pinkie Pie was present, literally anything was possible.

Right now though, what was more important was keeping the situation calm. She had no idea what any of these ponies had gone through but of those she could see from the group that had to number in the dozens, many of them were badly rattled and her appearance probably wasn't helping matters at all. Even Pinkie was looking wary about her and that would never do. Rainbow reached to the latch for her mouthplate and undid it, letting the piece swing open. There wasn't any immediate danger here and a recognisable, friendly, and visible face would likely help them relax. Her hooves went up to her helmet and she pulled it off with minimal resistance, giving them a moment to recognise her in the light provided by the fires. To her silent relief, everypony that could see her looked thankful for her presence now.

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie exclaimed, that old familiar grin coming back to her face.

"Oh! Second Lieutenant Rainbow Dash, Ma'am!" The blue mare said as she scrambled to her hooves and managed a salute. "Specialist Peace Walker, Recon Corps."

"At ease kid, "Rainbow replied with a small chuckle, partly from Peace Walker's immediate attempt to sound professional and partly because from her voice, she was likely in her thirties as well. "I'm guessing you're the missing scout we were told had been out here."

"What're you doing out here, Dashie?" Pinkie asked before Peace could answer, cutting in like always. It was impossible for anypony to get annoyed at her for it though. Rainbow allowed herself to smile more as a momentary flash went off behind her, knowing without needing to look that Aurora had arrived on the scene.

"Originally, we were sent to save your flanks. Now, looks like we're getting you all out of here," She paused for a moment as an afterthought came to her. "How did you two end up involved in this anyway?"

"Very long story." Apple Bloom answered, giving a small chuckle that quickly broke into a cough.

"About six months and twenty-four chapters long." Pinkie clarified, moving to support Bloom more and holding her close. Rainbow knew she didn't have time to question it, or correct Peace getting her rank wrong for that matter. Right now she had to direct things until Cipher reached the scene.

"Soul, take your helmet off and start tending to the injured as best you can." She instructed. Aurora simply nodded and did so, placing his helmet on his back and moving to provide what aid he could.

Rainbow looked back and unclipped her bag, fetching out the magic suppressor, though really it was just a cone of metal. It did what it had to though, fitted around a horn tightly to prevent any channelling or activation of magic. She quickly stepped forward and fitted it to the horn of the still out cold Starlight, following up with attaching the restrains, regular hoofcuffs, to her front left and rear right legs. That took care of the main lingering threat at least. A few moments later, Flash landed nearby with Wave in his grip. Even behind her helmet it was clear she didn't look happy about having to make the trip that way, no matter how much quicker it was. Rainbow relayed the same orders she had to Aurora and moved on to getting Pinkie and Peace's accounts of what had happened in the compound.

Several minutes later, Cipher, Bulwark and Water Flare arrived, still sounding in good shape considering how far they'd had to run. By now the situation was completely under control. Wave had managed to tend to a number of the injured, though it was clear that the worst cases required hospitalisation. Starlight was still out cold and completely restrained, whatever had hit her must have had some serious punch behind it. Aurora had done his best to help Wave out, while Rainbow and Flash had alternated between hearing what the rescued ponies had to say and keeping them calm. On seeing her commander's arrival, Rainbow made her way over to update him.

"Boss," She started before realising that he was probably wondering why she'd taken her helmet off. One of the downsides of the helmets was that you had no idea of the wearer's expressions. "We had a lot of scared ponies in a non combat zone and the armour isn't exactly reassuring."

"Fair point," Cipher replied simply. "What's the situation?"

"Starlight Glimmer is detained," She stepped aside to let them see the unicorn. "Though from what we could gather, most of the her actions here were being managed by her accomplice; Sunset Shimmer."

"I feared as much." Cipher hesitated again as he said that. While nopony said anything, they were starting to get a good idea of why Luna had asked if he was capable of being out here.

"She's gone though, incapacitated Starlight and teleported out to an unknown location before we got here," Rainbow continued, ignoring the way the tension Cipher was showing bled away at that. "They had our missing scout though, and pretty much every name added to the missing pony list in the last two years. Turns out all the damage here was caused by Sunset making her power play against Starlight, and winning from the looks of her. We've got eyewitness accounts coming from Specialist Walker and ev-"

Any further explanation was halted as Bulwark practically tore his helmet off and pushed past her to get to the main group, drawing everypony's attention. The others could only watch as he gave a happy whinny before moving over to Peace Walker. The mare saw him coming and ran over as well, throwing herself into an embrace around his neck, while he settled for holding her with soft, contented look. As strange as it looked in the middle of the current situation, nopony interrupted them considering how happy they both looked.

"So that's the wife he was talking about?" Flash commented as he joined Cipher and Rainbow, taking in the scene.

"Yep. Nice to see." Flare added simply.

"Okay. Soul, over here," Cipher called to Aurora, waiting for the younger pony to come over before taking him to one side. "Teleport back to the command center and update the princess on the situation. We're going to be moving the most badly injured to Groundside University Hospital in Las Pegasus, don't be afraid to ask her for help with moving them there. Once that's done, get back here and help with the evac duties. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Aurora started to step back before Cipher motioned for him to stop.

"And, let her know what Sunset was here." He added, slightly reluctantly.

"Buddy, even I don't need my magic to tell that this Sunset Shimmer is someone you know. You want to talk about it?" Aurora hesitated after asking that, thinking he'd overstepped a mark there, before Cipher sighed slightly and looked at him, motioning to put his helmet back on.

"I'll explain during debriefing. Right now we have to focus on what we can do, and that's nothing until you update the princess. Now get going."

Aurora quickly nodded and stepped back, fitting his mouthplate again before teleporting back to Canterlot. Cipher shook his head slightly and looked back toward the remains of the compound, the fires there starting to burn themselves out. For the first time in years, he felt a pang of sadness within him at the thought of 'Sunny'. They hadn't seen each other in any serious way for too long and to meet again this way may have been more than even his experience could have prepared for. As he turned and moved to issue orders to the rest of the team, he settled on a small feeling of relief that they hadn't had to meet under such circumstances.

Nopony should have to fight against family after all.