Task Force Harmony

Compared to the chilly hallways, the briefing room was a welcome step up in warmth. All the furniture had been arranged around the sides of the room, leaving a thirty square foot space in the center of the room. Three other ponies were standing in the center of the room talking to each other, though they'd started to look back toward the door after Aurora had come in. He'd opted to wait against one of the open patches of wall in the meantime. Rainbow Dash had just enough time to take in two of the waiting ponies, a bulky brown earth stallion that stood taller than even Big Mac, and a regular green unicorn mare, before the pony behind them gasped and pushed them aside.

It was a completely blue earth mare, though somepony like Rarity would have said that her coat was cobalt and her mane cerulean. Said mane was done into a ponytail at the back and curved at the front to perfectly frame her face. Her deep blue eyes shone with an enthusiasm of a pony half her age and even her cutie mark of a curling flow of water seemed to be bright as ever as she immediately dashed up to Rainbow.

"She was right! The princess said you'd be here when she recruited me but...Oh. Yes! I can't believe this is real!" The mare gushed, catching herself when she saw the confusion on Rainbow's face. "Rainbow Dash, it's me, Water Flare. You helped save me from that Whinnyapolis skyscraper...Remember? May twenty-second, Year Four?"

Now that she'd mentioned it, Rainbow did remember those eyes. They'd been all she'd been able to see of a panicked, seventeen year old first responder throw into a task far above her level. She mostly remembered that day as her final operation as a Wonderbolts reservist, she'd never thought about how simply telling Flare that she'd done good until they'd got there might have changed her.

"Yeah. Yeah I remember," She replied, offering a hoof that Flare quickly hoofbumped with a squee. "How'd you wind up here?"

"Well, I couldn't just stay that same weak pony after the inspiration you gave me that day. After the EDF was founded and I saw the Wonderbolts among them, I started learning, training, wanting to help Equestria the same way as you. I put up with a lot of crap from ponies who thought I wasn't good enough to do this, well I can say is, Master Sergeant Water Flare! Ha ha!"

"Believe it or not, she's like that a lot." The stallion commented. Rainbow finally had the time to get a good look at him. Again using the colour tones that Rarity had put into her head and, unfortunately, she couldn't get rid if her life depended on it, she could tell he was russet coated with a trimmed gold mane and tail, emerald green eyes and a cutie mark of a barrier made of earth.

"You've served with her?"

"For a few months in a combined forces platoon," He confirmed as he stepped forward and offered a hoofshake, one Rainbow took once Water Flare had composed herself enough to get out of the way. "Chief Warrant Officer Bulwark. It's an honour to be working with you, Captain."

"Likewise. You know of my promotion?"

"Those of us that Supreme Commander Luna recruited after you do."

"I didn't." The unicorn mare commented as she came over, though it was clear from her calm, if slightly icy tone that she didn't mind. Her coat was a darker shade of green, her mane cut into a style that reminded Rainbow of Twilight's bangs, only in a two-tone white and orange with the ones on her tail in a three stripe style. Her eyes were a gentle copper colour and her cutie mark was probably the most stylish of those present, a syringe with two spirals of yellow magic running along it's length.

"Healing Wave, I presume?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes ma'am, though just Wave is fine," Healing wave replied before looking over at Aurora, who was still keeping to himself and watching the others from by the wall. "Who's the youngster?"

Before Rainbow could answer, the door to the briefing room opened again. The first pony to step in was an orange pegasus stallion, but everypony's attention was drawn to the one following him. An azure blue earth stallion with a short cut, light gray mane and tail, crimson eyes, and a coded sheet cutie mark, everypony in the room recognised him instantly. Colonel Cipher, former intelligence officer, long time solider and their new commanding officer. Five ponies instantly moved into position in the center of the room and snapped to attention, Aurora running in and copying as best he could a second later.

"At ease everypony," Cipher said, his voice betraying his age. Despite physically looking a match for anypony in the room, he sounded like he was in his late forties at best. "Mares and stallions, welcome to Special Operations Unit, Task Force Harmony. You six are, in the eyes of both myself and the princess, the best of the best for keeping Equestria safe. Please don't prove us wrong. Now, just while I get a good look at who I'm working with."

Despite the authoritative tone, there was an underlying sense of calm in his voice, a showing that he wasn't going to be a total hardflank toward his troops. Rainbow watched as he moved down to the left end of the line where Water Flare was first, taking in every aspect of the bubbly mare.

"Master Sergeant Water Flare, Combined Forces Platoon. We'll have to do some work on your tendency to completely flip the other way, but I know just how determined you are. Just, try and keep the outbursts to when it's appropriate."

"Yes sir!" Flare replied enthusiastically with a quick salute. Her attitude had to be infectious as Cipher couldn't help but chuckle and nod before moving down to the next pony in line, giving them the same look over.

"CWO Bulwark, Second Earth Pony Platoon. I'm glad we've got a tank like you with us. Considering what your dossier says, just keep doing what you're doing and we're gonna get along just fine."

"Thank you, sir." Bulwark did his best to sound professional but he couldn't help but smile as well. Cipher nodded and moved onto the next pony in line, smile growing slightly as he did.

"First Sergeant Healing Wave, Medical Corps. I'll be honest with you, when Commander Luna asked me the kind of ponies I hoped to include in a special forces unit that could go anywhere and fight anything, I didn't ask for the best medic. I asked for the best under pressure. Also, I have to stress that you'll be expected to engage in combat as hard as the rest of us, understand?"

"I...Understand, sir." Wave replied. Rainbow only noted her hesitation for a moment before being distracted by the sound of Aurora on the other side of the line, doing his best to hide the sound of nerves. Before she had time to so much as look his way, Cipher was in front of her and doing his thing.

"Captain Rainbow Dash, Sky Wing Squadron One. Your reputation precedes you. D'you mind if I keep using Crash as your nickname?"

"Not at all, Commander," She replied, long over the memories that name had used to invoke. She'd long realised that it was part of who she was and all the teasing had ultimately helped shape the awesome mare she'd become. It was then she noticed the somewhat surprised look Cipher was giving her. "Would you prefer to be referred to by another title, sir?"

"No, no, I'm just used to only hearing the princess referred to that way," He admitted before moving to the next pony in line, giving Rainbow a moment to finally get a good look at the orange stallion in question. Now that she could see the details, she recognised him instantly. That short cut blue mane and tail streaked with a lighter shade of the same, the bright blue eyes that carried a sense of weary professionalism, the lightning bolt over a kite shield cutie mark that was now marred by a scar running up his left haunch. As Cipher finished his study, his following words only confirmed it. "Flash Sentry, Crystal Guards. I've heard quite a few ponies claim you're one of the best troopers in the Crystal Empire. I look forward to seeing if you can live up to that reputation."

"Thank you, sir." Flash replied with a snap salute. Cipher nodded before moving onto the last pony in line. As soon as he was in front of Aurora, the unicorn cowed down slightly in front of him, ears folding back as Cipher's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Prince Aurora, heir to the Crystal Empire," Cipher paused for the inevitable murmurs that came from the others among the team. "You may not be a military pony, but I'm still going to refer to you as a private when we're formal. So, there was something I wasn't able to deduce when Princess Luna met with me to say you and your family had agreed for you to be here. What exactly is your magic specialty?"

"Oh, err I...Ah," Aurora attempted to start, faltering until he took a few deep breaths while Cipher took a step back to let him focus. "Well, I-I'm pretty good with shield spells, learned from my father," Cipher nodded and flashed a reassuring grin, well aware of what Shining Armor was capable of. "But I...I suppose that it's what mom taught me is my talent. I guess I'd call it emotional sensory magic."

"Hmm. Could you demonstrate?" Cipher asked. Aurora nodded and his horn was enveloped in a white aura. Moments later, his eyes seemed to fade from their normal brown to a paler, milky white-brown. If somepony came in and saw him now, it would be likely they'd assume he was blind.

"You're curious, sceptical, but curious," He stated, sounding somewhat calmer and focused. Cipher opened his mouth to respond, only to hesitate as he tried to think of a response before simply closing his mouth again and nodding. "It's alright, everypony finds it weird the first time they see me doing this. There's no need to be scared, Healing Wave...Of course, nopony listens when I say that." With that, he closed his eyes as the glow around his horn faded. With a small shake of the head he opened his eyes again, showing they were back to normal.

"That was, unique. How did you do that?" Flash asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"More to the point, how did you get it dead on?" Cipher followed up. Aurora looked away at the questions, rubbing his leg nervously.

"It's, kind of hard to explain, even mom didn't understand when I tried. See, it's...The thing is...It'll sound crazy but...My magic aura allows me to see within you. I can sense what you're feeling, really feeling. Pure emotion comes from more than your heart, it comes from deeper, from your soul. I was concentrating on you so I could feel it, if I relaxed my focus while casting it, I would be able to feel everypony around me, within in a hundred feet or so, but not pick anything up from them."

He slowly looked back at the others, gauging their reactions. Bulwark was looking back at him with a neutral expression. Cipher, Rainbow and Flash were all looking a mix of surprised and fascinated. Wave was eying him, thinly masking an expression of disapproval at best. Flare was the only one who looked somewhat unfazed, looking between the others as if silently asking what the big deal was. The silence dragged out for several seconds until Aurora looked away again, burning with shame. This always seemed to happen when somepony found out about his talent, it got weird and he just ended up going back to his books. At this point he just wanted one of them to start the comments and get it over with.

"That's, really useful."

"Wh...?" He looked back at the others so quickly that it twinged a muscle in his neck, though he was able to make the momentary pain look like surprise. Rainbow was looking back at him with a much more relaxed look on her face.

"Yeah, I mean nopony can lie to you, nopony can sneak up on you. You can genuinely empathise with ponies. Those kind of abilities are useful anywhere." She confirmed.

"Exactly, I wouldn't have accepted you here if I didn't think you would fit in," Cipher added, relaxing himself at the small smile Aurora cracked. "Alright everypony, I'm gonna take Aurora round the headquarters and show him what's what. You're all off duty for now, though I recommend you take the time to sort out who gets which bunks. We'll meet back here at five for a proper rundown of our duties." With that, he led a rather confused but slightly more optimistic Aurora out, leaving the others to process what had just happened.

"Well," Flash finally said after several awkward seconds. "The rookie seems nice enough."

"I don't like it, no I don't," Wave said as she started pacing in obvious discomfort. "Somepony telling me what I'm feeling, flashing a bit of their magic and acting like we shouldn't notice his royalty."

"So you're telling me you weren't scared?" Flash counted, watching as she stared flatly back at him, ear flicking in irritation.

"...You know what else screws with emotions? Changelings. You know what the EDF does to changelings? Yeah. I'm not saying he is one, I'm just saying it's not going to stop being weird." She finally replied before leaving the room as well.

Water Flare looked between the remaining three ponies before shrugging it off and following her out, saying something about calling a top bunk to herself. Rainbow Dash only needed a moment to know that this team may have been the best in their fields, maybe the best overall when they had ironed out the kinks of working together, but right now they really needed to work on not acting like misfits to each other. At least the remaining two ponies in the room seemed to be capable of that. She looked back at Bulwark and Flash and offered them a hoof, one that they both gave an understanding hoofbump to.

That had been an interesting first meeting, to say the least.