Chapter 28:
Front

"Do you really have to go?" Scootaloo asked, looking up at Rainbow and me as we said our farewells before shipping out.

"Yeah. Sorry kid, but Equestria needs us out there," I said, nudging her on the shoulder. "You try to focus on your school, alright? You've been getting some real good grades lately and I'd hate to have to come back to barely passing grades again."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise..." Scootaloo sighed.

"Don't forget to do your flight exercises either, not working those wings will have you on the ground for even longer," Dash said ruffling the filly's hair. "With us out there we'll have this mess sorted in no time at all," she added with a smirk.

"Exactly," I said with a smile. "Dash and I need to go now, we'll make sure to write as often as we can, alright?" Scootaloo nodded as I pulled her into a hug, Rainbow joining in as well. "Now, we really should go. Dash and I need to pick up some things at our barn and then meet up with my people and her friends at the train station."

"See you later then I guess," Scootaloo stated as we broke off the hug and parted ways. Leaving people you care about before deployment was always hard, and that filly had gotten a special place in my heart after the mentoring I'd been doing for her. The flight back to the barn was done in silence as Dash too seemed to have a tough time with leaving behind town, the true implications of doing so setting in.

"Can you grab the stuff from upstairs? I need to clear a few things out of my office," I stated as we entered the place.

"Yeah, can do," Dash curtly answered, climbing up the stairs while I went into my office to get some documents that'd I'd need later. After getting the folder I required though my eyes fell on a thing that I hadn't touched in a long good while, the sword Luna had given me before going to Griffinstone. I'd never used the thing before, hell, not even really touched the ting past placing it in the corner of the office.

What did she say again? Something about the sword surprising me?

I drew the longsword from its scabbard, being surprised at its relatively light weight again and gripping it bit both claws. Swinging it around a bit I tried to figure out what made the blade special.

Maybe there's something magical about the thing?

I looked it over again, my eyes falling on the blue gem sitting in the pommel of the sword. There was a faint glowing coming from within the gem, the glow so small that I would have dismissed it as light refracting if I wasn't expecting magic to be involved.

What could it- WHOA!

Knowledge of sword-fighting forms started flooding my mind, things that I didn't know seconds before became second nature. I could feel that if I let go of the sword the knowledge would be gone immediately but while I was holding it I'd be the best. It was Princess Luna's own knowledge I was using after all. The rush of information slowed down for a bit as it settled in.... It didn't stop there though as a little more of Luna's knowledge had piggybacked in her knowledge sharing scene. Luna mainly knew how to wield the blade with magic after all.

Magic.

I had no experience with it at all as humans simply didn't have the stuff, so being able to feel the chaotic mass of energy coursing through every fiber of my being was beyond nauseating. I dropped the sword and lept over to my trashcan, emptying my stomach into it. After getting my breakfast out of my system I turned back to the blade lying inert on the ground, it couldn't have been Luna's intention for me to have this reaction to her spell but I was still happy I'd never used the blade in an actual situation as the only thing it would have accomplished was to incapacitate me.

That said, the fact the thing made me able to sense the magic inside of me... it was more than likely the key to me getting a grasp of the power coursing through my body. Though not for today but that thing is definitely coming with me.

Carefully using lifting the sword by the blade, I re-sheathed it while being very careful not to touch anything above the sword's guard to avoid having it activate. A quick application of fabric later it was wrapped up and added to my gear which I hoisted onto my back. Rainbow was already waiting at the door to my office with the bag that held my modern rifles as I got out.

"You good, Jack? I uhh... heard you throw up in there from upstairs." She questioned.

"Yeah, just something Luna 'forgot' to tell me about the sword she gave. I'll explain later on the train since we don't want to hold it up," I told her as we stepped out and I locked the barn down behind me. That said, the Lunar guard would probably come by before the day's end to remove anything that could remotely be used against us.

"Sounds good to me," Dash stated as she took to the air even with all the equipment she was carrying. I did so too but I remained much closer to the ground to make sure any crash wouldn't be too bad. The two of us made it to the train station in no time at all, finding Rainbow's friends there along with our people who were already waiting, the only two ponies that were missing were the two lieutenants as they had been recalled to help train new groups of soldiers.

"Hi girls," Rainbow said as she approached the group, immediately getting drawn into the group for a hug. I kept my distance as I looked over to the other group who noticed our arrival too and acknowledged them.

"You really gonna go back out there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she looked at all the stuff Rainbow was carrying with concern.

"I wouldn't be the first pony from Ponyville to go out there, AJ," Rainbow countered. "I'm not going to sit by as Equestria gets overwhelmed."

"But isn't there anything else you could be doing?" Fluttershy anxiously asked, tears in her eyes. "D-Do you have to go fight?"

"Girls, you know what Jack and I have been working towards. I can't back out now, they rely on me to watch their back out there," Rainbow stated, nuzzling her oldest friend. Twilight stepped away from the group and approached me as Dash nuzzled the others goodbye.

"You'll keep her safe, right?" she said with concern.

"Dash isn't the same pony as when we first met, Twilight. It won't be just me looking after her but us looking after each other."

"We... I just don't want to lose her," Twilight stated, also tearing up. I placed a claw on her shoulder.

"That goes for everyone out there, us going there just may mean a few other ponies get to go back to their friends and family who wouldn't have otherwise," I told her. "The faster this is over, the sooner everypony can go back home."

Our talk was interrupted as the train that would take us away came to a slow in Ponyville station, the few passenger carts that passed the station were filled with grey-clad ponies that would probably be going in the same direction as us. Rainbow turned away from the rest of her friends, clearly keeping a brave face as she joined me again. "We should go, Jack."

I nodded as Rainbow gave Twilight a last hug before going, "We'll write you girls as often as we can."

"Cap, we need to board," Midnight said as she had walked up to us, the train personnel having ushered the others into our own cart already.

"Understood. Sorry girls but we really gotta go," I said, draping a wing over Rainbow's back and ushering along with me to the entrance of the train. Dash looked back one last time before getting onto the train, taking a seat at a window as the train got moving again and waving as it left the station.

"So cap, there's something the rest of us have been wanting to ask you for a while now," Datura asked, ruffling her leathery wings nervously.

"What about?" I asked, acting as if I hadn't an idea what they wanted to ask, but there was precious little they'd be nervous to ask.

"Just... who the hell are you?" Midnight bluntly asked, looking over at Gilda. "Grimfeather has her theories from what she knows about you but honestly we're all just taking shots into the dark. You know things you really shouldn't, and these guns? We overheard the LT's that you actually helped design them! What kind of genius do you have to be for that?!"

Rainbow had a forced smile on her face as she looked over at me to see what my response would be. “You're right, I am not normal, and if we are really going to work together then you deserve to know. Dash, get my long rifle.” Rainbow quickly retrieved my AWM and passed it along. “The weapons technology you are using now is based off of this rifle... And there isn't a species in this world that could construct one of these right now.”

Their eyes widened as they got the implication. Midnight was the first to ask the obvious question. “So you're saying...”

“I'm not a being from this world, no. Honestly, it was dumb stupid luck it was me that got transported here but I made the best of it.”

“The griffin weaponry, are you responsible for-”

“No,” I cut Cypher off as he got involved. “Their muskets are their own design. Equestria's weaponry is what I was involved in. To put it in perspective, I probably advanced the particular technology a century. And that's with how incredibly innovative I've found ponies to be.”

“So what are you and where you come from? Like, I know you're not a griffin with how you act. It's all wrong compared to a natural-born griffin,” Gilda stated. “No offense meant, of course, Captain.”

“None taken, you're right after all. Also, feel free to ask any question, right now rank doesn't matter,” I stated. “My kind is bi-pedal like minotaurs, other than that it's a hard and mostly irrelevant description. Where I'm from wouldn't tell you much either but my world has scarily similar environments to this world, down to a lot of animals and plants even."

"That's... strange," Cypher muttered. "So I take you're part of your kind's military?"

"I am, a sniper to be specific, so I specialize at hitting enemies at range," I stated, patting the AWM.

"Define 'range'," Gilda stated as, of course, they too knew how to shoot too and had some concept of range.

"Effectively up to about fifteen hundred meters in good conditions," I answered, making everyone's jaws drop. "That said, the longest killshot with this particular rifle was almost two and a half thousand meters. That isn't normal though."

"Did you know?" Midnight asked Rainbow who'd kept her mouth shut.

"Yeah, from almost day one. I was there when we found him," Dash admitted. "He went on to save my life for over a week after that."

"Well, not going to lie, that clears a whole lot of things up," Datura stated.

"Is this going to be a problem? Because if it is we need to clear the air before we start operations."

Midnight snorted and held back a laugh. "Cap, Datura and I have been working with a griffin, which we are currently at war with, a changeling, their reputation precedes them nowadays, and an Element of Harmony. Honestly, adding an interdimensional alien who looks like another griffin somehow fits perfectly."

"What Edgy said," Gilda smirked, catching a punch on her shoulder from the batpony.

"Despite holding back that particular bit of your background I've never felt you be dishonest when teaching us lessons," Cypher stated. "The queen will be very interested though."

"I bet she will but for now let's catch some rest, I don't know how soon after arrival we'll be heading out," I stated as I leaned into my seat. "Because if it's up to me we'll get to work within the day."

Ponies were walking around the place with all types of gear throughout the camp, dragging along crats with building materials or other things that were needed at the front. Ponies looked at our group as we passed, we had donned the grey coats the Equestrian army had given out to stand out less but we couldn't hide the two griffins among our ranks. Some would look surprised, others scared, and the occasional pony would spit in our direction.

Let us be unpopular, we'll do our thing and they'll do theirs.

"Grimfeather?" I asked, having her come up next to me.

"Sir?" she asked.

"I don't want you walking around this place on your own for any reason. We may be fighting for them but there's going to be a lot of ponies here that won't appreciate a griffon around here," I stated. "Better to have strenght in numbers if one does something stupid."

"Got it. What about you though?" Gilda asked as we approached the housing that had been set up for us to use. It wasn't awfully far away from the central command post either to make fast response easier.

"Same goes for me. When it comes down to it we probably won't be apart from each other regardless but just so you know."

"Understood, sir, anything else important?" Gilda asked.

"Yeah, can you get the others to take my, and Dash's, gear to the first two bunks while we report to local command?" I asked of her, taking my backpack off and signalling for Dash to split hers off as well.

"You got it, Cap." Gilda gave a salute and lifted the backpack up, leaving me and Rainbow unburdened so we could do as we please.

"So we're checking on the most recent situation?" Dash asked as she fell in line beside me.

"And letting the higher commanders know we're in the theatre. They'll appreciate knowing there's a team operating deeper into enemy territory," I stated before pausing for a moment and digging something out of a pocket. "Before we go in there I actually need to give you something." Pulling a pair of lieutenant's patches out of my pocket I passed them along to Rainbow. "Now don't let those go to your head, the others will understand that it's to keep the chain of command clear but I don't want to see you messing with regulars around here. An officer, even though you have no training in that field, has to display some manners."

Dash snorted, "Me? I'm the very image of-" Rainbow paused as she saw my look. "I'll keep my shenanigans in check while I'm wearing these."

"Thank you," I sighed and waited for Dash to place the ranks on her coat before leading the two of us to the command building. The guards needed a little convincing to let the two of us through, Luna had made sure we were properly announced to the right ponies after all.

"So you're the leader of the team we were promised, huh?" General Stonehoof said, as we approached the grey stallion. "Figures that you should be a griffin yourself." He muttered.

"That's a very earthpony name for a unicorn," Dash whispered in my ear.

"General, I have not the inclination nor the time to trade insults. I need to know the current state of affairs so I can start planning operations with my squad," I stated. The general looked at me, the edge of his lips curling upwards ever so slightly, and nodded. we were pointed at a table that had an enlarged map on it with blocks that I assumed were units. The amount of griffin blocks though seemed to vary greatly, not giving me much trust in whatever intel the general was getting.

"We have the occasional pegasi that manage to run the griffin blockade from the trapped pockets in the city. We know there's a force of about three thousand earthponies and unicorns still holding out on our side of the city but the griffins have the place surrounded." He pointed at forces stationed at Manehattan surrounding a cluster of ponies. "I want to mount an attack to help them break out but sporadic pegasi and bad intel on griffin numbers are making that impossible."

"Recon followed by an infiltration," Dash stated. "We could get a dragonfire candle to the pocket while also getting a good estimate of the griffins there."

"And snipe off some of their officers to cause discourse right as the attack commences," I added as I could see a plan forming, Dash's suggestion being on point. "How long do they have?"

"Four, maybe five days," Stonehoof stated, "But with all due respect, you are going to need more than just the squad I am told you have."

"Let me worry about my people, general. I know we can do this, and if we are wrong it's only six of us you'll lose... but if we manage to do this you may save a force of thousands," I stated, knowing that we'd have to infiltrate for a good long while but it'd be worth it if we could reach the surrounded force.

"You're right, why not," He sighed after thinking it over. "Just don't take stupid risks, I would rather not have to tell Princess Luna I wasted her asset on their first op."

"Thank you sir, if you could send someone from logistics to our quarters that'd be incredibly useful."

"You'll have the support you need, don't you worry. I have no idea how you guys operate but I'd like to hear at least an outline of a plan by tonight if possible," He stated.

"You'll have it," I stated. "Come on Rainbow, we have work to do."

Author's Note

Chinooks are loud fucks.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to feed me comments and constructive feedback!