Chapter 29:
Infiltration

“Everyone ready?” I asked as we'd packed everything we needed and had stocked up on three days of rations. Our bags were covered by our custom ghillie suits, which themselves had local flora stashed into them, which would make us a hard spot from anywhere. Our faces had also been covered by camouflage, masking any colour the ponies had that would make them stand out.

“Ready,” Dash confirmed along with the others.

“Good, we're starting phase two. Stay sharp and do as we trained, that way we'll all get to do this again,”

“Sir, yes sir!” they replied, hanging their rifles from their straps around their bodies. Cypher took point as we left our quarters and we moved in file towards the base's exit. Ponies along the way stopped their preparations to watch us, talking among each other as none had seen whatever we were wearing. After I had signed off at the gate we were off, the first day we'd intermittently fly as the griffins weren't expected to be that close yet. The last twenty kilometres would be done by hoof, slowly creeping forward until we got to a position from where we could observe the griffins for a day.

Gilda and I were carrying most of the heavy equipment, the two of us simply being the strongest due to our species. Cypher and Midnight were the two navigating, Cypher due to having a good sense of direction and Midnight since the area was basically her home turf and she actually knew a good part of the route. Rainbow and Datura were mostly our eyes while in flight, making sure we weren't followed. Luckily though the first day went as smoothly as planned, the six of us finding a well-covered spot to camp for the night.

“Heating crystals?” Dash asked as I pulled the pouch with the gems and passed it along. Magic items were fantastic substitutes for some of the tech we were missing. Heating crystals would allow us to warm up rations without the need of fire, allowing us to leave as little tracks as possible. After food and maintenance were out of the way, we started up a watch. One hour up, two down until morning. A quick bit of breakfast later we were back on our way, sticking to the ground and bushes. By the afternoon Dash spotted the City in the distance in one of her occasional peaks through the roof of the forest.

“We're close,” she stated as she walked up to me to report what she saw. “Directly to the east, about ten kilometres I'd guess.”

I looked over at Cypher who was studying our map. “If I'm right, which I am, it's about seven to fields near to the outskirts,” he stated as he noticed the attention.

“We move up to about a kilometre, if we can get away with it, and then Cypher and I will go out to recon a good location for an observation post,” I said, we'd covered this in the briefing but repeating the point would have it fresh in their minds. From what I'd seen months earlier the griffins would not shy away from aerial patrols so we needed to be very careful. Cypher continued guiding us closer, though our speed decreased as we became increasingly watchful.

“We're here,” Cypher stated as we bunched up under some dense tree cover. We could clearly hear the fighting taking place in the city, erratic bouts of gunfire coming out of the distance.

“Good, set up a three-sixty. Cypher, make ready for recon.” Everyone dropped their bags and took a defensive position in a tight circle, only Cypher and I were making sure our camouflage was still good. Only carrying a light load the two of us were ready to depart in minutes. “If we aren't back in three hours you will pack up and travel back a day away to our previous campsite. We'll try to get there if anything goes sideways.”

“Got it... Just please don't, that would be terribly embarrassing,” Dash smirked.

“Yeah, it certainly would be,” I chuckled. "See you in three hours."

With that, the two of us were off. Cypher took point as he navigated us closer to the edge of the treeline on a hill from where we would be able to see the supposed location of the griffin camp. After a good thirty minutes, we found a good spot inside a bit of vegetation. I set up my sniper rifle while Cypher got out a pair of binoculars.

"That's quite a few griffins," Cypher murmured as we observed the encampment.

"We weren't expecting an easy fight now, were we?" I responded, taking out a notepad and scribbling some things down. "Besides, Stonehoof is currently bearing down on us with a similar amount of ponies."

"And we need to get back there to give them the status of the encircled pony force," Cypher grumbled. "I estimate five hundred to a thousand in that camp alone but I think I can see another one further north."

"I see it. Mark them on the map," I ordered, the changeling pulling a little back into cover before pulling out his map and marking the spots where he estimated the camps to be. We spent the next one and a half hours observing the griffins, their coming and goings, where their officers were quartered, where they had dug entrenchments, and where we could slip past their lines. The sun was drifting towards the horizon as we pulled back and made our way back to where Dash and the others had made themselves comfortable.

"Nice on time. Found us our way in?" Dash asked as I got the marked map from Cypher before he joined in the security circle.

"We think so. There's some room between two camps here..." I pointed at the location on the map, "...and here. The area is fairly hilly with some good sections of tree cover. We should probably be very careful about patrols but it's definitely our best shot."

"We'll just wait until it's some time past midnight, anyone watching that path is not going to be the sharpest then," Dash stated, stating my thoughts out loud.

"Agreed. Everyone gather round," The others huddled in close looking at the map that had been filled with notes. I quickly explained our route to the city and the rest of the quick plan that had formed in my mind. We ate a last meal and then got as much rest as possible as we waited for the moon to climb high into the sky.

About an hour past midnight we picked up our bags and started moving. Midnight took point this time followed by Datura as they had the best night vision, if anyone of us was going to spot a griffin patrol then it was them. An added benefit of having the two ponies in front was that any pony defender wouldn't immediately shoot either me or Gilda on sight. The moon was only partially visible through the layer of rogue clouds that coasted through the sky on that particular night. We occasionally spotted some movement going through those clouds and there were sporadic bouts of fire coming from the Griffins and entrenched ponies.

We remained silent as we carefully jumped from patch of trees to patch of trees, sometimes having the two batponies move up ahead to scout first before the rest of us followed suit. We were making good progress at first but once we got to the last stretch our luck ran out. A trench line we'd missed which held a good few griffins sat between us and the city, blocking any further progress.

"We can look for a way around?" Datura whispered as we had huddled up to see what our options where. A quick glance at my watch quickly showed that wasn't an option though as we had two hours before the sun would rise and if we got seen then we'd be totally screwed.

"No, we'd lose too much time," I replied, pulling out my combat knife. "Drop non essential kit and fix bayonets." The others took a second for the order to register the order before following it, six very sharp knives being secured in place on our rifles and anything that wasn't absolutely necessary was dumped and hidden as best we could. "We do this silently if we can, if not... well, be prepared to start running."

They silently acknowledged me and spread out a little as I gave the order to move in. We started to hear chatter between the griffons as we approached the trench line, the watch having their backs towards us as they were focused on the city in front of them. It wasn't until Datura stood on a twig that one of the two griffins turned to look behind him. His eyes widened as he saw the six of us but before he could raise the alarm, Dash had charged forward and rammed her bayonet into his chest. The other griffon squawked in surprise but didn't get any further either as Gilda was on top of him not a second later with her own bayonet. The rest of us got the message loud and clear too and we charged into the trench.

There were six of them to the four of us but they had not been prepared for such a sudden attack as two of them had been sleeping and the other four were huddled around a fire. The fight that followed was short but vicious as two more griffons swiftly fell to the bayonets, the other two dodging the strikes from Cypher and Midnight, and the two sleeping griffins awakening to the tumult. Cypher had his rifle torn from his grasp, his response being to turn into a bear and mauling the griffin in front of him. Midnight was in much more trouble as she was thrown back by her opponent, who had managed to get a hold of his musket and took aim.

BANG

The griffin's hold on his musket weakened, a hole having appeared in his chest which was rapidly making him lose blood. Dash stood with her rifle aimed and a steely look in her eyes. "Buck."

"Time's up!" I called out as I overpowered one of the griffins that had been sleeping and stabbed him in the guts. Gilda had taken aim at the last griffon and blew a part of his skull away, leaving us in the clear for the moment. I pulled Midnight up from the ground as I took a peek at the small distance we had left to cover. "Cypher, Gilda, you two are rear guard! Dash, Datura, race ahead and see if you can find pony defenders! Make them shoot at the griffins and not shoot at us!"

"Aye aye, cap!" Rainbow replied and jumped into the air, briefly waiting for the batpony before shooting off towards the buildings of the city.

"Move!" I shouted to the others as I went over the top, immediately seeing a griffon look out of his trench further up. A single shot sent his body falling back into the trench. Alarms were being sounded all across the trench system as the griffins reacted to the sounds of combat. Some of them blindly fired in our direction while others shouted orders and hastily assembled wings to chase down whoever had breached their defences.

The four of us kept at a fast pace as we dashed for the relative safety of the buildings. Gilda and Cypher fell a little behind as they covered our backs, firing pinpoint shots at places where griffins peaked out to shoot. More than a few cries made it clear they were certainly hitting something.

“We've got you covered!” I called to the two of them as I and Midnight made it to the first proper cover and started firing at the trench line, allowing the other two to run over to the two of us without losing the suppression fire on the enemy positions.

The two of them got to us not a second to soon as we'd roused the ire of the entire griffin line and they were shooting wildly as they'd lost sight of us. A few more jumps away from them we consolidated and took stock of our situation. “Ace!”

“Three mags, good, good!”
“Four mags, good, good!”
“Three mags, good, good!”

I quickly added the numbers together and checked if my own equipment was still there and in proper shape, the dragonfire candle in particular. “Alright. We keep up jumps, I want at least two rifles pointed in the direction of the griffons at all times.”

After I got three confirmations I got our smaller group moving again, slowly making our way deeper into the buildings.

“Halt!” we froze as someone shouted at us from the first floor of one of the surrounding buildings, barrels of various rifles and muskets poking from the windows. “Identify yourselves!”

“Captain Grey, specialist detachment, Lunar guard!” I called back at the pony I could vaguely see in the darkness. “I sent my second and two of my ponies ahead, did you see them?”

I didn't receive an immediate reply but I saw some barrels retract back into the buildings. “Yeah, we did. She warned us that you were coming. Thought she was joking two of you were griffins.” The pony stepped into the window frame, showing the bandage that was wrapped around his head and covered one of his eyes. “We've been ordered back towards the centre of the city, we were pulling back to the new line. Your second should already be headed in that direction, you can tag along with us.”

“That'd be appreciated,” I called back, ponies starting to emerge from the buildings as they determined we weren't a direct threat. All of them looked tired and there were few that didn't have a bandage somewhere on their body. The pony I'd been speaking to approached me on the street.

“Sergeant Sweet Bun, three hundred twelfth, C-company... or what's left of it.” he saluted quickly as I looked around. They looked like they had maybe two platoons left and the fact I was talking to this sergeant told me their officers were probably all dead. “We should get moving before the sun really starts lighting things up. The bastards swoop down from above and we don't have the pegasi to counter anymore.”

“Understood. You know where you're going so lead on,” I stated before turning to my three subordinates. They had been keeping watch while I talked to the sergeant. “Cypher, Midnight, you two screen us from the sky, I don't want surprises from above. Gilda, keep your eyes in the rear, I don't want surprises from the rear either.”

They saluted and quickly did as told, the entire column of ponies was on the move not a minute later as we needed to reach the new positions we'd been told about. Dash and Datura found us again a few minutes later, guiding us in even faster. We got plenty of looks as we passed through the new lines, ponies shooting constant distrustful glances in my and Gilda's direction but being within the group of ponies helped keep us relatively shielded. “Command should be marked with the three hundred twelfth's standard, I've got to go find somepony that can help me reorganize.”

“Of course, sergeant. Thank you for the escort.”

“No problem. Got no clue what would possess you to come here but any help is appreciated,” Sweet Bun said before saluting and walking off. My people joined me as I went to search for the command post which we spotted after wandering and asking around.

“Dash and I are going in, I want the four of you to camp out front here while we discuss the situation. Cleaning your rifles would be a good idea right about now.” I stated, the four of them nodding and finding a cozy spot in front of one a nearby building, taking my and Dash's rifle as well. Rainbow and I proceeded to the command post where two guards eyed us suspiciously.

“Who are you?”

“Captain Grey and Lieutenant Dash, Lunar Guard specialists. We have a message and orders from General Stonehoof.”

The two guards looked at each other for a moment before stepping aside. “Follow me, sir.”

One of the two led us into the building to the room that held the commanding officers of the remaining forces in Manehattan. “Sir, Captain Grey of the Lunar Guard,” he announced me as I stepped into the room. A pegasus stallion, a unicorn mare, and an earthpony mare looking over at us in surprise.

“Sir, ma'am,” I nodded to them as I walked up to the central table that was covered by a large map with markers on it.

Dash froze as she locked eyes with the pegasus stallion who in return narrowed his eyes and studied the camouflage covered Rainbow. His eyes widened again as he seemingly recognised her.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Soarin?”

Author's Note

Been a while since I last posted, my life's become a lot busier lately and I have way too many things to do. Still, I want to finish my stories so I'll slowly crawl my way forward

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