Nec Temere Nec Timide

by CommanderApplejack

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Adventure, Griffons, Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Profanity, Violence, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human, Romance
Length: 96595

[HiE] A human wakes, finding he isn't the species he fell asleep as in a place he does not recognise, gear scattered around.

Shooting up, I took a deep gasp of air as if I'd just been drowning and managed to stick my head above the water. I followed this by trying to scramble to my claws only to drop back down again as my legs did not respond in the way I'd expected…

What the hell? What's… this… Claws?!

I looked at the appendage, reasonably certain no human was supposed to have the grey appendages of raptors as hands...

Cover art by: AV-4 Full res image there, had to downscale for FimFiction
Seriously, awesome dude. Check his stuff out.
Profanity/Violence: Soldier things.
Sex: Suggestive only, if I were ever to write clop it wouldn't be instrumental to the story and in a separate chapter.

Published 2020-09-10 20:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-09-13 20:31:07 UTC

Prologue: Dusk

Prologue:
Dusk

A cold icy gust howled as snow gently fell from the sky, blanketing the rocky mountain slopes. Further out snowy peaks could faintly be seen rising in the distance through the snowfall as they were starting to get hit by the rising sun. The magnificent white layer lay nearly completely undisturbed…

…Nearly

On one of the slopes the snow had melted away, revealing the grey rocks below. Though new flakes of the icy precipitation tried covering it back up, the surface below was still too warm for the flakes to survive.

In the center of the circle lay a well-toned male, unconscious, griffin. Brown-feathered wings fluttering in the cold winds, breathing slow and deliberate as those wings twitched and his body stirred.

Shooting up, I took a deep gasp of air as if I'd just been drowning and managed to stick my head above the water. I followed this by trying to scramble to my claws only to drop back down again as my legs did not respond in the way I'd expected…

What the hell? What's… this… Claws?!

I looked at the appendage, reasonably certain no human was supposed to have the grey appendages of raptors as hands. A quick inspection of the rest of my body revealed that the strange mutation wasn't exclusive to my hands. Legs had turned into the mighty muscled paws of a big cat, wings large and majestic like an eagle, my head following in the trend of that particular bird as a sharp beak protruded from it.

Holy sweet Jesus, this can't be happening! What the fuck is going on? This can't be right, there's no way… I'm dreaming, I must be dreaming.

My breathing sped up as panic spread through me at a rapid pace, as my eyes darted around. Equipment was scattered within the snow-cleared spot around me: camouflaged bags and clothing, rations, a tactical vest… there was no way my stupid mind could dream this mess up, right?

A glint caught my eye from something laying a bit further than the other stuff, lodged in the snow outside of the cleared space.

Alright, keep it together Jack. Whatever has happened, you're sure as hell not going to mope about it here until you're frozen. Survive now, freak out later.

Gritting my… beak, I tried standing up again, finding that if you aren't trying to stand up on just two legs instead of four it wasn't too hard to move about. The first order of business now moving about was an option was investigating if the glint was from what I assumed it was. Stumbling towards the spot I stuck the new claw into the snow and grasped the object that was hidden in it.

The scope was the first thing to emerge from the snow, followed by the barrel and then the body. Wiping off the snow revealed the magnificent rifle in all its glory.

“Hello my baby.” I couldn't help but smile at the sight of my long gun, an Arctic Warfare Magnum chambered in .338 lapua… Wow, this beak was much more flexible than I'd expected if I was able to pull that smile off. Deploying the bipod, I placed the weapon to the side, gathering all of the scattered equipment as the snow was starting to win out over the ground and lightly covering the gear. All in all, I found pretty much a complete setup for someone having to survive on their own, only bummer being that the camo was a green pattern rather than the white that'd be useful in the surroundings I was currently in.

Now if only I knew the reason for this stuff being here… or me for that matter… Ugh, what the hell am I going to do with a ghillie suit here?

Shaking the thought from my head I picked up the canteen I'd found and flipped it upside down in the metal cup that came with it before placing it to the side. The next thing I grabbed were the rations, three days of them. I was going to have to find an alternative source of food really soon, or it would be a very short run for me in this cold. The next thing I picked up was a large backpack, stashing most of the items I'd found into it and only leaving out the tactical vest, long gun, helmet, frag and smoke grenades, a Colt C7a2 with its vertical foregrip attached to the tactical rails surrounding the barrel, a Glock 17, mags, a maroon beret, my watch, and a BDU jacket.

I'm sure sarge can forgive the breaking of dress regulations in my current predicament.

Not that I was particularly cold yet, the feathers and fur on my new body seemed to be good insulation, but I could feel the cold from the outside trying to creep into my body, so an extra layer in the form of the buttoned jacket would be nice. I was pretty sure the jacket would still fit, after some modification with my knife to accommodate the wings of course, but the pants were another issue entirely, so I'd let those stay in the filled backpack.

The tactical vest was next, after strapping it tight I checked all of the mags in it, finding they were all topped off, four of them in total excluding the one already in the rifle. I knew there were more boxes of loose ammo I'd stashed away in the backpack but I'd have to line those up after getting off this mountain, out of the snow. The pistol was secured in its holster, next to a long knife sitting in its scabbard. The long gun I secured to the side of the backpack. No point in keeping that on hand if it wasn't needed. The C7 or Glock would be much more effective if by some random chance I managed to get into an engagement somehow. The helmet suffered the same fate as the sniper rifle as I opted to wear the beret instead.

Not like I'm wearing good camouflage anyway. Might as well make myself more visible in case there's another poor sod who got thrown into this mess.

Picking up the backpack and hoisting it onto my back went much better than expected, my body seemingly a lot stronger than what it had been even as a human. Sadly the backpack wasn't made for four-legged creatures but after pulling its straps tight it wasn't too bad… my wings also helped with the stability.

Wait, holy shit, I have wings!

Although I'd seen them already, the fact now really hit home as I flapped the appendages, feeling myself lift a little.

Whoa! Let's not jump the gun here. You're still on a mountain. Let's not become red paint at the bottom of a ravine just yet.

Closing the two appendages I looked around, picked a direction, and started to walk…

Tallgrass shot up from the ground all around me. The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, shrouding the large field in near-complete darkness. Not that it mattered with the night vision goggles placed on my head. I firmly grasped my rifle as inch for inch I snuck forward, not making the slightest of sound as I along with the rest of my squad made our way to the spot we'd scouted out.

The moon sat high in the sky as, after the hours-long trek, we arrived at the position we’d plotted out. Command had detected something here, and we were supposed to find out what. Getting to work further, Sarge had us build a camouflaged observation post that looked out over the marked open field and manned it, hoping to find out what in the world the higher ups had detected.

Hours went by. The moon advanced through the sky, and the sun started painting the sky in the colors of dawn. Animals waking from their slumber started to break the silence of night.

“Think we got sent out here on bogus intel? I mean, it was vague as hell but at least some high wig thought it important to send someone to check this place out,” Mark, one of the soldiers of the squad whispered to me as we shared the watch.

“I’m not expecting to find anything really. There’s nothing out here,” I huffed, slightly annoyed. “Just sit here for two days and count it as some free hazard pay.”

“Guess that’s not too bad really…” The both of us fell silent as we simultaneously noticed a change in the atmosphere. The forest that had previously been alive now deathly quiet, not even the rustling of leaves in the wind. A stinging headache came up as I looked back at the soldier next to me giving me another surprise as I now sat alone in the observation post. A black mist had flowed into our post, smothering all light, and plunging me into darkness. The pressure in my head quickly became unbearable, making my eyes roll into my skull and placing me at the edge of consciousness.

What… the hell… is going on…

Once again gasping for air, I shot up from my sleeping spot, cold sweat covering the fur and feathers of my body. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light that was coming over the horizon as I was quickly reminded of my situation, stuck in a foreign body and a day-long trek under my proverbial belt. Last night I’d set up a little makeshift tent in the treeline and built a fire before going to sleep in my sleeping bag while cradling my assault rifle.

Sun is coming up anyway. Let’s get everything packed up so I can move the moment that there’s enough light.

After packing camp I strode further into the forest to search for signs of either civilization or prey…

Author's Note

And there's the new story I teased a while back to Spits Fire readers! I've got quite the backlog of chapters I'm going to release weekly so buckle up for that. More info on when they'll release will be in chapter 1 ahead :raritywink:

Hope you'll enjoy this ride!

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 1: Company

Chapter 1:
Company

Snow and ice clung itself to the feathers of my face as I trudged through the snow. Though this mattered little to me at the moment as my eyes were fixed on the smoke rising from the woods a couple of miles away from me. I had nearly missed it if I hadn’t, by complete chance passed through a clearing that allowed me a good view into the distance.

My food had run out the previous day and the utter lack of wildlife I’d ran into was a severe bummer for my supplies, though there had to be at least some because I’d heard the howl of wolves, so running into whoever was out there was a blessing. But all of that said, I still needed to reach the plume of smoke first.

Navigating through the thick forest was a bit of a challenge but eventually, the trees thinned enough that I was able to pick out shapes and colors that had no right existing in the forest.

Oh yes! That’s an encampment!

My heart was beating quickly in my chest and adrenaline coursed through my veins as I was no less than a hundred meters from the camp that I’d been searching for. I could clearly identify the three separate tents standing around a central fire now, four-legged shapes moving between them and aroun-

Wait, four-legged?

I immediately dropped to my stomach into the snow, looking at the encampment in front of me. Why had I expected to find humans here in the first place? I lay in complete silence trying to identify the creatures in the camp. One of them was clear, it was a half-cat, half-eagle creature like I was. The notion that it was a human-like me briefly crossed my mind but quickly cast away as it was more likely that this was one of the locals. The other creatures though made my heart flutter.

I’m going to have to get used to the impossible real quickly, won’t I?

A purple coated and haired unicorn was pacing around the camp, fiddling with various pieces of equipment around the camp while a light blue pegasus with the most magnificent rainbow-colored hair was tending to the fire who’s smoke I’d followed to this location. These were creatures of myth, strange as they were, standing no less than seventy meters from my location.

“Twilight, we can’t stay here for much longer. We still have to make our way back to the outpost, our supplies won’t last forever.” I kept my body close to the snow as I listened in on the ongoing conversation the pegasus had with the unicorn, baffled at the fact that they were speaking English of all languages.

“But I haven’t gotten good readings, Dash! Something happened out here a couple of days ago that sent a magic pulse all the way to Ponyville!”

“And you’re going to starve and freeze yourself to figure out what it was then?”

I think I like this pegasus’ thinking.

“Well…”

“Exactly. You can’t unravel all mysteries like this in an afternoon Twi,” the rainbow maned pegasus, or ‘Dash’ as the unicorn had called her, told its friend.

The small part of the conversation I’d picked up though gave me an invaluable nugget of information: Whatever brought me here, it had apparently attracted lots of attention.

“Awhoooo~”

My muscles immediately tensed as I heard the howl of a wolf, not in the far distance but really closeby. The inhabitants of the camp had also stopped all of their activities to look out into the forest. Nothing moved and nothing cracked as I carefully looked around me in an attempt to find the pack predators. Picking up a glimpse of one of them, moving towards the encampment.

Hot damn, those are big… or am I just small?

“Form a circle!” the bird-lion barked to its two companions as the canines moved closer, the glint of metal revealing it had a short blade to defend itself. One of the wolves made a rush forward but was driven back with a slash. The predator pack proceeded to circle the three, looking for an opening.

They won’t last long with only that bird-lion has a weapon… I guess now is as good a time as any to help them out.

I slung the C7 from my back into my claws, getting out of the snow and standing up. Having figured out how to stably stand on my back legs over the previous days I lined up a shot on one of the wolves, flicking the safety to semi.

Crack!

The wolf hadn’t even the time to howl in pain as it dropped to the snowy ground, the others jumped and looked to where the loud sound had come from. My ears rang as firing the rifle without hearing protection wasn’t a very nice experience.

Crack!

The second of their number dropped to the ground as the bird-lion jumped forward and stabbed a third in their confusion.

The wolves quickly realized they were losing too quickly with two of their number falling in quick succession and a third wounded. The pack turned around and sprinted back into the trees.

The two ponies looked at the two dead wolves in sheer horror while the bird-lion had turned to face me, interposing itself between the two ponies and the new potential threat. We locked eyes as I closed the final dozens of meters to the camp, our expressions hard as I kept my rifle at the ready to respond quickly if it’d decided to charge.

“Who are you?” it asked, trying to keep its voice as confident as her expression but it was clear she was afraid as well. The question though did cause me to pause.

What do I tell them? ‘Oh, I’m some alien turned into a species like yours?’ That was going to inspire much confidence.

“Did you kill those wolves?” Dash asked, trying to sound tough but fear was evident in her voice.

“Yes I did,” I finally answered, pushing the rifle back out of the way before dropping down onto all fours. “Call me Jack.”

The bird-lion eyed me suspiciously for a couple more seconds before she carefully sheathed her own blade and relaxed a bit. The two ponies, on the other hand, did not look very comforted so the creature turned to them. “I would have done the same thing to protect you two,” she flat out told them to their horror.

“I overheard you two speaking,” I looked at the ponies, “mind if I tag along back to whatever outpost you’re heading back to? I’m lost and ran out of food yesterday.”

“O-Of course, we can r-ration out our food until we g-get back,” Twi stammered as I now closed the distance to the little encampment. “We should b-break up camp quickly then, while we still have light to head back.”

The bird-lion nodded, moving to what was her tent and started breaking it down. Twi did the same with hers but Dash stuck around looking up at me. “I’ve never seen any griffin in clothes and with gear like that,” she said, her voice much steadier than it had been moments prior.

“I’m… different from other griffins.”

Of course! Griffin! That shouldn’t have taken me that long to get into my head… At least I know what to call myself now.

“I guess so…” Dash said, awkwardly looking up at me as she didn’t know what to say further.

“Need help with your tent?” I asked in an attempt to break the silence. She looked back at her tent and nodded.

“That’d be awesome, yeah.”

Taking down the tent was a job swiftly done as the ponies loaded up their equipment to get ready to move. They shared some of their food with me, which I gratefully took before we headed out into the white of the forest. The griffin I’d yet to get a name for lead the group followed by Twi, me, and lastly Dash.

“So what do I call you?” I asked of the pegasus, it took her a moment to register the question.

“Oh! I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!” She exclaimed, full of pride. “That over there is Twilight Sparkle, and the griffin in front is Griselda, our guide.” I chuckled at the demeanor of the pegasus as she introduced me to the others. “You said your name was Jack?”

I nodded. “Jack Grey. Pleased to meet you, Rainbow Dash.” I held out my claw which she shook with her hoof. “So tell me, why were the three of you out here in the first place?”

This got Twilight’s attention as she slowed down ever so slightly to match Rainbow and me. “That’s a question I can answer for you. A couple of days ago there was an event somewhere within these mountains that sent a pulse of magic all over the world, creating this beautiful aurora. Since this was something unprecedented in Equestria’s history, the princess asked me to go check it out.”

There it is again, this ‘Equestria’. I guess that’s their kingdom if they have a princess.

“Do you have any idea what it might have been?” I asked knowing full well that this most likely was me being deposited in this strange world.

“Well, to be honest, not really. The event was so energetic that I haven’t got a clue about what might have caused it,” Twilight admitted.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out at some point, miss Sparkle,” I assured her, no point in letting them know about myself yet… not that they would believe me anyway…

Though she did say a fuckin’ magic pulse…

“So what’s your story, Jack?” Rainbow asked, “You said you were out here for days and got lost?”

“I was wondering that as well, there’s nothing out here but snow, trees, and ice… the only thing of note here is the thing the ponies are after,” Griselda asked cynically, stopping in her path to face me while one of her claws rested on the shortsword strapped to her side. I mirrored her and rested a claw on the Glock that was strapped to my chest, glaring her down.

“That’s what lost means, doesn’t it?” I argued but the griffin just huffed.

“You don’t just wander up in these forests if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going,” she argued, pulling the shortsword slightly out of her scabbard. Following the rules of escalation, I tightened my claw around the grip of the pistol and pulled it halfway out. The two ponies backed off as tension building up between the two of us was getting so thick it could be cut with a knife.

I can’t tell them about this, right? But then again, if I don’t tell something to that griffin this is going to be a very ugly fight… Aaagh, what the fuck am I doing anyway? I’m talking to a bunch of mythological creatures what the fuck do I care about what they think about my sanity?!

“You want to know the truth then? Fine. That magic pulse event thing? You’re looking at it,” I growled, the jaws of the two ponies dropped in awe. “I’ve been turned into a completely different species, spent the last three days wandering alone through these damned forests trying to find civilization while my food was running out, and then to top it off had to engage wolves to save your asses!
I’m cold, tired and my nerves are fried! So if you pull that sword, I swear to god, you’ll be dead before you’ve hit the ground!” With that, I pulled the pistol and kept it squarely aimed squarely at the other griffin’s head.

Griselda froze as her eyes widened. Although she couldn't know what the device in my claws exactly was, she’d seen what had happened to the wolves and could most likely imagine what would happen to her. She decided to pick the only option I’d left her and released the sword, letting it slide back into its scabbard.

“J-Jack, calm down,” Dash stuttered as she stepped forward and reached out and placed a hoof on my arm, I turned my head slightly to look at her in the corner of my eye. Lowering the pistol, I slowly re-holstered the gun.

“Just get me out of this damn tundra.”

Author's Note

For at least the first 10 weeks I'll be uploading a chapter of this weekly. The next one you can expect the 18th at 21-22:00 hours GMT+1 :twilightsmile:

Edit: art for this chapter!

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 2: Civilization

Chapter 2:
Civilization

Smoke rose from the few houses that formed the outpost, our group had travelled for almost two days to reach this little settlement. The journey had been relatively quiet, not because Twilight lacked questions to ask but because she looked to be too afraid to ask them. I didn't fully trust Griselda either after the first day so the tension in the group hadn't really settled.

“Our contract is completed, feel free to not approach me for a new one,” Griselda growled, marching off towards the outpost and leaving me with the two ponies.

“Charming griffin she was,” I muttered.

"Yeah, no offense but Griffins seem to all be like that," Rainbow agreed, making me frown.

Wow, racism much.

"None taken. Not my kind anyway remember," I casually brushed off the comment, looking at Twilight behind me as I’d figured out she was obviously the leader of the two ponies. “So what are you two going to do?”

“Well… I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “I was sent here to figure out what caused the magic pulse, but if what you said is true… well… could you come back to Equestria with us?” Twilight progressively made herself smaller as her voice lost power, looking at me as if I was going to explode into her face for no reason. Raising an eyebrow, I thought over her proposition.

I mean, do I have anything to lose from this? Either I’ve gone insane or I’m genuinely stuck in some land with colourful mythological creatures. Assuming either is true following one who seems to want to help me and knows what she’s talking about doesn’t sound like a bad idea...

“Alright, that sounds acceptable,” I replied, the unicorn immediately bloomed up and smiled.

“Really?! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She hopped around in the snow in her excitement, I couldn’t help but smile at the display.

“Calm down there, I’d like to keep moving so we need to restock our supplies,” I told her, getting her back down to earth.

“Oh yes, I’ll go do that. We might be able to reach the train station by nightfall to take the morning train that way!” Twilight happily made her way into the outpost while Dash and I looked at her go.

“You really made her day with that,” Rainbow commented as she smiled up at me, I chuckled in response.

“I’ve honestly got no clue what I’d have done otherwise,” I admitted as I started moving towards the outpost as well, Rainbow remained close by me and with the way she was glancing at me constantly it was pretty clear she wanted to ask something. “Ok, ask what you want to ask but stop looking at my butt like that.”

The blush that formed on the Rainbow’s face was positively adorable to see as she stumbled over her own hooves.

“I wasn’t looking at that! I was just looking at that thing strapped to your backpack!” Dash immediately stopped and held her hooves over her mouth.

“You mean the rifle?” I replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Y-Yes,” she stammered, looking afraid of having asked something inappropriate. “All of those strange tools you have actually.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you later, let’s focus on getting away from this remote place first.” I really didn’t know if I really wanted to tell her about the workings of the guns so I was just pushing it back to think about later.

“Ok, I guess that’s cool I guess...” Rainbow replied, following me the remaining distance to the outpost where we looked for Twilight, finding her in the little store where she was already paying the griffin store owner for the supplies she’d gathered.

“Ah, Jack, I got enough food to get us onto the train tomorrow, is there anything you might need?” Twilight asked as she stashed the items into her bags with her magic.

That’s going to remain freaky as hell to see in the flesh.

“No, I’m good. We can get going if you two are ready?” I told Twilight to her satisfaction.

“Of course, we'll head out right away!” Twilight confidently strode back out while the griffin at the counter murmured something and stored away the bits. The unicorn led us to a marked path that led even further away from the mountains that lay behind us. I glanced back to see Griselda scowl at us for a last time but mostly didn’t pay it any mind as it wasn’t my problem anymore.

“Jack, would you mind if I asked you some questions?” Twilight asked, finally having built the courage to approach me. Not having the other griffin around to build tension probably helped as well on that front.

“Fire,” I simply replied, only for Twilight to rear back and shrink. “I meant go ahead.” clarifying this seemed to bring back Twilight’s cheer as she levitated a quill and parchment. I couldn’t help but snort in amusement.

“What? Did I do something wrong?” Twilight immediately thought she had done something offensive but quickly noticed that I was smirking. I pulled a ballpoint pen out of a pocket that could hold four of them on my upper arm and presented it to Twilight.

“Use that instead, you’ll be much easier off.” The unicorn picked the pen up in her magic and inspected the little device, clicking the button multiple times before testing it by writing on the parchment.

“T-This is amazing! The ink dries so quickly!... and it replenishes from an inkwell on the inside?!” Twilight was completely captivated by the minuscule device as she used it to write down her observations on the parchment. Rainbow, on the other hand, burst out laughing at her friend’s antics.

“Really Twi, of all you’ve seen of Jack the thing that interests you the most is a special pen?” She rolled in the snow out of laughter to the embarrassment of her purple friend.

“It’s a magnificent piece of engineering, Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed, her cheeks burning.

“So magnificent my kind makes millions of them each day,” I chuckled, adding fuel to the fire of Rainbow’s laughter and Twilight’s embarrassment but it also gave her a nugget of information to work off.

“You make millions of these?! Why would you need so many of them?!” Twilight exclaimed before a much more pertinent question came to her mind. “What is ‘your kind’ for that matter?”

“Ever heard of humans?” Twilight shook her head to no surprise of mine. “Wasn’t expecting you to anyway. We are… well… I was, but you know…”

Rainbow immediately got up next to me, having gotten out of her fit of laughter and caught back up with us, nudging my side with her wing. “Hey, you’re handling this whole change of species much better than I would have dude.”

“Heh, thanks Rainbow,” I smiled at the pegasus, picking up the briefest hint of red on her cheek. “Anyway, humans are essentially really evolved apes who use tools for just about everything they do.”

“Is that why you carry those… things?” Twilight eyed the rifle that hung against my side and the pistol strapped against my chest.

“Yes, they’re part of my job, I’m a soldier,” I answered to Twilight’s widening eyes.

“Y-Your kind was at war?!” Twilight exclaimed in utter astonishment. I just shrugged in response.

“It’s kind of foggy, I can’t really remember what happened directly before I came here but I’m pretty sure we were only running the usual counter-insurgency rather than all-out war.” Of course, I knew what I used to do but I was pretty sure that there was a whole swathe of memories missing.

“So you have a standing army even though you’re not at war?” Twilight still couldn’t get herself over that fact, sounding as if it was a horrible thing.

“Oh come on, Twi, What’s the big deal? You of all ponies should know the old Pegasi used to do the same thing. Even now Cloudsdale has a small militia beside the guard just in case!” Rainbow interjected, coming to my defence.

“Prepared for the worst and hope for the best,” I nodded in agreement to Rainbow. Twilight sighed in resignation, as she had to admit to herself that it wasn’t really that bad to have some kind of standing force after all.

“Alright, fine, but that still doesn’t explain why you have such destructive tools to do so!”

“Look, my world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows so some measure of force needs to be applied every now and then to keep us safe. And when your enemy has weapons like these too you don’t go against them with worse equipment.” I gave her a look of finality that the conversation on this topic was over, Twilight shrunk down immediately under my gaze and looked ready to bolt. Rainbow, on the other hand, did not notice this and happily continued on.

“Soo, how do they work? It can’t be that the loud sound alone is dangerous, right?” she wondered to my annoyance.

“It uses an explosive charge to propel a projectile to high speed,” I stated, “The sound is just because the little explosion and the bullet breaking the sound barrier.”

“Like when I do my sonic rainboom then… huh, neat, I guess that’s pretty fast.”

Stopping dead in my tracks I stared at Rainbow in disbelief, my entire previous train of thought disrupted as I burst into laughter. “You can fly faster than the speed of sound?” I snickered, “Come on, you’re joking right?”

Rainbow did not look at my reaction with the slightest bit of amusement, accusingly stabbing her hoof into my chest. “Hey, watch it! I’ll even prove it for you!” she growled before shooting straight up into the air, my laughter dying down slightly as this crazy female actually seemed to be serious.

“Now you’ve done it,” Twilight casually said as she sat down to look at the display Rainbow was going to give. I could still see the little speck that was Rainbow pretty clearly as she got to the zenith of her flight up and now barreling straight down to the ground. My jaw dropped as I faintly saw a mach cone forming around her,

No way... She was being serious, wasn’t she?

KABOOM!

A ring made of rainbow barreled outwards, lighting up the sky and pushing any clouds that were present in the air out of the way of its path. Dash herself was trailed by a sparkling rainbow as she corkscrewed through the air, and made turns that must've been putting immense g-forces on her body.

“S-She… She… WHAT?!”

“Oh yeah! Whatcha think? Am I awesome or am I awesome?” Dash had landed in front of me with the biggest shit-eating grin on the planet while I was still struggling to find the right words.

“You broke him, Dash,” Twilight giggled at the sight of my complete cognitive dissonance. “Come on, we’ve got quite a bit to go before we arrive at the train station if we want to get there before dark…”

We had a little campfire going a couple of dozen meters away from the train station where we’d set up a single tent to be able to sleep under some cover. Twilight had divided up the food she’d gotten in the afternoon between the three of us which we ate while we still had a bit of sunlight left. I’d, at least partially, recovered from the fact that a being existed that could crash through the sound barrier without the help of a fighter jet, Rainbow was still smug about the fact that she could do it.

“Hey Jack, can I ask you something?” Rainbow asked after finishing her own meal, giving a nod in return as we had been exchanging knowledge and facts about our worlds all day anyway. “Back at the outpost you said you’d tell me about those rifles of yours later, could you do it now?”

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed immediately, “What is up with you?!”

“Oh come on Twi, he’s got these awesome tools and you just want to ignore them! And besides, it's not like he's a real griffin, just has the body of one,” Rainbow groaned exasperatedly.

Again, what in the world is wrong with griffins?... wait, is it because they're herbivores and I'm an omnivore?

“They’re weapons Dash, not toys!” Twilight argued as I saw Dash looking at me in an attempt to get my support in the matter.

“She’s not wrong, Rainbow. They’re indeed not toys, they’re tools to be respected and cared for,” I told her, not taking the side she’d hope I take, “But I guess I can run you through the basics, not like I haven’t done that for interested parties before.”

And it’s not like she can pull the trigger with her hooves anyway.

Twilight groaned and shook her head while Dash beamed. Grabbing my backpack I procured a set of earplugs and picked my helmet that also had active hearing protection integrated into its headset. “I only have hearing protection for two people so we’ll take a bit of distance from the camp.”

“Awesome, lead the way!” Dash beamed as I grabbed the C7 and led her a good hundred meters away to where we had a good view of the decently sized field bordering the train station.

“Alright, first things first, some rules. This is a live firearm, you don’t do anything without my express permission, understand?” Rainbow calmed down a bit as she listened carefully, giving a nod to me that she understood. “Second, you never point the business end at me, Twilight, or anyone else for that matter. If I catch you doing that, I will knock you off your hooves and end this demonstration immediately.”

Pulling the C7 in front of my chest I presented the assault rifle to Dash for her to look at, pulling one of my extra mags out of the tactical vest. “These are the projectiles that get fired out of the rifle, the brass at the back is the cartridge that holds an explosive while the front bit is what comes out of the rifle.”

I continued to explain the basic operating functions of the rifle to make sure she had remembered the entire sequence before placing her behind the weapon in a prone position. “Place it into your shoulder like… that. Now see that particularly tall tree over there?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Aim the scope’s dot dead centre and pull the trigger.” I waited for Dash to face me and tell me her hoof didn’t fit in the trigger guard, but what I did not expect was for the rifle to produce a loud report.

Crack!

WHAT?! How… Oh screw it, she can break the sound barrier and probably do some other freaky magic shit, why in the world would I not expect her to be able to pull a trigger?

Rainbow meanwhile was shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush in awe from the loud bang and recoil, her wings fully extended as she looked past the weapon towards the tree. “That was AWESOME!”

Shaking my head I sighed and smiled, nothing I could change now. “That it is, but let’s leave the shooting for another time when we have light,” I pointed out before she would force me to go through more irreplaceable ammo.

“Right, of course!” Dash handed–hoofed?–the rifle back to me, careful not to point it at anything important as I told her. I picked up the cartridge and stashed it away as well.

“Let’s go catch some sleep then so we'll be well-rested for the train tomorrow,” I chuckled making our way back to the tent where Twilight was already laying in her bedroll, not that she was asleep after the previous gunshot, but she didn’t really speak as she tried getting rest. Getting into my own bedroll, I said my good-nights and listened to the calming sound of the forest lull me to sleep.

Author's Note

There's chapter two a little earlier than I said I would release it! Hope you enjoyed! :raritywink:

A short while back I found this pre-alpha game I've been following and I really look forward to getting my grubby hands on it. It's stupidly gorgeous and, from what has been released, is a fresh take on RTS being less focussed on rush and more on building your strength.

Remember: This is pre-alpha!

Shoutout by Upper Eschelon:

Shutter Fox Studio youtube channel
14 months of development:
*uploaded 8 months ago

State of the game - August 2020:

It's one game I'm truly looking forward too, something not a lot of games manage to do nowadays.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 3: Trainride

Chapter 3:
Trainride

Soft snoring entered my ears as I woke due to the morning rays falling on my eyes. Yawning widely, I opened my eyes to find my beak stuck into a particular colorful bundle of hair. Somewhere in the night Rainbow had rolled up against me in her sleeping bag, continuing her sleep blissfully unaware of that fact. Pulling out of her mane gave me a good view of her face.

Heh, she’s kinda pretty…

It took a couple of seconds for my mind to register what I’d just thought about Rainbow.

Holy shit, did you just think an animal was pretty?… Well… animal might be a bit rude, more like an alien since she’s actually intelligent… Does that make it right?… Damnit, stupid, stupid brain!

Looking past the pegasus pony in question I saw that Twilight had done the exact opposite of Rainbow and rolled to the side of the tent and nestled there. Dash yawned at that point, lazily opening her eyes to find me goofily grinning at her. “Good morning.”

Rainbow yelped in surprise, jumping out of her sleeping bag. This woke Twilight as well, who sleepily and confusedly looked between me and Rainbow. “Uhm, what happened?”

“N-Nothing!” Rainbow replied, blushing thoroughly. Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes and turned over to her other side as she couldn’t be bothered to deal with Dash right now. I chuckled, zipping open my sleeping bag and getting out of it to join Dash out of bed. “Hey what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make breakfast of course,” I told Dash in a way that made it sound as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“But it’s just after sunrise!” Rainbow exclaimed, baffled at the early hour.

“And? Perfect time to get up and about, isn’t it?” I said with a smirk as I dug through my backpack to get the little gas burner that was in there, pouring water into the metal cup that came with it to heat it to boiling. Rainbow just dumbfoundedly stared at me working on the couple of sandwiches, placing them to the side as I got a trio of cups from Twilight’s saddlebags and poured the boiling water into them before getting an unused tea bag from my depleted rations.

“Miss Sparkle, breakfast is ready!” I called out to Twilight who stirred in her sleeping bag and looked out in surprise to see me sipping from a cup while Rainbow was still staring at me.

“Oh, thank you! That’s very kind,” Twilight said carefully as she noticed the three sandwiches, one for each of us, and got out of her sleeping position to join in. Passing long the food and drinks I bit into my sandwich.

“Just a warning, the quality of tea in rations is very wide-ranging. It’s either drinkable or liquid poison, so be warned,” I told them, Twilight eyed the cup suspiciously, taking a little sip before spitting it out again. “If you want I guess I can make coffee too?” I offered sheepishly as an afterthought to which both ponies looked up with glistening eyes.

“Yes please,” Twilight said as I boiled some more water and used some instant coffee to get them their new drinks.

“At least that stuff is supposed to taste terrible,” I smirked, getting a few amused chuckles from the two ponies. “So, when is this train supposed to arrive?”

“Somewhere between now and noon. It depends on how long it’s held up in Griffinstone,” Twilight answered through bites of her sandwich. “We’ll have at least an hour left to get ready.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll get to breaking down the tent.” While the ponies finished up their breakfast I took down our sleeping accommodation and stashed them in the bags they were supposed to go.

Within forty-five minutes we were standing on the platform and waiting for the train to arrive, bags laid to the side as carrying them would only be tiring. It hadn’t taken long after for Rainbow to get bored so she eventually decided to just go practice moves in the air.

“I wonder how it feels being up there…”

“Huh, what?” Twilight asked questioningly as I continued to stare at the patterns Rainbow was flying in the air.

“You know, flying and such,” I elaborated, only receiving a blank stare from the unicorn.

“You have wings you know?” she deadpanned, poking at the appendage. I flinched at the feeling of her hoof brushing against them, making her pull back and shrink down again.

Does she expect me to eat her or something?

“Hey, just because I have them doesn’t mean I exactly know how to use them.”

“You don’t know how to fly?!” I jumped to see Rainbow hovering behind me, looking at me unbelievingly. “Dude, I’m so going to teach you how to use these babies! Come on, let’s start right now!”

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me, open those wings!” Dash instructed sternly, reminding me of a drill sarge. Smiling, I open the two appendages to their full span, looking them over and truly admiring them for the first time.

“Now most of the basics should come instinctively but true control is going to take some time for you to learn,” Rainbow continued, opening her own wings and making a flapping motion with them. “replicate what I'm doing, from the angle of my wings to the motions I'm making, exactly. Once you have it down increase the power and speed of your flaps gradually until you go into a hover. Understand?”

I nodded and started to duplicate the pegasus' motions, taking a bit to get the movements down with the new appendages but eventually getting to the point where I could start increasing the power. The moment I lifted off from the platform my heart jumped in my chest.

I'm flying! I'm really flying!

Not that it lasted long as keeping myself in balance in the air was actually really hard. I increased the power of my flaps to compensate but that only made my little flight more unstable as I tumbled back down.

“Harder then it looks, isn't it, tough guy?” Dash smirked as I bounced off of the ground while she flew around me with contemptuous ease.

“Careful there, colours, once I've got this down you'll have some real competition to contend with,” I shot back with a smirk of my own. “But honestly, Flying under my own power like that... It's beyond awesome. I've done free falls with a parachute but this is something way different.”

“Not to interrupt you two but the train's coming.” Twilight pointed to the track in the distance where the train was rapidly approaching. “We should get ready to board quickly, the griffins don't like to be held up for long on a small station like this one.”

I nodded and picked up my backpack, waiting for the train to stop. Watching in wonder as the large steam engine came to a grinding halt.

Holy… they don't make them like this on earth anymore… It's magnificent.

After pulling my eyes away from the locomotive I followed Twilight and Rainbow to a conductor where the unicorn got us the required tickets, raising her voice against the griffins about the price, before entering a cart and walking along the train until we reached the appropriate one.

“So, do you have any good way of passing the time where you come from?” Rainbow asked as the carts of the train were pulled from the small station by the engine in front, boredom already setting in for the pegasus.

“Nothing that I have with me, sadly,” I admitted, lord knows how much I would have liked to show them a mobile phone. Dash groaned and flopped on her back while Twilight had a parchment out.

“Since we'll be on this train for a couple of hours would you mind if I asked a couple more questions?” Twilight asked, giddy for more knowledge but clearly still careful not to step on my toes. I chuckled in response and gave her a nod.

“Go ahead, start your interrogation,” I jabbed at her, laying down on my seat, Twilight grumbling under her breath that she wasn't that bad.

“I actually wanted to ask you personally some questions this time. Your world is very interesting but I really want to get to know some more about the person who got stuck in our world.”

I sighed but realized that it would have been inevitable for the questions to be asked at some point and gave her a nod.

“Alright, so I know your name’s Jack Grey and that you’re a soldier, but other than that you haven’t told anything about yourself, like what is even your age?” Twilight asked, ready with the ballpoint pen.

“Well, I’m twenty-five but I don’t know if that transfers to this world’s time. I’m going to assume it’s the same for my sanity’s sake,” I stated. “To be honest I’m not that spectacular of a person, I’m good at what I do, have my hobbies, but other than that…”

“So you said you were a soldier. What do you exactly do since you’re not at war?” Twilight asked after scribbling some things down.

“Well, we might not have been at war but I think I mentioned counter-insurgency before. There are some regions on our world that have less… savoury groups running around them. It’s a very complicated situation,” I explained briefly, not really feeling like explaining the geopolitical situation on earth.

“What kind of groups exactly?” Twilight continued, oblivious to my feelings but looking concerned.

“What’s this world’s experience with terrorism?” I asked, getting a response from Dash, who had been laying back in boredom.

“What’s that?” The pegasus asked with a raised eyebrow

Wait, what?

“I got to go with Dash there, is terror widespread or something?” Twilight asked as well.

Shit, I can’t tell them about all this crap if they’re this oblivious…

“There are certain groups… I really don’t want to talk about it…” I nervously tapped my claw on the couch I was laying on while suppressing some of my memories of some suicide attacks, desperately trying to avoid the topic Twilight was broaching.

“Oh… okay, I guess we can move on to some other questions. I wanted to ask about your actual home, do you have any family?” Twilight shifted the subject.

I swallowed as tears welled up in my eyes. “Yeah, my dad, mom, and little bro.” my voice cracked as the thought of family came crashing down. “They’re going to think I’m dead, aren’t they?”

Dash, by this point, had sat up and opened a wing, draping it across my back. Twilight quietly nodded as she lowered her parchment. I dug into one of the pockets on my chest, pulling out a notebook opening it to find a picture of me giving my little brother a noogie. Tears fell down while I held the wrinkled picture against my chest.

“I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Twilight stammered guiltily.

“Don’t be, it was going to come up at some point regardless,” I told croacked, wiping away the tears in my eyes and holding out the picture for her to look at, a lumb still stuck in my throat. “That’s what male humans look like.”

Twilight carefully picked up the picture in her telekinesis and scribbled some things down on her parchment before passing it back for me to store up again. “I promise you that if I can figure out how you got here I will do everything I can to get you back.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.” I smiled as Twilight rolled up the parchment, stashing it away.

“Well, continue later,” Twilight said with a smile, allowing me to sit in silence and watch the trees go by and the snow slowly disappear. Light snoring came from beside me as Dash was napping while Twilight read a book. This remained the case for a good hour before I noticed a flock of something flying over the tracks ahead.

I wonder wha-

Screeeeee!~

The train shook violently as the emergency brakes engaged, flinging Dash and me out of our seats from the rapid deceleration. My heart rate immediately spiked as my mind went into overdrive trying to figure out what had happened.

“What the buck was that?!” Dash exclaimed as she picked herself off of the floor, having been rudely awakened.

“Rainbow, language!” Twilight berated her friend. I ignored the two of them for the moment, opening the window and looking out front towards the locomotive.

“Fuck!” Twilight stared at me wide-eyed as I pulled back inside, having seen enough to get hit by a wave of paranoia, and immediately jumping for my backpack and gear.

“Jack!” Twilight called out again, looking appalled.

“There’s a large group of griffins armed with blades and bows circling the front of the train,” I clarified, strapping my backpack tightly on my back while checking the ammo of my rifle and putting a round in the chamber. No-one was going to catch me dead on my feet.

“Don’t you think you’re slightly overreacting?” Twilight asked, fidgeting nervously as she looked at me. Before I could reply the cart’s door opened, a griffin with a brandished blade stepped in who looked through the cart, his eyes falling on Rainbow and Twilight.

“I found them!”

Crack!

Turning back to the pale-faced ponies I locked eyes with Twilight.

“No, I don’t.”

Chapter 4: Hunted

Chapter 4:
Hunted

“Y-You k-killed him?!” Twilight stammered, her breathing accelerating as I could see panic set in.

“Snap out of it! They’re here for you two and I don’t see them having very good intentions if they get you!” Pulling both Twilight and Rainbow up from their seats. “Move. Now!”

Both the ponies spurred into action and ran the opposite way to where the griffin had come from, me hot on their heels getting a glance of other griffins rushing through the train towards their cart. Pushing out of our cart I quickly checked the sky to see if we wouldn’t get ambushed from above before pushing Dash and Twilight off of the train and pointing at the treeline.

“We lose them in there!” I called out, continuing to scan our surroundings, seeing some of the griffins spot us and rushing our way. One of them notched an arrow on his bow and took aim.

Hell no you don’t!

Crack!
Crack!

The griffin cried out and dropped out of the sky, one of his wings pulled against his body and the other flopping about as he bounced off the train onto the ground.

Not wasting any time I ran after Twilight and Dash, only using three legs significantly slowing me down as I needed to hold on to my rifle as well.

shit, there must be a better alternative to holding this thing... What if I...

In a bright moment I stashed away my rifle under a wing, freeing up my legs to run into the trees with the two ponies. Twilight was obviously not used to running as her breath was already ragged, which slowed Rainbow down who clearly could go much faster. Arrows crashed into the trees around us as the screeching of the griffins came from the train, I was sure they’d be hot on our tails very soon.

We need some more cover…

Pulling a smoke grenade from my vest I tossed it into the trees where it immediately started billowing out its white cloud, obscuring us from view. Aiming my rifle again I flicked the fire selector to automatic and pulled the trigger.

Ratatatata

Another cry came from the other side of the smoke as I hoped that it would make them hesitate in following us.

“W-Who were they?” Dash asked as we ran deeper and deeper into the woods through the foliage.

“Don’t ask me, I haven’t got a clue… That way!” I pointed to a rock formation that’d give a little cover, immediately throwing my backpack onto the ground, digging through it, and pulling out my two reserve camo shirts. “Put those on.”

“What?” Twilight managed to gasp as she was woefully out of breath while Rainbow immediately grabbed the shirt and pulled it on.

“You two are way too colourful to be able to hide effectively in the woods,” I explained, pushing the shirt into her forelegs while digging through my backpack further and pulling a second smoke grenade out of it.

“Wait, but how does this cover for my hair?” Dash asked as she awkwardly wore the shirt due to her wings being in the way and not wanting to cover them.

“We give them a temporary colour later,” I stated, stashing stuff back into my backpack again.

“So what do we do now? Can’t we just, I don’t know, fight them?” Dash continued, Twilight meanwhile was doing breathing exercises to lower the rate at which she was breathing and prevent herself from falling to panic completely.

“If I fight them it’ll be a massacre and it’ll take only one lucky arrow to take me out, two things I’d like to avoid. We keep moving, these guys don’t sound stupid and will most likely try to track us if we lose them as well,” I said, shouts from the direction of the train coming closer to our position as I slammed a new magazine into my rifle. “Let’s go, we’ve been stationary for too long already.”

We sprinted out of our cover, the thick foliage of the forest obscuring us for a while before a cry came from behind as we were spotted. Like I had hoped, the trees were too close to each other for the griffins to take flight and the roof of the forest was dense enough that hiding below it would be easy, greatly aiding our escape.

“Where are we even going?!” Twilight called out as I could see a couple of griffins started to close the distance with us.

“Someplace south... I hope! Right now that’s like step ten, we’re still on step two Twilight!” I growled, coming to a halt for a moment and checking the area behind me for griffins, raising my rifle and firing at a small group of unfortunate griffins who’d gotten ahead of the others.

“I don’t know who you are but we have no issue with you! If you give us the ponies we’ll let you live!” One of the griffins in the back shouted through the forest as I turned and continued to run on. "They're ponies anyway, what are they worth to you?!"

“You'll get them over my cold, dead, corpse!” I called back, catching back up to Dash and Twilight who got quite a bit ahead.

My legs burned with righteous fury as I accelerated as much as possible to close with the two ponies again before I would lose them in the bushes.

“Jack… I can’t… keep running like this…” Twilight’s voice was ragged as I caught up with them, the cries behind us getting quieter. My guess was that the griffins had halted momentarily after seeing so many of their own get taken out with such ease in the short engagement. I had no illusion about them not following us further, constantly keeping a suspicious eye on the sky, but any lead we could build up over them would be very welcome.

“Slow down a bit but keep moving,” I replied, my voice also ragged as I’d been keeping up with the ponies even with the gear I was dragging along.

“Why would those griffins be after us?” Dash asked, looking up at me. She was doing much better than Twilight was but was visibly out of breath too. “I know they're dicks but what did we ever do to them?”

“It’s not what you did, it’s who you are,” I told her as I pulled a compass from my vest, thanking whatever deity that looked over this world again that it seemed to give a consistent direction.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked, still confused.

“Twilight, you said you were here on your princess’s request, right?” I asked, in response to Dash’s question, getting a nod from the unicorn who was still catching her breath. “They weren’t interested in me, they just wanted you two, and since you have never met that group the most logical reason for them to go after you two is because they want to get something from your princess.”

“So they want us because they want to get something from the princess?” Twilight repeated, still sounding confused. I nodded at her.

“Yes. They probably want to achieve a goal that the princess would usually not agree with but by capturing you they have leverage over her. Either she agrees to demands or they harm you.” Both ponies’ eyes went wide as the point was driven home.

“That’s… horrible!” Twilight exclaimed, looking horrified. "Even for Griffins that's low"

Oh for fuck... The moment we're out of this I'm finding out why Griffins are such asses.

“Then why did you help us then?” Dash asked after cutting my train of thought.

“Pardon me?”

“Why did you help us? They weren’t after you so you could have just let them take us and not gotten yourself in danger,” Dash pointed out. “We only know you for like four days after all.”

“Because... well... I don't know, you're the only friendly people I know I guess?” I answered. “And it's not like I would ever forgive myself if I just let two innocents, regardless of their views on species, get captured by obviously violent forces.”

“That’s…” Dash winced back at my words and tried to find something to say, but nothing came to her mind. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Don’t thank me yet, this isn’t over until you’re back home under the protection of your own government,” I told them, storing the compass back into my vest. “Is that direction south?”

Rainbow looked up at the sky and then towards the direction I was pointing. “Yeah.”

“Good, let’s go put as much distance between us and them before finding out how to get you two to them.”

By the time we took a break from travelling the sun was closing in on the horizon. Twilight dropped onto the ground, dog tired from the walking and tension of the possibility of being caught.

“I hope you two don’t mind sharing a sleeping bag,” I asked as I pulled it from my backpack and laid it out on the ground. Rainbow and Twilight looked at each other and shook their heads.

“We’re not, but where are you going to sleep if we have the sleeping bag?” Twilight asked groggily.

“I take first watch, I’ll wake you in three, maybe four, hours so I can take a nap before you can wake me for the morning watch again,” I explained, pulling out some of the leftover food we still had from the prior day and dividing it up.

“Are you sure you’re okay getting that little sleep?” Twilight sounded a bit bewildered at the fact I was willing to forgo so much rest.

“Training was way worse so don’t worry about me,” I chuckled, chomping down on the bit of our remaining food. We really didn’t have the supplies for this venture.

“If you say so…” Twilight responded, not enough energy left to ask further questions. After the meal Rainbow and I did a quick survey of our surroundings so we'd know the best way to run if we had to.

"Hey Jack, you know I don't hold you being a Griffin against you right?" she whispered, getting a huff from me.

"Sure making the effort to make me think otherwise," I grunted back. "What's so bad about griffins anyway?"

Rainbow sighed in response, placing a hoof on my chest to stop me from moving further. "There's some bad blood between the two of our kinds, griffins don't exactly make themselves more popular with their greed. I have some more personal history with one... good and bad, I know they aren't all like that all the time."

I looked Rainbow in the eyes in the fading light, finding them to only show sincerity. "Alright then, it was starting to bother me a bit. I'll make my judgement when I meet enough of them."

"That's fair," Rainbow agreed, walking back to the little camp site again before darkness would envelop it. The two ponies snuggled up in the sleeping bag, both dozing off nearly immediately. Being left to my own devices again I pulled my backpack close and took out the ghillie suit.

Guess this thing will come in handy after all.

Using my knife and some rope to remodel the suit, I sewed and cut the pieces so it would be wearable in my current form. Having some large cut pieces left over I proceeded to tie them together and wrapped them around my rifles. Stashing the gear again I continued to pull out the two pairs of pants that were still in there.

These things might fit on the two of them after cutting in a place for their tails and shorten the legs a bit and that should hide their fur somewhat better.

Eyeballing the modifications to the pants and leaving the legs in place so I could at least properly measure them out to adjust on my second watch.

After having finished working on the clothing I pulled an ammo box from my bag, topping off the rifle and pistol mags I’d fired a couple of rounds from. Having done all that I propped myself up against a tree and simply listened to, and watched the forest for any anomalies. Rainbow's words from earlier in the day echoed through my mind again.

Why did I help them...

Thinking about it only put me more on edge, claws tapping on the side of my rifle nervously. Looking over at the two snoozing ponies sent an uncomfortable shiver up my spine.

They clearly have some shitty views on griffins but they really are the only friendly people I know in this place, aren't they?

Pushing all my concerns to the back of my mind I tried focussing on the surrounding forest. Throughout the rest of my watch I heard or saw nothing suspicious. The moon lit up the sky in the stead of the sun by the time I moved to wake the two lightly snoring ponies by shaking them.

“Huh… wha-”

“Your watch,” I whispered as Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, Dash not far behind her.

“Oh, right.” Twilight yawned as she got out of the sleeping bag. Rainbow looking very groggy as she pulled herself from the sleeping bag as well. Pushing my rifle into Dash’s lap seemed to wake her up though.

“Uhm, why are you giving me this?” She asked, baffled at the fact I’d part with it so readily.

“Because if we’re found and you have to wake me first it might be too late. I don't want to wake up with a sword through my abdomen. Though if you notice something off but don’t think we’ve been found I want you to wake me up so we can quietly get out of dodge. Think you can manage that?”

“Yes, sir!” Dash replied a little loud but the look I could make out on her face told me that she’d already reprimanded herself for that.

“Good, it’s half-loaded so you need to chamber a round before you can fire. Remember how to do that?” Rainbow nodded in response, tapping the charging handle and the nob that would unlock the bolt.

Glad to know she actually listened to me when I explained this stuff.

“Perfect. Now before I go to sleep I want you two to try on these pants.” Passing on the two garments over to the ponies. “I cut in holes for your tails but I need to know if they’re placed well and how much of the legs I can lose.”

“You want us to wear pants?” Twilight asked questioningly.

“Just for more camo. I also want to cut some holes in Dash’s shirt for her wings.”

“That’d be awesome,” Dash nodded as she pulled on the pants, using velcro to adjust it’s hip size so it’d fit around her barrel. “Tail hole is comfortable enough.”

“Good. Yours, Twilight?” The unicorn had also pulled on the pants and was fidgeting with it.

“It’ll do I guess… I’m not used to wearing stuff like this,” Twilight admitted, taking them back off. “You can feel it’s not made for ponies though.”

“We’ll have to make due with what we have.” I yawned as I pulled myself into the sleeping bag but not before giving Twilight my watch. “Give me an hour or three. That’ll be enough for tonight.”

“Alright, we’ll wake you then. Sleep well.”

Author's Note

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 5: Journey

Chapter 5:
Journey

The moment the sun's first rays lit up the horizon I woke Twilight and Dash again, having used my second watch to adjust the length of both the pants to fit the two ponies. I’d also give Twilight my second jacket so most of her fur would be covered up so that’d she'd be hidden away much better than she’d been before. The same was true for Dash as she wore the shirt, pants and ghillie scarf around her neck. Me myself was wearing the adjusted ghillie suit, something that greatly amused Rainbow for some reason.

“So, we have already passed the arctic strait on the train… That’s good,” I said as Twilight had made a little sketch of Equestria’s map, having marked a spot on the top right of it to indicate where we were. We'd briefly gone over where to go the day before but now would go into a bit more detail.

“Manehattan lies to the south of us on the coast, but on hoof that’d be two, maybe three, days,” Twilight continued, then pointing at another spot to the west. “Then we have Rainbow Falls here, it’s closer but the ground is mainly open hills and some mountains.”

“That’s something we can’t risk. Depending on how persistent this group is they’ll have patrols over that place and we won’t have anywhere to hide,” I pointed out. "Can you two eat local plants? We don't have a lot of food and I don't think I can stomach grass and flowers.”

Twilight gagged in response, while Rainbow merely looked disgusted. "Jack that's-"

"Yeah, we can do that," Rainbow cut Twilight off with a wing over the unicorn's mouth.

Note to self, ponies do not like to eat wild plants. Though not that we have much choice right now...

“I guess we’re wasting time then, aren’t we?” Twilight said, looking slightly nauseous as she strapped on her saddlebag which had some of the items from my backpack in it to lighten my load.

“We are. I’ll take the lead, you two follow single file behind me and stay sharp, try to avoid making too much sound.” Pushing my rifle onto my back I started moving into the forest.

Birds chirped all around us as we walked through the bush, avoiding clearings and open fields as we carefully made our way south. The two ponies held up pretty well, considering everything that had happened the previous day, remaining silent throughout the morning. Though that didn’t last forever as we found a little creek to refill our water and take some time to apply my camo on the pony's faces, hair, and for Rainbow her wings.

“So you really do this for a living?” Rainbow asked as I used the green camo I had to colour her face.

“Pretty much. It’s tough work which takes a lot of harsh training but it really teaches you a lot about yourself,” I answered, as I moved over to her ears and made them green as well. “What is your job if I may ask?”

Rainbow smirked, “I’m Ponyville’s weather manager, I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat!” she bragged. “I’m also training to become part of the Wonderbolts.”

Chuckling in response I got some brown camo and started painting a three-stripe pattern on her face. “And what might those be? I take it they’re like a flight team or something?”

“That’s right, the best of the best!” She exclaimed, grinning widely.

“Good luck with that, sounds like a tough team to become a part of,” I chuckled, giving her a pat on the shoulder while fishing a small mirror out of my pocket and showing Dash her own face.

“Whoa, that’s awesome. I look like a completely different pony,” Dash gawked as she took a few poses.

“It should help you blend in even more.” Turning to Twilight I got more of the camo and started working on her face as well. “So you work for your princess, what is your exact job? A researcher?”

“Well, sort of. I normally work as a librarian but I do write theses on theoretical magics and have developed advancements in several magic fields.”

“Sounds interesting but I’m afraid I would not understand much of it without a lot of explanation,” I chuckled, swiftly covering her in camo.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, what would have happened if we had appeared in your world instead of ours?” Twilight asked speculatively.

“Well, that would have depended on if you’d have changed into a human or stayed as ponies,” I answered, taking a few seconds to think through all possible consequences. “As a human, you’d probably be placed into a mental institution if you claimed to come from another world but as a pony, the results would probably span from being dissected for research to having someone walk you around on a leash.”

“What?!” Dash exclaimed as I finished my thought, looking back at the pegasus as she was sitting on her butt with her wings extended.

“Well, I’m sure there are good people out there but most will probably panic,” I amended, Rainbow still sitting down but now desperately trying to avoid eye contact and pawing the ground.

Wait what did I... Oh dear lord, she’s into that stuff.

I couldn’t help but start snickering, quickly devolving into laughter as I fell onto my side. The flustered look of horror on Dash’s face only fueled my mirth further.

“Uhm, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, completely oblivious to why I was laughing.

Getting off the ground, I slid up next to Dash, and wrapped my wing around her, pulling her close and whispered into her ear. “Don’t worry Dash, I’ll take you out for walkies if you want to.”

Smack

Rainbow’s hoof smashed into my beak, making me stagger slightly but other than a nasty sting it did nothing to dampen my mood.

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed aghast that Dash would do such a thing.

“Calm down Rainbow, just stepping on your toes... hooves... annoying you,” I snickered, giving her a nudge on the shoulder and making a suggestive purring sound before returning to camouflaging Twilight’s face.

“I still have no clue what the two of you were talking about…” Twilight whined while Rainbow tried to disappear into the ground.

“Let it go Twilight, Rainbow is entitled to her private life too.” Twilight shot an annoyed look towards me but dropped the subject. Glancing back at Rainbow I caught her staring but quickly averted her gaze. Deciding to give her some space, I swallowed a verbal jab and focussed on Twilight’s camouflage.

“There, much better.” Stepping back I passed Twilight the little mirror to her and allowed her to look.

“I think I can see the merit in covering our colour like this, though I have to ask, did you just randomly put those stripes on or is there a system?” Twilight asked as she thoroughly inspected my work.

“I tried to hit the spots that protrude out like your nose because those naturally will be brighter due to light fall, by making them dark and leaving the rest of your face light it breaks up your features,” I explained, storing away my depleted box of camo.

“That’s interesting…” Twilight said absentmindedly as she passed back the little mirror. “Anyway, I take it we’re going to be on the move again?”

I nodded, filling up my canteen with water. “Make sure you drink your fill, you never know when you can refill and drink again.”

The two ponies nodded and took the time to drink up while I packed and got my backpack back on. After they were done I got our bearings again, I and my two self-appointed charges moved back into the thick forest. My stomach ached as I'd rationed the food we had left to last three days, which sucked. Rainbow and Twilight had been able to eat some grass and flowers back at the creek and were better filled than me.

This remained the case for the rest of the day as we made our way through the woods. I tried to see if any of the critters would come close so I could catch one but none did. My stomach growled as we set up camp for the evening again, dividing the watch into three this time, allowing me to get the first two watches to sleep before waking me to take the final one for another uneventful night.

Rainbow and Twilight ate some more local flora as I stashed the sleeping bag into my backpack again, watching the two ponies eat.

“Are you okay, Jack?” Twilight asked as she noticed me observing them.

“I’m good,” I answered with a lie, sleep deprivation and the low amount of food getting to me but not wanting to burden them with my troubles. Twilight looked concerned at me for a moment but didn’t press the issue.

After dividing up our water we headed south again, hoping to find Manehattan soon. Our pace, compared to the one we’d held the days before, had slowed down considerably as none of us had the amounts of energy we'd started with. Twilight and Rainbow had a couple of hushed conversations which I didn’t participate in as we made our way through the brush.

“Hey, look at that!” Dash exclaimed as we passed a little open spot on a hill, my gaze immediately following Dash’s pointed hoof out at the horizon where we could see towers shooting into the sky. I smiled and wanted to reply but then noticed a couple of dots in the sky.

“Down!” I said in a hushed but harsh tone as two griffins flew through the sky. I immediately hit the deck behind a bush, Rainbow jumped next to me and Twilight behind her again. Not a leaf moved as we held our breaths, wind rustling the leaves of the trees as the griffins passed way too close for comfort. We remained still for a good five more minutes after they passed before getting up and finding a more secure space under the brush.

“That was close…” Twilight said, her ears twitching in all directions as she attempted to pick up any sound.

“If they’re here then we’re going to run into more of them, we need to move fast because I don’t want to stop for the night if they’re actively searching for us,” I growled.

My body ached and whined at every step as it was tired from abuse, but that wasn’t going to slow me down as I led Twilight and Rainbow through the woods. Both ponies were deathly quiet and constantly observing their surroundings, adrenaline still up from the previous near encounter. It wasn’t long before we had to hide from another patrol going overhead, waiting for them to leave again. I was pretty sure that if Twilight and Dash hadn’t been camouflaged I’d probably have been shooting at griffins by that point.

“We’re not going to make it to the city at this rate,” Twilight observed silently as we lay in wait.

“No matter, we need to get there regardless. No going back.”

"You don't get it, there's farmland outside the city, no cover for a good long bit."

"Well... shit. Still no going back, we'll figure something out." The cycle of hiding repeated itself for a third time before we reached the aforementioned open farm fields that stretched all the way to the city itself.

“This is really a problem,” I grunted, having taken my sniper rifle off of my backpack to scope out the field and air, finding a whole bunch of armed griffins flying around.

“They’re taking a big risk being this close to the city itself,” Twilight said with astonishment in her voice. “Why would they risk the guard coming out to confront them?”

“It’s because they needed to reduce their search area,” I answered, noticing a glint of light coming off of something and aiming my sniper rifle to see what it was. “The forest was an area way too large for them to cover with too many places to hide so since they probably figured where we were going, they set up as close as they dared in a place where they could have a good view of the surrounding area… shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Dash asked, concerned at my swear as I started calculating a firing solution in my head.

“Four pegasi, approximately… half a click, near that farmhouse. Gleaming gold armour. Are they your guards?”

“That sounds like Celestia’s personal guard, yes,” Twilight said with an undertone of concern. “Jack, what are you seeing?”

"Twilight, Rainbow, get back into the forest and hide in the bushes some way away from here," I said authoritatively, laying down between the brush so I'd blend in with my gilly suit.

"Jack-"

"NOW."

Rainbow immediately held her mouth and stepped back into the brush while I returned to looking through my scope. I lowered my heart rate with breathing techniques and placed my crosshair on one of the griffins surrounding the small guard group. A flare shot straight up into the air from one of the pegasi guards as they were attacked.

CRACK!

The sniper rifle gave an immensely loud report as it slung the bullet at supersonic speed towards its target while I hawkishly followed the bullet’s trajectory, it was clear that I was going to miss the first shot. Cycling the weapon I took aim again at the now brawling mix of ponies and griffins. The second round coursed perfectly to one of the assailing griffins and hit its body, evening the odds for four guards as they weren't as outnumbered as they'd been before. The third shot from my rifle tipped those odds into the guards' favour as they quickly dispatched the rest of the griffins.

“JACK!” Rainbow shouted from behind me, making me turn around to see the two ponies running my direction with two griffins after them. Not hesitating a second I left my sniper rifle on its bipod and jumped up with my assault rifle, the two chasing creatures halted in surprise as hadn't seen me laying there.

"Hello chaps, mind dropping those pointy sticks and fucking off?" I said, the two griffins looked at each other briefly before charging me.

Damnit.

Crack!
Crack!

The two half birds crashed into me, one wasn't moving anymore but the second was still breathing. The griffin grunted in pain but got a hold of the barrel of my rifle. Rolling over the floor I reached into my tactical vest, pulled out my combat knife, and stabbed him in the throat. Rainbow and Twilight looked on in horror as I pushed the corpse off me.

“Back into the forest for cover! GO!” I ordered again as I could see more griffins diving down from above. A rogue arrow then came through the canopy, striking me from above in my back near the right shoulder.

In a cry of pain I stumbled, getting my bearings quickly as adrenaline dulled the pain and sharpened other senses. Raising my rifle I returned fire through the canopy. Twilight immediately followed the order but Dash hesitated as I struggled to get my assault rifle into the air to fire at the incoming hostiles, getting only a couple of inaccurate shots off.

“Come on!” Dash shouted as another arrow struck me in the centre of my chest, luckily bouncing off of the ballistic plate inserted in my vest.

“I SAID GET INTO COVER!” I roared, firing a full-auto burst up at the griffins, downing one of them before limping deeper into the forest. Getting my remaining smoke and tossing it behind me. I tried to run but not before getting hit in the leg with an arrow which passed straight through. Shrieking in pain again I dropped to the ground, crawling to a tree for some shielding before firing the rest of my magazine at the griffins.

One of the newly arriving griffins had landed right outside of the smoke cloud and charged. Without time to reload, I pulled my pistol and fired shots at him until he stopped moving. Looking at where Dash and Twilight had disappeared in the brush I was glad to see the two ponies had run off as I reloaded and scanned the smoke for more griffins to appear.

“What’s wrong? You all scared?” I taunted, an arrow suddenly coming through the smoke and glancing off the side of my helmet. My reply, a burst of automatic fire in the direction from where it came, only being rewarded by more arrows flying in my direction, one of which hit my right shoulder again but piercing deeper this time and going into the side of my chest.

With a ragged breath I leaned against that tree, hearing squawks and shouts coming from the griffins on the other side of the smoke followed by the clashing of metal. Behind me, I could hear the faint ruffling of leaves. Sluggishly swerving my rifle around I found two wide-eyed camouflaged ponies poking a little too far out of a bush.

“I… told you to… go…” I grunted at them while coughing up blood and getting back onto my legs, looking through the dissipating smoke to find a larger group of gold armoured guards engaged with the group of griffins that were desperately fighting back and trying to flee. Not having the strength in my busted up arm to use my rifle, I got my pistol and started firing shots to help the guard out.

“Jack, stop!” Dash shot forward as I collapsed again, having no clue what to do after finding half my side bloodied, only seeing the arrows stuck in my shoulder and pulled one out. I Cried in pain as Dash held her hooves over the wound, trying to stop the increased bleeding.

Gritting my beak, I raised my pistol a final time and sent a few shots into a griffin standing over the guard he’d managed to get onto the ground. The avian's corpse dropping right onto the pony he was about to skewer. The fight lasted only a short while longer before the griffins had either fled, had been captured, or killed. The guard then switched their focus on Dash, Twilight, and me.

“Twilight Sparkle? Rainbow Dash?” The two ponies nodded while trying to stop my bleeding. “I’m Lieutenant Steel Thunder, I need you to-”

“Need to what?” Dash snapped at the Lieutenant, “He needs treatment!”

The guard looked down at me for a moment and frowned. He grunted something about civilians and rolled his eyes and turned to his fellow guards

“Medic!”

Author's Note

I adjusted this chapter quite a bit, give me a shout when you find something wrong with it. :twilightsmile:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 6: Leader

Chapter 6:
Leader

Two guards sat next to me on either side while Rainbow and Twilight sat across from me at a table which was located in what I presumed to be a barrack of sorts. My head was still swimming as the blood loss in combination of a unicorn's magic had made me very drowsy. That said, even though my mind wasn't all there, whatever magic was applied was immensely effective at treating wounds. My arm might be stiff as hell, a quick inspection revealed it to be healed quite neatly.

What a medic back home wouldn't do to be able to treat wounds like that... Though it was probably for the best that I was a bit out of it, direct application of magic like that would probably have freaked me out severely.

My gear was nowhere to be seen, except for the pistol and rifles which I knew Dash had in her bag and could see slung around her body after having refused to give them up to the guard ponies. Both Rainbow and Twilight still had traces of camo on their faces as they probably had trouble washing it out. Dash though was still wearing the pants shirt and camo scarf I’d given her.

“You two okay?” I asked them as they silently sat and brooded.

Twilight looked up and raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking us? What about yourself?”

I waved dismissively. “Just a scratch.” My voice was rough as I replied with a smirk, causing Dash to chuckle.

“You’re absolutely insane, you know that?” She smiled.

“Just a bit. Did you two get food already?”

"Yeah, while you were being treated we raided the kitchen of this place. Finally got the taste of wild grass out of my mouth." Rainbow answered.

"And you got nothing for me? These two ain't letting me do shit," I said with mock offence while smirking and motioning towards the guards.

"W-Well, I... Uhm..." Right then the door opened, revealing a guard that seemed more decorated than the others. Twilight certainly seemed to recognise him though.

“Shining!” she shouted as she jumped at the other unicorn.

“Twily!” The two embraced each other but my gaze was drawn to the second pony to enter. A tall, white, winged unicorn with an ethereal flowing hair coloured in cyan, pink, and green. She was wearing a large, gem-studded, golden crown and torc while walking on golden shoes. My skin crawled as an aura of authority just flowed from the large pony. Twilight and Rainbow immediately bowed down in respect, the guards beside me not looking very impressed as I didn’t do the same.

“Rise, my little ponies, there’s no need. I am glad you’re both well,” The angelic voice rang through my ears as she spoke. This was definitely the Princess that had been mentioned before by Twilight and Rainbow. “And you, we have not met before. I hear you accompanied my student and her companion over the last week?”

I gave her a respectful nod but nervously scratched a claw over the table in front of me. “Yes, Your Highness. Jack Grey’s the name.”

“Please, just Princess will do,” the large pony said as she sat down at the head of the table. “My name is Princess Celestia and this is the prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor.” She pointed at the new guard that now sat next to Twilight. “As you might be able to imagine I am very interested in getting to know what happened over the last week.”

“I’d love to tell you but unlike your subjects, I have yet to eat. Could I get some while we explain?"

“Definitely. Steel hoof, could you get our guest something to eat?” One of the guards that sat beside me nodded and walked out of the room at his Princess’ command. “Now, Twilight, if you could enlighten me what happened after I sent you on your way to investigate.”

“Of course Princess,” Twilight cleared her throat and sat up straight. “It started with us arriving at the griffin outpost in the north where I’d estimated the magic pulse had come from. We hired a guide from there to take us into the forest and spent the next week trudging through the thick snow cover.”

“Did you find the site of the pulse?” The Princess interrupted, I kept my mouth shut as I waited for Twilight to answer.

“No, we did not… We found something, or rather, someone else.” Twilight guided everyone’s gaze towards me while I patiently waited. “I am fairly certain that whatever caused the pulse displaced Jack here into our world.”

“Is that true mister Grey?” Celestia asked, keeping her stoic expression up but sounding genuinely interested. “Would you mind telling me about who you are?”

“Of course, I did indeed not come from this world,” I answered, anxiety starting to seriously kick in. “I’m just a regular person and, to be honest, changing into a completely different species and being dumped in a strange world is kind of terrifying.”

“I can imagine that to be the case,” the Princess said, looking at me with a slightly pitiful expression.

“Apologies, but may I ask a few questions?” Shining asked as he seemed to have been holding back. I gave him a nod to ask ahead. “I want to know how in the world you were able to take down all the griffins you did, my guards were pretty clear that they found a bunch of griffins they hadn’t downed that had strange wounds. The same for griffins of the group that cornered the scouting party that alerted us to the main force.”

I looked over to Dash. “Rainbow, could you present the assault rifle?” Dash immediately unslung the rifle and placed it on the bi-pod built into the foregrip. “This is what caused the wounds you found on those Griffins.”

Shining immediately tensed slightly, so did the guard sitting next to me but neither made a move. Their tensing also served to wind me up further. “Continue.”

"I think I told Rainbow and Twilight too much already but the basics are that it fires a projectile at high speed. A bit like an arrow but smaller and much higher speed."

“Why would you need something like that?” Shining asked as he realised the implications for that.

“Because he’s a soldier,” Rainbow answered for me as she slammed the mag back into my rifle. At the same time, the guard that had gone to get food came back in with a plate of... something and placed it in front of me.

“You’re at war?” Shining asked, echoing the same question Twilight had asked and I looked at the unicorn to explain why while I tasted the stuff in front of me before starting to devour it as it was great.

“No, he isn’t. They have standing armies for deterrence and ‘counter-insurgency’,” Twilight recited for me as I wiped crumbs off my beak.

“She’s right, though I must admit that I’m pretty sure I’m missing some memories from before I got here, mainly because of some nasty nightmares, but I’m fairly sure we weren’t engaged in open conflict,” I said before working the rest of the stuff they'd gotten me down.

“Mister Grey, thank you for telling us this but I’d like to know what happened after the train was raided. We got the story of some loud explosions happening in the train from the passengers. May I assume those were from these weapons of yours?” Celestia asked this time, I gave a nod to confirm that.

"The firing of projectiles will produce a bang, and the amount of them is because you can fire multiple projectiles rapidly."

Shining cringed. “That sounds…”

“Awfully effective?” I finished for him, making the unicorn cringe.

“That’s one way to put it,” the Princess said, her passive mask cracking slightly as well. “You must understand I cannot let you run around with powerful weapons like these among my ponies.”

“Nor can I just give them over to you,” I told her while frowning, folding my claws in front of me.

“We could just take them from you,” Shining Armor pointed out in return but flinched as I locked eyes with him and leaned forward on the table.

“Then I hope you’re ready to pull them from my cold, dead claws,” I growled, one of the guards next to me immediately lit up his horn and pulled me back. The unexpected move immediately triggered my fight-or-flight as my heart rate spiked. Twilight had not used magic directly on me and with the doctors I'd kinda been out of it...

...This though made something snap in me as all my old, and some new, instincts were calling for self-preservation.

Before anyone could respond my fist had cracked the offending guard's muzzle, sending him sliding across the floor a significant distance. The second guard found himself below me as I tackled him of his seat but before I could hit him, something smashed into my side and sent me into the wall.

Both the guard I'd just attacked and the one I'd already downed jumped on top of me and pinned me down. A couple more guards from outside rushed in to help immobilize me, strapping my wings to my side and putting on a set of heavy-duty cuffs.

"Jack!" Rainbow had surged forward, helping the guard hold me down. "Look at me, you need to calm down."

My breathing started to slow down again as I got back into control of my body, my claws still shaking from the adrenaline rush.

“Mister Grey, I would like to avoid such drastic consequences, you did do a very large service to me and my student after all. Would a compromise be possible?” Celestia said as the guards backed off slightly, leaving the restraints in place and Rainbow alone to calm me down. “Would you be satisfied if we had them in a locked chest which you hold the key to?”

“I’d rather have the lockbox than the key or have the box somewhere I can check up on it easily to see if there hasn't been any tampering,” I said with heavy breath.

Celestia looked over to Rainbow who was looking between me and the princess with concern. “I see Rainbow carrying your weapons is not presenting that big an issue, would you allow her to take custody of them?”

I looked over to Rainbow to see if the pegasus would be okay with that, getting a little nod from her as she seemed to understand. “That would be satisfactory, yes.”

“Then it is done,” Celestia said, a collective sigh of relief going through the room as you could feel the tension drop. “Now, I wanted to ask you if you have any clue who those griffins were that we found searching for you? The ones we managed to capture have said nothing yet.”

“Other than that they wanted Rainbow and Twilight? Only speculation from a place of experience,” I admitted to the Princess who sighed.

“It was worth a try but if you don’t I’ll get my ponies on the task of finding that out. We should discuss where you will remain for the time being then, while we try finding out the exact means of your arrival here of course.”

“The library has a reserve bedroom he could use?” Twilight offered. “Since I take Jack would like to stay close to that chest with his… tools anyway with Rainbow in Ponyville.”

“Are you sure you’re fine with that, Twi?” Shining armor asked, glancing at me with suspicion.

“I spent three nights in the forest with him, Shiny. If he really wanted to hurt me he’d have done it by now,” Twilight countered. “I’ll be working on trying to figure out the mechanics of his arrival regardless and I feel indebted for him keeping us out of the claws of those griffins.”

Shining sighed. “Just wanting to make sure my little sis is safe.”

Twilight nuzzled her brother in response. “We’ll be fine in Ponyville, I’ll be surrounded by friends over there.”

“Worrying is part of my job as big brother,” Shining said, hugging Twilight.

“We should really be getting back to Ponyville soon, Princess. I’m sure the other girls are really concerned about us,” Rainbow interrupted.

“I sent them an update the moment we found you two, they were on the verge of joining the guard in the search too,” Princess Celestia told Twilight and Rainbow to help put them at ease. “I’m sure they would like to see you two in good health though. I’ll arrange for a suitable chest and train ride down to Ponyville along with some more bureaucratic arrangements. If you could get Rainbow to gather all your weapons up then I’ll get the chest here soon.”

“Yes, Princess,” I replied with a nod as the Princess got off her seat and left the room along with Shining Armor, leaving the other guards to watch over me. Another guard came in with my backpack and other equipment, placing it against the wall. “Dash, please put the weapons on the table and empty my backpack.”

Rainbow placed the rifles and pistol on the table before digging stuff out of my backpack while I pointed to the boxes with ammo that were stored in it.

“Jack, why did you become so angry when my brother suggested taking away your weapons? I mean, I get they’re dangerous but you went ballistic,” Twilight asked as Dash placed the boxes of ammo along with grenades on the table as a guard brought in a box.

“Look, see this from my perspective. I’m sure you think your Princess has the best of intentions but I have no idea of what her intentions with those weapons would be. In my world when you give weapons like this to people who don’t have the technological know-how on how to make them themselves, it usually ends with a lot of corpses,” I explained, one of the guards releasing my cuffs as I verbally lead Rainbow through unloading my weapons. “If your kind hasn’t designed these weapons then I’m going to assume there never was any pressure to make them in the first place.”

“That’s… actually very noble,” Twilight admitted as we finished lining up everything I deemed too dangerous.

“Not really, just don’t want to have something like that on my conscience,” I shrugged.

“Well whatever you call it I still think it’s admirable,” Twilight said, not relenting a bit. She proceeded to carry the chest from there in her magic, explaining that the lock wasn't conventional but magical in nature as well. It would only be openable to Twilight and Rainbow, something I thoroughly tested by doing my very best to try and open the darn thing, only to be bested. I stashed the rest of my gear back into the backpack and put the jacket I’d given to Twilight before on again, the one I’d been wearing had been cut up and bloodied heavily, propping my beret onto my head.

“Hey, why are you wearing that thing? You had it on when we found you as well but it doesn’t really blend in like your other stuff,” Dash pointed out as she looked at my beret.

“It’s the ‘casual’ headwear for a soldier for when we’re not wearing a helmet. Mine is red to signify I’m with an airborne unit.”

“Airborne? You guys fly?” I nodded. “That’s awesome! You should have told me before!” Dash squeed as Twilight led us through the hallways of the building with the guards in tow, finding the princess at the exit to the building along with her other guards.

“I’ll be in contact with you my student, I need to finish some business over here in Manehattan but I'll send two of my stallions along with you on the train. Have a safe journey home.” Celestia said, giving Twilight a hug and Rainbow and me a nod. The two Guards followed us as we got a pony pulled taxi to the train station, Twilight got us into the first train leading inland with the provided tickets and to what would be my new home for the time being.

Author's Note

Hope the little freakout was believable. For now Jack will get a small bit of a reprieve. :twilightsmile:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 7: Ponyville

Chapter 7:
Ponyville

This second train ride was much more peaceful than the first one, not having the rude interruption from the group of griffins probably helped a lot. That said, it wasn’t as if we experienced much of the ride either as all three of us used the time to get some sleep in, still being tired from the three-day trek through the forest. A couple of ponies stepped out of the train alongside us, though keeping their distance, before the large engine took off again.

“So this is where you two live…” I idly said, checking out all of the unique buildings visible from the train station. “Not going to lie, it doesn’t look like a half-bad place to live.”

Rainbow snorted, “You don’t know the half of it, Ponyville is awesome!”

“Twilight! Rainbow!” The two ponies in question were suddenly buried by four other ponies into a group hug.

“Don’t ya two scare us like that ever again, Sugarcubes.”
“That letter from the Princess indeed had us very much worried darlings.”
“Yeah, that was so not super duper! Did you get away from the meanies all right?”

“Calm down girls,” Twilight laughed. “We’ll tell you all about it at the library. We should get a new friend of Dash and mine settled there first.”

The pink pony gasped, immediately looking over at me with a near manic smile as she shot forward and shook my claw. “HithereI’mPinkiePieIlovemeetingnewfriendsbecauseeveryoneinPonyvilleismyfriend!Whatmightyournamebe?”

“Whoa there Pinkie, turn it down a smidgen. Ya don’t need ta overwhelm the poor griffin,” an orange pony with a cowboy hat said as she tipped it towards me. “Howdy, Ah’m Applejack.”

“Hi there, I’m Jack Grey,” I replied after recovering from the pink pony’s barrage. The white unicorn from the group stepped forward as well, studying my clothes with a very critical gaze.

“Please darling, what is that horrid jacket you’re wearing? It’s like someone spilt paint in blotches all over it!” She whined, tugging at it with her magic, making me jump backwards in alarm.

“Rarity!” Twilight called out, holding back her friend. “I think Jack would prefer if you didn’t use magic on him,” the purple unicorn hissed.

“She would be correct in that,” I pointed out, by breathing slightly increased from the strange sensation once again. The direct application of magic was still… unsettling.

“Oh, my apologies, I just wanted to inspect what you’re wearing,” Rarity apologized though still looking at the jacket.

“It’s a camouflage jacket. It helps with blending into a forest environment.”

Rarity still didn’t look sure about the jacket but at least dropped it for the time being. The final pony of the group seemed to be hiding behind Rainbow, though her buttery yellow coat and pink mane weren’t exactly blending in.

“Come on Flutters, Jack isn’t that scary. Not like Gilda anyway,” Rainbow said pushing the other pegasus forward.

“H-hi t-there, I-I’m Fluttershy,” she said quietly, hiding behind her long hair.

“Hello miss, nice to meet you,” I smiled, not asking further as she seemed to be enough of a ball of nerves. “So, shall we head for the library now?”

Twilight nodded, picking up the chest and leading the group through the village. My eyes wandered around at all the various buildings and ponies that went about their day in the town, noticing some of them glancing towards me in suspicion while I admired the variety of interesting little bits of architecture and small patches of park that dotted the village but the library was another thing itself.

“Your house is a tree?” I blankly said, viewing the thickest tree I’d ever seen in my life.

“It’s one of Ponyville’s original structures, the tree was grown out by the original apple family earth pony settlers to serve as a small town centre,” Twilight explained, pushing into the hollow tree, revealing rows of bookshelves. On the ground floor and a flight of stairs at the back of the room leading up. Placing the chest against the back wall Twilight headed into a side room while I ran my claws over the walls of the tree, marvelling at the piece of natural engineering.

This would be the perfect house for hippies back home.

I chuckled at the thought of how that’d look. Dash and the rest of Twilight’s friends had taken seats at the Library’s central table and talking in hushed tones while shooting glances my way. Placing my backpack next to the chest I took a seat on one of the pillows that lay around the table.

“So Jack, yer the one that helped Twi and Dash here out of their tough spot?” Applejack asked as Twilight came back with some food and drinks from the kitchen along with a very happy looking little reptile that caught my eye.

“Yeah, I did,” I said absentmindedly, my gaze locked on the little being who cringed back as he noticed being my centre of attention. “Are you a dragon?” I asked, guessing the species.

“Yes?” He replied confused,” scooting up close to Twilight, “I’m Twilight’s assistant and little brother.”

“Awesome…” I said in amazement.

“Have you never seen a dragon before? I thought that a griffin would be familiar due to your lands’ closeness to the dragonlands,” Rarity asked surprised, leaning forward on the table and getting one of the snacks Twilight had brought.

“Well…”

“Jack isn’t really from around here,” Rainbow filled in for me. “Like not even from this world,” she bluntly added. The four ponies and one dragon’s eyes went wide at that bit of information.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy gasped, shooting forward and pulling me into a sudden, unexpected, hug. “You poor thing!”

“Uhh, thanks I guess?” I said slightly unsure of what to do next, Twilight luckily coming to my rescue.

“That’s why he’s staying here as well, I’ll be working on trying to figure out what exactly happened to get him over here,” she explained, pouring some tea for herself. Still being slightly famished myself I took some of the snacks as well, avoiding the food with flowers in them. We went over the events of the past few days again, leaving out a few of the more gruesome details of some of the engagements.

“Well, Ah’m glad ya were there to keep Twi and Dash out of them griffin’s claws,” Applejack thanked after we finished our recalling of the story.

“Those griffins sounded like real meany pants!” Pinkie agreed, “You know what this calls for? A PARTY!” the pink pony shouted before vanishing into thin air, the only thing indicating she didn’t was the sound of the door opening and closing.

“Wait, wha-”

“Don’t bother trying to understand Pinkie, it’s better for your sanity if you don’t,” Twilight bluntly pointed out.

“Duly noted.”

“Well, Ah don’t know about you gals but I’ve got some chores to do on the farm before Pinkie drags me off towards that party of hers,” Applejack chuckled as she got up from the table. “See y'all tonight.”

“Hmm, I should be going as well to get some more work done on my dresses. Glad to have met you mister Jack.” Rarity also apologized, followed by Fluttershy having to work on some things with her animals.

“You don’t have anything to do?” I asked as Dash remained behind at the table, the pegasus shrugging.

“The sky’s clear and the weather team should be fine with me gone for a good while. I make the weather schedule a couple of weeks in advance.”

“Rainbow Dash actually doing work?” Spike smirked jabbing at the pegasus.

“Hey, I take my work very seriously!” Rainbow replied, taking the bait. “Just because I nap a lot doesn’t mean I don’t work! What’s the last time the weather wasn’t on schedule?”

“Well…” Spike tried finding a case where that wasn’t true but couldn’t find one.

“Exactly,” Rainbow smirked victoriously.

“So Jack, if you follow me I’ll show you your bedroom,” Twilight chuckled as she walked up the stairs. Picking up my backpack I followed after her to a small room on the second floor. “It’s a little small but at least it’s better than nothing,” She said sheepily, meanwhile Dash peaked into the room as well.

“Twilight, it’s a double bed. I’m pretty sure this is bigger than what I’d usually have,” I pointed out, the room may have been a little cramped but it wasn’t as if I had the stuff to fill it up.

“Oh, ok. That’s good. I’ll let you get settled then,” Twilight said, leaving me alone in the room though I did notice Rainbow peaking around the corner of the doorframe so every now and then.

“You know that you can just come in here, right?” I said casually without looking at the door frame as she peaked again.

“I-I knew that,” Rainbow stuttered, walking into the room and silently watching me unpack some items from my backpack.

“Alright what is it you want to ask? You’re not a person to just quietly sit and watch.” Dash blushed and looked slightly shocked.

“Well, uhm… I don’t really want to be alone right now…” Rainbow muttered the last part but it was loud enough for me to pick up. I momentarily stopped screwing around with my backpack, and sat down next to dash and wrapped an arm around her.

“Hey, I know we know each other for like a week but if you need someone to talk to about what happened I’m willing to listen.”

Rainbow leaned her head against me. “I… don’t worry about it, it’s lame anyway.” She immediately got herself out of my grip and got out of the room as fast as she could, leaving me alone and slightly concerned.

I should talk to her later, if she's stewing on some of the stuff she’s seen then she’ll tear herself apart.

Returning to unpacking some of the slightly ruined clothes I had, folding and placing them on the cupboard next to the bed for washing and hopefully repair. Hearing somepony come back up the stairs I stuck my head out of the room to see who, coming beak to nose with Twilight, surprising her.

“Oh, Jack. Everything in order?”

I nodded and pointed over my shoulder at my clothes. “Do you have somewhere to wash those and a place where they can be adjusted for my wings?”

Twilight smirked and picked them up from the cupboard, her horn flashing a bit brighter before holding them out in front of me. “They’re cleaned!”

I stared at the clothing, not a spot visible or smell coming from them. “Wow… just like that?”

“Well, not really. That’s not something most unicorns can do,” Twilight said sheepishly while refolding the clothes. “To get it adjusted I’d say go to Rarity’s boutique. She’ll gladly do it without a doubt. Dash is still downstairs, she can lead you towards it.”

Twilight gave me back the stack of clothes and started walking back to the stairs, me hot on her heels with the clothes clamped under my wing.

“Hey Rainbow, want to show me the way to Rarity’s boutique?” I asked, getting her attention from the book she was reading.

“Huh? Oh, yeah sure!” Rainbow quickly put the book away in the appropriate section before leading me out of the library. “So, do you have anything you're planning to do now you've got a place to stay here in Ponyville?”

“To be honest, not a clue. I'd like not to be idle but what to do is something I'll need to figure out at a later date. Let's get this 'party' from yo-”

The pink pony popped up from nowhere and pushed a letter into my claws before disappearing again, leaving me dumbfounded.

Deep breath and don't try to understand

Confetti exploded from the letter as I opened it, Rainbow snickering in amusement at my startled reaction. “It's an invitation to a party at seven o'clock at the Golden Oaks Library… What time is it Rainbow?”

The pegasus briefly shot into the air and looked out over the village before dropping down again. “Little over five, so we've got plenty of time.”

Checking my watch I found it showed the same time on there, satisfied that my wristwatch was most likely still accurate I let Dash lead me the rest of the stretch to the boutique. Another building that amazingly depicted the variety of architecture in the town. A little bell rang as we entered the main room of the shop.

“Be right down,” Rarity's melodic voice called out from upstairs, the sound of hooves coming down the stairs announcing the unicorn's arrival. “Oh, I wasn't expecting to see the two of you until Pinkie's party, darlings. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I have some clothes that got torn up real bad, Twilight said you'd be able to fix them and give them holes for my wings,” I said, pulling the clothes from under my wing and surrendering them to Rarity's telekinesis.

“Oh dear, those are in really bad shape… but I'm positive I can make something work!” Rarity exclaimed cheerfully, floating over a tape measure and looking at me. “May I?”

Stepping forward I allowed her to swiftly do her work, getting all of my measurements within a minute. “I should not forget to mention that I don't have anything to pay you with yet”

“That's no problem, darling. You helped my friends so I'll gladly help you out with this,” Rarity dismissed my concern, “Now I'll leave you two to it because I've got some more work to get done. See you tonight!”

With that Rainbow and I left Rarity's boutique and got back onto the streets of Ponyville, the only thing I was now wearing being my beret after having given up the rest of my clothing to the seamstress.

Guess I'm a nudist now. Not like anyone cares regardless around here with their fur.

“So, any good places here to hang out? Since we probably shouldn't crash my party prematurely,” I smirked to the mare walking beside me.

“Oh definitely, follow me!” Rainbow exclaimed, shooting off into the village. We spent the next hour or two checking out all of the landmarks and activities Ponyville had to offer, eventually finding ourselves walking down the main street back towards the library.

“We really should check out that disco back there at some point,” I laughed as we'd ran all over the place and had checked out practically the entire town.

“Heck yeah! Usually, only AJ's up to go there, it'll be way more awesome with a third person there!” Dash exclaimed laughing. “But before that I'm going to teach you how to fly, Derpy already fills Ponyville's crash quota.”

“Heyyy, I'm not that bad,” I whined playfully, getting some dirt out of my hair.

“Can it rookie, you weren't able to even get into the air. Pretty lousy flying for someone who claims to work in the airborne infantry,” Rainbow smirked as we arrived in front of the library. All of the lights in the building… tree… were out and curtains covered the windows from the inside. “You first.”

“That's totally not suspicious at all,” I grinned but did as she told, finding the main room of the library to be shrouded in darkness. Stepping forward I prepared myself for the jump-scare I assumed was about to happen.

Bang!

It was probably best that I carried no weapons as I was doused in a spray of confetti, all the lights springing on to reveal a completely decorated library.

“SURPRISE!” The five present ponies and single dragon shouted.

“Welcome to your 'welcome to Ponyville' and 'thanks for saving Twilight and Rainbow' party!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing around.

“Well, thank you, miss Pie” I chuckled, stepping in further to allow Dash to enter as well. “What are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!”

After having helped clean up the last of the bits of confetti from the floor I said goodbye to Twilight's friends, having played all types of games throughout the evening and eaten out fill of pastries. All in all, it had served to put me in much-needed ease as it kept my mind from wandering.

“There, that was the last of it. Thanks for staying to help clean Rainbow, I honestly am not used to seeing you giving a hoof like this,” Twilight said as she levitated the remaining bits of confetti into a trash can.

“Hey, just thought I'd help out for once!”

“Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just surprised,” Twilight chuckled, placing the trash can back in its intended space. “We're done now though.”

“A-Are you sure? Nothing else that needs cleaning? The kitchen maybe?” Dash stuttered, making Twilight raise an eyebrow.

“Are you okay, Rainbow?”

“Y-Yeah, why wouldn't I be?” Dash replied trying to nonchalantly lean on the main table.

“I think it might be a bit late out, I'm sure that if she had to go home as well now, Rainbow would get little sleep,” I cut in, remembering the short, awkward, conversation we'd had in the afternoon.

“I guess she could take the couch, unless you don't mind sharing your bed, Jack?” Twilight said in slight confusion.

I waved off the concern. “We shared a sleeping bag, I'm sure we'll be able to find space in a large bed like the one upstairs.”

Twilight looked between us two for a moment before sighing. “I guess it won't hurt. You can stay Rainbow,”

Dash smiled brightly as she followed Twilight and me up to the first floor where we quickly took turns in the bathroom to get ourselves ready for bed. Dash was already under the covers by the time I entered the bed too.

“Hey Jack?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Sleep well.”

“You too.”

Author's Note

I picked up Horizon Zero Dawn for PC and well... I might have binged through it in two days. It's an immensely engaging and interesting game, well worth the story and very decent gameplay.
I heard there were some issues with the initial port but I have only had one instance where I got charged and pushed into the terrain, other than that the only gripe I have is that it takes quite a beefy machine to run.
Well worth a playthrough in my opinion.

On the chapter: Jack getting some breathing time to get more used to stuff.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 8: Flight

Chapter 8:
Flight

I woke up the next morning to the sound of soft snoring and something warm attached to my back while the sun’s rays poured in through the window.

Oh boy, how am I going to get out of this one…

Rainbow had me in a vice grip, clinging onto me like her life depended on it. It took me a good few minutes of carefully prying myself Rainbow’s grip, only managing to turn my body around to face her before she desperately grasped onto me again.

Well, shit. I guess she’ll wake up like this then.

Rainbow pressed herself deep into the soft feathers of my chest, letting out a relieved sigh as she did so. Her messy hair splayed out over the pillow she was resting her head on. I slowly ran my talons through her hair which was surprisingly soft for how rough it looked.

She should grow it out some more. The short rough tomboy look isn’t bad, but her hair would be real pretty if it were longer…

I lay there for another few seconds before I truly processed my train of thought.

Wait, you thought she looked pretty… again? Switching species must be screwing with my mind worse than I thought... Ugh, I’m going to have to deal with this sooner rather than later since I’ll be going home at some point…

Right?

Rainbow stirred in her sleep as the light from outside was rapidly getting brighter, making slumbering much tougher.

“Good morning,” I said as Rainbow yawned widely and her eyes fluttered open. She immediately grew a blush as she noticed the position she was in on my side of the bed.

“I-I uhm… Good morning to you too,” she settled with, though she had yet to untangle herself from me. “Sleep well?”

“Much better than sleeping on the ground, yes,” I replied as she only now decided to pull herself from my fluffy chest.

“I guess we should check to see if Twilight’s up already.” Rainbow leaned forward unfurled her wings, stretching her body in the same way a cat would do. “You coming?”

Stopping my staring at her butt I swiftly rolled out of the bed, briefly having the urge to put some clothes on but then remembering that it wouldn’t matter anyway around here. Downstairs we found Spike working on some sandwiches in the kitchen.

“Morning,” I told him as we came into the kitchen.

“Oh, good morning. Hey Dash, did you not go home last night?” The little guy said as he stacked the food he’d made on plates and placed them around the kitchen table.

“Nah, it was a little late so I decided to stay here,” Dash casually waved off.

“Well, in that case, I’ll make another sandwich. The one at the head of the table is yours, Jack,” Spike pointed out as he got some more ingredients to make a fourth sandwich. Twilight soon joined us as well at the table to get ready for the day.

“So, do you have anything you want to do today?” Twilight asked of me while eating her sandwich.

“Other than think of something to get out of your hair? Not much,” I admitted. “Dash did show me a gym but without cash I’m pretty sure I’ll be going nowhere.”

“The Princess did send a letter to inform me that she’ll be giving me an allowance to cover your costs, the amount she’s allocating is definitely enough to cover that bill,”

“Heh, awesome! I could show you around, Bulk has plenty of stuff in there that can strengthen your wings.” Dash exclaimed, wrapping a wing around me and pulling me close, only to immediately blush and let go again.

“That would give me the peace of mind to write up the petitions to the various universities for the data from the magic event…” Twilight pondered. “Are you sure you can keep Jack entertained today, Dash?”

Rainbow chuckled and smirked confidently. “An awesome pegasus like me? Of course I can!”

Twilight shook her head but couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks Rainbow. Well, I’ve got my work cut out for me, I’ll be in the lab downstairs if either of you needs me. Spike, you have the library.”

“Yes ma’am!” Spike smirked, giving Twilight a crooked salute.

I’m going to teach him the proper form for that before I’m gone.

Twilight disappeared from the kitchen, soon followed by Spike, leaving me with Rainbow. “So, how is miss awesome going to entertain me today?”

“Why don’t you follow me and find out?” Rainbow smirked, running out of the kitchen and forcing me to swiftly follow. The pegasus continued to keep me on edge as she used her wings to fly through the streets of Ponyville while I clumsily struggled to follow her, though my speed increased incrementally as I got more comfortable with my own movement. Bobbing and weaving through the crowd we passed ponies starting their workdays and fillies that had their bags packed with books for school, soon Rainbow’s lead wasn’t as big as it had been at the start of the run.

“Come on! Catch me, slowpoke!” Rainbow taunted as she entered the fields of grass that lay beside the town.

Oh you’re so on!

Opening my wings I flapped them hard once, flinging myself through the air right towards Rainbow who in her cockiness wasn’t looking behind her. It wasn’t exactly an elegant flight but that didn’t matter as I wrapped my arms around her midriff and pulled her to the ground with me. We rolled a couple of meters before coming to a stop with me pinning Rainbow to the ground on her belly.

“Caught ya!” I smirked, making sure Dash couldn’t struggle out of my grip.

“Fine, you win,” Rainbow grumbled as her struggles weren’t getting her anywhere. She stretched for a moment after I let her go.

“So, why did we go out here?” I asked, looking around the open field.

“To practice your flying of course!” Rainbow laughed again, “You got those wings but now you need to learn how to use them.”

“Oh boy, this’ll be fun.”

“I know!” Dash squealed before starting to instruct me, putting me through various stretches and warm-up exercises. Then after some time, we moved on to some hovering and glide exercises which we did until my wings were burning.

“Tired already?” Dash smirked after what felt like an entire day of flying.

“First time… real hard… Also got shot with arrows like two days ago...” I gasped, still completely out of breath as I lay splayed on the ground. Rainbow was only amused at the sight of me completely being out though.

“Ahh, does the little griffin need somepony to hug him?” She said in the most demeaning voice possible while poking me.

“Let it be known that I hate you right now.”

“Hey Rainbow!” a squeaky voice called out from the village as the quick buzzing of wings signalled the approach of an orange coated, purple-haired little pegasus.

“Hey squirt, how are you doing?” Rainbow chuckled as she left me on the ground to talk with the kid.

“Got a free day from school and I saw you flying around, wanna hang out?” The little pegasus squealed.

“Well… I’m supposed to babysit that Griffin over there-”

“Screw you.”

“-but I’m sure we can find some time to hang out,” Rainbow finished ignoring my rude comment.

“Awesome! Want to go get milkshakes at Bon Bon’s?” the little girl asked, giving Rainbow the biggest puppy eyes possible.

“Wow, that’s A grade extortion right there,” I smirked, having caught my breath and found my paws again, draping a wing over Dash’s back. “Just look at those eyes, are you going to say no to that?”

“Ugh, fine, we’ll get some milkshakes.” Rainbow immediately relented, pushing my wing away and walking ahead.

“So what’s your name?” I asked the little scooter riding pegasus.

“I’m Scootaloo! Rainbow’s number one fan!” She exclaimed, briefly hovering up in excitement. “How do you know Dash?”

I chuckled. “We met up north, spent a good week in various forests with her afterwards. I’m Jack Grey by the way.”

“Huh, so you met and went on a camping trip?” Scootaloo questioned eagerly to get more information out of me.

“We’ll go with that, yes,” I settled with, preferring not to tell the story about being hunted to the kid. We soon after arrived at the little store Scootaloo had asked to go to, Rainbow going in to get the milkshakes while Scootaloo and I held down a table outside.

“So why are you skipping class?” I asked calmly as the shop’s door closed and Dash couldn’t hear us anymore. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide in surprise.

“I-I’m not! I did s-say I had a free day from school, r-right?” she stuttered, nervously trying to put up an innocent face.

“Of all the things I am, I’m not imperceptive Scootaloo. I saw other children carry books this morning. Schoolbooks,” I pointed out, Scootaloo’s smile dropping as she realised she’d been caught.

“Are you going to turn me in?” she quietly asked.

“Right now I’m only asking why you’re skipping class.” I folded my claws in front of me while I waited for the answer.

“There are two bullies in school… I was supposed to hold a presentation about a hero of mine today… they were making fun of me all throughout the week… Telling me how useless I am…” Scootaloo sniffed as her eyes teared up. I extended a wing and wrapped it around her, holding her to my slightly sweaty coat though she didn’t seem to mind.

“Look kid, there’s something an instructor of mine once told me after I got into a fight with someone I absolutely despised. He said that you can’t always change a person, what you can do is change your own response. Those two may be jerks that tell you that whatever you want to do is impossible, but what does that matter? The only thing the word ‘impossible’ should serve as is motivation to prove whoever said it wrong.”

“You really think so?” Scootaloo still sniffed but there was hope on her face.

“I’ve personally seen someone who everyone, even his doctors, thought would never walk again telling them to screw off and get back on his legs. It took monstrous amounts of work but the key factor in all of it was that he never gave up, not a single moment. Of course there’s a measure of luck in anything you do, but if you’re not putting the effort in you’ll never get where you want to be.”

Scootaloo stayed silent for a bit, mulling over my words. “It’s just like Rainbow Dash. She’s crashed so many times when practising only to get back up and try again… That’s what you mean…” in a single moment Scootaloo had attached herself to me in a hug and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem kid,” I smiled, and checked my watch seeing it was almost twelve. “Does your school have a break in the afternoon?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Between twelve and one.”

“Do you want me to come along so I can talk to your teacher? It should be easier without your class there.” I asked getting another nod from Scootaloo. Dash chose that moment to return with the three shakes, dividing them among us.

“Sorry about the time, Bon Bon had to get the ice from out back and I got into a conversation with Lyra,” Rainbow apologized as Scootaloo got her milkshake and started downing it happily.

“No worries Rainbow, it gave me some good chance to get to know Scootaloo here a bit better,” I laughed, tasting my own shake and finding it to be strawberry flavoured.

Oh, this is really good. Not some processed chemical shake but one with actual strawberries.

“So, have anything planned for the afternoon Rainbow?” I asked as I quickly finished up my milkshake.

“Well… I was sort of counting on you being completely out right now,” she sheepishly admitted.

“Miss awesome thinking that I couldn’t take a little training?” I smirked.

“You did better than I’d expected,” Rainbow grumbled in defeat. “I wanted to get some practice in for myself while you napped.”

“Hey you can still do that, I’ll be fine exploring Ponyville on my own a bit more.”

Rainbow looked over at Scootaloo, “Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, I remembered that I have to pick up some stuff at home anyway.”

“Awesome, when shall we meet back up again, Jack?” Rainbow asked as I checked my watch, finding it approaching twelve already.

How our world's time systems match up this perfectly is beyond me. Gotta ask Twilight how that's possible if she gets anywhere in her research.

“Say two o’clock in front of the library?”

“Deal! See you then!” Dash immediately launched herself into the air and barrelled towards the open field outside of town.

“So, let’s go get your stuff.” Scootaloo and I walked over to her house where she swiftly got her bags before heading on to the schoolhouse. As we arrived the other children were playing all kinds of games around the schoolhouse, some playing tag while others were going off the slide or swinging on the swing.

“Where have you been, blank flank?”

Scootaloo immediately froze as she heard the voice call out loudly. I could see two of the children approaching from the side as I interposed myself between them and Scootaloo. “Hello there, I seem to have missed your name.”

The pink filly with a tiara on her head looked up at me in annoyance. “I didn’t say. Now get out of my way, stingy chicken.”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” I calmly answered to the filly’s chagrin.

“Look, I don’t know who you are and I don’t care. Just get out of my way.”

“No.” The surrounding playground had grown a lot quieter as the other children were shooting glances in my direction to see how this would turn out. The pink filly seemed to snap at my stubborn refusal.

“Do you know not who I am?! My father-” As she mentioned her father I couldn’t help but burst out into laughter, tears in my eyes.

“Your father what?” I burst out, “Is he like a mob boss, going to send his goons after me for getting in the way of his kid?” The children around me snickered quietly while the bully was blowing steam out of her ears. “That’s right, he isn’t. Now stop bothering Scootaloo here, I'm no fan of bullies and you two seem to fit that category quite well.”

“Y-You… AAARGH!” The filly stomped away red hot with anger.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed, not being able to hold her own laughter.

“Scootaloo!” Two new fillies came running up, a yellow earthpony with red hair and a white unicorn with purple hair. “Where have y’all been? Cheerilee moved yer presentation to the afternoon in case you’d show up late.”

“Hi girls, I had some things that I needed to work out. Jack here helped me along.”

“You’re that griffin Rarity is fixing those strange clothes for, aren’t you?” the unicorn asked.

“Yes I am, and you two are?”

“Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo pointed out for me, the two nodding.

“Sounds good. I’m sorry you two but I promised Scootaloo I’d talk to your teacher with her and we already wasted some time with that little distraction just now.”

“Alright, that’s fair. We’ll see ya in class Scoots,” Apple Bloom called out allowing us to move to the large red schoolhouse. After looking for a bit we found Cheerilee at her desk looking through some assignments. I knocked on the doorframe three times to get her attention.

“Oh hello there, what can I do for you?” she said, looking up at me with a slightly forced smile.

“I’m just here to return a student,” I stepped aside a bit to allow Scootaloo through, her ears flat as she looked at her teacher.

“Scootaloo! I was very worried about you, where have you been?” Cheerilee immediately brightened at seeing her student.

“She was having some serious anxiety issues about her presentation, and how her bullies would react,” I answered for the filly. “The two of us had a talk and she wants to hold it anyway now.”

“Of course, I’d like to see you after class too Scootaloo, but if you still want to give your presentation then I won’t stop you,” Cheerilee smiled, “You go outside and play with your friends, I’ll talk with mister…?”

“Grey.”

“Mister Grey here.” She finished. Scootaloo nodded and ran back outside to catch up with her two friends while I took a seat on a stool in front of Cheerilee’s desk. “I’m surprised you got her to come in here, usually she’s gone for at least the entire day when she doesn’t show up.”

“It happens more often?”

“It could be worse but about once every month,” Cheerilee admitted.

“That’s sad, she sounds like a good kid with drive, just needs a push in the right direction.”

“You seem to have gotten through to her, would you mind checking in on her so every now and then?” Cheerilee asked, “It’d do her some real good.”

“As long as I am in Ponyville I’ll keep an eye out for her,” I smiled back in reply.

“Thank you, now I must ask you to leave since class is about to start again.”

“Of course, have a nice day, miss Cheerilee.”

“You too, mister Grey.”

Author's Note

I heard yesterday that the local trick and treat hasn't been called off and I've not had my cosplay fix in 8 months, it's gonna be so much fun stomping about in my Space Marine :rainbowwild:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 9: Incident

Chapter 9:
Incident

The following days were rather similar to that first one, part of the day would be me along with Rainbow either doing flight training or working out in the gym. The afternoons would be mostly for my own to fill in which I used to read up on this world and its inhabitants from books in Twilight’s library. One of my main discoveries being how insulated a society Equestria was, conflict essentially being non-existent at larger scales.

Then again, they do have a fucking immortal deity watching over them... Wouldn't I have pissed myself in that first meeting if I had known that...

Then in the evenings, I had gotten Scootaloo to come by the library and would help her out with homework, particularly the math problems since that’s one of the area’s I’m good at due to my sniper background.

Also a great distraction from any other concerns.

This day, however, started a little different.

“You ready for some more flight lessons, rookie?” Dash asked as she walked in on me eating breakfast, having slept in a bit longer as she was still bunking with me in the library.

“You bet I am!” I smirked, “Just give me a sec to bring this to Twilight downstairs.” Picking up a third sandwich I’d made I went down to the basement to give it to the unicorn working down there. The entire basement was filled by machines of all kinds, a chalkboard full of equations and glowing symbols I didn’t even pretend to understand, paper strewn around everywhere… And then there was a sleeping unicorn in the midst of it all.

That pony works way too hard… Can't say I don't respect her for it.

Placing the plate to the side, I proceeded to lift her onto my back, carried her back upstairs, placed her into her own bed, and closed the window blinders before heading back down to pick up the sandwich to place in the freezer.

“Did Twilight fall asleep again down there?” Spike asked as I ran into him in the kitchen.

“Yup.”

The little dragon sighed. “I’ll get that sandwich to her when she wakes, thanks for carrying her up by the way.”

“No problem, see you in the afternoon,” I smiled as I left the library, Dash already sitting outside and waiting for me to get out.

“Took you long enough. Come on, I want to show you some real moves,” Dash smiled, flapping her wings to get in the air, “Follow me!”

Glancing down the street I noticed a set of stallions that I'd consistently been seeing over the previous couple days. A day earlier I'd cornered them after slipping away from watching one of Dash's performances, quickly discovering the two stallions were part of Shining Armor's insurance policy. After waving to the two to let them know that I'd already spotted them I opened my own wings to get in the air. I only made small hops low over the ground as any actual sustained flight was... well, difficult to say the least.

“Breaking… Manehattan…”

As we passed through the town square we stopped moving as it was filled by ponies standing around the news booth. Everyone was talking with each other, looking concerned as they waved the newspaper around.

“What going on here?” I asked one of the ponies at the edge of the crowd, Rainbow landing beside me.

“It’s horrible!” The pony pushed the newspaper into my claws and allowed me to read the headline:

‘Breaking: Bombing in Manehattan, fifteen dead and dozens wounded. Perpetrators unknown’

“Shit…” I muttered below my breath. “Dash, we’re not going to train today.”

“Nope,” Rainbow agreed with me as I pushed the newspaper back into the other pony’s hooves.

“I need to go check up on Rarity, Spike told me she’s got my clothes ready.” Moving away from the crowd I made a direct beeline to the boutique, Rainbow following me there.

“Rarity, are you home?” I called out as I pushed through the door, the fashionista peaking out the door that lead to the private part of the store.

“Of course, though I’m still closed to business at this moment,” She said, Sweetie peeking from behind her to who entered the shop.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion but I need my clothes right now,” I apologized as Dash stepped forward and hoofed her a newspaper she’d gotten back at the town square.

“Oh my… I’ll go get them immediately.” Rarity immediately shot upstairs to get the clothes while Sweetie stepped forward in confusion.

“What’s going on? What happened?” She asked.

“There was an attack in Manehattan,” I bluntly said. “Can you tell Scootaloo I won’t be there today? I’m heading up to Canterlot.”

“Oh… ok.”

“Thanks, I’ll try to be back soon but I’m not sure how long this might take if my help is accepted,” I told her as Rarity came down and floated my clothes back over to me.

“There, the pants were a bit of a problem but I got them adjusted to the best of my abilities.”

“From what I’ve heard that’s a pretty good guarantee for quality from you. Thank you Rarity.”

“My pleasure darling, now you go do what you have to,” Rarity smiled, I gave her a nod and left the boutique again for the library. Spike jumped in surprise as I threw open the door and ran upstairs.

“Hey, weren’t you two going to train?” He called upstairs after me only for Dash to show him the newspaper.

Within two minutes I was back downstairs, fully dressed, backpack on my back and tactical rig strapped in place. “Rainbow, can you open the chest? I’m not leaving my weapons here and I’d prefer not to drag along that box everywhere.”

“Well, technically I’m not supposed to… but maybe if I go along with you.” I rolled my eyes and nodded, Rainbow made a happy sound and opened the box. After quickly stashing the weapons and filling the pouches of my vest with magazines, we left Spike and the library behind me again as we made our way over to the train station.

“When do the trains from here head to Canterlot?” I asked Rainbow who pointed at the train that was sitting at the platform of the station, its whistle blew, signalling its departure.

“Right now!”

“Well, we’re not missing that train!” I growled, speeding up some more flapping my wings to make little hops with all of my gear. We managed to jump on the back cart right as it steamed out of Ponyville station.

“That was way too close,” Rainbow laughed, her adrenaline up from the run. I noticed my two tails standing back at the platform and flipped them off as they hadn't gotten to the train in time.

“Hear, hear. Let’s go find a conductor to make sure we’re not handed off to the authorities the moment we arrive at the next station.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dash chuckled as we opened the door leading into the back cart and walked through the train to find a conductor, explaining our situation to him as we did and managing to buy a ticket from him right there. The ponies in the cart we seated in all glanced in our direction, whispering quietly to each other.

Neither I nor Dash talked much as the train rode up the mountain towards the city hanging off the side of it. I still couldn't wrap my head around how they engineered it to not collapse and fall into the valley below, a lot of it probably had to do with magic. The train slowed to a stop at its final station and main destination, ponies quickly scuttling out of our cart and new ones avoiding me with a wide berth. There was a palpable sense of suspicion of me up here that Ponyville simply didn't have.

“You know the way around here better than I do, Rainbow, can you get us into the palace?” I asked as we walked away from the train station.

“You bet I can!” Rainbow replied pointing out the way through the Canterlot streets up to the palace. Here too ponies were engrossed in their newspapers, sometimes arguing with each other about who was responsible. But once again, just like the station, every time I was noticed ponies would make sure to stay away from me.

“This is bad,” I grumbled as we saw Royal Guards rushing past us in groups towards the market we’d just passed, completely ignoring us as they headed to wherever they needed to be.

“You’re telling us? I don’t think Equestria ever had anything like this happ-” I cut Dash off in the middle of her sentence as I froze in the street, a cold sting in my gut telling me something was wrong. “Jack?”

“Rainbow, Two o’clock, halfway down the street. I don’t like the look of those two.” I told her, my eyes fixed on two griffins that were pulling a tarp-covered cart, one of them had a cloak around his body as he kept half an eye on every guard in sight.

“What are you thinking?” Dash asked, anxiety in her voice.

“Do you think you’d be able to restrain the small one if you dropped from above?”

“Whoa there, we can’t just do that to them!” Dash exclaimed, shocked at what I was suggesting.

“No. That’s why I’m going to talk to them, I just want to cover all my bases,” I told her as I proceeded to load a magazine into my pistol and made my way over to the two griffins. Behind me, I saw Dash take off into the air and shadow me from above.

“Hello there! What are two of my kind doing here on this magnificent day?” I called out, getting the attention of the two griffins. The older griffin's face went through various emotions before he got a grip giving a cold stare while the younger one was obviously nervous.

There’s definitely something wrong here… The older one is the priority target if this goes sideways.

“Just getting some trade done on the market. Bloody ponies can't even get themselves to buy shit from me,” the older griffin grunted.

"Man that sucks, what are you selling anyway?" I asked, trying to glance under the tarp and spotting some barrels.

"Nothing interesting, just ale," he grumbled, pulling down the tarp to obscure the barrels from my view.

"Sounds interesting... say, if the ponies don't want to take it off your claws I might be able to get a barrel from you?" I continued, locking eyes with the smaller griffin who looked confused. "What do you say, little one? Can't hurt to make some cash, now can it?"

"B-but we were delivering a package, weren't we?" she stammered, looking over to the older of the pair.

Bingo.

The older griffin tensed up but the younger one taking a step back away from her companion. “You know, something tells me the guard would be very interested in your cargo. You wou-”

That was the moment crap hit the fan.

The old griffin pulled the tarp off the cart and threw it over me in a smooth motion, forcing me to spend valuable seconds getting out from under it. The moment I did I could see the old griffin lighting a fuse running into one of the barrels on there.

Oh, hell no.

Pulling my pistol, I fired three shots into his centre mass before charging forward. Rainbow meanwhile dropped from above and pinned the younger griffin to the ground as she desperately tried getting away from all that was happening.

I wasted no time jumping on the cart and gripped the shortening fuse, ripping it out of the barrel, and tossing it as far away as possible. The moment the fire of the fuse reached the part of it that had stuck in the barrel, it exploded.

“You coward!” The old griffin spat along with some blood as he had trouble breathing. “Why would you help these damn ponies…”

“Because they’ve only shown me kindness,” I growled, approaching him but jumping back as he suddenly pulled a sword from under his robe and swung it at me. The weapon clattered to the ground as the griffin quickly lost the strength to wield it.

“If you think you’ve won you’re wrong…” He gasped before collapsing to the ground, his body limb as blood flowed onto the stones of the street. A quick check by means of an ‘eye poke’ confirming he’d died.

“Shit,” I cursed, seeing Rainbow still struggling to keep the other griffin down. Quickly rushing up to her I helped Dash subdue her, using a set of zip tie cuffs to secure the griffin’s wrists behind her back.

“There, now let’s go get-”

“Stay right there and surrender yourselves!”

“-the Guard.” A squad of Royal Guards had already surrounded us and more could be seen coming our way.

“Step away from the cart and lay down on the ground!” The unicorn at the head of the squad shouted with a lit horn. Dash looked at me for what to do as I slowly stepped away from the young griffin and the cart, laying down onto the ground as ordered.

The guard stepped up and placed a set of heavy cuffs around my wrists and restrained my wings before they pulled me up. They took my backpack, combat knife, and rifles, yet leaving my pistol as they probably didn’t recognise it as a weapon before moving on to get the young griffin and cutting my wraps and cuffing her themselves. I didn't like giving up my weapons to them but if played diplomatically I'd most likely have them back the soonest.

“Careful with that cart, you’ll find the contents of those barrels to be very explosive.”

The eyes of the lead guard widened a bit before barking a couple of orders and having the street blocked off before turning to the guards next to us. “Bring them to the cells in the barracks.”

The young griffin and I found ourselves pushed into a holding cell together while Dash was led to another while the guard processed the necessary paperwork. The young griffin female pressed herself into the opposite corner of the room to where I was sitting. My gaze squarely focussed onto the terrified griffin as her grey feathers blended with the dull stone of the cell.

“Who are you?” I asked poignantly, not in the mood for games.

“U-Uncle s-said I-I’m not s-suppos-”

“Your. Name.”

“G-Gabby!” She immediately stuttered, her wings twitching against the restraints at, what I assumed to be, an attempt to hide behind them. My anger continued being up only for a moment longer before it fell away to pity.

“Do you have any idea what you were just caught doing?” I asked her, my tone of voice a lot softer.

“N-No? U-Uncle Garett wanted m-my help with a delivery to C-Canterlot. H-He was acting strange b-but that’s just him…” Gabby started hyperventilating as she thought back to what happened outside on the streets. “H-He’s dead. Y-You killed him.”

Gabby renewed her attempts at disappearing into the corner as I got up from the bench and approached her, sitting down next to the little griffin and wrapping an arm around her. “What you brought into the city was a cart full of explosives. Had your uncle succeeded then you, me, my friend, and a lot of ponies around us would have died in the blast.”

“H-He wouldn’t!” Gabby exclaimed exasperated, her face dropping further as she saw the serious, but sincere, look on my own. “No…”

“I’m sorry, but you were used.”

She couldn’t hold it in any longer and started sobbing against my coat while I rubbed her back, not entirely sure what else to do. Keys jangled as the prison door opened and a familiar stallion stepped in. “Jack Grey.”

“Shining Armor.”

“I really wanted to have you locked behind bars permanently after that stunt outside only to get a report on what was in the barrels of that cart,” Shining said with a sigh. “You probably saved dozens of lives by stopping that griffin. I can set aside my doubts for a bit, too many other things I need to worry about anyway. It also helps that the Princess wants to see you.”

“Well I came up here to offer my help but I wasn’t expecting this would be the way,” I said without a hint of mirth as it wasn’t the proper timing right now.

“Who’s she?” Shining asked, pointing at Gabby.

“She’s the niece to the bomber but I don’t think she was involved. I’d recommend keeping her in protective custody as she might know something she doesn’t even realise is important,” I told Shining as I got off from the floor and helped Gabby up as well.

“I’ll get something arranged. I already got Rainbow out of her cell, she’s already being escorted to ERGIS’s situation room.”

“ERGIS?”

“Equestrian Royal Guard Intelligence Service,” Shining clarified, getting a huff from me.

“Well, someone fucked up big time there if the newspaper is to be believed.”

“We haven’t had something like Manehattan happen in over two hundred years, Jack. We have dealt with minor skirmishes in our time but not this, and after that event they did manage to prevent another bombing in Trottingham before you stopped the one here in Canterlot,” Shining defended before calling over two guards. “I’ve got my hooves full of work right now. Hell, I was supposed to be back up north in the Empire by now, I’ll see you around. Bring him to the situation room and get her a room under guard up in the palace.”

The two guards at the door saluted and proceeded with their tasks, the one leading me first getting me my gear back and unbinding my wings before bringing me to the situation room. Princess Celestia stood at the head of a central table that had a map laid out on it, three little red flags were placed on Manehattan, Canterlot and what I presumed to be Trottingham. More yellow ones were placed on various cities as runners brought information from the analysts that were working on the outer edges of the room to the central table.

“I see you’ve gotten your stuff back,” Dash said as she approached from the side, getting a nod from me as I walked up to the central table after the Princess noticed me and motioned for me to come closer.

“Any information on the motives of the attackers, Princess?” I asked, making the princess shake her head.

“Not as of yet. I just got a report telling me you had a claw in preventing a similar attack in Canterlot?

“Yes I did, Princess,” I answered, lowering my head and my elbows bending a little to bow ever so slightly. It was a much larger gesture than the one I'd given at our first meeting.

“My gratitude for that then, did you find anything useful we can work on there? I remember that you did something called counter-insurgency where you are from, my hope is that you could give us a new perspective on how to deal with this crisis,” Celestia asked, a scribe ready to note down anything I said.

“Our army's focus was on that at the moment but I'm no dedicated terror fighter, yet I see your point and will try to help to the best of my ability. The griffin I killed was ranting about me being a coward. After that he died and the guard arrested us…” I answered, the Princess looking annoying that an avenue to gain information was lost, “…There is another thing though. We have the young griffin who accompanied the bomber in captivity. His young niece.”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Then I think it is time we asked her some questions. Mind joining me?”

“I talked to her in the holding cell a bit as well, I think she was out of the loop.”

The princess shook her head. “No matter, we shall still question her regardless.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, motioning Dash to follow as I followed the princess to the exit of the situation room, guards right on our heels. “Prince Armor had her brought into the palace under guard. I’m not sure where she is right now.”

Celestia stopped and thought for a moment before continuing her walk. “I know where she’ll be located if that’s the case, and if not the guard will know.” The princess turned to another pony in the room. “Captain Radiant Shield, I will be unavailable for some time, I trust you can make sound judgements in my stead.”

“Of course, Princess,” he replied, continuing to move between stations.

“Perfect. Now mister Grey, Rainbow Dash, please follow me.”

I silently nodded trusting the Princess to know where to go for my second meeting with Gabby.

Author's Note

Passed all my exams, one more round of them to go. Nothing else to report, carry on.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 11: Griffinstone

Chapter 11:
Griffinstone

”You're not coming, Rainbow,” I told the pegasus as I repacked gear from my backpack into more unassuming brown saddlebags provided to me by the guard. Mainly things like ammo and my leftover zip tie cuffs.

“Oh come on, I can handle myself! I'll just… stay out of sight!” Rainbow exclaimed in response.

“It's out of the question Rainbow, they already went after you once I will not put you in danger again,” I completely rejected her proposal again. “That rainbow hair of yours just paints a massive target on your back.”

“I can just give it another colour!” Rainbow persisted, but there was a little doubt seeping into her voice. I finished stashing gear into my new bags and closed them, turning to face Rainbow directly.

“And what happens if we get revealed? We'd be in the middle of a hostile city with who knows how many griffins around us. You’d be a danger to both me and yourself.”

Rainbow huffed but didn't try to rebut me again.

“I'll be just fine on my own, Dash, it's just two weeks. And besides, Scootaloo is going to have some free time to spend now I'm not helping with her homework,” I finished, strapping on the bags over a mundane brown cloak that would hide my weapons and tactical rig. The sniper rifle remaining in Rainbow's care since I wouldn't be able to use it regardless. “I've got to go and see Captain Midnight, see you around Rainbow.”

Leaving the pegasus behind in the previous room, I entered the hallways and walked towards the situation room. The traffic around the room wasn't as bad as when I'd first entered but clearly busier than usual. The pony I was looking for stood by one of the tables and was listening to one of the analysts.

“Captain Midnight?” I said, saluting as she turned to me.

“Specialist Grey. I see you know the meaning of haste, I didn't think you'd be here so soon,” she commended, motioning for me to follow. “We've gotten you the appropriate documents, funds, and put together a brief to get you up to speed on the most recent information.”

The bat pony passed along a file and a few loose documents which I quickly stashed into one of my bags. “How much money is this?” I asked as I held out the bag of bits Midnight passed me.

“Enough to last you for at least four weeks. Just keep in mind that just about every Griffin will try to hike prices, they're extreme penny pinchers, you can barter off at least a quarter of the initial price most merchants give you,” she informed me.

“Thanks for the heads up.” I rolled my eyes.

“No problem. I also have this for you.” Midnight gave me a metal cylinder which after opening revealed a green candle with parchments rolled around it. “Dragonfire candle, burn anything and it'll be sent over to an analyst in this room. It's the most secure method of communication we have.”

“Not going to pretend to know how that works but that sounds really useful,” I smiled, stashing away the cylinder as well.

“Indeed it is, I'll have a covert team camp out in the neighbourhood as support if it's needed. They'll only be observing so they won't be immediate support but they might just provide you with an exit if you can hold out long enough. Now the Princess wanted to see you in her office. She'll have somepony drop you off at the station once she's done with you. Good luck out there.”

“Thank you, Captain,” I respectfully nodded, leaving her behind in the situation room. The Princess was seated behind her desk and looking over a stack of paper as she noticed me.

“Jack Grey, good to see you're done preparing. There's something I wanted to give you.” The Princess took me into a side room and produced a longsword out of a locker. It was of a simple design, the only really notable thing being the dark blue gem set into the pommel. The hilt was made of dark metal and grip of black leather.

“My sister and I know you have those weapons of your own but we agree that maybe you should carry something more visible to deter these 'Red Claws' from attacking you outright were your cover to fail.”

Sliding the blade from its sheath I looked it over, finding it was very well balanced before re-sheathing it. “Thank you but I'm afraid that if I would get into a situation where I'd have to use it I wouldn't know how.”

Luna smirked a little deviously, “When in doubt, stick them with the pointy end. I'm sure you can deal with any threat in your own way… but if not, the sword might yet surprise you,” Luna cryptically added. I couldn't help but chuckle at that as I wrapped the belts attached to the hilt around my body and tightened them. "One more thing, you work for me now so please refrain from starting an international conflict. It looks like we're only getting away with that incident at the consulate because you technically didn't work for us among a few other things. The other embassies in the city have all sent veiled messages to us to not try something similar there."

I cleared my throat and straightened up. “I'll stop myself from doing something stupid up in Griffinstone... I should get going if I'm to catch that train.”

“'Of course, I won't stop you from performing the task I myself gave you” Luna nodded as she flagged over a guard. “He'll show you the way out but won't join you all the way, we want the possibility of you being detected as low as possible.”

“That sounds like a good way to avoid surprises,” I nodded.

“I wish you good fortune out there, mister Grey, we'll speak via dragon mail candle.”

“Understood Princess,”

The train slowly rolled into the Griffinstone station, having travelled all throughout the night. The journey had been relatively long as the railway tracks around Manhattan had all been shut down. There were not that many others on the train, the ponies that had been shooting suspicious glances my way had already gotten off at prior stops. It wasn't that much of a bother anyway as I used the journey to catch up on sleep and read over my alias and the intel.

But now I stood at the bottom of the mountain on which Griffinstone was built. Somewhere up in the distance, I could see structures hanging on the trees and built into the side of the mountain.

Aaah, darn. I hate mountains.

Sighing I took the firsts steps on the path up to the city as the morning rays of the sun shone down on me. The path up was terribly maintained. Wooden railings that were limply hanging from rotten rope or entirely missing, paved sections contrasted by broken up ground.

If this is the path up there is already this bad...

Being careful with where I set down my paws I slowly but surely made my way up, taking a break halfway to eat something before hiking the last bit of the way to the top. The badly maintained houses that were scattered on the way up not heightening my expectations…

...yet even my low expectations were way too high for the absolute dump I was looking at.

It’s pretty much a slum… hell, slums have more cheer than this place. Wow, I actually pity anyone who has to live here.

Griffins actively tried to avoid each other on the street as I walked through, there weren’t even children running about the place. Sometimes two griffins would collide and exchange some harsh squawks.

These birds need to chill out big time.

Careful not to bump into anyone I looked around for an inn to stay at, a flash of colour behind me suddenly caught my eye but the moment I looked I found nothing there.

Strange… I swore I saw- Oh stop it you, she’s not here!

Shaking my head I continued on through the streets.

“Hey! Who are you!” A shout came from an alleyway. At first, I simply ignored the call but that became harder once two griffins blocked my path. “I don't know your face, stranger, what are you doing here?”

“Business,” I flatly stated.

“Of what kind?” the other griffin asked.

“The personal kind,” I growled back, looking around to see if there were more griffins surrounding me, finding it not to be the case. “Now if you two can stop bothering me, I want to find an inn.”

The two griffins looked at each other while I stared them down and was mentally noting their features so I could possibly recognise them later.

“Yeah, go ahead.” The leader of the couple said as he glanced down at the sword hanging from my side, stepping aside to let me pass. “There's an inn down the street. Hard to miss.”

“Thank you,” I told them, walking past and not looking back. Surprisingly, just like they said, an inn sat about four hundred metres ahead. The building was built on an old tree and looked remarkably well maintained compared to the rest of the city. Mentally noting its location for the night I got to a square and took a seat on a large boulder that lay on the edge of it.

Right, now to-

I swung my head to the side as I swore that I saw something in the corner of my eye, once again finding nothing of note where I’d imagined seeing something.

Fucking hell, Jack, you need to chill down this paranoia.

Returning to what I was doing I took out the intel file. One of the griffins at Trottingham had talked and given the name of a bar where he'd met his contact so I scribbled the name of the establishment down on my notepad. The file also gave me a small list of griffins I could trust, something provided by the ambassador.

I should also try to find where Gabby's uncle worked, pay their office a small visit. If they're helping the talons move around gear then that's a major issue.

Getting back up, I started to look around for the post office. The longer I walked through the streets the better a feeling of the tension in the city I got, Griffins looked around and were jumping at shadows constantly. It took me some time to find, but eventually, I stepped into the building.

“What do you mean, you don't know?!” a female griffin screamed at the clerk standing at the front desk. “He works here, right? You gave him a large shipment to deliver someplace!”

Standing at the entrance, I simply watched the altercation play out.

“G, I honestly don't know! We haven't given him an order for weeks, too many things broken due to him always being drunk,” The clerk defended, the other griffin screamed in anger and turned towards me and pushed me aside.

“Out of my way, dweeb,” she said as she handled me, flying off before I could say anything to her.

“My apologies about that, one of our employees got under her feathers,” the clerk sighed. “What can I do for you, sir?”

“I wanted to inquire about a possible employee too. Some griffin called Garrett supposedly works here,” I said, the clerk's eyes went wide.

“That's what Gilda was after too. What did that drunk get himself into now? I assure you, we did not give him your mail if he destroyed it! The post office isn't liable for that!” she barked, immediately deflecting blame off of herself. I turned to see if I could still see the particular griffin but this Gilda was long gone.

“Nah, there was something else I wanted to ask him… say, do you know where Gilda lives and point me in the right direction?” I asked, but I wasn't prepared for the response.

“How many bits are you offering?”

It took some serious effort to keep my exasperation in check. I'd been warned about griffin greediness by both the Lunar captain and a segment of the briefing but I'd written it off as a stereotype. I guess all stereotypes are bound in some truth... Simply reaching into the bag, I pulled out three bits and placed them on the table.

“Well, maybe if there were more-”

“No.” I moved to pick the bits off of the desk but they were snagged right from under my claws.

“Fine! G lives two streets east of here, her aerie is unmistakable. Actually paints the damn thing. Bloody waste of bits.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Thank you for the information.”

The clerk mumbled something unintelligible as I left to look for the house. It wasn't much of a search in the end as the house I was looking for was the only one in the area that didn't look like a complete dump.

After knocking on the door I waited for a response, hoping that Gilda had gone straight home after running into me at the post office. There were some muffled voices as the door swung open only a crack.

“What?”

“Miss Gilda?” I asked, hoping to confirm her identity. The door opened up a bit further so she could see me better.

“Oh, it's you. If you're after an apology for being shoved out of my way you can buzz off,” she growled.

“No, I just wanted to ask you why you want to know where Garrett is,” I calmly stated, Gilda's demeanour changed visibly as she nervously looked past me to see if I was alone.

“Look, I've got stuff to do. I had somepo-griff drop by unannounced and-”

My eyes narrowed at the slip-up and now hawkishly looking past Gilda and into the house, spotting a familiar set of Wonderbolt merch saddlebags. A set of saddlebags I'd seen used by one very particular pegasus…

For fuck sake! She fucking didn’t!

Pushing open the door, I barged past Gilda into her house and slammed open the door to her living room. A yelp came from the couch as I spotted the sky blue, rainbow-haired, pegasus sitting there.

“Hey! You can't come in here!”

“Rainbow.”

“I-I can explain!”

Author's Note

Final inspection of the barracks before going home is hell when your groupmates already have their mind set on home. Like, that's asking for the sarges to start fucking with you. :facehoof:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 12: Intel

Chapter 12:
Intel

“Go on then, tell me why you completely ignored me,” I said venomously. Gilda was still tense as she looked between me and Rainbow.

“Well, you see… I, uhm… Oh come on, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing!” Rainbow exclaimed as she tried defending her action. Her stature shrunk though as she took in the true size difference between the two of us as I loomed over her.

“That was exactly what you were supposed to do! I guess I won't have to worry about you being captured then, miss awesome. I'm sure no-one saw you and reported that sighting prompting any claw to be hyper-alert for any sighting of you.” Sarcasm was dripping from my voice.

Gilda stepped to the side and looked at Dash too. “Your friend here’s right Dash, this place isn't safe for any pony right now and most definitely not anyone connected to the princess.”

I glanced at the female griffin, she seemed to be knowledgeable of what was going on and if Rainbow trusted her… she might be a very decent source of information.

Rainbow huffed stubbornly, fueling my frustration further as I felt like bashing my head against a wall. “So what now? We both know what happens if these griffins find out what train you're on, and I'm not walking all the way to Manehattan again.”

“I could help with, I don't know, spying on griffins?”

“Dash, you are literally a rainbow coloured target waiting to be snatched up the moment you leave this house. You really didn't think this through, did you?” I sighed as I buried my face in a claw.

“What did you mean by walking to Manehattan?” Gilda spoke up, looking between me and Rainbow suspiciously.

“We were on a train from the north down to Manehattan and got stopped… kinda had to flee and walk all the way to the city from there. Twilight was there as well,” Rainbow quickly summarized.

“Right… Hey Rainbow, it was nice to see you again but I really have stuff to do and a griffin drunk to track down,” Gilda suddenly broke off, trying to leave the two of us behind.

She knows way more than she’s letting on.

“You mean Garrett?” I asked, stepping in the other griffin’s way.

“Exactly,” she hissed back, trying to pass me regardless.

“He's dead.”

“He has someone with him who- wait, WHAT?!” Gilda exclaimed as she processed what I'd said.

“He's dead. Died in Canterlot a day ago.”

“No, no, no, he can't-” Gilda's breath went up as she started panicking, grabbing a hold of my cloak to pull me closer. “T-There was a grey griffin, a small one, with him. She has nothing to do with whatever that jerk was doing!”

“She's fine G, Gabby is in the castle with the princess,” Rainbow said in an attempt to calm Gilda down. “Seriously, I've never seen you worry about someone like this.”

“She's family,” Gilda growled. “That bastard was never up to any good.”

“You got that right, Dash and I caught him with enough explosive material to flatten multiple houses…” I said as I grabbed Gilda’s wrist and slowly pried her claw off my clothing before falling silent again as I went over the assessment of the explosive yield from the intel brief in my mind. “...or one really big mansion.”

“And? He just wanted to kill ponies, right?” Dash questioned while Gilda tried to keep calm.

“No, I don't think so. Remember where we found him and his cart?” I asked to see if Rainbow still knew, pacing around the room as gears ground in my head.

“Uhh, at the market?”

“Not exactly, we stopped them while they were moving away from the market. If he really wanted the maximum casualties he'd have halted right in the middle of that place and blew up his payload. He had another target.”

“Kinda hard to figure out now he's not here to tell us,” Dash grumbled.

“But we can speculate. The street we were on, if we'd walked all the way up it where would we have ended up?”

“The palace. That's where I was leading you, remember? But he would have never been able to get that cart into the walls itself without the guard noticing with how on edge they were,” Rainbow replied. Gilda still looked panicked as she sat back down to listen in but she was clearly nervous about something.

“So not the palace… on the way up, what kind of districts do you run into on the way there?”

“Well, first you'd go through the upper districts where all the nobles live and right before the castle itself you have…” Rainbow paused as she made a connection. “...the embassy district with the griffin consulate.”

“I think now is a good time to send a letter to ask if any important griffin figureheads were present in Manehattan, Trottingham, or any other site where they found explosives.”

“The post office is compromised, they check every letter that gets sent out of Griffinstone,” Gilda spoke as I dug through my bags and pulled out the cylinder with the dragonfire candle.

“Good thing that I have a more reliable line to send messages.” Using a lighter I set the candle aflame, a parchment immediately materialized from the fire. Breaking the lunar guard seal on it I opened the scroll and read the contents. “It seems your absence has been noted by ERGIS, Rainbow. They want me to check if you haven't followed me.”

“Guess you have the answer to that,” Dash sheepishly said as I started writing a small report on the pegasus' status followed by a request for them to look into any griffin casualties from the Manehattan bombing and possible targets in the foiled Trottingham bombing. The moment the letter hit the flame of the candle it burst into fire and a puff of smoke escaped out the window.

“Well, that was way easier tha- why are you watching me like that?” Gilda was looking at me with a shocked and slightly terrified expression.

“You’re the demon of Stoneweed forest, aren’t you?” A little fear started creeping into Gilda’s voice as she tried keeping it steady.

“Uhh, what?” I simply replied. “Sorry, I’m not sure where that forest lays.”

“It’s the one we walked through, Jack,” Rainbow pointed out for me. Gilda swallowed nervously as she backed off into a wall.

“So the two ponies they mentioned… that was you and the smart dweeb, right Rainbow?”

“Hey-”

“Miss Gilda, you seem to know a remarkable amount of information. I would like to know how you do know the information you know.” I got ready to tackle her if she tried to flee, she wasn’t carrying weapons so capturing her would be my priority.

“They talk about you in their reports and messages,” Gilda answered, her voice wavered as whatever she’d read had clearly made an impact.

“Pray tell, how would you have access to those reports?”

“Gilda?” Rainbow frowned in concern as she got off the couch and stepped next to me.

“I-I have sources, okay? I copy them. Stuff has been going on around here for a while you know.”

I stared at her, going through possibilities in my mind. She’s probably not part of the claws themself, otherwise she wouldn’t need sources to get those reports…

“Miss Gilda, we’re going to take a walk,” I told the other griffin. “Rainbow, if you hear gunfire then you’re going to take the candle, my notepad and pen, and book it out of here. You don’t come looking for me or anything stupid. Clear?”

Rainbow looked away and muttered something.

“I said, am I clear?” I repeated, much harsher in tone as I really wanted to make sure she wouldn’t follow me this time. If Gilda turned out to be part of this organization then she’d have time to get out while I’d make a stand.

“Completely,” Rainbow said through a clenched jaw. I got my pistol out and chambered a round into it before holstering it again, Rainbow frowned and gave me a concerned glance.

“Good. Gilda, follow me.” The female griffin stayed close as I left the house and Rainbow behind. The moment I was sure we were out of earshot of the house I stopped Gilda dead in her tracks. “I’m going to give it to you straight, if you even dare to call for anyone’s help for some reason I’m ending you right there. Rainbow might trust you, which is a point in your favour, but I don’t know anything about you.”

“A-Alright, so you want me to earn your trust?” Gilda stammered.

“In a way. What is your opinion about ponies, Gilda?” I asked, as I walked in a random direction, making sure no-one was too close nor that I’d give Gilda an easy escape.

“It’s complicated… do you mind going to someplace where I can more easily explain?” Gilda asked.

“Depends on where that place is,” I replied, letting Gilda take the lead.

“A few streets from here, a place called the pits,” Gilda answered. “Nogrif goes there nowadays so it should be private as well.”

I nodded, sticking close to Gilda as she led me to the place she'd mentioned. As we arrived there I found that these ‘pits’ were just that: fenced off holes in the ground with raised viewing galleries around them. Gilda took a seat in one of the empty galleries, motioning for me to join her.

“So, want to explain why we’re here?”

“I’m surprised you don’t know actually,” Gilda admitted, pointing at the pits. “They were kind of a big deal around here.”

“Well, I’m not really from around here so feel free to indulge,” I stated, making sure no-one was watching us.

“They’re the fighting pits, we used to have tournaments here. Some small, others large. On some days to settle grudges or simply to see who was the better fighter.”

“How far did those fights go?”

“Not to the death if that’s what you’re thinking of. The type of fights were varied but they were to measure skill, not to take out the opponent,” Gilda let out a deep sigh as she looked out over the field.

“So how long have these things been shut down? Can’t have been yesterday, this place looks pretty run down,” I pointed out to her.

“Decades, I wasn’t alive when they were closed. Heard all of the stories from grandpa Gruff.” We both stayed silent after that as Gilda was staring off into nothingness and I gave her some space to get her thoughts ordered.

“Gilda?” I eventually broke the silence.

“Yeah, sorry. You asked me about my opinions of ponies,” Gilda got back to the original topic. “You see, I’ve been to Clouddale’s flight school so I got to know more about ponies than other griffins around here, it’s also where I met Rainbow. But I also got to hear about how Griffins used to run things from grandpa Gruff. This place wasn’t closed down because we wanted to, it was closed because the ponies themselves closed them.”

Gilda looked over to me if I was getting what she was saying. “Go on.”

“Ponies and Griffins aren’t the same. We’re predators, they are not. What’s good for them is not necessarily good for us,” Gilda looked at me again to see if she could gauge me but I just kept myself impassive. “Everygriff is pent up with the status quo, I don’t think there’s anyone who disagrees with that around here, but some take that much further than others.”

“The Red Claws,” I pointed out as an example.

“Exactly. Now don’t get me wrong, I want independence just like any other Griffin but I know how much we rely on ponies for our food. We can’t just cut ties and wave goodbye, and definitely not bite the hoof that feeds us… literally.”

“I see.” Standing back up I walked down the gallery, stopping at the pit’s edge and leaning on the fence before jumping in out of simple curiosity. The pit was quite a bit larger than a boxing ring but not so much that you could easily run circles around an opponent.

“What are you doing?” Gilda asked in confusion.

“Why hasn’t anyone simply started these pit fights up elsewhere?” I asked ignoring Gilda’s inquiry.

“Once a transaction is done or an agreement made we honour it,” Gilda simply replied. “When our last king fell we made an agreement with the Princesses. I think you can piece it together from there.”

I flapped my wings and got back out of the pit, trying to make it look as steady as possible to hide the fact I could fly like shit. So they’re greedy but honourable… I guess that’s why the Claws had to fight their way into the consulate instead of just bribing their way through.

“I think I’ve heard enough,” I told her. “You said something about sources and reports back at your house, right?”

“Yeah?” Gilda asked, still looking tense.

“Calm down, you passed in my book.” I walked back in the direction of her house. “You’ve got copies at your home?”

Gilda nodded as we swiftly walked back to her house. Gilda opened a closet near the front door and pulled out the floorboard, revealing a box. She carried it back to the table in the living room and waited for me to come in as well. I gave Rainbow a nod of approval as she looked between us to see how our conversation had gone.

“Most messages you can read are pretty mundane, some interesting but what are probably the most important ones are written in old Giffonian,” Gilda explained, pulling out three of the papers and showing them to me. “Unless you studied that dead language you’re not going to have much luck with those.”

Old Griffonian my ass, this is German...

“Die Sprache wird von mir selbst noch genutzt,” I smirked as I got out my notepad and started translating the three messages to English. Gilda stared at me with wide eyes while I did so.

“How...”

“Don’t bother G, you’re not gonna get the answer anyway,” Rainbow said as she looked through the more mundane messages. Meanwhile, my smirk had completely dropped away as I read the content of the first of the three papers.

The unknown event up north has attracted the attention of the sun-tyrant, from what my sources can gather her personal student with an attache has gone to investigate days ago by the time you receive this. I need you to send someone up there to verify and if true send a force to capture them. The student has to survive at all cost, her value to our cause as a bargaining chip is immeasurable. Her attachee and anyone else are more expendable.

You know what to do.

-Ca

“Well, that confirms beyond the shadow of a doubt who was after you and Twilight, Rainbow,” I said as I passed the translated version on for her to read.

The final shipment of the new experimental weapons is on its way, I will remain here for a while longer to take care of some of the more unsavoury zebras that can’t be trusted to keep their mouths shut.

-Ze

“Gilda, how old is this message and do you know anything about shipments of weapons coming into Griffinstone?”

The other griffin shook her head, “There’s mention of shipments but never their content in the other communications I have. And I got that particular one two weeks ago from my source, that last one is the most recent.”

“Do you have an estimate of how many shipments came in?”

“A lot. If the boxes all contained swords… enough for a small army.”

I need to get my claws on one of these weapons, if they're experimental they probably aren't swords... there are just too many unknowns here.

I was about to take a look at the third parchment but right as I did three loud bangs came from the front door. “Grimmfeather! Open up!”

The three of us froze, looking between each other, a second set of bangs sent us in a hurried frenzy, stashing all the paper back into the box.

“Rainbow, get to the kitchen and hide beneath the table under the window so they can’t see you from outside!” Gilda hissed before looking at me. “You! hide these papers, they can see into the hallway from outside so I can’t stash them in their hiding spot!”

“Grimfeather! Last chance or we kick this door in!”

“I’m coming, you impatient chickens!” Gilda shouted back at them, mouthing at me to hurry up as she walked to the front door. I immediately got the dragonfire candle from Rainbow.

I hope the analysts like their birthday present...

After lighting the candle a new message from the other end came through but without the time to read I simply stashed it into a pocket along with the untranslated one before torching the entire contents of the box. A large puff of smoke went up and disappeared into nothingness as all the paper was sent over to Canterlot.

“We know you have someone over, Grimfeather, one of our people saw a pony with a cloak enter your house!”

Time to take the heat off of her.

“Excuse me, but I’m pretty sure that whoever you have watching G here is fucking blind if he thought I was a pony,” I growled at the two griffins at the door who I immediately recognized, just as they did me.

“You!” the leader of the two exclaimed, “What is he doing here, Grimfeather?”

“Personal business, remember?” I sarcastically said, making him grind his beak.

“Look, I know him from Cloudsdale alright. Old acquaintance,” Gilda smoothly lied as he and I glared each other down.

“Fine, but we’re watching you,” He eventually growled, turning around and walking off. Gilda immediately closed the door, slumping against it as she let out a relieved sigh.

“I think you just saved our feathers there.”

“Not getting ratted out sounded like a good idea,” I told her, turning and walking to the kitchen where Dash had disappeared into. “I told you that you’d be seen, didn’t I?”

“Yeah yeah, you’ve made your point,” Rainbow grumbled. Shaking my head I pulled the letter from ERGIS out of my pocket and read it.

“The Lunar Guard is arranging an extraction for you, Rainbow. It’s going to take a few days to get everything set up though,” I told her as I re-folded the paper and stashed it under my cloak and got out the candle again to apologize for the dump of letters, sending a quick note explaining why I had dumped the pile on them.

“You sent all of those letters to the ponies?” Gilda asked.

“Yes. Is that a problem?” I raised an eyebrow.

“No, I did tell you to get rid of them after all and I've read them regardless.” Gilda shrugged as I got out the last letter and quickly worked to translate it.

“Is Trottingham significant to the Griffin’s, Gilda?” I asked as I read through the content of the letter.

“It’s the pony city most responsible for delivering our food. Why do you ask?”

“When did you get this letter?” I continued, holding out the parchment.

“Yesterday?”

“Fuck.”

All Trottingham cells are ready to strike. All outward communication will be cut at dawn after which we shall take control of the city.

Griffinstone must be ready to do the same.

Good luck our brothers.

-Tr

Author's Note

Well, there is some more context from the griffin side. This chapter got a serious change with the re-writes I've been doing. Hopefully it's good ^^;

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 13: Coup

Chapter 13:
Intel

Shouts came from outside, drawing our attention to the window through which the ruckus came. Walking up to the window Gilda and I looked out over the city, Griffins in uniform armour and with weapons in claws were forcing griffins into their homes as they took up position in the streets.

But what caught my eyes were the particular weapons they were carrying. Long tubes with wooden stocks that had a glowing fuse waiting to ignite gunpowder in the tube itself.

Fucking muskets… They can’t have gotten the idea from me though, too short a development time, this must have been in development for a good while...

“Rainbow, I suggest getting comfortable under that table. Gilda, I’m going to need your help identifying the leaders of the movement.” I threw off my cloak, revealing my tactical vest and other weapons as I untied the wrappings that concealed both my rifles.

“To do what? They’ll never allow you to get close enough to harm them if that’s what you’re after.” Gilda said reaching for my rifle to see what it was, only for me to swat away her claw.

“Good thing I prefer to keep my distance to targets,” I told her readying my vest in case the griffins would figure out who I was. Gilda huffed in reply as she didn’t know the capabilities of my weaponry.

“Your funeral. The leader of the Griffinstone faction is called Garrick, big bastard he is, grey feathers and fur while his head has black feathers. He’s as savage a griffin you can get.”

“And he has badly maintained wings?” I asked as the description was familiar.

“Yeah… How did you know that?” Gilda asked in surprise.

“Gabby described him to us as Garrett’s contact in the castle,” I answered her, more shouting from outside drew more of our attention. A griffin was arguing with a group of Red Claws armed with muskets, shouting all sorts of obscenities at them as he refused to follow their orders.

Come on man, get out of their way before one of them does something stupid.

What I feared happened mere seconds later as one of the claws raised his musket and warned him for a last time. The griffin protesting hesitated for a moment but then drew a knife on the others. A loud crack later and a lot of smoke from the musket's barrel he was lying motionless on the ground.

“Damnit,” I cursed while Gilda beak dropped open in horror.

“What? How did they… did they just kill him?!” She said in utter shock.

“They did, the weapon they carry is called a musket,” I explained as I pulled her away from the window. “It fires a metal ball at a target through means of an explosive charge.”

“So it fires a projectile like a bow and arrow?” Gilda asked while I kept an eye on the happenings outside.

“Muskets are more powerful, one of those shots will make metal armour quite literally explode where arrows will bounce.”

“So what do we do?” Rainbow asked as she sat on a pillow under the table in the kitchen.

“Right now? Nothing,” I sighed. “We don’t want to attract undue attention to ourselves, those two that came knocking before are enough attention as it is.”

“They won’t be too much trouble, they’re a lot of bark and no bite,” Gilda spoke up. “As long as we don’t antagonize them then we’ll be fine.”

“That’s good to-”

A rapid set of knocks came from the front door again, immediately getting me to spring into action, taking position at the door to the hallway with my rifle and motioning for Gilda to open up.

“Calm down, I think I know who this is,” Gilda held out her claw, gesturing for me to relax as she went to open the front door.

“M-Miss Gilda I-”

“Get in here.” The front door slammed closed again as Gilda pulled in a small blue griffin. His coat was faded from all the dust in there and you could see his ribs through the furry skin as he was clearly underfed. He shrunk down as he noticed me examining him from my position at the doorpost.

“Come on, into the living room you go.” Gilda shoved him past me.

“I-I don’t have a-anything for you this time, miss Gilda,” He stammered as he kept his eyes squarely focussed on me.

“That’s not important, Gallus, It’s better to have you off the streets right now,” Gilda said, turning her attention back to me. “I don’t have the bits to support you all, you’re going to have to find a way to make due.”

“I have enough bits for the moment, I’m more concerned that they’re going to ration food because I can’t give up Rainbow.”

“I can barter under the table if the need’s there in that case. I’m going to check my supplies upstairs. Rainbow come along, I’ll point you to a hiding spot up there. It’s much more secure and out of view.” Dash waved sheepishly at Gallus as she passed him and followed Gilda up.

“So, Gallus right?” I said, holding out a claw to him while I slung my rifle onto my back. He carefully nodded and shook it. “My name’s Jack Grey. I’m kind of new around here, how do you know Gilda?”

“W-Well, she allowed me to sleep here last winter. Taught me to write as well and… I shouldn’t talk about that.”

Gallus looked away, making himself smaller. I had my suspicion about what he almost revealed though. “You’re Gilda’s source of information, aren’t you?”

He went a bit paler as I probably guessed right.

“Don’t worry kid, I’m not ratting you out,” I assured him, “You’re a courier for them or do you get them in other ways?”

Gallus still didn’t look at ease but more of that nervousness seemed to be directed at the noise from outside now. “They give inconsequential letters to street kids to deliver around Griffinstone for food because they can’t read them anyway...”

“...Except you could because of Gilda. But she had more important letters too.”

Gallus scratched his claw over the floor, “There are more ways into the castle than the front gate...”

Hmm, that’s useful to remember in case I need access into that place...

“To all griffins! An announcement will be made in an hour!” Someone announced from outside, “All griffins are obligated to head to the castle square to listen to the glorious re-instatement of our kingdom!!”

I scowled as I looked out at the announcer who continued on his way to the next section of the city where he’d most likely relay the same message again. Gilda came back down, this time without Rainbow.

“We should get there as soon as possible,” Gilda said as she had heard the message too.

“Agreed, I’ll drop my stuff with Dash upstairs. I don’t think they’ll appreciate me heading there fully packed.”

“Probably not, no,” Gilda said as I grabbed all my gear and hauled it upstairs, finding Rainbow and pushing my rifle into her hooves along with my tactical vest after taking out the pistol.

“Don’t you need this?” Rainbow asked as she held the rifle.

“I’m going without a cloak so I can’t hide it. I’m taking my pistol and a mag with me since I can actually hide that under a wing,” I told her as I helped strap on the tactical vest around her barrel. “If you’re found… well, let’s hope they don’t search the house. Clear?”

Rainbow shook a little but nodded in understanding.

“Good, don’t play around with the rifle but be ready in case there are uninvited visitors,” I clamped my pistol with an extra mag under my wing and turned to the stairs again. “Keep that dragonfire candle close. We’ll be back as soon as we can be.”

Gilda and Gallus were already waiting for me at the front door as I came down.

At least I’ll have Gilda on my side here.

Griffins were slowly coming out of their houses while the armed griffins watched over everyone and pointed them towards the square, armed griffins were standing guard all around while others worked to set up a little podium for someone to speak at. Whispers rang throughout the growing crowd as the given deadline for assembly came closer.

Gallus squeezed himself between Gilda and me, shielding himself from all the other griffins in the square. Neither Gilda nor I said anything to each other as I took my time to study the guards, finding markings on the chest of their armours of which I became pretty sure denoted ranks.

Eventually, the castle’s door opened and a new group of griffins came out who walked over to the podium, his rough black feathers moving about in the wind.

“That’s Garrick,” Gilda muttered silently as silence fell over the massive crowd.

“To all griffins assembled here, rejoice! I am sure you all have many questions, some of which shall become clear over the next few days! But, brothers and sisters, from now on Griffinstone shall no longer wither away under the rule of weak ponies. Our magnificent city shall blossom like never before, but as with any new venture like this the ponies shall not take kindly to our new path!” Garrik looked over to a group of his griffins who brought forward a pony onto the stage. I frowned as I could see the heavily mangled and gagged batpony struggling to stand, claw marks all over his body and one of his wings completely missing.

“This is the leader of a group of Lunar Guards which we captured as they spied on our great city! They were here to stop us from reaching our goals, to keep us living in the dirt!” The bat pony tried saying something through the gag but had not the strength to do so, a wave of disapproving shouts came from the crowd aimed at the pony.

“No more! We have cast off the chains of the throne in Canterlot and shall make our own path! No lowly pony shall stand in our way, and any hostile action against our new state by the ponies shall be punished severely!” The Griffins around the batpony pushed him into position while Garrick was given a musket.

The bastard is going to execute him right there...

“Gallus, look away,” I told the little griffin who obediently turned his head away. Garrick took aim at the batpony and pulled the trigger, the loud explosion startled most of the crowd as the Lunar Guard dropped onto the stage lifelessly. I felt anger boiling inside of me at the callousness with which this griffin had killed the guard.

This is wrong. I can see Gilda’s point of view but this is way too far.

“We shall not tolerate any interference with our new state! Glory to Griffonia!” He turned and along with his guard retreated back into the castle while they just left the pony’s body out in the open. A definite mixed feeling could be felt in the crowd as the guards around the square started calling for everyone to return home again, some seeming to be cheerful while others silently minded their own business.

“Gallus?” I asked as we got out of the square.

“Y-Yeah?”

“I’m going to need pointers on how to get into the castle unseen,” I told him as we strode back to Gilda’s house, passing guards that were now posted everywhere. They must have quite the force if they got this many out on the streets.

“Why?”

“Multiple reasons,” I responded, “Reasons not best uttered in public.” Gallus kept silent after that until we reached the house and Gilda opened it back up. “I’ll check up on Rainbow.”

Gilda nodded and was going to make something to eat for all of us.

“Hey Dash, you still here?” I asked as I didn’t immediately see Rainbow where I left her. Her mane slowly appeared from behind a box, streaks of tears having matted her fur, and my rifle pressed against her chest as she shot forward and pulled me in a crushing hug. “Whoa there, what happened?”

“T-They were c-checking houses to see if everyone had g-gone to the announcement,” Rainbow sniffed, “They t-tried the door first and l-looked in through the windows after that.”

I stroked her hair as Rainbow cried into my chest, carefully getting my rifle back from her and setting it to the side. “Rainbow, why did you follow me? This is one of the main reasons why I wanted you to go back to Ponyville.”

“I… I just couldn’t l-let you go alone, i-it felt so wrong,” Rainbow choked, making me sigh.

“Dash you-”

“I didn’t feel safe, okay!” She shouted, starting to shake as her grip somehow became tighter. “Every time you’d go on your own I was looking over my shoulder at every bush in case a griffin was hiding in there!”

Ah, crap. What am I going to do with you Dash, I have work to do here...

“Rainbow, I can’t be there to constantly keep watch of you.”

“I know...”

For a few minutes, I just sat there, stroking Rainbow’s mane while she kept herself pulled close against me. “Look, let’s get some food before we decide our next move.”

Rainbow silently agreed and after grabbing the dragonfire candle, my rifle, notepad, and pen, we joined Gilda and Gallus at the table downstairs. Gilda had prepared some bread which we silently ate. While we were doing so I lit the dragonfire candle, a letter appearing from the fire.

“Anything interesting in there?” Gilda asked as I read through it.

I huffed. “They lost contact with their scouts in the mountains around here.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked as she hadn’t been at the square.

“They were captured, Rainbow. Their leader was executed at the announcement,” I answered, starting to write my reply. “That’s one of the reasons I need Gallus here to show me a way into the castle. The rest of his team are most likely still alive and I might not be part of the night guard for that long but I don’t leave people behind.”

Taking my letter I put it to the candle’s flame and waited for a reply. Thirty minutes later two separate replies came back, one stamped with the seal of the Solar Guard and the second with the crescent moon from Luna’s night guard. First opening the one with Solar seal, I read it out softly so the others could hear too.

Mister Grey, we thank you for your willingness to help but, as you yourself have determined, this situation has deteriorated way past the point of reasonableness to ask you to continue to risk your life.

We ask you only to give us as much information about these new weapons you describe and lay low while forces are assembled and sent to Griffinstone.

Stay safe up there.

-Princess Celestia Morningstar, Diarch of the sun.

“Sounds like the reasonable way to go about this,” Gilda muttered, I ignored her as I broke the seal on the second scroll and read it aloud too.

Specialist Grey, If you have not read my sister’s scroll first I will ask you to do so first.

I know that my sister asked you to sit back and wait but as you pledged yourself to the night guard, and by extension me, I wish to give you another option.

The unit that was captured was part of a larger infiltration force in the area and acted as the eyes of the unit. We were still trying to figure out why they had gone silent when your message came through.

Attached to this message you shall find a map, if you agree with working with us then I will have thestrals be sent out to the marked locations on there at a night of your choosing. Your task will be to determine the status of the captured unit and free them from the griffins’ claws.

No action will be taken against you if you opt to take the option my sister has presented to you but the Lunar guard would very much appreciate your help in returning its members. If you agree, sign your next reply with a crescent moon.

-Princess Luna Morningstar, Diarch of the moon.

We all looked at each other in silence as I finished reading the scroll. I read through it again just for myself before starting to pen a small reply to the princesses.

A small crescent moon marked the end of the reply.

Author's Note

Next week will probably not have a chapter, I was rather busy this week and I'll be busy with more stuff in the next.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 14: Extraction

Chapter 14:
Extraction

“I’m not expecting to find anything really. There’s nothing out here,” I huffed, slightly annoyed. “Just sit here for two days and count it as some free hazard pay.”

“Guess that’s not too bad really…” I along with my fellow soldier fell quiet again, the dream I’d been having ever since dropping into this world repeating itself once again. The forest around our observation post went deathly quiet as the smothering black mist rolled into the dugout again once again…

“What are you doing?” I heard something say in a screechy language, almost as if a bird was speaking.

Wait, shouldn’t I have woken up by now?

“A betrayal for a betrayal, that’s the price you pay.” another voice answered, the black fog had wisps of green fire going through it. My head hurt again as I felt the pressure build as it had done before. The sound of a blade being drawn and a wet splotch were the last thing I heard.

I gasped air in and shot up, still being in the room in Gilda’s house I’d fallen asleep in. The sun had sunk towards the horizon as I had slept through the day in preparation of tonight. We’d been laying low for four days, waiting for more griffins to be about on the street so I could scout out the road to the castle with Gallus.

Rainbow had remained in Gilda’s house, staying on the first floor during the day so she wouldn’t be spotted through the windows. The fact that she’d been able to keep herself contained within the house had been an absolute blessing.

“So you’re up then, I was about to wake you if you weren’t,” Gilda said from the open door frame, I twitched as I hadn’t heard her approach.

“Thanks, shouldn’t be late to start my own party,” I answered, getting my gear and strapping it on.

“We’re getting ready downstairs as well, we got some food ready for you before we head out,” Gilda informed me, staying in the door opening to look at me as I got all the stuff ready I’d deemed necessary before going to sleep. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

I looked back at the other griffin with a raised eyebrow. “Get what?”

“Why Dash is here. You don’t even smell it,” Gilda repeated, amazement on her face as she couldn’t believe whatever she was hearing.

“Smell?” I asked in confusion, Gilda smacked her face with a claw.

“Seriously, who raised you? Can’t have been griffins and this pretty much confirms it wasn’t the ponies either,” Gilda bluntly stated. “Like seriously, I’ve lived in Cloudsdale and it was one of the things I found out very early.”

“Can you please get to the point,” I groaned, not in the mood to beat around the bush.

“Fine. Rainbow Dash wants to rut you.”

I nearly dropped my rifle hearing that. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me just fine,” Gilda said with a roll of her eyes. “I can smell it off her and we’re lucky that no griffin else around here probably knows how a horny pony smells because we’d have gotten unpleasant visitors otherwise.”

“It would have been nice to know that earlier,” I pointed out, going through some inner turmoil.

Damnit Rainbow, what the hell am I going to do about you now… you really aren’t gonna make anything easy on me, are you?

“We’d be screwed if anygrif did anyway. I’m downstairs eating if you need me.” Gilda turned around and walked down the stairs. I silently muttered some curses as I got everything strapped in and followed her down. The four of us there eating in silence as it would be our last night in the city regardless of what would happen.

Gilda, Gallus, and Rainbow would head out directly to an agreed extraction point while I would break into the castle and find the Lunar guards inside. Gallus and I had gone over everything he knew about the layout of the castle so many times that I could recite all his knowledge from memory. Princess Luna had also sent over the layout plans of the castle which they had in the Canterlot archives.

All this was done without knowledge of it leaking to Princess Celestia of course.

I checked my watch as no more preparation would make me more ready for the task ahead. Princess Luna had assured me she’d make the night as dark as possible to help with the operation… whatever that was supposed to mean I did not know, but I would find out very soon as the last sliver of the sun sunk below the horizon. I turned to watch the location where the moon was supposed to rise but to my surprise, it did not appear immediately.

Wait, what? She can’t have made the moon disappear, can she?

Being entranced by the fact the moon didn’t show up as it had since I first stepped foot in this world, I noticed another detail about the skies.

The stars.

They’re not there.

It was almost as if I could feel the temperature drop several degrees as something finally came up from under the horizon, a dim but blood-red moon slowly rose into place in the sky.

Subtle. Very subtle.

Though this might just tip the bastards off...

“Whoa… never thought I’d ever see this happen,” Rainbow spoke up, looking up at the sky.

“What?” I asked as Rainbow peaked past me at the sky outside.

“A blood moon. It’s supposed to mean Equestria is at war,” she answered in awe.

I looked back at the faint, red, glowing sphere in the sky. “That’s one hell of a way to inform everyone on the planet.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed as we stepped away from the window and loaded her up with all the gear I wasn’t taking into the castle with me. What I did have on me was my rifle, pistol, combat knife, lots of ammo, a long rope, and the sword I’d gotten from Luna.

“Everything is in place, you all remember the drill right?” I asked them.

“I’ll drag their butts over there, don’t you worry about them,” Gilda said, satisfying me as I pulled my cloak around me so all my gear would be hidden on the way to the castle.

“Good. Now Rainbow, stick with her. I don’t want to have to pull you out of that castle after you’ve done something stupid.”

“Yeah, I got it...” Dash mumbled, not sounding all too pleased.

“I’m not joking here Rainbow, you’ve yet to see me truly angry. Don’t push me there.” Taking a peek out of the door I found no patrols on the street. “We’re clear, see you three at sunrise.”

Slipping out the door, I merged with the shadows, sinking into alleyways that gave good cover as I made my way to the castle. I had to wait in cover a few times as patrols came by but in the extreme almost unnatural darkness they hadn’t even the chance to spot me.

Arriving at the castle itself I stuck close to the walls, walking along until I reached a drainage pipe close to the edge of one of the cliffs. It was too dark to really see what I was doing as I felt the iron bars blocking the way further. What made things harder was that out here I couldn’t use light yet as that might attract the wrong kind of attention.

Let’s see… the third bar from the cliffside should be the loose one.

Counting off the metal bars I quickly found the one that was loose and carefully pried it out, making sure I made no sound doing so. A small stream of water flowed through the pipe while echoes of talking griffons could faintly be heard echoing against the walls.

Right, now this pipe should be directly connected to the lower cellars...

Clicking on a small, red, headlight, I made my way down the small tunnel. If I had still been a human I might have had to crawl on my belly to get through the small space. On a few occasions, I had to turn off the light as patrols walked over grates above but eventually, I came to the one that led into a storage room according to the building plans I’d studied.

Slinging my rifle onto my back I reached out and pushed the metal grate that covered the hole above aside and squeezed myself through the hole, quickly clearing the room. The only things that filled it being barrels.

Perfect, the next part-

“Are you crazy?!”

I immediately grasped my combat knife and took position next to the door to the hallway.

“I thought I heard something in there.”

“You know what’s stored there. If you take that damn torch into that storage you’ll kill us both,” a second growled. “And besides, no-one’s down here other than those bats and they’re chained up.”

I heard some muffled grumbles and steps leading away from the door, the hallway on the other end staying quiet. The extra confirmation that my objectives were down here was nice too.

Wait, they couldn’t take fire in here…

Looking out at the barrels I checked if I could find one that I could open. Careful not to disturb the contents of one of the wooden containers I removed and set aside one of the lids and brushed a claw through the black powder that sat within.

Gunpowder.

Shaking the stuff off of my claws, I placed the lid back and filed away the particular bit of information in case it’d be useful later. Right now I had an objective to complete.

Waiting at the door and listening to make sure the hallway beyond was empty, I pushed the door open and stepped out of the storage room.

End of the hall, Stairway down to the dungeons.

With my rifle raised, I swiftly moved through the hallway and towards the door at the end of it. Just like the building plans had shown a stairway down revealed itself.

Knowing that the dungeon was at the bottom I silently snuck down, careful with my every step to reduce the amount of sound my movement made. There was no door at the bottom of the stairs, only a dark and long hallway with cells sitting on either side of it.

Right at the entrance, a griffin sat at a desk, a small candle lighting his table. It wasn’t bright enough to reveal me standing at the entrance but there was no way I would be able to pass him without getting seen.

“Hey, chicken!” someone called out from the darkness of the cells, gaining the griffin’s attention. I briefly swore that I could see the glint of eyes focussed on me through the metal bars.

“Quiet! Keep your poison to yourself,” He snarled, taking his candle and walking up to the cell to address the pony who’d shouted at him directly. “You know what happens if I have to come in there.”

The faint candlelight was enough for me to see the fangs in the batpony’s mouth as he grinned while I slowly snuck up to the other griffin.

“I wasn’t talking to you, dirtbag.”

The guard’s eyes went wide, finally turning his head around. Panicked flashed on his face as I closed the distance immediately, bringing down my combat knife and plunging it into his throat while holding his beak shut. The candle fell from his claws and winked out.

“Corporal Comet?” I asked as I dropped the limp body of the griffin onto the floor and turned on my headlight.

“The one and only. May I assume you are Specialist Grey?” The batpony’s eyes glowed red as I shone my flashlight in his direction. There were multiple batponies in this particular cell, their hooves chained to metal rings that were sunk into the foundations.

“You’d be correct in that. Is your full team here?” I asked, pulling the keys to the door off of the downed griffin.

“We’re… missing our sergeant. That bastard told us they’ve executed him.”

“They did. Forced the city to watch them do it,” I sighed as I entered the cell and removed the shackles. The five ponies looked like absolute crap, badly dressed wounds, blood and grime still clinging to their coats, and bags beneath their eyes.

“Well, shit… The body?”

“They took it away, I don’t know where it is.”

“Damn,” he cursed helping one of his subordinates to stand up. “You have an extraction?”

“Depends, can you fly?”

“No, our membranes have been cut. If we took off they’d tear and we’d plummet down,” the corporal answered as he followed me back to the stairs up.

“That makes things more difficult but not outside of planning. Follow me.” with the five ponies in tow, I made my way back up but halted as I opened the door up top. A group of five griffins standing there, looking at us with surprise that faded nearly instantly.

“Fire!”

“Down!”

I jumped back, forcing the corporal down onto the ground as he was the most exposed alongside me. Five cracks of muskets could be heard as stone exploded above me and I felt one of the bullets hit my armour plate and another graze my right back leg.

“Charge!”

The five griffins, muskets lowered with bayonets attached ran forward. Though the pain in my leg was agonizing and my ribs felt like they’d just been kicked in by Rainbow Dash, I flicked the fire selector on my rifle to automatic and pulled the trigger. All of the hostile griffins in the hallway collapsed to the floor as I emptied my entire magazine.

“Everyone good?!” I called to the batponies behind me as I reloaded my rifle and opened my med pouch and got out my last pressure bandage and wrapped it around my bleeding leg. The bat ponies all laid down and had their ears covered, whining in agony. “For fuck- Get up! We’ve got to move!”

After pulling up the Lunar guards I stumbled down the long hall towards the storage room. Hobbling past the griffins and trying the door.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I slammed my shoulder against the heavy wooden door to no avail. Stepping back I pointed my rifle and fired three shots through the door where the lock sat, slamming against it again but still not being able to get through it as the door stubbornly remained in place.

“Motherfucker. Alright, plan B, follow me!” Picking up a torch from the downed griffins while mentally bringing up the layout of the castle. I reminded myself of a second exit point a floor up. Placing the torch at the base of the door to the storage room, I got the ponies to follow me up through the castle. Running there was out of the question as none of my group was in shape for that and my leg was hurting too.

Shouts echoed all throughout the hallways now though as I’d truly poked the hornet’s nest. The only positive was that the griffins had yet organized well enough to stop us. The few of them we ran into were definitely not ready, getting mowed down before they could do anything.

They’re not going to like the next part...

Slipping into a side room I found the window I was looking for. There wasn’t a lot of anything in the means of furniture in the room as I looked around for someplace to tie my rope to. Meanwhile one of the batponies looked out of the window while I tied my rope to a wooden beam.

“Hey, not to complain but there’s really no way we’re not going to get seen if we go down here,” the mare pointed out.

“This was one of the ways out if you five could fly, not really optimal for how we’re doing things,” I answered, tossing the rope out the window and placing the beam in such a way that if you’d hang from the rope it wouldn’t slip. “Go on, make it quick, I want to get off this mountain.”

The five ponies rapidly followed each other down the rope, getting spotted by a few sentries as the nightguard mare had predicted. The moment the last of them reached the bottom of the rope I took my knife and cut the end off, letting it drop down so we could take it along.

Checking the air I found a small squad of griffins rapidly approaching the base of the walls where the batponies were waiting for me. Pulling the bipod hidden in my foregrip out, I took aim at the leading elements of their flight.

The three leading griffins immediately dropped from the sky making the others hesitate too as they dove down for cover from my fire. That gave me the time to leap from the window and ‘glide’ down to the ground, the way I slammed down was reminiscent of a superman landing.

“Where are we-” the corporal was interrupted by a dull thud that made the ground shake, a cloud of dust forcing itself out of the window we’d just jumped from.

“To the cliff!” I called out, pointing in the right direction. A few of the griffins that had seen us popped up between the battlements, one of them aiming a musket and firing at the batponies. The shot landed on the corporal before I could even respond, my shots impacting the stone around where the griffin had fired from.

“Corporal!” the female guard exclaimed, grabbing a hold of the downed pony and dragging him along as he gasped for air. My cover fire would keep their heads down a little longer but if too many griffins got up there we’d be royally screwed. Finding a large rock at the cliffside, all of us took cover behind a large enough boulder. I continued to pop shots at the wall but tried conserving my precious ammo.

“He’s having trouble breathing!” the guardsmare shouted, I pulled back for a moment and opened my medkit. I found the entry wound on the pony’s chest, feeling the back for an exit wound made me grimace at the hole.

“He needs medical, asap.” Opening my medkit, I pulled out the chest seals and prayed they’d close the wound well enough on the fur.

“No shit, where are we even going?!” she exclaimed as the corporal lost consciousness.

“Right here!” I swirled around and locked eyes with the newcomer who was dragging a chariot behind her.

“I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!” I roared as I locked eyes with Rainbow Dash, making her flinch before turning back to the batponies. “Get him on that chariot!” Popping back out from behind the rock I fired a long salvo at the walls. The batponies used the straps in the chariot to secure their wounded comrade.

“Specialist! Get on!” the guardsmare called out, I immediately turned away from the wall and jumped on as well.

“Hold on tight! We’re gonna go fast!” Rainbow called out, pulling the chariot of the cliff and giving her wings a might flap. The wagon lurched forward, soaring off into the darkness.

Author's Note

Merry Christmas everyone!

For everyone who missed last week's blog, here's the art I posted in there:

*From chapter 1

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 15: Consequences

Chapter 15:
Consequences

I sat alone on the roof, backpack next to me with ammo boxes open as I diligently filled my emptied magazines back up with ammo. Precious little of the assault rifle’s ammo remained, but a few rounds sat in the box leaving me with only my current magazines.

From here on out my role would be better suited at a distance where none could challenge me.

Below me, the ponies of Manehattan were going about their day, though the atmosphere was much tenser than when I’d been here before. The happenings of the last few days had shocked the entire country, perhaps even the world, as newspapers printed bold headlines in an attempt to catch the eye of ponies and increase sales.

“I was told I could find you here.”

I turned ever so slightly as princess Celestia took a seat at the edge with me, placing my rifle to the side and stashing away the filled up magazines. “It’s a good place to think,” I replied, turning my gaze back to the pegasi that were working the clouds in the distance.

“You know you couldn’t have saved him, right?” the Princess tried comforting. The batpony corporal hadn’t even made it close to help when he bled out from internal bleeding in the chariot.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I gruffly replied, silence falling between the two of us for a bit before another topic came to my mind. “What’s the situation in Trottingham?”

“Unknown. The guards we sent over to regain control faced the same weapons you warned us of,” Celestia replied, her face remaining passive as no emotion on the matter was betrayed.

“Casualties?” I pressed, sensing that the impassive mask was to hide her true feeling on the matter.

“Too many.”

That told me all I needed to know about what had happened. “Shouldn’t you be in Canterlot managing the situation then?”

“My healing magic is unmatched. I sent my stallions into a situation which I knew would be perilous and they paid the price for me not heeding your warning seriously enough. I owed them to give my full attention to relieve their wounds and it’s not like my sister and our captains are not capable while I spend my time here.” Celestia looked out over the city with a haunted look. “I’ve never seen this kind of serious damage done against my guards and their protection by an ordinary foe.”

“Starting to understand why I didn’t want you to get a hold of my weapons in case you wanted to study them?” I inquired.

“Yes… And I fear that’s a request I will have to make of you regardless now.”

“And what if I refuse again?”

“I need to protect my ponies, specialist Grey, and I will point at the oath you took to my sister,” she stated, looking me straight in the eyes.

“The only reason I felt even remotely comfortable taking that oath was because I don't see your nation ever even interacting with mine. And once you’ve gained those weapons, Pandora’s Box has opened, no closing it again,” I replied.

“This defeat will make us look weak, creatures fear and respect me but that’ll help us only so much. If the guard cannot hold back a group of griffin rebels then what’s going to stop the Saddle-Arabians from eating away at our southern borders? The dragons from landing on our eastern shores? What about the yaks in the north?”

“The cost you’ll pay in blood for these weapons will be extreme. Maybe not tomorrow, or in my lifetime, but the debt will come due.”

“If what the griffins have made is an indication then we’re already on that path,” The princess pushed on.

I shook my head and sighed. “There's something else. Let's say I helped you build more advanced weapons, what would you do with them?”

The Princess looked at me strangely. “I'd take back Trottingham of course?”

“And Griffinstone?”

“It's part of the realm so yes,” she confirmed for me. “I fail to see why you ask this, I don't think you aren't able to deduce that would be my goal.”

“The griffins have been suffering, Princess. Gilda showed a place she called the pits, explained to me what they were used for,” I told her. Celestia immediately got a look of revulsion on her face.

“I shut that barbaric place down over half a century ago, did they start them up again?”

“Maybe from your perspective they are barbaric, from theirs they were a tool. A tool to do things like settle grudges,” I pointed out to her. “And no, the griffins though discontent with the status quo honoured their agreement… well, until now probably.”

“I see. Though I still do not understand why they would need them to settle grudges among other things, talking things over is far more efficient.”

“From your perspective as a prey animal maybe, griffins are predators. You may not see it their way since your way of thinking is fundamentally different to theirs. When you're a hunter, traits like aggression are much more common than when you're on the opposite end.”

The Princess remained silent as she mulled over that proposition. Behind us a flight of pegasi dragging a chariot landed on the roof's landing pad, doctors immediately carried a wounded pony on a stretcher into the hospital below.

“They never came to me directly to complain,” she finally spoke up. “I do remember overhearing the consul in Canterlot bothering the nobles...”

“I don't know about what agreement they signed, but they might have felt honourbound to not complain. It's just one example I know of but I'm guessing that it's not the only change you made in Griffinstone,” I provided, the Princess nodded.

“You're asking me if I will enforce the status quo if you help us build weapons,” she stated, going back to the initial point.

“Yes ma'am,” I replied. “Because I promise you that if you do it's only a matter of time before they get their claws on any design you make and turn it against you. I will have no part in that.”

“I… have some things to think on. Thank you specialist Grey, I'll make sure transport is arranged for you while I work out how to proceed.” Celestia stood back up, turning to leave.

“And my weapons?”

“I’ll have the guard ready your 'rifle' and other gear that is in Canterlot so you can pick it up when you’re done with your business in the capital. We'll resume that discussion after I have confided with my sister.” Celestia took a step back towards the entrance down into the hospital but paused. “I should also inform you Rainbow Dash was looking for you too.”

“Thanks.” I didn't really want to see the pegasus right now but it was probably unavoidable if Celestia had managed it too. The Princess disappeared into the hospital while I stashed my remaining bullets back into a bag. I considered jumping off the roof and gliding down to the ground to avoid the pegasus but decided against it as I didn't know if I could reliably do that without splattering.

“Hey Jack! I've been looking everywhere for you!” Rainbow called out as she finally found me on the roof.

“I heard,” was my curt reply, not even turning to look at her.

“Oh come on, still mad? I was the fastest flier there, it made sense for me to get you!” She exclaimed, I only replied with a huff. “Hey it's not like I was trying to get caught!”

I shot her a withering glare, standing up to make for the door inside. “Follow me.”

Rainbow grumbled as she followed me through the stairways of the hospital down towards the basement. The further we went down the more confused Rainbow became.

“Hey, what are you doing down here?” one of the staff called out as I barged into the morgue, he immediately tried blocking my path. Quickly rummaging through my saddlebag, I pushed the scroll sealed by the two princesses that was supposed to be my 'get out of jail free' card in Griffinstone into his forelegs and went on with what I was doing. I knew the exact freezer I’d needed to open as I’d been down here earlier in the day as well.

Rainbow tried to avert her eyes from the tables with tarps that covered up deceased ponies as I slid out another one out of the freezers in the wall and gently pulled the cloth covering him. “Jack, can’t we talk somewhere else?” Rainbow said, looking away from me as I uncovered the dead pony.

“No,” I simply replied, stepping out of the way so she would be able to see the pony too. “Look at him.”

“Jack-”

“I SAID LOOK AT HIM!” The shout echoed through the room, the staff member that was looking on from a distance looked like she wanted to bolt but didn’t as he didn’t want to leave us alone here either. Rainbow finally looked up at the motionless pony, his eyes closed as his chest didn’t rise and fall. I hadn’t pulled back the cloth far enough to expose the hole in his torso, I didn’t need to to make my point. “This is corporal Comet Mist, he was part of the scout force observing Griffinstone that was captured. He has a girlfriend up in Canterlot, wanted to propose to her sometime soon from what I heard from his comrades in arms. A good pony that just wanted to help keep his country safe.”

Rainbow looked ready to throw up as she stared at the dead pony.

“I can assure you that he was not trying to get caught, not trying to get killed, yet he’s dead now anyway.” I locked eyes with her. “And now I’ve been trying to think of ways how to talk to that poor mare who has no idea her lover has passed, or how to approach his parents. I could of course just leave that to the Night guard to do but they’d most likely send someone who wasn’t there since the others are still in this hospital.”

“Jack I-”

“What if you were struck Rainbow? Would I be the one having to tell the girls? Would I have to go to your parents to explain why their daughter had died?” Rainbow’s hind legs collapsed, putting her on her flanks as I covered the Corporal with the cloth again and pushed him back into the freezer.

“I’m heading off to Canterlot now, don’t follow me. I’ll see you in Ponyville.” Leaving Rainbow to stare blankly at the wall, I passed the staffer who was still clutching the opened scroll and headed up to the main entrance and left the hospital for the train station.

I was positive that I’d never forget the wail from the batpony’s mother as I handed her the folded up equestrian flag. If I’d been in a more clear state of mind I’d have made the connection to the very similar human tradition. The corporal’s marefriend, too, had broken down, I was very glad at that moment Luna had sent a pony along to either location for support.

After having talked at length to all three of them I had left the capital again and gotten the train to Ponyville as the sun was going down. I was still wearing the dress suit the guard had given me for the occasion, my gear sitting on the bench across from me. I’d wanted to take a nap on the way back but couldn’t manage to shut my eyes.

At least they didn’t blame me for what happened…

The train slowly came to a stop at Ponyville train station, only a few ponies getting off with me before the large train drove off again to it’s next destination further to the south. No-one was at the station to get me so I made my way through the dark streets towards the library. It’s windows still showed lights being on as I arrived and knocked on the door.

“Yes?” Twilight asked as she opened the door. “Oh.”

“Am I still welcome here?” I asked, looking past her to see Rainbow sitting at the library’s central table. She nodded and got out of the way, Rainbow averted her eyes from me as I stepped in.

“I should be going.” Was the only thing she said as she squeezed between Twilight and myself before flying off into the night.

“She told me what happened,” Twilight informed me as we both looked at where she’d disappeared to.

“All of it?”

“All of it. From how she followed you to Grifinstone to the Manehattan hospital.”

I sighed and stepped deeper into the library, placing my gear to the side. “And?”

“Well, you got through to her pretty well.” Twilight levitated a set of cups over to the two of us along with a tea pot. “Tea?”

“Yes please.” Twilight poured the two cups and took a seat across from me. “You disapprove of what I did.” I could see Twilight’s opinion from the way she carried herself.

“Rainbow Dash is one of my best friends, Jack. You hurt her pretty badly… though I agree she needed to understand that she can’t just go everywhere she wants, I would like to think there’s a better way you could have done it.”

“Maybe,” I said, taking a sip from my cup of tea. “But how long would that have taken?” Twilight didn’t answer that question. “She needed to see what could happen, Twilight, before something truly went wrong.” I finished my cup of tea and placed it to the side. “I’m very tired Twilight, mind if I go to bed?”

“No, go ahead. I should get to bed as well.” Twilight sighed. We didn't exchange any more words as I dragged my stuff up to the guest room and simply fell onto the bed.

Three taps came from the window.

Rainbow was flying in front of the glass, she looked like a mess. Dragging myself off the bed I went over to the window and opened it. “Come in.” Dash stepped in as I let myself fall back onto the bed. “Close the window behind you, it's cold outside.”

She did as I said before turning and waiting at the foot of the bed. “Jack, I…”

“Do you understand why I said what I did?” I asked her, sitting against the headboard of the bed.

“I-I think so. You wanted to make sure I was safe, even if that meant you'd be in more danger,” she answered with a hoarse voice.

“Exactly. You very well might have been the fastest way to get out of there, but you'd have to put yourself in the line of fire to do so.” I showed her the stray line from the musket ball that had grazed my right leg. “If the musket ball had moved a fraction more to the side I wouldn't be walking at all right now. It only takes a single lucky shot, Rainbow. Just one and it can all be over.”

Dash still wouldn't look me in the eyes, tears falling on the wooden floor.

“Rainbow, please come up here.” Dash hesitantly stepped onto the mattress with me, the moment she was in reach I pulled her close. “I want you to swear to me that you'll listen to me next time I order you to do something like that.”

“I-I will.”

“Thank you.” I sighed, Rainbow finally looking up at me. Before I could move or say anything else, Dash had shot up and planted a kiss on the tip of my beak. I froze, a shiver going down my spine as I processed what just happened.

“I- sorry, I shouldn't have done- forget I did that. I should go,” Dash tried getting out of my grip but it was firm enough that she couldn't. The panic on her face was plainly visible. “J-Jack, I-”

I placed a talon on Dash's muzzle, silencing her. “Rainbow...”

Rainbow might not exactly make the most rational decisions at times, stubborn to an extreme… but she was loyal and her heart was in the right place. I could, of course, use the excuse that I'd be going home at some point again, but for all I knew that'd never happen. Twilight had been working herself to the bone and as far as I knew she hadn’t really made any progress on the subject in the slightest.

So either I could remain alone and wait things out, possibly forever, or take the leap and hope the landing wouldn’t be a horrendous crash.

Dash probably has a way larger crush but that doesn't mean we can't make it work... Damn this beak, not being able to kiss her right now.

“...You don't have to go.”

Rainbow Dash immediately stopped trying to run away, looking up with a hopeful gaze. “Are you saying…”

“I'd kiss you but I don't think I can with this beak.”

Dash let out a snort and barked a laugh, tears in her eyes accompanied by a smile. “That flexible beak of yours definitely can. Guess I'll just have to teach you how, won't I?”

“I guess you will.”

Author's Note

I almost forgot it was Friday :rainbowlaugh:
Happy New year everyone! Let's hope 2021 will be a more positive year!

Also...

Shush critics, It's possible!

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 16: Research...

Chapter 16:
Research...

It had taken an hour or two of instructions from Dash but by then I had the beak-kissing reasonably well down. It still felt a bit awkward but it was better than nothing. After we'd done that the two of us had fallen asleep together, huddling up close under the sheets. The next morning we slept well after sunrise, Twilight eventually knocking to ask if I was coming out for breakfast.

“Jack, are you awake? Spike is ready with breakfast,” the unicorn called from the other end of the door.

My eyes blinked open, as I'd only been semi-awake before, and yawned. “Yeah, we’ll be right down!” I called back groggily, Poking Dash until she was awake as well.

“Five more minutes...” She groaned, clinging on to me.

“Are you really going to skip one of Spike’s breakfasts then?” I smirked, tickling her side. She yelped, letting go to flail a bit and allowing me to get loose of her grip.

“Cheater,” she mumbled, pushing the bedsheets away. I stuck out my tongue at her teasingly, she narrowed her eyes as a response and jumped at me. With Dash’s speed and the distance between us getting out of the way was pretty much impossible as she latched onto my back.

“So, what are you planning to do back there?” I smirked as Rainbow laid on my back with her hooves wrapped around my neck and barrel..

“I… Shut up and bring me down to breakfast,” she mumbled, burying her face in my feathers.

“As you wish, my lady.” Carrying Dash down was easier than expected as she didn’t weigh as much as a pony her size would suggest. Spike paused for a moment as he saw me and Rainbow enter the kitchen, looking puzzled at the sight.

“Weren’t you two having a fight or something?” He asked bluntly.

“We made up,” Dash answered from her position with her nose in my feathers, her hind legs lazily hanging across my flanks.

“That’s good to hear, though I remember you leaving out the front door last night,” Twilight pointed out with a mildly amused smirk.

“I uhh, may have used the window?” Rainbow blushed, sliding off my back onto a seat. Twilight passed one of her sandwiches to Rainbow as she shook her head.

“Nothing I need to replace I hope?”

“Just one time! I crashed into this place one time!” Rainbow exclaimed, “Am I ever going to hear the end of that?!”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for the wellbeing of my library and its books.”

Both me and spike snickered at the teasing from Twilight, Rainbow huffing as I wrapped my wing around her back. “Oh come Dashie, I’m sure you understand that… huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way.” My train of thought was completely disrupted as I had a moment of clarity.

“What is it, Jack?” Twilight asked, leaning forward curiously.

“Are we just going to ignore that he called Rainbow ‘Dashie’?” Spike asked but was hushed by Twilight, Rainbow’s cheeks going red completely being missed by the unicorn though not the dragon.

“If books are destroyed that might very well mean the destruction of a particular piece of knowledge around here, doesn’t it?” I asked Twilight who looked confused that the question even needed to be asked.

“Well yes, though Ponyville’s books mostly have copies in places like Canterlot Library. If something happened there it might be far more disastrous. Why do you ask? Is it not how that works where you came from?” Twilight inquired.

“Seriously, nothing about Dashie here?” Spike tried again, Rainbow shooting him a glare which he stuck his tongue at. “Mushie,” he smirked.

Ignoring the two of them I shrugged. “I guess it is, but when everyone has a device that can fit in my claw and can pretty much backup an entire library it isn’t exactly at the forefront of your mind.”

Twilight nearly choked on her sandwich after hearing that.

“YOU COULD CARRY AN ENTIRE LIBRARY WITH YOU?!” She shouted after getting rid of the bit of food lodged in her throat.

“Well...”

Shit, how am I going to explain advanced electronics.

“Imagine having a worldwide network of devices that can instantly send information from one side of the planet to the other. And that network would have places where you could draw information from like you would from libraries only from nearly anywhere you are.”

Twilight was salivating on her plate from hearing that.

“Wow. Careful there Jack, you’re making Twilight horny… and I’m not referring to that spike on her head.” Rainbow smirked, poking me in my side.

“Rainbow!” Twilight snapped with reddened cheeks while Spike rolled over in laughter.

“Let the poor unicorn have her fetishes, Rainbow, or should we start talking about yours?” I glanced at the pegasus and gave her a smirk of my own, thinking back to the little tidbit of information I'd figured out after first meeting her.

“I-I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about!” Dash immediately said, trying to hide her face by taking a bite from her sandwich.

“Alright, what in the world is going on here?” Twilight asked. “Yesterday you couldn’t even look Jack in the eyes, Rainbow, and now this.”

“Yes, Dashie what’s going on here?” Spike asked with an amused glint in his eyes.

I coughed. “You see-”

“Shut up Jack,” Rainbow commanded.

“Dash-”

“Shut up and do that thing I taught you.”

“Yes ma’am,” I chuckled, leaning down and kissing Dash. Both Twilight’s and Spike’s mouths fell open.

“You know, I just remembered I was going to see Rarity. Bye!” Spike bolted out of the kitchen at record speed and out of the front door which he slammed shut behind him.

“This news is going to spread fast, isn't it?” I chuckled after breaking the kiss.

“Oh Rarity will try to get as much gossip as she can from Spike but you really should be scared of Pinkie,” Rainbow snickered. “Nothing quite gets the attention of the entire village as a massive banner saying ‘Rainbow and Jack are a couple party’.”

I snorted a laugh and shook my head. Twilight meanwhile was at the tail end of her recovery from the shock. “I, uhh, congratulations?” she settled on.

“Thank you Twilight,” I smiled as I held Rainbow pulled close to me.

Twilight shook her head and smiled. “So, what are the two of you going to do today?”

I looked down at Rainbow dash and sighed before moving my sight back over to Twilight. “We need to talk, Twilight. Something relating to the Princesses.”

“What about?” the unicorn asked curiously as she finished up her sandwich.

“Weapons, armour, and medical equipment.”

Twilight stared at me for a moment, a frown forming on her face. “You aren’t going to give them away, right?”

“Princess Celestia asked me about them back in Manehattan again. I’ve considered it but my mind is not made up about it yet,” I told her honestly. They of course wouldn’t be able to manufacture anything as complicated as my Colt or as accurate as the AWM but even the smallest advancement would be a massive leap for you ponies.

“But… you were going to help us out, right?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Helping out and giving technology half a millenia more advanced than what is currently available are two different things,” I replied. “Though I fear that I’ve made a critical mistake already to make part of that point moot.”

“Explain?” Twilight urged me.

“Rainbow, could you get my rifle and armour from upstairs?” I asked the pegasus who swiftly went up and got the two items. I took the rifle and pulled out the magazine, getting a single round from it. “This is my critical mistake.”

“Your bullets?” Twilight asked as she didn’t see what was so important.

“No, the casings.” I answered. “They get ejected when I fire off a round and I haven’t exactly been picking them up and taking them with me. You can be sure the griffins have been picking them up and trying to figure out how my weapon works.”

“They can do that from just studying those?” Rainbow questioned while frowning.

“Most likely not, that’s a pretty large leap of logic to make, but if they figure out how to make rounds instead of loose blackpowder and balls they’ll be able to increase their fire rate so significantly that your won't be able to counter it at all..”

“So why are you hesitating about helping us then?” Rainbow’s question was valid of course, Twilight nodded in agreement from the other side of the table as well.

“Because I can probably design weapons that would be horrendously effective.” I picked up the armour from the ground and placed it on the table. “I’d rather not have that blood staining my claws. What I can do is help out with this.” I pulled out the armour plate from the vest and placed it in front of me. A squashed musket ball was still embedded on its surface, a little dent where it had hit.

“Jack! What the buck?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in shock as I peeled the squashed lead ball out of the armour plate.

“Got lucky but it’s also a good example of what I want to achieve. I want to see if we can produce something equivalent to this here.” Twilight picked up the plate in her magic inspected it.

“You don’t want to give us weapons so instead you want to give us something to make them unable to harm us,” Twilight said with a smile though it fell a little immediately. “But if you want to give me this thing to study I won’t be able to continue looking for a way to get you home.”

I let out a sigh. “This takes priority. I’m sure the Princess will be here again in the coming days to ask for my weapons and I want to be able to give her an alternative.”

“I see…can you tell me what you know how this thing is made?” Twilight asked as she tapped the thing.

“The strike face is made out of a layer of boron carbide, the layers behind it are most likely kevlar to spread out the shock over a wider area. The idea is to let a bullet smack and deform against a really hard outer layer and then have composites behind that spread out the force.”

“Right, I have no idea what this ‘boron carbide’ is but I can think of a few materials that can emulate it,” Twilight murmured as she started sinking into thought.

“Cut this thing open if you need to Twilight, just be careful about it. I’m not joking when I say that boron carbide is tough as nails, it has to stop shots from my rifle after all.”

“Wait, you’re telling Twi to destroy your protection?!” Rainbow exclaimed, pushing away from me to look me in the eyes.

“I have a second one placed on the back portion of the armour, I’ll put it in front instead,” I told her and wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her close for a kiss which she reciprocated.

“Good. Don’t you dare get killed,” she warned me.

“No ma’am,” I chuckled.

“Well, I’ve got my work cut out for me. You take a day off Jack, I can handle some of this on my own for a while.”

“Alright, though I’ll probably help you out in the evening.” I ruffled Rainbow's hair which made her squirm a bit. “What do you say about getting some more flight lessons done with me and Scootaloo?”

“Oh yeah! That’s a great idea, rookie,” she poked my belly with a wing as she teased. “You head out to the field while I go look for her, alright?”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll see you there.”

It took a while for Rainbow Dash to arrive at the grass field as well so by the time she did I was already doing some of the warming up exercises we’d done on previous occasions. Scootaloo was short on her tail, her scooter rushing towards me at high speeds. Right before she was about to crash into me she pushed the vehicle to the side and lept, keeping her momentum and crashing into me with it. “Don’t you dare disappear like that again!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry about that, I had some things I wanted to help the princesses with,” I smiled as I hugged her tightly. “You have been keeping up with your homework, right?”

Scootaloo blushed and looked away. “Not really...”

“No more excuses then, after the flight lesson we’re going to work on that. Can’t have a filly as smart as you slacking off.” Scootaloo huffed but smiled as I ruffled her mane.

“Enough sappy, now get to warming up those wings of yours!” Rainbow cut in between the two of us. Both Scootaloo and me went on to finish the warm-up and ran through the flight lesson, I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be long before I'd be able to do sustained flights. My wings didn't hurt as much after the lesson as they did when I first started, muscles having strengthened significantly.

Just as I had promised at the start of the training, after we were done we went over to a quiet spot in the park to work on Scootaloo's homework assignments. Rainbow, of course, used this time to nap while I explained things.

“...do you understand?”

“I think I do.” Scootaloo scribbled down the answers to the various math questions we were working through. “Hey, Jack… can I ask something?”

“That’s what I'm here for, aren't I?” I smiled though already feeling where this was headed.

“Where did you and Rainbow go last week? I know you went to help the princess but no-one would tell me anything else, and with all the news in the papers, and that red moon…” Scootaloo rattled off.

“We went to get some information on what the griffins were doing for the princess, something that we needed to take our time for,” I carefully explained. “Couldn’t rush it and put ourselves at risk.”

“Oh…”

“Don't worry about it too much, squirt, it'll get worked out one way or another.” I ruffled her already rough hair a bit, closing her math book after as I deemed that we'd done enough for now. “Hey Scootaloo, do you want to sleepover with me and Dash if we can convince Twilight? You know, to make up for last week?”

A massive smile formed on the little pegasus’ face. “Yes, of course! I’ll have to ask at home but for sure!”

“Well, you go ask permission then, I’ll go see if Twi’s okay with it,” I chuckled, looking up at the low hanging cloud with rainbow hair hanging over the edge. “And I’m taking her with me.”

Bracing my legs and unfurling my wings I made a mighty leap, my claws piercing the cloud and wrapping around Rainbow’s barrel, pulling her through the white cumulus. The sky blue pegasus woke with a yelp as I pulled her close before rolling across the grass.

“Gotcha!”

“J-Jack! What was that about?!” Rainbow’s cheeks turned this adorable shade of pink as she lay below me.

“I’m gonna ask Twilight if the ‘squirt’ can sleep over for the night,” I chuckled, leaning down for a quick kiss. After releasing it and helping Dash up we turned to see Scootaloo with her jaw wide open, staring at the two of us. “And you are going to explain that kiss to Scoots here while she goes to ask permission on her end. Have fun!”

Author's Note

I've been really out of the flow when it comes to writing pretty much anything, I'll still be rather busy the coming week, maybe weeks, but I want to get my stories back on track. :twilightsmile:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 17: ...and Development

Chapter 17:
...and Development

“...So we'd taken his locker, which was locked, and turned it upside down so it was standing bottom up. When he finally opened the thing a bunch of things fell out and everything was messed up.” Rainbow and Scootaloo were snickering as we sat wrapped in blankets, telling stories to one another of the haunted type and others.

“He must have been so pissed off,” Rainbow said, holding back a laugh.

“At first yeah, but looking back at it he can laugh about it too,” I chuckled back, a wide smile on my face. It fell a little when I reminded myself that there was a good chance those memories may be all that I'd have left of them.

“I'd love to meet them if we ever got the chance, they sound like people who'd appreciate a good prank,” Rainbow chuckled, nudging me with a wing.

“Heh, yeah, they're like family really. We went through lots together, that connects you to them in ways others don't,” I replied.

“So do you have more stories?” Scootaloo eagerly asked, a bright smile on her face and cheeks still stained from tears due to previous laughter. I took a quick look at the time, determining that it would probably be best if we all got some sleep.

But hey, when had that ever stopped me before?

“Well there was this one time we had a two-day long exercise,” I grinned, both Scootaloo and Rainbow leaning forward with interest. “We were put into a forest on a road and told to set up a vehicle checkpoint. That was pretty much the entire instruction we'd gotten, the idea being was to see how creative we'd get setting up a checkpoint. The officer that was going to see how we did was part of an allied country's armed forces, by the way, so he had some prejudices in how he thought how we'd do based on what he expected of his own forces."

"And you guys went well past that I take," Dash snickered.

"By a mile," I laughed heartily, "Over that two-day time span we went and dug out a bunker pit, setting up our heavy machinegun with a good view over the road. We also got a load of fallen trees and made spikes out of them, digging those in as well in such a way a vehicle had to swerve to miss them and slow down that way. I don't think any of us slept more than two hours over those two days but none regretted that, the face that officer made was totally worth it."

"What was he expecting though?" Scootaloo asked with a giggle.

"Well, he later said that he'd have expected his own armed forces to set up some basic barricades, nothing more, not a position that would be assault resistant."

"Showed him," Scootaloo said continuing her giggles but getting interrupted by a yawn.

"I guess that's the signal we need to go to sleep," I smirked, booping the filly on her nose.

"Ahhh, one more pleeeaaasseee?" she begged, giving the biggest puppy eyes she could.

"Nope, not using all my stories in one go," I smirked, moving over onto the bed and got myself comfortable. Scootaloo had one side of the bed and Rainbow snuggled up to me on the other side of the large bed. We'd already brushed our teeth, well, the two ponies had, and washed before starting the storytelling.

"Good night, Scootaloo."

"Night..." the small filly almost immediately fell asleep, snoring softly.

"You too, Rainbow."

The pegasus buried her face in my chest fluff and made the most adorable little purring sound. "g'night."

My eyes fluttered open as the first rays of light entered the library's guest room, the two sources of snoring either side of me indicating I was the first one to wake. Rainbow had attached herself to me once more and it didn't seem like she would be letting go until she woke up...

Oh dear god please no.

My face turned red as I prayed to the deities above that Rainbow would not wake up, any trace of sleep having completely disappeared.

Bad timing. Extremely bad fucking timing.

A very bad case of morning wood was pressed up against Rainbow's belly while the mare snored blissfully unaware of my predicament. There really were only two options; try to get loose and risk waking the pony or hope it would recede before she woke.

There was movement on the bed behind her, followed by a fawn. "Jack, Rainbow, you awake yet?"

Damnit.

"Yeah, Rainbow isn't though," I answered without turning.

"Right... I need to use the bathroom, be right back." The filly got out from under the sheets and left the room as quietly as she could. That returned me to my predicament as my hard-on was still firmly pressed against the pegasus, her snoring becoming less loud.

That's not good.

Prying myself loose really wasn't an option any longer, even if I got loose I could run into Scootaloo and that would really be awkward.

"Hmmn... Jack..." Rainbow muttered at least being somewhat asleep still.

Stay asleep, please stay asleep.

She didn't.

Rainbow's eyes opened, staring up at me contently, she seemed to still be groggy but that disappeared the moment she saw the slightly panicked look in my eyes. Her mouth opened to ask what was wrong but only a squeak came out as she felt what had me riled up.

I'm so dead.

The door swung open again, Scootaloo having finished with her business on the toilet. She noticed both of us were awake now. "Morning, Rainbow."

"G-Good morning," she stammered, hiding her face in my chest as her face was on fire. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on it.

"Hey Scootaloo, want to check if Spike is already up for breakfast?" I asked of the filly who just got more confused. "He's usually up pretty early."

"Okay?" she said turning to head down to the kitchen. The moment the door closed Rainbow pushed off of me, her wings erect as she plopped down onto the floor on her butt, her forelegs between her hind ones.

"I-I can explain," I stammered, pulling the sheets from the bed around me to cover up my private parts.

Dash's blush lessened somewhat as the groggy veil from just waking up receded and allowed her to pull her mind somewhat out of the gutter. "Morning wood?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah." The two of us stared at each other for a bit before Rainbow started giggling, giggles soon spreading until both of us were rolling of laughter. "Look at us, awkward as if we're a pair of teenagers."

"I know," Rainbow managed to get out through her laughter. "We should take a shower, that should help you out down there."

"For sure. You go first, I'll wait 'till you're done," I chuckled, Rainbow smirking and shaking her head.

"I said we should take a shower." Dash grinned as she pulled the bedsheets off of me and dragged me to the door.

My feathers were still a little wet as Dash and I joined Spike and Scootaloo in the kitchen for breakfast, Twilight notably being absent. "Morning Spike, sleep well."

"Yep, thanks!" the little dragon smiled, placing a stack of pancakes on the table. Scootaloo's mouth was already watering at the sight of the large stack of food. "Dig in, I'll go get Twilight. She should still be lucid enough after only one all-nighter."

Surprisingly though, before Spike could leave the kitchen Twilight came in, dragging her hooves as she didn't seem to be in the best mood. She slumped down in one of the chairs, taking a pancake, drowning it in syrup and wolfing it down.

"You seem to be in a good mood," I commented sarcastically.

"Your armour," she grumbled, "It's... impossible."

We all took a seat at the table as Spike put down a second plate of pancakes and gave us all plates. "How so?"

"I tried every single analysis and replication spell, technique, and alchemical mean to replicate even a little of the stuff... I just can't. The material is so advanced that unless it's properly made there is no way I can replicate it without it being so critically flawed it may as well be useless," Twilight grumbled.

"Wait, you're giving up?" Rainbow said in surprise.

"Yeah, you'd usually go on for days and then figure out how to do something anyway," Spike said with equal surprise.

"I can't do it alright!" Twilight exclaimed, resting her head on the table next to her plate. I reached out and placed a claw on her shoulder comfortingly.

"I gave you that thing knowing there was a chance you couldn't do anything with it. Don't sweat it, Twilight."

She looked up at me, annoyed. "There's a war going on if you hadn't noticed. Ponies haven't really let that sink in yet but if we don't get an edge soon a lot of them are going to die!" she exclaimed.

I locked eyes with hers, my features hardening at the accusation. "You aren't telling me something I do not know, Twilight. I have been fighting said war, remember?" I scolded her before softening again. "Don't take the burden of every life on your shoulders, Twilight, you are just one pony doing her best." I looked over to the filly at the table who looked really uncomfortable at the conversation. "Let's drop this, we still have a stack of pancakes to go through."

"Yeah! Dig in!" Rainbow exclaimed, the mood at the table taking an upswing as we all enjoyed the treat. We laughed at a few jokes as they were thrown around and enjoyed the pancakes while they lasted.

"Those were some good pancakes, Spike," I complimented as I helped move the dishes to the sink to be washed.

"Pinkie gave me some pointers on those, helped a lot," Spike replied, filling up the sink and starting to wash. Before he got done with the first plate though, he let out a burp, a flame followed by a scroll materializing. Twilight snatched it up from the air with her magic and read it.

"What does it say?" I asked as she rolled it back up.

"The Princesses are coming here to Ponyville," she announced.

"Both of them?" I stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Twilight confirmed to me. "They wish to see you, they will be here before noon."

"I see," I replied flatly, there really was only one topic they could come to me to see about. "Rainbow, can you take Scootaloo into town? I'll look for you when you have time." Rainbow glanced at me wearily but did as told, taking Scootaloo on her back and making her way out of the library. Spike gave me a nod too as I went up to get my rifles and brought them to the library's main room, I took a seat and closed my eyes, waiting for the princesses to arrive.

It took less than an hour for the building's front door to open and a small group of guards to enter, two Solar and two Lunar guards. They were followed by their respective Princesses, my eyes locking with theirs. "Princesses."

"Specialist jack," Celestia replied, taking a seat across from me at the central table. "It's good to see you again."

"You finally made your decision then?" I said, noting the guards that took position in a half-circle behind the princesses, their eyes fixed on me as if expecting resistance.

"You knew it may come down to this," Celestia said with a sigh, pressing her hooves together on the table in front of her. I looked over to Luna to see what her mind was on the matter but she seemed to agree with her sister from what I could see.

"At least throw me a bone. Have you at least considered the griffins' position?" I asked, one claw on the table and another below as my eyes scanned the guards.

"Those questions are mostly academic until we can get a hold on the situation, but-" Celestia responded.

"Humor me," I stated frankly.

Princess Celestia sighed. "After this rebellion has been put down I will make sure the treaties with them will be revised, but I cannot let the griffin rebels set the terms. If that were to happen it would send a message to other nations surrounding Equestria that bites can be taken out of us."

"And you swear that you will do this?"

"Is our word not good enough?" Luna spoke up, with a piercing glare that was hard to hold. "It was enough for thou to help us at Griffinstone."

"Griffinstone was a unique situation, you know that Princess. And even though I'm willing to help, I do not know either of you very well," I responded, breaking Luna's gaze and looking back over to Celestia as she leaned forward a bit.

"Pass me your knife," she ordered, I hesitated. "I require it for what I am about to do next."

Still not completely sure what she wanted to do I unsheathed the thing and passed it over. The royal guards tensed a bit as the princess took the knife, not knowing if that was a signal to move in.

"Sister you cannot really be-"

"He needs the reassurance Luna, I will not send ponies into battle against a superiorly armed foe if I have the means to give them an equal chance," Celestia cut her off, lighting her horn as she brought the knife down on her hoof and drew blood. Her magic then changed colour, turning into the same shade as the red liquid coating the blade. "I swear that when this rebellion is put down the treaties will be addressed and adjusted to take into account the needs of the Griffins."

A wave of magic washed over me, the air feeling as if it was charged with static electricity. Though it wasn't said out loud, I somehow knew she would not be able to break that oath.

Luna looked at her sister in shock, not believing what she'd just done. "Since when do you partake in blood magic?"

"I have catalogued almost every tome of the dark arts that exists sister, though I do not use that knowledge lightly. One should be careful with one's soul as you are very much aware." Luna scowled as her sister said that but said nothing further on the topic.

"Even if I am willing to help, I will not be able to give you exact replica's of my weapons..." I held up a talon as Luna tried speaking up to scold me. "...Your material science is not advanced enough, but, I shall help you to the best of my ability in designing weapons and teach you the tactics to use them." Celestia let out a sigh of relief and gave me back my knife, I cleaned it off and re-sheathed it. Raising the claw I'd held below the table, I pushed the pin back into the grenade I was hiding there and stashed it into a pocket on my vest.

Both the princesses scowled as they saw me pocket the explosive as they'd already heard about grenades from me. "That was not one of those 'smoke grenades' was it?"

"No. That one would've gone boom."

That didn't do much to remove the frown either Princess' face but there were more important things to discuss. "What is it you require, Specialist?"

I smiled as I mentally started making a list of stuff I'd need and what kind of skills I'd require from the ponies helping me. "Well..."

Author's Note

I had quite a bit of trouble seeing where I wanted to take this thing, nuance makes things complicated, but I think I have a good image in my mind of where I want to end up now. I'm sure people will agree and disagree in the comments from what they think is the smarter decision so keep it civil. :raritywink:

Edit: doesn't seem like it published properly so I made a new chapter and pasted it in
Edit 2: Seems like my mature filter was turned off for some reason so I didn't see it show up in my feed :derpyderp2:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 18: Prototype

Chapter 18:
Prototype

I'd arrived in Baltimare not more than two weeks earlier, having left Ponyville a day after our conversation as the little village did not have the facilities for prototyping. It wasn't the greatest of places to place our efforts as it was located right across the Celestial sea to Griffinstone but the industry here had seemed to be the ones that we'd need for our development of a rifle.

Rainbow had assured me that she'd be okay on her own back in Ponyville with the rest of her friends while I was away. I'd been a little reluctant but Twilight promised to keep an eye on her to see if she was okay or wouldn't do something reckless. That gave me the peace of mind to actually start prototyping. We of course were simply copying the griffins' rifle outright with some minor improvements to get at least something to the troops in the field along with simply heavier, thicker, armour but that wasn't what my main focus was on more advanced designs.

The Princesses had pretty much given total free rein on the project as they mobilised the guard. I'd had the large amount of gunpowder from the failed attack on Canterlot moved over to a few depots in the city for us to use in our R&D efforts, having explained its composition and how to create it there were a few plants within the city now replicating it and trying to make larger quantities as well.

The first step had been to get the production of casings and bullets underway and since brass was a metal the ponies actually knew about and used it hadn't taken long for a functioning casing was being produced. After that, I and the team of alchemists had put our heads together to create a primer to actually complete the bullet.

It took them a week. A God damned week to figure out a good primer solution... I guess the magic portion of their 'alchemy' really helped fine tune the sensitivity of the compound.

I shook my head in astonishment at the ability of ponies to innovate when pressured, it did ring the question though, if the ponies were this innovative with a little boost from me, how innovative would the griffons be?

I looked at the now complete bullet in my talons, it was thicker than my rifle's five-five-six, closer to my Glock's nine-millimetre rounds though longer. I'd been considering designing a shotgun of some sorts too but hadn't made a final decision on that, buckshot would be ridiculously effective but if the griffins were going to replicate it, it would have horrendous results.

The firing setup we'd created to test the thing was nothing more than a set of thick steel tubes with hammers attached but that'd be enough for the proof of concept. "Alright everyone, take cover! I don't want anyone getting hurt if this blows up in our face!" I called out as I put the bullet in the tube, cocking the firing mechanism. "Loaded!" Retreating behind a row of sandbags with one of the other ponies I took hold of the string that would loosen the hammer and strike the primer. "Firing in three, two, one..."

Bang!

"That sounded good," I smirked as I peaked my head over the cover and looked to see the results. We'd set up a large paper target in front of a heap of sand to see if the bullet was any good, the hole close enough to the centre that it could be classified as a success.

"Well we didn't blow ourselves up, laddie," Ignis Rock, an earthpony stallion on the alchemy team laughed as he too peaked to see the results. "Better than that first experiment with that primer compound!"

"Good thing you ponies don't have f-claws, losing one of these in an explosion would suck particularly badly," I waved my claws at him as I walked up to the test rig and extracted the casing for inspection. It looked unharmed.

Now we have something to fire I can lay out a rifle to put around it.

"Did it hold up?" another pony, Almond Tinkerer, asked. The unicorn mare was working with the few metallurgic shops that were creating the casings and was going to have to figure out a way to mass-produce them.

"Looks like it, but I want to fire a few hundred of these to see if they're consistent to any degree," I told her, passing the casing to her levitation.

"Then I will get word to my people to get the bullet components we have down here so we can assemble more of them." She turned to leave but was stopped by me.

"It might be an idea for you to stick around, I will be briefing a few new members of the team that will be designing the actual rifle with me. Might be useful for you to be around since that'll mainly be metalwork too."

She nodded in agreement. "I'll be there, I'll just send one of my ponies to check up on the casings then."

"Ah'm going ta see how much gunpowder my people have concocted up 'till now, that stuff from the griffins is good but we need ta use our own stuff if we're going ta do this," Ignis also spoke up. "We can handle these bullets of yours jus' fine, you go see them clockwork ponies about building the actual rifle."

"Thanks Ignis, I'll see you tomorrow then," I chuckled as the earthpony barged off to check up on the progress of his alchemy team. The clockwork ponies he'd mentioned were just that, a small group of mechanically minded ponies, a pair of which built clocks and were drafted in case we'd have to come up with some precision mechanisms for the trigger.

Walking out of the hangar where our test setup was located I went over to one of the neighbouring buildings where the offices were. The compound didn't really give away what we were doing here and the Princesses had specifically gotten a walled-off area for us to work in without being spotted. I didn't really leave the compound at all to prevent word from getting out that I was in the city, there weren't a lot of griffins in Equestria and we could be sure if they got a chance to put a musket ball into me they'd take the shot.

I entered the other building through a side door, going up to the still empty conference room where I'd left my notes and rough drawings of what I wanted to have constructed. The new ponies were probably being brought up to speed by the plainclothes guards we had walking around the facility.

Fine by me, gives me some time to get my rifle set up.

Opening a crate in the room I retrieved my sniper rifle, automatic fire is useful in some ways but a single fire rifle would be better with accuracy. Besides, I already had an idea floating through my mind on that topic.

Direct blowback should be simple enough to pull off... first let's get a functioning bolt action rifle first though.

The door swung open as I set aside my rifle, two of the plainclothes guards leading in the new group of ponies along with Almond Tinkerer. The four ponies that were unfamiliar with me eyed me suspiciously, the conflict was definitely having an effect on me due to my current species.

"Good afternoon all, it's good to see another group of fine ponies," I said with a smile, "My name's Jack, I'm the project lead around here. My colleague here, Almond Tinkerer, is already part of the team, I'm sure you will all get acquainted with her as you work here. Now, a round of introductions are in order."

Each of the ponies quickly gave their name and occupation, two clockmakers and two metalworkers that could design machining for production reasons. Oak Chisel, one of the clockmakers spoke up after the introductions. "Apologies, but we have not really been informed what we're here to do."

"Yeah, better be good because I was gunna sign up for the guard when they pulled me to the side." Steel Hoof, the bigger of the two metalworkers grumbled. The stallion definitely beat Big Mac in size and completely overshadowed me.

"That is the purpose of this meeting, and I assure you, this work is much more critical than any guard job you could have gotten." Steel Hoof grumbled as if to say 'I'll believe it when I see it'. "As you probably know by now the griffins have designed a new weapon with which they have used to devastating effect. We here are in the process of creating a weapon of our own, similar in the design of the one they use but a factor more advanced."

I deployed the bipod and placed the AWM on the table, the four ponies that hadn't seen it leaning forward to study the rifle.

"So you're a defector?" Oak Chisel asked as he looked up from the rifle.

"No. Don't bother prying further, I have my secrets," I replied Pulling out one of the new bullets we were creating, the particular one without powder so it wasn't an explosive hazard in case of a production error. "This is what we have created up 'till now. It is a brass case with an explosive charge in it that propels a steel tip. But to use this we are going to need to design a rifle that can actually fire it, our test tubes aren't exactly the most practical."

"So if we are to design one of these 'rifles' then why do you already have what I assume one to be standing on the table?" Chisel pushed.

"Secrets, secrets," I smirked, "I'm afraid you Equestrian do not have the capability to create exact replicas of this thing, but the mechanics by which it works are something we can replicate." I pushed in a magazine with a single .338 round of ammunition. "The idea is not immensely complicated, on the bottom here you have a magazine that can store a certain amount of bullets so you can quickly cycle the weapon to fire again. To cycle it, you grab this handle here, unlock the bolt, and pull it back, you can already see the bullet from the magazine feeding up into the chamber. Then you simply push it back forward and into place, relocking the bolt so it is ready to fire. Then after you have done so you repeat the motion, the casing that remains inside should be extracted so the next bullet in the magazine is able to be pushed in."

Every pony, even Tinkerer, watched in fascination. Though the unicorn had already had the privilege of seeing the rifle, even observing the rifle fire once, it still was an object of fascination for her. I hadn't told anyone around here about my actual origins, of course these ponies weren't stupid but keeping everyone focussed on the task at hand over taking with the interdimensional alien with advanced weapons was preferable.

"Will we have access to this in the designing phase?" Chisel again was the first to ask.

"I will disassemble it so you can study each part and I will be present to give pointers and tell what those parts are responsible for," I answered. "If there are any machines or materials you need they will be provided to you, we're very loose with budgeting here."

"Well, what we waiting on? We got plenty work to do," Steel Hoof grinned, "And you were right, this is gonna be more important."

I yawned as I walked into my room on the compound's housing, slinging my rifle off of my back and placing it on the table of the small living room.

"Finally, you're here!" I spun around at the sudden voice, Rainbow standing in the doorway. Her hair was tussled in the same way it was after taking a nap, which was probably exactly what she had done. "The guards wouldn't allow me into the research parts of this place, threatened to toss me in a cell if I went snooping."

"And you actually listened?" I said with a surprised chuckle.

"Well... shut up. I did actually learn about not just following you blindly," she grumbled, I smiled as I pulled her in for a quick kiss.

"So how did you even find me? I didn't exactly know what address this was when I went here and I didn't say in my letters," I asked as we separated, me returning to storing away my rifle.

"Asked Twi who then asked the Princess. Said that you might want to see a friendly face," Rainbow summed up as I locked the crate with my weapons, the only one not in there my pistol as that had gotten a permanent place on my thigh. I shook my head, letting the subject drop.

"I'm not doing anything too exciting here you know. I don't really get to leave the walls to prevent the griffins from getting word of me being here and regardless, I have to review the guards current battle tactics and strategy before tomorrow." I waved a handbook provided to me by the guard. "You can review it with me but it's not exactly Daring Do."

"Nahh, I'm good," Dash said sheepishly as I took a seat on the couch with the manual, the pegasus joining me there and snuggling up to me as I flipped through the pages and read the important parts. The manual was pretty complete, going over maintenance, drills, equipment, and most importantly tactics and strategy.

No way in hell. If they really did this when they tried retaking Trottingham...

"What's wrong?" Dash asked as my gaze was fixed on the book. "You're looking at that book as if you want to set it on fire."

"It's fucking retarded!" I exclaimed, not being able to believe what I saw. After seeing their intelligence operation I'd at least considered the ponies competent but that didn't seem to translate into your battle tactics."

"It can't be that bad, right?" Dash asked.

"Doctrine states that unicorns and earthponies charge as a fairly closely packed group with pegasi screening from above. The unicorns put up shields while the earthponies make up the front ranks of the charge... Fine, maybe it was a decent tactic before but the game has changed." I admitted. "Charging into a dug-in gun line has devastating effects, something the royal guard figured out the hard way at Trottingham."

"So what should we do then?"

"Squad based tactics. With the repeating rifles it'll be the most effective way of organising the guard. It'll be a bit harder without radios but it's not like those were widely available in world war one either.”

That got Rainbow to shoot up and stare at me with eyes as large as saucers. “Your entire world was at war?!”

“Twice... Well, you can probably count the Napoleonic wars as world wars too, though casualty wise that one wasn't as large as the first and second world wars,” I stated in reply.

“A-and how bad was that?”

I stayed silent for a moment as I thought of the casualty numbers that went into the millions. “How many creatures live on this world, Dash?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I don't actually know? Millions?”

“In the first world war about five thousand people died per day, worse in the second,” I answered her first question.

“Five thousand?!” she exclaimed. “That's like... a Ponyville every day! That couldn't have lasted long, can it?”

“Four years. Four years for the first and about five the second world war.”

Rainbow paled, her breathing speeding up significantly. “That's...”

“Millions,” I confirmed for her. “get why I'm a little apprehensive of kick-starting your arms industry?”

“Y-Yeah...”

“Anyway, how about we do something less morbid than talking about casualties of war. I still need to eat something, want something yourself?" I asked as I placed the manual on the little table in the living room and made for the kitchen.

"No, I'm good," Dash replied, remaining seated on the couch, her apatite undoubtedly having been completely removed. Quickly throwing a sandwich together in the kitchen I rejoined the pegasus in the living room.

"Dash, what are you really doing here?"

"I..." Dash's eyes shifted around as if to think up an excuse. "...was having nightmares," she sighed in admission. Taking a seat again, I pulled her close. "W-When you're not there I..."

"Shhh, it's alright." Rainbow pressed her muzzle into me and went about gently stroking her mane.

“I-I just feel so h-helpless... S-seeing you lay there with all t-those arrows sticking out of you...”

Rainbow let out another chocked cry as she admitted that. She'd told me about only a select few other Nightmares but that was a new one she'd not informed me about.

“How long have you been having this one, Rainbow?” I softly asked as her sobbing subsided a bit.

“Right after we got back to Manehattan,” she replied in a whisper. “I was so useless... You were bleeding so much and there was NOTHING I COULD DO!” She roared, having jumped off the couch to face me, her entire body trembling. “I-I've never seen a friend get hurt that badly... I never want to feel that helpless again!”

I stood up too, pulling her close into a hug again. Her entire body was tensed up as her breathing too was sped up. “I'm sorry...”

“Why?” Rainbow asked, her voice even raspier than usual. “You did everything right. Everything to keep me and Twilight safe.”

“I can teach you you know.”

That got Dash to perk her head up. “What?”

“I can teach you all I know, from medical skills, to the intricacies of handling and maintaining a rifle.” I offered. “Including the ones we've been working on once they're done.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes. I hope you'll never have to apply those skills but it'll give you the ability to act if it comes down to it... But don't be expecting me going easy on you.”

A smile finally found its way back onto Rainbow Dash's face. “So when do we start?”

Author's Note

Ponies are extremely innovative when pushed by necessity in my headcannon, plus dun kill me.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 19: Enemies

Chapter 19:
Enemies

"Adjust by two clicks." Rainbow and I were sitting in the snowed-over treeline, me watching through a set of binoculars on a tripod and Dash behind my rifle. We both had a ghillie suit on adjusted to fit into the snowy landscape, having made it with mostly white pieces of cloth as opposed to the more green one I still had laying about.

“Adjusted by two clicks,” Rainbow confirmed after having adjusted the scope, her eyes never having left where she'd been aiming. Her breathing was controlled and calm as she kept the rifle lined up for another shot.

BANG!

The round was sent flying off to the target nearly a kilometre away, the two of us watching its path as it went to one of the targets I'd set up a while before starting the exercise with Rainbow. I was very thankful for the specially enchanted earplugs that would only stop loud noises, they were immensely useful and it was another innovation I would never have thought of with my lack of magic knowledge.

“Hit,” I simply said as the bullet struck true. “Second target, fifteen hundred metres. Calculate your shot.” I waited as Rainbow had to do the mental math to calculate the adjustment. It hadn't been easy to get Dash to a point where she could actually make the calculation but she'd gotten it down well enough by sheer repetition and creative teaching techniques that we could now actually fire some of my precious ammo, not the blanks that I'd had the development team make. The pegasus turned the dial on top of the scope and once again took aim, relaxing her breath before firing.

BANG

Once again the bullet flew true, hitting the second, further, target almost exactly dead centre. “Hit. Well done, we're packing up shop and returning back to basecamp.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, taking my rifle and pushing it into a custom made bag and pulling the straps tight as she secured it around her barrel.

I was the one that took point on the way back, having set up another surprise for us before we'd pack up and fly back to Baltimare. Rainbow had one of the first prototype rifles hanging around her neck on a sling, a pony made bolt action. The production of the rifle had gone into full swing, the process totally being taken out of my claws which gave me some time off to spend with Rainbow.

Honestly, the things weren't finished a moment too soon. The griffins, not seeing any negotiation coming from the Equestrians as they'd probably hoped, had pushed forward. Rainbow Fall's garrison had been badly overwhelmed, if the few guards there were captured or killed wasn't known. Manehattan had followed soon after but there the guard had dug in deep. From the reports we were getting... Well, it wasn't good. If the city fell the foal mountains and the thestral settlement of Hollow Shades would be the the only thing standing in the way of the open plain leading all the way to Canterlot.

The civilian population had been being evacuated from the city as the fighting got heavier and heavier by the hour. How the griffins were capable of supplying themselves with both manpower and matirials was a question that had been irking me for a while now as I hadn't seen any really major industries in Griffonstone, they had to get ammo, powder, and replacement rifles from somewhere.

Things aren't adding up and I'm sure the Princesses are onto that too. I'll have to discuss it with them when I next see them.

"CONTACT! Two o'clock, forty metres, two targets!" I roared as I arrived at the pre-prepared site. Rainbow immediately whirled around and let off a shot, dropping low before firing another two shots at the targets. I too fired the first few shots at them with a pony rifle, I of course had my own but was still saving ammo as we simply couldn't replicate the high powered explosives we needed to replicate the five-five-six that needed. I though quickly applied fake blood to my arm while Dash finished off the 'targets'.

"Contacts eliminated!" Rainbow called out, having hit both the dummy targets.

"AAAHHHH!" I cried out, clutching the arm as I rolled over the ground through the snow, spreading some more red around the snow to give a hint of what she had to do. Dash cursed as she sprinted over and quickly analyzed the wound, pulling the pony-made tourniquet out of my med pouch and applying it. Not too tightly, of course, she didn't want to accidentally have me lose my arm due to cutting off its blood flow.

"Calm down, do you have pain anywhere else?" She asked as calm as she possibly could, going over a few of my vital functions like breathing and pulse.

"My arm! My arm!" I simply called out, simulating a panic in the hope it'd rub off on Dash. It didn't.

"Your arm has been tied off to stop the bleeding. I'm getting you to medical services as fast as possible, stay with me here Jack." She quickly finished off the adjusted protocol I'd device from the standard one I had been taught myself, most of the adjustments and techniques simply being changed to work with pony physiology.

"Endex," I then said with a smirk as she finished scribbling down the vital numbers and time down on a bit of paper, seeing the tension that had built up in Dash's shoulders drop as I did so. "Very well done there, Rainbow, I'd probably have lost that arm but would have survived."

"That was really stressful," Dash replied, sighing deeply but smiling widely. "So awesome."

"Heh, don't forget we still have the trek back to Baltimare to complete," I chuckled, taking off the tourniquet and stashing it away before wiping away as much of the fake blood off the ghillie suit as I could, leaving a bit of a faint red spot that could be washed out with some water.

"Of course not, but we also walked here, didn't we?" Dash asked as we got back on the way to our little encampment. I just smiled.

We spend a good hour walking back to the encampment, but as we arrived in sight of the concealed location I quickly motioned Dash to take cover and be silent.

"What do you see?" she whispered, probably thinking there was another exercise going on that I'd set up.

"Nonex." The single word changed the atmosphere completely as the implication was that this was serious. "Dash, load sharp in the MK1 and get out the AWM."

Dash immediately complied, removing the blanks from the MK1 and putting in real bullets as I observed the four royal guards looking around our encampment. Rainbow set up the sniper rifle and took position behind it as I loaded my C7, the two of us still being very well concealed with our ghillie suit. "Jack, you know those are Royal Guards, right?"

"Look closer, they're carrying griffin made muskets," I pointed out to her, "Think about it, why would a royal guard unit that must have had contact with the research unit to find out where I was not be carrying the MK1's? Or at the very least pony made muskets?"

Rainbow scowled, starting to see there was something wrong here.

"Stay here, I'm getting in close to find out who they are, cover me if things get out of claw... Lethally so if necessary." I ordered, staying low and starting to crawl further towards our basecamp which we'd stayed at for the last few days. I took my sweet time to get close but once I got into earshot my suspicions weren't relieved at all in the slightest as I could hear the four guards chittering to each other in some strange language.

Shit, these are the changelings Dash encountered at that royal wedding they told me about, aren't they? Twilight had told me about them in Ponyville as she and Dash told about what they'd encountered before, from Nightmare moon to Discord. That explains how they could look like Royal Guards... Are they allied with the griffins?

The implications of that was something Equestrian high command would certainly need to be made aware of.

As I approached even closer to the nearest of the presumed disguised changelings turned his head in my direction. Guessing that I was probably discovered I shot up from the ground and aimed my rifle. “GET ON THE GROUND!” I roared at the four of them as the other three jumped to face me, they were startled but the one that had already picked me up immediately got and raised his musket to point at me.

A greenish cloud of mist exploded from the side of his barrel, green flames engulfing him as his disguise dropped and a bang could be heard from the distance.

Shit, good shot Rainbow.

“Don't be fucking stupid, surrender!” I shouted at the remaining three changelings.

They didn't.

As they raised their own muskets I opened up on them, taking down the first two before another shot from Rainbow got the third. Damnit, if we could have gotten one alive we could have maybe gotten information out of them.

I quickly signalled Dash to join me as I checked if they really all were gone, concluding that they were. As Dash arrived I'd already gathered the important items from the camp, the changelings' disguises had all dropped revealing what they all were clearly.

“What are the changelings doing here?” Dash asked with a slightly wavering voice, high off of the adrenaline hit she'd just gotten.

“Don't know, maybe they're just taking the opportunity or maybe they're allied with the griffins. Regardless, we need to get back to friendly forces as fast as possible. They need to know changelings are now involved,” I reasoned, strapping my bags on, making sure their camouflage was good too.

“Yeah, right,” Dash strapped on her own bags and made sure the sniper rifle was secure, reloading the Equestrian MK1 with a new magazine.

“Rainbow, take a breath and keep it together. You're doing good. Very good.” I said, placing a claw on her shoulder. “We're flying back, leaving as little trails in the snow as possible.”

“You sure? Your flight isn't the best and if you crash in these trees it will break your wings,” Dash said concerned.

“It's a risk we'll take. We need to warn everyone in Baltimare as soon as possible.” neither of us really liked it but we didn't have the time. Unslinging my assault rifle, I pressed it into Dash's hooves. “That one will be more useful to you, I'll probably have to focus on flying instead.”

Dash secured the thing to herself, passing her MK1 to me so I'd carry that weight while I gave her two more magazines so she had more reloads. “We're burning time, if there's more of them they'll have heard the shooting.”

“Agreed.” I opened my wings and took to the air. Behind me, Dash looked back at the half-broken up camp and the four bodies in it with a scowl before falling in behind me. By hoof, the journey to the city was fairly significant, but by wing you could arrive at the city in a mere half an hour.

As we soared closely over the tips of the trees Rainbow noticed something in our rear. “We have company!”

“They gaining?” I asked without looking back as to not screw up my flight and make a bad crash.

“Definitely!” Rainbow called back.

“Then light them up! Weapons free!”

A trio of shots immediately rang out, Dash coming in to fly beside me... Backwards.

fully packed and still capable of keeping up while flying backwards... I'm way out of my league in the air.

Another trio of shots rang out from my rifle in Dash's hooves. “Scratch one!.. and the other one's breaking off!”

“Nice work but keep your eyes peeled!” I ordered as we were getting close to the southern edge of the city, the forest already thinning. What I didn't like was the faint echo of gunfire coming from the direction of the research compound. They probably could really use the help. ”Dash! We're going to land right outside the gate of the compound and clear it from there!”

“Understood!”

Coming down to the ground, I slammed down, hurting my legs a little but other than that I wasn't much worse for wear. Rainbow's landing was much more graceful as she came to ground next to me. At the entrance, two startled guards with griffin muskets stood. The two of them made the unfortunate mistake of raising their muskets, catching two bullets for their efforts.

“Check your fire, it's very possible the changelings have our weapons too in here, look for discrepancies like groups with both or ones that are seemingly firing at friendlies.” We pushed through the gate into the compound, bodies of guards and changelings were scattered over the place, about an equal number of both. I made a beeline for the office buildings, nailing three more changelings out of the sky beside the office building.

Dash close on my flank as a very heavy firefight seemed to be ongoing in the hangar and office space. “We're clearing room by room, if we encounter any changelings we're eliminating them with extreme prejudice, clear?”

“Crystal,” Dash growled, glancing at the various slain ponies scattered over the compound.

Being on the same page as each other I went in, the two of us clearing the building room by room as we went up towards the gunfire, eventually running into the changelings' rear guard. I didn't even give it the chance to raise its rifle before downing it. Charging up the stairs we found a group of eight changelings sieging out the ponies that were working in the offices. They had set up the steel tables that had been placed here as cover in the same way the ponies had on the other end of the hallway. I'd specifically requested them exactly for the chance of us being attacked so the office building could at the very least be defended.

The eight changelings didn't stand a chance as Rainbow and I kept close together so that they couldn't confuse us in case they got ideas and started mimicking the two of us. Not that they had the chance to even get that far.

“You ponies okay over there?!” I called out as they too had stopped firing after hearing the ruckus.

“Aye, though I'd like you to confirm your identity, laddie!” Ignis called out from the other end.

“My claws are all still attached to my body, no accidents with explosives,” I called back to him, referencing what I'd told me after the first rifle test.

“Aye, good to hear!” he called back with a laugh. “Yer clear, come on over!”

Rainbow and I jumped over the barricade, our white ghillie suits stained with red and greens in places. The section in which the staff had holed up had been properly barricaded with multiple tables, giving a covered section where most of the researchers that I'd been working with were hidden behind.

“What's the headcount?” I immediately demanded as I noticed a few of them were heavily bandaged with red-stained bandages and...

I swung my rifle up as a changeling sat among the workers and researchers.

“Whoa! Hold up there, laddie, that one is on our side.” Ignis quickly said, the changeling whimpering as it was looking down the barrel of both me and Rainbow Dash's rifles. “Would've had much more casualties if it weren't for his warning.”

Ignis had his hoof on the barrel of my rifle, applying downwards pressure. I let him push away my aim. “I'll take your word for it.” Looking over to Rainbow Dash I unslung the MK1 and passed it back over to her and retrieved my Colt. “We need to clear the hangar to-”

KABOOM!!

The few intact windows exploded as the shockwave hit them, a massive fireball engulfing the hangar the heat of which was something we could easily feel in the office building.

“Fuck!” I cursed as through the dust I saw the section around the gunpowder storage collapse and take well over half the hangar with it.

“Steel Hoof was in there!” Tinkerer called out as she rushed over to a window looking out over the collapsing hangar, Ignis immediately rushed over and pulled her back.

"Don't expose yourself ya crazy mare!" He shouted as he held her in place.

I scowled as I kept my gaze on the collapsed building, if anypony would be crazy enough to light up the gunpowder storage just to spite the changelings it'd be Steel Hoof. "Who were all in there?"

"From the research team just Steel Hoof as far as I know. Lots of guards were there though," Ignis answered my question, still keeping Tinkerer from running off to the window. I looked over to Rainbow who was checking some of the wounds on the wounded ponies to see if the bandages were properly applied.

"Dash, on me. We're checking out that collapsed building for survivors."

Rainbow looked over to me and nodded, tying off the bandage she was improving. "Got it."

"Ya know, I was wondering what the two of ya were doing whenever ya went off to the forest all them times," Ignis said looking fairly haunted by everything he'd seen that day. "Guess I have my answer."

Rainbow and I walked back down the stairs of the office building, walking across the yard and checking the pulses of every fallen pony and trying to do the same with the changelings. They were all dead. As I did that Dash took the time to empty her stomach, throwing up next to a pile of rubble. "You good?" I asked, knowing we would probably have to discuss this later. As far as I knew she had never killed anypony before and today she'd taken out all those changelings, the fact she only now threw up was very remarkable.

Rainbow weakly nodded after spitting out the last of her stomach contents and then taking the lead in climbing onto the wrecked hangar. An eerie silence had fallen over the destroyed compound, the crackle of fires from the gunpowder really the only thing that was still providing ambient noise.

“If you're alive, shout!” Dash called into the collapsed section but didn't get a response.

The sound of flapping wings then got our attention as a group of four pegasi police officers landed in the middle of the compound, looking around in horror at the sight of all the dead ponies and changelings. Once their eyes finally met mine they fanned out a bit, pulling their batons.

“In the name of the Equestrian Crown, surrender yourself!” the lead officer demanded.

“Stand down. I'm specialist Grey, Lunar Guard. We need backup on-site to look for possible survivors under this mess and medical staff for the researchers up in the office building. As much of the material we stored here need to be retrieved,” I ordered as I walked down towards them, we needed more ponies to look through the collapsed remains of the hangar anyhow. The police officers hesitated, not knowing if I was playing them or not. Rainbow quickly dispelled their hesitation.

“Hey! Didn't you hear him?!” She growled as she took to the air and slammed down in front of the police squad's leader. "There are ponies under there, go get the fire ponies to come look for them!"

The four ponies finally sprung into action, two of them being told to go get emergency services by their leader while he and the last police pony started preparations to cordon off the compound. I finally dropped onto my butt next to the uncollapsed section of hangar, Dash sitting down beside me and leaning her head against my side. The two of us watching as ponies started to arrive at the site, pegasi first and then earthponies and unicorns.

"So what do we do now?" Dash croaked, sounding very tired.

"We find that changeling Ignis said helped them and ask him a few questions."

Author's Note

Are the Changelings just taking advantage or is there more to this? :rainbowwild:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 20: Friends

Chapter 20:
Friends

"Name." I sat across from the changeling that we'd found with the group of researchers. We'd excluded ourselves into my personal room of the habitation section of the compound that had stayed relatively untouched while ponies were working to clear the bodies from outside and searched the ruined hangar. Outside of the walls press and civilians were also starting to congregate to try and find out just what had caused the massive explosion in their relative backyard.

"T-Thorax," he answered, nervously glancing at Rainbow Dash who was sitting in the corner and glaring at the changeling.

"What was your role supposed to be in the attack?" I continued, folding my claws together. My assumption was that a race that could mimic other creatures would be very good at playing up a character and the main reason I had any trust in him was the passionate defence Ignis had given for him when we'd picked him out for interrogation.

"J-Just a regular attack drone. W-We were supposed to attack after the infiltrators had replaced most of the guards," Thorax answered, making himself smaller.

"Just like Canterlot then?" Rainbow growled, breaking her silent glare.

"Y-Yes?" Thorax croaked, managing to make himself even smaller as the sheer venom present in Dash's voice hit him with the force of a cargo train. The pegasus huffed but didn't follow up further.

"So what drove you to warn my people?" I continued after the small interruption.

"Your people?" Thorax questioned, surprising me I'd thought he'd at least know who the project lead of the site they were attacking would be.

"Yes. My people."

Once again Thorax proved that he could make himself even smaller. “P-Please don't k-kill me...”

“I'm not. I still want to know why you decided to warn my people.” He seemed to be genuine, the fear he exuded almost tangible and beside that, if he hadn't come forth the changelings would have probably been able to smoothly take over the compound without issue.

“I don't want to hurt anypony. I just want to make friends...”

Rainbow huffed. “Your kind feeds off of our emotions, why would we ever let you stay around us?" she venomously asked.

"We don't need to feed aggressively! We can sustain ourselves of ambient emotion too!" Thorax suddenly exclaimed in self-defence, shrinking back down as Dash was off of her chair and in his face within a fraction of a second.

"Listen you-"

"RAINBOW DASH. OUT!" I thundered, the pegasus' ears dropping as I put my paw down, her being there not helping the conversation. There seemed to be too much bad blood from the invasion of Canterlot for her to be useful to keep around.

"Jack-"

"Out!" I pointed at the door, making myself very clear. With her head lowered and no further word Dash left the room, I waited until the door was closed again before locking my gaze back onto Thorax's.

"M-mister Jack I-"

"I believe you," I cut him off. "Ignis' vouching already works very much in your favour but don't be mistaken, I still have some misgivings. You are going to have to explain exactly how your feeding works to someone and also how your disguises work. We need a way of reliably dropping disguises to avoid another massacre like the one today."

"Of course!" Thorax immediately replied without a second thought, his bug eyes widening further somehow. "Taking ambient emotions doesn't hurt the creature that's doing it. It's like standing next to a furnace, you're getting warmed up but aren't actively dampening the flames by doing so. Only when you overfeed are you starting to damage the pony you are feeding off!"

"So why aren't all changelings doing it?" I challenged him, trying to get him to further explain.

"My way wasn't very... appreciated, in the hive. The queen only wants to take love..." His ears drooped as I got the distinct impression that the changeling was staring off into nowhere and deep in thought.

He acts so similar to ponies... I wonder if they have a common ancestor or are related in any way to each other.

"I cannot guarantee how the princesses will react but I'll put in a good word. For now though I'm going to have you assigned to a permanent guard until further orders from the top how we proceed with you since you are undoubtedly going to become a target," I layed out for him. "But that'll come in a bit, it's a pleasure to meet you, Thorax. I'm Jack Grey" I held out a claw for him to shake. Thorax eyed the appendage for a moment, unsure of what to do before slowly reaching out with a hoof of his own until I took and shook it.

"Good to meet you too, mister Jack."

"Now, let's go find you someone that can watch over you. I still have a lot of things I need to do." Standing up I got out of the room, finding Rainbow Dash sitting against the wall opposite the door, a devious plan forming in my head.

She's really going to hate me for doing this.

“Rainbow Dash, get out of the ghillie suit and put on regular camo.” Pressing my C7 and another clip of ammo into her hooves, she still had two good mags on her from before. “Thorax will be with you at all times until another security detail can be assigned. Where he goes, you go, where he eats, you eat, and where he shits, you shit. Am I clear?”

Her mouth fell open, an incoherent sentence of letters escaping it.

“Get going, I don't know if we'll be staying here or if we're moving to another location and I still need to write a report detailing what happened so the ponies of top also understand what we're dealing with.” I didn't give Rainbow a chance to get words together, turning my back and disappearing into the stairwell.

Either Rainbow is going to blow up or she may actually get to talk to him and lighten her animosity of changelings. I sighed as I really hoped the second option was the one that came to fruition. Of course, here in Equestria differences in species had an effect on how they acted, but I refused to just write off another species as evil entirely unless I had irrefutable evidence. Though I hadn't actually interacted with the species before, Thorax to me seemed to be evidence to the contrary for the changelings. Knowing Rainbow I'll have my answer before nightfall.

Setting it out my mind for now since there was nothing I could do anymore now and set off to find the pony that was managing the search efforts in the rubble. Most ponies walking around the compound now kept their distance, part of that probably was that I was still wearing the ghillie suit and had face paint on while the rest simply of the griffin conflict going on. A central tent without walls had been set up in the centre of the compound, the runners going in and out of there probably indicating the pony I was looking for was in there.

“Have we found the pony that was in charge of this place yet?” one of the ponies, an earthpony going over some documents asked.

“No, though the scientists indicated that that griffin-”

“-was in charge.” I finished for him, the ponies there looking up at me. “Specialist Jack Grey, Lunar Guard. I was the project lead, though another guard lieutenant ran most of the day to day and logistics. The fact I haven't seen him around makes me suspect he's buried under the hangar.”

“Well, horseapples. What were your team working on to attract all this?” the earthpony asked, dropping the documentation he was reading before.

“Classified...” every pony there rolled their eyes and suppressed a groan. “...But since I'll be asking you to retrieve our stuff, we were working on an advanced firearm design to counter the griffin's new muskets they have been using. I need to know if all our inventory is still here, I'll task my research team to verify all the documents are still here.

“Can you see if you can get a roster of everypony working here for us too? That way we'll know when we've found everyone,” the earthpony asked.

“I'll poke around the lieutenant's office to find the roster, be back when I find the thing." I turned to the office building and made my way over, the science crew and the few guards remaining had posted themselves at the entrances and were keeping everyone out that wasn't part of the compound crew. They wearily looked at me as I approached but stepped aside, giving me a salute as I passed before blocking the entrance once again. I'd already seen the inside when we'd cleared it of changelings but after the massive explosion that had levelled the hangar the mess had only increased.

LT's office first, I need to know if we don't have any more changelings running around disguised among my staff.

The guard section of the office was based on the ground and first floor, the lieutenant's office being placed fairly centrally in the building. The office, in particular, had survived reasonably well, only a few cabinets having been pulled open and their contents dumped on the ground. Sifting through the mess I scanned every one of the documents briefly until finding the roster in a file inside one of the drawers that hadn't been emptied.

"Specialist Grey?" One of the guards that had been going through the first floor stood in the doorway with a raised eyebrow, the fact shapeshifters were involved probably made me looking through documents suspicious. "What are you doing?"

"I was looking for the roster so we can get a headcount among the guard, that way we can account for everyone and since we still haven't heard from the LT... well, we need to work with the ponies we have."

That seemed to convince him. "I can take that to the rescue workers, sir."

"Much appreciated but I want to personally deliver this one," I replied as I folded the paper and stashed it away. He stepped closer.

"Really sir, I can take care of it." Now it was my turn to become suspicious as he walked up to the desk.

"That decision is final, sold-" Fangs flashed in his mouth alongside a forked tongue. He lunged forward aiming for my throat while I pushed myself back against the wall and pulled my pistol from my hip, firing three hastily and slightly panicked shots. The full weight of the changeling hit me as his disguise went up in flames which were remarkably cold to the touch. Not hesitating a second I pressed my hind paws into him and kicked him back into the desk where he remained motionless. Two more loud cracks rang out from across the facility that I immediately identified as my rifle which Dash had with her.

Fuck, if they launch a second attack right now we are so screwed.

A few more shots run out over the compound from various rifles, two of which directly above me in the office building. letting out a few more curses I rushed up to the science staff there with drawn pistol and barged into the hallway where another dead changeling along with a heavily bleeding Ignis clutching a MK1.

"Damn- Hold on there big guy!" Sliding in next to him I could see the puncture marks of fangs in his neck, blood spurting out as the stallion was coughing up blood. "Stay with me here buddy, stay with me!"

"Ignis!" Tinkerer came galloping over and came to a halt next to the stallion as well, the mare's eyes wide as she saw the wounds in his neck right before I covered them and applied pressure in an attempt to stem the flow. "Nonononono, Jack help him!"

"I am. Go get a medic from the ponies outside!" I told her, feeling Ignis go limp below me. Muttering a curse I tried finding a pulse. Tinkerer didn't move a little bit as her horrified gaze was still locked onto Ignis. I sighed as I let the blood-soaked bandage I'd been using to stem the bleed drop onto the ground next to him.

"No..." Tinkerer whispered, placing a hoof on her dead colleague. "NO!" She started shaking Ignis' corpse. "Wake up! WAKE UP, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" she cried. I had to intervene and pull her off, squeezing her tightly against me as she struggled to get loose.

"He's gone."

"No! He can't be! H-He saved us! Took charge when the c-changelings attacked! He can't be dead!" Tinkerer sniffed as her struggling became weaker. More research aids also came out of their hiding spots which they'd jumped into the moment the shooting had picked up again, all of them shocked one way or another as they saw who'd been killed.

Rainbow was the next pony to arrive up the stairs, Thorax nearby as she scanned the corridor, saw the dead changeling, and them me holding a crying Almond Tinkerer in my arms. "Buck. You okay Jack?"

"I am. Got attacked in the LT's office, got very close. How about you? I heard you shoot too."

"Two of them. Thorax picked them out before they could get too close, they didn't make it far," Rainbow answered patting the C7 hanging in front of her chest. "Probably saved my flank as they came up from behind us."

"Good to hear. Thorax, can we expect more of this?" I asked as I looked at the changeling that was in turn staring down at the dead member of his species, frozen in place. "Thorax!"

"Y-Yes!" He shook his head. "I-I mean, no! This is one of t-the queen's praetorian guard, they would have been the backup plan," Thorax stuttered, clearly shocked to see the other changeling had even been killed in the first place.

"So an elite unit then?" I pressed.

"The best."

Rainbow huffed in response. "They missed you, me, and Jack. They only got Igni-" Rainbow shut up as she noticed the death glare she was getting from Tinkerer.

"Mostly because no-one is thinking on how to effectively use firearms yet," I said, slowly letting go of Tinkerer getting a research assistant to take her. "After verifying all our research we're packing up everything we can and leaving. Rainbow, can you take Thorax and clear out our room and then get back here?"

"We can. Come on, Thorax, let's go," Rainbow simply said, turning and getting on with the task. I turned back to Tinkerer who'd shakily gotten back onto her hooves.

"Will you be able to get your stuff? I'll make sure Ignis is taken care of." She gave a shaky nod, cheeks wet from tears. After getting a tarp to put it over Ignis' body and went to my own office to do something I should have done a little sooner and pulled out a dragonfire candle, quickly writing a message for command in case they hadn't been informed yet of all the crap that had been hitting the fan.

Baltimare Research Facility:

Attack on main compound by changeling forces from outside and within. Facility completely destroyed.

Total casualties unknown. Heavy casualties among the guard, at least 50%, moderate casualties among science team. Two research leaders are KIA, Lieutenant Rock MIA presumed KIA. Rainbow Dash alive and physically unharmed.

Changeling casualties equally in numbers as the guard, though near complete destruction of force. One changeling defector in custody.

Requesting immediate support.

-Specialist Grey, Lunar Guard.

Author's Note

More and more manure hitting the fan :trixieshiftright:
They'll get a bit of a breather soon. :raritywink:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 21: Allies?

Chapter 21:
Allies?

"Mark?" I was back in the observation pit, black mist swirling all around me as I was looking for my fellow soldier. Green whisps of flame started appearing in the mist. My entire body suddenly felt as if it were on fire too as the whisps attached themselves to me.

"What are you doing?!" I heard a griffin screech as I forced my eyes open again, taking in the scene through the mist that seemed to be clearing. My body hadn't gotten away unscathed, a beak protruding where my nose was supposed to sit while my hands had lost two digits and the soft fingers had been turned into talons.

“A betrayal for a betrayal, that’s the price you pay.” A zebra sitting in the middle of an intricate pattern of glowing lines that covered the entire floor. A dagger was sticking out of the zebra's chest, her own hooves driving it deeper which in turn seemed to increase the power coursing through the growing lines.

The griffin snarled and drew his sword, jumping forward and decapitating the zebra in a single swoop. This didn't seem to have the desired effect though as it only increased the luminosity of the lines. To such a degree even to blind me and do something much worse to the griffin.

The black mist around me closed in again, drawing me elsewhere but before it obscured my view was the griffin on fire with the same green fire

The last thing I heard before hitting snow was an unnatural scream.

I jumped up from the bed I was laying on, my talons had dug into the soft pillow, and my breathing was rapid as I looked at my surroundings. My memories of the past few days returned to me, the attack, the cleanup efforts, and the subsequent move to different locations. Rainbow and I were recalled back to Canterlot while production was being set up in different locations, mainly Vanhoover which was possibly the furthest away location to any fighting as it could be.

That can't have been a dream...

"Jack, you okay?"

I snapped around, locking eyes with Rainbow Dash, relaxing as she cringed back.

“Sorry. Bad dream.” Taking a deep breath, I laid back down, Rainbow snuggling close to me.

“Was it about Baltimare?” Rainbow asked after we got comfortable again.

"No, it's... something that has been weighing on my mind for a while now," I sighed, brushing a claw through Dash's mane. "I'm actually starting to think it's not just a dream, but a memory. Actually, I'm fairly sure it is."

"What's it about?" She asked, pressing up against the claw.

"It's my last moment in my own world. We're sitting in an observation pit when strange black smoke started entering it... I think that may have been when I got transported here. There were a griffin and a zebra, the latter doing some sort of ritual before I find myself blacking out and waking up,” I laid out in broad terms, leaving out the exact details of how exactly the zebra had performed said ritual.

“You should bring it up to the Princesses, they might be able to ask the zebras if they know about anything related to the griffins,” Dash commented as she let out a yawn.

“Still tired?” I asked as Rainbow snuggled into my feathers.

“Didn't sleep well,” she admitted without me having to pry it out of her.

“Baltimare?” I asked, returning the question she had asked of me.

“Yeah...” Rainbow replied fairly quietly.

“Want to talk about it?”

Rainbow shook her head but spoke anyway. “It was too easy." she simply stated. "Two shots to the chest, he slid up to my hooves and just... he was dead before he had even hit the ground." Rainbow stared up at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused.

"The industrialization of warfare," I simply stated, letting out a sigh. "It's why I was so hesitant to accelerate your world's weapons development. Just remember that you didn't do anything wrong, you protected yourself and Thorax from harm."

"Right..."

"It's never a good feeling to take a life, Rainbow... it gets easier, but never becomes a good feeling."

Dash pulled me closer and pushed her face into my chest feathers, the two of us silently laying there close to each other. We stayed like that until light started to flow through the gaps in the room's curtains.

"Hey, want to go for a morning run? It might be a good way to start the day off fresh," I proposed to Rainbow, the pegasus stretching herself out.

"Sounds good to me," she yawned in response, untangling herself from me and getting up. Following her I walked over to our stack of gear, retrieving my pistol and strapping it to my hip. We might have been in the royal palace but after the changeling incident, I was not taking any chances.

"You ready, slowpoke?" Dash teased as she waited by the door, her trademarked cocky grin plastered on her face.

"Ready for you to eat my dust?" I shot back, making my way over.

"Careful there, hotshot. Race you to the maze entrance in the palace garden," she proposed as we walked into the hallway.

"No wings allowed," I demanded, if Dash got to fly she'd beat me for sure but on the ground, I would have a fighting chance.

Rainbow let out a laugh, tossing her mane. "Sure, you're still going to lose!"

"We'll see, we'll see," I chuckled, lowering myself and getting ready to push off. "Ready..." Dash lowered herself in the same way. "Set..." we both braced. "GO!"

Jumping into a flurry of motion the two of us went into full sprints, Dash actually got the early lead but I wasn't all that far behind her. We passed a set of two Lunar guards who were still on duty until they would be relieved by their Solar counterpart, the pair of them being startled as we ran by.

"You still back there, slowpoke?!" Dash called out through her breaths, I chose that moment to put on a little more speed and got up next to her. Rainbows eyes widened slightly as she hadn't expected me to have kept up with her quick start. Truth be told, I was strained close to my limit just keeping up with her but I guessed Dash didn't have much more to give either.

"I'll do you one better," I replied with a smirk, pushing myself to get ahead of the pegasus. My legs were on fire as I burst through the door into the garden. Dash gained a little on me again as I had to re-orient myself for a brief moment before getting back on track, I could feel my tail brushing against her as we got in sight of the maze entrance. Pushing myself right to the edge I got that little extra bit of speed and burst into the maze, not wanting to slow down and give Dash the chance to slip by at the last moment.

The two of us came to a halt partially into the maze, heavily panting. Turning around I fixed my eyes on the defeated pegasus with a smug smile on my face. "So, what do I get for winning, slowpoke?" I said teasingly.

"I... well... uhm..." Dash stuttered through her own panting. "I'll let you know when I think of something."

"Hmm, sounds great," I chuckled, getting back to the entrance of the maze. The two guards we'd passed were looking at the two of us from a distance, I shook my head and waved at them. "Let's take it easy for the rest of the run, go around the garden a couple of times."

"Sounds good to me," Dash agreed as we set off to run at a more manageable pace.

"We'll just have a quick talk with him," I said to Dash as we headed down the castle's hallway. We'd had a conversation with the Princesses about everything that happened and asked her to contact the zebras, they decided that we should take a break in Ponyville while they managed the situation further. The materials we'd already created was being distributed to newly created units to be send to Manehattan for a new offensive.

"Yeah, yeah, just get it over with," Dash said, not really in the mood and wanting to get back in the train to ponyville as fast as possible.

"He's in here?" I asked as I, Rainbow, and a Lunar guard sent along by Luna approached the two Solar guards that were keeping watch of the room where Thorax was being held.

"Yes sir," the higher ranked Solar guard replied. "We haven't heard anything from in there, he seems to be calm."

"I wasn't expecting him to cause a scene," I stated. "We're just going to have a talk with him."

The solar guard nodded and got out of the way. I pushed through the door, finding myself in the darkened room. "Thorax?"

Two blue eyes blinked open looking over at us, at first the changeling smiled but then I could see his focus switch to the guard beside Dash and his smile drop. Rainbow noticed it too as she immediately turned on the spot and bucked the guard flanking her into the wall, I Immediately pulled my pistol and took aim at him as well.

"Hey what the-!" The Solar guard didn't get to finish his surprised exclamation before the Lunar Guard burst into yellow flames, revealing a similarly coloured carapaced changeling. He wasn't out yet and tried scrambling back onto its hooves. I didn't give it the chance as I charged and used my weight to push him down onto the ground.

"Thought using us would get you close?" I growled as the changeling stopped struggling and hissed.

"There's more of us than just those that follow that crazy bitch queen, griffin," he hissed. I opened my beak but shut it again, looking between Thorax, who had his back pressed against the far wall, and the other changeling below me. Thorax's carapace on his back was a shade of blue along with his eyes while this newcomer had yellow shades instead, as I'd observed before.

Though these guys can change their appearance, it may just be a trick... however...

"Thorax, is this changeling a part of your hive?" I asked of the terrified changeling.

"N-no," he replied, confirming the new changeling wasn't lying. Turning my attention back to him, I locked eyes.

"What are your hive's intentions?" I asked pointedly.

"Jack what are you doing?" Rainbow questioned as she was still tense from the quick takedown of the changeling.

"Wouldn't you like to know," the changeling hissed, completely ignoring Rainbow's question. I then did something I am very sure it did not expect—I holstered my pistol, let go of him, and stepped back.

"Yes. I actually would," I stated as he got onto his haunches. "How about we start with your name. I'm sure you've heard mine. Jack Grey." I held out a claw for him to take. He carefully reached out with his hoof, not sure what kind of ploy I was pulling. Grabbing it, I pulled him back onto his hooves. "Still waiting for that name, I'd like to call you something other than changeling."

"Call me Cipher," he said after a moment of hesitation.

"Well, Cipher, what are your hive's intentions?" I asked again. "And what are your intentions with him." I pointed at Thorax.

"We cannot allow the ponies to find a way to reveal our kind. It would be the death of us," Cipher stated, glancing over at Thorax. I didn't make an overt move but I did set a step to put myself in the potential path for a charge.

"And we cannot fight this war if we have infiltrators killing our commanders and key personnel," I replied to him. "That leaves us in a bit of a pickle, doesn't it?"

"That it does," Cipher replied. More Solar guards joined us in the room but I motioned for them to stay back at the door.

"Jack?" Rainbow asked again, unsure of what I was getting at too.

"The Palace. Are there any hives other than yours disguised among the staff?" I pushed him.

"I am not going to reveal anything about my-"

"I'm not asking you to reveal any identities," I cut him off. "If I want to find out about any infiltrators, I would take Thorax to check. every. single. damn. pony. in this castle. What I want to know if there is more than one hive present within this castle."

"No." He answered through clenched teeth.

"Sir, please step aside and let us take the changeling into custody," A pair of Solar guards had moved in and were ready to apprehend the changeling.

I shot them a withering glare. "Stand down, you two."

"Sir, you have not the authority-"

"I said, STAND DOWN!" I roared before turning back to the changeling. "If we refrain from performing research into changeling disguise methods, would you be willing to ask your queen to set up a meeting between your hive and the Equestrians?"

"You do not have the authority to set this up!" The solar guard stated more forcefully, his horn lighting up and a telekinetic field wrapping around the sheathed sword that hung around his barrel. "Step away from the changeling!"

"Step the fuck back!" I shouted back at him, now fully facing the pair. Rainbow got up beside me, not looking too sure but willing to stick by me regardless of her doubts.

That's some true loyalty there.

"What is going on here?!" Princess Celestia stood in the doorway, her ethereal mane whipping about much more violently that the usual cerene way. Nopony in our standoff moved a muscle as the nation's ruler walked forward. "Explain this situation, specialist."

"There seem to be more changelings in play than the one hive that attacked Baltimare," I stated, setting a step to the side to reveal the second changeling behind me. Cipher seemed to be rooted in place, his pool of options being very limited indeed. "We need a method of detecting infiltration and changelings are able to identify each other. They do not want you researching ways to break their disguises and you need a way to stop your forces from being infiltrated and destroyed from within."

The princess looked over to Cipher, studying him thoroughly before facing me again. "You propose letting him go."

"Yes I do," I confirmed. "Having a hive on our side would be immensely beneficial."

The princess nodded. "It would be." She motioned for me and Rainbow to step aside, something we immediately did, and lit her horn, summoning a piece of parchment and a quill. "Deliver this to your queen. If I do not receive a response within two days I shall consider it to be a sign no talks are forthcoming and act accordingly." The quill danced over the paper, leaving black lines of ink on it before the Princess used her magic to dry it and rolled up the parchment, closing it with a glowing seal of the sun. "Guards, have this changeling escorted to the Palace gate."

Cipher carefully took the parchment without a word, looking stunned at the turn of events. Stepping forward towards the guards, expecting them to jump him the moment he got close. When it didn't happen he looked back at me and lowered his head, two guards leading him away. Celestia turned back to me as he was no longer in sight.

"I think it best if you stay over in Ponyville for somewhat longer, let things cool down a bit around here while I deal with this development," she stated, clearly a polite way of saying 'Get out of my palace'.

"Of course," I replied, lowering my head a little. "I'm sure Spike and Twilight can pass on any message if you have need of me."

"Indeed. Now please, you have already dropped more work on my desk with your request to contact the zebras, this will only further increase my workload. I should be getting back to it."

I nodded and both me and Rainbow quickly left the room, heading over to our guestroom to get all our gear. A quick re-dress later the two of us were on our way to the train station. As the guards returned to the palace, Rainbow slugged me in the face. "Can you please fill me in next time you do something stupid like that?!" she shouted, the ponies around the two of us giving us some more space than they already were.

"Sorry, I was kinda winging it there," I responded as I rubbed the side of my face, I definitely deserved that one.

Rainbow huffed. "You are such a magnet for stupid situations. Seriously, everywhere you go shit tends to start flying!"

I gave her a sheepish smile. "Perhaps that zebra from my dream cursed me?"

Dash rolled her eyes in response. "Curses don't exist, Twilight explained that when we had our... uhh, episode with Zecora."

"Zecora?" I questioned as we got onto the train and found a fairly empty cart.

"Ponyville's local zebra, she lives in the Everfree. Doesn't come to town all that often so that might be why you missed her," Dash explained quickly.

"Wait, she lives in the Everfree?" I questioned, having gotten a good feel of that forest's reputation from my previous stay in Ponyville.

"Yeah, she's some kind of shaman. Knows a lot about the plants in and around the Everfree."

Huh, interesting... Maybe I should visit her to see if she knows about that ritual from my dream.

"Intriguing..."

A whistle was blown outside and the train was moving a couple of minutes later. Dash took the liberty of rolling up the sleeves of her camo jacket before staring outside at the terrain that was wisping by at speed. I reached and pulled my beret from my head, the motion suddenly reminding myself of something I'd had wanted to do the day the compound was attacked. I'd had an aid of the science team go by a tailor in Baltimare to have him create a replica of the beret for Rainbow, I just never got around to giving it to her.

"Hey, Rainbow?"

She looked back over to me. "Hmm?"

"There's something I wanted to give you but didn't get the opportunity. I sort of wanted to make it a little more official but with how things went back in Baltimare..." I pulled the new red beret out of a pocket in my pants and held it out for her to take. Dash's eyes widened as she realized what I was holding out.

"Jack I..." She took it and held it in her hooves the custom insignia that of a winged dagger crossed by a lightning bolt. "I don't know what to say..."

"You have lots to learn but I'm positive if I had an instructor check the basic skills you'd pass," I stated with absolute certainty. "It might not be anything official in this world or in mine but treat it with respect and wear it with pride."

Dash put it on, straightening her back and snapping a salute. "I promise that I will."

A smile found its way onto my lips. "Attagirl."

She blushed. "Oh, shut up you."

"Just don't think this'll be the end of it. I took enough ammo for the mark one's with me for us to shoot days with," I smirked, Dash returning a competitive grin of her own.

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

Author's Note

Well, I'm not sure when the chapter after this one will be coming out because I will be very busy for at least six months in about a week. I might push out one more chapter if I find the inspiration but no promises.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 22: Training

Chapter 22:
Allies?

“RAINBOW!” a chorus of ponies shouted as the pegasus was buried under a pile of her friends.

“We were so worried when news from Baltimare came in, darling!”
“My tail was making all sorts of twitches, definitely a doozy or three!”
“Good ta see yer flank's still in one piece.”
“You aren't hurt, are you?”
“I told you it was a bad idea!"

"Hey girls," Dash chuckled, pulling herself from the pile. “We had a few... Interesting days to say the least.”

“RAINBOW DASH!” Dash was bowled over again as Scootaloo flew into her.

“Whoa there Scoots, it's good to see you too,” Dash laughed, ruffling her mane. “Have you been keeping up with your exercises?” Scootaloo nodded furiously, flapping her wings quickly to get up to a hover. “Awesome!”

“That's some nice progress, Scoots,” I stated, getting hit by the ball of orange and purple energy too. Unlike Dash, my footing was a little firmer.

"Thanks Jack!" She squeed as I gave her mane an extra ruffle.

"Rainbow, darling, do you really have to wear those... dreadful clothes? No offense, Jack." Rarity complained as she scowled at the pony made camouflage. “That beret looks great on you though.”

Dash shrugged. “Either you wear the full uniform or none of it at all. And you already know it's supposed to be functional, not Look great.” Rarity mumbled something about seeing the fashion spread but didn't object further.

“Ooohh, it almost matches the one Jack has!” Pinkie squeed. “Are you two doing matching clothes now as a couple?!”

Dash snorted and shook her head. “Nah, I worked hard and had a whole bunch of sleepless nights to earn this bad boy.” she proudly puffed out her chest as she said so.

“Ya actually worked fer once?” Applejack teased, “Gosh Jack, couldn't ya have come earlier ta kick that pegasus into shape sooner.”

“Hey!” Dash whined at the verbal jab.

“If I were you, I'd worry more about your next Iron-pony competition,” I shot back at her with a smirk. “You might find her a very tough match.”

That got Rainbow to cheer up further as she, stepped up beside me. “Let's not hurt her pride that way, Jack, it wouldn't be all too fair," Rainbow smirked.

"Now hold on a mite! If yer that confident then Ah've got time Saturday ta settle this," Applejack protested, spitting in her hoof and holding it out. Dash mirrored the move and pressed it against the earthpony's.

"No pouting when you bite the dust!" She grinned.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Well, with that settled... Should I get the guest room ready again?"

I shook my head before glancing at Rainbow. "I was actually thinking about staying up at Rainbow's place."

"Ooohhh," Pinkie had somehow made her way between the two of us, her forelegs wrapped around both my and Rainbow's neck. "Rainbow and Jack, sitting in a tree, K-I-"

Dash pushed a hoof into the pink pony's mouth, her face taking on the same colour as the beret on her head. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, politely hid their face behind hooves as they chuckled, Fluttershy eeped and hid her face behind her mane, Scootaloo just pretended to gag.

"Alright, that's it," Dash stated. "Let's get up to my place, Jack. See you girls later!" She flew off at speed, leaving me with the girls standing on the station's platform.

"Well, I should follow the lady up to her house before she dies of embarrassment, I'll see you girls later... and Scoots, I'm sure we'll see each other at flight practice." Scootaloo nodded greedily and made a quick loop in the air. "Later all!"

I quickly shot up into the sky, following the rainbow trail to the cloud house and... stopping above the cloud surface.

This might be one of the craziest things... Standing on clouds?

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Dash asked as she was looking at me from her doorway. "Come on in!"

I took a deep breath and slowly lowered myself onto the fluffy white surface. It was surprisingly solid, nothing like the more bouncy or fluffy feeling I was expecting. "Yeah, I'm coming!" The inside of Dash's house was a bit of a mess, pretty much every room having at least some things strewn around. Dash had placed her large backpack near to the door and had placed her mark one at the centre of the living room's central table.

"Sorry about the mess, I haven't been here in a while," Dash said apologetically. "I'll go around and clean up."

"I'll give you a claw with that," I stated as I placed my gear next to Dash's and looked into her kitchen, piles of old dishes still standing there. They had at least been hosed off before so the smell wasn't too bad... "I'll start with this mess."

"Yeah..." Dash said guiltily. "I may have put it off a little too long..."

"Well, no more putting it off while I'm here," I said as I went to the sink and tried figuring out how to get warm water. Dash took a second to explain how to operate the tap made out of clouds. As soon as I got the hot water set up I started on the pile of dishes while Dash went around the house to clean up the rest of the mess in other rooms. We worked for at least two hours cleaning the house thoroughly, a happy quirk of cloud houses was that dust couldn't settle on the cloud parts of the structure so dusting things off was extremely easy.

"I don't think this place has been this clean since the moment I built it," Dash stated as we sank into her couch.

"You created this place yourself?" I said rather surprised.

"Weather control and cloud construction are very closely related fields, plus the cloud construction course was one of the practical courses that didn't involve me sitting in a classroom all that often," Dash explained, letting out a yawn.

"That's really cool," I said as I took in the house with new appreciation, the small little pieces of information I learned every day never ceased to amaze me.

Dash blushed. "Thanks... so, anything you want to do?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I want to visit Zecora at some point in the next few days but other than that... yeah, not a clue."

"We could hit Cherry's bar?" Dash suggested.

"Drunk this early in the day? Yeah, that'll be appreciated by the rest of the town," I said sarcastically. Rainbow snorted as the thought of both of us being blasted crossed through our minds. "I've actually got something I wanted to do but didn't get the time to but I'll have to scout the outskirts of the town."

"I mean-" Dash was cut off by a few knocks on the door, drawing the attention of the two of us.

"Expecting any visitors?"

"Right after I returned to Ponyville? Yeah no, not really," Dash answered as she got off the couch to see who was at the front door. I shadowed her as I too was interested to see who was knocking. Both my and Dash's eyes widened as we recognized the creature standing there.

"Gilda?! Gabby?"

Apparently, Gilda, Gabby, and Gallus had been moved to Ponyville by the princesses so they were close enough to Canterlot but mostly out of the public eye. It had apparently taken the residents of Ponyville some time to get used to Gilda as they had some... prior experiences with the griffin.

"But the ponies here are really nice now!" Gabby squeed happily, "The pony from the post office especially, I help her deliver the more fragile packages now!"

"That's good to hear." I chuckled, Gilda and Dash having gone off to her bedroom to discuss some things in private so I was left to entertain Gabby. "Made any new friends around here too?"

"Oh yes! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo! I was really surprised when I heard Scoots already knew you, she's really amazed by, well,everything. She thinks you're almost as cool as Rainbow and then there's you being her coltfriend too!" She exclaimed and immediately clamped her beak shut.

"Weren't supposed to say that?" I smirked and Gabby shook her head. "My beak's sealed."

"Thanks..." I noticed her looking away briefly, gazing at her paws.

"You like her, don't you?" I couldn't help but ask. Gabby reared back, eyes widening.

"N-No!" I raised a single eyebrow and smirked. "M-Maybe... Fine. Yes, she's great," Gabby eventually grumbled. "Please don't tell her! She'd think I was being soo mushy!"

"My beak's once again sealed," I chuckled to her relief.

"It's just... She's really unlike other ponies I've met. I mean, all the crusaders are a little more rough-and-tumble than most but Scoots is almost griffish in her nature," She explained, nervously wringing her hands. I sympathetically patted a claw on her back.

"Just keep at it, If Rainbow can manage to get mushy then I'm sure Scoots can too," I comforted her, hearing noise from the stairs as Rainbow and Gilda came down it.

"...Yeah, see you around Gil'," Rainbow said as she let the female griffin pass her.

Gilda turned to Gabby, "Come on you, we should be getting home."

"Alright, see you around mister Jack! miss Rainbow!" Gabby squeed with a cheery tone of voice. The two of them waving goodbye and leaving the house again.

"So, anything you and Gilda discuss anything interesting?" I asked as we were alone again.

"Just getting some personal things straight that we really didn't get the time to say when we saw each other again in Griffinstone," Dash explained.

I nodded, "Alright, I won't pry. I'm going to head into town to get a thing or two. I need some building materials for a training I have in mind."

"Sounds like fun," Dash smirked. "I'm going to check up on the weather crew, technically I'm still the captain of that after all, and the number of vacation days I'd saved up aren't as many as they used to be," she then sheepishly added.

"Go on then, I'll see you later tonight," I chuckled as she made for the door only to be stopped by me. "Just... keep this on you." Passing one of the mark one's over to her, she gave me a questioning look. "Call it paranoia, I'd give you the pistol but that one I'm taking."

"I'll be alright, Jack, this is Ponyville... Now I say that, some ponies might take that as justification enough." I snorted as Dash secured the rifle onto her back between her wings. Putting on her beret she hovered towards the door, looking back one last time before leaving. "See you tonight!"

Wood... check. Some black paint... check. A bunch of empty sandbags... check. A shovel... check. A massive pile of sand... check as well.

I'd flown around town the previous day, taking in the terrain and eventually picking a good site that was well out of the way and hidden by a small patch of trees. Then I'd gone over to town hall to clear my plans with the mayor before a few local stores to get various materials and pieces of equipment to set up my small range.

And that meant I had my work cut out for me.

Filling sandbags, nailing posts into the ground, putting up warning signs, etcetera. It wasn't going to be that extensive of a facility but it'd be better than just picking a random field. I'd taken enough water and food to last me the day so I could work uninterrupted. A few ponies came by to look at me from a distance but none really approached me. I think I spotted Rainbow snooping down from a cloud, but she didn't approach me while I was busy. By the late afternoon, I'd set up everything I wanted, various targets that could easily be replaced and various emplacements from where to shoot.

That'll be good enough... now to set up a perimeter...

"Hey, Jack! What are you doing?" I heard from behind as I got the wooden poles and rope to create the barrier. It wasn't exactly going to be heavy fencing but it'd mark a border that would stop ponies from wandering straight towards the loud sounds. I looked over to where Scootaloo had called out from, the little filly joined by Gabby and Apple Bloom.

"Hi, Scoots! Just setting up a safe place for me and Rainbow to practice," I called back as I got the first of the poles and carried them over. "Want to help put up some fences?"

Apple Bloom scowled but Scootaloo and Gabby looked to be very eager. "Oh yeah! For sure!"

I smiled. "Awesome! Can you take a few of those poles with you?" Scootaloo and Gabby immediately got one each and after a deep sigh, Apple Bloom too stacked three poles onto her back, somehow managing to balance them as she too followed me.

"So what kind of practice are you talking about?" Scootaloo asked as I used a special tool I'd gotten to create a small hole in the ground which to place the poles in before hammering them into the ground.

"Well, you know, all kinds of stuff. Mostly I just want a place a good way away from Ponyville to have some privacy," I answered deliberately vaguely, rumours would inevitably start spreading once we started shooting anyhow. "So where's Sweetie Belle?"

"She had ta do somethin' with her parents, was kinda vague about it," Apple bloom replied as she dug up a hole and placed a pole into it, she probably had experience with it at the farm. "And when Scoots and Gabby saw ya flying out here they wanted ta check out what ya were doing."

I glanced over to the two who were giving their most innocent smiles. "Were they now?" I smirked as we moved on to the next pole. "Well, I won't complain about the extra hooves and claws. Gabby, Scoots, can you start tying the rope through the holes in the posts?"

With the extra help, the process of putting up the fencing went far quicker than I'd have been able to on my own. Apple Bloom helped out with making the holes, I would hammer them in, Gabby would bring new ones as we moved up, and Scootaloo tied the ropes to the poles.

"Phew, that went pretty smooth if Ah say so mahself," Bloom stated as she wiped the sweat off her brow. "And it wasn't as bad as most chores."

"Just because it's work doesn't mean it can't be fun when around the right people," I stated with a chuckle as I gathered up all the tools and tied them into a bundle. They would have to be returned to their owner at the hardware store from which I'd hired most of them.

"Amen ta that," Bloom chuckled.

I did a quick check of the sun and guessed it wasn't too late yet. "So, do you girls have time to head over to Sugarcube corner for something nice? Milkshakes?" The three of them all quickly nodded. "Alright, let's go then!"

"So what have you cooked up now?" Rainbow asked as I led her in the direction of the makeshift range I'd set up. Of course, I suspected that she'd already snooped around to see what I was up to the previous day but that hardly mattered.

"A bit of training a lot of armies in my world have officially mostly dropped. Something I think it's a man shame," I explained as I decreased my altitude and circled the clearing which had the range in it. The two of us landed and placed our backpacks to the side, both of us pulling out the two mark one's and additionally I pulled out some protective padding and two pugil sticks—a stick with padding on either side.

"What's that for?" Dash asked as she studied the thing after picking one of them up, giving it an experimental swing.

"Patience, you'll know in a minute. Now put on that protective gear." Quickly strapping on the padding Dash took position opposite of me, the two of us standing balanced on our hind legs with the pugil stick held in front of us, Rainbow playfully twirling her stick in her hooves.

"So what is up with these silly things?" Dash asked with a smirk, only for me to charge ahead and smack the side of her head and almost sending her sprawling.

"They're only silly if you make them so," I stated as I gave her some time to get up. "My goal here is to make sure your stance is solid. The basis for any hand to hand fighting, or hoof to claw in this case." Rainbow immediately became a lot more serious, still somewhat playful but at least getting in the right frame of mind. Dash then suddenly used her wings to charge forward, the move being one of the ones I was expecting her to use. Bracing myself and putting a shoulder forward, Dash smacked into it as if I were a brick wall. A wack on the back of her head sending her to the ground again. "Being nimble isn't going to help you here, you're going to have to root yourself like a tree and push me over from there!"

Dash growled as she spit out some grass, and once again got back up. We repeated the dance time and time again, Dash eventually slowly but surely getting in close to what I wanted her to do. We were both working quite a sweat as Dash finally got the better of me. Pushing into me and getting me slightly off-balance, she capitalized by using that little moment of weakness to ram the pugil stick into me and knocking me onto my butt.

"HA! I... Finally... Got you!" she panted with a victorious smirk.

"That you did," I chuckled. "Take off that padding and go get a drink." Rainbow did both of those things all too thankfully while I got the targets ready and prepared the mark ones.

"So what's next?" She asked as I passed her her rifle.

"The fun part," I smirked as I drew the combat knife attached to my vest. "Fix bayonets!" The knife slid in place and gave a satisfying click as it locked in place, Rainbow pulling her own knife and putting it on the barrel of her rifle. "As you can see there are five targets, your task is to charge the first three and stick them with the bayonet before taking a position at the sandbags halfway and shooting the last two targets," I explained, passing a magazine with two rounds to Dash.

"Sounds easy enough," she shrugged as she loaded the box and cycled the rifle.

"That's not all," I stopped her as we got up to the start line marked with a few more sandbags. "I want you to find every bit of aggression you have inside of you and focus it on those targets."

"Alright..?" Dash questioned but turned back to the dummies, I'd give her a demonstration of what I meant after her first try anyhow. "I'm ready!"

"Are you? Three, two, one... GO!" Dash shot forward, racing the first target in a flash and ramming the bayonet into it, swiftly moving on to the next and then the third before laying down at the sandbags and loosing two shots into the fourth and fifth target. She returned with a victorious smirk which faltered as she met my stone cold gaze. "You call that aggression?!" I thundered. "The great Rainbow Dash quietly running at her enemy and stabbing them? What? Are the griffins on the other side supposed to be scared of you like that?!"

I loaded another magazine into my own rifle and took position on the start line. "Watch and learn." Letting out a piercing shriek I charged forward, ramming the bayonet into the first target twice in a split second before I was off to the next. The shriek morphed into more of a roar as I similarly stabbed the second and third. I then merely took a sitting position at the sandbags and fired off the two shots in rapid succession, adding two holes next to the ones Dash had already put there. I took two seconds to catch my breath and have my blood cool down somewhat before turning and trotting back.

"That's how you show aggression."

Rainbow was a little paler and her ears had fallen flat against her skull as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "R-Right."

"Now think about something that will get you angry... See those targets? They're here to capture or kill your friends, to kill Scootaloo!"

"Wha- Oh.. yeah," I could see Dash making the connection and turn her gaze back to the targets, certainty returning to her features along with a little anger as she imagined the targets to be real enemies.

I placed a single claw on her shoulder as I passed a new magazine with the other. "Are you going to let them?!"

"No!" Dash shouted in reply.

"Really?"

"NO!" She repeated though I could feel the shouts now tapped into something primal...

Perfect... she's getting into the right mindset.

"Then go! Get them!" Dash shot forward, letting out a loud roar as she went through the targets again, each stab having much more aggression behind them and the shots much more rapidly placed after each other. As Dash returned she was panting much more than the exertion had any right to have caused, a mix of emotions crossing her face as I gave her a good pat on the back.

"That was much better... Again."

Author's Note

The peace and quiet from staying at my sister's really helps with focussing on just writing.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 23: Ritual

Quick A/N: I can not rhyme to save my life.

Chapter 23:
Ritual

“So she really lives in this place then?” I asked as Rainbow and I stood at a small distance from the Everfree forest, the dense trees standing close together with thick underbrush between them.

"She's still fairly close to the outskirts and I'm pretty sure she's got potions and stuff that keep the most dangerous stuff from approaching her house," Dash said as she lead me over to a small path leading into the forest. I could feel the depressing aura of the forest bear down on me as we entered, the strange feeling making me shiver, Dash noticed my discomfort. "Yeah, Twilight explained the feeling comes from the chaotic leftover of the magic used in the duel between Princess Luna and Celestia a thousand years ago. Apparently why the forest is so dangerous."

That got me to pale a little further though it did also bring up the question of why the princesses didn't intervene personally in the conflict against the griffins. Maybe it's because they would do too much collateral? I should ask them about it when I see them again.

"Sounds apocalyptic," I commented as we walked deeper into the forest. There were plenty of sounds around, birds chirping, small critters rustling through the plants of the underbrush, they were good signs as no sound meant a predator was close.

"Oh, by the way, if you see blue flowers, stay as far away from them as you can," Dash warned suddenly without elaborating further. I mentally shrugged, she knew more about this place than me after all.

"So how much further in do we need to go?" I asked as the trail became a bit better visible, the dirt clearly being trodden on much more often. Charms of sorts were hanging from the branches of some trees as well now, some giving off strange smells while others made the faintest of noises.

"Not far," Rainbow stated as she pointed at a tree that was full of charms and pots beside what looked like stereotypical African masks decorating the tree. The living space would have surprised me more if I hadn't already been inside Twilight's tree library.

"Looks cosy enough," I stated as I noticed movement through one of the windows. "And I think our zebra is home too."

"Well, that's good. I didn't really want to wait around until she got back." Rainbow raised a hoof and wanted to knock but the door opened right as she brought her hoof forward.

"Rainbow Dash, and a friend to me unbeknownst. With what is it that I can help?" The zebra in the door asked, giving a warm smile but looking just a little too forced to be genuine.

"My friend just wanted to ask some questions about something he's been seeing in his dreams, something you might be able to explain," Rainbow summarised while I took a small step to the side to glance past the zebra into the house. It was filled with more vials and herbs of all kinds, a large pot and table standing in the centre of the room with two steaming cups on the table.

So if there are two cups where is her other visitor?

"I fear you come at a time most inopportune, I am in the middle of a brew so if you could return later it would be a boon," Zecora replied. Before Dash could say anything I stepped forward.

"Of course, how about tomorrow around this time?" I inquired, fully intending to see her today regardless.

"That would be appreciated," She replied, missing a rhyme, stepping back, and closing a door.

"Come on Dash, we'll come back later," I said turning for the trail leading away from the tree-hut. The pegasus looked at me confused as she followed me.

"Alright, what's going on? Zecora was way too short with how she usually is," Dash hissed in a low volume as the house disappeared behind the foliage.

"She had a visitor and wanted us gone," I replied, pulling out a box of camouflage from my jacket. It was pony made and a little easier to apply to fur, hair, and feathers than my original had been. Dash also pulled hers out as she understood what I wanted to do. We rapidly applied the camouflage, helping each other where needed, checked both our weapons to see if we had enough ammo, and checked their functionality.

"Circle around and creep forward until we get sight of the front door?" Dash proposed the exact thing I was thinking about doing.

"Exactly," I answered as I covered the last patch of colour around the base of Dash's tail with green. "You're good. I'll take point."

We made a sharp ninety-degree turn off the path into the underbrush, keeping as quiet as possible as we circled around the house. We had to avoid the charms in the trees as we snuck closer, pointing them out to each other silently as hitting one of those would give us away for certain. Not long after we got close enough to get an obscured but good enough view of the front door of Zecora's house. Deploying my rifle's bipod from the foregrip I used the magnifier of my Colt to get a clearer view of the door.

Neither I nor Rainbow spoke as we simply waited for something to happen at the house, that something ended up taking no more than twenty minutes later as the door slowly opened and Zecora stepped out to check the surroundings. Unless she had super keen sight we were fairly well hidden. She seemed to be satisfied as she turned back and called for her guest...

I had to do a double-take as I saw a yellow-eyed changeling with the same coloured back carapace step out. Motherfucker... Wait, yellow carapace, I'd bet that changeling is from the same hive as Cypher... but what are they doing here?

Dash let out a soft curse too as the changeling went up in yellow flames and a yellow pegasus mare with purple mane stood in her place.

"Know her?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Dash confirmed curtly.

"Shadow her from a distance, make sure it's really her and not just a temporary disguise," I ordered Rainbow. "Do not engage under any circumstance, if Celestia is negotiating with that hive an incident is not something we need. I'll have a chat with Zecora."

"Understood," Dash immediately started to back away from our observation position and back to the trail where the disguised changeling was making her way over to Ponyville.

I, on the other claw, was creeping forward, slowly making my way over to Zecora's house. The zebra was already back inside by the time I made my way up to the front door and knocked. I heard some movement from inside and waited patiently, my rifle laying on my arm in front of my chest. The door opened a little at first, only to be slammed shut again as Zecora and I made eye contact. I simply waited for a few more seconds as the door was opened again, now fully.

"So, can I come in now?"

“I do not presume to have much choice in the matter?” she stated tensely.

“I admit that I am very eager to ask my questions, and I'm willing to forego some of the ones about your previous guest if you would be so kind to answer the ones that I came to originally get answers to,” I stated diplomatically, Dash would hopefully figure out where the changeling resided anyhow and we'd probably have some questions for her too. Zecora stared at me for a moment but then stepped aside to let me in.

"Any drink I may provide?" Zecora asked as I took a seat at her table. I shook my head and showed my own water canister. Zecora herself poured a brew from a kettle and sat down across from me. "What is it you require of me?"

I snorted. "Rainbow was under the impression you spoke only in rhymes."

"I am not unfamiliar with modern Equestrian and it is not every day you sit across from a being with your capability for violence," she said tensely. "Word spreads fast, mister Grey."

"So it apparently does," I agreed, guessing I was one of the topics the changeling had discussed with the zebra, which honestly only increased my curiosity about her relationship with them. "But that is not why I came here, I require help with something that has been haunting my dreams."

"And your princess of choice could not help you with those night terrors?" Zecora inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow, "She is capable of doing so? I wasn't aware... but it's not necessarily the nightmares themself that I need help with but deciphering something within them." I pulled out a sheet of paper upon which I'd drawn the pattern of chalk that I saw in my dreams pretty much every night. "This is the pattern of a ritual that I can see pretty much every night, I was hoping that you would know more about it."

Zecora took the paper and studied it, her jaw clenching and a quick but suspicious glance shooting my way. "Rituals usually consist of more components than just the chalk pattern. Could you describe the scene in your dreams?"

"The lines glow in this poisonous green colour while a zebra, quite a young one I think, is sitting in the middle of that pattern and-"

"What is the zebra doing?" Zecora asked, her eyes widening as she looked between me and the paper.

"She's... sinking a dagger into her heart," I replied as Zecora got up and started pacing around, clearly starting to connect a few dots that I would have no idea of even existing.

"That doesn't make sense... There has to be more!" she eventually said, looking over at me with wide eyes.

"A griffin confronts her, the exact words the zebra says to him before he decapitates her are 'A betrayal for a betrayal, that is the price you pay," I provided, Zecora practically started shaking, saying something in what was probably her native tongue.

"The griffin, tell me, what happens to him?" She demanded.

"He lights on fire, the green glow of the chalk lines becoming unbearably bright for a flash." Zecora took a step back and pressed her back against one of the walls next to a shelf full of potions, a whisper barely audible to me. She was silently repeating the word 'ishologu' over and over again. Before I could ask what was wrong she had her hoof around one of the bottles and hurled it over at me. Time slowed down a little as I brought up my claw to catch it out of the air but the thin glass of the bottle made it shatter within my talons and spray its contents all over me.

"Suka kimi!" she shouted as the liquid vaporised, the shock of the moment causing me to inhale the gasses. I felt something at my core start to burn terribly, my limbs losing their power as I collapsed to the ground. Strange chanting voices seemed to come from all around me, blurry forms were encircling me as I felt the burning sensation spread further. I was expecting there to be more pain as the burning spread throughout my entire body but, honestly, the sensation eventually morphed more into the feeling of electricity coursing through my veins.

"What... Did... you... DO?!" I managed to growl as I managed to gather my strength and get back onto my paws. I gave a moment of pause though as I saw the look of unbridled terror on the zebra's face. Taking a good breath, I noticed the faint smell of ozone in the air. My mind becoming less hazy as the chanting and blurry forms receded, giving me enough control of my mind to see what had happened around me. The entire room was in tatters, bottles lay shattered and shelves were broken apart, burn marks all across the wood. "TELL ME!" I shouted as I turned back to her, only for lighting to start arcing between the feathers of my wings, some of the sparks shooting into the ground.

"P-Please!" Zecora was hyperventilating as she was nearly breaking down in tears.

My anger slowly died down, finding it hard to really stay so mad at an individual so clearly afraid of me. Stepping forward I took a seat next to the zebra, placing my talons onto her back. "I really do not want to hurt you, Zecora, I just really want to know what the hell that ritual was."

"It was a summoning..." Zecora whispered after a while as her sniffing stopped. "A-A forbidden ritual, one that should not have been known by a young shaman as you describe."

"Summoning of what?" I inquired, feeling the zebra shiver under my claw.

"Ishologu," She simply answered.

"I fear I have no clue what that is," I replied.

"A demon... in Equestrian it would be called the lightning bird," Zecora elaborated, her eyes still firmly shut.

"And you think I am that demon." It wasn't a hard connection to make, hell, looking around the damaged room made me think that there was some truth to that statement. "I do not know if the ritual went wrong but I am pretty sure that I am not some demon. Hell, I am pretty sure that ritual is what pulled me out of mine and into this world in the first place."

"The ritual... no..." Zecora finally opened her eyes and looked up at me, still they were full of fear but there was clearly more going on behind them as she started to theorise. "The body may have been finished but the soul not yet drawn into it when the ritual was interrupted..."

"So instead another soul was pulled in instead," I guessed, Zecora nodding in confirmation. The implications were staggering. "So if my soul was pulled from my original body and pulled into this one... what would have happened to it?"

The silence I got in reply was all that I needed.

My legs became weak again as I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, tears forming in their corners. I died... My human body actually died... There's nothing to go back to... Letting out a choked sob I dropped to the ground, an immensely powerful wave of nausea wracking my body. Time became a blur for a bit as if this was true then everybody that I'd ever known thought I was dead... which, for all intents and purposes, I was. I slowly felt a hoof brush against my feathers, a quick look revealing a conflicted Zecora sitting next to me.

"I am sorry," I stated, trying to get back up.

"Nay, it is me who should apologise," Zecora stated as she actually helped me up. "I may not have been wrong about the nature of your body but I think I was about that of your soul."

"So these 'thunderbirds', or isho..."

"Ishologu," Zecora provided.

"Yes, them. What are they?" I asked, wiping away some tears. "You said demons but that can't just be it, right?"

Zecora scowled. "The stories make very clear they were terrible beings of remarkable endurance that grew in strength as they killed..." I thought back when I'd guided Twilight and Rainbow to Manehattan, I'd taken some serious arrow fire there though I was under the impression the rapid healing was due to the expertise of the ponies.

Maybe there was more going on in the background that I know nothing about... Though I have been on the warpath too lately so that may have increased my strength?

"...That bottle of poison which you breathed in is many times what is required to kill a manticore. I usually use tiny amounts to protect myself when roaming the forest."

That's a comforting thought... definitely got stronger from all the action in between then... good thing Dash wasn't here next to me then... I shivered at the last thought. "So they are very resilient. What else?"

"As I stated, they are considered demons for a reason. Fallen shamans would sacrifice a part of their soul to create the entity, such damage to the soul inevitably leading down even darker pathes, and those shamans would eventually all turn to murder and destruction," Zecora explained. "And if one of those shamans was killed and the entity got loose of it's restraints..."

"It would go on something akin to a rampage," I stated, Zecora nodded. "And the fact I don't have a shaman attached to me made you think I was going to act just like that, hence your aggressive reaction."

"Yes..." Zecora looked away.

"Water under the bridge, we didn't exactly get off on the best terms," I said comfortingly with as much of a chuckle as I could manage, looking around at the damage done. "I should figure out how in the world I did that lightning thing so I don't accidentally hurt somepony."

"That would be advisable," Zecora agreed.

"I want to ask though, why would I take the form of a griffin? I would assume 'thunderbird' and 'griffin' to certainly be different things."

"Perhaps it is the template the young shaman used, or the change happened when the ritual was interrupted by the griffin. I cannot say as I am not exactly familiar with the exact inner workings of the ritual."

Hmm, alright... I wonder what that zebra meant with betrayal though... I guess I'll have to wait to see what the princesses figure out.

"This has been a rather informative though... I'm going to need some time to to let this sink in," I admitted as I stood up and walked over to my rifle that lay among the debris of the table, glad to see at least it had survived. "If you require any funds to replace any of this don't hesitate to inform me, I'm terribly sorry for the damage."

"I shall see what I need, thank you for the offer," Zecora replied as I made for the door only to stop as there was one more inquiry I needed to make.

"The changeling, is she going to be a danger to anyone in Ponyville?"

Zecora's eyes went wide but quickly shook her head. "Nay, she is no danger to anypony."

"Then I'll leave her alone. I'll be in and around Ponyville for at least the next few days, maybe longer." Turning, I walked up to the door and left, I needed someplace quiet to think.

Wind blew through my feathers as I looked out over Ponyville from Rainbow's balcony, the crisp higher altitude air flowing through my lungs. The sun was slowly lowering to the horizon, colouring the sky various shades of red. Rainbow hadn't returned yet which was a bit of a concern but I was willing to give her a little more time before I'd go out to look for her. Honestly I was still extremely rattled from the revelation at Zecora's, and probably would be for quite a while longer. As for the nature of my body I'd probably keep it hidden until I figured out how the lightning worked.

And then there's the revelation that my human body may have just... died...

I was so deep in thought that I didn't even notice Rainbow landing next to me until she poked my side. "...Are you even listenin- whoa!"

I jumped, suddenly facing Rainbow before settling back down while trying to get my breathing under control. "Sorry, I have some things to think about."

"Yeah, no shit," Dash said as she took place next to me. "I take Zecora knew about that ritual thing?"

"A very large part of it, yes," I replied as I wrapped a wing around Rainbow, the pegasus leaning into me. "So what did you find out about the changeling?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Well... I observed her from a distance, mainly sticking to clouds, but... She really just acted as she usually does. Even saw her clean her house out," Dash exclaimed unbelievingly.

"Hmm, I guess I'll take Zecora's suggestion then," I replied.

"And that is?"

"Leave her alone."

Rainbow Raised an eyebrow, looking at me with surprise. "You... can't be serious? What if she's replacing the real Indigo Parasol?"

"I am, and I don't think she is. For one I don't believe Zecora would be working with her is she had done that, and two, I am sure she will seek us out after Zecora tells her that she's been made," I explained.

Dash scowled. "Right, I'll take your lead then..."

I let out a deep sigh as she reluctantly agreed, pulling her closely against me and laying my head on top of hers. The two of us sitting there and watching the sun disappear fully below the horizon.

"So... with what Zecora told you, do you think it'll help you to get home?" Dash inquired carefully, I could hear the hesitation in her voice as she clearly was conflicted about the subject. Of course she wanted to help me see my family again but she didn't want to lose me either.

"No..." I replied, swallowing the lump that immediately formed in my throat. "...And I don't think it will be possible either."

"What?!" Dash exclaimed as she pushed me away in shock. "You can't seriously be giving up, right?!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Dash... If what Zecora and I theorised is true, my human self had to die for me to get pulled here." Dash paused at that. "There may be nothing to return to."

"Jack..."

"Please, just... give me a day or two, ok?" I asked of her.

"I'll hold you to that," she threatened in return, poking my chest.

Opening my eyes again, I let out a yawn. "Mind if we go to bed? I am very tired after everything that's happened."

"I bet. I'll see you up there, hotshot." She placed a quick peck on the side of my cheek and stepped back inside, my cheeks turning a little more rose coloured. If I can't go back... than maybe I'll make something of my life up here.

Author's Note

Three days three chapters?! Madness!

Hopefully this idea isn't too far out there, it's been something I had been toying with for a while and I think I could make it work.

Anyway, I've got a splitting headache from the vaccine. I should go to sleep soon.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 24: Attention

Chapter 24:
Attention

A bead of sweat ran down Dash's face, her eyes the only part of her body that was moving around. I sat a little distance away, sipping water from a bottle, while ponies all around Ponyville's town square ponies went on with their business. Some stopped to watch what we were doing while others found enough courage to ask me what was going on after Dash refused to answer and kept looking into the distance.

Almost at the thirty minute mark... I think that'll be enough torture for one day.

“Hi Jack!” I briefly looked over to see Scootaloo run over, the filly seemingly always nearby to where Dash and I were at all times. “What is Rainbow doing over there?”

“Standing at attention,” I simply replied, seeing that Rainbow still hadn't moved.

“Standing at what?” Scoots questioned as she looked between me and Dash. “She isn't doing anything?”

“Exactly... But she's actually managed to do better than I expected.” Standing up, I walked over to the statue like pegasus and took position in front of her. “At ease.”

Dash's posture immediately sagged and she let herself relax. “That. Was. Horrific.”

“Honestly, you did really well,” I chuckled as I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “If you made it to fifteen minutes I was planning on going shooting with you.”

Dash's eyes lit up for a moment before she frowned again. “So you let me stand there for another fifteen?!”

“I could have let you stand there for another hour, should it have mattered?” I asked sternly, I wasn't boyfriend Jack at that moment but instructor Jack.

Her ears drooped and she straightened herself up. “No, sir!”

“Good. Now I want you to prep the mark ones and the maintenance kits,” I ordered her, she gave a quick salute and flew off. A quick look behind me showed Scootaloo having an internal debate about asking something. “Go on, what is it?” I pushed.

“Well... You and Rainbow Dash go to that field all the time and... CanIcomewithyou?” She quickly finished, nervously rubbing her leg.

My instinctual reaction was to say no but honestly, I was afraid that if I wouldn't she'd sneak in to try and look covertly. “Only listen to everything I tell you. If you do anything that I didn't give permission for, I will bring you back to Ponyville and never let you come again. Clear?” She nodded her head incredibly quickly, her wings fluttering with excitement. “Alright, head over to the range and wait near the tables at the front. I'm going to get Rainbow, she'll probably be ready by now.”

“Uhh Jack?...” Scootaloo forced a smile. “Gabby... Uhh... Can she maybe-”

“Only this time,” I answered, getting a happy squeal in response.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she ran off at speed, jumped onto her scooter, and launched off.

Let's hope I'm not going to regret this...

Unfurling my wings I made for the sky, the joy of flying now available to me. For everything that I'd lost this was the one thing, I'd gained that made me truly happy. The wind against my face, the freedom of being able to go anywhere by wing power alone, the absolutely majestic views... Yes, up there I could be truly at peace.

Coming up to Rainbow's house I landed on the porch, entering immediately. Dash stood next to her central table at attention again though I had no doubt that she'd only done so after hearing me land. “At ease. Ready?”

“What? Me? I was born ready!” Dash puffed out her chest and put on her chest rig, strapping on her rifle as well. I did so too as Dash had gotten my set ready as well, I quickly grabbed a double set of ear protection for our two guests.

“I allowed Scoots and Gabby to watch so be at your best,” I informed her as we took to the air as a pair.

“Wait, you did?” Rainbow replied surprised, a question worth asking as I was fairly strict about the rules on the range. Really only Twilight had observed a full session as she wanted to write a report to Princess Celestia.

“Just this once,” I confirmed as we bore down on the range, the small forms of the filly and griffin standing near the entrance. I motioned Dash to fly on while I lead the two of them in.

“Hi mister Jack,” Gabby said, standing very close to Scootaloo.

“Hello Gabby, Scootaloo. Did Scootaloo tell you what my rules are, Gabby?” the glance the two of them shared was answer enough. “Right. So, the two of you are going to listen to everything I tell you to do. If I tell you to duck, you duck. If I tell you to jump, you jump. And if I tell you to go, regardless of you having done anything wrong, you go. Is that clear?”

“Very!” Gabby nodded, clearly sensing how serious I was being.

“Scootaloo?”

“C-clear!” she stuttered, looking a little guilty about not telling the entire deal to the small griffin.

“Alright then, follow me.” I turned to where Dash was setting up and started to make my way over to her, hearing the two kids follow me closely. “Dash and I work with lethal weaponry around this place so safety is our top priority. Accidents are not something we can afford so that's why the rules we set need to be followed. Now, I've got some hearing protection for the two of you because these rifles are loud.” rummaging through my bags I pulled out the extra sets of hearing protection and passed them along to the two kids. “Don't put those in yet, I still want you to be able to hear me.”

“Ok,” Gabby accepted the plugs and passed a pair to Scootaloo, the two of them sitting down on their rumps to further listen to what I had to say.

If only Rainbow gave this kind of attention when we started... Oh well, she at least caught on, plenty guys in basic just quit instead.

For the next few minutes, I gave them a larger set of rules and safety instructions to follow, locations to stand, do's and don'ts, etcetera. Besides that I also chose for Dash and me to only shoot individually, always leaving one of us to watch over the two kids for safety reasons.

Both Dash and I shot two series we were already familiar with, going for some of the further away targets. I had gotten Twilight to help me acquire some very sturdy magnification scopes which I was going to mount on the rifle to extend our maximum effective range, it wasn't going to be as good as my Colt nor AWM but it'd definitely give the range advantage to us.

At the end of the practice Dash and I went and fully disassembled the rifle, something we involved Scootaloo and Gabby much more closely in as it didn't involve lethal ammunition. The cleaning process actually was much easier than my own rifles were, the magic sections of R&D having put various enchantments on the things to keep the internals mostly cleaned and lubricated. It was something I had half a mind asking the unicorns to apply to my own rifles too.

“...so then as a final check you make sure the rifle is ready to fire again.” Dash and I cycled the rifle, checking if the safety and the firing mechanism still worked.

“So, Squirt, what do you think?” Dash asked as she secured her reassembled rifle onto her back.

“It's... a lot more complicated than I thought. Still awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed, fluttering her wings. I glanced over to Gabby whose own smile was a little more strained. She had been fairly on edge throughout her entire stay at the range but had clearly been putting on a brave face.

Shit... with her uncle and such...

“Hey Dash, would you mind going out back with Scootaloo to gather those targets?" I asked my marefriend who just shrugged.

"Alright, come on squirt!" The two of them shot off and Gabby wanted to follow but she was stopped by one of my claws on her shoulder. I waited for the two pegasi were far enough out so we had privacy before speaking.

“You okay kid? This can't be all that comfortable for you,” I stated as Gabby nervously fidgeted with her claws.

“Y-yeah! Of course I'm good, w-why wouldn't I be?” she nervously deflected.

“I was there in Canterlot, remember? If you're uncomfortable then there's no shame in that.” Gabby just sat on her butt, her body trembling while she looked down at her claws. “If you really don't want to be here I'm not stopping you from leaving.

“I-It's just... Scootaloo was so excited...” she sniffed quietly. “I just wanted to make her happy...”

“Facing your fear like that is incredibly brave, kid,” I saw Dash and Scoots approaching. At the same time though I saw something pony-shaped moving in the bushes behind the pony duo. Animals don't hide back there and that certainly wasn't an animal in the first place... I managed to keep the scowl off of my face as the two ponies arrived back with the targets I'd sent them out to get. “Hey Dash, mind taking these two to Sugarcube Corner? I'll clean the last few things and join you there.”

“Buck yeah! Come on you two, let's see what Pinkie has in store today!” Dash exclaimed as she took both Scootaloo and Gabby in tow, the smaller griffin having wiped away her tears and was smiling again. “See you in a bit Jack,” Dash called back as they shot off to the bakery.

I waited a bit before returning to the table with the rifles and loaded a new magazine. A couple of strong flaps of my wings later and I was above the trees where I'd seen the movement before crashing down through them.

The landing was a little rough but I had hit right on the mark as I heard an eep from behind. Swirling around, I aimed my rifle at the source. The pony I saw was a mix of colours not all that dissimilar to my woodland pattern clothes, clearly not natural, her wide-eyed stare looking at me in shock and horror. “So, who the hell are you?”

The pony swallowed nervously before a yellow fire washed over its fur and revealed a yellow-eyed changeling in its place.

Why can't it ever be simple...

“My name is Kyshf,” she replied, straightening himself while he warily looked at the rifle aimed at her face, probably knowing there wouldn't be any running.

“So, Kyshf, what were you observing me for?” I stated neutrally, not lowering my rifle a bit.

“I...” Her jaw clenched as he was thinking about what to say. "Was scouting. Trying to get your measure."

"Why? Your hive should already have a character reference for me from 'Cypher'," I stated, rather annoyed to be spied on. A sudden moment of inspiration hit me. "You're Indigo Parasol, aren't you?"

The changeling slowly nodded and transformed into the pony I'd seen leaving Zecora's house. I slowly lowered my rifle down and relaxed a little. "You know I already knew what you were, right? You could have just knocked on Dash's door and talked to me, or if you didn't want to talk in private come up to me while in public. Trust me, the chance of catching a bullet is much lower that way."

"Right," Indigo, or Kyshf, stated rather surprised. The two of us faced each other rather awkwardly for a bit, Indigo not really knowing how to move on while I was waiting for her to make a move.

"So, want to join me at Sugarcube Corner with Rainbow?" I eventually proposed as no action seemed forthcoming.

"Uhh... sure?" she replied, her eyes scanning me as she was trying to figure out my game.

"Alright, follow me then. I need to pick up a few things at the range before I can go back to Ponyville," I said as I turned and started walking back to the table where the rest of my stuff was still present. I heard Indigo follow at a distance, seeing her wait some way away while I finished packing. After finishing up we walked back into town, the tension the changeling felt tangible to me.

Let's see what I can find out from her...

“So, Indigo, did the hive put you up to this?” I asked, the changeling in disguise bit her lower lip and shook her head.

“You got to know my secret, Rainbow Dash too, I was... am... afraid,” She replied nervously.

So she was acting on her own initiative then. Interesting.

“You're from the hive that lives up in Canterlot too, right?” I continued, I may have asserted that she was part of the hive I encountered at the capital but I honestly hadn't a clue how many hives there were, let alone how many used yellow to identify themselves.

“I'm not betraying my hive!” Indigo called out as she stopped walking and flared her wings a little, a move that I'd learned indicated a readiness to fight in pegasi.

Is she playing this up or has she been a pegasus for so long she acts like one now?

If it wasn't all an act the exclamation did confirm Indigo was from the hive I had assumed she was. “No need for such drastic measures, just needed to make sure you were from the hive I thought you were.”

I didn't push further as we entered the outskirts of town and started to encounter ponies, exposing Indigo to everyone wouldn't exactly serve to create goodwill. The centre of town was as busy as ever as we passed through on our way to Sugarcube Corner, most ponies simply ignoring the two of us as we passed. Pinkie stood at the counter as we entered, the earthpony waving and pointing at the table where Dash, Scootaloo, and Gabby were seated.

“Who are you?” Gabby asked as she noticed me and the, to her, unknown pony approached.

“I'm Indigo Parasol, I'm a...”

“Friend I've made in Ponyville,” I stated, a gasp from Pinkie drew my attention for a moment before she disappeared out back.

Oh boy, what is she planning... Deal with it later.

I noticed Dash's jaw had tensed as she had locked her eyes with Indigo's. The pegasus was keeping composure for now but the dangerous look in her eyes said enough: 'If you do anything I'm going to stomp over you.’

“Oh, okay,” Gabby shrugged, though she quickly picked up on the tension between Dash and the other pegasus. “Hey Scoots, wanna go to my place?”

“Uhh, sure?” Scootaloo replied, a lot more oblivious than her friend was.

“Oh yeah, don't you worry, Squirt, we'll catch up later!” Dash smiled giving her a little push in the right direction.

“Alright, see you around!” the filly eventually accepted and followed Gabby out if the confectionery store.

Dash's smile immediately dropped as they were out of sight and her eyes returned to Indigo. “If you put any spell on him you're going to regret being born,” she stated coolly while remaining incredibly calm.

“I-I didn't!” Indigo squeaked, shrinking down a little. Even I had to admire the sheer coldness Dash had managed to compress into that single sentence.

“I noticed her spying on us at the range, got the drop on her. Thought we should have a talk with her,” I stated as I took a seat and motioned for Indigo to sit down too. Before she could though Pinkie appeared from absolutely nowhere and put a trio of cupcakes onto the table.

“They're on the house!” she shouted before disappearing again into almost nothingness. Now I had seen a lot of impossible things since being dumped into this world, from Pinkie too, but that was positively the most mind breaking thing I'd seen.

“What the-”

“It's Pinkie, better not think about it too much,” both Indigo and Dash said at the same time. Indigo clamped her mout shut as she became Dash's main center of attention again.

“Spying, huh? What for? Trying to figure out how to steal one of our rifles?” Dash snarled.

“What? No!” Indigo exclaimed shocked. “I was just...” Dash wanted to interrupt again but I stopped her by holding up a claw. “...afraid. Zecora told me you'd stuck around and knew my secret and would leave me alone for now... But you know... I really expected you two to kick down my door at any moment...” Indigo teared up and trembled ever so slightly. “I'm no fighter, and from what I've seen from the two of you...” she shivered. “The two of you are a scary duo.”

Dash huffed but remained quiet. “You're aware of your hi- friends up in Canterlot received a letter requesting parlay from the Princess?”

Indigo immediately nodded. “The queen sent the word out over the hive mind.” the pegasus immediately clamped her hooves over her mouth.

They have a hive mind then? We're the changelings at Baltimare messaging back to theirs then?

“Could you send a message to her over the hive mind?” I asked, she shook her head.

“O-Only the queen can-” Indigo stopped talking as her eyes dilated and she stared blankly forward. Dash was very ready to strike, still having her gear on meant that she also had her combat knife. A knife she now had her hoof wrapped around. I stopped her from jumping as Indigo came back to us. “S-She wants to talk,” the changeling nervously stated.

“Who?” Dash asked, still ready to take out the changeling.

“T-The Queen.” Indigo stated as she rapidly lost colour.

I glanced over to Rainbow and back. “Where, when?”

“Here,” a new voice stated, a particularly tall unicorn mare with a curved horn, soft yellow coat, and a nearly perfectly white mane stood in the doorway. “And now.”

Author's Note

I'm still way too busy really but I find time to write here and there. I'm fairly happy where this is right now so hopefully you enjoyed. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 26: Recruits

Chapter 26:
Recruits
Ponies were working all around me as I sat in the corner of the barn I was in, cleaning up after themselves and putting in the last finishing touches. It had been requisitioned for me to use as a base, the workponies had made it livable for me and any trainees that would be coming my way. Besides the ponies all around me, I also got some more equipment from the Princesses and they promised to send some officers to help set up and run everything.

I cracked open one of the three big cases that had been delivered to me from Vanhoover by the re-stationed R&D unit. I’d send them some designs and updates to work on a while back and now went to see what the result was. The message that was attached to the package noted that the team had dubbed the rifles ‘MK1-Special’, or MK1-S for short. As far as looks went the design I’d sent wasn’t unlike the Russian Dragunov rifle, just a little more adapted for hooves. A scope was included along with chanted iron sights, the barrel also being a little longer than the regular MK1, and lastly a bigger cartridge for more stopping power.

“Oh, these babies are going to be great,” I smirked as I racked the bolt experimentally and pressed the trigger to hear it click. It was much lighter than its size suggested, something that would help with carrying but I wondered what it’d do for the recoil. I had gotten eight of the prototypes along with a large number of munitions to fire off and some spare replacement parts, enough for my purposes right now.

I’m gonna have to figure out what the ballistics are before I really get to teach to shoot these...

“Sir, there’s a group of guards outside,” A worker who’d approached me stated, looking rather uncomfortable as he glanced at the new rifle. “They said they wanted to speak to you.”

“Thank you,” I stated, placing the rifle back and sealing the box again. Magic wards would keep anyone but me from accessing them. “I’ll be back later to check up on the progress.”

Making my way out it wasn’t hard to find the group of five guards standing there, four of them being batponies from the Lunar guard and one a unicorn from the Solar equivalent. “I assume you’re captain Grey then,” The solar guard stated as he spotted me first and saluted. “Lieutenant Bright Flash, sir.”

Wait, hold up, captain? I did not get that memo...

The unicorn continued before I could inquire further. “The princesses sent me and my colleague here to support you in your training efforts.” He pointed at a more decorated looking lunar guard who stepped forward next to his solar colleague.

“Lieutenant Crimson Moon,” he stated.

“Good to have the two of you, help will definitely lessen my burden,” I stated, rolling with the punches for now, I’d figure out the rank change later. The two officers weren’t going to be of much help with the technical material, Rainbow would be more useful on that front, but they could help with the more mundane physical activities and logistics. “So who are... these?” I was surprised to actually recognise two of the batponies by face and scars on their wings where they’d been cut. “You two were part of the team in Griffinstone.” They both sprung to attention.

“Private Midnight Dagger, sir!”
“Private Datura, sir!”

“They were the first to volunteer after we started probing possible candidates,” Crimson Moon explained, my eyes falling on the third batpony who’d kept his distance from the other two. “And then there’s him.” I detected a very large hint of disapproval in the captain’s voice.

The stallion bowed his head a little and smirked. “Call me Cypher.”

And there’s my changeling.

“So what makes the Queen send you in particular?” I stated, noticing confusion on both Midnight and Datura’s faces, they would be brought into the circle of confidence soon enough.

His smirk turned into a scowl as he straightened up. “My failure in Canterlot. She has her way of punishing and... well this posting will be frowned upon by others.”

“Because you will have to reveal yourself to one not of your own kind?” He nodded. I didn’t press further as I went to address them all. “At ease. You all have equipment with you?”

“A little,” Bright Flash nodded, pointing over to a line of bags standing a small way back.

“I want you all to line it all out so we can immediately ditch the stuff we do not need. Pick an open space around here to get started, I need to get some things from around town and will be back in a bit,” I stated as I’d have to pick up Gilda from town and Rarity had begrudgingly created a clawful of camouflage fatigues for me. The four guards saluted, Cypher though just nodded.

We’ll fix that in due course.

As they went about their business I opened my wings and flew in the direction of Ponyville, soon landing at the lodging where Gilda had been staying and knocking on the door.

“Coming!” I heard from the other end, the door opening to reveal Gallus standing in the doorway. The little griffin looked much healthier than when I’d first met him in Griffinstone, his ribs no longer showing through his fur. “Hi, Jack!”

“Hi kiddo,” I chuckled, ruffling his head feathers. “I’m looking for Gilda, is she home?”

He nodded and called out to the older griffin, Gilda looking into the hallway moments later and spotted me. “Is it time?”

“Yes. The others are here and the barn is pretty much done,” I told her. She’d been in the barn before and was kept a little better up to date by me courtesy of already living in town. She’d also been measured up by Rarity so her fatigues would fit properly, while the rest would have to deal with more universally sized clothes.

“Guess I’ll drop the kids off and join you down there,” She stated looking back to Gallus who’d been listening in.

“I expect you to be there by tonight, understood?”

“I’ll be there, don’t you worry. I agreed to this after all,” Gilda waved off. “But we’re both burning time, I made a deal with Applejack to take in the kids while I trained under you. Gotta move a bunch of stuff over to the farm now so I should get going.”

“Agreed. I’ll see you tonight.” Leaving Gilda to do her thing, I made my way over to the boutique to pick up the clothes I’d asked for. The little bell hanging at the door rung as I entered, Rarity’s voice coming from upstairs telling me that she’d be right down.

“Oh, it is you,” was the first thing Rarity stated as she saw who’d enter her store. “I’ll get your package.” It didn’t take long for her to get my order, two very well packaged bundles as not to show what was inside. “Just know the only reason I made these horrid things is the desperate state my country is in, I would much rather have you requisition these from the guard instead.”

“I have commissioned items to be made in Canterlot but I am still waiting on them, I needed to make sure these would not be late. They’re the bare minimum I needed. I’ll try to avoid sending you these kinds of commissions as much as I can.”

“Thank you, and I wish you good luck,” Rarity stated with a relieved sigh.

I bowed my head down a little. “I should be back on my way. I’ll see you around, Rarity.” The quick exchange over and goods transferred left me with a final location to visit but that didn’t mean I’d find the pony was looking for there. Rainbow for better or worse had a bad habit of finding random clouds to nap on and nowadays she first made it so that said cloud would look completely inconspicuous.

A great skill to have when creating moveable cover in the sky, not so great when I have need of you, Rainbow.

As predicted Dash was not at home, though I got a hint to what she may have been doing after finding a MK1 missing along with her green BDU and ghillie.

I wonder if she’s at the range...

I hadn’t heard any gunfire all day but that didn’t mean Dash wasn’t practicing. We’d been going over all the material we’d covered together and some new things I’d learn to her too. Maybe she was just practicing for when the recruits arrived, which was now the case. Setting off again, I flew in the direction of my small rage, having to dodge some large clouds to get there. The weather nowadays wasn’t as perfect as when I first arrived, so many pegasi having been pulled off of weather duty that wild clouds were able to drift over Equestria. The sights of large banks of clouds far, far up in the sky more reminiscent of Earth weather.

“Rainbow?! Are you here?!” I called out as she was nowhere in sight even here at the range. “Come on you mare, I don’t feel like knocking on every cloud to figure out if you’re sleeping in it...”

“Hey, Jack! Back here!” I jumped around to see a bush, or rather a fully ghillied-up Rainbow Dash, standing up not more than ten meters away. She pulled back the mesh in front of her face and hood, smirking at me victoriously with her camouflaged face and hair. “You really didn’t see me, did you?”

“I’ve got to admit I didn’t,” I chuckled in reply as she hung her rifle around her barrel and pushed her wings from under the suit through some slots She’d been designing.

“So what’s up? You were looking for me?”

“The new recruits are here,” I simply said, a look of glee finding its way onto Rainbow’s face.

“So we’re starting soon?” she asked giddily, I nodded.

“I actually want to start tomorrow, get going as fast as possible.”

“Well duh, of course, we shouldn’t waste time! Did you get Gilda yet?” She asked with excitement, jumping up into a hover and clearly ready to fly off.

“Done that, she’ll be with us by the evening. We can actually fly over to the barn and meet the others,” I told her, she let out a squee and did a little loop. “Remember what I told you about how to behave?”

“Professionally, I know,” she rolled her eyes. “Because I’m your second in command until further notice. We had this conversation, remember?”

“Just reminding you,” I chuckled, taking to the air as well, taking the lead in flying back towards the barn. “You have your beret with you?”

“Do you even have to ask? Dash asked as we came into view of our destination, from the distance we were at I could see the workers loading the last of their equipment onto the cart while the guard had laid out the little bit of equipment they had with them some way away. I landed near the workers first, getting confirmation from them they were done before making my way over to the guards. They had a little clothing, some grooming products, and a bunch of blades. They were still wearing their armour though.

“Sir, who’s that?” Bright Flash asked with a frown as he noticed Rainbow following me closely. “And what in the world is she wearing?”

“Camouflage,” Rainbow cooly replied as she made sure her red beret was correctly fixed onto her head. “And my name’s Rainbow Dash.”

I could see the two privates’ eyes widen as they heard that name. “You were the pegasus that flew us out of Griffinstone!”

“She’s indeed that pegasus and she’ll be one of the instructors alongside myself teaching all of you,” I stated, making sure my own clothing was properly in place.

“Captain, is she even a member of the guard?” Bright Flash frowned, his concern shared by his lunar colleague.

I could see Dash’s jaw tightening but she held her tongue. Good Rainbow, don’t lash out at them. They have no idea what you’ve already done... They also called me captain again, I really should get an update from Luna if there’s been a change that I’ve been left completely in the dark about. “She is not. Something I intend to rectify quite soon, but do not think she is not cut from the right wood. I have trained her myself and have already been in direct combat with Rainbow Dash and have no problem placing my life in her hooves if it comes down to it.”

The two lieutenants straightened up. “Understood, sir.”

“Good.” Turning my attention back to the two privates who’d been standing and watching silently I addressed them. “The armour can be put into the barn’s storage, I am expecting a different armour package to arrive any day now.” Opening my bags, I pulled out the packages of clothing Rarity had made for me, opened them up, and sorted out the clothes by type. “These are what everyone will be wearing around here from now on. They are your battle fatigues and form the camouflage base.”

Midnight, Datura, and Cypher all picked out two sets of the camouflaged clothing, the two lieutenants though did not. “Everyone will be wearing these,” I stated, looking over at the two officers.

“We- Yes, sir.” The protest died in Bright Flash’s throat before it got further than that, I expected that they would bring this back up in private though. My attention was pulled behind me though as Gilda came down and walked over to the group.

“So these are the ponies I’ll be working with, huh?” She stated as she joined the group.

“You are and you’ll get to introduce yourselves to each other soon. Grab those clothes and follow me. That goes for all of you, grab your gear and bring it inside to your rooms.” Everyone got to gathering their gear and made their way inside, a quick tour later the four trainees were together in their room while the two lieutenants and Rainbow had joined me in my office/living space.

“Captain, do you really expect us to wear these things?” Crimson Moon asked, holding out the camouflaged clothing.

“I do. As long as you’re here with me I expect them to be worn. You may not appreciate them right now but in due course you’ll start to understand their usefulness,” I stated. “We will be working on a completely new doctrine for a guard unit here so expect there to be things that’ll go against what you know of how the guard is run. You may be instructors here but you too will be taught new things along with the recruits.”

They still didn’t look completely satisfied but at least nodded. “So what will our jobs be around here then?”

“For one I’ll need a quarter master, most of the actual lessons of substance will be given by me and Dash as we’re the only two who actually know about the material so we don’t have the time,” I stated getting to business.

“That’ll be me then,” Bright Flash stated. “I have some experience handling logistics from previous postings, I’ll make sure we all don’t starve.

“Good, you might get on that task quick because I only made sure there was enough for a day or two,” I told him, “I could also use somepony to help schedule. I’ve been working on it but I have been occupied with lots of things lately.”

“I’ll give a hoof with that, along with any other administrative issues,” Crimson Moon stated. “But that’s not exactly going to fill up all my time.”

“Once things start rolling we’re going to need to keep our eyes on the recruits anyhow. With just the four of us we’ll find enough work to fill our days,” I stated.

“So what will I be doing?” Dash asked, having listened in until now.

“Physical exercise. You get to take them out on runs and make sure they’re in tip top shape. And you’ll also be teaching them when I’m not available or need a claw,” I told her, getting her very excited. “Don’t completely destroy them on day one, build it up so they’ll get used to the strain.”

“Of course, but they are part of the guard already. They should be able to handle some things.”

“Just making sure here,” I said defensively. “Today and tomorrow will be slow days and I expect to run into more issues as we figure out how to manage this but by next week I’m hoping the real work gets to start, we’ve got enough material we need to cover.”

“We better get started then. I’ll be out in town to make sure our food supplies are in order, after that we should figure out what alternative equipment we need so I can requisition it,” Bright Flash stated.

“Agreed. Redress into the right clothes and get to it. I expect to see you back here to work on that schedule, lieutenant Moon. Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir!” the two lieutenants said and left the room to go do their thing, Rainbow remaining behind.

“So when were you going to tell me about that promotion?” Dash smirked.

“Honestly I hadn’t even been informed I had been promoted, something I will be asking Luna to explain very shortly via dragonfire candle,” I groaned, rubbing my feathered temples. “I’ve sort of been just winging it. I’m no officer, Dash, I’m a grunt at heart and I hope that I haven’t been screwing up too bad.”

“Hey, in my eyes you’ve been doing great,” Dash chuckled, moving closer and placing a kiss on my beak. “I couldn’t even tell you were winging it. So anything I should be doing?”

I sighed as there was one thing that would need to be done before we started anything. Better rip the bandage off right now. “Yes actually, remember that changeling we took down in Canterlot in Thorax’s room?” Rainbow nodded. “He is the batpony stallion, his name’s Cypher. I need you to reveal himself to the others, if he remains concealed and the others find out later it’ll become a massive trust problem.”

Dash breathed in deep. “That’s going to be fun. Anything else?”

“After you’ve gotten them introduced take the four of them out for exercise, preferably something that requires teamwork,” I explained, already seeing the gears turning in Dash’s head. “I know you’re old friends with Gilda but I expect you to detach your personal feelings while working with them, it’ll be better for them in the long term.”

“I know, I know, you also do that with me when we go do new stuff. I’ll get to it, see you around.”

With Dash leaving for the sleeping quarters I pulled out a blank parchment, starting my letter to the princess. I was really eager for some answers.

Author's Note

Another one, working hard on pumping out stuff now, want to finish some stories and make good progress with others.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 27: boot

Chapter 27:
Boot

Turns out Dash would have her work cut out for her that first day as after she got Cypher to reveal themselves we almost had a small revolt on our hands. Dash spent nearly all the rest of that day shouting at the four of them and running them ragged until they couldn't object in the first place. It took a few more days before they started to actually work together rustily, something that I was quite happy with because I didn't feel like starting to teach the basics with rifles before a minimum level of trust had been created.

I also finally got the package and information about my unexpected promotion, apparently, it was supposed to have been delivered days before the others had arrived but had never been sent in the first place. Luna had apologized for the mistake profusely, she'd apparently missed some bureaucratic things while doing the required background work setting up our entirely new unit. The rank had mostly been a matter to prevent conflicting authorities, in the end It'd matter fairly little to me as I'd only be working with my own unit anyhow. We ended up determining it would be a good idea to use dragonfire as much as possible to give updates from now on, both to be sure that messages would arrive and for simple operational security as it would cut out the courier.

"Left, left, left-right, left!" I could hear Dash arriving back at the barn with our group, they had marched a good ten klick fully packed, carrying filled bags and the newly designed chest rigging. Over the last week and a half, a veritable mountain of supplies had been acquired by Bright Flash, from large saddlebag-rucksack hybrids to compact cooking sets, name it and he could get it. Honestly, without that stallion the entire endeavour would have probably been a sad affair. "Group, halt!"

Time to get them excited after that stroll.

Standing up from my desk I made my way outside where Dash was addressing the four trainees while they drank water from their canteens. "Captain," Rainbow acknowledged, saluting as we'd agreed for her to do while we were working. The others jumped up as well, standing at attention.

"At ease, I'm just checking up on how you all did on the march," I stated, looking over at Rainbow.

"They held pace well and we didn't lose time at the rest stop," Dash stated, sounding very satisfied. "Overall very well done."

"Lovebug even kept up this time," Gilda smirked, punching Cypher, who was disguised as a brown pegasus, on the shoulder.

"Don't forget we had to drag you along too last time, chicklet," Midnight gave her a fanged smirk as she made sure her blue hair was properly tied back into a ponytail.

"And you before that you managed to-"

"Shut up you three," Datura hissed, cutting off Cypher as she blushed while looking between her teammates, me, and Dash. She immediately became the centre of attention for her three grinning teammates.

"What did you say, tangle?" Gilda said with a predatory smirk, the blonde batpony hiding her blush behind her sweat soaked hair.

"Settle down you all," I stated, as amusing as it was to watch. "Say Dash, good work should be rewarded, right?"

"Definitely. What do you have in mind?" Rainbow asked, playing along even though she too hadn't a clue what I was going to propose.

"Lieutenant Crimson and I planned in two range days next week due to finally being satisfied with the performance we're seeing, since the afternoon block is up to us to fill we can get a headstart covering basic safety and components." That got everyone excited as only Dash, I, and the lieutenants had actually handled and fired the weapons up to now.

"Sounds like a great idea," Dash stated, equally excited. "Do you have them ready?"

I nodded. "They're already upstairs out of storage." We had the upstairs area set up both as storage and an area to train skills in a safe and dry environment before we'd move on to the outside under harder conditions. I'd moved the two boxes that contained them out so we could use them the next week but we could open them now too. “Get yourselves cleaned up first though, I want to see you all upstairs in thirty-five minutes.”

“Sir, yes sir!” They all called out, rapidly helping each other putting on their bags before hauling them inside. Dash was helped by me as she didn't have a buddy to help her, she too had been fully packed.

“I assume you'll take the lead with the lesson?” Dash asked as we got her stuff into her room. “Because honestly, I'm more tired from that march than I care to admit.”

“I'll get Crimson to fill in for a few sessions each week so you get some rest. I'd rather have you sharp while we're working with the rifles.”

Dash sighed as she nodded and pulled a towel from her locker. “You're probably right. I'll be right up so you can run me through what you want to cover.”

“Alright, see you in a bit,” I stated and left Rainbow as she entered the staff shower, going upstairs and readying the rifles. We'd marked the firearms with black dots on the stock, Gilda had one, Midnight two, Datura three, and Cypher four. Those rifles would be theirs until further developments would come through, I'd send the rough draft for a direct blowback SMG but didn't expect to see anything soon. The princesses were focussed hard on simply getting the MK1 readily available and ponies trained in their operation to the front, the small numbers of them that were out there already having clear effects.

Let's hope they can turn this conflict around fast, casualty lists in the newspapers have been becoming increasingly grim...

After twenty-five minutes I heard the first solitary set of hooves trotting up the stairs, Rainbow joining me up in the room and checking her own rifle. A few minutes later we were joined by the others, the four trainees being pointed to their positions.

With everyone in position, I rubbed my claws together. “Now you're all here, let's start with some basic safety...”

“Contact left! Two o'clock, two hundred meters, four tangos!” The call went out followed by twelve rapidly fired shots, everyone repeating it after having responded. The targets were hard to see in the darkness only lit by the full moon but with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Bright Flash we all had a degree of night vision so we could still see them well enough.

“FORWARD!” I thundered, making sure everyone could hear me through their hearing protection. Half the line sprung up, jumping forward while the other half was placing rounds downrange. After three seconds the roles would reverse and the runners started giving cover while the others caught up and ran a bit past them, before switching again. By the time we'd reached the first wooden targets and had pushed past them they were nothing more than splinters. “FORM A LINE ON ME!” I called out, holding my position, letting the others get in line to my left and right. Eventually, everyone had managed to get in line and hold their position. “CEASE FIRE!” All the rifles fell silent as the call was repeated across the line. “Section one, clear targets!”

Rainbow got off the ground along with Gilda and Datura, going up to the wooden targets to properly check the damage. “Targets down!” she confirmed and got her section back in line.

“Copy! We're falling back to the baseline, go!” the entire motion was repeated again, this time though without firing. When we'd fallen back completely I motioned for everyone to gather at my position. Lieutenant Bright Flash and Crimson moon too as they had been observing this particular run. “Alright, vent, what's the feeling?”

“Bucking awesome,” Midnight stated, still slightly out of breath from all the quick sprints between firing positions.

“Keeping track of everyone gets real complicated fast when trees are in the way,” Cypher observed.

“What Lovebug and Edgy said,” Gilda simply stated as she wiped some sweat off her forehead, taking some camo off in the process.

“I'm really glad we actually kept the line a line,” Datura stated, “It looked great from where I was laying.”

I looked over to the two lieutenants to hear their opinions, personally, I was definitely not unhappy but I wanted to hear how it looked from their perspective first. Crimson was the one of the two that gave their assessment. "As private Datura said, we also saw that the line remained fairly straight. There were a few moments where private Grimfeather took questionable firing positions but nothing so significant it was specifically wrong."

"Sounds about what I saw myself. I'm quite happy with how that went," I stated, agreeing with my two lieutenants. "The formation was good and I didn't see anyone firing when the angle to the others was too small so it was done safely too." All of the trainees, including Rainbow Dash, smirked as they were complimented on their performance. "We're moving back to base tactically, the lieutenants will navigate."

The route had been discussed over a week prior, we'd even scouted out parts of it so they'd easily be able to guide us through. There wouldn't be any significant things happening throughout the journey as we'd been at it for over five days now, the walk alone would be tough enough as the last twenty-five klick would be walked with their full loadout of gear on their backs. All of them, including myself, Dash, and the lieutenants were incredibly tired as well, having participated more than equally in almost every activity, so this was going to be fun for all of us.

If they get through this I'll put them through two more weeks of urban combat training and then we'll be as ready as we can be. After that, it'll be up to the princesses to send us out.

That thought gave me a little anxiety, I may have been a soldier but having my own soldiers under my command... the chances of there being losses were significant. Looking all of my ponies over as they diligently observed their sectors only reinforced that thought as in a few months they may not all be alive.

First they have to get through these last few tests anyhow, though with how they've been doing I don't expect that to be an issue. Besides, I've got a surprise waiting for them back at base.

Turns out Rarity, though hating our camouflage with a passion, had no issue creating six more red berets. The lieutenants also getting their own even though they'd probably be returned to their units to help training there. The insignia's I'd gotten for them were all the same one as Dash's, even on my own I had replaced the insignia though I'd probably be changing that back later. Rainbow had helped me out as this was something we'd told none of the others about, they only really knew that this was supposed to be a final exercise to the 'basic' skills we'd been training them in. They also didn't know we'd had Pinkie inform Ponyville we'd be passing by sometime early in the morning, so there were likely going to be a load of ponies out to cheer us on as we walked the final leg through the village.

The next four hours were as uneventful as we'd expected as we simply moved in the direction of Ponyville, keeping a good pace all the way there. The fun part came when we got into sight of town, the exhaustion we were all feeling draining away as the rising sun started shining its rays across the.

"Would you look at that," Dash said with a smirk as we could see some ponies outside of town waving at us, a few of them running into town.

"The welcoming party," I chuckled back as we walked down the main road into Ponyville. The town proper had plenty of ponies lining the street we were passing through, stamping their hooves and calling encouragements to the eight of us. The six of our group that hadn't been informed smiled brightly as they moved through the gathered crowd before we arrived at the town square where I too got surprised. Princess Luna along with a sizable detachment of Lunar guards was standing in front of the town hall where I had wanted to give my people their berets. It didn't take long to get everypony into a square and standing at attention while I went over to the Princess.

“You look very tired, Captain,” Luna stated after I saluted her.

“I can't say that I've slept more than eight hours in the last five days,” I chuckled, noticing a few of the guard's eyes widening and moving towards me and the rest of my unit. Most of us were really on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. “I have to ask, what are you here for Princess?"

"I was informed that you were going to perform a small ceremony as a sort of right of passage, I wanted to observe this," Luna stated Looking over at her side where Rarity stepped forward, having kept the berets stored for this occasion.

"Of course," I nodded my head and quickly set the others at ease and got Rainbow to step out to help me. We passed the berets to the six who didn't have one yet, making sure they didn't put them on just yet. After that was done I took a position in front of them. "Now I didn't exactly prepare a speech but I still want to say a few words. Over the last few months we've worked together I've seen all of you turn from either a civilian, in Grimmfeather's and Cypher's case," I glanced at the disguised changeling and griffin, "...or from the guard, like the rest of you, into the most lethal fighters I could manage. We've shed blood, sweat, and tears together and though there are some things I am not capable of teaching you at this moment, you have well proven to me that you have the sheer grit and determination to have nothing stop you." I gave a nod to Rainbow who stepped forward

"Squad! Atten-tion!" she called out, having them straighten up. "Put on berets!"

The six of them took the beret they had been given and put it on, making sure it was properly in place. I could see them try to stop a smile from forming on their faces as they returned to attention. Ponies that were spectating from all around "Squad, at ease!"

"You can line out the bags at town hall for the moment, we'll head back to base in just a bit," I told them, something they immediately did as they obviously wanted to lose the weight off their back, all the while laughing and speaking among themselves. There were a few ponies from the crowd that stepped forward to talk to them too though most ponies went back to their houses. I, though, turned back to Princess Luna who was still standing behind me and watching the

"So you've assessed that they are ready then," Luna stated as we took some distance from the group and had the lunar guards make sure we had privacy.

“There's about two weeks of urban combat training I want to do but after that we're deployable,” I informed her. “What's the situation in Manehattan?”

Luna's jaw tightened. “Full retreat, there's pockets of resistance but we've lost operational control. Those stuck in the city are most likely lost to us.”

“Shit. How many are stuck?”

“We don't have exact numbers, we're still reorganizing, but estimates put it at two to three thousand,” the princess stated grimly. “Filly Delphia and Hollow Shades are digging defences at this very moment.”

"How do they even do it? Where do they get the manpower?" I asked, that being one of the questions that I'd been meaning to ask for a while now.

"The eastern griffin cities," Luna answered. "They have been independent entities ever since the griffin kingdom collapsed, they have had no interest in uniting right up to now. The fact that they have is... disturbing. As far as we can tell they just decided to unite suddenly."

"That's awfully strange..." I muttered, going over the things that might have caused a sudden change in behaviour. "Have you ruled out changeling interference?"

Luna shook her head. "Queen Alvearium is looking into that possibility but we won't have word from that for weeks."

"So being unable to confirm or rule it out makes it irrelevant for the moment," I figured.

"Indeed," Luna said, letting out a deep sigh. "Captain, you don't have two more weeks, we need your unit at the front. The guard is not up to the task yet, and won't be for a while. You'll be shipping out to Hollow Shades in three days."

I frowned as going over the basics of urban combat was vital in my opinion, doing it on the fly was not optimal by any stretch of the imagination. "In what capacity will we be operating? My people would be wasted if put simply in static defences with the regular guard."

"You are the captain of your own guard unit, you'll get access to higher command to plan your own operations. We just want you in a location where you can actually start doing damage," Luna stated, levitating out a small file for me to take along with a small pouch. "If you require any more information do not hesitate to contact me."

I threw a salute, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Then I wish you good fortune."

Author's Note

Some action incoming for next chapter. :raritywink:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 28: Front

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!

Chapter 29: Infiltration

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 :raritywink:

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

Chapter 30: Siege

Chapter 30:
Siege

“What the buck are you doing here?” Rainbow asked of the other pegasus. He turned and showed his bandaged wing, the dressings being tinged slightly red.

"Got caught by a griffin, crashed in the city and have been helping the army out with planning and logistics," He replied. “Why the world do you two look like you rolled through mud?”

“Camouflage,” Rainbow simply replied.

"You know her Lieutenant?" the earthpony cut in before Soarin could say anything else.

"She saved my flank at the Cloudsdale young flyers competition a year back. Wonderbolts have had an eye on her for a while, Major," Soarin told the earthpony. "I'll vouch for her any day."

"Will you vouch for whoever she vouches for too?" the Major asked, glancing over at me.

"Hey!" Dash exclaimed, stepping forward in annoyance. "Jack has been on our side since day one and has done tons of stuff to help us out! If it weren't for him you wouldn't even have those fancy rifles." Dash pointed at the mk 1's the two guards that had escorted in were carrying. The three commanders glanced at each other, though mainly at Soarin.

“If she says so,” the pegasus shrugged.

“Alright Captain, I'll bite. I'm Major Steel, why are you here?” the earthpony said.

“I have orders from General Stonehoof along with a dragonfire candle for direct communication,” I told her, pulling the two items from a pouch in my vest and passing them on to the Major. She quickly opened the protective cylinder that held the two items and opened the scroll to read it. “We were sent here to figure out how many griffons there are, how many of you are left, and coordinate a breakout action with an inbound relief force.”

“That'd be the first good news this entire week,” Soarin muttered as the major took the parchment.

“If we can even act on it,” the unicorn stated as she too scanned the parchment. “Captain Aurora by the way.”

I gave her a nod before refocussing my attention on the major. “I've made my estimates of griffon numbers but your numbers are probably going to be more accurate.”

Major Steel nodded. “We'll start communicating with the General immediately. Thank you for this, our options were running awfully short.”

“Happy to help ma'am. My unit specializes in accurate long-range shooting, any places in your defences that have good long vantages of griffin lines?”

“Tenpony tower has a good view of the southern encampment. We've been using it as an observation point to monitor movements and get early warning on attacks,” Soarin provided.

“How far away is it from the griffin lines?” I inquired as I didn't have infinite range.

“Close,” Soarin answered. “They've been trying to take the place from us for a while so they've pushed up to three hundred meters from the base of the tower.”

“Couldn't they just fly in?” I asked as I knew that changed tactics significantly.

“We set up magic suppression fields so the fighting there is a ground game,” Soarin informed me.

“That should be immensely beneficial to us, we'll help defend the place,” I stated as I looked over at the major. “Is that agreeable, Major?”

“You know your unit best, Captain. I'll make sure you're kept in the loop about progress made with the General.”

“Thank you, ma'am. Can you send somepony along to show us the way to the tower?”

“I'll bring them there, I need to go there anyhow,” Soarin stated.

“Of course, I have messages to exchange with the General. The two of you are dismissed.”

Soarin and Aurora saluted the Major, but when I did it the major raised an eyebrow as if I was doing something strange. Eh, whatever, we have work to do.

“Captain Grey, are you familiar with the Royal Guard's rank conventions?” Soarin asked after we'd left the room, a slight smirk on his lips.

“With the way you're looking at me, I'm guessing not entirely. I really only focused on setting up my own unit.”

“Fair enough. The ranks of the royal guard don't match one to one with the army ones. You're equivalent to a Lieutenant-Colonel in their rank structure,” He chuckled. “You're the highest-ranked officer in the pocket.”

I let out a whistle. “So long as nopony pushes any big commands onto me I'm happy, I have no training nor knowledge how to command that many people.”

“Shouldn't worry about it too much with you being a griffin, no offense intended.”

“Ponies wouldn't accept a griffin taking charge when they're fighting other griffins. Fair enough,” I shrugged.

“With a few notable exceptions of course,” Dash smirked as she bumped into my side with her flank and smirked.

“I wanted to ask about that, actually,” Soarin spoke up. “When this all started the 'Bolts send out a load of recruitment notices for hopefuls we had our eye on to strengthen the unit to wartime numbers. I'm pretty sure we sent one to you too, Dash.”

I looked over at the Rainbow as she looked down at her hooves. “I did... But if I'm going to join the 'Bolts then it'll be on my terms and because I'm the best, not because this stupid war...” She looked up again and a savage smirk formed on her lips. "...and our unit are the better fighters anyhow."

"Oh really now?" Soarin asked, leaning in a little as he narrowed his eyes. "What achievements-"

"If any of try to lay your hooves on Gilda again you'll bucking regret it!" I heard Midnight growl from well away. The three of us sprinted towards where the shout had come from. We found Midnight pushing an earthpony into the concrete while a few others were nursing bloody noses.

“What is going on here?!” Soarin roared as he approached the scene. The earthponies immediately jumped to attention at the sight of the lieutenant. Midnight let go of the one she was pinning too and took position between them and Gilda. “Pick him up and get out of here. We have enough trouble without fighting among our own.”

The group quickly picked up their comrade from the ground and they ran off back to their stations.

“Care to explain?” I stated blankly, very unamused.

“They had problems with Gil, we made it clear that they shouldn't make it a physical thing. They did,” Midnight simply stated. “We didn't start shit, we know better than that.”

“Don't let it happen again,” I warned. “Police your gear, we're taking positions in the front to help defend a vital location.”

“Sir, yes sir,” they all replied and rapidly started prepping, Rainbow and I too speedily got our gear on. Soarin just watched as we worked as a well-oiled machine, strapping on our rifles and forming up.

“Alright, lead on,” I told Soarin as we were done in no time. We passed through the streets that were still being held by the ponies, makeshift barricades dotted the streets and we had to cross various streets under cover as the griffons weren't too far away. Stores, houses and other buildings too had been emptied and makeshift routes assembled by breaking down walls to make more safe passages. I could feel the anti-magic field kick in as we got close to the tower, flying would be out of the question as I felt the magic drain from my wings.

"This place is a fucking mess..." Datura muttered as we took a moment to observe the open square in front of the tower's entrance. The entire area had been heavily barricaded and cartridges were strewn everywhere, even though every type of weapon seemed to be wielded by the defenders. Swords, spears, bows, my rifles, even a few griffon muskets were among the weapons the defenders were holding. On the other end of the barricade a good few bodies were strewn around in what was probably a sort of no man's land, the bodies behind the barricade had been gathered to a single spot and were covered with what looked to be curtains stripped from houses. Even I had to admit the sight was haunting, I had never been in such a dire situation before.

"It'll be all of us if we break," Soarin stated bleakly. "The griffons have been extremely merciless, if they have been taking prisoners it hasn't been many. At least we know where we stand, if it comes down to it everyone of us is gonna be dying where we stand rather than give in."

It didn't take a professional to see Soarin meant every word he'd said as he gazed out over the no-man's land before waving at the ponies that were in wait at the tower entrance, getting a wave back. "We're clear. Go."

The seven of us shot across the open area to the cover the large tower provided, the two guards there immediately on edge as they saw me and Gilda. "Sir?"

"They're ours, private. Is lieutenant Rose up there?" Soarin asked as the two privates let us walk in so we wouldn't be exposed.

"She's dead. Sergeant major Creek is in command, grey earthpony with pale blue hair. Probably up by the lower observation post, sir," The private told Soarin, the bags under his eyes explaining his shortness.

"Thanks," Soarin stated as he showed us the stairwell and we walked up to the eleventh floor where the first post was set up. The windows had been barricaded as a few of them had been shot out entirely but the view was actually still very good. In the distance we could even spot griffons walk around out of the effective range of the pony guns.

"This spot works for me, lieutenant," I told soarin as I tossed my bag down against an inner wall and started unpacking my AWM which had been stored in a bag until now. The ponies that were manning the observation post looked at us with a little confusion and distrust as we raided chairs and tables that hadn't been used yet to make a good firing position.

"I'll come by once I've spoken to the sergeant major," Soarin stated after learning the pony was on the north side of the floor.

"Roger that," I replied as I adjusted my bipod and placed it in our makeshift positions. "Datura, Gilda, take positions, you two are the shooters with me. the rest of you are spotters."

"Dibs on Edgy as spotter," Gilda immediately stated with a smirk, pushing Cypher over to Datura while taking position herself.

"Heyy!" Datura complained mockingly.

"She has good eye for detail," Gilda smirked as the others took their positions. The unicorn squad leader of the observation team approached as he'd just let us do our thing for a bit but probably wanted to know what we were up to.

"Anything I can help you with... captain?" He straightened up a bit as he found my rank.

"Yes actually, I need to know if you've seen any high-value targets about in the back lines over there?" I asked as I pointed out at the enemy positions. "Higher officers preferably or other figures that seem to be in charge."

"Fairly frequently," sergeant replied. "I can point them out to you if you want?"

"Very much so. Do you have good magnifying glasses?"

"Ones that works well enough," he replied as he levitated over his equipment.

"Perfect. Dash, you're a rifleman too now, go to the north side and get one of the observing ponies there to point out officers there too." I told her. "Grimmfeather, Midnight, join here there."

"Rules of engagement?" Dash asked as she wanted to know what she was allowed to do.

"Use your judgement, if the target looks to be important enough you're free to take it out," I replied, my marefriend throwing a salute before moving off to the north face of the building.

"Cypher, I need you sharp because you're spotting for both of us," he nodded as he understood and got his set of binoculars set up on their little tri-pod. "Alright, can you point us at the higher officers?"

"They usually are most visible in the morning but there's a few that go around all day," The sergeant stated, scanning the area with his binnoculars to see if one was around. We also did so as we started peering through our scopes to the streets where the griffons were walking around. "The griffon in a coat with those small bags and pistol behind the second barricade, he's a regular, makes his rounds almost like clockwork."

"How often?" Cypher asked as he found the offending griffon and started studying him.

"Every four hours," the sergeant replied. "Usually he just stares at griffons and moves on again."

"And when he doesn't?" I asked as I glanced at Cypher who was glaring at the griffon intensely.

"There's been a few times where he stopped and locked eyes with one of the griffons for like a minute before movign on again. Didn't speak from what I could see but just looked like he was gazing into the other guys soul."

"That's because he probably was," Cypher growled. "I think he's a changeling tasked with keeping the mind magic fresh."

"He's a what?!" The sergeant exclaimed but we were already busy with other things.

"Range?" I asked as I was making my estimation.

"I'd say five hundred from up here," Datura answered.

"Looks more like four-fifty to me," Cypher answered in turn as he did more checks. "The wind is low enough to be irrellevant."

"I agree with four fifty," I stated as I set up my scope. the sergeant was just looking at us in amazement as I shouldered my rifle and took aim. Taking controlled breaths I got my heart under control and placed the crosshair directly center of the griffon's body, my claw slowly drifting over the trigger and applying pressure.

Crack!

The bullet hit the griffon not half a second later, convulsing as the bullet shredded internal organs. Just as Cypher had predicted he immediately was engulfed by green fire and left as a bleeding mess of a changeling.

"Motherbucker!" the sergeant exclaimed as he saw it all happen but we were too focussed on looking at the griffons' reactions, Cypher in particular.

"Second barricade, one of the squad leaders on the right. Grey feathers with black tips." Cypher guided us, Datura finding him first.

"Got him in my sights."

"Eliminate him," I simply stated, a second loud crack ringing out throughout the floor.

Another green flash in the crowd.

"There's a griffon dragging off the first changeling!" the sergeant called out as he was looking out over the developing panic. I immediately moved my sight back over and fired a second shot.

A third green flash.

Now activity really started up, two more griffons went over to the changelings but before I could shoot them they managed to get behind cover. Another shot rang out from Dash's side as they probably heard the shooting and wanted to take advantage before the griffons got the news they needed better cover.

"More changelings you can identify?" I asked as I scanned the griffon lines, the birds having all dove as far into cover as they could.

"No, they'll have noticed the targets were all one of them and are trying to blend in," Cypher replied as he really tried hard to find more members of his own species. Three more shots came from Dash's side in the meanwhile as we held our fire while lacking proper targets. "That said, taking out a few changelings will damage their control abilities significantly."

"Alright stick to observation then, let's see if we can't pick out a few more before the General's force get here," I told the two of my people. "I'm going to see what Dash picked off."

“Roger, we'll hold the fort,” Datura replied as they kept their observations up. The team of observation ponies was looking at us in awe as they'd just witnessed us picking off three changelings one after another. I found Dash on the north end sitting in a similar setup as we'd made on the east side, Soarin and the sergeant major looking along in equal shock as the observers on our side.

“Don't have any contacts in sight,” Midnight reported, “They've bugged out.”

“What did you see?” I asked as Dash unshouldered her rifle.

“Group of four griffons on the rooftop over there,” Dash pointed at a rooftop a good distance away.

“Eight hundred?” I guessed.

“Seven eighty,” Dash confirmed. “I gave one a bit of extra ventilation for his brain, turns out he was a changeling though. Gilda got another one good but we didn't see that one go down fully.”

“Checks out, we got three as well. Cypher picked two of them out pretty much instantly," I told her. "They'll probably get a lot more careful now so I'll be observing them with the others to see if we can find more of them among the griffons."

"Sounds like a plan, we'll start observing too then," Dash stated. "Free to engage if we think that we've found one?"

"Naturally," I replied as she gave a quick salute and set herself up to sit for a good while. I then turned my attention to Soarin and sergeant major Creek. "Anything of note my people should know for staying up here?"

"The anti-magic field is about to be refreshed, it disorientates ponies and is usually a signal for the griffons to try another push," the sergeant major stated, the nauseating feeling that the field was giving off spiking suddenly along with a stinging headache. Dash took it the worst out of all ponies as she had to throw up from the sudden lurch in the field... the screech from the east side of the floor was way more concerning though.

"Was that Lovebug?" Gilda asked as she seemed to be the least affected.

"Don't know... go find out," I groaned as I clutched my head and grimaced, Gilda running over to the place from where the scream had come from.

"Some ponies have bad reactions to being in the field," the sergeant major stated as he got his bearings pretty quickly. "If your people can't take it they are better off leaving the area."

"Cypher isn't a pony," I grimaced as I stumbled after Gilda to our first position, Soaring and the sergeant major in tow. the changeling had dropped his disguise and was twitching on the ground, hissing in pain.

"He's ceasing up," Gilda grimaced. as she really didn't know what to do.

"He's dead, no way to get him out of the anti-magic field in time from up here," the sergeant major said while shaking his head. "Seen a few ponies go out like this too."

"I am not letting him die!" I growled back at the pony as although I hated his assessment, he was probably right about not being able to get Cypher out fast enough conventionally.

Conventionally.

The only way out would be flying, which was impossible in the field without sufficient magic and control... That's why I reached for the sword Luna had given that was attached to my backpack and pulled it out. Luna's knowledge of magic flowed through my system immediately and allowed me to push every bit of my magic into my wings. The feeling made me sick to my core but I couldn't afford the weakness right now, Cypher would not have long if I hesitated.

"I'll be back after getting him out."

Sword in one claw and Cypher under the other and I jumped from the tower, my wings grabbing the wind well enough to stay in the air as I sped for the edge of the bubble. Cypher was foaming from the mouth as I swore he was looking at me in desparation. What had taken a good amount of time to walk through now only took a minute to fly out of. The knowledge of magic quickly started to overpower me again as we left the suppression field but I'd already dropped to a roof and dropped the sword while tending to Cypher. The changeling stopped ceasing and was out like a light, his breathing seemed to be calm and rhythmic.

"Way too close a call," I muttered as I picked him up and placed him on my back, hopefully Queen Alvearium had one of her own among the ponies here in Manehattan as I really would be needing the help with Cypher.

Author's Note

Slooowly picking up some things again, need to finish some projects so I don't feel like I have a thousand things to d.

Also, work is fun:

Chapter 31: Breakout

Chapter 31:
Breakout

Getting Cypher into a medical tent had been astonishingly hard, the pony soldiers I had run into had initially opened fire at me. It took me surrendering as a griffon defector for them to let me take Cypher to a sick bay, a couple of ponies remaining with him as guards while they locked me into a room. The door clicked as they had left me cooking for a bit, and a familiar pony stepped in.

“Is it normal that you and your ponies get into trouble?” Soarin chuckled as he stepped in, hiking his head. His smile turned serious again after a second. “I saw your soldier. Did you know?”

“I specifically asked for a changeling, yes,” I replied. “Equestria has established working relations with his hive, if we can avoid him dying that would be appreciated.”

Soarin nodded in understanding. “He came by a few minutes ago, and tried drawing the energy out of a pony the moment he did.”

“Fuck,” I cursed. “Is the pony okay?”

“Your changeling got a handle on himself pretty quick. The pony in question will need some coffee and a good bit of sleep but he’ll live,” Soarin replied, becoming for me to follow him. Neither of us was going to be wasting time. After he got me back my gear we headed over to the isolated room where they had been holding Cypher more securely.

“Hey boss,” he croaked, sounding and looking like shit. “Sorry about earlier, that field really did a number on my reserves.”

“How magic deprived are you still?” I asked, wanting to know how he was and if I could still use him.

“Very,” Cypher replied, “I stopped myself in time.”

“Yeah. Will that happen again?” I asked bordering on a demand to know. Cypher opened his mouth to reply but thought a moment longer before he did.

“Most likely,” he admitted. “I need magic or a hibernation cocoon... Can’t get the latter, need the Queen for that.”

“Can we provide magic to you in any way?” Soarin asked, clearly concerned for his ponies.

“Don’t bother, unless you want to sacrifice a couple of your people...” Cypher strained to sit up straight, grimacing in pain. “I’m just a drain on your resources now, and a danger that can snap at any moment.”

“There must be a way your hive deals with situations like this?” Soarin asked, frowning as the changeling reached for the IV bag that was hooked up to him.

“We do. We cut out the weak link.” Cypher pulled out the IV and made to roll out of the bed. That’s where I stopped him. “Captain, please-”

“Soldier shut the fuck up,” I growled. “I’m getting you that magic.”

“I can’t let you use my ponies like that,” Soarin warned, taking a step back. I shook my head as that wasn’t what I was intending anyway.

“And I wouldn’t take them,” Cypher stated defiantly.

“And I wouldn’t let them,” I responded. “You are going to drain some of my magic.

Cypher just fell silent as he stared at me, Looking at me as if I’d gone mad.

“No.”

We entered a staring contest, our wills clashed as we both tried to get our way. “You need the magic.”

“So do you,” Cypher countered.

“I really don’t, ” I shot back. “I’ve got plenty of reserves.”

“But not enough for this.”

“Wanna bet?”

“No, not really.”

Our eyes were still locked, both of us straining ad we argued but I could sense cracks forming in the changeling’s armour.

“How about just a taste?” I proposed, seeing Cypher’s tongue slither out for a moment.

“No!” He strained. “Just end me, damn it! I’ve become the weak link!”

“I know you want to have a taste, just a little bite,” I continued, the changeling cringed as he broke eye contact and tried to move. He couldn’t as I pinned him down.

“Captain,” Soarin said warningly as he stepped towards me. “You soldier is right, we need you-”

“Stay out of this!” I growled, turning back to Cypher. “I didn’t train you to be a God damned quitter, did I?”

“No sir,” Cypher replied, strained.

“Now when I say I will be fine, do you trust me?” I asked. Cypher looked at me a moment longer and nodded, opening his mouth and letting himself go. I felt his magic grab mine and pull, the effect immediately visible on the changeling as his carapace became more vibrant. The holes in his legs even seemed to shrink somewhat. Cypher hadn’t lied either, I felt a little dizzy at the chunk of magic he’d taken but as I’d said myself, I wasn’t out for the count. Letting go of the changeling, he jumped out of the bed, puking out glowing yellow goop next to him. When he was done throwing up his guts, he looked over at me in awe and fear.

“What in Tartarus are you?”

“Something the creatures of this world should have let rest,” I replied to him. “Now come, we lost enough time, General Stonehoof cannot be far off.

“He is not,” Soarin confirmed, still trying to get his head around what he’d just witnessed. “We’re preparing to abandon positions and break out imminently. ”

“Then we have no time to spare,” I said, let’s find the others.

Rainbow had collected the rest of the squad and gotten them to the staging area where the main mass of ponies had retreated to prepare for the breakout. The perimeter was still being held but with Stonehoof’s attack being imminent they would soon retreat too.

“You good, Lovebug?” Gilda asked as she saw us approach, giving me a nod before looking back over to Cypher in his disguised form.

“Was a bit close, but Cap pulled me through,” Cypher admitted, “I’ll tell the details later.”

“Good to hear, it would’ve sucked to see you go like that, brother,” Midnight stated, punching him on his shoulder.

“Yeah, don’t leave me alone with these dweebs dude. Not cool,” Gilda smirked, as she got some playfully offended cries from the two batponies.

“Alright, settle down all of you. What happened after I left you guys up there?” I said.

“The griffons and changelings probably took you telling the anti-magic field to go buck itself to mean they could attack... Bunch of them learned the hard way that wasn’t a good idea,” Rainbow replied. “How did you do that anyway? ”

“Remember that thing I got to know from Zecora?” I asked, her eyes widened as she understood. “The sword gives me more control.”

“Sounds like an interesting story for later,” Gilda stated as she hauled her backpack onto her back. “But I’d like to get out of this shithole first.”

“Agreed,” Datura stated, the batpony having a cut on her cheek that hadn’t been there before.

I nodded and pulled out a map of Manehattan, pointing at our current location. “We are here and in about an hour general Stonehoof is going to send up flares to signal his assault on the griffon positions. Simultaneously the forces in the pocket will make a push towards friendly forces, putting as much pressure as possible on the griffon lines. The attack from our side will have its centre going down the three main streets heading west, each of these axis’ will be supported by a team of us. Our primary task will be to weaken strong points that hold up the infantry from a distance.”

I allowed my people to take in the map a moment before continuing. “Datura, Midnight, I want you two on the southern street. I and Cypher have the centre, and Dash and Gilda take the north. Once we reach the border of the city we’ll try to meet up with one another but if we cannot find each other we continue the retreat and reorganise later.”

“What if we get in trouble?” Gilda asked. “We can’t exactly support one another separated like that.”

“Indeed. You’ll be relying on the ponies of the three-hundredth-twelve below for support if things go wrong.”

“So don’t fuck up. Got it,” Datura simply said. “We’ve got this.”

“That we do. Go in light, leave any equipment you don’t immediately need, and get to your lane to find the officers in charge of each axis’ assault to let them know you are there.” I told them before letting them do their thing, seeing them drop the few bits of gear we hadn’t left before entering the city. Before Dash and Gilda left for their street the pegasus placed a quick peck on my cheek, breaking our rule of keeping work and personal separated for a moment.

“See you on the other side.”

“I’ll beat you there,” I smirked, making Dash laugh.

“So long as you’re in one piece, hotshot,” Rainbow shot back before leaving with Gilda. Cypher stepped up next to me as they walked away.

“Delicious.”

“Soldier.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, Sir,” Cypher snickered and sat down against a cart that stood abandoned in the street. “Hey, Cap?” I looked over to Cypher, away from Rainbow. “Thanks again for saving my plot.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” I sighed as I turned to look through the street ahead where ponies were lined up and anticipating the coming assault. There were some weary eyes coming our way but it seemed word of our presence had at least gone around enough for them to leave us alone, but just to be sure I’d tied a cloth band with the Equestrian flag around my arm. For the next hour, the two of us waited patiently for the coming action, listening to the sound of small bouts of gunfire a couple of blocks away occasionally.

A set of red flares shot up in the distance, their light casting the area around us into a red din. Squad leaders roused their ponies into readiness as the sounds of battle intensified in the city, horns sounding around us as the ponies were signalled to start their attack too. Whatever pegasi were left in the Manehattan force also took off, ready to face the griffon air threat as best they could.

They’re going to be slaughtered. I bitterly thought. Without automatic weapons to shoot the griffons down the areal forces usually still ended up in close combat where griffon claws gave them a significant advantage. This, paradoxically, made it that the nimble airborne ponies wore the heaviest armour of all forces.

“Time to give them Tartarus,” Cypher muttered as he got up, looking over at me as I did the same.

“That it is,” I agreed, the two of us turning and starting to run after the ponies advancing on the griffon lines keeping them in the city. It didn’t take long for gunfights to break out, Cypher and myself sticking to the cover of alleyways, shot up stores, and higher positions as we fired over our own troops to take out what looked like squad leaders and other higher-ranked griffons.

“Cap, I think I see another changeling!” Cypher shouted over some gunfire.

“Well, shoot the bastard!” I shouted back as I nailed another griffon that was holding back a few ponies.

“I think we can capture him!” my changeling shouted back as he swapped magazines. An earthpony in front of our cover got hit in the leg and toppled over, screaming loudly and clutching the bleed in his leg. Not hesitating, I shot forward, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, and pulled him into our cover.

“Where and why?!” I asked as I saw a makeshift tourniquet on the pony’s vest and grabbed it, applying it to the affected leg while holding him down. Blood covered my talons as I saw the flow reduced from gushing to a mere trickle.

“Across the street at the We might be able to free a few griffons from its control!” Cypher called back as he helped with the pony, another few ponies joining our cover and taking over from us in helping him.

“Fuck. Alright.” I turned to two of the ponies and pointed at them. “You two! Give us some cover fire!”

The ponies did a double take for a moment as they saw us but complied, shooting over a barricade of sandbags the griffons had placed for their own protection. I rushed ahead of Cypher who followed close behind, shoulder-checking the door of the store the griffons were in. Cypher bolted past me as I headbutted the closest, surprised, griffon and sunk his fangs into one of the griffons near the back, green fire engulfing the raptor and changing him back to his undisguised form. The griffons’ heads snapped back as if hit by some sort of backlash as Cypher’s horn lit.

“What the...”

“Get down!” I ordered, pistol in hand in case the griffons would attack anyway. None of the three slightly confused griffons disobeyed, lowering themselves to show they yielded.

“Alright, Cypher, flag over ponies to take them prisoner!” I called out, making sure none of the griffons could reach their guns or did anything stupid. A squad of ponies relieved us, taking the griffons in custody, tying them together so they could get extracted with everypony else when linked back up with the pony force from the other end. With them now under guard I wanted some questions answered.

“Are they still under changeling influence?” I asked Cypher, the disguised changeling looking the three griffons in the eyes, his own glowing.

“Not anymore,” Cypher replied, stepping back from the trio. “The spell was mostly self sustaining by pulling on their reserves. I broke it.”

“You three, why where you fighting?” I demanded, knowing they weren't under influence anymore. Two of the griffons looked to the one between them to answer.

“I... Just felt mad. Weirdly so,” He rubbed his head. “It's all sort of a blur now... What did you do?”

“We killed the changeling that was maintaining a compulsion spell on you,” Cypher answered for me, pointing at the corpse laying a bit to the side. The three griffons looked at the bugs in disgust.

“Think they're all under influence like that?” I asked, Cypher shaking his head.

“No, that'd be energy inefficient. You only need to get so many along with leadership, when you reach a certain critical mass creatures just follow along with the rest. It's easier with ponies than with griffons, herd instinct and all,” Cypher casually explained as a horn blared outside.

“We've made contact! Retreat thought the gap!” A call went out through the street, a large amount of ponies starting to make their way through.

“Well, time to get the hell out of here,” Cypher muttered.

“Agreed, let's go.”

Author's Note

Ngl, I only occasionally feel like writing nowadays but I still dislike leaving things unfinished. I'll get there.

For those west-coasters, EFNW was great! Highly suggest going next year if you can!

Chapter 32: Reconsolidation

Chapter 32:
Reconsolidation

Flags waved throughout the encampment we found ourselves in after the extraction of the army units from Manehattan, the army having been pulled back after the completed operation. The ponies were still working on an accounting of the casualties and unit strength as pretty much the etirity of the Manehattan units had become a hodgepodge of merged and crippled units...

And we're no exception...

“Gilda and Cypher will find them if we don't,” Dash assured me as the changeling and Griffon were also around to find our two, still missing, batponies. The trouble being that while things were as they were it was hard to find any one specific pony among the thousands.

“I hope so...” I grimaced. If we didn't find them soon I would have to break off and actually get back into contact with the command. The two of us passed another aid station but a quick inspection showed my ponies weren't there.

“Hey, what are you doing here, griffon?”

Dash and myself turned to the source of the call, a small group of lightly bandaged earthponies staring daggers at me. Rainbow stepped forward to admonish them, only for me to hold her back. A grey coated and brown maned stallion had been the one who'd called out.

“What's your name, soldier?” I asked, seeing his eyes pass over my uniform and stiffen ever so slightly as he saw my rank. Though his posture changed slightly, his posture remained belligerent.

“Corporal Golden Field, sir,” he hissed through clenched teeth, but still putting himself at attention.

I nodded, glancing over at his buddies who were tensely looking at how this was going to play out.

“At ease, Corporal,” I stated, seeing a little confusion, the pony clearly having expected an admonishment... Not that I wasn't going to give him one, but I understood where he was coming from. “I'm not here to defend... my kind's actions. But, I have fought on Equestria's side from the very start. My team and I went willingly into that city to help get you all out, and, as it stands, I'm still missing two of my squad. In light of that, are you going to hold my species against me?”

Rainbow had joined my side, sending a vicious glare in the earthpony corporal's direction. The stallion held firm a moment longer but eventually his ears dropped. “My... apologies, sir. I did not know.”

“No you did not. See to your team, corporal.” I gave him a slight nod, which he returned before throwing a salute which I returned in turn.

“Sir!” my attention was drawn to one of the corporal's privates had called out to me, a light brown mare with a pale yellow mane, standing up at attention. “Private Sunflower, sir!”

“At ease, private. What is it you need?” The mare had a tic, tapping the ground lightly with her right hoof as she stood.

“You're looking for the batponies, aren't you?” she asked, making me glance over at Rainbow.

“You know where they are?” Rainbow eagerly asked, finally having a lead on the two batponies.

The made carefully nodded, her shaking oof pointing over to another tent. “One of them got hit, I saw the other convinve the eleventh to take her.”

“Private, you're a blessing, thank you.” Rainbow and I turned and took off in the direction that was pointed out to us, finding the standard of the 11th fairly quickly and getting directions to their aid station.

“Midnight!” Rainbow exclaimed as she spotted the batpony sitting in a corner taking a drag from a cigarette she'd somehow gotten her hooves on.

The batpony looked over, almost shocked to see the two of us. “C-Cap? Lt?”

Rainbow sat down next to the batpony, wrapping her wing around the other pony as she looked to be ready to shatter. “Hey, it's alright,” Dash assured her as the batpony pressed herself against Rainbow, tears forming in her eyes yet she kept herself together.

“Midnight, I need to know where Datura is,” I told her softly, the batpony pointing at the room ahead. Glancing over at Rainbow, she gave me a nod to go ahead while she remained behind.

Stepping through to the next room, I looked over at all the cots with bandaged up ponies but only headed over to one. Datura lay on her side, a bandage wrapped around the stump of what was left of her rifht wing and leg. Her breathing was rhythmical but she was whimpering in her sleep. I swallowed as I put my claw lightly on her shoulder in a futile attempt to comfort her.

“Who the buck are you?” I heard a pony hiss, a nurse stomping over to see what I was doing with her patient.

“It's alright... He's alright...” Both me and the nurse looked down at the bed, Datura looking back up at the two of us, her voice hoarse. “Sorry cap, set of strays got me... should have found better cover...”

“Don't apologise, Datura. You did your duty,” I said, gritting my beak in an attempt not to give away my feelings.

“The others... Midnight-”

“They're alive. Midnight and Dash are outside and Cypher and Gilda are looking for you elsewhere in the camp,” I informed her, hearing the tent open up again behind me, the nurse letting in Rainbow and Midnight.

“You have ten minutes. My patients need rest and most ponies here are set to be transported over to hospitals down south soon,” the nurse warned.

“Understood.”

Midnight, in the meanwhile, had carefully hugged the other batpony, the two talking to one another in whispers.

“Dash, I need you to find Gilda and Cypher and bring them here after you've had a word with Datura. I'll take care of Midnight while you're out.”

Dash didn't reply, merely nodding as she shot a haunted look at the hurt batpony.

After speaking with Datura, Dash had quickly found our other two squadmates and brought them back to the medical tent, stretching our allowed time a little to allow them to say goodbye too. I'd have to make sure she was to be transferred to a hospital in Canterlot where she could get the attention of one of the princesses. Departing with Rainbow, we headed for the camp's command center, leaving Midnight to be looked after by Gilda and Cypher.

The guards to the command post double checked us before letting us in, guiding us to where the officers where planning.

“...We need to centralise our efforts, pretty much every unit is running their own medical stations!”

I saw a set of officers standing around their central table, some of which I knew and others I had not met before.

“Captain Grey, good of you to join us. I'd heard you were about the camp,” General Stonehoof had seen me enter and had turned to greet me.

“Appologies, general, I was tracking down two missing members of my team.”

The unicorn that had just been briefing the general pointed at me. “Case and point.”

“The eleventh had the best organised setup of the places I looked, I'd suggest using their operation to expand and centralise,” I provided, having heard enough of the argument to understand what it was about.

General Stonehoof nodded and looked at the unicorn. “There you go. Consolidate the medical stations there.” The unicorn saluted and rushed off, the General motioning for me to step up to the table. “The ability to coordinate with the pocket was invaluable, your assistance was noted and appreciated. How is your team?”

“We're one down,” I responded, “Heavily wounded.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” Stonehoof replied, letting out a sigh. “That seems to be the word of the day. We saved over two thousand ponies, except entire units are shattered.”

“Not a great state of affairs,” I agreed, looking at the map in front of me, seeing various defensive lines drawn in south of Manehattan. “General, you need to invest in magic suppression fields.”

I looked over in major Steel's direction, the stallion looking as if he hadn't slept since the breakout.

Join the club.

“Major, how was the frequency of attacks around Tenpony tower?” I asked.

“Initially as intense as everywhere but it quickly simmered down to the 'calmest' sector of my line,” The major provided, general Stonehoof just watching as he waited for me to make my point.

“Thought so,” I turned back to the general. “The griffons are infiltrated by changelings, the anti-magic field at Tenpony may have been degrading their command and control ability... It was also an areal denial weapon for said changelings, they couldn't enter it.”

“And how do you know that?” the General inquired.

“Need to know, General.”

That turned a few heads in the command center, the general, too, raised an eyebrow. “I shall take it under advisement then. Major, get your ponies who set that up on the case. Thank you Captain Grey, you prove a useful asset again.”

A quick salute later me and Dash left and found an empty meeting room to discuss our next course of action. “So, where are we going next?”

I sighed, putting pen to paper. “ We need to inform ERGIS about what we figured out and set up a plan with our changelings. If this is entirely fueled by changeling interference then we need to focus on them rather than the griffons.”

I wrote up my report while Dash watched, the two of us sitting in silence after I sent it over to Canterlot and waited for the reply.

“Jack, are you okay?”

I closed my eyes and grit my beak. I had to be okay, I couldn't break down now, the others were relying on me... Rainbow was relying on me.

“Yes,” I replied in barely but a whisper, Rainbow scooting over and wrapping her wing around me.

“Just know I'm here for you, okay?”

I nodded ever so slightly, resting my head on hers until the candle's flame brightened and a new letter was pushed through.

“What does it say?” Rainbow asked after I finished reading it.

“Queen Alvearium and princess Luna respectively are sending a unit to Fillydelphia. They apparently have a plan,” I told her, showing the message to her as well. “We're supposed to meet up with them there.”

“If we are then we should get packing, we might be able to hitch a ride on one of the trains taking casualties down there,” Rainbow proposed. “If we're fast then we can take Datura along and bring her down to the hospital there ourselves.”

I gave her a nod. “Sounds like a plan. I'll inform the General of our departure and we'll get moving.”

Author's Note

Greetings from Baghdad. Since I have barely anything else to do than work and write I might as well put my back into this one and check off another complete box. Apologies for the long wait.

Chapter 10: Organization

Chapter 10:
Organization

A set of guards were posted in front of the room where Gabby was being held, they bowed as the Princess approached.

“You hold the young griffin captive here?”

“Yes Princess,” one of the guards answered from his bowing position.

“Rise. Anything you heard in there?” the Princess asked as the guards rose again.

“She can faintly be heard crying in there but other than that we've heard nothing suspicious,” the second guard told her.

“Thank you, we'll be going in and do not wish to be disturbed,” Princess Celestia told the guards.

“Are you sure, Princess? We could come in with you?” the first guard asked.

“Thank you, but we'll be fine on our own.” The guard's eyes then fell on me, a faint frown forming on his face, something Celestia picked up on immediately. “He's with me, soldier.”

“Yes Princess,” he nodded and opened the door for us. The room itself didn't have much furniture in it but the pieces themself didn't look all that uncomfortable. Gabby was sitting on the bed with her back against the wall, squeezing a pillow against her chest, while her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying she'd done. She looked over at us as we entered, hiding behind her pillow as she saw the Princess.

“Hello there, are you comfortable here?” Celestia asked as she sat down at the table in the centre of the room, summoning a pot of tea and cups from thin air.

“Y-Yes P-Princess,” Gabby squeaked, still doing her best to disappear behind the pillow. Rainbow and I took seats at the table too.

“Then would you mind some tea?” Celestia asked, pouring a cup of her own. Gabby quietly nodded but didn't move off the bed. The princess also offered Dash and me the tea, Rainbow declined while I took a cup from her.

“Gabby, can you join us here at the table?” I asked as the other griffin didn't seem to be moving.

“O-Okay,” Gabby stuttered, her voice cracking as new years welled up in the corner of her eyes. The little griffin carefully stepped up to and sat down at the table. She picked up her teacup but the shaking of her hand nearly made the liquid spill out.

“Hey, you know we're not going to hurt you, right?” I said with a small smile, laying a claw on Gabby's shoulder.

“O-Of course,” Gabby stuttered, taking a sip out of her cup.

“Now, I’d say you weren’t in trouble but that’d be a lie,” I continued, pulling out a pen and notebook. “But right now we need your help in saving the lives of more ponies.”

“Alright, I-I’ll help with that,” Gabby answered, the shaking in her hands at least settling down enough to be able to drink the tea.

“Thank you Gabby, I shall make sure this is a major factor in any trail you’ll be a part of,” Celestia said, signalling me to continue my questionnaire. Rainbow just continued to sit to the side and watched.

“Now, your uncle, I need to know who he hung out with, even if you just have descriptions it’ll be helpful,” I told Gabby, getting ready to write down her answers.

“H-He hung out with this one large griffin back a-at the castle a lot, I don’t know his n-name though,” Gabby told me, “O-Other than that he usually hung out at bars when he wasn’t delivering packages.”

I scribbled some things down. “The large griffin, anything notable about him? You know, like the colour feathers, scars or something else notable?”

“He’s got black head feathers a-and dark grey on the rest of his body… his wings didn’t look that cared for I think.”

“Thank you, was there a particular bar he went to often?” I asked as I penned down the features of the griffin.

“N-No not really...”

I sighed and picked up the cup of tea, being pleasantly surprised as I took a sip. It tasted like a blend you’d get from Afghani locals as opposed to some of the manufactured stuff we’d have in the west. “Do you know where your uncle brought some of his other packages?”

“Not really, he just picked them up from the post office and then left town to deliver them… then one day he offered me to come along to Canterlot with a ‘very big delivery’ as he said… and then in Canterlot...” Gabby started hyperventilating as she closed her eyes and curled up into a fetus position. “...H-He had a s-sword and was a-acting all shifty, t-then y-you k-k-killed him.”

Rainbow shot forward and wrapped the little griffin in her wings as she broke down crying. I froze completely, swallowing as old and buried memories flashed through my mind and tears sprung into my eyes.

You're not there... need to calm down... don't panic...

Rapidly any attempt at remaining calm were thrown out of the window as images of crying children and utter chaos invaded my head. My breathing rapidly increased as I curled up into a ball, clutching my head.

Stop it! I... What the hell are you even doing here?

The attention upon Gabby shifted towards me as I shivered in my curled up ball while being lost to memory and thought.

You need to get out...

Looking up from my curled up position I zeroed in on the door, not even hearing Rainbow and the Princess asking me if I was all right as a single though kept hammering me.

GET OUT!

Within a fraction of a second, I sprung up, charging the door and surprising the four guards waiting for us outside. Not hesitating a moment I was off into the hallway, bolting around corners as I searched for an exit. Behind me, I could hear my names being called but I wasn't stopping as I saw an exit where sunshine was coming through.

"Jack!"

Ignoring the vaguely familiar call I jumped through the door, taking in the surroundings. A large garden of sorts, neatly maintained and divided into sections lay in front of me as grass sat below my paws and talons. Feeling my arms and legs become weak I collapsed and broke down crying.

What are you doing here Jack, what the hell are you doing pretending like you're some stable genius here...

Something draped across my back as a source of heat laid down next to me, light blue feathers brushing against me.

"Hey, Jack, What's wrong? Please talk to me." Rainbow asked as she pulled me close.

"I..." I sniffed hard, leaning up against the pegasus. "Bad memories. Very bad ones."

Rainbow muttered something but I didn't catch it in my current state. "Want to, I don't know, talk about it?"

"Not really... maybe someday." I steadied myself further, trying to distract myself with the situation at hand, noticing a set of guards watching us from distance with the Princess. "We should get back to the princess, there's still a job to be done."

"Jack you-"

"Rainbow, please." Dash frowned but ultimately helped me up, the two of us walking over to Celestia after I'd wiped away my tears and made sure my clothes were straightened up again.

"Are you okay, Jack?" the princess asked in concern.

"Just some old demons that still haunt me, I'll be fine," I said with my regained composure “Princess, could you have me lead to the griffin representative in Canterlot?”

"Are you sure you are capable of functioning correctly right now?" She asked, not completely convinced.

"Yes I am, ma'am," I answered confidently.

“Then please, follow me,” Celestia said, leading the way through the halls of the castle. Rainbow closely behind, looking at me with concern in her eyes.

The hallways got a bit more crowded as we got closer to the exit of the castle, various reporters were being held back at the entrance of the castle as they demanded an audience with the Princess. Celestia turned to the two royal guards with here and swiftly scribbled something down on a parchment and summoned some wax, rolling it up, sealing it, and giving it over to me.

“He needs to be brought to the Griffonian consulate, please get him there as soon as you can.” The two royal guards saluted and made an opening in the row of reporters at the door to allow me through.

“Hey, colours?" I asked as we followed the Royal Guards to the consulate.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, I really needed someone back there,” I told her as we walked down the long street.

“Would've been a terrible friend if I just let you run off in that state,” Rainbow smiled, placing a wing on my back.

“I'm still glad you did, being alone when something like that happens is the worst.”

“No problem, I'm the Element of Loyalty after all!” Dash beamed, making me smile as well while we walked. The two guards brought us to a walled-off compound and looked at each other in slight confusion.

“Anything wrong?”

“There should be at least two griffins holding guard here,” one of the two answered, pointing at the empty guardhouse. I immediately pulled my rifle off of my back and checked the mag.

“You two stay with Rainbow and get help, I’m going in alone,” I told them, looking over at Dash. “That’s not negotiable.”

Rainbow cringed “Fine...”

“Good pegasus,” I smirked, walking up to the gate and pushing it open, finding it wasn’t even locked. The courtyard had a few scattered corpses and a moaning, grey armoured griffin clutching a bleeding leg laying near the entrance of the main structure. Cursing quickly I rushed forward, picked up the sword that lay next to him and tossed it away before grabbing my medkit. “Your name?”

“G-Gael,” He grunted, surprised at my appearance. There was a significant amount of blood pouring from a stab wound that pierced his thigh and a few insignificant ones on his arms. “W-Who are you?”

“A friend of Princess Celestia’s,” I answered, wrapping a pressure bandage around the cut and tightening it. “Where is the consul?”

“Somewhere in there,” he grimaced. “There was only a small group of the bastards here so they might have gotten them already.”

“To what bastards are we referring here?” I asked as I tied down the bandage.

“You know... the Red Claws?” he said slightly confused, his eyes suddenly widening, “You didn’t know...”

“No I didn’t, but thanks for telling me. I’ve got a consul to see.” Leaving the wounded griffin in a bit better shape I continued further into the building, hearing voices around the corner at the end of the hallway and clashing swords. Running over the carpet to the end of the hallway I passed various motionless griffins, some clearly still breathing and others moaning in pain from grievous wounds, before coming to a skidding halt at the end of it on my back legs and rifle raised.

“STAND DOWN!” I barked, the two griffins that were engaging each other pausing to look who’d interrupted them. A third griffin stuck at a closed door sitting at the end of the hallway also took note of me as we locked eyes. “Consul?”

The cloaked griffin that had been fighting the guard lunged forward to the other griffin now his defences were lower, but before he could stab him I fired my rifle, hitting him in the shoulder. He immediately dropped his sword in a cry and clutched the spot that just got hit.

“Who are you?” the guard immediately asked with ragged breath, stepping in between me and the consul. In response, I pulled out the parchment the Princess had signed for me and showed it to the guard, though I was not letting the griffin on the ground out of my sight. He looked back at the consul after reading the scroll and motioned him to come forward, to let him read as well. In the meantime, I checked out the wound on the downed griffin who was breathing heavily.

“The princess sent you?”

“She did. I had some questions, one of which I already have answered by Gael outside,” I replied, looking at the guard. “There are two Royal Guards outside, they should have gotten emergency medical services so you can check up on your brothers in the hallway.”

“I get paid to defend the consul’s life no matter the cost. I do not answer to you,” he replied, suspiciously eyeing me.

“Look at this twat, think I couldn’t have ended all three of you the moment I came around the corner?” I growled, the griffin below me spitting on my arm. “Yes, I could have, now go to the Royal Guard for that help.”

He looked back at the consul who waved him off which got him to pass me and run outside. “I seem to be in your debt, what is it you needed to know?”

“Who are the Red Claws?” I flatly asked, the griffin below me letting out a pained chuckle.

“The end to weak and illegitimate pony rule over griffins.” He growled, spitting up blood, but between his mangled arm and me holding him down there wasn’t much he could do.

“The adults are talking, please be quiet,” I told him.

“They’re a small separatist group advocating for griffin self-rule,” the consul answered. “They’re a small internal nuisance, nothing we can't-”

“That small nuisance just charged through your guards like they were wet blankets, blew up a massive explosive charge in Manehattan, tried to do the same here in Canterlot, and I’m pretty sure they attempted to capture Princess Celestia’s personal student and her friend. So please Consul, cut the political bullshit, this has blown up far above anything you can manage on your own.” The consul grimaced as his guard returned with one of the Royal Guards and Rainbow Dash, more ponies entered after them and started to treat the wounded. I turned to the Royal Guard and got off the griffin under me. “Search him and take him for medical attention. He also needs to be questioned.”

“Understood,” the pony replied, checking the downed griffin for any weapons with the griffin guard.

“You okay?” Rainbow asked, looking sick as she avoided the fallen in the hallway.

“Never been better,” I replied. “Consul, you’re coming with us and are going to explain to the guard in exquisite detail everything you know about these ‘Red Claws’ you know. Clear?”

“Crystal.”

Princess Celestia pranced around the room in circles. Rainbow, Shining armor, a female ‘thestral’ or batpony called Midnight, and to finish it off the second Princess called Luna. The Solar Guard Captain was still in the situation room to keep things going there.

“An extremely violent separatist group growing right below my nose...” Celestia sighed as she looked over the table that had a map with flags like the ones in the situation room on them.

“You didn’t get any indication of them being around, sister?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You know griffins are proud, they’ve always had a faction that wanted to separate from Equestria,” Celestia sighed, taking a seat at the table. “This though? It never got this bad. Small skirmishes that got resolved quickly by other factions in Griffinstone most of the time.”

“This isn’t something we can fix with the elements, is it?” Rainbow asked.

“No, it isn’t. This is going to take the royal guard up in Griffinstone to root out these Red Claws,” Celestia sighed, looking at the map in front of her.

“Just sending in the guard as a blunt force object may have the opposite effect that you’re trying to achieve here,” I said with crossed arms.

“What would you know about that?” the Lunar Guard captain asked.

“They’re going to say the guard is an occupying force and rally support behind their cause that way,” I pointed out to the bat pony. “You need to find out who’s on your side and work with them to clean out corrupt elements fast. I can’t imagine they would have been able to stay hidden if they didn’t have people covering for them. Hell, the consul didn't want to ask for help because of pride so even any potential ally will not be inclined to help.”

“That’ll still require the guard to go up there to figure out who’s on our side and who’s not,” Shining pointed out.

“I can go ahead to gain intel who’s dirty and who isn’t. That way you can cut off the head of the snake before they start agitating. It’ll still be tough if the ideas are ingrained enough but it’ll calm down the region for a while.”

“You’d do that for us?” Princess Luna asked. “You barely even know us.”

I shrugged, “Twilight Sparkle is working her ass off to find a way to get me home, I owe you at least something.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve gone way past something already, Jack,” Rainbow pointed out.

“So I’m supposed to sit on my butt and watch?”

“No-one would blame you if you did that,” Celestia told me. “You’ve done a lot for us already and I am not sure if I want to send you after having an episode like the one this afternoon again.”

"He didn't freak out at the consulate and that was a bloodbath," Rainbow pointed out, choosing my side.

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing there was something I could do to prevent more attacks, Princess. And besides, where are you going to find a griffin willing to work with you that definitely doesn't have ties to this organization?” I argued. "You can of course go to that place with just the Consul's words to rely on but how much do you trust those?"

"He's right Tia, if you will not take him then I will," Luna sighed, "We need eyes and my guard, good as they are, won't stay hidden for long in Griffinstone itself. We would be fools to go in blind against griffins."

The two sisters looked at each other and nodded, Celestia speaking up. “Then it is decided, you shall go ahead to Griffinstone while we muster the guard over the next few days.”

“I’ll requisition anything you need,” Midnight told me. “Prince Armor, you should go catch some sleep. We require you fresh for when you return to the Crystal Empire.”

“I’ll be ready, Captain, don’t you worry.”

“Good. Mister Grey, since you’re volunteering for a covert operation I want you drafted into the Lunar Guard’s special operations squadron. Do you consent to this?” Captain Midnight asked, I nodded. "I need a verbal confirmation."

"I consent."

"Good. Then you are hereby part of the Lunar forces, keep in mind that your actions will now reflect back on the Princess herself. Do not dishonor her name. We shall take care of any oaths later."

I looked between the Princess of the night and the batpony, Luna just sat by as Captain Midnight handled the situation.

“Understood, Captain.”

Author's Note

I had to change quite a lot according to the changes last week, hopefully it lives up to expectations. :twilightsheepish:

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Chapter 25: Queen

Chapter 25:
Queen
“Ooohh, who are you? Are you new to Ponyville because I know everyone in Ponyville and I don't know yo-”

“Pinkie!” the three of us at the table shouted. Dash and I rather annoyed while Indigo absolutely horrified.

“Yep, that's me!” the pink earthpony exclaimed happily, stopping her from bouncing around the disguised changeling queen for a moment.

“I'm sure your enthusiasm is appreciated but we have some things to discuss with the lady,” I told her which deflated the party pony a bit. “I'm sure you can organize something for later."

That instantly cheered up Pinkie again who jumped back to the counter. "Okiedokie! Will do Jackie!"

The changeling queen glanced over at confusion at what had just happened but quickly returned her attention back to our group of three as she decided it wasn't important. She first addressed her own subject, telling Indigo to 'get out' before taking her seat. "You have been stirring up a load of trouble wherever you seem to appear, griffin."

"I do seem to be a shit magnet, yes, but before we start talking in honest maybe we should exchange names. Jack Grey as you have undoubtedly heard, and my friend here is Rainbow Dash."

"Alvearium, Queen mother of the Canterlot hive," she replied before getting straight to the point. "You got Celestia to make a bold request of my hive. No queen has ever bargained with any outside our own kind, why should we now?"

"Mutual interest," I simply replied, making sure Dash remained quiet with a gesture. "You have an interest in preventing the ponies from finding a way of revealing your kind and they need a way to stop infiltration into their forces."

"And why could we not deal with that renegade changeling you have locked up in the capital and be done with the matter?" Alveatium simply proposed with narrowed eyes. I sighed and reached for a rifle on my back, only to find it firmly held in place by a golden aura.

"If I wanted to kill you I would be much less obvious about it," I told the queen as she shot me a glare but she did allow me to pull out the rifle and present it in front of her. "This is the mark one, the product of pony ingenuity over the last few weeks. If they can produce something like this at the astonishing rate they did, how long do you think it will take before they find a way to break changeling disguises now they've set their minds to it?"

Alvearium scowled as she thought over my words before she spoke again. "Of course they had help from a very unorthodox source, mister Jack. I have gotten wind of what you are."

"True, true, I gave them a push in the right direction, but unlike the mechanics of building a rifle, ponies are very good at magic," I shot back, pushing the rifle back into its bag. "I do not want us to be enemies, Queen Alvearium, it would just be a wasteful affair for both your hive and the ponies."

I folded my claws in front of me on the table and waited for Alvearium's response, which came as a deep sigh. "Queen Crysalis has disrupted the balance, brought us into the light where we do not belong. I will have a reply sent to Princess Celestia to ask her what her terms would be."

"I have not known her to be really unreasonable yet, just protective of her ponies," I stated as that was mostly my experience with the pony princess.

"Let us hope that extends to my kind as well." Alvearium stood up from her seat. "Mister Grey, would you accompany me for a walk? I have heard things and read reports but I would like to measure you up for myself."

I glanced over to Dash who noticed and gave me a nod, she had relaxed a little after the queen had promised to send a message to Celestia but was clearly ready to intervene if something happened she didn't like. "Of course, give me a moment."I swiftly unbuckled my bags and passed them along to Rainbow so the only thing weighing me down was my tactical vest with ballistic plates and pistol. "Please, lead the way."

Alvearium took the lead and guided us to Ponyville's park, only a few days out on this rather sunny day. I remained relatively relaxed but did scan the sky and surrounding area so every now and then for any changeling that may be shadowing the queen, and for Rainbow from above. “My local zebra friend informed me of the hypothesis she came up with concerning you. Are you truly not of this world?”

“I fear not, no,” I scowled, still rather sore about the things I'd discussed with Zecora. “Though I didn't have much choice in my appearing here.”

“So I've heard. To have your soul pulled from a body cannot have been a pleasurable experience.”

“I honestly remember nearly nothing of the event,” I admitted, “Most of what I do know comes from a dream.”

“I see...” Alvearium said, pondering in silence for a moment. “Yet for just a soul you have a remarkable amount of equipment at your disposal.” Now it was my turn to remain silent and think for a bit.

Shit, she might be right... What if there is a way back. Zecora might have pointed me in the right direction but we were honestly still working on a bunch of assumptions.

“Perhaps that's something to ponder later. I actually wanted to talk to you about why you were so ready to defend my subject, even after I sent him to kill the drone the ponies have in custody," Alvearium stated, switching subjects. “Not that I am complaining, Cypher is still very much among the best of the best and I'm glad to not have lost him.”

“Honestly, that really was in self interest. We really need that way to protect our vital interests and if we can do so without angering even more factions that'd be a plus. Besides, I had your drone on the ground and under control, I'm not in the business of executions,” I replied as we took place on a bench overlooking the main field of grass that made up the park.

“Practical but not without a sense of honour,” the queen simply stated as she looked at a small group of foals playing.

“I'm either your best friend or worst enemy,” I stated with a nod.

“Let us try to remain good friends then,” the queen chuckled. “About the mare I found you with, the Element of Loyalty, I noticed she was wearing the same attire you are.”

“Rainbow Dash,” I nodded. “What about her?”

“I find it rather curious to find another pony in your garb, perhaps you even trained her?” Alvearium asked with a curious smile.

“Rainbow is quite remarkable in some ways, yes. I'd advise to not try and test those ways, though, you might find yourself with a few changelings fewer if you do so.” The queen's smile faltered for a moment, her gaze moving out over the park again. “She was a fairly aggressive pegasus to start, I just sharpened her and am working on giving her the ability to direct it appropriately. I can't teach her everything I know due to lack of materials but that doesn't mean I don't rate her very highly as a warrior.”

Alvearium huffed, “A warrior that is always kept safe? I know Celestia would never risk her prescious Elements so casually, and good on her to keep her ace well guarded for appropriate use.”

That got me to scowl in turn. “And what makes you think Rainbow hasn't been through the fire already?”

Alvearium looked me over again. “Perhaps I misjudged Celestia then... I apologize if I insulted you, this situation has me admittedly more blind then I'd like.”

“Rough situations bring out our true selves, show what your spine is truly made out of.”

She nodded, “I think I understand you a little better now, specialist Grey,” Alvearium replied as she looked back over at me and smiled. “I am sure we shall meet again.”

Two ponies materialised from the bushes behind us, most likely the changelings that formed the queens guard by the way they glared me down. At the same time I could see one of the clouds I'd been keeping an eye on shift and a black barrel pop out of it. Acting quickly I threw up a claw, motioning to Dash to hold her fire. The two guards lowered themselves as they didn't know what I was doing, waiting for a command from their queen to take me out.

“You weren't the only one being followed by guards,” I smirked, very self-satisfied as Alvearium also looked confused at my actions until I guided her sight to the cloud from which Dash had emerged, hair faded from a dye and my sniper rifle in hoof still facing in our direction.

She even managed to fly by her house to pick that thing up? I guess the firepower would definitely be worth it...

“I see. A good thing we kept our conversation amicable then, isn't it?” Alvearium said with a smile.

“Indeed. I assume you're heading back up to Canterlot so I'll wish you safe travels,” I said with a nod before turning and spreading my wings, flying up to where Dash's overwatch point was.

“I take the two of you remained friends then?” Dash asked as I hovered close by the cloud.

“Friendly enough, she did give me some new insight into the way I got to this world. Inconsistencies I'll need to discuss with Twilight.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that. “You think what Zecora said was wrong?”

I shook my head. “No, I think we got it mostly right but there's some things that don't make sense which we could figure out.”

“Just tell me when you guys figure something out, alright?”

“Always,” I replied, looking back at where the queen and her drones had been only to find there wasn't a trace of them left. “We should get to Twilight's so Spike can send a letter to the Princess to let her know what happened.”

“Right. Then what are we waiting for? I'll race you there!”

It took a few days after we reported our encounter with the queen before we got an update on the situation from Canterlot. The changelings had opened up limited relations with Celestia and would most likely be embedding their own among the guard to counter infiltrators. This wouldn't be known by most members of the guard, of course, only a select few who'd work with them would be aware of their presence. All this was coming at a good time as the cities at the southern border were experiencing a surge of disappearances, lots of guard units being hit hard as they specifically were being targeted.

I, though, was getting rather restless as I was getting all kinds of news and updates through various channels and wasn't able to do anything about it. Rainbow seemed to think she had the perfect solution though as we were eating breakfast.

“Oh, come on! You trained me, right?” Dash exclaimed as I shook my head and crossed my arms.

“Look, I made an exception for you already, I can't just train every single person I come across!”

“And with just the two of us, we're almost as useless as we'd be if we were alone!” Dash argued back, “And besides, I already have one person who'd be perfect! If we get one more we'd be at least be at minimum strength to do stuff!”

I grumbled in protest but honestly, she was right, just two individuals couldn't operate effectively. “Who oh who do you have in mind then.”

“Gilda,” Dash confidently stated. “She's driven and if I know her well, which I do, she's itching to get involved like the two of us are!”

Honestly, it wasn't the worst person to propose. I'd had a few conversations with the griffin around time and she did seem to not be happy about being sidelined. The time we have is so not sufficient for any real training, and then there's the number four spot... What if I...

“Come on, Jack you-”

“Alright," I cut her off. “But we run it by the princesses first.”

For a moment I could see the glee in Rainbow's eyes. “So what are we waiting for?! Let's write that letter!”

Finishing my plate I got to writing the letter explaining that I wanted to train two more individuals and that one candidate we were eying was Gilda. For the second individual though I asked if a changeling could be attached to me for training. I didn't see Queen Alvearium opposing the idea as it would mean one of her own would gain intimate knowledge of my tactics, but that also meant the princesses might not be so happy to agree.

My solution? Send the letter via dragonfire candle instead of via spike so it didn't end up directly in Celestia's hooves and stamp it so Luna would be the one getting to it first. The younger of the two main princesses had already shown to be more opportunistic rather than playing safe, getting permission from her would in my estimation be easier.

By the time I'd finished, Dash had left to get Gilda to come over and discuss if she wanted to join. I didn't expect to get a response from the princess to at least the evening though as she was probably asleep at this time. I probably couldn't have been more wrong as no more than ten minutes later the candle crackled and spit out a royally sealed letter back at me. To say the reply was long though was something else:

'Permission granted. Request relayed to changeling queen, expect reply soon.' It was signed by the princess of the night and had the appropriate seals to authenticate it as real.

That was way too easy... I guess I should run it by Spike anyhow to be certain.

Though a little suspicious of how fast the request had been approved, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth right now. Dash didn't take long to get back with Gilda in tow, the two of them walking into the living room where I was already brainstorming a way to fit as much training as possible into as small a timeframe as possible but came to the conclusion I'd still have to take at least three months to get anyone truly up to speed.

"Wait, is that a reply from Luna?" Dash asked as she snatched the document off the table and read the small message, a massive grin forming on her face.

"Hey, mind explaining what Rainbow here pulled me along for? I sort of only understood the part where she was really excited," Gilda bluntly stated, looking over at me. "Something about some proposal?"

"Dash and I are looking for more creatures to recruit. The two of us can't effectively function as just a pair," I stated, Gilda's eyes widening a bit.

"And you want me to become part of your little two creature gang?" She asked, knowing full well how extremely dangerous both me and Rainbow Dash had become.

"If you agree, then yes," I affirmed, clearly seeing Dash was right about her assessment of Gilda as she fell into thought.

"Say if I agree, what would happen?" Gilda probed, sitting down on a cloud-couch across from me while Rainbow took a seat next to me.

"About three months of intense training," I stated.

"There will be moments where you think you're dying," Dash said, her excitement giving away to a more serious tone as she had already gone through the trials I was going to repeat for sure. "It'll be tough in the extreme."

If only she knew there's even tougher training courses...

"Rainbow is right, but if you push through the adversity the reward on the other end will be immense," I added to not discourage Gilda from even attempting, luckily she didn't look like that was the case anyhow.

"I'll do it." She said after pondering the proposal for a bit. "So when do we start?"

"I want to get my number four first and gather some more equipment so It'll probably be a few days. Just make sure you're ready to drop everything you're doing and get started."

Gilda nodded and got back up, “Then I'll get my stuff in order. Guess I'll see you in a few days then.”

“Exactly. I suggest you get as much rest as you can because that'll become a scarce resource after we start,” I advised her to which she nodded again.

“I'll keep it in mind. See you in a few days.”