Manehattan Vice

Chapters

1: Kicked Upstairs
2: The Birthday
3: The Favour
4: Calm Before the Storm
5: Baptism of Fire
6: Aurora
7: Reckoning of Past
8: Reckoning of Future

1: Kicked Upstairs

Ever have one of those dreadful, tired mornings where, before your morning coffee, you screw up on the job so profoundly, that by some Celestia-damned miracle, you end up improving your life? Well, that is something I, your local idiot Special Agent Nessassio of the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation, has somehow managed to accomplish.

It started one morning, as I walked through the front door, I gave a small, beaky smile to a few of my coworkers as I made my way over to the elevator. Over the PA system, our usual guy was making the standard announcements, starting of course by telling us to stand for the Equestrian National Anthem as he popped the CD in. Normally I also stand for attention, but since I’m in the elevator, I pretty much just look at my phone. Hey, don’t pretend you were any better in Highschool. I guarantee you if you had a spare first thing in the morning, you didn’t stand for attention either. Not because you intended any disrespect, but because there was no social pressure to stand at attention anyways. As the anthem came to a close, I listened to the armourer, Bull’s Eye, give the daily announcements. “Good morning Fillies, gentle colts, and all creatures in between. It is 5:00 AM, 15th of July 2020, we will have an Equestrian Defence Force visiting today and...” he was interrupted by a text message on his phone, which the dumbass read out loud. “This is Special Agent Cloven Spectre, I have successfully infiltrated the ring of coke dealers in Staten Island, start prepping the SWAT team for a raid at noon...”

At that moment, I decided to take a detour from my usual morning and sent the elevator to the second floor, cracking my neck as I approached the PA room. Normally EBI agents aren’t allowed to strike one another, but I made a personal exception because it would be a massage compared to what would happen to Cloven Spectre if Bull’s Eye compromised him. Without any words or warning, I opened the door to the PA room and shoved Bull’s Eye out of his chair as hard as I could.

“Hey Ness, what the hell?” Bull’s Eye asked.

“No! Shut Up, and go fuck off back to your lab! I knew these guys before I joined up, and unless you want two black eyes, one for each eyeball they’ll scoop out with a melon baller from Cloven Spectre’s skull, start fucking off to your pencil pushing armoury RIGHT NOW!” I yelled, not in the mood to deal with any bullshit, as Bull’s Eye crawled before getting up and walking out, and shut the door.

As the door was closed, I face-hoofed with both of my talons and started grumbling out loud. “I swear, somedays I don’t know why I took this job. I was happy selling coke in Cloudsdale. We wouldn’t have put up with dumbasses like this, hell, if Straight Haste did anything like this in public, we’d have snuffed his flank right then and there with a shotgun.” I smiled as I fondly began daydreaming about what such a party would look like “I’d have taken his wallet, paid for some classic vintage Mac Daniels, and some of the hottest, sexiest hookers money can buy. And that doesn’t even compare to the thrill of doing a line of coke off their backs. Probably why I’m so dependent on smokes and morning coffee. Alas, nothing can compare to the rush of an 8-ball, I could screw all night with that kind of energy.”

At that moment, my phone began to ring, with a call from The Director of the EBI no less. With a big dumb grin on my face, this could be such a big promotion! As I answered the phone, however, my stomach sank in absolute horror as the Director said, in his usual understated tone, “You left the PA on. Please come meet me in room 1312 for further discussions” before he hung up. I immediately turned the PA off, before sitting in a chair and placing my service pistol, A Glock 13, on the desk. Staring intently at the safety switch, how easily I can flick it from on to off, as dark thoughts fill my head. After what felt like a minute, I holstered it before leaving and heading to the elevator, punching in the button for floor 13, as I decided to be brave and face the music.

As the elevator slowed to a stop, my 4 joints buckling slightly as the elevator reached its floor, a growing hesitation as I reached room 1312. With a sigh, I pushed the door open. Instead of the director’s office, I turned out to have walked into the room the EDF was meeting in.

“Awfully big delegation for a termination, don’t you think?” I asked, with a nervous chuckle.

The director did not respond, the bald earth pony simply shift their weight and directed me to an empty chair, before another earth pony, one wearing an EDF uniform with the tag name ‘Ssgt. Buckshot’, cleared his throat and began the briefing, speaking in a surprisingly eloquent Appleoosan accent. “Alrighty, cowpokes, since the morning announcement revealed to us who the most qualified EBI agent is to be attached to our team, I’d like for y’all to give a big welcome to Nessassio”.

As the room filled with applause for me, I gave another nervous chuckle, asking “Is this going to be like the AK-47 incident again? Because I don’t want to have to tell the EDF that we mixed up a weed strain for a firearm”, trying to lighten the mood because, again, this is a surprisingly welcome reception for someone who did something worthy of them getting fired.

The director turned his head slightly towards me, seeing my reflection in his pitch-black mirror shades before he told me “I would advise you to take this promotion much more seriously, Special Agent Nessassio, we are attaching you to a case with the utmost importance.”

“How important is it?” I asked, and when the director replied, the response stunned me for a good minute, as time seemed to slow as the Director said two words, two words no one ever wants to hear.

“Empty Quiver.”

The words of the director rattled me to my very core, I was still trying to process the director’s words. “Empty Quiver?! But that’s for when we lose a functioning balefire mega spell. Why the hell does my past have to rope me into this?!” I demanded. Sure, It’s no secret I didn’t get my undercover acting talent from meeting so many famous actors, although you do tend to meet a lot of them when you sell drugs, I digress. The matter at hoof was that somehow not only did I not get fired for extremely unprofessional and heavy-handed behaviour, I somehow got promoted up to an EDF Joint Special Operations Command team?!

Buckshot simply burst out laughing, “We’re gonna get along just fine, like chickens and a rooster!” A remark that, if my knowledge of animal husbandry is correct, means they’re gonna be spending a lot of time interested in me. Well, credit where credit is due, at least Buckshot knows how to lighten the mood. Buckshot continued the briefing with “I suppose it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t introduce ourselves, posh and proper. I’m Staff Sergeant Buck Shot, I’m from the EDF Marine Corp and was a Raider, alongside my brother Sergeant Biggins.” The earth pony said, gesturing to the bulky earth pony sitting right next to him. In the blue holographic glow was just the quiet smile Biggins carried himself with, as well as the green patch with a white cross on both of his shoulders, signifying he’s the medic. I smiled, knowing if anything goes wrong that gentle giant will be there to save me.

with further curiosity, I looked at the green pegasus next to me, wearing a shemagh around her neck that was in a matching, albeit darker shade. They wore a helmet with a face protection blast shield, when they took it off, despite having a stallion’s jaw, she’s had a very feminine appearance and voice, introducing herself as “Lance Corporal Diamond Warrior, served in the Wonder Bolts, made many dangerous jumps into hostile territory. It was either this or the airshows”, finishing with a cocky grin. She’s pretty gung-ho and a force to be reckoned with during a fight, and judging by those sweet biceps a very serious threat in arm wrestling. Glancing towards the last unique individual in the room, the hippogriff. He didn’t introduce himself, he was very quiet. Diamond spoke up in a tone suggesting mild contempt, “That’s Corporal Talon, EDF SEAL, very quiet, don’t worry about him.” Talon glanced over, shooting a quick scowl in response to her comments before pulling down his patrol cap by the brim before resting a hind leg on the table.

As soon as Buckshot noticed the hostility brewing, he simply leaned on the table and cleared his throat. “Let’s get back on mission, pardners.” Before he made some taps with his hooves on the desk, manipulating the holographic display to reset the mission briefing for my sake. “5 years ago, Balefire Division, a unicorn supremacist group that followed the teachings of King Sombra, wanting to start an intercontinental race war. Two years ago, there were three murders attached to them, including Blaze, whose death brought them to the EBI’s Attention.” A wedding photo of the stallion in question, kissing his husband Jade, is shown on the hologram, while a red X drawn over Blaze’s head to signify his murder. Biggins gave a sniffle, thinking about the poor widower Blaze’s death left behind, while Diamond simply spat on the ground. Not out of disrespect for the victim, but for seething contempt for the group who carried it out. Buckshot simply gave his brother Biggins a quick shoulder hug and a pat on the back before continuing with the briefing. “Unfortunately it gets worse. At the start of 2020, 5 more arrests for murder were made. This time, however, all 5 victims appeared in a list by a Cloudsdale journalist named Andy Quill. He lives at 482 Horseshoe lane, I’ll get a no-knock warrant from the local magistrate, Lance Corporal Diamond will secure us transport that will allow us to transport our weapons easily, Sgt Biggins will take inventory of and if necessary, stock up on medical supplies, Corporal Talon will scout out the address and keep watch, and lastly, Nessassio will be in charge of finding a safe house for us to interrogate Andy at. Time is of the essence, so we need to pitter-patter, any questions?” It was at this point Corporal Talon raised their hoof. “Do we still have time to attend my son's birthday party?” He asked, speaking with a kind of cadence that would suggest he was on the spectrum, I understood why he was so quiet, but I made a mental note of his possible feud with Diamond. Maybe this mission will help bring some of the older members closer together as well as get me to establish myself in the squad better. Buckshot regretfully started to say “No” before he saw his brother Biggens get pouty faced before Buckshot grumbled out a “Yes”. I looked over to Talon again, and he gave a sincere smile. Buckshot looked down to compose himself before looking back up. “If there are no further questions, you are all dismissed. Talon’s address is 132, Shiloh FireBase. I’ll see you at the party”, Concluded Buckshot.

With the briefing drawn to a close, the lights returned and everyone began to shuffle out of the room, including the director. The only people left was me, still too shocked to move at the idea of getting a promotion this big, and Staff Sergeant Buckshot. Buckshot sat at the other end of the table and asked “It’s a lot to take in, ain’t it?” I nodded yes, with a bit of hesitation. He took off his beret, placing it on the table, before looking at me and telling me “I wouldn’t have picked you for this job if I didn’t think you were qualified. I picked you for this job not because you’re the strongest, fastest, or even the smartest. I picked you because you understand what it means to be a family. After all, you have connections, and you have guts. All we need is a place where we can rest, regroup, and maybe interrogate in safety. I’m sure you had a place where you and your friends would get high together. Even something as simple as that will do.” He said before giving me a salute and walking off. With that, I took a deep breath and left the room. I suppose I get to leave work now since all my other possible cases are small potatoes compared to this. As soon as I left the meeting room I audibly and visibly cheered with the most overjoyed excitement and walked with a pep in my step, every step I took, getting me closer to the car.

2: The Birthday

Today has been going awesome. Not only did I get to smack some sense into that idiot of an armorer, I got promoted for accidentally being brash over the microphone, made a new family, get to help take part in saving a balefire spell from falling into the wrong hooves, and not only do I get to live on my terms, the radio playing ‘It’s My Life’ is even agreeing with me. What can I say? My life’s just as good when I was still living on a prayer. I chuckle at my bad joke, my mind is the only place I get to enjoy coming up with these bad puns. A time like this requires a little celebration. When I came to a red light, I looked over both shoulders, like I’m about to do something I know is naughty and I know it. I reach into my glovebox and grab three things between my talons: a humidor, a lighter, and a flask. I set the items down on my passenger seat, the humidor, and lighter I stuff into the pockets of my navy blue cargo pants. If I’m going to be risking my neck and get paid Special Forces Salary, I deserve to upgrade to cigars. The flask I unscrew the cap off of, pouring about a shot’s worth of Mac Daniels Whiskey into my Tim Hoofton’s coffee. Yes, I know we all shouldn’t drink and drive, but one shot never hurt anyone. I waft a bit of the steam over to my nose, an oaky blend with the already warm, cleansing smell of a dark roast coffee. It’s of things that reminded me of better times with my girlfriend Aurora. It’s what I had made over the fire of our first-anniversary trip. The warmth of a crackling fire, the beautiful starry night, and the warmth and connection of sharing that drink under one long blanket. Even though we, unfortunately, got toxic and had to break it off, I was sorry for what I did. Not just hitting her, but everything bad I did leading up to it like neglecting her for my job. I was so desperately trying to live a better life, I forgot to live it. Traffic seemed to slow to a crawl, while the radio then started playing Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, as more and more happy memories of the good times we had begun to play in my mind. Even now, I ask you, “If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?” As I began to finish my drink, the approaching light switched to yellow and the song began to draw to a close. I set the empty coffee cup down, pull myself out of memory lane, and continue driving. Eventually, I reach the gated community that Talon’s family lived in. The guard was wearing the standard ceremonial gold armor, but make no mistake, they know how to shoot to kill. Every one of them actively served tours in Saddle Arabia and got protecting gated communities like this as a sort of retirement job.

I flashed my EBI badge to the guard and he let me in, before I pulled up in front of the house, double-checking the address to make sure I was at the right house. As soon as I step in I see Diamond and Biggins arm wrestling in the dining room table, both of them with war faces so scary they alone could require destructive device permits.

Biggins snarled “Had Enough?”

“Not even close”, retorted Diamond.

Still deadlocked, they both reached for a 2-liter bottle of sarsaparilla root beer, Biggins struggled a bit with the unscrewing, but Diamond was able to unscrew hers very easily.

“Phase two of the challenge begins, first one to finish chugging their drink wins the arm wrestle too” boasted Diamond, clearly the amazon of a pegasus is always ready to rip, and is more than capable of holding her own against Biggins.

“Are you sure this here’s a good idea?” Asked Biggins nervously, following it by explaining “All that sugar isn’t going to be healthy for us when we need to be at our fittest and strongest”.

“Come on, we’re all gonna die someday, why don’t we live little, unless you’re too chicken to try and live little.” Retorted Diamond, clearly trying to get under Biggins not-so-thick skin. She’s the kind to fight dirty, even if there is nothing to gain from it other than pride.

“Just so you know, I think you’d be a bad role model for being so reckless,” said Biggins in a tone that felt like he was trying to be mean but just didn’t quite get the hang of it.

“And I could say the same for you for being so scared.” Barked Diamond in response before challenging him again by asking “How will your kids believe you’re a veteran if you’re too scared to make this interesting?”

The two then started chugging sarsaparilla and with no more conversation, I was done here. I decided to look out the window and saw Buckshot frying some burgers in the barbecue while Talon was playing water polo with his son. I felt so lonely and out of place at this party, I had to go to the bathroom to collect my thoughts.

I shut the door and pressed my back up against the door, slowly sliding to the ground. I haven’t been to a party in 10 years, ever since I started working as a special agent, because I had no idea how to party sober. Soon a feeling of dread began to tug at my guts, as the social anxiety was too intense. But then, I had a brilliant idea! I opened the door to the medicine cabinet and began perusing all the drugs, looking for anything that would give me a much needed high. Eventually, I found something that would work, Concerta, 54mg pills. I took one out and chewed it thoroughly before washing it down with a glass of water. My mouth was thoroughly numb and tingly, but I assume that was a good sign. I decided to do my business in the bathroom while I waited for the high to kick in, shouldn’t be that long, especially since Concerta is mostly filler to delay it so it gives a boost throughout the day.

When I walked out, I felt amazing. Like I was finally ready to party. I walked outside to the backyard where everyone was eating burgers, and a spot was set aside for me. Everyone was talking and eating, I didn’t want to disturb them too much so I pretty much just sat down and horked down my food, and oh my gosh, there are no words to describe how good Buckshot is on the grill. The burger patties were seared but still juicy and medium-rare, the white melted cheddar added a layer of savory, the crunchy bacon provided another flavourful packet of fatty tastiness, the toasted buns gave the sandwich an amazing texture, and last but certainly not least, barbecue sauce and garlic aioli brought everything together. Forget drugs, I should’ve been a cook! Like Oliver Twist, I looked Buckshot in the eyes and asked, in the best posh accent I could muster when high as a kite, “Please sir, may I have some more?” Buckshot smiled pleasantly and got up to fry me a couple more, whereas Biggins simply grew worried like he was able to read how high I was. My eyes darted rapidly trying to scan the room, why did I think popping a pill was a good idea? I just found a new family and blew it by getting high. I nervously gulp and shrink in my spot. I was however snapped out of it by the sudden firm embrace of Diamond. I looked over to her and she said “because you seemed to have trouble socializing, I figured we’d play a game of laser tag at the rec center on base. You in?” I nodded with extreme enthusiasm! I was so worried about being included and these wonderful ponies thought of me!

My excitement and heart rate kept climbing as we drove over to the rec center. I was craving water by the bucket and burning up, so I figured it would be a good idea to hydrate. I drank water for literally a minute straight. The cool water, with the ever familiar refreshing feeling of metal washing down my overheating throat, oh my god does it feel so amazing! Someone should watch out, I might become addicted to water next. Like a blur, the boring bits went by quickly. The lights proceeded to dim, I got my gear and attached gun setup, I was given a minute to hide. When my minute was up, Darude’s Sandstorm started playing as the laser lights came on. I felt nauseous as the music, lights, and mental state triggered a flashback to a rave in Cloudsdale, one where a drug deal went seriously wrong. I couldn’t turn my back on my friends who thought to include me by planning something for all of us to do, so instead, I let go, I embrace my fear and I embrace my fight or flight urge, going all the way into ‘fight’. Reality flashes before me to the rave shootout; the barricades flashing into tipped over tables, and my laser gun fading in as a Glock 13. I never stopped running and shooting, sometimes I even bore down on the trigger, setting it to full auto, and got a few kills. However, just when the song ends, I begin to feel dizzy. Reality flashing back to me, I fall to my talons and knees, the oppressive heat of running around shooting everything with a laser gun was setting in. I wasn’t able to keep myself awake much longer, and blackness took me.

Soon, however, I scrambled awake in Talon's place. I was naked with an ice-pack on my head and a metal barf basin by my bed. I scrambled into an upright position before the lights flicked on and revealed Biggins had been watching over me. “Are you okay there partner?” The shaggy maned gentle giant asked. I simply nodded, turned to face the wall, and just focus on my breathing, hoping to just outlast the bad feelings. When at that point, Biggins sat on my bed and placed a hoof on my shoulder, his hard digits resting firmly on my exposed shoulder, and then clarified in a soft tone “I meant, is everything alright with your thinking noodle?” I looked over at him in confusion. Not because I didn’t understand his country-ism, but because no one cared about my mental health before. Biggins reached into a pocket on his ballistic vest and pulled out a rectangular box labelled ‘Narcan’ and then went on to explain “I and Buckshot have been through a lot together, stuff that ‘never happened’, stuff he has trouble to cope with. So I pack extra painkillers as well as some of this here Narcan so he always has a safe fix available, and always able to save him from an overdose.” Biggins places the syringe in front of me and continued with “Nowadays, Buckshot smokes some of that fancy-schmancy zeeb weed, but that’s only cause it’s even safer than popping pain pills. The point I’m trying to make is whatever you need to do to cope with your past we’ll support you 100%. We’re family after all.” He got off the bed and turned the light off, saying “I also never seen anypony shoot like that in laser tag. You even managed to beat Diamond, our regular ol’ Annie Oakley. You’re a good’ un, hoss.” Before Biggins left the room. I put the Narcan syringe on the night table next to the bed. Even if I never use it, I’ll keep it as a token I’ll always be loved here, no matter what I do. For the first time in a while, I went to sleep with a genuine smile.

3: The Favour

Head pounding from the night before, I soon woke up. Feeling a wretch in my stomach, I immediately reached over the bed and threw up in the vomit basin. As I haven't eaten anything in 12 hours, it was the worst kind of vomit, a mostly dry wretch. The sphincters of my esophagus were intended to contract that way. Or was it relax? I'm not too sure, I didn't take biology in grades 11 and 12, for obvious reasons. As I reached for my phone, my hoof grazed the Narcan syringe that Biggins had given me, I had a faint smile across my face as I thought back to how happy I was the night before. I resolved to clean my basin up, make my bed, and shower before I did anything else. Biggins' kindness seems to have stuck with me, it made me want to be a better person.

Making my way up to the bathroom quietly, I opened the door, but to my surprise, Diamond was in there completely naked and admiring herself in the mirror. I wanted to look away for politeness's sake, but the truth is I couldn't help but admire her beautifully sculpted, and maybe if I'm lucky, choke on her girl cock and squeeze her muscular breasts. My erotic fantasies however were interrupted by diamond asking me in an alluring tone "You like what you see?" There was no answer I could say that wouldn't sound insanely awkward at this particular moment, all that came out of my mouth was audible hesitation. She simply smiled and walked out of the bathroom, and I might've imagined this last part but I could've sworn she slapped my ass with her tail on the way out.

Stepping in the shower, I turned on the hot water, trying to take my mind off of what had happened. Not because I didn't find her hot, to the contrary, I found her to be one of, if not THE sexiest mare I had ever laid eyes on. But I knew I wouldn't be a good boyfriend to her. It would only end up like how my relationship with Aurora did, with her cheating on me, me hitting her, and the both of us breaking up. It would only hurt our unit in the long term, so it would be best that my fantasies remain fantasies, for now at least. Maybe Biggins can help me sort through these feelings too.

As I finished up in the shower and dried myself off, I went back down to my room and got dressed in my new equipment. I put the Narcan injector in a pocket on my ballistic vest, in a slot close to my heart for sentimental reasons. I picked up my phone and searched through my contacts to see if any of my old friends would pick up and I'd be able to cash in a favour for the safehouse that Buckshot needed me to find. As I began looking through the list, however, this became even more difficult to accomplish. Feather Breeze was in jail, Tiger Wing was shot dead last year, Angel Dust OD'ed on his supply, the only person left was the pony who Aurora cheated on, A griffon known as Iron Loyalty.

laying down on my bed, I covered my face with the pillow in frustration, the only person able to help me was the same guy who seduced Aurora into cheating for me. I was so angry at him, but also myself for putting myself in a difficult position. But on the other hand, there's a reason he's known as Iron Loyalty. I hid under my blanket and checked the photos I had of me and the gang, all the way back to me and Iron Loyalty in the Royal Equestrian Cavalry Police, sharing the same graduation photo when he graduated Valedictorian, pouring his heart and soul into his studies, whereas I simply got by on just listening and doing pretty okay on tests. I knew how to come out on top with minimal effort, so it was no surprise I'm the one who put our original gang together.

after a brief moment of hesitation, I decided to call him up, it was worth a shot if Buckshot needed my help, and it was worth the risk to my pride. I hit the "send call" button on his contact info page. It went straight to voicemail. I swallowed and spoke out "Hey, Iron? It's me, Diamond. I know when we last spoke, it was not on good terms, because not only did you cheat on my marefriend with me, you got most of our friends either arrested or killed. I won't pretend to have forgiven you, I am nowhere even close to that, but you told me when your witness protection deal was sealed, I would owe you one favour, that no matter what bad blood may lie between us, I can always call in. Well, I've recently been promoted to an EDF JSOC Team, and my commander, SSG Buckshot. He's a chill guy, and if you're in a particularly rough spot, he will welcome you with open arms if you have any actionable intel on the Balefire Division. I know you were in contact with them on the night of the club shootout, so you'll know that you can't simply lie your way out of this. If you can't stand to see my face and need to stay hidden, that's okay too. As long as you leave your house unlocked and abandoned, at least for a day, then that will also suffice. Please, whatever you can do, I will accept it. Thank you, if this succeeds, then you will have stayed true to your name, for still carrying out this favour is a sign of true iron loyalty." I said as I pressed the red hangup button.

With a heavy heart, I opened a window, lit a cigar and started composing an intelligence briefing that we will review in transit to our destination. I composed a file detailing everything I knew about Iron Loyalty because I knew that starting tomorrow, my fate would be in both Buckshot and Iron Loyalty's hands, and I hope that they both see that I can contribute to this newfound family.

2013, September 26, 07:00

Back then, I was just a lowly cop in Cloudsdale. At this point, I and Iron had been roommates for several years and we were both trying to get a paycheck bonus so we can start investing rather than just living paycheck to paycheck. I walked into the car with our food, passed Iron his while I took us to go do another stakeout at the air docks. I was eating a chicken bacon ranch melt, toasted on flatbread, a classic staple for me. Iron Loyalty on the other hoof was more of an untoasted cold cut kind of guy. In other words, he was straight-laced and uninteresting when on the clock, he took his job way too seriously.

After about half an hour of idle chit chat, we saw the crate we were staking out open up, as a police cruiser without their lights on pull up to it. "you didn't call for backup did you, Ness?"

"No, I did not, I'll try and ID the officers in question," I said, zooming in with my binoculars. "It's Officer Thorny Talon, why is he trying to bust them?" I continued to watch as he proceeded to beat all of them with his nightstick, taking major deviations from procedure. I immediately knew what this was, Thorny Talon was shaking them down.

Iron Loyalty looked over to me, “Should I report it into Internal Affairs?” He asked.

Pondering my response with cold calculating precision, I replied “If we do that, at worst he’ll get a warning and the security will increase. I say, we take him out and replace him. We’ll be reducing police brutality, AND we’ll both get richer.” A devious smile crossed my young face, turning to Iron Loyalty. “THAT is the Cloudsdale way to get even, that’s the way you can become the rich, successful business griff you wanted to be, and I can be the ruthless, cutthroat, defender of the weak I wanted to be. So what do you say, wanna make the plan official?”

Iron Loyalty hesitated a bit on the shake, but I could see it clear as day it’s what he wanted. Soon, he took my talon and shook it. That was the moment we went from being friends to becoming brothers. We made a pact that we will never rat anyone out, no matter what the world might throw at us, and that we would always operate with everyone's interests in mind, especially the public's.

The first thing we needed to do was find someone who would be able to get Thorny Talon into a vulnerable position. We decided to move the location of our stakeout to a strip club that Iron knew of, called 'Summer Heat'. It was the preying grounds for a local pimp, a pegasus known as Valentine. He had been on the police department radar for quite some time, unfortunately, we've been trying to catch him in a sting op. Prostitution, gambling, drug trafficking, but he always has a way of telling the difference between genuine desperation and feigned desperation, so me and Iron to go about this differently.

Pulling the car into an alley next to the strip club, I had the intent to keep this relatively discreet as well as to box Valentine in. I opened the trunk of the car and pulled out the service shotgun I always loved to use during practice, my good ol' Kel-Tec KSG, screwed the suppressor on and made sure only the slug chamber would be used, shotgun suppressors don't work too well with buckshot, which is kind of ironic that Buckshot is the leader of our special ops unit, but that's a story for later.

waiting for hours, I had a couple of call-ins, I only answered that I was still in the stakeout. Not technically a lie, so I at least had an alibi. Soon, the silence was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. I ducked for cover, holding my shotgun close to me, and I listened carefully to what was going on, I had to be sure this was Valentine before I acted. "You know the deal slut, you want some of my coke, you need to pleasure my cock first." From there, I could hear a struggle going on and tearful pleas for help.

Peering around the corner to check to see if it was Valentine, I saw a pink pegasus with a cavalier hat and an equally outrageous feather in it, heart-shaped cutie mark, and his profile from this angle was a dead ringer from the mugshot for the few brief arrests he had. I had steadied my shotgun, watching it through the shotgun sights made my anger feel all the more justified, I signed up to put sickos like him a body bag. I aimed for the head and squeezed the trigger, smiling as I watched his brains splatter out of his skull from the shotgun slug. I got such an incredible rush from this, I managed to save a life, and just got the perfect loyal pawn to help me overthrow the corrupt cops in my department.

Gently approaching the crying mare, I noticed she was a much brighter magenta than Valentine was, and yes, that was after factoring how he was now soaked in his blood. I also noticed that she looked a bit different for a pegasus, I couldn't put my hoof on it, but I soon figured out it was because she was half bison. Lowering my shotgun, I asked her in the most genuinely caring and compassionate tone I knew, in rapid succession, "Are you, okay miss? Do you have a name? Where do you live?"

Between her tearful sobs, she slowly began to compose herself, saying "I-I'm okay, I think. My name's Aurora, and y-yeah, I lived at what used to be his place, I'll show you to it."

"Aurora? You're safe with me now aurora, come, I'll take you there." I said, holding her close in my hooves. I returned my shotgun to the car and got her a blanket she could cover herself in for warmth, comfort, and modesty, while I got her seated in the back-set of my cruiser. I told Iron Loyalty to collect evidence for a rape kit from the corpse so we have an alibi just in case our bosses find out.

2020, July 25, 16:00

Giving my careful instructions to buckshot, I had briefed him on where to find the safe house. Sure enough, it was exactly as Iron Loyalty promised to have left it. It was unlocked, but he was nowhere in sight. Buckshot nodded, impressed with me "Well hogtie, butcher me and have me for Hearth's Warming Eve dinner. This is a pretty great safe house. Not only is it going to be rife with intel, has a spot to do our interrogations, it's also a very defensible and very swanky home for our operations in Cloudsdale. Good on ya, Ness. I knew we could count on you." Said Buckshot, with a visible, cocky smile. I simply returned a salute and told me "At ease, we'll get set up in our rooms when soon enough, but you Ness, get the first pick." I smiled brilliantly, I ran upstairs to quickly drop my bag off in my old bedroom.

Opening the door, I took a look around. The furniture in the room is exactly how I left it, and even had posters from the bands I was obsessed with back then. Especially Bon Jovi. I had gotten that poster from a collector's seat that was halfway between a floor seat and a nosebleed seat, and it would be quite a difficult possession to replace if it wasn't.

Stretching back, I laid on my bed, now dusty and dried with who knows what kinds of fluid. At the very least, I'll be given a chance to right the wrongs of my past in here, and I won't leave Cloudsdale until I accomplish that, no ifs, and, or buts. "This is how we get even in Cloudsadale."

4: Calm Before the Storm

Awaking in my bed, I was filled with nervous anticipation on the day of the briefing for the raid on Andy Quill's residence. I was almost literally chomping at the bit with anticipation for the upcoming action, trotting in place to get the blood flowing for some early morning callisthenics. Afterward, however, I took a look out my window and saw Diamond doing some Close Quarters Battle drills, I figured she could use a sparring partner so I opened the window and hopped down.

"Hey, you ready to knock some sense into the target?" I asked her as I approached, cracking my neck.

"I was born ready, sweetheart." Said Diamond, firing off a roundhouse kick straight at my head.

"Oh, yeah? Where were you born?" I asked, weaving under Diamond, giving her a 'come get some' gesture in response. She smirked, at the idea of getting a competent sparring partner.

"Mean streets of Cloudsdale, making money off of pimping my two girls, Noelle and Molly." Diamond said, giving me a one-two punch. those are presumably the nicknames of her fists, based off of that little remark.

"So, taking dives?" I asked in a cocky tone, having blocked both punches with relatively straight forward ease.

At that moment, like a strike of lightning, she headbutted me in the sternum, knocking the wind out of me and sending tumbling to the ground. she cheekily remarks "No, winning them." She offers me a strong hoof, adding "I assume you'll want me to take point then?"

Grumbling, I take her hoof, getting back up. "Yeah, but I'll be the first to ask him questions", I say with a snarl. "I know how to get weaklings like him to break with relative ease."

“Oh yeah?” Diamond asked, folding her muscular arms and giving a cocky smirk. “What makes you think you’re tough enough to do that? I bet you’re not even brave enough to wear a dress on this mission.”

Dumbfounded by that dare, I replied “Really? You wanna pull a stunt like that on the mission?” I gave an incredulous eye roll. I’m always willing to follow through on a dare, but really, a mission that is critical to national security is not the time to mess around.

“Really.” She said, her smile turning into genuine elation. “The van that Talon was able to secure was an old news van, so I said I’d go in as a reporter, and if you’re brave enough to spend time with, you won’t object to me prettying you up so you can pose as my equally beautiful camerawoman. That is if you are brave enough.” Diamond says, playfully elbowing me in the chest, my diaphragm seizing up reflexively from her earlier headbutt.

“Okay, sure, you got yourself a deal then, may the best stallion, or, mare, win,” I say, with a bit of confusion about the social protocol, but I finish with a badass lean against the wall and folding my arms. There’s never a wrong time to try something new, so I am going to do that at the briefing today.

Diamond burst out laughing. “Okay, I can’t believe I managed to get you to agree to that,” after a few seconds she was able to recompose herself, grabbing my hand arm firmly and rushing me in the kitchen with excitement. “Come, I’ll make us a drink I invented called a cherry bomb. It’s a rum and cherry cola.” Admittedly, that did sound like an interesting combination, and sure, I’m a special forces guy, if I want to drink in the morning, I can. It’s always afternoon somewhere right?

We went into the safehouse, I sat at the table while she poured me got two glasses and poured both of us a cherry bomb each. She picked hers up and held it from under, giving a kind of rough sophistication to her. “So, we’ll have to coordinate our colors, guess us girls get to have a briefing of our own huh?” She asked with another heartfelt giggle, I simply rolled my eyes let out a quiet groan. For some reason I didn’t quite object to being called a girl, perhaps it didn’t register in my mind at the moment?

Soon, however, Diamond was able to recollect herself and start talking with a slightly more serious tone. "Sorry, but yeah, I'm gonna go with a teal dress and some teal eyeliner, I think for you, we'd best go with a red dress and eyeliner, plus some grooming. I'm not a plastic surgeon, but I can get you close enough he'll be none the wiser." Diamond took a sip from her glass before continuing. "Plus, worse comes to worst, we'll have the camera running at all times, he won't be liable to risk criticizing us on camera, and we can blackmail him for the information from there. Trust me, video evidence of him calling bullshit on us is not going to look good for his journalistic career." Diamond set her glass down on the table before asking me "what do you think?"

My first reaction was to drink the contents of my glass in one big gulp, Diamond appeared incredulous and poured me another. "Okay, first of all, we don't have enough time to chop off my McNuggets in a way that won't cause systemic shock," I chug my drink again before I resume speaking, "and secondly, isn't hormone therapy dangerous? I don't want to endanger my long term ability to serve this unit or stress biggins out anymore..." My thoughts were interrupted as Diamond proceeded to grab my hoof, and I could instantly feel myself calm down.

"Relax, you're taking this way too far. Not all trans ponies take hormones." Diamond said, before giving a sly, blushy grin. "Plus, as I'm sure you saw, some of us are quite fine with our anatomy, cause I certainly am." She let go of me and screwed the caps on to both of her beverages. "We shouldn't get too wasted, we'll need to be able to stay sober long enough for the briefing. We'll discuss what we'll do for dresses after." Diamond said, getting up from her seat and walking off with her glass bottles in hand.

However, I simply moved on over to the worn-out sofa and thought about what Diamond had told me, having brought back a memory of Aurora in the process. I was sitting in the back of the cruiser, next to Aurora. I was trying my hardest at this point to try and cheer her up from her horrific night a few days, and despite it all, she seemed to be getting worse and worse despite my best efforts to try and cheer her up. How I would lash out at her for never appreciating my attempts ar what I thought was kindness, trying to make her life better. I burst into tears thinking about how I treated her.

Soon I was able to wipe the tears away because that’s when it dawned on me. I did genuinely treasure those moments with her, where I did her makeup for hours sometimes, always wanting to go dress shopping with her, and the happy moments were genuinely happy. Maybe Diamond is on to something, maybe I have been burying myself for far too long, perhaps embracing this new side of me could help me out so much in being the pony that deserved Aurora.

After a minute or so, I took my seat at the dining room table, I was grateful it was dusted off by now. I had never realized how much I missed the rich, dark mahogany wood, or the cushioned oak seats. Our Commander Buckshot, however, took the largest chair available for himself, a big, pointy, master-crafted, slightly bejewelled oak and fabric chair, the kind that would sell who was in charge of this household. And even though I once sat in that chair, there is no one I'd want to see sit in that chair right now more than Buckshot.

"Listen up boys and girls. This is what Corporal Talon was able to gather from last night's reconnaissance, seems SEALs like him don't need to sleep much after all." Buckshot said in an authoritative tone as he placed a dossier of digital photos on the table, all of them consisting of everything we knew on Andy Quill's place of residence, mainly photos of ingress or egress points, such as doors and windows of all stories, but it also included all the building schematics.

"The good news is that the no-knock warrant was given the all-clear by the magistrate" Said Biggins in a reassuring tone. Buckshot patted him on the head, while Biggins simply smiled in a manner that caused his eyes to scrunch up in a super cute manner, it made me smile seeing these two brothers be so close with one another, it seems Biggins was right that Buckshot needs this little beacon of joy in his life.

"The bad news, however..." Buckshot began to say, as Corporal Talon quietly pulled more photos out from the folder. Photos of armed gun-mares, adorned in Nightmare Moon iconography, entering the house. There are also photos of chemicals I've never seen before. Phosphoric rocks, carbon, silica. There is no drug I know of that could be made with that, not even desperate meth-heads have tried that, and believe me, if you knew about any combination of the household ingredients that go into making crystal meth, you wouldn't want to get even remotely close to any weirdos missing their teeth.

Buckshot simply gave a nod to Talon as he recollected his thoughts to resume the briefing. "The bad news, however, is that The Balefire Division just moved into our AO, and shot Andy Quill dead." Most of the room gasped at the sudden wrench thrown into their plans, except of course for Diamond who simply smashed her hooves on the table in anger. I, however, simply stood there in shock. Did Iron Loyalty truly betray me? Did I compromise the mission? Soon the briefing table erupted into a blur of fears, anger, and accusations. I sat there quietly, believing I was the one responsible for this.

As the world was beginning to feel hazy from all the stress, everything stopped with a deafening loud bang, we looked towards Buckshot's table, where was standing up, glaring at all of us, smoke faintly rising from his pistol barrel, before he holstered it and resumed the meeting. "Irrespective of how y'all might think there was some kind of leak, we have no evidence of one yet, aside from us here at this here very table, the Director is the only other pony in the know about this op, so it sure as heck ain't him, who tipped them off. As far as we can tell, this was just an unfortunate complication. As I'm sure you're well aware, these things happen in the field sometimes." Said Buckshot, allowing me to exhale as I could feel my anxieties slipping away from me, I'm glad to have a leader who has got everyone's interests at heart.

Buckshot continued with “Our Rules of Engagement only allow one pony in the building.” Buckshot then turned to me and said “Ness, as you are a shotgun expert, you are our best bet for infiltrating. Everyone else will flank around the house and act as your eyes and ears. We need you to isolate and capture the cell leader alive. When you have the cell leader secure, we will fire at will. You are to fire only as a last resort. Understood?” I nodded yes, this was a huge responsibility but I felt confident in my abilities for once.

"Good. Everyone else, I will mark your positions on the GPS, everyone will enter the position at 20:00 sharp. Make whatever preparations you need to in the meantime, but whatever happens, we cannot, and I mean cannot miss our window, otherwise, we might end up screwing the pooch and see Equestria brought to the brink of mega-spell warfare. We'll split up just in the very unlikely chance there is a leak, but everyone is to be radio-ready no matter what, otherwise we might assume something went wrong. Dismissed" said Buckshot, concluding in an authoritative yet caring tone.

With that, I headed up to my room to pack a duffel bag full of the only two things I'd need. My shotgun, a crowbar, and a few fast-changing mags in both buckshot and slugs, while keeping my lucky dragon's breath shell wrapped around my neck for safekeeping. Every major drug deal or other close calls, I've always kept this sweet baby close, just in case I'm scared for my life and need to torch a mother fucker.

As I was locked and loaded and ready for battle, several hours before I needed to even leave, I let my mind wander. It kept coming back to my conversation with Diamond earlier this morning, and after a bit more thinking, a dress would in theory make a lot of sense for what I would be doing. it would be loose, comfy, keep my legs free, as well as just generally taking the heat away from me, Celestia-forbid, we do get compromised. They'll be looking for a mare, not a stallion like me.

Walking past a few clothing stores, I was very deliberate. I was trying to see if there was anything in my style. Unfortunately, most of the dresses shown are too lacy for what is essentially a black op. After about an hour of browsing, I finally find something that looks good on me, it's a simple, black, backless dress. I gave it a feel, made of the finest silk. I quickly tried it on and oh my god, there are no words to describe how good it feels on me. This was what I'd wear to my first mission with my EDF teammates. I tied my hair up in a ponytail, and smiled at the beautiful mare and or stallion I was looking at, I even did a few faux kicks and punches I was so excited. I even paired it with some leopard print stockings to highlight these thick, toned legs.

This was the look of an action hero I always wanted to see. I headed out to near the address and waited for the others, I'd mainly be staying out of sight and playing on my phone, but for some reason, I genuinely didn't mind that. I was just happy being me.

5: Baptism of Fire

Time began to pass for me, my earpiece lodged into my ear and connected to my phone and throat mic so I can hear orders I need to follow from Buckshot. With every moment that passed, I felt an overwhelming sense of dread. This wasn't like that shootout in the night club, I could palpably feel my mortality, everything around me began to feel a bit hazy. I pulled my shotgun out of my duffel bag and cradled it. It reminded me of the Rifleman's Creed that Buckshot and Biggins had to repeat, even though this is a shotgun. "This is my shotgun, there are many like it, but this one is mine," I say quietly to myself, my anxiety fading away as I remember all the training sessions I had back at the academy with it, how I used to it meet the true love of my life, one I would do anything to get back. "My shotgun is my best friend. I must master it as I must master life"

"Without me, my rifle is useless," said Buckshot over the net, causing me to instantly pivot and aim my shotgun in a panic until I took a second to calm myself.

"Without a functioning heart, I am useless," I said in a grumbly tone, as I could hear Buckshot chuckling like a teenage stallion who just spray painted a dick onto a school wall, chuckling with one of the lowest kinds of immaturity.

"Easy there, Ness," said Biggins in a calming tone. "Remember, we all cope in our ways, this is one of the ways my brother does."

"If it helps steady your nerves, you look pretty good in that dress," added Diamond.

Taking a deep breath, I answered back "Thanks, yeah that does help." I smiled quietly to myself as I began to feel more confident in myself like I actually could take on everyone in this house with everyone here providing overwatch. "Approaching the rear garden from the west alley, cover me while I breach," I said, quietly.

"Copy, I got you on thermal," said Talon, giving me the clear to reach for my crowbar, digging into the lock before prying the lock off its hinges with one quick shove.

Gingerly pushing open the gate, I pulled my shotgun back up and began quietly advancing to the house. I could feel my heart racing as I approached. My trigger finger felt twitchy, but I made sure to practice diligent trigger discipline in my mind as I advanced, this is the last time I would ever want to have a negligent discharge. As I approached quietly, I heard the sharp, crisp crack of a twig snap. "movement in the garden" I said as I scanned around with my gun nervously before I hear a much wetter crack and a whoosh as I saw an earth pony fall.

"Target dropped," said Talon. I approached the former pony to see if he was still breathing, but he wasn't. Not with that hole, Talon blew into his heart. I investigated the rest of the garden to make sure there weren't any more surprises. I looked at the two-story house, but it also had a basement. I quietly approached the door and got in a position to breach. I put my ear to the wall to see if I can hear anything, and sure enough, I heard hoof steps. M eyes went wide and I hugged the wall. "Contact on another side of the door, about to be made," I said in a hurried but still hushed tone. As soon as I finished my sentence I shut my eyes and looked away as suppressed gunfire ripped through the door, I was hyperventilating for a good second, before it got quiet again, listening for any kind of disturbance erratically. Again, nothing. "Moving interior," I said, before open the door and stepping inside, so far so good.

Looking down at the body, the one Talon shot dead, I had felt strange being kneedeep in a death like this, but I snap out of it. I look to a door slightly ahead of me on my left. it was the door to the basement, it would be the first place I'll clear out. "Hallway secure, moving downstairs, cover me," I said before Talon gave me the willco.

Opening the door, I promptly headed downstairs. I turned on the lights and looked around. My jaw dropped to the floor at what I saw. "Buckshot, did our intel mention a crack cocaine lab at all? Because I'm seeing at-least a million bits of marching powder and some major freebasing equipment."

"Fuckers are trying to destroy Zebra communities through drug distribution. We have no idea who's supplying, do you think you can figure that out, Ness?" Buckshot asked, clearly angered at this discovery.

"Yeah, one sec," I say, before licking my pinkie and dipping it in the white powder, before pressing it to my lips. They felt tingly and numb, trying to think of all the possible people I've bought drugs from in my past. It was pure, no adulterating chemicals whatsoever, really hard to pin down. At least until I heard movement something drop. "Buckshot, I hear someone hiding down here with me, going to investigate." I say, followed by racking the action of my Kel-Tec. Fortunately, it seemed to work, as I saw two hooves rise out from the corner.

"Ness, is that you?" I hear. The voice made me flashback to everything 7 years ago.

"Iron Loyalty, you son of a bitch." I say, finally seeing his face. "What the hell are you doing working for the Balefire Division?"

"What the hell are you doing raiding the compound dressed like a drag queen?" He asks in a sarcastic tone, followed by butt stroking him in the chest. "Okay, point taken, I'm coming with you."

"Buckshot, we don't have anything on Andy Quill, but we have Iron Loyalty, he'll be more than ready to talk," I say over the com net.

"Roger, exfil and bring him back to the safehouse, we'll take care of him from there, we'll cover you on thermal until you're out of the AO" Buckshot replied.

Putting a bag over Iron Loyalty's head, I slowly but steadily escorted him out of the basement, I made sure he didn't make a single peep. I guided him through several alleys, running him only across quiet, non-busy streets, keeping my head and gun on a swivel, just in case anyone, even a civvie, sees us, I need this go as smoothly as possible.

When I finally felt safe, I told Talon to bring our ride around, for my very first mission, and reuniting with an old ally on uncertain terms, I'd call this mission a success.

When we got back for the interrogation, I was sitting on a chair in the basement. Or as Valentine would've described it, his sex dungeon, I began to shudder from the perverse thoughts that filled my head of what happened down here. I'm 90% sure all of this in a different circumstance would be much more arousing. Unfortunately for Iron, he was stuck with me and Talon and based on the blow torch, popsicle, and raw steak, this is going to be a long and very painful interrogation session. Iron was handcuffed to a wheel, upside down no less, as Corporal talon got the blow torch.

"Let's talk," said Talon, in a surprisingly brooding but for once clear voice. Perhaps he was quoting a movie?

"Talk about what?" asked Iron, in a very nervous tone

"Let's talk about your friends" replied Talon.

"I'm not saying anything, have you seen how well trained Balefire is? Talking to you is gonna get me to end up like Andy Quill" said Iron.

"You don't talk to me, I'll kill you now, Iron" replied Talon. "They pay your rent, your legal bills, you should know something."

It was at this point Corporal Talon turned on the blowtorch. I nervously gulped as this looked like it would be bloody painful for Iron, but I stayed my tongue, I need Iron to believe he's in for a world of hurt.

"2000 degrees, Iron, enough to turn cold steel into butter." Said Talon, with a sadistic grin upon his face. "It won't hurt at first, too hot, you see. The flame sears the nerve endings shut, killing them, you'll go into shock, and all you'll feel is cold." None of what Talon said sounded right, but I'm not about to question a Navy SEAL on their interrogation techniques. "You'll smell burning meat, and then, then, it'll hurt."

At this point Iron Loyalty was pleading for anything else, I had to cover my eyes and ears as the burning pain and then the deafening yell was about to start. I looked down at the ground, but unfortunately, my nose was unprotected from the smell of burning flesh. Oh Celestia, why did we have let my old friend get interrogated by someone willing to go full Zero Dark Thirty to get answers.

After about a couple minutes or so, the screaming stopped. I uncovered my ears to try and hear what Iron would be saying. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, especially to Ness, but it's the truth, alright?" Iron said in a hurried and panicked tone. "The camp is in the Appleoosa Bison Reserve, run by a gang who call themselves the Appleoosan Warrior. This is a tense situation for both of them, it's likely to fall apart with the slightest bit of stress. If you're after Balefire, You'll want to side with the Warriors. Ness remembers his girlfriend Aurora, the one he rescued from valentine and used to help build his little drug ring? She's with the warriors now, if anyone knows anything about what it is you're after, it will be her. That's all I know, please, please let me go."

After that, I began to look up, Iron was surprisingly relatively unharmed. Talon prodded him with the popsicle, took the bag off his face, and forced it into his mouth. Iron's expression turned from abject horror to the flattest surprise ever. I look over to where he had the meat, now a black, inedible piece of well-done leather. Seems Talon is a fan of 2004's Punisher. In all my years of drug dealing, I had never seen anything that remotely devious or cruel. And on second thought, it's probably a bit of both. "Nessassio, he's all yours, if you want anything to say to your old partner." Said Talon, before walking up the staircase and leaving the two of us to talk alone.

"So I bet you have a lot of questions, Nessie." Said Iron, as I slowly walked over. Without saying a word, I punched that fucker in the nuts as hard as I could, causing Iron to flinch as hard as he could, making him feel nauseous. "What the hell, is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"Friend? The last memory I ever have of you is Aurora telling me she slept with", I retorted in anger, before punching him in the stomach, causing him to throw up. "followed by our meeting in that night-club, trying to get me to strike a deal with the Balefire Division, followed by you leaving, and then trying to kill me." I gave him one final punch in the jaw for good measure to snap him out from his vomit induced stupor before letting him explain himself.

"Okay, I probably deserve that. But I didn't think I was doing anything wrong!" Iron exclaimed in response. "You always told me that you didn't want to touch any of the money those 'trannies' touched when Aurora was helping to build up our prostitution and extortion racket, you were soooo focused on the drug selling aspect, 'It's where the money is', 'it's more ethical than collecting from prostitutes'", said Iron, adding air quotes with his semi-free talons when appropriate to denote the disdain he had for my opinions back then. "so if you want me to tell you anything about why I did what I did, you better cough up an answer to last night's question, 'why the hell were you raiding the Bale Fire compound dressed like a drag queen?'" Asked Iron, barely hiding the venom in his voice with his question.

There was no easy response to that, that's one thing I always admired about Iron Loyalty, he always knew just how to ask the hard questions I needed to hear. I simply collapsed into a sitting position against the wall as I tried to articulate a response to his question. "I honestly don't know why I said those awful things I said, I don't," I said, shaking my head and clutching my face as if I'm about to start crying. "I think I had my demons I was trying to hide from, that I was trying to deny deep down that they even existed, and I started taking it on innocent ponies who just happened to fall into sex work, and all they wanted was to be true to themselves." I soon broke down in tears, crying for a bit, before I wiped the tears away and perked up a bit. "Wait, was Aurora uncomfortable with what I was saying? Was she trans too?"

"Yes", replied Iron. "Well, she's two-spirit, sorta different, but at the same time sorta related. the reason she slept with me, is because you seemed so absent like you didn't want anything to do with her, despite the fact you told her constantly that you ostensibly loved her. Every time you had a major argument, she believed it less and less. And when I told her about the Balefire division approaching me, she couldn't go with me, but she wanted to say goodbye and break up with you, so we kissed, and before I knew what happened, that kiss became so much more" said Iron.

At that point, I began to recompose myself and began to undo the restraints on Iron. "The Balefire division will want you dead after this Iron, despite how mad I might've been at you, you're still my brother. On that day when we noticed the officers taking bribes, I knew there was only one pony I could trust more than myself, and that is you. I'll tell Buckshot you'll be dead without us, so you wanna come with, I'll even find you a spare sleeping bag." I said, before finally undoing the last restraint, and having Iron collapse to the ground in near exhaustion. On his hands and knees, I offer him my talon and him "So what do you say?"

He took my hand and pulled me into a hug, before letting go. "I say, thank you."

Going to sleep shortly after that for the night and waking up at 8 am, a bit groggy, I reached for the glass of water on my nightstand. A minute after I come to, I notice the smell of weed filled the room “Buckshot, sir?” I ask, before blinking a few times and readjusting my vision. There I simply saw my old friend Buckshot smoking a joint, perched on the window sill, and watching the sunrise.

Iron seemed a bit somber, there wasn’t much I could think of to say right now, aside from getting a cigar from my humidor and join him, just for old time’s sake. I sat next to him, lit up and took a puff, and looked on beside him as Celestia's rays broke through Cloudsdale once more. Iron was completely silent, It's probably still hard for him to adjust to just how suddenly his life just changed. I reached an arm over his shoulder and pulled him to my side for a hug. Even though he was still quiet, he returned the caring embrace and pulled me closer to. "I'm sorry for the horrible person I was. I know I can't possibly go back to make it right, but maybe together, we can at least strive to make it better." I said, hesitation filling my every word as I reflect upon last night, and especially the times we had 7 years ago. "come, I bet Biggins is making a big breakfast for your big day." Iron simply looked over to me quietly and nodded. With that, I let go of him and turned around to head downstairs, deciding to wait for him by having a chat with Biggins and Buckshot first.

As I walked down the stairs, the smell of bacon and eggs began to waft through the halls up to my nose. It was a very pleasant and relaxing smell. I decided to check the pot of coffee, seeing Diamond busy at work trying to figure out how to operate the Tassimo. I simply chuckled, not even I could figure it out, always had to get someone else to help me do it for me. I simply patted Diamond's back reassuringly, she'll figure it out eventually I'm sure, she's a smart but also a very strong gal.

My ears soon turned to the sound of sizzling and walked past Biggins frying my breakfast. I grabbed a plate and sat next to Buckshot, who soon turned to me and said "Hell of a stray you decided to bring home" in a disbelieving tone.

With a simple shrug, I responded "He gave us intel, he's good in a fight and only sold us out when he had a gun to his head, it's hardly a fair comparison."

"Plus, without anyone protecting him, he'd soon be dead meat," said Diamond, giving a brief chuckle while kicking foot up on the table.

"Speaking of dead meat..." said Biggins, with an excited grin as he walked over with two frying pans while Buckshot grabbed a spatula.

"Breakfast is served, y'all." Said Buckshot, eagerly serving everyone, giving me two plates, so I could take one up to Iron later. Never before though, have I seen anyone dig into a meal so thoroughly. The most excited I had ever seen anyone respond to food was when after a major drug deal, I did a big Costco run for pop tarts, pizza pops, and iced tea. Sure, it might not have been the healthiest thing to have, but compared to subsisting on cocaine, and with a viable oven, it wasn't too bad, all things considered.

Deciding I'd try it for myself, I carefully smelled the food laid out in front of me. Hearing my tummy rumble, it certainly was enticing. I grabbed a knife and fork and decided to cut myself a piece of bacon. it was chewy. just a teensy bit of crunch, but what stood out to me was the cajun spice. It added soooo much more flavor to the whole thing, and just a little kick to let you remember it.

My eyes had gone wide, blown away by how flavourful Biggin's cooking was. Buckshot looked at me and simply chuckled before saying "Old apple family recipe, never fails to amaze people on their first taste." He's got that right at least, I soon joined in on horking down the rest of the food like the others, trying to get my share as quickly as possible, but by the time I was full, I had only just remembered I was supposed to bring a plate up to Iron. I quickly took some more cutlery and hurried up the stairs to go check on him.

As I re-entered my room, I could see he was no longer in sight. I looked nervously around to see where he might have gone until I saw his feet poking out from under my bed. I lowered the plate onto the ground, slid it over with my foot, and went prone with him. “Hey, is everything okay Iron?” I asked, trying to give a warm smile to let him know everything is okay. He shook his head for no. I simply nodded understandingly in response before saying “Okay, I understand. You probably have a lot of mental health issues to confront on your own. Eat up at least, I promise it will make you feel better.” After that, I left my room, closed the door, and let him be. I felt kinda bad for what I did to him last night. I decided to simply go downstairs again and get some coffee.

Walking down the stairs, I saw a surprisingly quiet kitchen. Fortunately, there was still coffee in the pot, just enough for one more mug. I pour it myself, put a teensy pinch of scotch into it, and take a sip, savouring that hypnotic and relaxing blend of booze and caffeine.

A second later, however, when I glance up, I see the entire squad staring at me. “Fuck, that was the last coffee wasn’t it?” I asked, before downing the rest of my coffee in resignation.

“Sorry pardner,” Buckshot said, approaching me and placing a hoof on my shoulder “But we need to stock up on some more supplies, we’re gonna stock up on some more food we can keep in our trunk. We were using the pot of coffee to see who would watch Iron Loyalty and the safehouse while we get supplies.”

“Well, serves me right for bringing him here and beating him up last night.” I said, clutching my head in mild frustration. “yeah, I’ll do it. I’ll wait upstairs, just make it quick.” With that, the squad began to trickle out the door and heading into the car. By the time they had all gone, I was watching them drive off, cradling my shotgun.

Deciding to smoke one of my cigars for about an hour and a half, I let the tobacco take me on a time quickening journey, until suddenly, there was the sound of police sirens outside, two, pulling up to the safehouse. They had to be dirty cops, there was no way we did anything genuinely illegal, at least not enough to warrant a 911 call. Perhaps leaving survivors from that cell was a mistake? No, it got Iron Loyalty out alive, it couldn't be one.

Fear and anxiety filler my head as I heard a knock on the door. I swallowed and got prone, trying to crawl over to Iron's room, pulling myself across the rug quickly with nervous anticipation that they just start shooting. When I reached Iron's room, I grabbed the door handle and pulled myself up, gritting my beak as I tried to pull myself up slowly but forcefully, stealth was of the essence, it was exhausting, gruelling effort on my muscles, every fibre of my body demanded concentration.

Slowly creeping over to Iron's sleeping bag, I put a hand over his mouth and grabbed him by the shoulder to wake him. Sure enough, he let out a muffled scream and was justifiably terrified for a brief moment before he came to his senses and shut up. "Look, Iron. Police are at our front door, I suspect they're on Balefire's take. We need to move you and find Buckshot and the others, now." I said in a hushed and urgent tone, before taking my hand off of his mouth so I can hear him speak.

"I got a plan to buy us time, maybe find us some intel on who sent these cops after. I need your shotgun." Iron said, reaching for it and looking me square in the eyes. "Do you trust me?"

Reluctantly, I nodded and handed him my shotgun. Just as we completed the trade-off, I heard a loud thud against the door as it soon caved in, a simple battering ram seemed to be all that busted up falling apart door could take. Without missing a beat, without missing beat, Iron racked the action and pointed the barrel straight at my face, before yelling out "Keep away from me, pigs! I got a hostage, his name is Special Agent Nessassio of the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation!"

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL YOU STUPID FUCKING IDIOT!" I exclaimed, getting up to smack some sense in him the Diamond taught me to, before he simply elbowed me in the face and grabbed me by the neck, dragging me over to the window.

"I am dead serious about blowing his brains out with a 12 gauge!" bellowed Iron, I half believe he will at this point

"It's a 10 gauge, ass! And fuck you! You betrayed me! You betrayed all of us!" I curse out, not letting any of this go, fighting the fucker with every ounce of my being. Just as soon as I finished yelling, I heard bullets rip through the air and I fell to the ground out of instinct, falling out of Iron's grasp. I covered my ears, flashing back to the club as death surrounded us at every angle. But through a miracle, the shooting stopped. I patted myself to see if I was bleeding, I wasn't, thank Celestia for that. What I was even more grateful for, was to hear a familiar voice call out from the other side of the door.

"Well lookie here, ain't you just a magnet for trouble!" said Buckshot. "It's safe to come out, Talon's in the lead for most bodies dropped during this op so far."

Iron looked at me with a smirk, pointed the shotgun in the air, and offered me a hoof, which I promptly took. "See, I told you you could trust me."

6: Aurora

We had booked a red-eye on our private Jet to the Appleoosa Bison Reserve. Unfortunately, these reserves are starved badly for money, literally clinging to the casinos for dear life in some cases. As they obviously won’t have any kind of airport, Diamond was doing jumping jacks till 2 am in a bid to get us to do a HALO jump into Appleoosa. The girl’s certainly got spunk in her, I cannot lie.

"Remind me why exactly we couldn't just drive in an air-conditioned van?" Iron Loyalty asked in a half-awake groan.

"Because Iron," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Diamond is a crazy bitch, and she has more balls than most stallions". Diamond raised her fist, which I proceeded to bump for a maximum dramatic flair, I can just barely see the disbelieving look in his eyes behind his mask.

“You are all crazy,” said Iron, shaking his head and looking down. “I can’t believe I am parachuting into a Bison reserve with such an eclectic band of fighters like you and me.”

"Yeah, fate has a weird way of working out sometimes," I said. "I never thought I'd be with these guys either, in fact, I kinda got this job after rambling about my past in a way that should've gotten me fired."

Biggins simply hugged Iron Loyalty, and said "Don't worry about a thing, Iron, I and Buckshot will do everything and anything to make sure you come out of this alive."

"Hopefully that includes during the jump coming up soon," Diamond says as she got up, walking to the rear hatch as it began to open. Everyone got behind Diamond as the red lights came on. Diamond fearlessly walked to the edge, I was right behind her. It was surreal to see how high up 26,000 feet can be. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, giving a blinding glare. Despite it all, however, it was still apparently almost -50 degrees Celsius. "Alright ladies, follow me in 20 seconds." I checked everything on me one last time and got a bit nervous hyperventilation. "Keep breathing normally, Diamond, we don't want you to get decompression sickness when we jump in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" At that moment, Diamond charged forth and leaped out, and everyone in the squad followed suit, including me.

In a headfirst dive, I was disoriented. I tried to get a count on how many had jumped out. I saw Lance Corporal Diamond obviously, I spotted Corporal Talon who was having an easy time orientating himself thanks to being a hippogriff, and two struggling Earth Ponies trying to link up, meaning that had to be Sergeant Biggins and Staff Sergeant Buckshot, that could only mean one thing. "Iron? Damnit Iron, you chickened out again? You and Aurora deserve each other!"

At that moment, I was suddenly swamped with water, I tried my absolute hardest to get my bearings straight, as I saw I was in a pool, in a quiet home in Ponyville, this couldn't have been real, could it? I was just skydiving from stupidly high up mere moments ago. I climbed out of the pool to investigate. It was a quiet, suburban townhouse, the specific house was one I and Aurora discussed buying at some point, it was painful seeing all the memories that could've been, this whole world that could've been, where we'd have had a very loving son and daughter. But my world came breaking apart when I saw a note on the fridge, a scathing letter about how Aurora would never forgive me for what I did, I collapsed onto my knees as a blinding flash overtook my eyes and a rushing wind swept past me. The Balefire Division succeeded, I was doomed, I was ready to die, I deserved it.

Suddenly, however, my mind snapped out of it as I returned to normal, I was strapped to Iron loyalty, and my chute had deployed successfully. "I... I'm alive. I'm alive!" I exclaimed with ecstatic joy. I've had coke highs where I was certain my heart was seconds away from exploding, but when I woke up burnt out in the morning, I was all kinds of grateful to have this sinner's luck, in a sense. "What happened? why was I just hallucinating?" I asked.

"It's a symptom of hypoxia", explained Diamond. "When I told Iron, he came running out asap."

"And yet you always think I'm ready to betray you on a moment's notice," Iron said mournfully.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that, just..." I hung up on that last bit, I genuinely felt awful for those being my last words in a stressful situation.

"It's fine, I understand this situation with Aurora is eating you up," replied Iron in an understanding tone. "We'll do everything we can to make sure this goes over smoothly for both parties."

Taking a deep breath, I was grateful to have a breathable oxygen supply, before saying "okay, I can do that. Thank you, Iron. Really".

Diamond interrupted with "It's me you should be grateful for, Buckshot made me promise we'd all survive this jump without significant medical complications".

"Only because blowing my brains out with a shotgun like Hemingway seemed preferable to the bends, or becoming the secret ingredient in grandma's extra chunky red salsa", joked Buckshot, causing his brother to giggle. He knew how painful it can be to get nitrogen stuck where it isn't supposed to.

"You babies would never have survived Hell Week" boasted Talon. "Every single one of us has to train 5 days and 5 nights with only 4 hours of sleep." I whistled in awe, DEVGRU, and all the other special forces units know how to make soldiers with 'nads of steel. Or in Diamond's case, quite literally too.

We touched down uneventfully, repacked our parachutes, followed by Buckshot doing a quick medical checkup on me, and aside from the hypoxia and anxiety, I was doing pretty well physically, especially for someone in their 40s. After making sure everything went smoothly, Buckshot began to brief us. "Alrighty cowpokes, we're looking for a purple mare who's a half pony and half bison. She'll be willing to help us sabotage the Balefire hate camp here. Let's ask as many people in the camp as we can, and rally up on me. Oorah?"

Saluting Buckshot, I gave him a finger gun, Iron simply gave an acknowledging nod. Unfortunately, he and I didn't have any cool military saying to reply with. Biggins of course said Oorah too, Diamond responded with a hooah, and Talon with a hooyah. We all soon split up across the bison reserve to look for clues.

Fortunately, with all my years in the EBI, this was simply another routine day on the job for me. The first place I'd check out would be Aurora's old house that she talked about, where she was born. 362 Pegamegabow Ave. Hearing Winds of Change by The scorpions confirmed that ti was the right address in my mind. I was about to knock, but I froze at the very last possible second. Of course, she'd try and pretend she wasn't home if she could see me through the peephole. I decided to flap my wings and crawl through the window.

Taking a look around me. I could see her in it. She must've gotten her life back onto the straight and narrow without me. She was lying in her bed asleep, but there was not a single scrap of evidence of drug use in sight, not even so much as an Ambien bottle. The only thing that was of note was seeing two eagle feathers on her nightstand, she must've earned them for her high-school and college graduation. I set a hoof gingerly on the floor. I did not think this plan entirely through as I am now in a much weirder and harder to explain the position because a physically abusive ex who sneaked into his victim's house is now quite a few precinct homicide stories start. Hell, even the simple act of climbing out would seem a bit stalker-ish to me. I decided sneaking downstairs to have a peek at the fridge would be the least awkward thing I could do at this point, so I crawled low like a hunting panther. I opened the door delicately, slipped through, and shut it with equally careful precision.

A sigh of relief escaped as I headed downstairs. Her parents must've been out doing errands or at a neighbor's house. I opened the fridge to see what food items were available to eat. Of course, since this was a bison reserve I should've expected the fridge to be this empty, but there were some meat and veg I could cook up, so I did. I borrowed one of Aurora's cookbooks, she always had the best ones, and I got cracking. I made myself a very delicious but also rudimentary steak au poivre, Aurora always made that for me and I always appreciated it, I sat on the couch and I got to eat.

Of course, I should've known Aurora would come down at any moment, I just didn't expect it to be while I was trying to shove the veggies down my beak, which was taken awhile. She screamed bloody murder and brandished a sawed-off. Like the strike of a match, I threw my plate at her like a frisbee and took cover, but she simply fired a blast of shot that caused the plate to shatter into quite a few different pieces like a clay pigeon in a skeet shooting contest, one of which happened to land near me.

"Okay Aurora", I said as hesitation dripped through my voice. "I know this might look a teensy bit bad..."

"BAD!?" exclaimed Aurora, venom dripping from her tongue. "You broke into my house and ate my food like nothing ever happened between us. In that situation. In what possible, Celestia-damned mother-fucking possible situation, could this be anything construed as good?!"

"Well..." I say as I hear Aurora audibly switch the firing pin over to the second barrel. I lost my train of thought for a second and gulped. "Well, Iron Loyalty is working with me again, we're trying to take down the Balefire Division. We need your help, your connections, and if I knocked on your door, I'd have no idea if you would even answer the door."

"prove it", said Aurora. "Give me one single shred of evidence that I should believe you."

Reaching under my shirt, I undid the metallic clasp around my neck, and tossed out my lucky dragon's breath shell. "I cling onto that thing for dear life," I explained. "You always taught me that I should always keep one around my neck for good luck because I never know when I might need a little extra luck, a little extra bravado to live to see tomorrow. Hopefully, you taught me well?"

Aurora simply grumbled and, based purely on the sound alone, broke her sawed-off open and loaded something in. "Alright then... I suppose I need to honor my wisdom is you of all people did. But you cock-up, or lay so much as a finger on me..." She said before she switched the firing pin into the safe position. "Hurt me or my family in any conceivable way, and your luck will burn up like an 8-ball of crack."

A terrifying, but surprisingly accurate simile. "Alright, that sounds reasonable," I said, adrenaline exhaling with my breath. "So should I tell my friends to rally up at your house?"

"Yeah, get them to rally here. I'll be in my room, waiting for you to clean up and then go get your friends," said Aurora, with a sadistic grin. She then holstered her shotgun before heading up. I simply got the broom and started cleaning as my survival depended on it because, with a mare like that, it probably does.

It took me 5 hours of straight, nonstop work to clean up the mess me and Aurora made, after an hour or so, Aurora made me wear a maid outfit, just for added humiliation. I decided to sit down for a moment and catch my breath, unfortunately, it escaped my lungs again as I heard a sharp knock against the door. I take a look through the peephole to see who it is, and to my surprise, it's Corporal Talon. I grumble as I open the door.

Talon's eyes go wide with surprise before he bows. "I'm so sorry madam, is Nessassio available?" asked Talon.

"It's me, you i-", I say, stopping myself. It's not fair to call him an idiot, he's on the spectrum. "It's me, Nessassio. Sorry if my outfit through you for a loop there."

"It's okay, I think it looks kinda cute on you," giggled Talon. I put my claw on my face to hide my blush, it is embarrassing how forwards Talon could be sometimes.

"How the hell did you even find me?" I asked with a hint of incredulity.

"Come on, I wouldn't be a SEAL if I didn't know how to follow griffon tracks," Talon said with a stretch as if trying to show off the knowledge he's very proud of in that particular moment. I rolled my eyes playfully at that particular moment of boastfulness.

"Alright, text Buckshot the address," I say as I proceed to close the door shut. "I'll go get changed real quick, afterward you can come in and tell me all about, uh, 'Hell Week', I think you called it." Talon clapped his claws together excitedly and agreed to wait outside for me to get changed.

Changing back into the clothes I was wearing before, I felt some kind of sinking feeling like I was getting back to work. I suppose cleaning is easier than shooting sometimes, but I never thought I'd miss it. I shut these thoughts off, thankfully Aurora didn't notice I had changed, thank Celestia, and I opened the door to let Talon in.

"So, about Hell Week," said Talon with all the passionate excitement of a young colt as he sat on the couch. "We don't get an announcement on when it starts. We get woken up with the coolest alarm system known to man, an artillery barrage! and that's when the exercise starts. We lock hands, get into icy cold waters for 15-minute intervals, and get pulled out every 5 minutes to make sure we aren't dying of hypothermia, but oh my gosh, it's amazing what someone can do when pushed to their limit! I was so sore for weeks, but the proudest hippogriff ever!"

Smiling quite happily, I was genuinely glad Talon has something that makes him so happy in life. I guess I could say the same thing for myself now, even If I'm not quite as excited as Talon, who has his face pressed up to mine the entire time he was gushing. I don't know many EBI agents who get this far, let alone ones with as checkered past like mine, but I was happy, and I gave Talon a brotherly hug.

"Thank you, that was interesting Talon," I said as I let go. of him "How about you go find the rest while I get Aurora down, the sooner we're discussing a way to raid the hate camp, the better." Talon nodded in understanding before getting up to leave. "And promise me you won't tell any other squad members what you saw." He gave me a thumbs up in acknowledgment. While most people wouldn't have registered that as anything meaningful, it highlighted a lot about Talon, how much excitement he's brimming with.

Heading up to Aurora's room, with a bit of hesitation, I knock on the door. "Hey, Aurora. I finished cleaning, and Talon tailed me home, everyone else will be here soon. I'm sorry I snuck in through the window. I hope you'll feel safe at the meeting soon." I sigh, trying to search deep inside for anything I had to say. "And, I just want to say thank you, really, for giving me a second chance. I never thought I'd deserve one, I never thought I should even have gotten off scot-free, but thank you. Really." I walked back downstairs and exited through the backdoor. I lit up my cigar and puffed away at it, it was the only way I knew how to pass the time responsibly, but fortunately, it would at least kill a half-hour, maybe an hour if I'm lucky.

When I heard familiar voices chatting up inside, I knew it was my squad. "Glad you all could make it." I directed that in particular to Buckshot, who gives me a salute as a thank you. "Should I go get the guest of honor?"

"Make it so, specialist," Buckshot said, directing a bit of gravitas towards me. It felt nice to feel like I was welcome as part of the military for all I've done for these guys.

"No need, Buckshot," said Aurora, making her dramatic entrance. "I was told I would be needed?"

"Damn right you'll be needed missus," Buckshot said with an elegant swagger. "Nessie said you'd have intel on the Balefire Hate Camp nearby?"

Aurora laughed at Buckshot as she made her way down the stairs. "You can't seriously be considering a raid against them are you?"

"Even if they weren't responsible for an Empty Quiver, why would you even THINk about holding back against those fuckers!" snarled Diamond. Biggins patted Diamond on the shoulder as a reminder to calm down, so she took a deep breath and did so.

"I care about protecting the people of Appleoosa," retorted Aurora, as she got a map off the shelf and unfolded it. "The Balefire Division has approximately 50 initiates trying to prove themselves. And see those 5 black markers? Those are fully committed cell members, rumoured to be ex-delta force operators."

"I've seen those initiates too", added Iron. "Even though they aren't proper cell members, they are not to be taken lightly, they are all ex-military, at least."

Aurora chuckled, "That's not even the worst of it. They even have mortar teams."

Buckshots eyes go wide in response, while Biggins escorts him to the sofa.

"Why would that be a big deal?" I asked.

Diamond shook her head in response. "White Phosphorus. it's the bane of every modern soldier on the field. It's pyrophoric, burns on exposure to oxygen, meaning it will burn you right down to the bone. Not to mention the smoke is toxic and choking, burns your lungs like mustard gas." Diamond's description rattled both me and Iron, we sat on opposite ends of our Raider duo. Seems there's even a limit to the famous USMC Esprit du Corps.

"We do have an avenue for help though, as dangerous as it might seem," said Biggins in an optimistic tone. "We could get Daddy to help us out."

"That could work", nodded Talon. "Buck's dad commands a Ranger Battalion, and each Battalion is deployable within 18 hours. we'd be able to send enough soldiers at them to both cut them off and minimize serious casualties.

Buck soon snapped out of his fearful trance. "you're right. That actually could work. I suppose, even though it'll be quite awkward to work with my dad again, it could work. Plus, we could track this nuke down faster. We'd have a full battalion's worth of soldiers trained in site exploitation, you're a miracle worker Talon". Everyone crowded around Talon to give him a great big team spirit hug, before promptly backing off.

"If we'll be fighting alongside the 75th, you can count the Appleoosa Warriors in, we'll protect the townsfolk should Balefire get any ideas," added Aurora.

"Then it's official," Buckshot declared in an authoritative tone. "I'll call in a favor with my dad, and we'll show these racist pricks the meaning of fear. you have 18 hours to prepare. Dismissed."

Buckshot stared intensely at his watch. It's a classy, stainless steel digital watch, the kind of watch your grandpa would wear. seventeen and a half hours pass since we put out that alert.

"Hopefully they can live up to their motto," quipped Iron in a snark voice. "I'd hate to think we came out here for nothing."

"If I know daddy, he's going to stretch it out to the very last second". Biggins smiled endearingly towards Buckshot, still fixated on his watch.

"Did it with everything in life," added Buckshot. "Even back when he was a lieutenant serving in Afghaneighstan. he'd stretch out every hour of home leave he had. And every single hour fighting tooth and nail."

"Sounds like he'll be a valuable asset," I said as I smiled in an optimistic tone. "We really could use someone that punctual with our current state of affairs.

"They sure as hell are," replied Buckshot. "Like the EDFMC, they are soldiers first and foremost."

"And we're always deployable anywhere in the world within 18 hours!" Announced a grizzled voice from behind us. He was a stallion, in his mid-40s, looked about as jacked as Biggins. "After all, Rangers lead the way."

"Lieutenant Colonel Slugshot!" Buckshot sprang into a salute as quickly as those words hurriedly left his mouth. Biggins however simply ran up and hugged his old man.

"At ease, Staff Sergeant." Slug says, glancing at Buckshot. "As much as I oughta throttle you getting biggins wrapped up in your dumb mistake of breaking family tradition, JSOC gave my battalion the notification, so Celestia bless your soul with all her heart." Buckshot's eyes simply twitched in irritation, as he just got cursed out like a southern gentlecolt by his dad.

"What's the problem with being a marine?" Iron asks, innocently enough.

"According to my pa, the only ponies who join the Marine corp are stallions with small peckers, and mares who hate peckers." Buckshot shot a glare at Iron.

"Where does that leave mares with large peckers?" I ask, giving a knowing glance to Diamond.

"82nd Wonderbolt Division." Diamond and I hoof bumped for our set up and punchline.

"Don't break an arm jerking yourself off there Bucky-boy. Your branch has only been around for 14 years." Slug gave his son a smug smirk.

"That's cause for the past 14 years, there were no 'special marines'", Buck said, giving air quotes with his retort, and folding his hooves in response, proud of his come back.

"Settle down boys," said Biggins in a genuinely worried tone. "I'm sure we can both agree that we should work together to stop the Balefire Division."

"The Balefire Division?" Slug asks with genuine laughter. "Shit son, if JSOC is throwing us up against them, then we're gonna have us a fun time, and we'll get to show you how a real military unit gets things done." Slug confidently led us all inside, he reviewed the map that Aurora had laid out for us, circling some notes here and there. "Alright, since we're going to need all the ammo we can use, as our plan is going to rely heavily on attrition, we are going to lay down 3 days of suppressing rifle fire, and the 3 platoons are going to provide fire support from the South, North East, and West North West. On day 3, it'll be up to clean up what's left while a fire support platoon provides cover for you, another provides cover for the town, while a third trains the appleoosa warriors in fire support doctrine. If they're gonna fight, they'll need to know safety procedures and such."

"Well thank you kindly," said Aurora, with an exaggerated version of slug's posh southern accent. "Can't wait to put the hurt on these fuckers and take our land back."

"I'll be with you every step of the way, honey." Iron Loyalty wrapped an arm around Aurora's shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. I simply looked over and shook my head in frustration that they had to do this within earshot of me. Diamond simply placed a hoof on my own shoulder, and I could feel my frustrations slip away from me for a good moment.

"The good thing about this plan," Buckshot began to say, looking over to me. "Is that while my Dad sets up the logistics, we can help you come to terms with this. This is a very dangerous direct action mission, so we want to make sure you'll be psychologically ready, and that means making sure your head stays clear for this. Can't have you be distracted when the bullets start flying.'

"Sounds like a good idea then, sir." I gave a salute to buckshot for offering his sage veteran wisdom.

"Wisdom will only get you so far, son," Slugshot interjected. "The other half of the battle is actually being able to shoot straight."

"Believe me, I can shoot straight." There was hint of bravado in my voice. Maybe I am slightly exaggerating, but there is no way he could know right?

"Ness, you'd do best not to question the recommendations of your superior officer," Slugshot replied, unamused. "You're supposed to lead by example and follow orders respectfully, you're not in some SWAT team anymore, you're in the big league. You will act like the soldier you're expected to be, as this mission only calls for the best."

"Right sir, sorry." I looked down and kicked the ground apologetically.

"Good, we'll get started on suppressing the camp for you," Slugshot resumed in his usual authoritative tone. "After you secure anything relevant to your mission at hand, we'll do our own SSE. Find out ways we can put the hurt on Balefire and take some of the heat off of you."

"Very good, sir," Buckshot replied. "You heard him, do whatever it takes ot make sure you'll be ready for this mission."

7: Reckoning of Past

The briefing with Slugshot had just concluded. I pulled out one of my cigars and began smoking it. Not like how I usually do where I take quick puffs here and there, but I was smoking it with haste and speed like I was trying to process my overwhelming feelings that were about to jump out of my chest. After a few seconds, I realized Slugshot was right, the best way to prepare for this mission was to start reckoning with my past, present, and future. I looked around at literal scores of uniformed ponies around the reserve until I was able to pick out Aurora, who was training to use a mortar alongside Iron Loyalty, who was acting as the spotter for her. I decided to approach the duo hesitantly.

"Hey, Aurora, do you mind if I talk with you a bit?" I asked.

"What happened to the days of a job being 'too essential to chit-chat?'" Aurora snarked as she adjusted the mortar angle.

"Oh come on, that's hardly fair, we could die tomorrow!" I pleaded as I got down on one knee with the other two.

"So could I, do you think that the last person I would ever want to think about is my scumbag ex?" Aurora must be taking the stress badly, either that or I underestimated how much damage I did to her. I sigh as these thoughts of guilt swim across my head in a dizzying haze.

"Look, I wouldn't come to you if I didn't want to change!" I yell defiantly, my sentence drowned out by the loud mechanical sound of another shot firing through the mortar.

"Are you looking to change, or are you just trying to assuage your guilty conscience without changing at all?" She said, taking her eyes off the mortar and shooting a death glare at me right as the mortar round began to impact.

"Aurora, I didn't make you cheat on me..." I said, anger and impatience growing in my voice.

"Yes, you did!" Aurora snapped back with a ferocious yell. "I tried to tell you time and time again I wasn't interested, but you kept acting like you were entitled to have me."

"Because I rescued you from Valentine when I blew his brains out with a shotgun?" I yelled back, insulted that she would be so ungrateful to me. "Do you have any idea how risky that is for a police officer to do?"

"Given how he was just another statistic in Cloudsdale's police brutality, which kills far more of my people than it does yours, I'll say zero to none!" Aurora spat back, before turning her attention back to her mortar. "You could've been one of the good ones but you instead chose to be part of the problem."

"What I chose was to be more humane part of the problem while removing the less humane parts!" I retort, grabbing her shoulder to try and pull her attention back to me. "It was the safest job a griffon like me with zero other meaningful skills could get!"

"Stop it! both of you!" Iron Loyalty commanded as he placed himself in between us. "We used to work together, can't we still do that?"

"Shut the hell up! It's your fault we broke up!" I yell out, angrily raising a fist at Iron, but stopping myself at the last second. Iron flinched, but Aurora simply scoffed, as if I had just proved her point unintentionally. I simply turned away and walked off, when I was certain they were out of earshot, I just let loose my fury on a nearby metal wall. No concern for if I'd hurt myself, only concerned with finding an outlet for my anger in a fury of blows directed at an undeserving wall. Then, when I calmed down for a split second, I could see myself for the monster I was. They were right, I hadn't changed, I only was trying to assuage a guilty conscience. There was no denying the things I did, the ponies I hurt, and the ego of self-righteousness that I carried myself with. I fell to my side and burst into tears, I was paralyzed by these nauseating tidal waves of anger and sadness, the color of my surroundings seemed to fade and my eyes began to lose focus as tears ran down my face. My emotions soon died down, simply replaced by fatigue and despair.

After a few minutes, Iron walked over to me, sitting beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder and rubbing it in a comforting manner.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry it came to this," I say to Iron weakly.

"The feeling's mutual Ness," replied Iron.

"Was it all my fault?" I ask as I pull myself up to sit beside Iron.

"Mostly," said Iron Loyalty with brutal honesty. "But if you are this torn up about something that is your fault, maybe you're not the monster that Aurora claims you to be.

"What do you mean?" I ask, turning my head towards him.

"You always went through life with something to prove. Like you were trying to fight something from the deepest pit of your heart. There's something you're deeply afraid of." Iron returned the gaze and pulled me into a comforting sideways hug.

"I've never been afraid of anything," I say defensively. "I have always been the first to take the biggest leap, the one to always charge into the unknown to defend those who can't help themselves."

"But that's just the thing," Iron said back, patting me on the shoulder as a gentle signal to calm down. "you always assume everyone else is afraid of something bad happening, and people tend to subconsciously project what emotions they feel onto others. Take the day we first stopped those officers for example. You were afraid them taking bribes had to be put to a stop. Heck, you even started the gang to, in your eyes, look out for the little guy."

"I..." I paused as I looked down, trying to form words, unable to think of a cohesive sentence until I finally stop trying to resist and start admitting to my feelings. "I felt I was justified at the time because I was afraid, I was afraid of whether I'd be betrayed, I was worried I would die alone, I was worried I would die period." I perked myself up, it felt good to get that off my chest. I was proud of myself.

"See, it's good you're admitting to your feelings." Iron then pulled me into a full, proper embrace, hugging me tightly as the good friend he is. "The reason Aurora wanted me was because I seemed to have my life together. She didn't entirely hate you, she was grateful that you saved her when she did. She just wasn't interested in you at the time, presumably because all this emotional baggage was too much for her to deal with." The old me, the person I was immediately before this conversation, would've gotten mad for bringing up that betrayal again. However, Iron Loyalty's talk with me about my feelings, it made sense, I agreed with him wholeheartedly that in the long run, him seducing Aurora was for the better. I embraced Iron with the same level of emotional passion, I genuinely felt happy, worn down as I was, to think about my past for a change, before it began to stabilize again.

"There's one thing I have to ask though," I add as we both let go."It's just been on my mind more and more, but why did you guys try to have me killed over not wanting to join with The Balefire Division?" Iron simply chuckled at my question as he looks off in the direction Aurora was at.

"It's simple really," Iron said. "The chief wasn't a bison, he was a yak, and he was on Balefire's take. They rigged the tribal election so they could get someone without traditional ancestral connections, so they could push for the construction of an aqueduct for the orchard that would've impeded the stampeding grounds that Twilight and her friends won."

"That's horrible!" I exclaim as my jaw hit the floor, having to take a moment to pick it back up. "I get that they are not the good guys, hell, they're the worst kind of scum, but what does this accomplish?"

"Agitation," Iron adds, spitting on the ground. "They want to cause a race war and undermine Equestrian democracy for all. Their entire modus operandi is basically trying to kick the hornet's nest for everyone, regardless of if they even fail or succeed."

"Fuck me..." I mutter in disbelief. "I hope us mobilizing an entire ranger battalion doesn't end up helping them."

"Don't worry, no matter how much chaos we cause, as long as we all stick together as friends, whatever we fight for, no matter who we have to fight, it will always be worth it in the end." Iron Loyalty stood up and extended a hoof for me to get up.

"I can see why you're called Iron Loyalty," I say, taking his hoof and getting back up onto my feet. "Thank you, I'm glad I met you, my life wouldn't be the same without you, you are a good person."

"Thank you." Iron Loyalty smiled. "Go rest up, I'm sure you could use it, maybe get some range time in today or tomorrow, or prepare however you want.

"Thank you too Iron," I say as I smile back before walking off. "Thank you."

Lying awake in my bed this morning, I could hear the sounds of suppressing fire off in the distance. Sounded like kids with firecrackers, only I knew better. I decided now was as good a time as any, so I decided to go about my daily morning grooming routine and get myself ready. I stretched, got out of bed, and went to the shower.

It was genuinely relaxing being able to clean myself off. To feel the hot water running across my feathers, my cares almost literally melting away for a brief moment as I shampooed the oils out of my feather and talons. I stepped out and dried myself off, checking out my appearance in the mirror. While I was quite proud of the long crest of feathers I had grown, something about it just felt off. it was a certain Je ne sais quois that just didn't feel right about my feathers. I shook those thoughts out of my head as I tied my feathers up in a ponytail and got dressed before heading downstairs, hopefully, I'll be getting some breakfast.

Hearing Green Hay playing on a small portable radio, it put me in a good mood. I saw Staff Sergeant Buckshot and Corporal Talon sitting around the table, and Sergeant Biggins was of course in the kitchen. I smiled at how calm everything seemed despite all of us possibly being dead in 2 days. It just wasn't bothering me, I was just singing and dancing quietly to Green Hay's Holiday. I of course don't dance very well, so after towards the end of the song, I ended up tripping on my talons and stumbling onto the rug.

"You sir, are a true Equestrian Idiot." Buckshot chuckled at me while shaking his head endearingly.

"He can't be if he knows Green hay," Talon adds. "The entire point of Equestrian Idiot is about not being like the others."

"Hey, all the fillies used to say I was pretty fly for a winged guy." I chuckled at my bad reference. Biggins did however laugh, so that did cheer me up. I got up from the ground and took a seat at the table

"Don't worry about looking cool too hard Ness," Talon said in a reassuring tone. "You're gonna go far, kid!"

"Really?" I asked as a smile on my face grew.

"Really," Buckshot interjected. "Ever since the day we recruited you and invited you to fight alongside us, you have not passed our expectations, you have exceeded them, Private."

"That's nice of you to say boss," I said as Buckshot laid out the 4 plates of food on the table. "I just hope nothing too terrible transpires at the EBI in my absence."

"I think they're doing just fine without you," Biggins replied in a reassuring tone as he began to dig into his hearty breakfast he prepared for all of us, his usual bacon, eggs, and toast.

"I had just submitted an update to General Rainbow Dash and the EBI Director," Buckshot added. "While he did inquire if you were giving us some troubling behavior, we were genuinely able to say that you had not shown any signs of us since joining up."

"Well that, unfortunately, is a lie." I lowered my head solemnly. "when we were at Talon's for his son's birthday party, I helped myself to some Concerta I had found in the bathroom because I was just too stressed."

"I know," buckshot replied, with a merciful tone in his voice. "I have my share of vices too. We all do. We would never have gotten this far if we didn't have a means of coping. Plus, you didn't do it while we were in the thick of the action, so I really couldn't be mad at you for something you did off the clock, as it were."

"Plus all I had to do was notify the pharmacy that we had spilled some in the toilet, they replenished it free of charge," Talon said monotonously.

"Well," I begin to say, reaching into chest pocket and pulling out the Narcan autoinjector. "Biggins gave this to me, said you'd understand what it would be like to lose control of your emotions."

"Ah, so he told you about Benghayzi," Buckshot said solemnly. "Our Raider company was called in to provide backup, they had never seen an attack as co-ordinated as that in recent years, so we were going in blind."

"It was hard on me, it was hard on him," Biggins added. "We lost 2 diplomats, and 2 EIA contractors. At first, the regular marines thought it was just a harmless protest, so they weren't about to shoot unarmed civilians exercising their 1st amendment rights."

"But then the mortars came flying in, so when the Raiders showed up, we hunkered down on the rooftops and began shooting." Buckshot cracked his neck almost as if he were sorta proud of that achievement.

"So what caused you to form a habit?" I asked, concerned.

"Well," biggins started, a bit nervous about how he could put this delicately. "I found him munching on morphine tablets whenever we see all these protests go on, I could tell my brother was just trying to calm his nerves."

"It's why I wanted to go after The Balefire Division." Buckshot genuinely smiled. "Not only are they a stain on beautiful southern hospitality, but in the past 4 years, ponies with their hateful ideals had been growing in numbers and ferocity. Seeing the Equestrian nation divided on something as banal as hate is something I would gladly fight and die for."

"And I, a good brother, promised him long ago that I would follow him no matter where he went. Into the very fires of Tartarus." Biggins smiled back at Buckshot and finished his food. Of course, the big pony was the first to do so, followed by his brother

"Well, thanks for having this talk with me, I already did my best to clear up my past with Iron and Aurora, I'm glad to get a solid bearing on my present now." I had a mouthful of food when saying that, but I finished my food before Talon did.

"No problem Ness," Buckshot said, getting up. "Biggins and I are going to go practice our marksman before the big mission. You wanna come along?"

"Nah, I'll just stay here and chat with Talon," I reply. "Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem, hoss." Buckshot led his brother out of the room, although Biggins gave me a gentle hug real quick before letting go and heading out with Buckshot.

The room fell deathly silent as those two left. Talon slowly ate his food. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he never struck me as the most social person out there, although he did manage to find a wife so there had to be something there behind that cold, calculating, marksmare.

"So, how'd you end up meeting your wife?" I ask, trying to break the silence.

"Medical," Talon replied bluntly. "I got injured in the Abottabad raid when the chopper went down, and my wife patched me up after I blew up the stealth helo.

"Wait, you were in the Yak-Yakistan raid?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yep. I was a steady shot, and I happened to be part of the DEVGRU unit assigned to it." Talon said, as he finally finished his plate.

"Pff, no way." I teased Talon as I gently slapped his shoulder. "There's no way you're that good."

"Alright, let's go hunting then." Talon picked up his rifle and loaded a bullet into it. "We go out into the wild and bag us a deer for lunch. I'm gonna show you how a real SEAL hunts."

"Alright, you're on." I get up and smirk, narrowing my eyes as I extend a talon. This situation seemed like a win-win. Either I get to tease Talon some more for spooking our prey, or I get some free venison for lunch and/or dinner, depending on how late we're out for. Hopefully, we'll stay relatively safe.

8: Reckoning of Future

Awakening from my slumber to the sound of gunfire, I was instantly thrown into an adrenaline rush. Without missing a beat I instantly rolled off my bed to grab my shotgun and ran to the window. Unfortunately, it was just some rez kids setting off pinecone firecrackers outside my window. I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. First, it was Talon getting me to go on a 16-hour hunting trip when he promised it would be done by lunch, now I’m being awoken by snotty bison calves? This has to be part of some hazing conspiracy, So I hatched a devious plan to strike back. I crawled out and glided gently down the window and took a quick note of what those kids were doing. I assembled such an improvised grenade out of a pinecone, and a cedar wick, plus a bit of pine tar for stickiness, and looked around for Biggins and Buckshot. The two of them were busy having a father-son moment with their dad, so I figured this would be the most unexpected time to prank them!

Lighting the faux-grenade, I silently tossed it from cover. Biggins tried to jump on it, thinking it was real. I gave a devious smile that soon sunk into horror as buckshot reflexively kicked it out before biggins could fall on it, and chucked it right back at me, the pinecone letting out a shrill bang, disorienting me enough to fall over in deafening pain. Buckshot laughed while Slugshot shook his head for my stupidity.

"Somehow, that idiot set himself up for a better prank than the classic PRC E7", Slugshot said in a tone suggesting bemused disappointment.

"He might be a bit dull on the hazing side, but he's resourceful," Buckshot replied, walking over to offer me a hand back up. "you as much as anyone should know how important resourcefulness is, being a Lieutenant Colonel in the 75th and all."

“Don’t think you got off easy there Ness”, Slugshot called out to me as I pulled myself up. “You’re going to get double the smoke session with Lance Corporal Diamond Warrior for your little grenade trick.”

“Eh, still worth it,” I say with a shrug. “At least I confirmed it was the result of a hazing ritual.”

“it’s not wise to get smart with you commanding officer,” Diamond said, sneaking up behind me and wrapping an arm tightly around my shoulder, causing me to blush a bit. “It’s how I got stuck with you after my HALO jump gambit”. Diamond giggled to herself like a naughty filly.

"You know the drill Diamond," Slugshot said to me. "Disobedience gets a private sprint around the perimeter 4 times." A sinister grin appeared on Slugshot's face as he gave the order

"Four times?!" Diamond exclaimed in shock like Slugshot just gave an order that was as equally insane as walking into the hate camp with nothing but our underwear on. "I know you said to smoke him, but even I couldn't do that to him, for such a small prank. that would mean I'd have to sprint him around 8 times!"

"Then you'll be making it 16," Slugshot said as his grin grew into an outright haunting smile. "Come on Diamond, we're burning daylight." Slugshot clapped the back of his hand repeatedly to demonstrate urgency.

"You heard him, Ness," Diamond called out to me as she started sprinting as if her life depended on it. "16 laps, on the double private!"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," I call out before I start running with unfathomable speed. I imagined myself as a cop trying to chase after a suspect fleeing on foot. You couldn't shoot those kinds of guys, you had to be just as fast on your feet, even with your patrol vest on, or else you'd get fired when the chief asked why you let the suspect get away.

"W-Why?..." I panted out to Diamond at around the 8 lap mark. "W-why did you h-have to stick up for me l-like that?"

"Exercise.." Diamond replied between breaths. "We... need... exercise..."

As good a reason as any I suppose. I hadn't gone through anything resembling special ops training, just a regular police department physical exam. Soon, we reached the 16 lap mark. I didn't even bother pretending to stand up, I just collapsed on the spot.

"you did good, you two," Buckshot said with a smile. Diamond wasn't even exhausted. Buckshot reached a hand out to me, adding "You two have earned a break for the day."

"T-thank you, sir." I took Buckshot's hand to pull myself up. Everything still ached, but it was bearable. I stood up and struggled to walk a bit, but Diamond wrapped a hoof around my shoulder.

"My dad will never believe you managed to accomplish this, how about you two stick around when he comes back with the next wave of troops." Buckshot offered me and Diamond a spot by a nearby tree with a simple gesture of his hoof. I couldn't even reply, I just nodded before Diamond walked me over and I took a seat. "Don't worry, it'll only take 15 more minutes hopefully."

I laid my head in Diamond's lap as the half-hour passed by. I had regained my strength, but this felt kinda nice, thinking about how she could choke me with her thighs right now and I could die happy. My lustful daydreaming of course came to a close I could hear the troop transport pull up. As Biggins began to rush in with the other medics, I scrambled to my feet. Whatever was happening here couldn't possibly be good. As I took a second to process my thoughts, I followed Biggins since he was the only person I would be able to recognize in the crowd. Biggins was pulling someone out of a troop transport when I approached him. When he placed him on the gurney, I got a good look at him before he was rushed off to be operated on. It was Slugshot, with a bandage wrapped around his left eye, meaning shrapnel must have claimed it.

"What happened?" I asked a non-wounded soldier who was getting off the transport, there weren't too many soldiers like him.

"it was a massacre", the soldier replied in exasperated despair. "They had a T14! A fucking T14! We didn't stand a chance with our ROE!" As the soldier walked off, his exasperated response rocked me to my very core. I thought we were just going up against far-right nutjobs, but a Reignshine T14 Armata Main Battle Tank? This mission just got a whole lot more dangerous. I stormed off to my bunk without saying a word.

"Where are you going?" Diamond called out with concern, following behind me.

"To fight." I flapped my wings to take off but Diamond grabbed my hand firmly, yanking me to the ground.

"Are you crazy?" Diamond replied with stern authority. "Did you not learn anything from those 16 laps?"

"I learned the new guy gets the short end of the stick." I take my hand back with a quick jerk. "I learned I they'd rather let me live and do pointless exercise while countless men and women die! Slaughtered beneath a T14!"

"You're wrong!" Diamond yelled back at me. "Slugshot gave us that order, he gave all of us that order when we were recruits because command cares about us!" I turned myself towards Diamond as I began to feel bad deep down. "They give us orders like that to teach us that disobeying an order can mean death! You might not be bothered by it, but if you die, we have to pick up the pieces of this op without you! We NEED you to help us."

"You... Need me?" I ask back sheepishly. "I'm just some no-pony. I couldn't protect my friends and family before, I only drove them away. You don't need me."

"Ness, I'm going to tell you something Captain Rainbow Dash told me," replied Diamond. "You might be willing to risk your life for this mission, but there's always another mission tomorrow. If you don't see any values in yourself as a stallion..." Diamond reflexively held her tongue back for a split second, before resuming with more certainty. "You might be a mare."

"I might be a mare...?" I ask a bit puzzled. "I've been a stallion my whole life, I was born a stallion..."

"But does it make you happy?" Diamond asked in a motherly tone. "I used to be just like you. I signed up to the 82nd because it was something relatively glamourous I could get away with doing for the rest of my life and it would theoretically help people. But no matter what, my job didn't bring me joy. My victories felt hollow, my defeats felt crushing..." Tears were welling up in Diamond's eyes at this point. "it wasn't until I started Hormone Replacement Therapy did I start to feel happy."

"I'm not saying you're wrong, I did like that dress I wore to the raid, I just..." I was dumbfounded as I tried to think of words to describe how I felt, all I could do is hug Diamond and cry. Diamond hugged back, but it was different this time, she was soft and caring, her muscles made.

"It's okay, Ness," Diamond said reassuringly. "It's okay." Diamond placed a gentle kiss on my lips, and I began to blush like I never had before. "You don't have to answer everything tonight, but either, if you go into the upcoming raid with a do or die mindset if you truly embrace the person you are underneath, I promise you that you will be a warrior just as fierce as the rest of us. No matter what happens, you'll go forward with the mindset of a proud mare. No Balefire thug, no bullet, can take that away from you. You'll be able to walk into the field of battle with nothing to lose."

"Well," I spoke up with a dash of renewed confidence. "We still got one more day with the rangers tomorrow. How about we spend tomorrow on a date with destiny. No holds barred, nothing held back, just have a romantic date with dresses, wine, dancing, and..." I froze as I said the last one, I was too embarrassed to admit to wanting to have sex, but That's because it felt like something more for a change. Like the difference between a casual hookup and making love.

"I would love that Ness." Diamond said with a genuine romantic smile as if she knew exactly what I was thinking about. "I would love more than anything to take you on a date with destiny."

That morning, I woke up before my alarm clock at 0500. I had a spring in my step thinking about how much fun I'll be having with Diamond tonight. I did ten pushups beside my bed before turning off my alarm clock and hitting the shower. I looked beneath the sink to look for any toiletries available because 'hoof and shoulders' does not suffice for an occasion like this. This is a date with destiny, a date that's more important than any other, more important even than my job interview at the EBI. I audibly cheered as I found some Pantene shampoo and conditioner, both bottles roughly half full, not to mention some dove soap that will make my feathers extra shiny. What's more, I found a bag full of makeup! It's going to have to go on after, but there is no describing how happy I am to make a huge find like this, more excited than I was to see Iron Loyalty again.

Playing some nice lovely, relaxing spa music by Lyra and Bon Bon on my phone, I let the silky sweet guitar strums wash over my face and down my shoulders. It felt good to finally be free in a sense, I made sure the stereo was loud enough before I closed the shower curtains and turned on the hot water. Combined with the soft, soothing music and the warmth of the shower just made me feel all the more alive as if the music had transported me to a waterfall in a lush cave. When I opened the bottles of shampoo and conditioner, it felt like there was a garden springing to life outside my waterfall. Soon, even as I looked down I envisioned myself with female anatomy, just thinking about how good I look in such a vulnerable state, how I could have breasts that are just big enough to squeeze close to my chest. I began to touch myself, hands exploring my familiar yet strangely alien nether regions, a tiny tingle of euphoria causing me to fluff my wet feathers. I decided to stop playing with myself and save the fun for Diamond.

It had been a few minutes by now, so I put myself under the flowing water to wash the soap, shampoo and conditioner off of myself. Once I was certain I washed everything off of me, I turned off the water and dried myself off. When I was dry I looked at my chiselled features in the mirror. Maybe I would make a pretty good gal. I brushed my now dry crest of feathers and oh my gosh they are so lush and shiny I couldn't believe it. Normally I have them tied up in a ponytail, but today, I think I'll just have them loose for once, show off their natural beauty.

the towel was wrapped around my chest as I got out the box of makeup I found earlier, I looked through and found almost every colour of the rainbow in so many different types of makeup like mascara, lipstick, lip gloss, eyeliner, nail polish and more! I looked in the mirror and stared at my beautiful eyes. They weren't like most due to being born with central heterochromia, they were quite brown towards the iris and a steely gray towards the exterior. I knew exactly how I wanted to highlight this. I put on some light foundation matching my feather tone around my eyes before putting a bit of metallic grey eyeshadow on top, and a bit of oak brown towards the bottom, followed by adding just a teensy bit of mascara to accentuate my already naturally long eyelashes. Lastly, I got some black makeup from the bucket, made sure it was the same shiny shade of black as my dress. I licked the outer seams of my beak, as normally lipstick is supposed to go onto the lips. Being a griffon, however, complicates this. I let my feminine instincts guide my talon as I watched in the mirror, feeling the beautiful black lipstick glide with my talon.

Dropping my towel, I admired my sexy handiwork in the mirror. I looked downright beautiful, like a mare who wouldn't mind getting rutted by her rough pegasus in a mating press... I shook my head to clear my lustful thoughts as I was beginning to steam up the mirror again like a hen in heat. The crazy thing about the mirror though was that steam from my breath distorted me just enough to make it look like I had hips. If this wasn’t a gender euphoric sign, I don’t know what is. I decided to check the available body sprays, they were mostly musky scents marketed towards stallions, but knowing Diamond, she would love it. I went with ‘oak cellar’. If she brings that to the date, it really will be a match made in Elysium.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I slid my beautiful, sexy dress on before examining myself in a mirror. I blushed and turned away as I saw how I looked. It was near impossible to believe I was a stallion now, all I could see was this drop-dead gorgeous griffoness in the mirror. I was ready for my date with destiny as I walked out the door. I didn’t have any underwear on either, I was going commando in every sense of the word.

As I walked out the door I met up where Diamond and I agreed our date would take place beforehand. she was sitting under a tree with a guitar, wearing a light blue low cut dress. I had expected brunch or something but this was a surprisingly intimate setting.

"Hello there, Nessie!" Diamond whistled at me, before setting her guitar aside and walking over to me.

"Actually... Call me Vanessa." I winced a little as I said that. "Okay, maybe I should try a different name, but for now, you can call me Ness for short."

"I'd be honoured to, Ness." Diamond gingerly took my talon and planted a kiss on it. I giggled at how ticklish it was, but I bust out laughing when Diamond started coughing cause she inhaled a scale. "shut up," she replied playfully.

"I'm sorry," I say as I take a beside where she was sitting. "I'm not on HRT, and I forgot to shave out of all the grooming things I did for this occasion"

"Awwww, don't feel too bad, Ness," Diamond replied with a sweetness in her voice as she sat beside me. "We all have goals in our life. I learned to play the guitar, I learned to play Ogres and Oubliettes, all just to be a mare on my terms, and mine alone. Making friends who love me for who I am on the inside and who I'm going to be. Not those who only tolerate me on the outside or love me for who I used to be." Diamond looked over to me as she steadied the guitar on her lap. "I can get biggins to hook you up with a dose too, but is there anything you wanted to do once you started transitioning, Ness?"

"Well..." I think to myself. This is the first time I ever started worrying about what I wanted to do, not what I had to do. "I've always wanted to write a book. Maybe... Maybe if I survive this, I'll take the debriefing documents I'm supposed to give to command, get them declassified, and write a book. Telling everyone all about the person I was, and how much happier I am now. Maybe I can help someone just like me."

"I think Iron Loyalty and Aurora would be happy to help you with that." Diamond gave me a peck on the cheek. "I think that would be the most you way to atone for what you did. Nothing in this world is gold."

"Well, stay gold, ponyboy." I rub the cheek where she kissed me affectionately before my eyes shrank and I realized what I just said to her. "I mean uh, ponygirl, uh..." I covered my face in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to misgender you, I just understood that reference is all."

"It's okay silly," Diamond replied as she begins tuning her guitar. "I understood that reference too, I loved reading The Outsiders in elementary school, Johnny's last words made me tear up."

"Yeah, I read it in my spare time too," I replied with a thoughtful nod. "Reason I joined the EBI is that I figured I was bound to end up like either Darry or Johny anyways." I looked down and shook my head. "Either dying in a valiant act of heroism, or suicide by cop."

"I think you got that backward hun," Diamond replied with a giggle. "Dally was the nutjob who got shot to ribbons by holding up the police with a fake gun. Darry was the oldest and the leader of the greasers." I laughed at my own mistake too. Normally I'd stubbornly stick to my guns, but for once, I took it in stride.

"Thanks," I replied leaning my head against Diamond. "I have no idea what Miss Hinton was thinking giving them such similar names."

"Well, if you think remembering those names is a challenge, then Mr. Tolkien himself is going to throw you some curveballs." Diamond rested her head over mine. "I shall sing the ballad of Dwailin, Bailin, Kili, Fili, Oin, Gloin, Bilfur, Bofur, Bombur and Thorin Oakenshield."

"Gosh, that would be so lovely. Just to sit here with you as you play in my ear, listening to your beating heart, feeling your massive muscles." I sighed with the most genuine contentment I've ever known. "You're perfect in every way, Diamond."

Oh misty eye of the mountain below,
keep careful watch of my brother's souls.
And should this sky be filled with, fire and smoke,
keep watching over Durin's sons.

Diamond began strumming on her guitar, it was such a sweet, endearing tune. It reminded me of the dangers facing tomorrow but in a hopeful way like there was a powerful camaraderie protecting us.

If this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together.
Watch the flames climb high, into the night.
Calling out "father, oh". Stand by and we will
watch the flames burn auburn on the mountainside, high.

The world around me began to fade away, I felt as if I was a hero in a fantasy story, like in 'The Lord of the Amulets', having to deliver The Alicorn Amulet to the fires of Mt. Doom. Unlike anyone in that story though, if I was going to be a fantasy hero, I would only ever wield firearms. I love them too much.

And if we should die tonight, we should all die together.
Raise a glass of wine, for the last time.
Calling out "father, oh." Prepare as we will.
Watch the flame burn auburn on the mountainside.
Desolation comes upon the sky.

Now I see fire, inside the mountain.
I see fire, burning the trees.
And I see fire, hollowing souls.
I see fire, burning the breeze.
And I hope that you remember me.

Oh, should my people fall, surely I'll do the same.
Come finding mountain holes, we got too close to the flame.
Calling out "Father, Oh", hold fast and we will.
Watch the flames burn auburn on the mountainside.
Desolation comes upon the sky.

Now I see fire, inside the mountain.
I see fire, burning the trees.
And I see fire, hollowing souls.
I see fire, burning the breeze.
And I hope that you remember me.

At this point, Diamond looked towards me and began singing with every ounce of passion in her girly voice.

And if the night is burning, I will cover my eyes.
For if the dark returns, then my brothers will die.
And as the sky is falling down, it crashed into this lonely town.
And with that shadow upon the ground, I hear my people screaming out:

And I see fire! Inside the mountains.
I see fire, burning the trees.
And I see fire, hollowing souls.
I see fire burning the breeze.

I see fire, fire.
And I see fire, feel the heat upon my skin
And I see fire, fire.
And I see fire burning on the mountainside.

Diamond was left panting for breath at the end. I gave her a surprise kiss on the lips afterwards.

"That's for giving such a beautiful performance sweetie," I said as my voice fluttered with all the raw estrogen rushing through my head right now.

"Mmm, you smell like a freshly opened bottle of Mac Daniels." Diamond smiled at me as she opened a bottle of Mac Daniels. My heart was practically beating out of my chest with excitement.

"How about we split it half and half and do some sparring," I say with a daring smirk. "See who's the better fighter when they're 3 sheets to the wind."

"Even though there's a mission tomorrow?" Diamond asks with a raised eyebrow. "I like your style." Diamond passed the bottle to me and I began to chug my half. I quickly stopped and started coughing like mad cause it felt like I was drinking a bottle of nails because of how much it burned. It took 3 coughing bouts to drink my share.

“Not bad,” Diamond replied. “Now I’m gonna show you how a real mare does it.” Diamond yanked the bottle back and chugged it in the blink of an eye, she didn’t even stop for air! “Now then, let’s fight!”

“Damn girl! You don’t miss a beat!” I got up and entering my combat stance. Of course, Diamond was the first one up. She got out her phone and started playing Poker Face by Lady Gaga as we stared each other down.

Making the first move, I delivered a relentless flurry of kicks and punches, but Diamond kept dodging and blocking them, moving with all the speed of a super-fast blur. Or at least I think it was because of speed, there was a very real possibility I was just too drunk to notice, but after 5 minutes I began to tire out, and at that moment, Diamond cut loose. When I threw a punch she grabbed my hand and tossed me over her leg, causing my dress to fall over my face, preventing me from seeing, and I felt a very cool draft spread over my legs.

“Well, look at that,” I said with an inebriated giggle. “You won fair and square.”

"Indeed I did," Diamond said, full of drunken lust. "And I'm going to collect on my prize..."

Without a further word, Diamond wrapped her gentle lips around my griffon cock. The rush caught me by surprise, but the intoxication and how vulnerable I was made it all the hotter. I pictured myself with a mare pussy, and she was eating me out like a wild dog.

“F-Fuck!” I gasped in ecstatic surprise. “Please, more! Give me all the fucking love you have!”

“Not yet,” Diamond replied with a sultry tone. “You gotta make me cum if you wanna cum too.”

In a mirthful mood, I chuckled to myself as that seemed perfectly fair. I took a moment to get my dress on straight so I could see what I was doing, while Diamond spread her legs and exposed her girl cock for me while she rested her head on her muscular arms. While her balls had shrunken considerably due to the HRT, even with a semi hard-on, this bitch was still more well hung than me!

Hesitation was stopping me. Even though I considered Diamond a girl through and through I had never been with a stallion before, and most of my experience with cock was from Diamond’s perspective. I grabbed it with one talon, shuddering as I felt it’s warmth in my hand and begin to stroke it gently. I took Diamond’s quiet moans as a sign I was on the right track, and I used my other talon to steady my hand as I rubbed away on my sweet Pegasus girlfriend.

Soon Diamond was bucking her legs in the air and whinnying like a wild stud. I got caught off guard as she splattered her load all over my face, I even had to scrape some spunk that got into a nook in my beak, to Diamond's amusement.

"Hehe, no makeover is complete without a facial," Diamond said between giggles. "I'd say you more than earned your own release, sweetie."

"Yeah, well now you have to earn it." I stuck my tongue out cheekily as I straddled Diamond, intending to get a little more resistance out of her. And sure enough, I did. Diamond grabbed me by the legs and threw me off of her. Keeping her strong, tight on my legs, she buried her head underneath my dress, going at me like an animal in heat.

"Ahhh..." I moaned. "Like a fucking vampire... F-fuck, I'm so close..." I wrapped my legs around Diamond's neck for stability as I exploded my load into her mouth and a tsunami of debilitating, orgasmic pleasure washed over me and knocked me out cold for a brief second. Unfortunately, I was woken up from orgasm induced slumber by diamond kissing me on the lips and spitting my cum into my beak. As I coughed and did my best to get it out of my mouth, she simply laughed like a little filly. "Okay, that was pretty funny." I smiled at Diamond, before sincerely kissing her back, and cuddling her. Of course, I would have to prepare for the raid tomorrow soon, but for now, I'm just going to sleep this drunken lust off with the first pony I've ever truly loved.