Canterlot Castle, Day 2
7:10 AM
Cloud Runner, Equestrian Intelligence, Polaris Team

“So remind me why we’re geared for a combat operation?” My marefriend Sky asked as Cosmo finished loading his jet black vest with rifle and pistol magazines.

“One word, Luna.” Storm Cloud said as he locked down the low-light sight on his rifle.

“Did she say anything to you last night when you got the orders?” I asked as I pulled on my helmet and powered up the HUD. It flashed through it’s boot up menus before blinking green around the edge of my vision.

“She thought something was coming. Said it was familiar, and that’s all she left it at.” Cosmo said as he put on his protective combat glasses. “Alright, everypony set?”

“Rook is set on comms.” Stalwart’s voice scratched out over my helmet radio.

“You call catch that?” Cosmo asked. I nodded, as did the other two in the room. “Strider here, check all field marks Rook.”

“Got it… Strider, Darkstar, Hurricane and Tempest. All field marks are accounted for. We’re coming up on the landing site now, popping hatch in thirty seconds.”

“So we don’t know why we’re meeting at the catacombs entrance?” I heard Sky ask.

“I’m assuming we’re running need to know. And as much as we’re here at the request of a Princess, I don’t think we’re need to know.” Cosmo said, sighing at the end. “Is anypony else worried right now?”

“Of course I’m fucking worried.” Storm Cloud replied. “The last recorded instance of Celestia being involved with a field operation was fourty years ago… Although maybe this is Luna’s way of getting a body in bed at the end of the day.”

We all just looked at Storm Cloud. “What?” Cosmo asked.

“Well I was digging through the records last night after we got the orders, and Meteor Shower and Celestia met during Operation Breakwater in Vanhoover.”

Cosmo just stared at his half-brother with a deadpan look. “And you think that Luna is going to use this as a way to say ‘hey Tia, look at me I’ve got a husband now too!’. Come on, get real.”

“Well I never said she was going after me.” Storm Cloud said with a shrug. “I mean, I think I’m getting to more than just coffee with Gabby… But hey, you’re still single and completely available.”

As the shuttle shuddered and the rear ramp dropped, Cosmo just rolled his eyes. “And I’m perfectly fine being single Casanova. Now please, just get on-mission.”

As the four of us walked off the shuttle, Luna was immediately spotted at the entrance to the catacombs, sitting on a bolder with a shotgun slung over her shoulder. “Commander, glad you could make it.” She was decked out in equipment identical to Cosmo, which in itself seemed out of place. But she looked somewhat dustier than I would’ve expected.

“Have you been busy Your Highness?” Cosmo asked.

Luna nodded. “I’ve got footsteps that lead deep into the catacombs. The prints in the dirt were not made by Equestrian issue footwear.”

“So, Griffins then?” Storm Cloud asked.

“That’s my fear.” Luna said. “Commander, there is a reason I requested your team. It’s specifically because of the talents of your compatriot.” She said, pointing at Storm Cloud.

“Really? What talents? I’m a damn halfbreed.” Storm pointed out.

“One that has an affinity towards the Sombric school of dark magic.” Luna retorted.

That stopped the entire group dead. The fact is that Storm Cloud was the bastard half-breed of the Griffin De Witt and Constellation, conceived through De Witt’s apparent attempts to create a Griffin that could harness magic like a unicorn. Attempts that had evidently been quashed with De Witt’s apparent demise at General Meteor Shower’s hands during the mission to capture said Griffin some twenty years ago, and the subsequent rescue of Constellation while she was in labor. While it has never been entirely understood, it was known that De Witt’s experiment in Storm Cloud was a success. But even though we all knew what Storm Cloud was capable of, outside of the most dire circumstances or private moments, he purposely withheld his capabilities.

“And what does dark magic have anything to do with today?” Storm asked.

“Because I have reason to believe that De Witt is here, although the reasons are still unknown.” The Princess explained.

Cosmo immediately tapped his earpiece. “Rook, Strider. I want to you to maintain constant comms and IFF tracking, so hook into the subterranean monitoring system.”

“Got it Strider, establishing connection… Alright, uplink is good. You’re all good to go down there.”

“Tempest, take point. No lights.” Cosmo ordered.

I stepped forward and tapped button on the side of my helmet to turn on the low light setting for my visor. As we slowly advanced into the cave, I took note of a blinking message on the lower left of my field of vision. It just read connection error in dull red letters. But connection error to what?

BWACHA!

By this point we were well into the catacombs. “What the hell was that?” I heard Cosmo whisper.

“Rook, Tempest, I don’t think we’re alone down here…” I whispered, my helmet mic picking up the words. But there was no response, not even static. Suddenly the connection error message made perfect sense. “We’ve got no comms.”

“Indeed you don’t.”

Before I could wheel around and figure out just who was behind me, I felt a boot plant itself between my wings and throw me forward, but a pair of clawed hands kept a firm grip on my feathery appendages, and I felt a series of resounding pops from the tips of my wings to my back.

“Contact!” I heard Cosmo yell. “Weapons-” He didn’t get off another word before I heard a series of thuds, accompanied by what sounded like discharges of static electricity.

I managed to kick my grappler off my back and managed to wheel around. Cosmo had two grey Griffons forcing him to the ground with prods arcing blue light. Storm Cloud’s face was bleeding heavily, as a third Griffon was bashing him over the head with what looked to be a piece of pipe, while Sky was on the ground, back against the wall with her head hanging limply towards her left shoulder.

Luna was worse off. A metal collar had been snapped around her neck, and two more Griffons were trying hook poles to loops on it and force her to the ground while her horn flickered and sparked. Staring at me from the corner of my eye was a brown and white Griffon, metal plate contoured to the right side of his face. He had a knife in his hand, and was going for a stab if the motion was any indicator, but before much could happen, Luna’s horn flared to life and she blasted me, blinding my vision with midnight blue light before I felt the world go black.

Some time later…

“Strider, Blackout. Respond.”

The sound of the radio in my ear caused me to spring back to consciousness. I was on my back, in a completely different part of the catacombs. Luna had likely spot-teleported me away from the ambush. But that sure as hell didn’t make the joints of my wings feel any better. I sat up, and saw that my rifle had landed in a pile of gravel next to me.

“Strider, respond.”

The grogginess suddenly cleared and I felt my heart start to race. We were in serious trouble, and Celestia knows how long I had been out. I quickly cued up my radio and saw that I had a solid connection to the underground boosters. “Blackout, Tempest. Can you read?”

“Five by five Tempest.”

In that instant I felt cold sweat running down my temple inside the helmet. The Griffon with the plate on his face… That was De Witt. He was in Canterlot, and he had apparently managed to kidnap Princess Luna at the very least. My mouth started running on autopilot. “Initiate emergency continency Nightfall. Repeat, Nightfall. Perimeter breeched through the catacombs by hostile entities. RS2 in hostile custody, remaining Polaris assets are unaccounted for.” I only had a return of static. I assumed that they had heard the emergency codeword. But before I could do more, in the same corner that I had seen the connection error message earlier, text that said incoming flashed in green.

“Tempest, Rook, where the hell have you been?”

“Griffons jumped us and took Princess Luna. Do you have a fix on anypony else?”

“Negative, all other Polaris tags are still dark.”

“Then where the hell am I?” I asked.

“Stand by… Oh boy.”

Phalanx sounded concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Well you’re right under the center of the main hall floor, right?”

“OK, sure.”

“And the Guard just pulled demolition charges from storage.”

“Alright.”

“Well… If I had to guess I’d say you’ve got twenty seconds before you get turned to pulp.”

I took one glance up at the ceiling before I tore off down the tunnel. I tried to flap my wings, but ever joint seared in red hot pain. They were dislocated alright, and they sure as hell wouldn’t help me get out of trouble.

Then the kick to my backside came. The demo charges went off, and while my helmet’s noise cancelation blocked out the sound it did nothing to save me from the effects of physics as I was lifted from my feet by the blast and sent tumbling down the tunnel to come to a stop in a large open chamber. I just laid there on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I had lost my grip on my rifle, Celestia knowing where it ended up.

Trying to sit up didn’t do anything, as now everything hurt. “Rook?” I managed to groan

“Tempest, you OK?” The stallion’s voice scratched out through now-damaged helmet speakers.

“Yeah, I’m fine… Next time just cut to the chase.” I closed my eyes as the throbbing in my head finally seemed like it was pounding on the backs of my eyeballs.

I think I’m just going to lay here for a few minutes.

*---*

Catacombs beneath Canterlot
Dusk Light

The dust hadn’t even cleared before I grabbed the nearest dozen guards and hopped down into the catacombs. The dust wasn’t difficult to blow away, Captain Sentry saw to that with some powerful flaps of his wings. What I did not expect to see was a combat armored Pegasus lying on his back at the end of our entry tunnel, his rifle bent in half a few feet off to his right. One of the guards slid down next to the Pegasus and tugged his helmet off, revealing Cloud Runners familiar, if not battered, face.

“A little warning would’ve been nice.” The Pegasus groaned; his eyes still closed.

One of the unicorn guards got down on her knees next to the wounded soldier and ran a glowing hand across his body. While I wasn’t sure where all of the injuries came from, he likely got caught by the blast from the demolition charge that had been used to open the way to the catacombs. “Alright, both wings are dislocated… I’ve got some bruising, a few cracked ribs and a concussion. This colt isn’t going anywhere except topside.” She said with a matter-of-fact tone.

“No arguments here.” I said as I picked up Cloud’s helmet off the ground and examined it before tossing it away. Most of its internal components had been damaged, and I couldn’t guarantee their reliability. “Take two other guards and bring Tempest to the nearest doctor.”

By this point Dawn had made her way down the tunnel. “Yup… It’s stronger down here.” That was a good sign, it just meant that my plans to use my daughter as a navigation aid would likely work to our benefit. She pointed to a tunnel that was off the upper right of the chamber that we were standing in. “We need to go down there.”

“Wait.” Cloud croaked as the unicorn and another guard helped him to his feet. “Dusk, De Witt is down here, and he’s got five in support that I saw before Princess Luna...” His voice trailed off. “Dusk, they got some sort of collar on her. I think it was some sort of magic neutralizer.”

“What else can you tell us?” Flash asked, his face retaining a neutral expression.

“They got the drop on us using some sort of comms jamming. Blocks our IFF tags and radio signals. If you get close-”

I just held my hand up and shook my head. “Look, I’m assuming we’re on our own right now anyway. Just get to a doctor, we’ll take it from here.” Cloud nodded and his escorting trio started off back down the tunned towards our entrance.

“This is bad…” Flash observed. “It sounds like De Witt brought a prepared team here.”

“Doesn’t matter at this point.” I countered, clicking the safety off on the pistol I had acquired a few minutes prior. “We find De Witt, we find Luna and the rest of Polaris.”

“And none of this bothers you?” Flash asked, now looking far more serious.

I just shrugged. “And what would you have me do Flash? We’ve got more pressing concerns right now.” I just motioned for the tunnel and started walking. “Let’s just get moving.”

Dawn immediately took up the lead, a dull glow lighting her horn as we made our way down the tunnel speckled with crystals embedded into the walls. We must have followed that tunnel for two or three minutes before Dawn extinguished her horn. The large chamber at the end was already illuminated, and the light within was spilling into our tunnel.

As Dawn and I edged forward I could make out a Griffon standing over a light colored Pegasus, likely Sky, something clasped in the hand that was obstructed by his captive’s body. “Now now, no need to skulk in the shadows my dear, come out and see my work for itself.” The Griffon was clearly talking to Dawn.

We silently made our way into the large chamber, and I took stock of the situation. Sky was at the hands of the Griffon that had addressed us, De Witt if I had to wager any bits on it. Storm Cloud was off to the left side of the chamber with his brother, along with two armed guards. Cosmo looked somewhat bruised but was otherwise intact.

Storm Cloud looked worse off. His combat gear from his torso was gone, and he was stripped bare from waist up. He had several red marks across his chest left by blood, and the left side of his face was caked in dried blood from a cut across his eye.

Off to the right was Luna. She was beaten, bruised, and bloodied. Two Griffons held her down with rods attached to the collar around her neck, while a third stood over her with a gun aimed at her back.

“It seems you brought company to our second lesson my dear.” De Witt said, now hoisting up the large bowie knife that was in the hand that was obstructed from our initial view. “That was quite smart of you. It just makes the impact of this lesson so much more easily distributed.”

I took one look around the chamber and shook my head. “This isn’t a lesson. It’s a manifesto.”

“It matters not Your Highness, for the results are the same.” De Witt said, sounding as emotionless as possible. “Your kind must all learn these lessons that I have been tasked to teach.”

I already didn’t like where this was going. De Witt had hostages, and a number had been wounded. “You make yourself sound like a benevolent god.” I countered.

“As all gods should be.” De Witt said as he suddenly grabbed Sky’s right wing and yanked it into an outstretched position. “Now, for today, I have but a simple lesson. You believe yourself to be the protectors of this land. Yet you are helpless to save even a single life that stands before you.”

As De Witt’s right arm rose, it felt like everything was slowing down. Luna’s sudden panic, sparks flying from her horn as she tried to overpower whatever was blocking her abilities. Cosmo was thrashing against his restraints and screaming like a colt possessed. Storm Cloud’s head seemed to fall in defeat. All while Dawn, myself and the Guards behind us froze like animals caught in a beam of light. As the blade fell and met flesh, a spurt of blood could be seen, followed by what almost sounded like a branch snapping. And as Sky’s wing came free and was held high by De Witt for all assembled to see, the whole chamber went silent.

A silence that was shattered mere seconds later by a blood curdling scream.

Author's Note

Alright, so shenanigans from work aside, I'm hopefully getting back on track.

Hopefully.

I've got three more chapters done and otherwise ready to publish over the next few weeks, but my writing has slowed to a snails pace. So inevitably I think what I may end up doing is write batches of ten chapters, get them loaded and worry about publishing as time on my end permits. We'll see.