The Line That Divides Us.

“You still awake over there, Pony?”

Not looking up from the rifle I was cradling in my arms, I simply responded with a small nod of my head, and a grunt for good measure. It was just another typical glamorous rainy night in the Everfree Forest, located in the scenic enemy territory of Equestria.

Sitting across from me, was a rather large gryphon clad in forest night camouflage whom we called Lance, who didn’t particularly appreciate my nonchalant answer. “That’s good, wouldn’t want you slacking off on the job, now would we, Pony?” I’m not a pony. I’m a Gryphon just like him. And Pony isn’t my name. Well, not my real name anyways...

Pony. A word that in our tongue, was often used as an insult. In our country, The United Gryphon Republic, the equine residents of Equestria were considered to be the lowest of scum. And here I was, a gryphon soldier, who had come to know that name all too well.

The UGR has always been living in the shadow of Equestria. Everyday we would worry about if the sun would rise in the morning to greet us and warm our lands. Or if the moon itself would ever rise, to allow us a time to cool down and sleep. Equestrians  always had the ability to control magic. Ranging from the Earth Ponies, who could bear crops in any kind of terrain and climate. The Pegasi, who could manipulate weather as they saw fit. Or even the unicorns, who could control the very essence of magic itself. Everything always appeared to come easy to those ponies through their use of magic.

We gryphons had no such powers. Every great feat we had ever accomplished was done from the sweat of our brow. Through the sheer power of our will, we were able to excel in the fields of science and technology. Through engineering, we were able to transport water to lands that once were thought unfit to bear crops. From the labs of our greatest scientist, we were able to learn how the erratic weather in our country worked, as well as how to predict and prepare for it when it got dangerous.

But what brought the greatest fear to our nation itself, what would leave our President awake at night with worry, was the ability to control the sun and the moon itself. An ability solely possessed by the princesses of Equestria.

Now at first glance, our countries had always been at peace. But that is only on the surface. We gryphons deep down had grown to fear and loath the sheer destructive potential that Equestria could wrought.  If the Goddess princesses willed it, we could end up baked by the very sun we relied upon.  Or they could will it that the sun never rises again on our fair land, blanketing us in an everlasting freezing night.  It had already happened once to us, back over 1000 years ago when the tyrant Nightmare Moon rose to power. For weeks, our young nation had to cope with everlasting night. That is until she was imprisoned in the moon for 1000 years by her sister, Celestia.

If it happened once before... Who is to say that it wouldn’t happen again? Nightmare Moon did escape her prison, and for one horrifying day, the sun didn’t rise.

It only lasted for a day, but it was enough to set my country up in arms. Who was to say, that some day, one of the princesses wouldn’t see fit to bring yet another celestial catastrophe upon our innocent people? We needed to be prepared. Ready to take down the leader of a nation if the situation deemed it necessary. But even through our advances in technology, we could never hope to compete with the magical abilities of the Equestrian Royal Military.Swords and shields wouldn’t get us very far. Everything looked bleak for the Gryphon Republic. That was, until the day that He came to our land.

    Shortly after Discord returned to the land of Equestria, a mysterious creature of unknown origin entirely covered from head to toe in a strange colored outfit appeared in our nation’s capital of Talonhassee. The lower half of his face was covered with a large piece of tan and brown cloth which he called a ‘tactical shemagh.’  On the top of his head, he wore what looked like some type of helmet, and over his eyes he had a dark pair of glasses.

He came bearing strange knowledge of technology that we had never even conceived yet. Technology that we soon found was for war. Firearms.

Sympathetic to our nation’s plight, he offered his knowledge to us as long as we didn’t try to harm him or steal his weapon. A gryphon prides himself on honor and integrity, so we agreed to his terms.  He allowed us the chance to reverse engineer his weapon, what was now known as a MK 14 EBR. The very same type of rifle now resting in my arms. He also allowed us the chance to study his armor. The current armor we wore now, was a variant of his own armor.

     It only took him a matter of hours to teach us everything we needed to know to replicate his weapon. Within that short time period our best scientist could disassemble and rebuild the weapon in under 2 minutes each. But Discord’s return to power was short lived, as the Elements of Harmony managed to defeat him within a days time of his return. And just as quickly as this mystery creature had appeared in our city, he vanished. He never showed us his face, or even told us his name. If we asked him anything about who or what he was, he would only reply with “It’s not important.”

But we got what we needed: a sure fire way to combat Equestria, should the situation arise. We finally evened out the playing field a little with the jump in wartime technology. Our military went through an entire overhaul. The concept of war had changed, and many able bodied gryphons had jumped at the chance to bring pride and honor to themselves and their family, so they enlisted. I myself eventually joining the fray.

But why was it that my own squad mates called me, a fellow Gryphon, by such an insulting name as “Pony”? With our armor covering us from head to toe, we appeared to look exactly the same. Other than our differences in size, you wouldn’t be able to tell me and Lance apart from each other or any other gryphon. Take the armor off though, and the reason why I’m called such a lowly name becomes quite evident. Instead of being like other gryphons, who had the bodies of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, I was born with the head and wings of a falcon.

When I was born, I was given the name Yeager by my mother. She told me it meant hunter.  Yeager V. Stormtalon, a name that any normal gryphon would be proud to carry. Only one problem, I was born with a body that appeared to have a falcons head and wings. Gryphons pride themselves on their looks. We usually have the body of a lion, which is considered the king of beasts. Our head and wings were from the mighty Eagle, king of the sky. Myself, I had the body of the lion, but my falcon half was considered a blight to the gryphon honor. A falcon, while still magnificent, was considered below the eagle.

    My condition was a rare one, barely affecting 1% of the entire population. But be that as it may, our rarity didn’t bring us any kind of glory, it brought us pain. To the world, we were a lesser breed, not fit to ever accomplish anything. Even with my defect, mother still loved me. She saw past my outward appearance, and knew that I had the potential to accomplish great things. No, it was my father who was disgusted with me.

    Major General Vincent A. Stormtalon, my father had never loved me. He found the fact that we shared the same last name to be his greatest dishonor. “You will never be more than a disappointment to me,” he would often say to me.  “You were a mistake, and you stain the name of Stormtalon.” My mother would often try her best to shield me from his verbal wrath, but often it just ended in an argument between them.  It put a strain on their relationship, and I always felt it was my fault.

    During school, I had to put up with much of the same from the student body and the teachers. No gryphon wanted me in their study groups, or to sit with me at lunch, or to even really talk to me. That is unless the talking they did was insulting me.They would call me names like ‘chicken’, or ‘turkey’, or even ‘scum’. But the name that stuck the most, the name that I now knew all too well, was Pony.

I always had to try harder. If it was academic, I would have to study alone; nobody would help me study. In physical education, I would get no help from my team. But through all this, I never gave up. Having to try so much harder than everyone else shaped me into what I was now. I was smart, I was strong, I was cautious, and most of all, I was cold.The lack of compassion in my life (save for my mother) made me into the kind of gryphon, that gryphons wanna grow up to be. Minus my cosmetic defect.

    But even with all I had achieved, I still wasn’t sure what I could do to show to my father and the world that I was just as good a gryphon as any other. At least not until the night my mother got hurt because of me.

    Shortly after the Mysterious Visitor vanished, and our country’s military went through its drastic transformation, my mother and I  were attacked by a group of gryphon thugs who didn’t take too kindly to my appearance. I tried to protect my mom, but I couldn’t take on 5 grown gryphons at once, I was overpowered and got my ass kicked. My mother was treated likewise. Having a smaller frame than me, she got it worse. She wound up in the hospital’s intensive care, while all I had were some bruises and cuts. The moment my father came in and saw mom’s condition, he walked up to me, sitting on the stool next to mothers bed and punched me in the face, sending me sprawling to the ground with a bloody beak. Lifting myself up, the next thing I saw chilled me to the bone. My father, the cold emotionless wall I had come to know...Was crying. Because despite all my parents had been through, he truly loved my mom. “This is your fault,” was all he could say.

He was right, this was my fault. If only I was smarter, stronger, more cautious, I could have prevented this. I needed to become stronger; I had to find a way to not only become stronger, but also prove that I wasn’t just a waste of space. To bring honor and pride to the Stormtalon name.

Lifting myself up off the floor, a poster on the far wall of the room caught my eye. It was a recruitment poster for the new reformed United Gryphon Republic Army.

“FALL IN!” Answer now in your country’s time of need!

It was like a lightning bolt of inspiration had hit me square in the chest. How had I not seen it before? The Army: the ultimate chance to prove my worth. To show the world and my father, a GENERAL in the Army, that I’m not a mistake. I knew what I had to do.

As I turned to leave my father called after me, “What are you going to do now?”

I stopped mid-step, looked over my shoulder at him, locking our eyes. Giving him the most iron look I could muster, I simply said, “Prove myself.” Turning away, I opened the door and stepped out. Before I let the door shut and without turning around, I muttered my last words to him. “I’m sorry.” Without waiting for a response, I let the door click shut.

One week later, I was shipped off to boot camp. It quickly became apparent that I was more proficient at boot camp than the other recruits. I could run longer, jump higher, and fly faster than anyone else. When it came to the academic portions, I excelled as well. All my success of course brought its downsides. I wasn’t all too popular with the rest of my squadron, and the infamous nickname “Pony” reared its ugly head.

During the second half of boot camp was when we were taught how to fire the newly developed guns. The ability to locate our targets came naturally to gryphons. With our bird of prey eyes, we could see a small target from over a mile away. Enhance that with the scopes developed for the rifles, and we were a true fearsome force to be reckoned with, locating targets from over 2 miles away. Lucky for me, my falcon eyes were on par with everyone else's eagle eyes. However, the skill of taking out the targets with the rifles didn’t come naturally to most gryphons, myself included. After a few painful days of sucking it up, I began to get the hang of the rifle. Before long, it began to feel more like an extension of my body, rather than a simple tool. I could shoot a moving target the size of a bunny right between the eyes while I was flying over a mile in the air. On the ground, anything in plain view within a 3 mile radius was in trouble.

Apparently my success at boot camp didn’t go unnoticed. Right after our graduation ceremony (which to my knowledge, my family did attend,) I was called in to see my commanding officer. They offered me the chance to train with the best of the best, and join a special reconnaissance squad. If I accepted, upon completion of my training, I would be automatically promoted to the rank of Corporal. What position did they want me to fill exactly? It came as no surprise that they wanted me to be a sniper. This was my chance, if I didn’t screw this up, I could finally make a name for myself. I accepted the offer.

After 18 more months of training, I was apart of Section 7 Squad D, The "Deathdealers". Our team consisted of 6 gryphons, myself included. We were lead by Staff Sergeant Lance, who took an instant dislike to me, then there were my 4 squadmates, Steiner and Wolfgang who were sniper and spotter respectively, Brigitte, the lone female of the group, was our combat medic.  My own spotter was named Adler.  Most of the team didn’t care for me joining, but Adler took an immediate liking to me. He was the first real friend I ever had. We stuck together like glue. Lucky for me that he ended up being my spotter.

The last few years have been some of the best and worst times of my life. Our team had gone on just about any mission anyone would expect. We have done missions ranging from simple intelligence gathering, to offensive missions. Equestria was not our only problem. We had many small skirmishes with many other species and tribes throughout our land. My first confirmed kill was the leader of a band of Zebra pirates off our coast. They had taken a group of sailors hostage, demanding over 1 million Gbits (Gryphon currency) for their safety. My team was deployed to remedy the problem. Me and Steiner, as well as our spotters Adler and Wolfgang were ordered to take the shots on the 4 Zebra captors.

I was the lucky one who had the ‘honor’ of taking out their leader. You never forget the faces of the ones whose lives you have taken. For a sniper, who can see every detail of the face of your target, right before you put a hole in it... You never forget.

Lucky for me the reason why my team was in this forest was just for intelligence. Or at least I hope it’s all it remains. We were assigned to infiltrate the capital of Equestria, Canterlot, and try to gather any information on Equestria’s new military. Since the changeling invasion almost 4 years ago, Equestria had given their military a complete overhaul. Our job was to keep tabs on what those changes were; without getting caught, of course. To a country, our actions might look a little like espionage. That’s why we don’t wear any symbols of our country on our uniforms. If we get caught...We are on our own. Heh, fat chance of that happening, especially out here. We were holding up for the night, trying to wait out the storm, when Steiner, Wolfgang and Brigitte were ordered to do some patrolling around the area for possible Equestrians. Adler offered to tag along, anything to get rid of the boredom of sitting in the rain. I would have prefered him stay with me, but he would be fine. What were the odds the 4 of them are gonna run into troub----

A rustling in the bushes could be heard off to our side, causing Lance to jump into an attack position, drawing a combat knife from its sheath on his left arm. Without getting up, I quickly aimed down the scope in the direction the noise was coming from. Flipping the safety off, I waited.

Casting a sidelong glance toward me, Lance gave me a quick nod of his head. I knew what he wanted. I breathed deep and shouted the safety call: “Equestria!”

A couple seconds later I heard the response we were waiting for: “Sucks!” Judging by the voice, it was Wolfgang.

I breathed a sigh of relief, they were back safe. Or so I thought. Just then a battered  Wolfgang came limping through the leaves carrying the bloody body of a fully camouflaged gryphon in his arms. Seeing the gryphons small frame, I knew it was Brigitte.  Slung over his back was Steiner’s rifle, also stained in blood.

Seeing the condition of his subordinates, Lance rushed over to Wolfgang, taking Brigitte from his arms and laying her down on her back. I simply stood there stunned.

“Wolfgang, what the hell Happened?! Where are Steiner and Adler?”

Wolfgang looked to be in a state of shock. “W-we were ambushed by a platoon of Equestrian Royal guards... They were Solar and Lunar elite... We had no chance.”

    I walked up to Wolfgang, grabbing him by the shoulders. Looking him in the eyes I asked very slowly: “Where are Steiner and Adler?”

“They were captured by the platoon. Steiner and Adler gave me a chance to get Brigitte out of there. They sacrificed themselves to allow us to get to safety.”

With the cold rain soaking me to the bone, I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel any colder. But at the moment, my insides felt like they had gone sub zero.

“Adler..... No..”

                                                                  Prelude End.