Equestria At War - In the Shadow of the Sun

Blink...Blink...Blink...

Sip...

The caffeine hit Cipher - and gave life to his tired, hungover body. The coffee had allowed him to finally understand what the old griffon was saying to him.

"Fucking sweet Boreas, Cipher." Gomer laughed. "Term "don't shit where you eat" don't seem to apply to you at all! Twice, it seems. Should I even start asking questions like uh...Was Umi, or you on top? Guessing him from the sounds. Oh, did Chari transform into anyone? Who's got the bigger--"

"You're right. You shouldn't start asking." Cipher yawned, having returned to his original compartment, where Gomer, Plymouth, and Raz crashed in. "You've got yourself to blame for getting us drunk."

"Well you didn't see me bending Plymouth over, did you?" Gomer scoffed. "Lightweights."

"You don't fuck my tailhole cause you already fuck my brain." Plymouth groaned as he used Raz's flank as a pillow while the batpony slept soundly. His head was split open with pain. "That wasn't tequila you brought - that was a fucking massacre. I thought Crystal ponies weren't so into drinks - why did that thing send me closer to death than Yucoltan did?"

"You ought to be lucky I'm not in the mood to discipline you." Colton scoffed - who had been standing at the entrance to the compartment while none had anticipated. Plymouth yelped - raising his head too fast and bumping it against the underside of the compartment's wall-mounted table.

"How would you discipline members of a secret unit not supposed to exist on paper anyway?" Gomer scoffed, folding his talons with a challenging tilt of the head.

"In a way which isn't going to be written up on paperwork." Colton scoffed, taking a seat on Raz's bunk bed. "Not your standard latrine washing."

"Listening post duty." Gomer deducted.

"Sitting in-front of a radio all day isn't that bad." Cipher thought outloud. "I think one time Colton actually punished me for the time I stole one of his hayburgers by sending me to covertly bodyguard a diplomat. Thing about covert bodyguarding is that I had to pretend to be a diplomat too."

"What's bad about that?" Plymouth asked in-between rubbing his forehead.

"I hate social activities. And pretending to be formal. Walking around in a tuxedo and having to use fancy-shmancy language with Wingbardian officials...Ugh. Colton knows that. Don't you?" Cipher rose a brow at him and folded his organic and metallic hooves.

"Don't know what you're talking about, just thought you were the best fit. And I guess maybe not having my food clouded my judgement." Colton whistled a little bit, innocently.

"How'd you punish me if I fucked up?" Plymouth asked.

"Send you to help peacekeepers in a region that has absolutely no signs of an intensifying conflict."

"...Sick fuck." Plymouth faked a gag reflex.

They would hear the soft voice of a passing by attendant. "We arrive in an hour! Please be ready! I say again, we arrive in an hour!" The mare's voice was heard as she passed by the door.

***

With a screech - the train had finally come to a halt. It would take some fifteen minutes for the passengers to leave the wagons - and Colton's group had exited, each of them wearing some mild manner of disguise. For Chari it had been easy - transforming herself into a random design she had thought of. For Raz however, her fake wax additions were important to be able to keep up her appearance as a pegasus, rather than a batpony.

"Sooo, where do we start?" Plymouth sighed as he stretched his body out.

Colton sighed, reaching into a saddlebag. "The Princess gave me a bit to go on before we departed. She gave me some intel on where we can find the envoy they sent, and the envoy knows where to go. And, according to Cadence - the envoy was given a particular place of residence to work with, here in Filly. He was sent to stay with the family of one of Cadence's maids, to pose as a relative who came to stay over."

The group began to walk to the address they were given, taking in the sights. The city was in good shape - the buildings stood and were freshly renovated following the war; but the presence of Solarist symbols soured the taste. Not to mention, the garrisons of Solarists that moved around in vehicles - seemingly something had been going on.

"...So this is Fillydelphia." Cipher sighed as he looked at a fifteen-floor business center, with its gargoyles replaced with statues of Daybreaker. "It's as ugly as I imagined."

Colton scoffed a little with a smug smirk. "Not a fan of east coast architecture? What do you like, then?"

"If I told you that my favorite architecture was in Karthin, you'd laugh." Cipher simply answered.

"Can't blame you." Raz giggled. "Ol' Beakolini loved Karthin so much they hung him upside down with the best view of the city square. As a courtesy."

"Everyone knows that Lake City architecture fucks." Plymouth muttered.

"Fucks with the notion of beauty." Gomer coughed under his breath.

"What'd you say?" The unicorn scowled at the bird.

Gomer smirked. "Never knew urban taste and hearing are connected..."

***

"So, you were sent by the princess...Makes sense how you found me through my, uh...'host family'." The stallion said as he sliced onions and added them to a pan, the sizzling making Umi yelp slightly as hot oil sparks fell on him. "How is she?"

"Not good." Colton said. "Stressed."

"Mm." The envoy sighed as he kept on cooking. They were in the back of a small, dingy takeout store. The smells of fried food were heavy, forcing Raz outside - and Gomer joining to guard her.

"...Weird place for someone with your job." Plymouth muttered.

"It's good for my purpose. I'm here to mediate between the Crystal Heart and the ELF, though recently we've had to lay low following Nova's invasion. This job keeps me connected and under the nose of authorities." He said, chopping up tomatoes. "Those authorities get too busy with the food anyway to ask me anything. So, you wanted to contact the ELF?"

"Would be nice." Colton said. "You can trust us - you're aware that we're here on Cadence's order, right?"

"I do trust you. Juuust..." He sighed, adding herbs. "The best way to go about connecting you would be through Hermes, I think. Most reliable way anyhow."

"Hermes?" Cipher rose. "That's a...mythological reference, right? Messenger deity?"

"Yes. She's known as a highly-skilled messenger who gets the job right. Ah, well - 95% of the time..." He paused, before flipping a hayburger patty. "95% of...60% of the time. Anyways..." He put another patty on the pan. "Matter of fact, she's meant to meet me today to relay info."

"Is she?"

The sound of crashing tables was heard loud and clear. With a look of surprise, Cipher peered around the corner of the kitchen to see that the dining area had been treated as a bowling alley - the tables and customers being the pins, and the bowling ball being a clumsy, cross-eyed, grey pegasus - who could only sit there and awkwardly grin at the judging scowls.

"...Yep. Right on cue." The envoy sighed, not taking his eyes off the food. "Make sure you repeat your info to her three times. Write it down too. On four separate pieces of paper. Oh, and write instructions to burn each paper, too...Also in four examples."

***

Sunset Shimmer propped her hooves up on the lid of the turret. Her tank rolled across friendly roads, those that the Solarists would never dare drive upon. Certainly not after recent events.

She hummed a soft tune together with the radio, a song that she would have loved to sing back then - with her friends from the other side. But at-least her tank crew didn't mind it.

"I get up, I get down, all my world turns around Who is right? Who was wrong? I don't know..." She softly sang, eyes gazing up at the tree canopy that rolled past her, the rays of sun beaming upon her face.

"I've got pain in my heart, got a love in my soul. Easy come, but I think - easy go..." She softly smiled. Nostalgia had settled in, memories of better, more magical times. All of it now like a child, waking up from a dream they had once taken for granted. A death to innocence.

"I need you so..." She closed her eyes.

"All the times...I move so slow." She breathed out.

The gunner, loader, and driver looked at each other and smiled - preparing to cheer her up by singing along, unexpectedly for Sunset.

"Cheri cheri mare, goin' through a--" They had begun, but suddenly as the driver turned his attention to the road once again, he hit the breaks, and ended up slamming face-first into the dashboard. Sunset had nearly fallen through the hole of the turret, but was able to brace herself with her hooves. The radio nonchalantly continued, while the driver and Sunset peeked their head out of the tank's holes to look what was happening on the road.

"...Who the--" Sunset blinked and saw a grey pegasus...

A pegasus with eyes that did not exactly face the same direction, but she had a big smile nonetheless.

Sunset sighed softly. She knew exactly who this was. "Rubeno."

"..." The pegasus blinked with a smile.

The unicorn rose a brow. She didn't raise the alarm, because she knew what her deal was. "...The countersign."

"...Oh!" The pegasus giggled. "Uhm, the countersign is...Nognas!"

That wasn't the countersign, but Sunset was able to make heads and tails of the fact that she basically just read it the other way around. She sighed in relief, knowing that this wasn't a changeling. That would suffice for her. In general, she knew that when dealing with the cross-eyed pegasus, she had to be patient. But why even allow her into the ELF then?

Because this grey pegasus had a most terrifyingly efficient talent. She was the best messenger the ELF could ever ask for. And if you understood how she worked, you could get her to reach her potential. That is to say, if you want her to deliver something to the right place, make sure she could quadruple-check the details.

"Alright, Hermes." Sunset called the pegasus by her tacname. The grey pegasus had taken a liking to it, especially when her real name was a subject to debate and argument. "What've you got?"

"Uhm, there is a group known as the SIF..."

"S-SIF?" Sunset tensed up, and then realized that she was probably confused. So she squinted her eyes. "You're...sure?"

The pegasus blinked, and checked her third piece of paper. "...OH! Sorry, no." She laughed. "Eheheh, it was the SIB. From New Mareland!"

Sunset tilted her head and listened. This was interesting. "Hm, go on."

Hermes continued with her lovely, wide smile and multi-directional gaze. "They wanted to meet some higher ranking members to talk about working together! They're staying at this address here. Heheh, I didn't bother trying to memorize that one." The pegasus flew over, and reached into her jacket's pocket to pull out the fourth piece of paper that had, upon it, written coordinates.

Sunset looked at the paper. "Just in the north of our territory. I see. Thanks, Hermes. Wanna come with us, rest your wings? You could sit on the tank."

"No, no..." Hermes giggled. "I got more letters! I need to deliver some updates to Starxie...I-I mean, Trixlight...Or, which one was it...Oh! It was both, heheh..."

Sunset smiled at the pegasus. She was a clutz - but innocent, and adorable in how she seemed to never be slowed down by anything she faced. Hermes never got anywhere close to being found or caught. "Got it. Take care of yourself, Hermes. Be safe out there."

The grey pegasus saluted, and giggled. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays me from the swift completion of my appointed rounds." She said, so eloquently Sunset was left a bit stunned - before the grey pegasus zipped off at a speed that could, to a decent extent, rivalled the legendary speeds of Rainbow Dash.

Sunset reached for her radio. "Mage - come in. Hear me?"

"<<...Yes, Demon. What's up?>>"

"Hermes came in with interesting news. The SIB is looking to meet up. What do?"

"<>"

"That was your plan before Operation Leap, yeah..." Sunset sighed, reminded of what was to happen in a mere few days.

"<>"

"You really trust them?" Sunset asked.

"<>

"...Got it. Demon out."

Sunset sighed, and looked at the road as they changed their course.

"SIB, ma'am?" The gunner turned around to look at Sunset. "Whassat?"

"Sunset Intelligence Bureau." She said. "Kind of NM's clandestine ops."

"Think we can trust 'em boss?" The driver asked as he put pedal to the metal.

"..." Sunset thought for a moment. "Not my call to make anyway, Tortoise. But if you really want my two bits...I'd say New Mareland is scared of Daybreaker the most."

"Why so? I'd be shitting myself as Kemerskai Junior, what with him now having a fuckin' sea border with the bitch." The loader commented.

"New Mareland is scared cause they're the ones who got their independence." Sunset dryly said. "Say you go somewhere with your mom, as a kid. You throw a fuss - throw things around, proclaim to the adults around you that you're not a child anymore. Maybe throw a few f-bombs at your mom if you're a nasty-enough kid. At that moment you feel pretty brave and tough, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, at some point..." Sunset chuckled softly. "You realize that once you're home, you're gonna be one-on-one with her. And that's getting you an ass-whoopin'. And I think New Mareland realized...Mom's driving home."

***

Deep in the enchanting woods of East Equestria, in the valleys and hills that were covered in trees, was a collection of military entrenchments. Yet, they were expertly hidden, covered in camouflage and basically invisible to a naked eye; and even thermal imaging. It was the expert work of the illusionist unicorn, who had the tricks up her sleeve to make a base that barely existed. Underneath, was a more extensive tunnel network - made according to the planning of a broken-horned unicorn who knew of these tactics.

Two days had passed since the SIB arrived to Fillydelphia.

Colton's team had been brought in - and like in Yucoltan, those who were to transport them didn't bother with blindfolds. They went deep into the woods and hills, to the point where navigation was hard. Close to evening, they had entered a clearing, and began to walk. Only once they looked closer had they identified that they were in-fact looking at the outer perimeter of a camoflaged base.

Jumping down from the turret of the M41 Walker Bulldog, Sunset identified who these strangers were supposed to be. The unicorn smiled softly.

"Welcome to FOB Drosera, New Marelanders." The unicorn said. "It's a little dingy, but this is the best we can build under the nose of Fillydelphia. It's only a few hours' drive from here to there, so, try to lay low."

"Thanks for the welcome." Colton smiled softly. "Glad to meet the ELF."

"Glad to meet fresh faces. Especially from overseas. Not being alone in this fight is a good-enough omen to brighten up my day." She smiled softly. "I'm General Sunset Shimmer. I'm the commander of light tank Hellcourt, and the ELF's armored group. I wish I could call it anything else, but we don't have too many tanks to work with. I can't say I have a brigade, or a division."

The New Marelanders introduced themselves briefly.

"This is impressive camouflaging ma'am." Plymouth whistled. "Even I don't know some of these tricks."

"That would be the work of Trixie Lulamoon; one of our two marshals." Sunset chuckled. "She knows the tricks to illusion and trickery like this. Now, shall we get you inside? The base is...bigger on the inside." She chuckled.

***

The FOB was perhaps small on the outside - containing its perimeter within a relatively small radius. Yet, through a hatch, there was a series of deep, expansive tunnels; large enough to remove the need for crawling. One could calmly walk down the hall-way-sized tunnels, and they had the construction to support it at all.

Deeper in, there was a larger room, that was reserved for commanders.

"Anxious?" Trixie softly asked Starlight. The blue unicorn toyed with a small toy tank and a collection of paints and brushes. She was trying new camouflage patterns, and used a magical "bonsai garden" that was able to rapidly shift its environment. She would compare the tank to the different environment, and made notes for how plausible the design was.

"Who wouldn't be?" Starlight sighed, staring into the map of a city. "I wish I could express why I feel so anxious, because there's so many little reasons. They trust me to liberate this land. But some may die following my orders. It's...such a sickening feeling, to know that trust in me will lead to...to..."

"Starlight." Trixie put down the tank. "I'm sorry, but, that shouldn't make you anxious. The possibility of failure, sure. The amount of casualties, yes. But they trust us - trust you because we're the only ones who can promise freedom. They understand what they're signing up for. We should never treat them as expendable, but we must lead them."

The purple unicorn sighed. "There's families who will be ruined because of what we're to do tomorrow."

"And if we do nothing..." Trixie said. "We run the risk of ruining all families on the continent. We must do this."

Starlight smiled up at Trixie - weakly. "...You really are different in private, y'know that?"

"You already know I'm the Great and Powerful, cutie." Trixie chuckled. "No need to remind you."

A knock came on the wall around the corner - Sunset's voice came. "Hey, you two available? Guests are here."

"...SIB?" Starlight stood up, and indeed, Colton's group had entered.

"The ones and only ma'am." Gomer chuckled as they stepped in. "Well, I'm sure we're not too well known in these parts, but..."

The purple unicorn smiled. "I am Starlight Glimmer, and this is Trixie Lulamoon. We will soon be joined by our fourth. We're very glad to see you, New Marelanders."

"We're glad to be among friends." Colton responded.

"...A bit early to claim friendship...No?" Asked a more quiet, reserved voice that stood by the entrance into the room. All turned around, and Tempest Shadow was leaning against the entrance frame.

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend...?" Chari cutely squeaked.

"So I'd need to hug it out with the changelings?" She scoffed.

"Tempest..." Starlight sighed. "Come on."

"Yes, Tempest, dear..." Trixie rolled her eyes. "Your grand entrance can wait. We'd rather start discussing the details of our cooperation."

"...Fine." Tempest sighed. "I'm here. Go ahead."

Cipher stepped forward to Starlight. "Ma'am, we're willing to help you however we can. Whatever you need, we're looking to do whatever we can to ensure Daybreaker won't sit a second longer on the throne."

The blue unicorn smirked. "Well, well. The Great and Powerful Trixie is happy to know the east isn't full of idle bums." The unicorn chuckled.

"And I'm glad Equestrians aren't all bending themselves over for a tyrannical monarch." Gomer said under his breath.

"Now..." Starlight sighed, turning to Colton. "I know that you're not just here for a charitable extension of the hoof. What can we do for you? Does New Mareland have assets they need protected here?"

"If by asset you mean the whole west coast of Griffonia..." Chari coughed. Starlight rose a brow at her remark, and Colton had only nodded to affirm that there was truth to that statement.

"We're in it because Daybreaker poses a danger to us too. All of Griffonia wants her gone. However, we have a particular thing to research, because we think Daybreaker has an ace up her sleeve."

"Dangerous magic isn't a bad enough ace?" Tempest chuckled. "Surprise me."

"We know just bits and pieces, but...Do you know anything about Vividvale?" Colton asked.

Starlight sighed. "Partly. Not as much as I would like, though."

"Don't you have members of the Free Equestria Army in your ranks?" Cipher asked. "It's been said that they should have some insight on it."

Starlight shook her head. "There's the funny catch. The ELF has maybe half - if not less than half a company of ex FEA troops. Issue is, they have spoken of Vividvale - but that's because from what I gather, they were the ones too far away from whatever it was to have been victims. Nobody who knows of it has survived. They barely made it out."

"...Damn." Colton sighed.

"Though..." Starlight put a hoof to her chin. "I heard rumors that they were able to recover some of their elites. However, by the time that news came to me, we already set them for operations out of my communications reach. At-least, for the time being. Matter of fact - we might even see them soon." Starlight said, regaining a smile. "They're operating a bit deeper in Solarist territory east of here, but they're going to join us in an operation soon. If you can tag along with us for the op, we can get you a face-to-face meeting."

"I don't mind at all." The pegasus nodded. "What's the OP?"

"Why don't you wait two hours?" Starlight chuckled. "Trixie's been finishing up the final map markings."

***

In a different room in the tunnels, a row of chairs was prepared. About fifty were able to comfortably sit on folding chairs, while a map was posted on the wall, displaying eastern Equus.

"This is it." Starlight firmly said as she used her magic to levitate the pointer to the map. "As of 0500, in a little less than sixteen hours, we are commencing Operation Leap." She paused, looking around to scan for confused and unaware faces. Colton and team's was the most obvious, and she noticed that some ELF newbies were just as confused. So she folded the pointer for a moment.

"Operation Leap..." Starlight began. "Is our first real phase to freeing Equestria."

A pegasus in a wonderbolt's uniform sighed. "The first real phase...?" Misty Fly sighed, rubbing her neck slightly. "What've we been doing the whole time, then?"

A tracksuit wearing earth pony humphed. "Agree with wonderbolt. We fight for long time now. You imply we have been doing it all for no reason?" Mr Stripes frowned.

"We've been harassing the enemy." Tempest Shadow firmly replied. "We've been a pain for her, but not a real force to be reckoned with. This is about to change. We will transition from a guerilla to a proper army."

The skeptics had quieted down, and Starlight was able to smile. "Tempest is saying it how it is. We logistically...bothered her, but all this work has been done to give us the opportunity. An opportunity to finally begin reclaiming land other than wildlife. And all of this begins..." She pointed at Fillydelphia. "Here. We're taking the city back."

"...Yo! For real?" A cyan pegasus, Lighting Dust - leader of Washout Squadron, leaned in. "Hey now...S-So we're doin' it!?"

"Finally!" Cheered a rustic-red dragon with pink hair, Mina. "I so hope my comic store is intact..."

"I'll be your first customer if it is." A teenaged earth pony, Babs Seed, gave a big and warm smile to the dragon.

Starlight smiled softly. "It's not going to be easy, but we have a plan. More than that, we have a bit of a last moment boon. The creatures sitting on the chairs to the next of me...They're members of the SIB - New Mareland intelligence." She said. "They're going to help smooth out the sailing as we enter the city."

"Is this the part where the audience cheers?" Dryly joked Ms. Harshwinny as she leaned in.

"Just giving you a heads up." Starlight explained. "I'll assign some of you to help them. Oh, and their pilot will be joining you, Wonderbolts. You in particular, Hurricane Squadron."

Raz giggled, and raised a hoof. "Batponies are on the diversity quota, I hope?"

"Our diversity quota includes good pilots." Wind Walker folded his hooves with a challenging tilt of the head. "Think you can fit that bill?"

"Just gimme a plane that isn't a rickety piece of shit and can handle high G's." Raz smirked. "Provide that, and we can make some serious bets. If you're not chicken. Bkawk bkawk~." She laughed. It earned a challenging scowl and eye-roll from some of the Wonderbolts. Another one was about to make a joke, but eeped as he saw a purple unicorn with a broken horn glare at him.

"Banter's off the briefings." Tempest Shadow firmly said. "Now, we are going to have a four-pronged attack. Four groups will muster up leading up to the invasion, group up, and attack. Starlight's group, Wizard, is leading the western attack. Sunset's armored group, Sin, is leading the southern attack to break through the enemy's positions and take over the roads. I am going to be in charge of the Wrath group going in from the north - that's going to be a combined arms effort focused on aircraft, taking out key targets and helping Sin as we pass through the south. You're under my command. Finally, Trixie is leading the inner-city tactics via the Mirror group. All in all, this effort is going to include a little less than 2,000 souls. I want as many back as possible."

"Inner-city tactics?" Cipher asked.

Trixie grinned. "That means, by the way, you're under The Great and Powerful's jurisdiction, SIB. We're going to infiltrate the city before the operation commences, and prepare to take out some key assets they enemy will struggle without. We have several teams, and yours will join the one I'll directly supervise. We'll be taking out a few high value targets and some command infrastructure. As per your request, we will also give you the chance to meet with our ex-FEA friendos."

"We'll get the job done, ma'am." Umfuni smiled. "You can count on it."

"..." Gomer leaned in towards Starlight. "Old griff comin' at you with a question. Any particular reason your invasion's now, of all times?"

"As a matter of fact, there is." Starlight smiled. "Solarist soldiers are being partially relieved from the city as they've bit the bait on our efforts to make them believe our forces are concentrated where they aren't."

"Makes sense why we saw all that commotion with the Solarists..." Cipher muttered.

Starlight continued."If we take the city, we can fortify it against counter-attacks. Soon, the city should hold an estimated OPFOR of 4000. But the element of surprise is on our side, and if Mirror and Wrath execute their objectives, we will have firepower too."

"I guess we can handle that." Squeaked Vapor Trail, who sat in the back. "I hope..."

Rolling Thunder chuckled, leaning in and wrapping an arm around her. "We can. You've got the Washouts taking point."

Starlight stepped forward to address the ponies. "Fillies, gentlecolts, everycreature...This is where it happens - the beginning of the end. With Fillydelphia, we not only ensure we have solid territory on which we will stand our ground, but we can ensure potential assistance from the east coast. Get some rest, and prepare. We depart at 0300. Dismissed!"

***

The FOB did their best to celebrate - without noise, without alcohol, and without bright lights. Yet, what they were able to do was to softly hum songs, sharing among each other their rations and favorite soft drinks, and admired each other's company...For some pushed back the idea that maybe this was the last time.

The tunnels were bustling with activity - but some minor partying took place on the surface, as the ponies talked, laughed, and ate the better rations.

Gomer smiled. He was to depart with Trixie's group to head to the city for their pre-operational insertion, but while things were being organized, he gazed with warm longing at what he saw, just at the entrance to the FOB.

"Hey, Go'." Cipher approached him. "...You can probably join them, y'know? I'm not into socializing but you could get a kick outta it."

"Hmm..." Gomer blinked at the silent party, and shook his head. "Nah. Who'd I even approach, and how? Outsider, and all that."

Cipher tilted his head and rose a brow at him. "Think anyone really cares where you're from? Not like anyone expects it to matter."

"..." Gomer chuckled. "If I told you I forgot how to party, would you be surprised?"

"I would! After yesterday and all that." Cipher muttered.

"...Don't count." Gomer simply said. "I spent time with my squad. That, to me, is all I know." He softly said. "I outlived my family. My friends are mostly stuck in the muddy hills in Blackrock. As it stands, I think I barely remember how to do basic shit like...how to play guitar. Used to be able to do that. I knew how to talk with civilians. Now I scare them away just 'cause I forget what civilian talk is all like."

Cipher frowned. "Hey now, I'm sure it's not like that..."

Gomer turned his head to the earth pony, and grinned. "It is. But I'm old anyway, Cipher." He chuckled. "You don't have to worry about it. I'm not gonna live for that long, so if I try to reintegrate, well - what time am I gonna have left to enjoy the calm life?"

"Heeeeeeey, where's all this coming from?" Cipher coughed. "Just cause I had my emotional monologue last night doesn't mean you can just dish yours out on me outta the blue!" He said in an attempt to cheer him up. He made Gomer smile. But he didn't cheer him up.

"Look at them." He nodded towards the ELF fighters. Mina, Babs, Harshwhinny, Coco Pommel, Vapor Trail - just a few of the faces that neither of the two knew by name. But by observing them, they saw so much life, so much passion and so much drive. Gomer chuckled, seeing them talk, sing, and goof around.

"..." Cipher leaned against a tree, enchanted by the sight as Gomer was.

"...What makes us so different..." Gomer began. "Them, and us. You see it, right?"

"...I do. But how'd you put it into your words?" Cipher asked.

"They're not soldiers." Gomer dryly said. "They're not strong fighters. They're not killers, and they're not warriors. And despite this whole situation...?" The griffon leaned fully against the wall with his back, slowly lighting a cigarette, before he finished his thought. "...Despite this whole situation, the fact that Equestria needs strong fighters...this...this is good. It's good that they're not born fighters."

"Mm." Cipher sighed. He wasn't a smoker, so all he had to do was breathe - calm and controlled. "They're not soldiers - this whole nightmare ends, they return to their families. To their lives. Their passions. That dragon's there said it herself - she has a comic shop. Pretty sure these teens over there don't want to see another gun for the rest of their lives after this. And that one - orange mare with blonde hair..." He pointed at Harshwinny.

"Yeah, MILF supreme over there." Gomer coughed.

"Yeah." Cipher rolled his eyes. "Point with her, she still looks like she's fresh out of some office, maybe still expecting to do paperwork on inspecting some business deals or events...Not having to do paperwork on military gear."

"...So when this war is over...Where are we going?" Gomer asked - himself, and Cipher.

"...I think the sad truth is that the answer is obvious." Cipher sighed. "Anywhere. We're going anywhere in this world. But we're still gonna be there with a gun, with an objective."

"That's not true for you, Cipher." Gomer smiled, turning to him. "You're not even thirty yet. You know what you should do after we croak Daybreaker?"

"What?"

"Retire. Change your identity, just in-case. Then? Go to the place where you would like to be the most as you die of old age - next to the person you want to be with the most. Maybe take Chari, or Umi. Or both, if you're that kinky. Get yourself a nice vineyard. Maybe a chalet. Something."

"...Oh, but it's not so simple." Cipher said - not his own words, but the words he presumed Gomer had predicted he'd hear.

"Never was." Gomer dryly responded. "War is disgusting, and so are creatures. Wanna know why? 'Cause war would never happen if everyone on this stupid-ass planet understood how awful it really was. That it doesn't justify anything, no matter how noble it's paraded. We get children excited to become soldiers. We make stories that glorify war. I bet you, someone will make books and novels based on our experience, but in the end -they'll make it read like some flashy spy novel. And the author would never write my monologue like this. He'd do something stupid, like make me say a phrase like..."We have a job to do, get our talons dirty to keep the world clean", typical shit like that."

"Not sure where this comes from..." Cipher chuckled. "But, go on, I'm following."

"Point is..." Gomer said. "I want you to realize that no matter how alluring war is - the adrenaline, the action - it's never worth it in the end. That's why as I look at these creatures, I see that they haven't accepted this lifestyle. And that's why I am happy for them. I wish I could be like them, but a griffon like me...Knows only war. 'Cause he let war, no matter how disgusting it is, be all within the edges of the world..."

"...You're wrong." The earth pony softly sighed. "There's always an end to war. And it's never too late to find your exit into a better life. It doesn't need to be among the larger civilian populace. Just to be there for someone, and for someone to be there for you, that's all that you need in the end." Cipher said, and looked at a group of ponies gathering by transports. Gomer nodded at him. "Let's go."

The griffon had taken one final look at the FOB - knowing there were other bases that were anticipating the events tomorrow. How many would die? The operation would involve 'a little less than 2000 souls', as Tempest said.

Gomer frowned, and turned away - the more he thought of it all, the more he just wanted to beg everyone not to go.

Alas, he had a job to do - he had to get his talons dirty to keep the world clean.

Or, something like that.