Equestria At War - In the Shadow of the Sun

Five of the elements of harmony sat on one side of the table - while Colton's team sat on the other. President Jet Set sat at the head of the table, and the handler sat at the other. The pilot - Raz, had been allowed to join in on the conversation. In the meantime, Spike was taken by Upper Crust on a tour around the facility - none in the party wanting Spike to have to deal with the conversation.

It was a table full of colorful personalities, and creatures of some importance and high skill...

And yet, there was an awkward silence - that followed the exchange of information between the elements of harmony, the Handler, and Jet Set.

"..."

"...Soooo..." Gomer coughed awkwardly. "We uh, gonna continue the talkin'?"

"Words are very unnecessary. They can only do harm." Chari said under her breath, heard only by Cipher, who smirked for a flash, before returning to normalcy.

Twilight Sparkle sighed. "These circumstances don't really allow for easy talking...Gomer, right?"

"One and only." He chuckled. "Speaking of which, mind if I ask an unrelated question?"

"...Sure?" She rose a brow.

"Rainbow Dash, right?" Gomer looked at the blue pegasus. "Rumor was that you were friends with my General. Gilda ring any bells?"

The pegasus chuckled. "Not as loud as that scratchy voice of hers." She blurted out.

"'Yer one to talk." Applejack softly giggled, prompting Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes.

"But yeah." Dash smiled. "We used to go to the same flight camp. Then we met up again - kinda broke off cause she was rude to Pinkie. Then we kinda made up for it later - and since then I kinda haven't seen 'er." She said.

The griffon laughed. "She's been well - if you're wondering. Her reputation as the "Guardian of the East" has landed her the position of Field Marshal overlooking Griffonstone's entire eastern border. She hasn't been kicking Blackrock's ass - but at-least she's made sure Griffonstone isn't getting theirs kicked by her."

"Yeah - though I heard you were kinda getting your butts kicked at the start." Rainbow Dash coughed softly.

Gomer shrugged. "I was able to poke enough holes from inside Blackrock to give us an upper talon in the whole conflict, but Gilda was the only one able to push them farther east when Vartai invaded Northern Blackrock." He said.

Rainbow blinked at him for a second. "Ah - so you're that mysterious loner that Gilda wrote to me about those years ago, the one that got stuck in those bandit lands for like, a buncha years. Heard you killed Blackrock's personal marksgriffon squad."

Gomer rubbed the back of his head with a talon. "Don't give me that much credit, kid." He laughed. "A soldier will always be better than a bandit "marksgriffon". They didn't even have scopes over 4-times magnification...I bet they had no idea how to zero their scopes either."

Jet Set smiled softly, glad that a conversation had started - as part of his auxiliary plan.

The batpony scoffed softly, pouring grape soda into her cup. "Oh Gomer, always humble in-front of those you want to impress - and yet more boastful than Beakolini when you're with us."

"Don't you boast about your flying skill and g-force resistance like every day?" Plymouth whined softly.

Applejack was unable to stop laughing, nudging Rainbow Dash the entire time. "Every day beats every minute, I'll tell ya that much."

"I don't boast THAT much. Right Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash shot the pegasus a look - but the timid gal was unable to neither agree or disagree, making Applejack laugh more.

"Actually." Twilight Sparkle coughed. "Mister Colton - we haven't had much time for introductions - the trip here was kind of...quiet."

Colton gave a polite nod. "You know Cipher, our information, decryption, and tech specialist - and you became acquainted with Gomer just now - our marksgriffon, demolitionsgriffon, and--"

"Handsomemotherfuckergriffon." Gomer coughed - which prompted the Handler to shoot a most terrifying glare at him underneath his glasses. Gomer blushed remembering that the president was present - but relaxed upon noticing that he had been distracted sifting through some things while Gomer spoke.

Colton sighed, and continued. "...And our weapons expert. To my right is Plymouth - our Lake-City born operative. He's a specialist in terrains and tactics - alongside survival skills and guerilla warfare." Colton said - which he noticed coaxed a displeased look from the unicorn.

"You forgot camouflage expert, bladed CQC specialist, and qualified combat medic." Plymouth pouted.

"And a serial whiner, right." Colton coughed. "Chari to his right is our infiltration specialist - of course - but she is our CBRN expert and, well..."

Chari gave a toothy grin with her pointy fangs. "He can never eloquently put into words the fact that my ability to transform into animals is just handy for combat and other situations. Also I'm the other qualified medic, and black propaganda specialist."

"B-Black propaganda?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Strategical gaslighting." Was the best Chari could put out.

Colton nodded over Chari's right. "And to her right is our newest member Umfuni. Culture and linguistics expert - which we learned can be handy. Our diplomat and rapport-builder. But also a scary force of nature when it comes to breaching. Bucked a door so hard it managed to launch a mannequin through the plaster wood and right through another mannequin on the other side. Also pretty good with grenade launchers."

"Sir!" Umfuni coughed. "Y-You're making me sound much too intimidating."

"Pretty sure he's tryina not make you look too soft after the first thing he said." Raz giggled.

"And that bat next to 'im is Raz." Colton smirked. "Our pilot."

"..."

"..."

"Aaaaand?" Raz leaned towards Colton, having to gently push through Umi to do so.

"And?"

"Come on - where's the rest?"

"Raz what else is there other than the fact you're a pilot?"

"Maybe the fact that I'm an omnipilot?"

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "Whoa. You're not kidding that you're an omnipilot, are you? Even I couldn't make that claim - you wouldn't get me to fly anything slower than a fighter."

"Somepony appreciates me." Raz stuck her tongue out at Colton, making Umi cringe as he felt some saliva drool on him. "But yeah - I got a knack for aircraft. It's in my blood."

As always - the blue pegasus saw a challenge, and grinned. "Well, then I gotta see if your flying skills can compare to mine."

"Just try to go for a 90 degree turn and we'll see." Raz laughed.

The conversation went on - until Twilight's silence became...noticed. All eyes were on her - and her eyes were on the president. She looked at Jet Set seriously. "Mr. President - there is one condition I will want to ask of."

"Of course, ma'am?"

"...I want Rarity rescued immediately."

"Ma'am..." Jet Set sighed. "We wish to have Rarity returned her immediately as well - do not doubt this. But we have no intel to go on. We would have the SIB acting blind, entering a territory they have no assets or intel in. I--"

"Otherwise, if you won't even make an effort..." Twilight firmly said. "I will not cooperate - not until I know my friend is being rescued."

"Ma'am..." Jet Set sighed. "I--"

"Princess Sparkle." The Handler spoke up. "I respectfully remind you that you here are a guest, and that your title of a Princess is not a sign of authority in the independent state of New Mareland. This does not give you the right to give orders or demands to the President."

Twilight narrowed his eyes as she looked at him. "I see how it is. In that case, I certainly won't mind going back to Equus to rescue her. I came here believing that it was our common goal, that I would be able to look for her with the assistance of New Mareland's best - but if it isn't the case, what reason do I have to cooperate?"

"Princess..." The Handler was about to speak.

But Cipher stood up, and smiled. "Finding Rarity isn't the hardest part - we have enough intel to start with. Why not split the teams? One half can go to South Equus, the other can investigate the activity on Clover Island."

"...Clover Island?" Applejack leaned in.

The Handler sighed. "This was meant to be our primary objective." He looked at the mare. "While we sent the SIB to retrieve you six, we had been notified by the New Mareland Coast Guard of strange activity and signatures on Clover Island - an island some hundreds of kilometers from the coast. Practically unseen on the map, but still in New Mareland's waters - just barely."

"And still, we can multitask." Cipher suggested.

"You know I'm the leader here, right?" Colton rose a brow.

"Yeah - but think about it." Cipher insisted. "I have a hunch where Rarity could be found; and the more operatives we bring, the more potentially dangerous the mission can be due to the detection. On the other hand, if we just grab a few reserve members, we might be able to balance the two teams to kill two birds with one stone. Everycreature's priorities will be met at the same time."

"...Mister Handler?" Jet Set asked. "Would you approve of this method?"

The Handler softly tapped the table in thought. "...Cipher, Plymouth, Chari, Raz, you're going to rescue Rarity. Colton, Gomer, Umfuni; you're given a small auxiliary fire team of four creatures, Recon Team Typhoon, to enter Clover Island and determine what is going on there."

"And us...?" The Elements of Harmony asked.

Jet Set smiled. "I could use your help too...But not in a way that will involve risking your lives." He said. "I will need to meet some rather...big names on this continent. I was hoping you could come."