Skyfall: Lightning Strikeby NOBLEDASH77ChaptersA place to startThe search beginsChangeToo easyTry, try againTrainingAdditionNicknamesA place to start"You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly." -Dwight D. Eisenhower Spitfire sat at her desk. Her new fireteam had been scheduled to come in. Spitfire is leading the first counter-terrorist fireteam mainly consisting of Pegasi. A Pegasus pony entered the room, a gray male with red eyes and a brown mane in the style of a mohawk. His name was Lightning Strike. "Master Sargent Lightning Strike reporting for duty ma'am." After him came a female Pegasus named Sargent Harp Strings. She was taller than Spitfire and longer when on her hoofs. Her coat was a light yellow and her eyes green with a green mane. Then after her came in Specialist Night Flash a black male Pegasus with brown mane and blue eyes. Finally, a brown Pegasus with a green eyes and green hair walked in. His named was Glider. "Welcome to Fireteam Union, Equestria's first top secret fireteam" Spitfire stressed the words top secret." "You will learning to use the most advanced weaponry and tactics we have." "Will we be learning how to pick up a marefriend?" Nightflash said, being the typical smartcolt he was. Spitfire gave him a stern look. He went straight back to attention position. "You will refer to me as miss, ma'am or Union-Actual got that" "Yes ma'am" the squad replied. "Dismissed" Spitfire told the squad. "Hey rookie" Harp Strings called over to Lightning Strike. "Me ?" Lightning replied in confused. "No, Celestia. Yes you. Let me ask you, have you ever seen combat" Believing she was hostile Lightning answered a meek "no". Harp punched him hard, making him fall to the floor. "You're gonna, rookie". She left him to get up. Lightning went to the firing range. He was given strict instructions by Staff Sargent Double Tap on how to fire a gun. This was something new. Lightning had only heard about gun, but never thought that the government would but them into actual action. The four ponies were given a beat-up gun that Nightflash jokingly referred to as 'Frankenstein'. He aimed down the sight, and pulled the trigger. BOOM! The target fell down. Lightning was surprised by the weapon's recoil. Harp, Nightflash, and Glider fired. Out of the three ponies, only Nightflash hit the target remotely. Sniper, the firing range instructor cursed at the ponies, except Lightning for missing. Afterwords they reported to their bunks. The next day they went back to the firing range. Lightning saw that the targets were in a shape of a pony.The next day Lightning found himself crawling half a mile thought dirt and mud. Half-way through, Nightflash threw up. For the next few days, they were taught how to use a grenade. Each month their training got more extreme, with one month being repelling, which lightning didn't get, since he was a Pegasus, but it was standard. And another month BUD/S training. After training for months of their their bodies and minds, they were finally de-briefed on their first mission. Lightning walked into the room sitting down next to Nightflash and looking at the board. Spitfire walked, in, a stern look on her face. "Welcome to your first de-briefing. Today, were looking for changeling insurgents crossing the boarder. Their leader, Chysaliz . We refer to him as Commy, got that?" Every pony in the room nodded yes. The de-brief went on for hours. Lightning wrote down everything Spitfire said. To the others the brief went on for hours, until silence broke. Then all of the sudden Spitfire said, "Well, get ready. You will be deployed at 1500 hours to attack a small outpost on the border. Dismissed" Lightning walked out of the room. He went to a bathroom. He threw the stall door open and started to puke. he was very nervous. Union reached the staging area. "Glider, you and Nightflash scout the area, be quiet, we don't want any unessesary attention" Harp said to the two colts. Lightning was glad , he was perventing the inebitable of going into combat. Nightflash lead the way, taking his M4A1, the fire mode set to semi-automatic. Two insurgents patrolled the field. Nightflash took out his knife, which looked like a dragons tooth, and dispatched the guards. One of the changelings saw them, and he started to open fire. Then the rest followed. The valley lit up with the light of the firing weapons. Lightning and Harp heard the fire and caught up to the other two. They saw the changelings hiding behind anything they could find. "Take the grenade.Pull the pin and throw it already." Harp said, handing Lightning the grenade, which looked like a baseball. Lightning threw it. The explosive landed near two changelings and it exploded, killing the two. One changeling that was hiding behind cover, blind fired, almost hitting Lightning. Lightning risking getting shot, peeked out from his cover and shot at the changeling. The changeling fell down, and didn't come back up. The team moved up to the first door. Glider set the breaching charge. The door blew open and remains from the door scattered everywhere. All of the sudden a changeling ran at Glider with a knife. Glider took his rifle and started to hit changeling with the rifle. The team moved up the stairs. A wooden door resided at the top, which Harp kicked in. A changeling ran started ran at Harp, twisting her arm. Harp kicked him. The changeling ended up on the ground. On the table in the room, a relatively good amount of papers were on the table. "Whoa, that's a lot of papers.". Glider exclaimed in shock, from all of the papers every where. "Pack it up where taking this stuff with us, wether or not its intel.", Harp said. "Harp move!" Lightning exclaimed taking his gun and shooting the changeling that rushed Harp. Green blood was on the floor. Lightning started to gag. He'd never seen changeling blood before. Harp got up. "Thanks rookie". She said to Lightning, who was still gagging. She swallowed her pride. Then, she remembered, he was just a rookie. "Let go." Harp said relived that the mission was a success. The search begins(Note: Ponies the will be referred to as their real names not in combat or callsigns in combat. Refer to the last chapter for callsigns.) Vampire kneeled down. He checked his sights. The wind stopped blowing. The targets were perfectly place. "Can I take the shot?" Vampire asked? "Go," Harp said. Lightning fired the rifle, taking out the guard. "Open fire!" Harp said. A barrage of bullets came from the weapons. The changelings returned fire. The team moved up toward the abandoned cider storage building. "Throw a Semtex, Shadow!" Harp said. Shadow throw the Semtex. It landed on a small ledge, blowing up and the ledge and letting land on the several changelings. The team moved forward, checking around for any resistance. Union checked the area, Harp on lead. "Breach the door!" Harp yelled out. Glid set the charge. It blew the door open. When entering the room Harp was rushed by a changeling, it trying to bite her. Harp took out her knife, dispatching the changeling, leaving its green blood to ooze all over the floor. "Check those file cabinets. It don't want any enemy ordinance left behind. Vampire, you still on overwatch?" Harp asked through her radio. "Yeah, and don't call me Vampire." Shadow breached the next door open. His eyes opened in amazement. The room was filled with weaponry. "Whoa, there are enough weapons here to blow Ponyville to kingdom come." "No sign of the dealer, checking the rest of the building." Harp said. "Okay move, I've got you covered." Vampire replied. Harp checked each room. It was all to easy. Close to no resistance. Something was defently going on. "I found another room , it's closed shut, we'll need to blow it open." Harp said, getting ready to blow the door open. It blew open, debris everywhere. She went into the room, gung ho to capture the dealer. Harp enter the room. It was dark she hit the switch. It lit up. She scanned the room, finding a pony's body slouched over in it. "Your under arrest for the sell...." The pony was dead. "Vampire, he's dead, looks like he's been for over a week." Harp said. "Bail out, there's a bomb on his corpse !" Harp yelled, scared for her life. The team ran out of the building. The building exploded. All of the sudden, changelings appeared out of nowhere, firing on the soldiers. Harp wasn't shy to pressure under fire. She returned fire and occasionally using her combat knife. "Move, we've got to the tent, all of our explosives are their." Shadow yelled over the almost deafening fire of the changelings. "Vampire, get the explosives ready, we're coming to ya." Harp said. Lightning reached for his collapse able rifle. He crawled to behind a rock by the changelings. He knelt down. He then pulled out a Semtex and opened fire. "All changelings down." Lightning said. The team made their way back to the tent. "All right, lets pack u..." A shot came. Harp looked behind her to find a recently shot changeling. Vampire just saved her life. "How's that for a rookie." Vampire said, taunting Harp for the comment she made awhile ago. "We'll that interesting, but your got me no intel! This guy could have been our only link to Commy!" Spitfire roared at the fireteam, her entire face almost red with rage. "We'll it wasn't a total loss," Shadow added. "Look what I got while setting the charges." Shadow threw a dossier at Spitfire. She opened it finding a picture of a Saddle Arabian arms dealer. "All right, once we find more information, well be able to send you to get him, Union dismissed." Harp laid in her bunk. She had this odd feeling when she was around him. She had a vibe that the feeling was mutual. He did also like her. She though he was different, an interesting colt. They'll be another time to think about that. ChangeThe sun was blazing, hurting his eyes. Lightning put on a pair of sunglasses. Saddle Arabia. The only place he'd ever been were you can fry an egg on the street in under a minute. He followed Glid into a bar. He walked over to the bar. It was practically empty, except for the bar tender. "A hay shake, my friend." Glid said, an odd tune in his voice. "Ah, you're here and right on time." the bartender said. Lightning walked over to a table, sighting down with Glid next to him and the bartender in front of him. "Well you're looking for who now?" the bartender asked. Glid slid a folder over to the bartender. He picked it up, finding a dossier of the dealer. "Ah, I know him, his name is Back Street, he comes here every now and then. He has a house outside of the town. There are some small huts surrounding it, not sure if that will help you." The two discussed the topic for a very long time. Lightning sat there, letting the information sink in. Finally, the two stopped talking. "Thank you for your help, here's you reward." Glid slid a bag of bits across the table. Glid and Lightning walked out of the bar, the heat hitting their heads. Soon, Lightning thought, soon well leave this fireball of a country. Lightning put his collapsable rifle together. Glid took point. The small huts made it easy to sneak around. Lightning searched around. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lightning didn't like that. A guard crossed passed on of the huts, seeing Glid. Lightning took out his knife, letting the steel go into the guards body. He looked down at the guard, he was a pony. Lightning felt sick, he actually killed a good colt. "Glid, come and take a look at this." Lightning said. "It's a Learsi mercenary , HQ is gonna want to know about this. Don't worry, you got a bad guy." Glid said. He pulled out a camera, taking a picture of the operator. The building was large, it had a courtyard with a fountain and over dozens of rooms. Lightning took point. He saw Harp across the way, signaling her to move. Everything was silent, until Lightning pulled the trigger and broke the silence. All of the sudden, several Learsi mercenaries opened fire. Union returned fire, and got to cover. Lightning went up a staircase to an overlook of the house. He took several Semtex, throwing them at the mercenaries. One Semtex landed on a wall exposing a room. Lightning jumped off the lookout, then flew into the room. Lightning picked up an Aks-74u from a dead mercenary and opened fire in the room. He moved to the next room, the rest of Union following him. Lightning breached the door, clearing the room easily. Lightning breached the next room, clearing it. "No sign of him yet." Shadow said. Then, Lightning reached under a bed in the room, and found Back Street. "Hello sunshine." Lightning said sarcastically. Lightning brought him to the courtyard, by the fountain. "Tell me why you were hired and were the other weapon caches are." Lightning said. Back replied with a simple "no". Lightning dunked his head into the fountain, trying to drown him. Lightning took him out of the fountain. "I could have just killed you just then, my objective is to kill you, I'm just trying to get information out of you. If you work with me, I'll let you live." Back, gasping for air and throwing up, replied in that mix, "no". Lightning dunked his head, one more time yelling, "tell me what I need to know!" Lightning took Back's head out of the fountain, giving him a minute to respond. Back's response was, "I'm a weapons dealer hire by Chysaliz to give him experimental weapons. And the weapons caches, ummm... another one is in the Black Ice Mountain's." Lightning threw him to the floor, grabbed the pistol that Back had on him, which he though looked oddand tied him up, leaving him for dead. No one talked to him. Lightning was seen as a lethal operator after that, not as a rookie operator. Too easyLightning snapped his boots into place, looking at the slope. His stomach turned. He'd snow boarded down steep slopes, but this was a bit higher. He pushed off, starting his decent. The snow ruined his line of sight, but it started to return to normal. He slowed down, eventually stopping. Lightning took out his binoculars. He looked through them, scanning with his eyes for any changelings. He found two near a cabin, armed with Aks-74us. "Alpha , I've found two operators, Aks-74us." "Okay," Alpha said nervously, "Are you sure this is safe?" "Are you scared?" Lightning asked mockingly. "No, but are sure this is safe?" "You are, and yes it is safe, and besides, Charlie don't ski." "Glid, you're with Alpha, right?" "Yes." he replied. Lightning, the only one on a snowboard, lead the way. Lightning started down the mountain. "Wow," he thought to himself "I haven't had an adrenaline rush like this in a long time." The one adrenaline rush he had last mission wasn't even close to this one. Lightning forgot how much he loved snowboarding. "Back to the mission" he thought to himself. Lightning came to a stop on another ledge and pulled out his sniper rifle. Lightning held his breath, hoping that the bullet would land on the target, despite the intense wind. He pulled the trigger, missing the target completely. Lightning ran off the mountain. He was airborne. He glid over to the cabin taking out his knife. He killed the first guard. The second guard put up more of a fight. The guard wrestled Lightning for the knife. The guard took it from him, and attempted to stab Lightning, but Lightning took his arm, and grabbed the knife right before the guard could have stabbed him. Lightning finished the guard, and kicked his dead body. Just then he met Alpha and Glid. "Has anypony thought to ask where Nightflash is?" Glid asked. "On an operation, you call him Shadow, Glid. He had the feather flu, so he would be essentially useless." Harp said, as she and Glid walked into the cabin. The cabin was empty. "Well there's nothing here." Glid said. "It ain't over till the fat mare sings." Alpha said, looking at another cabin. Lightning took out his binoculars. "I don't see any changelings their." Lightning said. The team ran to the cabin. Lightning took point, entering the house. All of the sudden, Lightning saw two two unicorns cowering in a corner. "Thank Celestia your here!" a female unicorn said to him. "Yes we've been held hostage up here for weeks." A male unicorn said. "Why would this couple be up here?" Lightning thought to himself. "Well, were still gonna have to check the house, ma'am." Harp told the couple. Lightning walked up the staircase. He opened the door to the attic finding large amounts of weapons. He was amazed. "But that meant, those ponies were changelings!" Lightning thought, but before Lightning could tell Harp and Glid, the male unicorn came behind him, rushing him with a knife. Lightning was thrown to the floor. With the unicorn on top of him Lightning punched him, and then kicked him into a wall. The unicorn changed back into a changeling, and started to lunge with his knife. Lightning grabbed his pistol, and pulled the trigger, killing the changeling. Lightning thought it was odd, because the gun fired 3 bullets at once. Lightning ran downstairs, to see the other dead changeling. "Sorry, I was wrapped up." Lightning said. The group then searched the house, only to find nothing except the weapons. Lightning set the charges. But something didn't fell right, their should have been more than just four changelings. It seemed too easy. Lightning was right, it was too easy. Try, try again"Oh buck" Lightning thought to himself. The mission was to easy, it was a trap. Lightning ran with his team, jumping over every toppled over tree and rock in his way. "Oh dang! Lightning pass me a gun!" Alpha yelled. When the team got ambushed, Alpha dropped her rifle when she started to run. Lightning threw Alpha the rifle. She reloaded it and jumped into a hole. Lightning and Glid followed. "Suppressing fire!" Alpha yelled. Lightning forgot Plan B. Seemed like everypony else did to. Lightning pulled out his pistol. He fired at one changeling, sending it tumbling down. Another changeling came from behind. Lightning attempted to pull the trigger, but the changeling prevented him from firing. Lightning gave him a punch in the neck. The changeling started to gag, then attempted to stab Lightning with its teeth. Lightning grabbed the changeling and head-butted it. Lightnings helmet took the impact. Lightning then, took his gun and shot the changeling. "Move, we've got to go. NOW!" Alpha yelled to the rest of the team. "Union Actual, copy?" Glid asked over the radio. "Union Actual copy. What's the problem?" "We've been ambushed! We need immediate evac." Glid said. "Evac granted. Skyfall is in you A.O. You're welcome. Union Actual out. " Union Actual replied. "Well hurry up, we're low on ammo." Lightning yelled into the mic. Lightning reloaded his pistol, and started to fire randomly, hoping to hit a few changelings, or at least keep their heads down. "What happened, Vamp?" Harp asked. "She's looking into what she can do." "Great a C.O. is looking into it. This is gonna take forever." Harp said. All of the sudden, an explosion went off. Then all of the sudden a large amount of snow came down the mountain. "Avalanche!" Lightning yelled. He ran down the mountain, dropping everything he didn't need. Eventually all he had left was his backpack. "Where's Skyfall?" Alpha asked. "Does it look like I know!" Lightning screamed at Alpha. Lightning was sweating. He was surprised. It was 10 degrees. He was very nervous. His stomach turned and he felt like throwing up. "Union, this is Fleethoof. I'm C.O. of Skyfall. Get to the cliff, were he re to save you." "Fleethoof. You're from Skyfall. You fought that terrorist organization. The Double-Edge Sword or something like that?" Lightning replied. "Yeah, now get to the chopper!" "The what?" Lightning asked. Then all of the sudden, a large black thing flew in front of him. "Like it, it's a helicopter." Lightning stood in amazement. He felt like he was in some sort of science fiction movie. Lightning just stood there and stared. "Vampire, were about to be killed, can you move already!" Harp yelled through the mic, at a deafeningly high tone. Lightning got into the helicopter. "Get us home gentlecolts." Fleethoof said to the two pilots. "Yes sir, as quickly as possible." The pilots replied. "HQ this is Blackbird-1, we have the package, returning to base." Union Actual responsed back, "Thank you for your service Blackbird-1. Objective complete, return to base." The long ride back to Canterlot seemed to go on forever. Fleethoof got bored, so he decided to break the ice. "Are you alright? You looked banged up" Lightning just huffed. "What's on your mind?" Fleethoof asked. Lightning didn't respond. Maybe he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Fleethoof doubted it though. He was previously a Wonderbolt, so almost dying wasn't anything new. "Is there anything wrong? I hate to sound like your mother." "I feel like I've failed the mission." Lightning said. He was glad he was alive, but the mission was a complete failure. They got nothing out of it. Union had only run raids so far and this failure made them seem even more like rookies. Skyfall had been getting the real missions. They were the real operators. Lightning decided to take a deep breath and relax, before he over-thought himself. Fleethoof had a very surprised look on his face. "You haven't failed. You took out two weapons caches, fought bravely and got out alive. That's not a failure, that's a major success." Lightning thought about that. Fleethoof was right. He liked this Pegasus. He hoped he'd meet him again under better circumstances. TrainingThe helicopter's blades tossed dust and leaves all around the landing pad. The doors slid open, and the sunlight shone on Lightning's face. Finally, back in Canterlot, where it was warm and he could take a break. "Colts, thank you once again for your help. Semper Fi." Spitfire said to the pilots and members of Skyfall. "Lightning." Fleethoof called over the commotion. "Yeah?" Lightning asked. "Take care of yourself. And, stay away from garlic, Vampire." Fleethoof said, teasing Lightning about his name and laughing a bit. Lightning started to get annoyed, but Spitfire came over and asked him, "How do you like Semper Fi? It means always faithful in Latin." Spitfire asked Lightning about the new motto she created. Back at the base, Lightning continued to play around with his gun, until Nightflash, who had finally recovered from the feather flu, ran into Lightning's room, gasping for breath. "Lightning," Nightflash said, trying to breath. "What?" Lightning asked. "Emergency meeting..... With Spitfire. Run." Lightning ran down the hall until he found the meeting room. The room was dark and had a brisk breeze. Two armed guards stood by the door. Spitfire stood in the front of the room with her swagger stick. The projector flicked on, show a picture of Manehatten. "Ladies and gentlecolts, welcome to Union 2.0. We're rearming, retraining, and retaliating. After the 'screw up' of last mission, were we were unprepared with arms and with plans, we're gonna kick some flank!" Spitfire said with a extremely patriotic and rallying voice. "Now, since we've realized you need better gear, you're getting upgrades. Lightning, you're getting the XACR and M21. Nightflash you're getting the XACR. Harp and Glid will be getting the M16A3 or M16A4, your pick." "Spitfire, why's there a picture of Manehatten? Are we gonna take some shots at Junkstin Bieber at the Wax museum?" Nightflash asked, being the joker he was born to be. "You're going to train in an abandoned hotel in Manehatten." Also, I'm surprised you seem so happy, Nightflash, I didn't think you'd want to see your 15+ marefriends that dumped you like a mule." Spitfire said, to partially annoy Nightflash and to partially reprimand him, while dissing him in front of everypony. The briefing went on as normal for two more hours, until Sptifire finally wrapped it up. "Pack your stuff, we leave at 1600 hours." Lightning walked down the hallway to his bunk. He took out his duffle bag and packed his water, his map, 'How to Impress a Mare' by D. Quill, and some other personal things. Lightning then walked to the armory and put his assault rifle, and pistol in his bag. Lightning put the sniper rifle over his back. Lightning had time to kill so he sat at his desk, and waited. He occasionally picked up the Ponies magazine and read about the celebrity trash. Finally, It was 1530 hours, so Lightning decided to get a head start and walked to the landing pad. The helicopter, which still amazed Lightning, was filled to the brim with bags. Glid was sitting next to Harp so Lightning sat next to Nightflash. "One way express trip to Manehatten," the pilot said, "Allons-y!" The flight Manehatten would take two and a half hours so Lightning decided to read 'How to Impress a Mare'. Nightflash decided to rubber-neck what Lightning was reading. Then he started to laugh. Hysterically. "So," Nightflash said, trying to hold in his laughter, "I'm guessing you like Harp," he continued to snicker. "Yeah." Lightning said, feeling embarrassed now. "Well let me give you some tips." "I'm not in high school. Besides, look at you. You've had more marefriends than operations we've been on. "Just let me give you one tip." "She's right behind you." "She's asleep and Glider doesn't give a flying feather." "Fine." Lightning said, feeling defeated. "You've got to act smooth. Ya know, kind of cool." Nightflash said, kinda making a point. Lightning thought about it. Not acting cool is what lost his marefriend from high school. Also, they could be mature adults. It was 1730 hours. Lightning's eyes started to close. Then, he finally drifted into a deep sleep. Lightning woke up to the helicopters blades knocking the wind. Everypony except the pilots were asleep. Lightning look out the window to see a group of bright lights, illuminating the sky. Manehatten. The city that never sleeps. The helicopter slowly descended on the landing pad. Lightning tapped Nightflash, who randomly screamed out, "not the face," which woke everyone else up. Spitfire stepped out of the helicopter and took a breath of fresh air. "Finally. That ride was pretty boring." Nightflash said. Two ponies walked up to the helicopter and approached Spitfire. They saluted her. "At ease. Gentlecolts, can you take our bags?" Spitfire told the two colts. They went to the helicopter and took the bags. "Well, I'd rather not freeze to death, so lets get to the bunks" Spitfire said, somewhat happy. The stairwell seem run down, but the floor the team was on was beautiful. Lightning walked into his room, which was the nicest bunk he'd ever seen. "Lights out now. That's an order." Spitfire yelled into each members room. Lightning put his radio on a classic rock station. "Training starts at 08 00 hours. Sweet dreams." Spitfire said told everypony. Then she let them go to bed. 'It's about time' Lightning though. AdditionThe alarm buzzed on and off. '8 o'clock' Lightning thought. Lightning got out of bed, his eyes bloodshot. He rubbed them then got out of bed. Lightning felt slow, like someone who worked an office job and did the same thing each day. Lightning splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth, and walked out the door. The hallway was empty, except for Glider, Harp, and Nightflash lined up, waiting for Spitfire. Lightning walked over to them and waited for Spitfire. They waited for a half an hour. Lightning got bored and started to hum 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'. Just as Lightning finished the second verse, Spitfire came out of nowhere. "Attention. Welcome to your first day of training. You'll be training in an old abandoned hotel a couple of blocks from here. The reason you got these nice beds is because you'll be going through some pretty intense training. You've got 30 minutes to eat. Dismissed." As the team started downstairs, Lightning continued to hum his song. Just as he was a few seconds into the song, Spitfire yelled to Lightning, "Stop humming that song, it's just weird." After eating breakfast the team went to the hotel. I was not even close to what the team was in now, but it was a combat exercise. Spitfire and the two other Pegasi from before knocked the door open. The room was dusty and dirty and Nightflash said it smelled like 'dead animals'. Lighting turned on his flash light and walked into the building and looked around. The rest of the team followed. Spitfire and the rest of the team check the rest of the building. It seemed safe. "Well, the the building seems safe." Let's start training." Spitfire started to brief the team,"Their will be teams of two, red and blue. Red starts on the top of the building and blue starts on the bottom. You will be using bullets that leave a paint splatter if you get shot. Don't worry that can't kill. We also have a generator set up to restore power. Well, lets start." "One, two, three. Go!" Spitfire said to the teams. Lightning and Harp were on the blue team and Nightflash and Glider on the red team. Lightning and Harp checked each room on their floor. 'Maybe there on the next floor' Lightning thought. The pair walked up the stair case. Lightning and Harp slowly ascended up the stair case, checking for signs of an enemy ambush. Harp's ear stood up. "I think I hear something." Harp told Lightning. Lightning took point and Harp took guard. Lightning started to get worried. He hated cat and mouse. He wanted to know know where his opposition was. Lightning hear something. His heart started to beat really fast. He turned a corner, just to be met with enemy fire. Lightnings heart skipped a beat. That was one heck if a wake-up call. Lightning hugged the wall. He would turn every now and then to fire at Red team. Lightning hit Nightflash. Glider made a run for it. Lightning and Harp followed Glider. The team chased Glider up two flights until he turned a corner and he was no where to be found. Harp and Lightning cautiously scanned the hallway for Glider. Lightning heard a shot. He turned around to see Harp had been hit. She fell to the ground, clutching where she had been hit. Lightning reacted as fast as he could and shot Glider. Then a bell rang symbolizing the game was over. "Ok, that was good. Lets do that a couple of more times, then I'm gonna mix it up." The exercise went for about for about an hour. Then Spitfire told the reds and blues to work together. "All right team, your working together." "Against who?" Nightflash asked. Spitfire stayed silent. She went to her observation area and started the exercise. "Let's just stay together." Lightning said. All of the sudden the lights went off. "What was that?" Harp asked. All of the sudden she was shot. Nightflash started to panick but Glider and Lightning kept a straight face. The team went up the staircase to see who was shooting at them. Then Glider got shot. Nightflash started to freak out. "Game over man!" Nightflash said. Sounds came from all around. Lightning and Nightflash shot anything they thought they saw move. Then Nightflash got shot. Lightning was all alone. He went down the hallway shooting at anything he thought moved. Sounds of gunshots rang out. Lightning got into a corner and just sprayed anything he thought that moved. Then, he was shot. Then lights turned on. Lightning looked around. A strange pony stood over him. He couldn't tell what type of pony it was. The pony was a black Pegasus, who looked a bit like Nightflash. He was wearing a balvanca with a skeleton imprint on it. A unicorn walked over to the peagasus. He was blue with orange hair. "Ghost, how's our buddy?"said the unicorn. He had a southern accent. "He seems okay."said the Pegasus, who was named Ghost, Lightning guessed. Lightning tried to get up but the training round was painful, and Lightning moaned when he tried to get up. "Woah their buddy. Give it a second."said the unicorn. Lightning wondered why their was another spec ops team here. Union had all ready worked with Skyfall. "I'm Rapid and Ghost. There are callsigns anyway."said the unicorn. Nightflash walked up the staircase and looked at the ponies. "Don't shoot me!"Nightflash yelled. "We're not gonna."Ghost told Nightflash, who was freaked out from lights going off and getting shot at from all around. "We're here to help you with you with training."Ghost told Nigtflash. Glider and Harp came upstairs, followed by a bat-pony and an earth pony. The the bat-pony had a dark lavender coat and a black mane. The earth pony was a female with a light blue coat and silver hair. "You ponies did a good job of freaking the buck outta us."Glider said. Lightning was surprised. He hasn't heard Glider talk in a while. Lightning finally got up. He looked at all of the operators in the room. Spitfire must have something planned if she brought in another fireteam. The team ate dinner in a reserved cafeteria in the building. The food tasted okay. Lightning had better. He ate alone. He wanted to, he needed time to think about why there was another fireteam here. Lighting then realized that besides Union and Skyfall there were no fireteams. This brought up a new question in Lightnings mind, who were these ponies. Lightning decided to asked Spitfire. Lighting walked to the officers bunks, where Spitfire was. Lightning walked into the room but was stopped by two guards. "State you business." One guard told Lightning. "I need to talk to Spitfire." Lightning told the guard. "The commander is busy. Good night." The pony told Lightning. Their was no use of trying to argue. Lighting still wanted to know why these ponies were here. NicknamesThe group flew away with the intel. One the way Glider mentioned something. "I heard Spitfire mention something about us having to be assigned callsigns." "I know what Harp's would be" Lightning said. " It would probably be Alpha, you know because she bosses people around." " Look who's talking, Vampire." Harp replied. " We'd you get Vampire from?" Lightnig asked. " have you looked in a mirror lately, oh wait I forget, Vampires can't see their their own reflection." " I agree with Harp, you do look like a Vampire, bro." Glider replied, adding his two bits. " What about me ? " Nightflash asked, feeling left out. " Your coat is black so, you kind of look like a shadow. " Glider said. " Glider, we can't make up a name for you yet, we don't really know you much. " Nightflash said. "No problem, just refer to me as Glid" So it was set, Fireteam Union had callsigns.
A place to start"You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly." -Dwight D. Eisenhower Spitfire sat at her desk. Her new fireteam had been scheduled to come in. Spitfire is leading the first counter-terrorist fireteam mainly consisting of Pegasi. A Pegasus pony entered the room, a gray male with red eyes and a brown mane in the style of a mohawk. His name was Lightning Strike. "Master Sargent Lightning Strike reporting for duty ma'am." After him came a female Pegasus named Sargent Harp Strings. She was taller than Spitfire and longer when on her hoofs. Her coat was a light yellow and her eyes green with a green mane. Then after her came in Specialist Night Flash a black male Pegasus with brown mane and blue eyes. Finally, a brown Pegasus with a green eyes and green hair walked in. His named was Glider. "Welcome to Fireteam Union, Equestria's first top secret fireteam" Spitfire stressed the words top secret." "You will learning to use the most advanced weaponry and tactics we have." "Will we be learning how to pick up a marefriend?" Nightflash said, being the typical smartcolt he was. Spitfire gave him a stern look. He went straight back to attention position. "You will refer to me as miss, ma'am or Union-Actual got that" "Yes ma'am" the squad replied. "Dismissed" Spitfire told the squad. "Hey rookie" Harp Strings called over to Lightning Strike. "Me ?" Lightning replied in confused. "No, Celestia. Yes you. Let me ask you, have you ever seen combat" Believing she was hostile Lightning answered a meek "no". Harp punched him hard, making him fall to the floor. "You're gonna, rookie". She left him to get up. Lightning went to the firing range. He was given strict instructions by Staff Sargent Double Tap on how to fire a gun. This was something new. Lightning had only heard about gun, but never thought that the government would but them into actual action. The four ponies were given a beat-up gun that Nightflash jokingly referred to as 'Frankenstein'. He aimed down the sight, and pulled the trigger. BOOM! The target fell down. Lightning was surprised by the weapon's recoil. Harp, Nightflash, and Glider fired. Out of the three ponies, only Nightflash hit the target remotely. Sniper, the firing range instructor cursed at the ponies, except Lightning for missing. Afterwords they reported to their bunks. The next day they went back to the firing range. Lightning saw that the targets were in a shape of a pony.The next day Lightning found himself crawling half a mile thought dirt and mud. Half-way through, Nightflash threw up. For the next few days, they were taught how to use a grenade. Each month their training got more extreme, with one month being repelling, which lightning didn't get, since he was a Pegasus, but it was standard. And another month BUD/S training. After training for months of their their bodies and minds, they were finally de-briefed on their first mission. Lightning walked into the room sitting down next to Nightflash and looking at the board. Spitfire walked, in, a stern look on her face. "Welcome to your first de-briefing. Today, were looking for changeling insurgents crossing the boarder. Their leader, Chysaliz . We refer to him as Commy, got that?" Every pony in the room nodded yes. The de-brief went on for hours. Lightning wrote down everything Spitfire said. To the others the brief went on for hours, until silence broke. Then all of the sudden Spitfire said, "Well, get ready. You will be deployed at 1500 hours to attack a small outpost on the border. Dismissed" Lightning walked out of the room. He went to a bathroom. He threw the stall door open and started to puke. he was very nervous. Union reached the staging area. "Glider, you and Nightflash scout the area, be quiet, we don't want any unessesary attention" Harp said to the two colts. Lightning was glad , he was perventing the inebitable of going into combat. Nightflash lead the way, taking his M4A1, the fire mode set to semi-automatic. Two insurgents patrolled the field. Nightflash took out his knife, which looked like a dragons tooth, and dispatched the guards. One of the changelings saw them, and he started to open fire. Then the rest followed. The valley lit up with the light of the firing weapons. Lightning and Harp heard the fire and caught up to the other two. They saw the changelings hiding behind anything they could find. "Take the grenade.Pull the pin and throw it already." Harp said, handing Lightning the grenade, which looked like a baseball. Lightning threw it. The explosive landed near two changelings and it exploded, killing the two. One changeling that was hiding behind cover, blind fired, almost hitting Lightning. Lightning risking getting shot, peeked out from his cover and shot at the changeling. The changeling fell down, and didn't come back up. The team moved up to the first door. Glider set the breaching charge. The door blew open and remains from the door scattered everywhere. All of the sudden a changeling ran at Glider with a knife. Glider took his rifle and started to hit changeling with the rifle. The team moved up the stairs. A wooden door resided at the top, which Harp kicked in. A changeling ran started ran at Harp, twisting her arm. Harp kicked him. The changeling ended up on the ground. On the table in the room, a relatively good amount of papers were on the table. "Whoa, that's a lot of papers.". Glider exclaimed in shock, from all of the papers every where. "Pack it up where taking this stuff with us, wether or not its intel.", Harp said. "Harp move!" Lightning exclaimed taking his gun and shooting the changeling that rushed Harp. Green blood was on the floor. Lightning started to gag. He'd never seen changeling blood before. Harp got up. "Thanks rookie". She said to Lightning, who was still gagging. She swallowed her pride. Then, she remembered, he was just a rookie. "Let go." Harp said relived that the mission was a success.
The search begins(Note: Ponies the will be referred to as their real names not in combat or callsigns in combat. Refer to the last chapter for callsigns.) Vampire kneeled down. He checked his sights. The wind stopped blowing. The targets were perfectly place. "Can I take the shot?" Vampire asked? "Go," Harp said. Lightning fired the rifle, taking out the guard. "Open fire!" Harp said. A barrage of bullets came from the weapons. The changelings returned fire. The team moved up toward the abandoned cider storage building. "Throw a Semtex, Shadow!" Harp said. Shadow throw the Semtex. It landed on a small ledge, blowing up and the ledge and letting land on the several changelings. The team moved forward, checking around for any resistance. Union checked the area, Harp on lead. "Breach the door!" Harp yelled out. Glid set the charge. It blew the door open. When entering the room Harp was rushed by a changeling, it trying to bite her. Harp took out her knife, dispatching the changeling, leaving its green blood to ooze all over the floor. "Check those file cabinets. It don't want any enemy ordinance left behind. Vampire, you still on overwatch?" Harp asked through her radio. "Yeah, and don't call me Vampire." Shadow breached the next door open. His eyes opened in amazement. The room was filled with weaponry. "Whoa, there are enough weapons here to blow Ponyville to kingdom come." "No sign of the dealer, checking the rest of the building." Harp said. "Okay move, I've got you covered." Vampire replied. Harp checked each room. It was all to easy. Close to no resistance. Something was defently going on. "I found another room , it's closed shut, we'll need to blow it open." Harp said, getting ready to blow the door open. It blew open, debris everywhere. She went into the room, gung ho to capture the dealer. Harp enter the room. It was dark she hit the switch. It lit up. She scanned the room, finding a pony's body slouched over in it. "Your under arrest for the sell...." The pony was dead. "Vampire, he's dead, looks like he's been for over a week." Harp said. "Bail out, there's a bomb on his corpse !" Harp yelled, scared for her life. The team ran out of the building. The building exploded. All of the sudden, changelings appeared out of nowhere, firing on the soldiers. Harp wasn't shy to pressure under fire. She returned fire and occasionally using her combat knife. "Move, we've got to the tent, all of our explosives are their." Shadow yelled over the almost deafening fire of the changelings. "Vampire, get the explosives ready, we're coming to ya." Harp said. Lightning reached for his collapse able rifle. He crawled to behind a rock by the changelings. He knelt down. He then pulled out a Semtex and opened fire. "All changelings down." Lightning said. The team made their way back to the tent. "All right, lets pack u..." A shot came. Harp looked behind her to find a recently shot changeling. Vampire just saved her life. "How's that for a rookie." Vampire said, taunting Harp for the comment she made awhile ago. "We'll that interesting, but your got me no intel! This guy could have been our only link to Commy!" Spitfire roared at the fireteam, her entire face almost red with rage. "We'll it wasn't a total loss," Shadow added. "Look what I got while setting the charges." Shadow threw a dossier at Spitfire. She opened it finding a picture of a Saddle Arabian arms dealer. "All right, once we find more information, well be able to send you to get him, Union dismissed." Harp laid in her bunk. She had this odd feeling when she was around him. She had a vibe that the feeling was mutual. He did also like her. She though he was different, an interesting colt. They'll be another time to think about that.
ChangeThe sun was blazing, hurting his eyes. Lightning put on a pair of sunglasses. Saddle Arabia. The only place he'd ever been were you can fry an egg on the street in under a minute. He followed Glid into a bar. He walked over to the bar. It was practically empty, except for the bar tender. "A hay shake, my friend." Glid said, an odd tune in his voice. "Ah, you're here and right on time." the bartender said. Lightning walked over to a table, sighting down with Glid next to him and the bartender in front of him. "Well you're looking for who now?" the bartender asked. Glid slid a folder over to the bartender. He picked it up, finding a dossier of the dealer. "Ah, I know him, his name is Back Street, he comes here every now and then. He has a house outside of the town. There are some small huts surrounding it, not sure if that will help you." The two discussed the topic for a very long time. Lightning sat there, letting the information sink in. Finally, the two stopped talking. "Thank you for your help, here's you reward." Glid slid a bag of bits across the table. Glid and Lightning walked out of the bar, the heat hitting their heads. Soon, Lightning thought, soon well leave this fireball of a country. Lightning put his collapsable rifle together. Glid took point. The small huts made it easy to sneak around. Lightning searched around. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lightning didn't like that. A guard crossed passed on of the huts, seeing Glid. Lightning took out his knife, letting the steel go into the guards body. He looked down at the guard, he was a pony. Lightning felt sick, he actually killed a good colt. "Glid, come and take a look at this." Lightning said. "It's a Learsi mercenary , HQ is gonna want to know about this. Don't worry, you got a bad guy." Glid said. He pulled out a camera, taking a picture of the operator. The building was large, it had a courtyard with a fountain and over dozens of rooms. Lightning took point. He saw Harp across the way, signaling her to move. Everything was silent, until Lightning pulled the trigger and broke the silence. All of the sudden, several Learsi mercenaries opened fire. Union returned fire, and got to cover. Lightning went up a staircase to an overlook of the house. He took several Semtex, throwing them at the mercenaries. One Semtex landed on a wall exposing a room. Lightning jumped off the lookout, then flew into the room. Lightning picked up an Aks-74u from a dead mercenary and opened fire in the room. He moved to the next room, the rest of Union following him. Lightning breached the door, clearing the room easily. Lightning breached the next room, clearing it. "No sign of him yet." Shadow said. Then, Lightning reached under a bed in the room, and found Back Street. "Hello sunshine." Lightning said sarcastically. Lightning brought him to the courtyard, by the fountain. "Tell me why you were hired and were the other weapon caches are." Lightning said. Back replied with a simple "no". Lightning dunked his head into the fountain, trying to drown him. Lightning took him out of the fountain. "I could have just killed you just then, my objective is to kill you, I'm just trying to get information out of you. If you work with me, I'll let you live." Back, gasping for air and throwing up, replied in that mix, "no". Lightning dunked his head, one more time yelling, "tell me what I need to know!" Lightning took Back's head out of the fountain, giving him a minute to respond. Back's response was, "I'm a weapons dealer hire by Chysaliz to give him experimental weapons. And the weapons caches, ummm... another one is in the Black Ice Mountain's." Lightning threw him to the floor, grabbed the pistol that Back had on him, which he though looked oddand tied him up, leaving him for dead. No one talked to him. Lightning was seen as a lethal operator after that, not as a rookie operator.
Too easyLightning snapped his boots into place, looking at the slope. His stomach turned. He'd snow boarded down steep slopes, but this was a bit higher. He pushed off, starting his decent. The snow ruined his line of sight, but it started to return to normal. He slowed down, eventually stopping. Lightning took out his binoculars. He looked through them, scanning with his eyes for any changelings. He found two near a cabin, armed with Aks-74us. "Alpha , I've found two operators, Aks-74us." "Okay," Alpha said nervously, "Are you sure this is safe?" "Are you scared?" Lightning asked mockingly. "No, but are sure this is safe?" "You are, and yes it is safe, and besides, Charlie don't ski." "Glid, you're with Alpha, right?" "Yes." he replied. Lightning, the only one on a snowboard, lead the way. Lightning started down the mountain. "Wow," he thought to himself "I haven't had an adrenaline rush like this in a long time." The one adrenaline rush he had last mission wasn't even close to this one. Lightning forgot how much he loved snowboarding. "Back to the mission" he thought to himself. Lightning came to a stop on another ledge and pulled out his sniper rifle. Lightning held his breath, hoping that the bullet would land on the target, despite the intense wind. He pulled the trigger, missing the target completely. Lightning ran off the mountain. He was airborne. He glid over to the cabin taking out his knife. He killed the first guard. The second guard put up more of a fight. The guard wrestled Lightning for the knife. The guard took it from him, and attempted to stab Lightning, but Lightning took his arm, and grabbed the knife right before the guard could have stabbed him. Lightning finished the guard, and kicked his dead body. Just then he met Alpha and Glid. "Has anypony thought to ask where Nightflash is?" Glid asked. "On an operation, you call him Shadow, Glid. He had the feather flu, so he would be essentially useless." Harp said, as she and Glid walked into the cabin. The cabin was empty. "Well there's nothing here." Glid said. "It ain't over till the fat mare sings." Alpha said, looking at another cabin. Lightning took out his binoculars. "I don't see any changelings their." Lightning said. The team ran to the cabin. Lightning took point, entering the house. All of the sudden, Lightning saw two two unicorns cowering in a corner. "Thank Celestia your here!" a female unicorn said to him. "Yes we've been held hostage up here for weeks." A male unicorn said. "Why would this couple be up here?" Lightning thought to himself. "Well, were still gonna have to check the house, ma'am." Harp told the couple. Lightning walked up the staircase. He opened the door to the attic finding large amounts of weapons. He was amazed. "But that meant, those ponies were changelings!" Lightning thought, but before Lightning could tell Harp and Glid, the male unicorn came behind him, rushing him with a knife. Lightning was thrown to the floor. With the unicorn on top of him Lightning punched him, and then kicked him into a wall. The unicorn changed back into a changeling, and started to lunge with his knife. Lightning grabbed his pistol, and pulled the trigger, killing the changeling. Lightning thought it was odd, because the gun fired 3 bullets at once. Lightning ran downstairs, to see the other dead changeling. "Sorry, I was wrapped up." Lightning said. The group then searched the house, only to find nothing except the weapons. Lightning set the charges. But something didn't fell right, their should have been more than just four changelings. It seemed too easy. Lightning was right, it was too easy.
Try, try again"Oh buck" Lightning thought to himself. The mission was to easy, it was a trap. Lightning ran with his team, jumping over every toppled over tree and rock in his way. "Oh dang! Lightning pass me a gun!" Alpha yelled. When the team got ambushed, Alpha dropped her rifle when she started to run. Lightning threw Alpha the rifle. She reloaded it and jumped into a hole. Lightning and Glid followed. "Suppressing fire!" Alpha yelled. Lightning forgot Plan B. Seemed like everypony else did to. Lightning pulled out his pistol. He fired at one changeling, sending it tumbling down. Another changeling came from behind. Lightning attempted to pull the trigger, but the changeling prevented him from firing. Lightning gave him a punch in the neck. The changeling started to gag, then attempted to stab Lightning with its teeth. Lightning grabbed the changeling and head-butted it. Lightnings helmet took the impact. Lightning then, took his gun and shot the changeling. "Move, we've got to go. NOW!" Alpha yelled to the rest of the team. "Union Actual, copy?" Glid asked over the radio. "Union Actual copy. What's the problem?" "We've been ambushed! We need immediate evac." Glid said. "Evac granted. Skyfall is in you A.O. You're welcome. Union Actual out. " Union Actual replied. "Well hurry up, we're low on ammo." Lightning yelled into the mic. Lightning reloaded his pistol, and started to fire randomly, hoping to hit a few changelings, or at least keep their heads down. "What happened, Vamp?" Harp asked. "She's looking into what she can do." "Great a C.O. is looking into it. This is gonna take forever." Harp said. All of the sudden, an explosion went off. Then all of the sudden a large amount of snow came down the mountain. "Avalanche!" Lightning yelled. He ran down the mountain, dropping everything he didn't need. Eventually all he had left was his backpack. "Where's Skyfall?" Alpha asked. "Does it look like I know!" Lightning screamed at Alpha. Lightning was sweating. He was surprised. It was 10 degrees. He was very nervous. His stomach turned and he felt like throwing up. "Union, this is Fleethoof. I'm C.O. of Skyfall. Get to the cliff, were he re to save you." "Fleethoof. You're from Skyfall. You fought that terrorist organization. The Double-Edge Sword or something like that?" Lightning replied. "Yeah, now get to the chopper!" "The what?" Lightning asked. Then all of the sudden, a large black thing flew in front of him. "Like it, it's a helicopter." Lightning stood in amazement. He felt like he was in some sort of science fiction movie. Lightning just stood there and stared. "Vampire, were about to be killed, can you move already!" Harp yelled through the mic, at a deafeningly high tone. Lightning got into the helicopter. "Get us home gentlecolts." Fleethoof said to the two pilots. "Yes sir, as quickly as possible." The pilots replied. "HQ this is Blackbird-1, we have the package, returning to base." Union Actual responsed back, "Thank you for your service Blackbird-1. Objective complete, return to base." The long ride back to Canterlot seemed to go on forever. Fleethoof got bored, so he decided to break the ice. "Are you alright? You looked banged up" Lightning just huffed. "What's on your mind?" Fleethoof asked. Lightning didn't respond. Maybe he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Fleethoof doubted it though. He was previously a Wonderbolt, so almost dying wasn't anything new. "Is there anything wrong? I hate to sound like your mother." "I feel like I've failed the mission." Lightning said. He was glad he was alive, but the mission was a complete failure. They got nothing out of it. Union had only run raids so far and this failure made them seem even more like rookies. Skyfall had been getting the real missions. They were the real operators. Lightning decided to take a deep breath and relax, before he over-thought himself. Fleethoof had a very surprised look on his face. "You haven't failed. You took out two weapons caches, fought bravely and got out alive. That's not a failure, that's a major success." Lightning thought about that. Fleethoof was right. He liked this Pegasus. He hoped he'd meet him again under better circumstances.
TrainingThe helicopter's blades tossed dust and leaves all around the landing pad. The doors slid open, and the sunlight shone on Lightning's face. Finally, back in Canterlot, where it was warm and he could take a break. "Colts, thank you once again for your help. Semper Fi." Spitfire said to the pilots and members of Skyfall. "Lightning." Fleethoof called over the commotion. "Yeah?" Lightning asked. "Take care of yourself. And, stay away from garlic, Vampire." Fleethoof said, teasing Lightning about his name and laughing a bit. Lightning started to get annoyed, but Spitfire came over and asked him, "How do you like Semper Fi? It means always faithful in Latin." Spitfire asked Lightning about the new motto she created. Back at the base, Lightning continued to play around with his gun, until Nightflash, who had finally recovered from the feather flu, ran into Lightning's room, gasping for breath. "Lightning," Nightflash said, trying to breath. "What?" Lightning asked. "Emergency meeting..... With Spitfire. Run." Lightning ran down the hall until he found the meeting room. The room was dark and had a brisk breeze. Two armed guards stood by the door. Spitfire stood in the front of the room with her swagger stick. The projector flicked on, show a picture of Manehatten. "Ladies and gentlecolts, welcome to Union 2.0. We're rearming, retraining, and retaliating. After the 'screw up' of last mission, were we were unprepared with arms and with plans, we're gonna kick some flank!" Spitfire said with a extremely patriotic and rallying voice. "Now, since we've realized you need better gear, you're getting upgrades. Lightning, you're getting the XACR and M21. Nightflash you're getting the XACR. Harp and Glid will be getting the M16A3 or M16A4, your pick." "Spitfire, why's there a picture of Manehatten? Are we gonna take some shots at Junkstin Bieber at the Wax museum?" Nightflash asked, being the joker he was born to be. "You're going to train in an abandoned hotel in Manehatten." Also, I'm surprised you seem so happy, Nightflash, I didn't think you'd want to see your 15+ marefriends that dumped you like a mule." Spitfire said, to partially annoy Nightflash and to partially reprimand him, while dissing him in front of everypony. The briefing went on as normal for two more hours, until Sptifire finally wrapped it up. "Pack your stuff, we leave at 1600 hours." Lightning walked down the hallway to his bunk. He took out his duffle bag and packed his water, his map, 'How to Impress a Mare' by D. Quill, and some other personal things. Lightning then walked to the armory and put his assault rifle, and pistol in his bag. Lightning put the sniper rifle over his back. Lightning had time to kill so he sat at his desk, and waited. He occasionally picked up the Ponies magazine and read about the celebrity trash. Finally, It was 1530 hours, so Lightning decided to get a head start and walked to the landing pad. The helicopter, which still amazed Lightning, was filled to the brim with bags. Glid was sitting next to Harp so Lightning sat next to Nightflash. "One way express trip to Manehatten," the pilot said, "Allons-y!" The flight Manehatten would take two and a half hours so Lightning decided to read 'How to Impress a Mare'. Nightflash decided to rubber-neck what Lightning was reading. Then he started to laugh. Hysterically. "So," Nightflash said, trying to hold in his laughter, "I'm guessing you like Harp," he continued to snicker. "Yeah." Lightning said, feeling embarrassed now. "Well let me give you some tips." "I'm not in high school. Besides, look at you. You've had more marefriends than operations we've been on. "Just let me give you one tip." "She's right behind you." "She's asleep and Glider doesn't give a flying feather." "Fine." Lightning said, feeling defeated. "You've got to act smooth. Ya know, kind of cool." Nightflash said, kinda making a point. Lightning thought about it. Not acting cool is what lost his marefriend from high school. Also, they could be mature adults. It was 1730 hours. Lightning's eyes started to close. Then, he finally drifted into a deep sleep. Lightning woke up to the helicopters blades knocking the wind. Everypony except the pilots were asleep. Lightning look out the window to see a group of bright lights, illuminating the sky. Manehatten. The city that never sleeps. The helicopter slowly descended on the landing pad. Lightning tapped Nightflash, who randomly screamed out, "not the face," which woke everyone else up. Spitfire stepped out of the helicopter and took a breath of fresh air. "Finally. That ride was pretty boring." Nightflash said. Two ponies walked up to the helicopter and approached Spitfire. They saluted her. "At ease. Gentlecolts, can you take our bags?" Spitfire told the two colts. They went to the helicopter and took the bags. "Well, I'd rather not freeze to death, so lets get to the bunks" Spitfire said, somewhat happy. The stairwell seem run down, but the floor the team was on was beautiful. Lightning walked into his room, which was the nicest bunk he'd ever seen. "Lights out now. That's an order." Spitfire yelled into each members room. Lightning put his radio on a classic rock station. "Training starts at 08 00 hours. Sweet dreams." Spitfire said told everypony. Then she let them go to bed. 'It's about time' Lightning though.
AdditionThe alarm buzzed on and off. '8 o'clock' Lightning thought. Lightning got out of bed, his eyes bloodshot. He rubbed them then got out of bed. Lightning felt slow, like someone who worked an office job and did the same thing each day. Lightning splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth, and walked out the door. The hallway was empty, except for Glider, Harp, and Nightflash lined up, waiting for Spitfire. Lightning walked over to them and waited for Spitfire. They waited for a half an hour. Lightning got bored and started to hum 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'. Just as Lightning finished the second verse, Spitfire came out of nowhere. "Attention. Welcome to your first day of training. You'll be training in an old abandoned hotel a couple of blocks from here. The reason you got these nice beds is because you'll be going through some pretty intense training. You've got 30 minutes to eat. Dismissed." As the team started downstairs, Lightning continued to hum his song. Just as he was a few seconds into the song, Spitfire yelled to Lightning, "Stop humming that song, it's just weird." After eating breakfast the team went to the hotel. I was not even close to what the team was in now, but it was a combat exercise. Spitfire and the two other Pegasi from before knocked the door open. The room was dusty and dirty and Nightflash said it smelled like 'dead animals'. Lighting turned on his flash light and walked into the building and looked around. The rest of the team followed. Spitfire and the rest of the team check the rest of the building. It seemed safe. "Well, the the building seems safe." Let's start training." Spitfire started to brief the team,"Their will be teams of two, red and blue. Red starts on the top of the building and blue starts on the bottom. You will be using bullets that leave a paint splatter if you get shot. Don't worry that can't kill. We also have a generator set up to restore power. Well, lets start." "One, two, three. Go!" Spitfire said to the teams. Lightning and Harp were on the blue team and Nightflash and Glider on the red team. Lightning and Harp checked each room on their floor. 'Maybe there on the next floor' Lightning thought. The pair walked up the stair case. Lightning and Harp slowly ascended up the stair case, checking for signs of an enemy ambush. Harp's ear stood up. "I think I hear something." Harp told Lightning. Lightning took point and Harp took guard. Lightning started to get worried. He hated cat and mouse. He wanted to know know where his opposition was. Lightning hear something. His heart started to beat really fast. He turned a corner, just to be met with enemy fire. Lightnings heart skipped a beat. That was one heck if a wake-up call. Lightning hugged the wall. He would turn every now and then to fire at Red team. Lightning hit Nightflash. Glider made a run for it. Lightning and Harp followed Glider. The team chased Glider up two flights until he turned a corner and he was no where to be found. Harp and Lightning cautiously scanned the hallway for Glider. Lightning heard a shot. He turned around to see Harp had been hit. She fell to the ground, clutching where she had been hit. Lightning reacted as fast as he could and shot Glider. Then a bell rang symbolizing the game was over. "Ok, that was good. Lets do that a couple of more times, then I'm gonna mix it up." The exercise went for about for about an hour. Then Spitfire told the reds and blues to work together. "All right team, your working together." "Against who?" Nightflash asked. Spitfire stayed silent. She went to her observation area and started the exercise. "Let's just stay together." Lightning said. All of the sudden the lights went off. "What was that?" Harp asked. All of the sudden she was shot. Nightflash started to panick but Glider and Lightning kept a straight face. The team went up the staircase to see who was shooting at them. Then Glider got shot. Nightflash started to freak out. "Game over man!" Nightflash said. Sounds came from all around. Lightning and Nightflash shot anything they thought they saw move. Then Nightflash got shot. Lightning was all alone. He went down the hallway shooting at anything he thought moved. Sounds of gunshots rang out. Lightning got into a corner and just sprayed anything he thought that moved. Then, he was shot. Then lights turned on. Lightning looked around. A strange pony stood over him. He couldn't tell what type of pony it was. The pony was a black Pegasus, who looked a bit like Nightflash. He was wearing a balvanca with a skeleton imprint on it. A unicorn walked over to the peagasus. He was blue with orange hair. "Ghost, how's our buddy?"said the unicorn. He had a southern accent. "He seems okay."said the Pegasus, who was named Ghost, Lightning guessed. Lightning tried to get up but the training round was painful, and Lightning moaned when he tried to get up. "Woah their buddy. Give it a second."said the unicorn. Lightning wondered why their was another spec ops team here. Union had all ready worked with Skyfall. "I'm Rapid and Ghost. There are callsigns anyway."said the unicorn. Nightflash walked up the staircase and looked at the ponies. "Don't shoot me!"Nightflash yelled. "We're not gonna."Ghost told Nightflash, who was freaked out from lights going off and getting shot at from all around. "We're here to help you with you with training."Ghost told Nigtflash. Glider and Harp came upstairs, followed by a bat-pony and an earth pony. The the bat-pony had a dark lavender coat and a black mane. The earth pony was a female with a light blue coat and silver hair. "You ponies did a good job of freaking the buck outta us."Glider said. Lightning was surprised. He hasn't heard Glider talk in a while. Lightning finally got up. He looked at all of the operators in the room. Spitfire must have something planned if she brought in another fireteam. The team ate dinner in a reserved cafeteria in the building. The food tasted okay. Lightning had better. He ate alone. He wanted to, he needed time to think about why there was another fireteam here. Lighting then realized that besides Union and Skyfall there were no fireteams. This brought up a new question in Lightnings mind, who were these ponies. Lightning decided to asked Spitfire. Lighting walked to the officers bunks, where Spitfire was. Lightning walked into the room but was stopped by two guards. "State you business." One guard told Lightning. "I need to talk to Spitfire." Lightning told the guard. "The commander is busy. Good night." The pony told Lightning. Their was no use of trying to argue. Lighting still wanted to know why these ponies were here.
NicknamesThe group flew away with the intel. One the way Glider mentioned something. "I heard Spitfire mention something about us having to be assigned callsigns." "I know what Harp's would be" Lightning said. " It would probably be Alpha, you know because she bosses people around." " Look who's talking, Vampire." Harp replied. " We'd you get Vampire from?" Lightnig asked. " have you looked in a mirror lately, oh wait I forget, Vampires can't see their their own reflection." " I agree with Harp, you do look like a Vampire, bro." Glider replied, adding his two bits. " What about me ? " Nightflash asked, feeling left out. " Your coat is black so, you kind of look like a shadow. " Glider said. " Glider, we can't make up a name for you yet, we don't really know you much. " Nightflash said. "No problem, just refer to me as Glid" So it was set, Fireteam Union had callsigns.
