//------------------------------//
// The Infiltration 
// Story: Rescuing the Night 
// by Noctis 
//------------------------------//

	There was nothing but silence in Equestria. The night was unusually cold for the time of year. There was no moon in the sky, nor were there stars. Soon, however, that silence was broken by the sound of the rotors of a helicopter. On the helicopter, was none other than Big Boss, the legendary mercenary. He had been called into Equestria by Princess Celestia, on a very important mission, the details of which, were withheld until he accepted the mission and arrived at the castle.

When the helicopter arrived, Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller got off said helicopter and went to speak with the Princess of the sun. It was a rarity that they would accept such a mission, but they realized the urgency of it. The moon not only refused to glow in Equestria, no, it affected their world as well. Once they were briefed, they took off for the Changeling Kingdom, where Princess Luna was being held captive.

The helicopter dropped Snake off at a near by forest, where he would begin his infiltration mission. As he got on the ground, Kaz had phoned him, reminding him the details of this mission. "Snake, this is a top secret black op. You will be getting no support from us, physically at least. You have been equipped with Night Vision goggles to make seeing enemies in the dark easier. You have also been provided with a tranquilizer gun. It is recommended that you stick to it. Celestia doesn't want us to leave any traces of our presence here. It is for the better that the Changelings don't suffer any casualties. Your job is to infiltrate the Changeling Kingdom Castle, and then find and rescue Luna. Be sure to mark an Evac point when you have Luna in your possession. I will be here for emotional support and intel, should you need it. Good Luck." Kaz then hung up, and let the legendary mercenary do the work he's known for.

Unsurprisingly, the kingdom was littered with search lights, to light up the night in the absence of the actual moon and stars.

The soldier stopped for a minute, and phoned Miller for a short and quick conversation. He wanted to speak about some thoughts he had on his mind. "This is Miller." Kaz had responded as soon as he picked up.

"Kaz, you know, Luna was always the Boss' favorite. This is making me have a lot of flashbacks to back when I was Naked Snake. Some of them, are not happy flashbacks." The mercenary replied.

"I can imagine that this brings back some unhappy memories. But you still have a mission, Snake. Once you complete that mission, we're home free. I know you can do it, Boss."

"You know Kaz, during night infiltration missions, the moon and the stars would be a soldier's best friends. They were the soothing light within the darkness, The light to inspire you to keep going on. It doesn't feel right not having them up there. This darkness is an unusual, unnatural pitch black."

"All the more reason why this mission needs to be completed, Boss. You're not only rescuing the beloved Princess of the Night, you are rescuing the night itself." 

Big Boss then hung up and went on to do the mission. He had the weight of two worlds on his shoulders. There was no room for failure here. For the average soldier, this would be more pressure than one could handle, but not for Snake. No, he saw it as a challenge. He thought of the fastest route to take, and the easiest way to get in, and get out, without even having to fire a single tranquilizer dart. As he sneaked his way through the forest, he stood up and used his binoculars to get a better view of the castle. He saw an easy extraction point at the opposite end of the dark fortress. He also noticed that a few guards were asleep, to which he was slightly disappointed about, since that only decreased this challenge. He noticed an area where the bricks were a bit more protruding and decided to start there. He put his binoculars back in his inventory, and quietly crawled his way to the wall.

When Snake made it to the wall, he took a quick observation to make sure there were no guards around the area. He saw the guards with flashlights on opposite ends slowly approaching his location, so he quickly climbed up the wall. When he got to the top, he looked down on the other side, and saw two guards talking to each other about Princess Luna. This was his chance to gain some new intel. The espionage expert listened in closely to the conversation as he climbed down the wall as silently as he could. 

"I can't believe Queen Chrysalis is literally keeping the night itself held hostage until she gets what she wants from Equestria. If you ask me, that's just wrong." One of the guards said.

"What I think is more wrong is where that poor thing is being held. She's deep within the Castle, in a cell in the ruins. She has no food, no water, no anything. Honestly, I want to set her free, but if I do, I know the Queen will make me suffer a fate worse than death." The other guard replied

"Yeah, Luna's going to die of malnutrition eventually if nothing is done. It sucks that we're only guards and we can't do anything to to convince the Queen to at least take better care of her."

Big Boss believed this was all he needed to hear, so he very slowly approached the unsuspecting changelings and knocked them both out by slamming their heads against one another. He then waited for one of the guards to regain consciousness so he could interrogate him. As the changeling regained consciousness, Snake grabbed him and held him in a headlock. He held a knife to the creature's chest, and simply said one word, "Speak"

The changeling, knowing that his life was in danger, told the menacing mercenary all that he needed to know. "If you're looking for Princess Luna, she's in the abandoned and ruined part of the Castle, deep down inside! Just take that door over there, go down the staircase, and crawl through a bunch of rubble, and you'll be there!"

With this new information, Snake immediately knocked the guard out again, and proceeded to drag its body into a dark corner behind a few boxes. He did the exact same thing with the other unconscious guard. He decided to take one of the cardboard boxes for himself, for good measure, and began his journey into the depths of the castle. He didn't know his way around, but he would just have to use all his instincts to navigate it. 

He entered the castle itself, and crawled his way to the door that led to the staircase. However, when he opened the door, there were only more doors, each that led to stair cases that went down. Snake was confused, but he was not foolish. Instead, he went back out the door, and went on a hunt to find more changeling guards within the castle that could help him navigate easier. He knew that if he took the wrong stair case, he could have easily been caught, and that was the thing that he needed to avoid.

He simply sat and waited in a dark corner of the hallway for any guards to come around, and he did not need to wait for long until a changeling did show up. Taking his chance, he interrogated the changeling and of course, received the necessary intel to continue. "The staircase that leads to the prison cells where the hostage is held is on the right! Please! Don't kill me!" Snake proceeded to knock out the guard and hide his body, keeping his promise not to kill anyone. Big Boss was not a man who would break a promise. He then crawled to the door to the staircase again, and went down the door on his right. The spiral staircase was old, narrow, and was practically falling apart. Steps were missing every so often, and the walls and ceiling had holes that exposed to pitch black darkness from outside everywhere. 

Then, all of a sudden, about halfway down, the stairs began to crumble as he stepped on them, and the whole staircase began to fall apart into nothing but rubble and dust.