Prologue: The Perfect Plans
“Thirty seconds!” Screamed the lieutenant. He raised a red flag as he spoke with one wing, signaling the rest of the pegasi and Sky Diver to check their weapons and armor. Sky looked over his crossbow, while standard issue for all pegasi; his was outfitted with a scope and would pull back the string automatically. He was the platoon’s best shot and modified the weapon to suit his needs. He then looked down at his sidearm, a standard short-sword. ‘Please don’t make me need to use this.’ He thought to himself. He was average when it came to close quarters combat but he relied on his ability to hit enemies from long range mostly.
“Twenty seconds!” The lieutenant screamed again. This time the doors on the sides of the airship opened causing a blast of air to crash into Sky’s and his fellow soldier’s faces. Sky could see the other two airships in the vicinity. They were far enough away from each other that they could avoid crossfire from the Griffon’s ballistae and catapults. Sky remembered hearing that the Griffon’s came up with a new type of ammo for their catapults, ones that would explode mid air. This would be extremely deadly for any pegasi near it. Sky went over the numbers in his head, ‘One platoon per airship, twenty pegasi in one platoon, so that’s sixty pegasi all together, hopefully this plan will work, a quarter of us wont make it to ground’
“Ten seconds!” The lieutenant shouted. This was the final few seconds before the drop. Sky breathed in deeply and slowly breathed out.
5…
4…
3…
2…
“GO GO GO!” The lieutenant screamed as he raised a green flag and lowered the red one. The pegasi jumped by two’s, one on each side of the airship. Sky was third in line and soon found himself at the door. He didn’t hesitate to jump; to do so would be rewarded with a swift kick out of the airship. The moment he was out of the airship the airspace was alive with ballistae bolts and explosives from catapults. Sky was thankful the Equestrian Air Corps had the Griffon air forces occupied.
Sky looked at the drop zone. There to the north a bit was the rendezvous point. A farmhouse. He wouldn’t fly and land there though. The Griffons were still occupying the house. Instead he would land in the forest directly below him, meet up with his squad and they would converge on the house. It was a perfect plan. But Sky knew no perfect plans pass initial contact with the enemy.
Sky neared the ground and he flared his wings, slowing his decent. He landed on the grass and immediately galloped to where the platoon would be. He arrived a few minutes later; half of the platoon was assembled. He saw the lieutenant and nodded at him, you never saluted an officer in the field. He looked to one of the sergeants and asked, “Is this it sir?” Sky was a corporal and new in the platoon so he didn’t know the sergeant’s name.
“Yea, AA got the rest of our guys, saw one guy get a bolt through the chest.” Just thinking of that made Sky cringe. But soon the lieutenant got all of their attentions.
“We need to take that farmhouse, if we don’t second and fifth platoons will be flanked. We are down to eleven ponies, and our radio pony got taken out during the drop. So no magic artillery support” He paused to let the information sink in. As expected it was received with grimaces. “So here’s how we’re gonna play this. We split into three teams, I’ll take a team to the left of the house, and Sargent Whirlwind will take another team to the right of the house. Sky and Private Quick Shot will stay here and cover our two assault teams. Any questions?” No hands or voices were raised. “Well then let’s move, gentlecolts.”
The two other teams left about fifteen minutes ago and Sky knew they would be in position by now. The private would be his spotter and point out targets while Sky would take them out. Sky leveled his crossbow and looked down the sights towards the left side of the farmhouse. The lieutenant would begin the assault and the other team would take them from behind. ‘Another perfect plan’ Sky thought.
Just as he finished his thought a whistle blew, the signal to start the attack. Sky watched as the left team stormed the field. “Two coming out of the farmhouse,” The private told him. Sky moved to aim at them and fired his bolt. It lodged itself into the griffon’s chest; the griffon fell. The crossbow re-armed itself and Sky loaded another bolt and aimed at the second griffon. He let the bolt fly and was rewarded with another dead griffon.
“Left team is taking fire from windows on the second floor.” The private reported.
“Got no shot, would have to go above the tree line to get one… any other available targets?” Sky asked.
“Four airborne looks like a bombing mission. One O’clock high.” Sky shifted to aim at the new threats. Sure enough there were four griffons flying in close formation. They each had firebombs on them. They were glass bottles filled with a gel that when exposed to air would burst into flames and attach to a pony and could almost never be put out. Now they threatened to wipe out the assault teams.
Sky fired and the bolt raced towards the griffons. However, the bolt never hit a griffon, instead it hit the lead griffon’s firebombs, shattering one. The griffon burst into flames. Due to the explosion and the close formation, the other griffons soon joined their flight leader. They all fell from the sky where they flailed for a while before stopping.
“Confirmed four EKIA. Awaiting new targets.” Sky said with a grimace in his voice.
“Left team is good, they’re approaching the house now, switching to rig-“ The private’s voice was cut off by the sound of metal meeting flesh. Sky spun around and before him stood a griffon wielding a long sword. This long sword happened to be bloodied by the private who was lying, dead, at the griffon’s claws. Sky drew his short sword and held it up as the griffon raised his long sword and swung down. Sky had no hope of defending against the griffon but he had to try, maybe distract the griffon until he figured out a way to escape.
Fortunately for Sky he didn’t have to distract the griffon for long. An earth pony tackled the griffon; the pony raised a dagger and brought it down on the griffon. After killing the griffon the pony looked towards Sky and smiled. “Thanks, been trying to find a good chance to kill this one. As well as meet you Corporal Sky. Sargent Meadow’s my name. But you can call me either Sarge or Ma’am.” The female pony said. Sky went rigid and nodded his head, “Yes ma’am.”
Sargent Meadow smiled at him and circled him a bit, “Tell me, have you ever heard of a group called the Centurions?”
“No ma’am.” Sky said slightly confused. The name didn’t match any group in the entire Equestrian military.
“Good, then we’re doing our jobs right. Anyway, you are being reassigned to me corporal. Don’t worry about the paper work, it’ll catch up. All I need now is a sniper and you’re one of the best in the military.” Sky was taken back by the statement. He knew he was good but didn’t think he was the best. He didn’t know how he felt about being transferred but wouldn’t voice his concern. Orders were orders after all. But what the lieutenant said next deserved a reaction, “As of right now you are a member of Centurion team green.”
“What? Is that some sort of black ops team?” He asked.
“All I can tell you here is that we’re the best of the best, are you in or do I have to pull rank?”
Sky didn’t hesitate to answer. Not only because he had a chance to be in an elite team but also because something about the lieutenant scared him. “Yes ma’am. I’m in.”