//------------------------------//
// Chapter V: Informed 
// Story: Nightmare Team: New Blade 
// by Ser_Galahad 
//------------------------------//

Will someone let me in on the secret already?
The air around the base seemed like it was dead still and tasted stale in Twilight's mouth. She wasn't entirely sure why that was. She hadn't gotten a word out of anyone as to what was going on. The captain, Sunset, and the princess had all been closed lipped about the whole situation ever since the name Raven Cain had been dropped. The only words that any of the three had exchanged were a command from Princess Luna to assemble the team in the meeting room down the hall in the command section. Captain Hunter and Sunset had then led Twilight back through the base and through the command section to a doorway across the hall from Capt. Hunter's office. 

Inside the room was a large round table big enough to seat seven ponies around it with a few extra chairs off to the side. The table was a rich dark mahogany with the Nightmare crest in the center under a cover of lacquer. The chairs were black leather office chairs with wheels affixed to their base. A symbol was stitched into the back of each chair. The ceiling was rather high with a large crystal jutting from it directly above the table.
Once they were inside the room Sunset took a seat at one of the chairs, the one with the drawn revolver stitched into it. After sitting down she rested her elbows on the table, intertwined her fingers, and rested her chin on her hands. She stared off into space as if lost in thought. 
The captain made his way to another smaller crystal, no bigger then a bit, embedded in the wall next to the door. Taking a deep breath to calm his voice, he pressed it like a button.
"Attention all Nightmares, Priority one meeting. Make your way to the briefing room at once," he spoke in a much smoother tone then he had been using when he had first reported to the princess. 
Twilight watched the captain with curiosity.While he had spoken at a normal volume, Twilight could hear his words reverberating around the base.
This place has all sorts of tricks.
After relaying his message with the PA system, Hunter made his way to another of the leather seats and sat down. His chair had the symbol of a stone tower with two pointed spires on either sides of the towers pinnacle with a watching eye between the two spires. He sat there rubbing the side of his head as if trying to sooth a particularly irritating headache.
Not sure what to do with herself Twilight just stood off to the side with her arms crossed. She had been given time to change before they had made their way to the briefing room. She now had on a fresh, crisp set of LDUs, polished black boots, and she had also donned her new shadow cloak. 
The cloak fit her perfectly. It covered the full length of her body without dragging on the ground. The hood, were she to draw it up, cast her full face into shadows to hide her identity from those that tried to look her in the face. When she drew it fully closed around her and thought the activation phrase "Nachtzeit" she all but disappeared from sight as the colors of the cloak shifted to match those of her surroundings. That was until she moved. The cloak was good but it didn't match motion blur well, as well as it did nothing to muffle the sound of her movements.
Twilight stood pondering an explanation for the sudden change in demeanor of The Captain and the two mares. Multiple reasons for the current environment floated through her mind. Each one seemed more preposterous then the last, but until she got some hard information they were all she had.
Perhaps this Cain is like the reincarnation of Discord.
The door next to Twilight opened as Rainbow Dash burst through. She was still dressed in her flight suit but now had her blue tinted aviators hooked into a breast pocket. She walked over to a chair next to the captain, the one with the stitched representation of the winged shield that made up the pilots wings.
No that can't be. Discord is still alive, he is just a statue in the gardens.
Looking between the two other seated ponies Dash asked, "So Orion, Wolf, you gonna fill me in on what this is all about? I didn't think there was a mission planned for a while."
Sunset shook her head slowly and the Captain responded.
"You'll find out when everyone gets here. I would rather this gets covered all at once."
Dash sighed and leaned back in her chair and stuck her booted feet up on the table. She gave a small, worried, sidelong glance at Captain Hunter when he didn't chastise her for it.
Maybe Cain is the name of one of the rightful leaders of the Changeling Hive that Queen Chrysalis displaced in her coup.
Again the door opened as AJ marched in, a serious look on her face. She too made a bee line for one of the leather office chairs. This one had a stitched image of a square looking castle with three short towers, two on the sides and one in the middle. She was still dressed in her oil stained jumpsuit, but now she seemed to have a little oil in her hair as well.
Shortly behind her was Bulwark. He sauntered in with his casual swagger and took the seat next to Apple Jack with the caduceus stitched to it.
No that's wrong too. Captain said Cain escaped. Chrysalis didn't imprison any of her former leaders, she just killed them.
Apple Jack looked at the others in the room and started to open her mouth to ask a question but Rainbow cut her off.
"Don't waste the breath Honesty. The Captain said he ain't gonna spill it till everyone is here."
A flash of annoyance crossed AJ's face but she didn't push the subject. She too relaxed into her chair but in a more professional manner. Bulwark similarly looked troubled but tried to hide it behind a suave grin.
Could Raven be an escaped dragon bearing down on some town along the Dragon Lines?
The last two ponies walked in. The first was Princess Luna with an unreadable facade. The second was Foresight the bat intel officer from before. His expression was ashen and nervous.
No. That's not likely either. The Day Guard has an entire two volume manual on how to deal with a dragon incursions. A sole dragon making across the lines wouldn't cause consternation like this. 
The Princess sat down next to Capt. Hunter. Her chair had the image of the Mare in The Moon embroidered into the leather. Foresight however stood off to the side. In his hands he held a semi-translucent crystal slab. The chunk of crystal was roughly the same length and width as a sheet of paper but was about a centimeter and a half thick.
Possibly this Cain is...
"Excuse me Lt. Sparkle, but if you would like to come back to this plane of existence I can have Lt. Foresight start his briefing," Princess Luna interrupted Twilight's cycle of Hypotheses.
"EEP!" Twilight exclaimed at being ripped out of her own head. "I apologize Princess I was lost in thought."
"I understand but If you would please take your seat-" Luna motioned to the remaining vacant seat at the table, "-you would probably get all the questions running through your mind answered."
"Of course Princess," Twilight said, moving to indicated chair next to Sunset.
This last free chair meant for her also had a symbol on it. Her's was that of a dagger enveloped by a cloak.
After Twilight took her seat Luna turned back to Foresight and nodded.
"You may begin now Lt. Foresight," she stated.
Gulping he responded, "Yes Princess."
He tapped the slab in his hands a few times and the lights in the room dimmed. Then the large crystal started to glow projecting a three dimensional holographic of the Lunar Guard crest.
Twilight gasped softly at this new fascination. Two dimensional projection had been cutting edge tech while she had been going through classes, but the rest of the team seemed to take this in stride like this was something they dealt with every day. Dash didn't even take her boots of the table and reclined a little more.
The crest revolved a few times before Foresight tapped a few more times on the slab and the crest was replaced with a fully detailed 3-D projection of Canterlot. He performed a reverse pinching motion on the slab and the projection zoomed in on the market district of the city. The same district where the attack had happened, the only difference was that there was no damage and ponies were walking around without a care in the world.
"We finally were able to piece together the events of the Canterlot attack from residual magical foot printing," Foresight started as he began to scroll on his slate.
The scene started to play in fast forward. Ponies going about their lives, buying, selling, carrying on. It was like looking down on a doll house come to life. Then suddenly there was a flash and the entire model was consumed in a fire ball. The scene stopped here. Then it reversed slowly until it was mere moments prior to the blast.
"First we found the source of the blast," Foresight said pointing to a small gray object that was hovering slightly above the ground in the projection. "It was an aerially dropped munition. We don't have enough information to track it all the way to it's source but there is a good chance it came from one of flyers that took part in the attack."
"You mean one of the griffons?" asked Twilight trying to remember information from the middle of the firefight.
"Possibly, however we do know that they were not the only flyers. There was a second team that I will get to in a bit," Foresight responded. He scrolled through more of the projection's timeline until about a minute or so after the blast had subsided.
"Here we see the attackers arrive on the scene. They start to open fire into the crowd indiscriminately. I don't have any of the fine details because there were very few living ponies at this point to give off the magical residue that we need for high fidelity."
He continued to describe the events of the attack in an almost robotic tone until he got to the point where Twilight arrived.
"Here as two of you know was the major turning point of the attack. It also is where we first start being able to make out more detail due to the sheer amount of magic that radiates off of you Lt. Sparkle."
Twilight looked away not sure how to take the comment.
Foresight continued unaware of Twilight's reaction. He zoomed in on the first of the griffons. The one that had first taken notice of Twilight's presence.
"Here we have Carrion. Captain you may remember the name from when you and  Capt. Nightshade were operating in the Griffon Kingdom during the Great War."
Captain Hunter nodded. "Ya I think I do. She was one of King Alaric's top generals. I believe she was in our deck of 52 if I'm not mistaken." He looked over at the princess.
"Correct she was the Queen of Spades. High priority but not in the top ten." Luna confirmed.
Foresight nodded at the information. "Just so. She was the second in command of their Air Knights. As you know by the fact that we still speak Equestrian and not Griffon we repelled the invasion after they got dragged into the war by their alliance with the hippogiffs and minotaurs. Eventually forced them to the peace treaty. After that It seemed that she dropped out of the military and has flown a fairly low profile. The recent hardships that the Griffon Kingdom has faced have however brought her back to the surface. She as held many rallies and political forums in her home country. It seems that she still holds a chip on her shoulder and blames the majority of the problems with the Kingdom on the way that they were treated by the peace accords. She also hasn't been seen for a few months."
"Well that's bullshit if I've ever heard it," Sunset spoke up. "It wasn't our fault that they built their kingdom on the profits of conquest. Just because we banned them from having as large a military doesn't mean that they couldn't have industrialized."
Foresight grunted at the assertion, but didn't comment himself. He zoomed out from the first griffon and zoomed in on the second griffon. 
"Here we have the griffon that you killed Captain. We don't have anything on him more then he was a former flyer under Carrion and shared many of her views."
He moved on to a unicorn.
"I believe you also got this one Captain Hunter," Twilight noted.
Hunter nodded in confirmation.
"Right. This was Red Dawn. He was at one point a farmer from Ponyville, but one day his family was killed by bandits, and he blamed the Equestrian government and Equestria as a whole for his loss. Since then he has been a low level domestic terrorist. He had made a few threats of violence, but this was the first time that he had actually taken any action," explained Foresight.
The intel officer moved over to the minotaur. 
"He had his entire family killed during the Great War. He has openly taken an oath to make Equestria pay for each member that he lost."
Finally he shifted the scene over to the diamond dog pair.
"Now these two are an interesting pair. Well used to be a pair." He chuckled a little before continuing. "They are the Blood brothers.This was Rabid," he pointed to one of them, "he was the one that was gunned down by the Day Captain. The other one is Canine. That's the one you tried to throw through a building after you tried to cut him in half with that ethereal blade of yours," Foresight commented looking over to Twilight who again was not sure how to take the comments. The scene played out until just after Twilight blasted Canine.
"Well there, Lt. Sparkle, that was kinda bad ass, but from what you've shown us here I would hardly call the dogs interesting," Dash said, still reclining in her chair. 
Foresight continued, "It's not what they did in the fight that is the interesting part. It's their circumstances. You see there used to be five of the Blood brothers. The first brother died after their den was raided to rescue a few ponies they had tried to ponynap. They swore vengeance on the Guard member that pulled the trigger, but when the went after the guard member another of their kin was killed by a different Guard member. So they swapped targets to this new member. They almost got their vengeance but a griffon ended up killing that Guard member in the Great War. Instead of being satisfied with this they crossed the sea to go after this griffon. Only to have a third brother killed by a pony on the battlefield."
"Let me guess. this pony happened to be in the market that day?" Bulwark asked.
"Correct, but that pony had retired and was that shop owner that was one of the only two survivors. The attack also resulted in the death of fourth brother. Normally I would say that Captain Armor should be worried  about being the next target for Canine's vengeance, but now I think that might fall on you Lt. Sparkle."
Twilight looked up startled. "What? Why me? Not that I want it to be my brother, but what did I do?"
Foresight rolled the projection back to the scene of Twilight cutting Canine's gun in half and forcing him back.
"Well you prevented his vengeful charge. That may have shifted his ire. Just a theory." Foresight shrugged.
"Well Ah' reckon that covers the who the attackers were, but ya mention'd their was a secon' team? And jus' what pulled all them together in the first place?" Apple Jack pondered.
" I was just about to get to that second team. Captain, Lt. Sparkle, do you remember a green firework going off during the fight? Possibly near the castle?" Foresight asked
Both nodded in response to the question.
"Well it looks like that was the sign to end the diversion," Foresight said.
"What do you mean diversion? Are you trying to say that all that killing was just a way to draw our attention?" Twilight asked flabbergasted.
"Indeed. As I explained to the Captain earlier, it seems that while the majority of the group was in the market to hide what the real group was doing," Forsight said as he zoomed out from the market and zoomed back in near the castle at what looked like a gated entrance to a cave.
"Wait! is that the dungeon entrance?" Sunset squinted at the projection. "Where are the Guards that are supposed to be watching the gate?"
"A very good question. Unfortunately the answer is that they were killed. While the rest of the group was unleashing havoc, there were two others staging a breakout." Foresight mad a motion on his slab and a pegasus appeared in the projection. 
It was a female Pegasus in a vary similar looking flight suit. It looked a lot like Rainbow Dash, The cocky grin and all, but there were two key differences. First was that instead of a streak of many colors, this mare had a mane of pure jade. The second was that where Rainbow had her Nightmare crest, this mare had a Wonderbolts patch. That wasn't all, the patch seemed to have been covered over with a red X.
Rainbow Dash had her interest piqued by this new mare.
"And just who is this now?" she asked Foresight.
"Well, this would be Starfighter. She was a Wonderbolt for some time but grew discontent with the idea that while she and her brethren fought and died for the country, the nobles of Canterlot stayed home in their cushy lives. She has manly been a low level political activist but has also made more then her fair share of threats against the ponies of Canterlot."
"She doesn't look that great how did she make it to the Wonderbolt squadron?" Dash asked.
"Well believe it or not she was one of their better flyers especially against the dragons during their first attempt to invade Equestria from the south. From the reports we have she may even be a potential match for your own abilities."
"Pssh. Not a snowball's chance in hell egghead," was all Dash had for a response.
While they had been talking both Apple Jack and Bulwark had seem to take notice of a different location of the map. Standing outside the locked gate to the dungeons was a single figure. It was a stallion dressed in denim jeans. Tucked into the jeans was a  plaid wool button up shirt. A bolo tie was around his neck and a pitch black stetson sat on his head. A brown duster jacket covered his back and on his feet were a pair of black cowboy boots with spurs. 
Foresight noticed this and zoomed in on the figure but it was too blurry to make out more of the finer details. The only other thing that Twilight was able to make out was a pump action shotgun strapped to his back.
"This is the only figure that we couldn't get anything on. The magical footprint around him is too poorly formed to get a match on face recognition."
Bulwark got up and leaned closer to the projection squinting at the figure. Looking over to Apple Jack he shot a look that Twilight couldn't really place. Somewhere between anger and disgust possibly.
"Honesty, you don't think it's really him do you? I heard that Sheriff Silverstar got him a year ago?" Bulwark directed his question to his fellow earth pony.
"Ah heard something similar, but Ah'd recognize that there hat anywhere. Ah would also reckon the fact that he's got Bertha on his back also pretty much confirms it if ya' ask me. Ah'd also bet that if it were clearer we could make out that scar o' his," Apple Jack responded with a hard expression.
"Would you like to fill in the rest of the team as to who this seems to be?" Princess Luna asked looking between the two.
"That no-good fuckin' scoundrel is the one and only Blackhat. Pardon the language Princess, but Ah really got no love for the stallion," AJ answered with a scowl. Bulwark nodded in confirmation.
Foresight rubbed his chin for a second. "You may be right. We have a pretty large file on him if that's who it is. I could run and get it or you could inform the team about him as you two seem to have some knowledge about who he is."
"He's an outlaw, thief, and murderer all rolled into one fowl package. He was the head of the Blackwater Bandits for years," Bulwark explained. "Back when Honesty and I were younger, he would roll into Appleossa with his gang in tow. He took what he want and rolled back out. He was a terror across the entire badlands. He was known by his signature stetson and his shotgun that he named 'Bertha'. He also has an old war scar on his face that curved from above his left eye to his jaw."
"And he put a fuckin' gun in mah sister's face. Right before he shot mah Pa'," growled Apple Jack clenching and un-clenching a fist repeatedly. "When I heard he had been taken out, the only sadness I had was that I wasn't the one to put the bullet in him myself. Now it looks like even Tirek himself couldn't stand his presence and through him back from the pits o' hell."
"Pray tell, what led him to a life of banditry?" Princess Luna asked.
Bulwark responded, "Ma'am have you heard about the legend of the Mounted Rangers?"
The princess seemed to rack her brain for a bit.
"Vaguely. They were a cavalry unit that tried to protect the fledgling settlements in the early years of the Badlands expansion as far as I remember."
"Yes. However I would use the term protect rather lightly. They were a small unit. Blackhat was one of it's original members. After conflicts with the buffalo of the land died down the unit was disbanded and properly compensated for their service. Blackhat felt otherwise. He decided that he was owed more by the people."
"So if it wouldn' be freely given' he decided to take it. By what ever means necessary," Apple Jack interjected now rubbing her hand as if to contain her emotive response. 
"I see," was all Luna had to say as she looked like she was trying to piece how all of this fit together.
"That's not the last of it though. Foresight, I suggest that you get to the real turn of the screw in this story," said Captain Hunter in a cold tone.
Finally. Maybe now I'll find out what this is all about.
"Indeed," Foresight said as he continued the playback of the events.
Blackhat finished planting the explosives around the gate while Starfighter kept watch. Then they both backed away to a safe distance before the blast ripped the gate off its hinges with a column of smoke. The two disgraces of former military servants disappeared into the dungeon cave. A short while later the cave belched smoke again indicating another blast from further into the cave. Once the smoke had cleared Blackhat and Starfighter could be seen making their way back out. This time they were accompanied by a third figure. Foresight zoomed in on this new unicorn. 
He was a pitch black stallion dressed in ragged prisoner's garb. He had a long slicked back mane of midnight blue. But, what really struck Twilight was his eyes. They were a piercing  gold.
The room fell deathly silent. The same stale feel of before came back as every pony in the room but Twilight fixated on the coal colored stallion. The only motion was Dash's eyes going wide with recognition before she stopped paying attention to her balance and her entire chair flipped backwards sending her flying to the ground. No one seemed to notice, they were still transfixed with what they saw. Dash, for her part, didn't even comment. She just stood back up and stared at the projection. 
The most notable reactions where from Sunset and Capt. Hunter.  Sunset had subconsciously brought her right hand to her hip, as if ready to draw Eclipse at any second. The captain, meanwhile, stared at the figure with a clenched jaw and cold fire in his eyes.
It was Captain Hunter that spoke up first, breaking the crypt like silence.
"No Mares and Gentlecolts, your eyes do not deceive you. That is in fact Raven Cain. In the flesh, and free to roam."
The furious anger in his voice was palpable.
"Sir..." Twilight spoke up, slightly raising her hand as if she were in a classroom addressing a teacher.
Midnight's eyes flirted away from the projection and to her. As if recognizing what Twilight wanted to ask he took a calming breath and started to explain for her benefit.
"Do you remember me telling you about the late Capt. Nightshade? Or about how he was killed by someone we thought we could trust?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes Sir, I do."
The captain nodded back in the direction of Raven Cain.
"That's the son of a bitch that did it. He was part of the regular day guard before he caught our eye. Nightshade knew he wouldn't be able to take on the role of Shadow-walker forever so we brought Cain on as a recruit. Nightshade trained him in everything he knew and acted as a second Shadow-walker when need be. Then when they went on a joint mission together..."
Sunset interjected, "The fucking traitor stabbed the captain in the back and vanished. It took us two whole months to track him down to some little backwater town in the middle of no where."
Captain Hunter took back over, "We seemed to take him by surprise as he walked out of a small church side graveyard. We brought him back here and tossed him down the deepest hole we had. Apparently we didn't dig deep enough. Perhapse we should have gone six feet deeper."
Luna turned to him. 
"That's enough of that talk Captain. Those are words that would pass through my mind before my fall. Banish them from your thoughts. We seek peace and justice, not vengeance and hate. We kill for defense, never for satiation of rage."
"You are right Ma'am. Please pardon my outburst," Capt. Hunter said with shame hinting in his voice.

"What Ah' don' get is what pulled all these ponies together. They don' seem to have a lot in common." Apple Jack commented.

Sunset shook her head

"No they do have one thing in common. They all have a vendetta with Equastria, Canterlot, or us."

"So are there any leads?" Bulwark asked
"I'd like to know that as well. I don't like the idea of Raven being free to do as he pleases," Dash added.
"We have a few," Foresight answered.
He flipped the lights back on and ended the projection. All the ponies that had stood earlier sat back down in their chairs.
"There is nothing hard yet but it looks like there have been some possible sightings of different members of these attackers around Equastria as well as in the Griffon Kingdom. The first is Griffonstone, the seat of the King Alaric's government. To the north we have reports coming out of Stalliongrad. Some have mentioned seeing unknown ponies and other creatures around The Shades as well."
Sunset raised her eyebrows. "You mean that town we pulled Cain from the first time?"
"The vary same." Foresight replied. 
He continued, "There have also been possible sightings through out the southern Badlands around the Dodge Junction area."
"Lazarus, Ah ain't a fan o' hearing reports that close to Appeloosa," Apple Jack mumbled to Bulwark.
"I haven't been back in a while but It doesn't please me either," Bulwark responded.
"It isn't a lot to go on," admitted Foresight, "but its what we have for now. I'll keep the Princess and captain appraised of the situation and let them know when we have something to build a mission off of."
"That is all we have for you at the moment," The Princess said. "You are dismissed for now."
Twilight got up with the rest of the team and watched most of them file out. She made to walk out the door before she was stopped by Captain Hunter and Sunset. Their demeanor had improved, but Twilight could tell that they were still fighting with daemons in their respective minds. 
"Lt. Sparkle. It seems we most likely have less time to get you up to speed then I would like," Midnight started. "Because of this Wolf and I need to start you're training soon.
Sunset nodded. "The only problem is that we need to get a few things ready to properly train you. Because of this we wont be able to start whipping you into shape for a day or so."
The captain added, "I would suggest that you use this time to return home and gather anything that you did not bring with you as this will become your new residence along with the rest of us. If you have any business I suggest that you take care of it as well. The only request I have is that you not tell anyone, even your brother, of what your assignment is here. We can only operate correctly if we stay off the books."
"If you are pressed the usual answer that we give is that we are 'Tactical Analysts' for the 'Studies and Observations' department of the Lunar Guard." Sunset commented.
"Is that all understood?" asked the Lunar Captain.
Twilight nodded.
"Yes sir, I do."
Captain Hunter smiled a good-naturedly at Twilight. "Good. Then you may enjoy your short leave. Dismissed, Spellblade."