Pinkie read the dossier by Duskheart's bed, the Black earth pony scowling the entire time. Her mission was to simply gather intelligence regarding some enemy supply runs. All that Pinkie had to do was sneak over to the enemy camp, find out when and where the supplies were and then to hijack the supplies for the ponies. Pinkie looked at Duskheart cautiously, unsure about his true intentions.
"What changed your mind?" She asked. Duskheart raised an eyebrow, the scowl never leaving his face.
"Somepony with greater authority than me saw our last training session and thinks that you are perfect for this mission." He explained.
"Who was the pony?" Pinkie asked, wanting to thank them for the chance to prove herself. Duskheart shook his head.
"That's classified information, and even if it wasn't, I wouldn't tell you anyway." He replied. Pinkie shot him a dirty look and left, heading to the special ops tent to meet some ponies that would be accompanying her. She walked in to just find the Doctor, huddled over a secret project. She sat down, waiting for her team to arrive. Slowly she got bored and began to harass the Doctor, trying to look at what he was building, throwing balled up paper at him, but the Doctor didn't react at all. She went rummaging through some storage crates and found a megaphone. Smiling maliciously she walked over to the Doctor, held it up to his ear and said "Hello." The Doctor jumped out of his seat and landed on the floor, holding his hooves over his ears to protect them from any more sonic assaults. Upon realising that Pinkie was not going to perforate his eardrums further, he stood and glared at her.
"That was completely unnecessary Pinkie." He said, not impressed. Pinkie stared at him for a moment, smiles slowly spreading on both of their mouths. They eventually gave up resisting and laughed at the silliness. Pinkie liked the Doctor a lot, her Pinkie sense told her to trust him and she always listened to her Pinkie sense.
"So I hear that you are about to go on your first mission. Excited?" asked the Doctor. Pinkie nodded, still laughing.
"I have some advice for you Pinkie, about this war, about life in general. Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one." Said the Doctor, his voice suddenly serious. Pinkie stopped laughing, and remembered how she had felt when beating up Duskheart, the uncontrollable rage, the feeling of letting something dark out. She felt sick as she thought about it. She turned when she heard somepony entering, three ponies to be exact. A scarlet coloured unicorn mare, a white earth pony stallion and a mint green Pegasus mare. They stood at attention in front of Pinkie, quickly saluting. Pinkie, still giggling, saluted back.
"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, are you the ponies coming with me on my mission?" she asked, the scarlet unicorn stepped forward.
"Yes ma'am, Rosethorn is my name, and this here is Swift and the Pegasus is Heartstrings." Said Rosethorn, and Pinkie couldn't help but be absorbed in the beauty of the unicorn, her dark green mane, that had thin lines of light green through it, her melodic voice, and her eyes, a deep magenta that reminded Pinkie so much of Rainbow Dash.
"It's nice to meet you all. Hey you look remarkably similar to a unicorn I know in Ponyville." Pinkie said to Heartstrings, who just rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah, that's my sister Lyra, everypony always gets us mixed up because we are twins, regardless of the fact that I'm a Pegasus and she's a unicorn." Said Heartstrings, groaning. Pinkie smiled, already liking these ponies. She turned to Swift, who smiled.
"So what about you, do you have anything to say?" she asked, and then realised it was the wrong thing to do as Swift looked at the ground, ashamed.
"He… uh can't talk, he doesn't have a tongue. It was cut out when he was a young colt by some dogs that had broken into his house. He screamed and they shut him up forever. But his story has a happy ending, he got his cutie mark the same night when he saved his parents and realised his calling was to protect ponies." Explained Rosethorn. Swift looked up and smiled, before showing Pinkie his cutie mark of a shield. Pinkie was shocked and embarrassed, but managed to hide it from the assembled ponies.
"So… uh… how do you want to do this? Do we just sneak in, sneak out, get the stuff and run?" asked Heartstrings. Pinkie smiled awkwardly, not having any clue what to do.
"I have no idea. Let's just wing it." She said and the other ponies looked at her strangely.
"You're kidding right? You want us to 'wing' a mission like this?" said Rosethorn, and facehooved when Pinkie nodded. "This is your first mission, isn't it?" Rosethorn facehooved once again at Pinkie's nod. Pinkie now felt even more embarrassed. She looked at the Doctor, who shrugged as if to say 'You're on your own.'
"I think that if we wing it we have the element of surprise. And that will make it easier to adapt if the situation changes." Pinkie said weakly. Heartstrings sighed.
"I swear to Celestia, if you get me killed, I am going to haunt you." She said, making Pinkie nervous. Pinkie looked as Rosethorn, and smiled, but did not receive one back.
"Well then how about if Rosethorn thinks up a plan and then we can use that if it would make you more comfortable." Pinkie said and the three ponies nodded and gathered around the table. Pinkie just blankly listened to them speaking, feeling a bit worthless and uncertain.
As soon as it had gotten dark, the four ponies made their way across the darkened battlefield to the Griffin camp. Swift lived up to his name as he quickly dispatched three guards silently. Pinkie cringed as he killed them and bile rised into her throat. She swallowed and kept going, searching for either the main tent or one that kept records. Pinkie found the main tent first, and peered in to see a sleeping Gregor, gurgling snores coming from his foul beak. Heartstrings was sent in to search while the others kept watch. Using her wing to keep herself off the ground, she looked everywhere, and the others were beginning to get anxious when Heartstrings came rushing out, carrying a scroll in her mouth. The others took off after her, wanting to get out before any griffins found them or the bodies. Suddenly an alarm sounded, within seconds, griffins came rushing out of tents, weapons in hands. The ponies galloped as fast as they could, zigzagging through the maze of tents. They were blocked by a group of Minotaur. The group stopped, trapped.
"Isn't this where your 'Winging it' strategy comes in handy?" asked Rosethorn sarcastically.
"Exactly the time. Who's ready for a party?" said Pinkie, once again pulling her party cannon out from seemingly nowhere. She fired, making a loud 'boom' and knocking the Minotaur out of the way, now covered in cake and streamers. The other ponies looked at Pinkie, shocked. Pinkie just smiled.
"Okay, path's clear, let's go." She said, bouncing away. The others followed, reaching their top speed and making their way for the tree line at the edge of the camp. Behind them, they could hear the angry war cries of Griffins and Minotaur, all calling out for blood. The four ponies disappeared into the darkness of the trees. They kept galloping, wanting to put as much distance between them and the griffins as possible. They eventually found a cave to rest in and settled down. Rosethorn lit up the cave with her magic, allowing them to see the supply orders.
"It doesn't appear to be anything vital, just the usual food, blankets and weapons." Said Heartstrings, sounding a little disappointed.
"What's your problem?" asked Rosethorn. Heartstrings just mumbled inaudibly, although Pinkie heard something about wanting cake. Pinkie looked at the scroll, and saw that the orders had the supplies being flown in by griffins for half, then Minotaur would be escorting it the rest of the way.
"It looks like our only chance will be just after the Griffins hand over the supplies to the Minotaur." Said Pinkie, and Swift nodded, before raising his arm for a brohoof, which Pinkie happily returned. The decided to follow Pinkie's lead on this one, and Pinkie smiled, super pleased to be given the chance. The rested for a few hours longer, as the supplies wouldn't be arriving til nearly dawn. Swift and Heartstrings fell asleep as Pinkie and Rosethorn kept watch. Pinkie couldn't take her eyes off of her. Pinkie thought Twilight was beautiful, but this pony was stunning. Rosethorn caught her staring.
"What?" she asked and Pinkie looked away quickly. "You keep looking at me, is there something on my face? Just tell me.
"I'm sorry, it's nothing. I just know that you don't think much of me and I just want to be friends." Said Pinkie, Rosethorn sighed, looking at her.
"It's not that I don't like you or anything, it's just that I want this to go smoothly. If we do this right, I have been promised a promotion to corporal. And I'm anxious." She explained and Pinkie moved a little closer.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you will get it. And I will help you." Pinkie said. Rosethorn smiled;
"You promise?" she asked.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Said Pinkie, sealing the bond. Rosethorn smiled even more and gave Pinkie a hug.
"So tell me about yourself." Said Pinkie, interested to know more about the beautiful unicorn.
"Oh well, there isn't much to tell. I grew up in Fillydelphia and my parents were florists, hence the name Rosethorn. My father got really sick when I was still a filly, so I had to leave school to look after the store while my parents stayed at the hospital. He ended up passing and I cared for my Mum, as she just shunned the world for a while. A few years later, she contracted the same disease and died. I was left on my own and nopony was willing to help me. My home was repossessed when I couldn't make payments and I had to live on the streets. It all turned around for me one day when I rescued another homeless pony from some thugs. Princess Luna happened to be passing and saw me. For what she called my heroic actions, she gave me a job here in the military, I'm fed, housed and I'm helping people. I grew up in the middle of battle and I couldn't ask for anything better." Rosethorn told Pinkie, who was saddened to hear about her parents. Pinkie couldn't imagine losing her Mum and Dad, even if they never wanted to speak to her. Pinkie looked down at her flank and noticed her cutie mark for the first time. Like many ponies in the military it featured a shield, but the image on Rosethorn's shield was a rose with thorns sticking out of the stem. Rosethorn noticed her and explained;
"The shield represents my ability as a warrior and the rose is for my other talent, which is gardening. Strange mix I know but there is just something about it that I love, it's calming." Pinkie told her about her life up until now and Rosethorn was surprised to learn that her commanding officer was a fillyfooler. Pinkie noticed her blush, but didn't say anything.
It was nearly dawn when the ponies set out for the meeting point, far beyond the griffins borders. They arrived just in time to see the transfer occur, the griffins that had flew the crates of supplies were loading them into a cart that was to be used for carrying them the rest of the way. They chatted for a few moments before the griffins left. As soon as they were out of sight, Pinkie motioned for her team to move out. They made their way over, silently and quickly. The Minotaur were standing around, getting ready to leave. Rosethorn whispered to Pinkie;
"So what do we do now?" and Pinkie smiled playfully.
"CHARGE!" she yelled and sprung from her hiding place. Both the three ponies and the Minotaur were so stunned that none of them moved. Pinkie dashed forward and punched the closest Minotaur, who fell to the ground unconscious. The other Minotaur came to their senses and attacked running at Pinkie. One was taken down by Heartstrings as it pounced on Pinkie and the others were dispatched quickly by Rosethorn and Swift. When all of the Minotaur were down, Pinkie jumped up onto one of the crates and pulled a triumphant pose, much to the amusement of the other ponies. Rosethorn used her magic to open one of the crates, so they could check for damage and when they saw what was inside, Pinkie and Heartstrings cheered together.
"CAKE!!" they yelled and proceeded to stuff their faces happily. Swift and Rosethorn soon joined in before they realised that the supplies were meant to be shared with the other ponies. They closed the crate and Swift pulled the cart back to the Pony camp in a long and twisty route that took them all day. As the Crates were unloaded, Duskheart walked up to Pinkie, the scowl a little less noticeable than before.
"Well done Pink. Maybe there is hope for you." He said, walking away. Rosethorn was given her promotion and assigned to Pinkie's squad, as were Swift and Heartstrings. Pinkie felt accepted, as if she had finally proven herself. Pinkie looked over at the Doctor, who smiled and Pinkie felt a sense of pride. She began to think that she was ready for the war.