Think we'll have trouble getting in?

We're not flying a major airline, it's private. We land at a small strip within the limits of town, meet the contacts, and get to out first mission. Normal gear, except for clothes; we'll have to keep most of it concealed, of course.

Resistance expected?

Yes and no, be ready for anything.

Hell, if we can take down even a few of those terrorists, I'll feel better.

That's our job, that's what we're going to do. Time to go hunting.

“How’s it feel?” the driver of the truck asked.

“What?”

“To be here?”

The operative was quiet for a while.

“Dunno, different… new maybe.”

“Well, I mean being the first troopers here.”

“Tip of the spear, you mean?” he re-worded. “Kinda the same, a little special; course we won’t be the only ones.”

He looked over his shoulder at the other man in the back seat.

“How’s that make you feel, DJ?”

“Makes me feel like the baddest cat in this hellhole.”

“Hope you’re right.”

The two vehicles were about to leave the city, they only had to get past the checkpoint. Usually, it would prove difficult for a human in the Crystal Empire, but that was what Andy and Pete, driving both trucks, were for. Both had lived here for some time, out in the countryside; there shouldn’t be any trouble getting four highly-trained Air Force Spec Ops through, especially when they were dressed as plain civilians.

“Lead truck stopped by the guards.”

“Don’t worry,” Andy assured him.

After a few moments, the guard pony let it go, allowing for the second to come up.

“I.D.?”

The operative turned his head and just stared out into the night sky, trying not to pay attention to the
conversation; the one in the back pretended to be sleeping.

“Alright, everything’s in order. You can go.”

“Thanks.”

“Damn Andy you’re risking a lot with this,” DJ said as the truck pulled out into the countryside.

“Yes, I know.”

Most of the rest of the drive was silent, following along a coastal road in the darkness.

“Vertigo?” the radio called.

“Go Marshal.”

“Coming up on the point, get your gear ready.”

“Copy,” the special operative said. “DJ, got the gear?”

“Yea.”

The soldier pulled out several pieces of equipment from under the seat and various other hiding places,
including magazines, a SOFLAM, an M4 Carbine Assault Rifle, and an Mk.14 Sniper Rifle.

“Objective reached,” the radio said as the two trucks stopped near a hill overlooking the sea. “Alright, keep the trucks here, we’ll be back in a minute.”

Vertigo and DJ got out of the second truck, getting their equipment together; Marshal and Waxwing did the same.

“Come on, rally up,” Marshal ordered, jogging over to the hill’s base. “Sound off and check your
equipment.”

Each did a quick look over of what they had. Marshal and Vertigo both had M4s, while DJ had the sniper and Waxwing had an M249 LMG. Each gun had various attachments to it, from silencers to sights. The men also put on some lighter body armor they took in the truck, though they weren’t expecting to need it.

“Strato, this is Falcon, we’re in getting into position, copy?”

“Strato copies, Falcon; we’ve got ten more minutes here before bingo, no way we can risk a tanker in this
airspace. Hurry it up.”

“Roger, we’re moving; just get ready to look for the flashy dot.”

“Copy, out.”

“Team on me, up the hill.”

The four men did this, moving quickly up the slope, but keeping their eyes open for contact; this helped when a beam of light appeared at the top.

“Down!” a voice whispered in the radio, causing the men to drop flat and take aim. “Identified anyone?”

“I see one, two… yea, just two,” Waxwing said.

“What are they?”

“Ponies, looks like they’re just passer-byes. We don’t need to kill civies. Anyone see anything else?”

“Just those two, I can’t make out what they’re saying. Hold on… I see something strapped around the waist.”

“What is it?”

“That’s a weapon, probably an AK from the shape. They both have one.”

“Can you confirm?”

“Yea, armed ponies; affiliation unknown.”

“Christ.”

“Guys, quiet for a sec, I can here them,” DJ said, being closest by fate to them. “Damn, ok they’re nativists.”

“You sure?” Marshal asked.

“Yea, from what I heard. Hell, they got AKs, and that’s enough.”

“True, very true.”

“Marsh, orders?” Vertigo asked.

“We’ll have to deal with them. DJ, think you can bring them closer?”

“On it.”

The operative let out a long whistle, one that sounded almost like a bird; it got the pony’s attention and
one started walking downhill.

“One’s staying high.”

“I see it,” Marshal said. “Vertigo, you take the one standing up at the top, I got the other. Make sure your
supressors on.”

“Ready, on 3?”

“Yea. Ok, 1…. 2….. 3.”

Three round bursts from the Carbines left at the same time, both finding their targets; there were no screams or other loud noises, meaning no unnecessary attention from other unknown sources.

“Clear, get up top!” Marshal ordered.

The team did this, hustling up to the top of the hill.

“DJ, on overwatch, Wax, look over that dead combatant for anything else, Vertigo, let’s hit the target.”

Each went to their job, with Vertigo and Marshal moving to face the hillside looking over the sea. Vertigo took out a SOFLAM device while Marshal got his binoculars out. They both looked at the single dot lit up by lights on the ocean.

“I see it, target yacht is visual, and alone. Strato, you hearing this?”

“Roger, is the VIP onboard?”

“Affirmative, codename Julius is onboard.”

This was a good target to kill on the first mission; not only was in charge of one of the more painful insurgent groups, he was also part illegal dealer in one of the Empire’s bigger cities, which was helped to fund his organization. If it wasn’t for his position as a political figure, he might be dead already. Of course, there was too little evidence, and he was an important individual; actually, despite the flak from the ‘rumors’ his approval ratings were relatively high, well over 50%. Still, he had blood on his hands, including human blood, including innocent American blood; and blood could only truly be repaid with blood.

“There’s a bad storm coming in on schedule, boat’s trying to head back to port.”

“He won’t make it, the ‘storm’ will take care of him,” Vertigo said.

“Of course, and we’ll be happy to help. Lase the target.”

Vertigo did this, hitting the button and letting the red laser strike the yacht; 998 Meters.

“Strato tallies the mark, bombs away. TOT is 60 Mikes.”

“Keep painting the target,” Marshal said.

“I know.”

The countdown continued; 30… 20… 10.

“Bomb incoming.”

A single Paveway fell from the raging storm clouds and struck the boat, blowing it, literally, out of the
water.

“Good hit, Stratos; I don’t think anyone got outta that. The weather should handle any survivors.”

“Copy, we’re going back to Angels 85 and hightailing it out of here, good luck boys.”

“Thanks for the help,” Marshal said. “DJ, Wax; you got anything?”

“Totally clear,” DJ reported.

“Found a couple things that might help us on this one,” Waxwing said, looking over the corpse. “Should
we hide the bodies?”

“They’re nativists, and armed. If they’re this close to the city, then it shouldn’t be a problem. They’ll think that the military killed them, or another group. I doubt they’ll go into some kinda NCIS investigation for a couple more dead terrorists.”

“Especially when two is low compared to the average,” Waxwing said.

“Good job, guys; let’s get back to the trucks and get out of here.”

2682612

(Three years earlier)

"Hmm...Lisette Richelieu, French Contract killer, Stealth artist, gunslinger... You have an impressive track record, but aren't you a bit too young?" The American Officer looked at the 16 year old opposite him, still in her school uniform.

"It's a habit, Monsieur. I spent a few years inn Thailand's roughest city. Chien eat Chien, if you would. Kill to Survive. Anyway, I don't like the French Education system. Too.... French. I like guns, and I like stealth. Two and two makes four, sign up for U.S Black Operations. Didn't the CIA use a British teenager at least three times? MI6 has used me a few times if you need to check."

An hour later, she was in. Three years later, she was sent to Equestria with the squad she was put into.

2682612

"Sneaks? You OK in there?"

The voice of her squadmate over the pegasus' helmet comms startled Sky 'Sneaky' Dust into almost banging her head on the top of the vent she was crawling through.

"Dammit Boom!" She whispered as she continued to crawl along, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. But I'll take that as a yes." Bobby 'Boom' Bogart, the squad's half Asian Demo-man replied from outside.

Back outside of the small walled nativist compound, the rest of Strike one kept over watch in case Sky got herself in trouble.

"You sure this will work?" Asked the youngest and newest member of the squad, Austin 'Aussi' Burling.

"Don't worry about it." Replied Ely 'Boss' Gunderson, the squad's leader, "Sneaks does similar shit all the time."

They sat there in the edge of the tree line for several minutes, watching the small concrete compound for any abnormal activity. But the griffin and pony guards simply continued their rounds. After seven or so minutes their radios crackled to life.

"1-3 to Actual. I found the hostages. Six humans, four women, two men, bound and gagged. Three guards, two griffins and a Earth pony."

"Copy three. Prepare to secure them. Boom?" Ely asked giving the pyro a glance.

A maniac grin formed on the half asian's face as he pulled out his remote. He continued smiling as the hit the primer.

"Three-two-one-bye-bye!" He quickly said before ten previously placed C4 charges detonated around and inside the compound, several haveing been placed by Sneaky on her way in.

Back inside, Sky had waited until the detonation. As soon as it reached her ears she punched off the vent cover in the wall before raising her C-10 CQB and quickly firing three silenced shots into the guard's heads. She leapt into the storage room to the hostages surprise. Quickly running over to a large steel table she flipped it on its side facing the door. She then took her combat knife and cut the humans loose.

"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou!" One of the women-more of a girl really-began, after Sneaky had removed her gag.

"Shhh! Don't let them hear you!" Sky hissed back as the sounds of a gunfight outside began to be heard.

Meanwhile the the three remaining members of Strike one had opened fire on any and all things moving in the compound. Now that all the obvious threats had been dealt with, the three were entering the compound through a hole that Boom's explosives had torn.

A door to a small pre-fab hut opened, revealing a armed unicorn. Before he could react though, Aussi's C-12 LMG barked spraying several bullets into the pony's body.

"Hostile down." He said.

Boss gave a nod and the three moved in the door of a good sized wear-house type building. It was abandoned, likely all the guards moving to assist in the defence. They continued through to a door in the back. They stacked up before Boss spoke.

"Leaf!"

"Maple!" Came the female voice.

Grinning, he opened the door to reveal Sky and the hostages behind a heavy looking steel table, along with with at least a dozen dead ponies and griffins before her. Ely knew a fatal funnel when he saw one, but this was ridiculous.

"Alright. I'll call for evac of the civvies, then we're out of here." He said.

As the Squad began their trek down the mountain, Aussi couldn't help but wonder. Is it always this easy?

The team looked forward to the new continent with uncertainty. They weren't legally supposed to be here, doing this, but this was how they were told to keep Equestria safe. If they could keep the shipments from reaching the Gryphons and Changelings, it could massively turn the tides of the war.

Chris "Posc" Taylor wasn't particularly into the idea of attacking Russian and Chinese ships, even to protect their new ally. It could create all kinds of problems, namely World War III. But he was a DOG, and he would follow his orders to ensure the safety of his nation's interests.

"Boss," someone said from behind him. Posc turned to see Debrickashaw, or "Brick ", as they named him.

"Yeah?" Posc replied.

"We're approaching the target zone," Brick said.

"Alright, let's saddle up."

They left the edge of the Cutter and went inside, where after navigating he hallways like the experts they had become, they entered a room deep inside. In the room were Corey and Jack, getting their own gear on. With a few simple nods, they all put on their gear.

"Everyone ready?" Posc asked, securing his armor. Everyone confirmed and they went topside.

They were going to be going straight into operations for this deployment. The first mission was to secure a Russian freighter, believed to be carrying AK rifles and other small arms. The gryphons receiving the arms were set to fly to the ship, so speed was critical.

A helicopter was waiting for them, a specially modified Blackhawks helicopter with mild stealth capabilities. It helped that these old DOGs still had connections with the Navy SEALs.

The helicopter took off and flew into the night sky with urgency. The bird moved quickly to the horizon to the target ship twenty-five miles to the north. As it came into sight, the helicopter lowered down so that the team could quickly hop off and begin the assault.

When the chopper was hovering over the ship, the team fast-roped down to the deck. As they each landed, everyone took a position to cover the others. Once everyone was down, the chopper moved off to go on standby and wait. The team made it's way to the tower and set a breaching charge on the door.

They made their dynamic entry and ran inside, but no one was waiting for them. Given the time of night, they were likely sleeping in their personal quarters. The team silently made it's way through the tower to find the ship manifest. They found the staircase that led down into the inner cargo and descended.

The cargo area was filled with metal storage crates, most of which were big enough to carry small cars. There were some wooden crates, too, and when they were opened up, the team found at least twenty AK assault rifles.

"Objective confirmed," Jack said. "How're we taking care of this, sir?"

Posc turned on his radio. "We sink it," he said. "Command, package is confirmed onboard. We are moving topside."

"Roger, Posc, move topside ASAP. Chopper will pick you up in five. TOT for torpedoe is six mikes."

"Roger," Posc said. "Get topside, team. We're extracting now."

The team moved of and found a secure position to wait for the chopper. When it arrived, they jumped on and flew off. As they left, they saw the Navy Helicopter fly in and drop a torpedoe into the water toward the ship. As it struck, the explosion was much lower then typical torpedoes, just enough to lunch a large hole in the side of the ship. It began to sink, and as it faded from view, the team could see lights turn on and frantic activity begin.

It was a successful operation. They could only hope that he deployment continued to go so well.

I honestly had no idea what to do lol.

Light cloud cover. Decent weather. That was the day's meteorological report.

Stardust was getting ready for another recon flight. Gryphon territory. All conventional stuff, really. The mission wasn't outlandish. Take cameras, fly over. He didn't complain though; after all, he was part of the Royal Reconnaissance Regiment. 3R. The Special Intelligence and Reconnaissance Division.

That being said, it was still important. Troop movements, equipment, everything was a piece of the puzzle. The game the Royal Scouts played was a jigsaw puzzle made of jigsaw puzzles. They take the smaller puzzles which are already put together and try and piece together the big picture.

But there's more to it than that. They also play it in reverse, taking those smaller puzzles and breaking them down. Examining every piece. It was what Twilight Sparkle would have them do. She'd had close relations with Royal Intelligence ever since her ascension. "Sparkle's Spooks", they were sometimes called.

Stardust and the rest of Detachment A, 1st Royal Scout Division were forward deployed close to the Gryphon border. Northeastern sector of Equestria. They had been so for a couple of weeks now, keeping tabs on both griffons and ponies alike. The former was their mission, the latter was circumstantial, only at the request of someone higher up.

It was a secluded mountaintop. Moderately cold climate. One of the other pegasi helped him strap the equipment pack on his back. Fifteen pounds, and the camera module that could swing over his head for viewing was an additional nine. This stuff was meant for heavy duty recon.

It was midday, just past 0200. The morning recon came back an hour ago. Stardust took off to the skies, recon equipment, a small headpiece for comms and equipment control, and a knife were the only things he carried. His ARCANE outlined the flight route in his vision.

It was halfway through the flight, and everything was going as planned. Stardust loitered at 5,000 feet. No aircraft to bug him and radar was a non-factor.

Gryphons were still building up behind the border at this area. However, it looked like they were getting ready to move out. The grey pegasus continued his recon flight, taking periodical pictures with the cameras. It wasn't anything they had not seen before; Russian equipment was all over. The only difference today was that there was more of them.

The sector they were assigned to scan was large; the outpost sent out two flights at a time to cover the area, one sweeping from west to east, the other east to west. A lot could happen in between that time. His job was currently to fly eastward.

Stardust was reaching the end of the route and the sun was going down. Even though the griffons were only building up in certain places, it was procedure to scan everywhere. After reaching the next interval for camera scans, he slowed his flight, placing himself under a cloud. His grey coat helped him blend in.

Tapping a button near his ear, a large module swung over his head, and he brought it down to aim at the ground. Once it was in place, he looked at the screen.

Visual spectrum, nothing. The only reason the visual camera was there was because it's the last one to be used when cycling through all of the sensors. Right now, it was useless in the dim daylight. He flipped to the next camera.

Thermals. He scanned around the picture. It was a large area; animals were plenty. Signatures were everywhere and sporadic; it wasn't any help.

Magic sensors was the next thing. If it were griffons or changelings, they might show up. Or any weapon that radiated it. But it was clean.

Magnetics. That was the last one. And what he found surprised him. "Arrowhead Actual, this is Arrowhead 1, I've found something over in Alpha-4."

"We're reading you. What did you find?"

"We got unknown contacts moving down there. Humans."

"Are you sure about them being humans?"

"Didn't show up on magic. But they're on magnetics; it's pretty clear. Small squad; special forces likely." He snapped off a couple of photos.

"Can you get them on visual?"

"Attempting now." The module switched to night vision, and he found the humans in his sight. It wasn't the best of circumstances, but they might be able to get something. "Alright, photos taken."

"Arrowhead 1, received. Continue recon flight."

"Arrowhead Actual, copy. Resuming mission."

Human special forces operators. Out here. They've never been in this area earlier. In fact, they weren't even there in the morning, evidently. At least now they knew they were in the area. The rest of the flight was spent looping back to base. Whoever had the western end of the run was observing griffon troop movements. Which one of them had the more exciting time was up for debate.

Stardust found himself back at their outpost. It was a relief to have the equipment off his back. However, something that wouldn't leave his mind were those humans. What were they doing there?

No doubt the report had been sent back to Canterlot. However, they couldn't do much with the information. If they knew what nationality they were, then it would be useful. They wouldn't find out that until later though; whoever the pegasus assigned to it now was just taking off, taking a lighter load of recon gear meant for getting up close.

Personally, Stardust would have rather done it himself, but procedure wouldn't let him. He was done for the day, and the flight rotation meant that he had to stay grounded for a while.

2682612

"Orion, you there?"

Orion cracked open her eyes a fraction, yawning softly and stretching what she could. "Yep. Dreaming of rats crawling all over my body."

"Maybe it wasn't a dream?"

"Please don't. What's the situation in the mission area?" Orion asked, before grabbing a knife using her teeth and deftly cutting through the cable ties that held her to an electrical pipe on the ceiling of the sewer. Dropping down to the concrete below, Orion began checking her weapons.

"The target team is still inside the abandoned mansion. There seems to be two guards posted on the outer walls, facing north-west and south-east. Be careful. I'm seeing some AKs in their talons. At least two others inside the compound."

"What's my ROE?" Orion asked as she slipped the catch of her crossbow back.

"Weapons free. You can afford to go loud, as well, there isn't a single civilian structure within seven clicks."

"Roger. Orion, going silent until mission is complete or unexpected development occurs." Orion plucked out the resonance crystal from its perch just under her ear and stowed it away.

She half crawled, half flew the rest of the way down the sewage pipe. As she continued, it narrowed down to a barely pony-sized tube. But her target entrance was here, a restroom in the relatively unguarded section of the mansion. She crawled right up to the grille, and pushed it open.

"Is somebody there?"

She froze, and rushed forwards, getting out of the grille and into a dark corner of the badly lit room, just as the door opened and a burly griffin walked in. He moved over and began inspecting the open grille.

Don't call it in, don't call it in! Orion flared her wings and pulled out two of her ten poison-coated knives, getting ready. The griffin raised a human-made radio to his beak, and was about to squawk.

Orion dashed forwards, flapping her wings for extra speed. The griffin turned to the sound, and she crashed right into him, plunging both knives deeply into his neck and his back. He stiffened as the poison paralyzed his muscles, and dropped like a brick, only quieter. He would be dead in minutes.

She retrieved the two used knives, and moved into the house proper. The mansion was built some years back when the Apple Family still had business with only Equestria. But with the new countries, their apple trade boomed, and they moved out to somewhere richer, Canterlot, Orion guessed. The opulent furnishing was still there, but the more expensive parts were gone.

She reached the end of the hallway, where the griffins had built a barricade. It was pretty low, probably only to be used as a firing wall in case of an attack.

In any case, she could fly over it. Which was what she opted for as she needed to get to the entrance hallway.

Which triggered the human made laser tripwire alarm set up over the space.

"Damn." Orion pulled out her crossbow, swapping the bolt for explosive ones. Door slammed open, and five griffin poured into the hallway, three up on the second level, two on the bottom level. All brought out AKs and pointed it at her.

"Evening, ladies." Orion said coolly whilst dropping her crossbow.

"Where Malcom?" The one she presumed was the lead asked in a heavy accent.

"Down the hallway, back three doors and dead on the floor of the restroom."

The lead scowled. "You will pay for that."

"Cash or credit?" Orion replied. She could see the looks of confusion on the five griffins faces. She capitalized on their confusion, picked up her crossbow and launched the first bolt at the three up top. It detonated with a small explosion, only killing one and wounding the two others, but it threw up a lot of dust collecting for years, coating the entire area and making it hard to see.

Orion already drew her knives, and was in the process of stabbing the other griffin on the first floor. Her prismatic streak followed her as she dashed up the stairs, finishing off the two wounded ones.

The dust settled. The lead griffin coughed, and looked around. That's when Orion landed on him.

"Heyo. My name is Orion. You're charged with espionage and terrorism. How do you plead?"

"Buck you! My men will be here any minute!"

"If you mean the two up top..." Orion listened. A loud detonation coming from the second floor was her cue to grin, even as a burnt corpse flew over the banister and bounced right in front of the leader. "They won't be bothering us any time soon."

"I will not return to my country in disgrace! They will kill me anyway!" The griffin shouted, still struggling.

Orion shrugged. "It's your tomb." She muttered, before jamming the knife into the griffin's skull, killing instantly.

Standing up, Orion went into the room where the leader came out from, and found a control center of sorts. She quickly gathered all the intelligence she could find that would tie the griffin Kingdom to the attacks on Appleloosa into one neat, collected pile on the desk, before leaving through the front door of the mansion.

"Orion here. Eight sleepers. Mission complete. Returning home." She put on the resonance crystal.

"Good job, will alert local PD. They'll find the bodies and information. You've removed all evidence of you being there?"

"Confirmed. It'll look like they fought with each other." Orion grinned.

"You're next safehouse is in the Crystal Empire, we'll get you tickets on the train for tomorrow. For now, rest and collect you things."

"Roger." Orion breathed in the nighttime air.

She loved her job.

2682612

June 23rd 2014 via Human Calender
Stalliongrad, Equestria: 50 miles from the Gryphon Empire borders

A stack of paper slammed down on the table in front of the group of three. It wasn't much of a surprise for two of them, the third though was stirred almost violently from his attempt at a brief nap. In front of the three men stood a six foot three inch tall man named Mark Talbit, codename Lead. His white skinned face was slightly tanned from the sun but the rest of him was covered in a non camo BDU. The goatee on his face, showing that he had yet to shave.

"Alright, boys, listen closely because orders are coming in from Joint Command and it looks like a fun one." There was a small smirk on his face but that was quickly squashed behind a small frown. "Try to not fall asleep this time, Obs."

"Then don't wake me up at six thirty for nothing, Captain!" The larger man snapped back in a thick German accent. Eric Oblerst, codename Obs had spent over ten years in the U.S. and still had yet to loose an ounce of his accent. A yawn escaped his lips before he stretched his back and ran a hand through his buzz cut.

A small chuckle escaped from the man sitting in the middle of the three, this one was a little under six feet tall and a little lanky but Ronald McCreary, codename Rain was by no means small. He had short hair but hardly close to the buzz cut that Obs sported. He instead focused on maintaining a thick beard around his entire face with a deep brown colour that matched his hair. Sitting on his left was the last man of the group, Andrew Anderson, codename Triple-A. A bald man who was just barely taller than his bearded compatriot. His face was locked in a frown much like it always was.

"Drink some coffee or something Obs, you making us look bad in front of the Captain here." The bearded man said, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Oh put a sock in it Rona-" Obs was given a deadly glare from his fellow soldier," I mean Rain. You say the same thing each day."

"Shut up both of you and let the Captain speak." Andrew said as he cuffed Rain on the back of the head. He would have done the same thing to Obs but he was a little out of reach. The three of them settled down, looking back to the front to see that their CO had decided to lean up against the front wall of the briefing room.

There was hardly anything in that room, save for a few tables, chairs, and a blackboard at the front. There was a projector that hung from the ceiling but not computer to hook it up to since it was only allowed to be used by the higher ups. As to why that was a rule in the first place, not a soul in the room knew. Maybe it was just that command liked to be dicks about it.

Mark pushed himself out from his relaxed position and back to his spot in front of the men. He flipped the folder of papers open and passed three small booklets out to each one of them,. "This here, boys, is our latest assignment. Operation Two Birds and A Stone."

"Who the fuck comes up with these names?" Rain mumbled as he shook his head.

Mark just chose to ignore that comment. Instead he pulled out his own packet, opening it up. There was hardly anything he had to actually go over. They had performed ops like this one many times and his team already knew there roles no matter the situation. "Simple op as usual here. We go in during a meeting and kill those involved while taking the VIP alive. Brass just wants the rest buried six feet under and nothing more."

"No planting evidence? No interrogations? Just a simple go in, kill and capture? Must be our lucky day." Obs spoke while leafing through his packets. Nothing of true importance in there aside from the location of the deal and who was involved. The rest was just basic mission preparations with regards to gear.

"You say that now. Either way, we will be leaving here at twenty-two hundred hours via one of the Equestrian's High Altitude Carriages. We will be air dropping in under the cover of night. The VIP and targets are set to arrive at roughly zero five thirty the next day, so pack some food this time." Mark spoke before looking up from his booklet. No questions of comments was a good thing.

The VIP we want is a ranking Gryphon Officer, easily distinguished by his armour and black markings along his neck." The attached photo showed a large Gryphon who had a series of almost tribal looking markings on his neck. He wore A red beret, on his head which held a golden claw on it. That was the Gryphon's symbol for a higher ranking officer, usually a Major or Colonel. "We need him alive but that doesn't mean we can't incapacitate. Preferably a shot to the legs or arms if a less lethal method cannot be reached. His body guards and the Russians he is meeting are high expendable. More so than your bullets so don't feel bad if you put more half a clip into one. Finally, the location will be within a an abandoned fort admist a forest known as Eagle's Claw Woods."

"Can't get more cliché then that." Andrew chimed in.

A small chuckle arose from all three this time, this 'war' with the Russians had hardly been easy and it was starting to take its toll on many. It was almost getting easier to kill their foes and not feel a thing, especially after a few carnage filled scenes that had leaked to the news. The masses were not told of who did them but SOCOM and JEC (Joint Equestria Command) knew better on who had caused them.

"Go through the rest of the booklets and do what you need. We will do a final overview at twenty hundred hours before going through pre mission preparations. You are all dismissed for now and please try to not make fools out of yourselves like last time I gave you some time before a mission." Mark said before heading out of the room.

"That was one time! I swear she was giving me the look!" Obs nearly shouted in protest. Mark just kept on walking while Rain was already on the ground laughing. Luckily, they were much more professional once they got a gun in their hands.

The wind howled outside the domed carriage. A few bumps of turbulence reminded its occupants that they were not being flown by a fully closed aircraft and that they indeed were putting their lives in the hooves of two pegasi who pulled the carriage.

Though they would have felt more safe in a plane of helicopter, the fact that this carriage made almost no noise was a godsend to the team. It would only make their job tougher if the Gryphons knew that a chopper was flying over their airspace without permission.

"Thirty seconds!" Mark's voice came over the comm-link. He had stood up to look over the metal sides, perfectly in time to meet eye to eye with one of the pegasi pulling the carriage. A nod of the head told him they were almost there. He stood up fully this time, facing the open ended back of the vehicle. The other followed suit, after making sure that they hand't dropped something.

The four were loaded down with their gear as well as a parachute and a Oxygen Mask so that they could survive the air from this high of a drop. It wasn't the highest they had even fallen from, since this was far short of a Halo jump, but it was still enough to needed. The whole group was decked in black camo, since the site of the meeting was within a ruined fort among a forest. it seemed straight out of a book.

A few tense moments passed before Mark patted Andrew in front of him. A simple single that he passed down the line, up to Obs who was already gripping the sides. He was rearing to go and would soon get his chance.

"Go, go, go!" Mark's voice came over the comm. In what seemed like a split second, the four of them were free falling from their former carriage. The group kept tight to each other, not wanting to separate themselves amongst the thick cloud coverage.

Aside from the air shrieking past them, the descent was quick and quiet. The moment they reached the designated altitude, the four split themselves up slightly and pulled the cord to their parachutes. The counter force flung them back slightly before allowing them to lazily drift to the ground.

All four of them slowly fell down to the open field that stood before the forest. If they had waited any longer, they might have had a rough time landing since a forest was not the ideal place to steer a parachute into.

Surprisingly, Obs was not the first to hit the ground. Rain in stead had the honour, his M110 drawn the moment he touched the ground. Soft thuds came mere moments after, signalling that the rest had finally landed. This gave Rain the time to roll his 'chute up, packing it back into the backpack from whence it came.

Not a word was said, as they all packed their chutes before proceeding to drawn their weapons. Not a single one was the same, but all had a silencer attached. Mark held an ACR while the other assault member, Andrew, wielded a FN SCAR L. Obs pulled the hammer back on his H&K MG36.

"Night vision, on."

The moment that Lead's order came over the radio, the entire group reach up to pull down their NVGs before flicking them on. For each of them, the near pitch black night shone with a bright green colour that let them see much more than their enemy. Obs, Rain, and Triple-A looked over to the Lead, waiting for an order.

A quick hand motion signalled for them to advance on the woods. Another night for 5th Strike Force.

Equestria, undisclosed location

"Recon reports of sentries along the beach, bunkers here and there, couple of artillery; they're spread out, but most of the Griffon units are garrisoned in the small town along the front. Infiltration won't be a problem. AFO Wolfpack is set up on the nearby mountain for sniper support, and AFO Neptune is launching another raid farther down the coast first to distract any reaction force."

"Alright, main targets. Clear out the patrols and artillery batteries first, then take the town. The main targets are the transports in harbor. Problem is, there are some Griffon transports out at sea, out of our reach."

2683390
"Think we can contact DOGs for that?"

"I'll ask. Thing is, there's a Griffon destroyer guarding them, and the harbor entrance. If we clear out the highest building in town, we can mark it for a single Bomb; we only have one, but that seems like the best target for it. We'll clear out the ones in the harbor manually, then sink them manually with charges."

2696874
"What other air do we have?"

"Other than the strike bird with the Paveway for that destroyer, not much. We do have an AC-130, and that'd be a real help. Thing is, the mountain to the north has AA all over it, and we can't risk it. I'll request someone to help with that. More than likely they can spot some targets themselves."

2684261
2684527
"Reports state that we'll be operating in the vicinity of the 1st Royal Scout Division; God knows what their damned 5th Echelon is up to."

"We're going to be killing their enemies, more than likely they won't bother us."

"And if they do?"

"Then we'll just have to handle it. But the timer's already ticking; let's get moving SCOTs."

2698351

Approx. 8 meters Underwater

The DOGs swam silently beneath the surface, the only sounds in their ears the sounds of their lungs filling with 100% oxygen and breathing out. Thanks to the Rebreathers, they released no bubbles to give away their location. After over an hour of swimming with aid from Dive Propulsion Vehicles (DPV), they were on their target.

They had been given the mission to take down some Gryphon transports out at sea, or of reach of some Air Force teams up on land. Some other reports indicated that there were large caches of explosives on board. Posc had made a request for more DOGs for this op, but they were all busy elsewhere. To compensate, the team received more explosives with greater punch. Unfortunately, since they weren't strong enough to go through a ship's hull, they had to find the fuel storage area and set them there. At 0030 hours, the bombs would detonate, giving them just over three hours to get them all in place.

They arrived at the first ship and surfaced, searching for a way up. Their path came in the form of an anchor line that fell into the sea and would lead all the way to the deck. The four-man team climbed up it one by one and took defensive positions on the deck. On e everyone was onboard, they moved together to get inside the ship.

The entrance was on the side of the bridge, and once they were inside, they went downstairs. They had to descend three floors before they found a sign that indicated, "Danger; Flammable Material! Extreme Caution!"

"Bingo," Posc muttered.

The team stacked up on the door and initiated the breach. Inside the room, there were three gryphons, sitting in a circle, drinking beers. Given the flammable contents of the room and the unknown quality of the ship, the DOGs had to refrain from shooting and move in for hand-to-hand combat. Posc, Brick, and Jack all ran forward to dispose of the gryphons.

Posc crushed the throat of his target with en elbow strike, Brick dazed his with a punch and then pulled his dive knife on it, and Jack jumped up and kicked his with two feet in the chest. As it fell back, Corey went in and finished him off with a neck-breaking elbow-to-the-forehead-hand-behind-neck combination.

"Clear," Brick said quietly.

"We're good," Corey affirmed.

"Good," Posc said. "Let's find the fuel storage and set a charge."

The team stacked up and moved out. Quickly, they found the fuel storage and set the charge. As fast as they were in, they were back out. On the deck, the team looked for a life raft, with oars or a motor, to get to be other ships. When hey located a life raft, thankfully with a motor, they lowered back into the water and made their way to the next ship.

The next two ships went similarly, but without any combat. There were a total of four, and by the time they reached the fourth, it was only 2245 hours. They had loads of time, so they could take some extra for this last one to be safe.

When they boarded the ship, it turned out to be good that they had the extra time; this one was practically crawling with gryphons. The anchor line was to the rear of the ship, and there were a couple of gryphons nearby. Most, though, were among the cargo crates and walkways that were between the DOGs and the bridge.

"Posc, how do you propose we go about this?" Jack asked with concern.

Posc considered. "Okay, here's the plan," he said, pulling his men close and moving to the shadows. "We can't just walk out in the open or along the side. We'll be seen. We need to travel in between and, if possible, inside the crates. Stick to the shadows and maintain noise discipline."

The team affirmed the plan and got moving quickly and quietly. To get past the first two gryphons, Posc had to have Jack take them down with his suppressed M4. Once they were down, the DOGs moved the bodies into the shadows where they wouldn't be found.

They followed Posc's plan to the letter, never straying away from the crates. To move through he smaller spaces safely, they had to split into two pairs, Posc and Jack, and Brick and Corey. On the way to the bridge, they had more than one close call, barely managing to get out of the open before a gryphon walked past. After twenty-five minutes, they were across and together again.

"All good?" Posc asked. Everyone confirmed. "Let's head down."

They went into the tower and moved down the stairs. They had been expecting to find the fuel in the same place as the last three ships, but much to their surprise, it wasn't where they expected.

"What is this?" Brick whispered. "Where's the fuel storage?"

Posc looked around. There seemed to be no indication here that the fuel was close, but living quarters instead. He had his team stay where they were while he went back to the stairwell. In the stairwell, he found a sign that had a flammability sign that pointed to the bottom of the stairs.

He returned to his team. "We gotta get to the bottom," he said. "All the way."

Posc led his team down the stairwell, all the way to the bottom. At the bottom, Posc took another look at the sign. This was definitely it, it had the symbol on the sign. After getting his guys ready, Posc threw the door open and everyone ran inside.

There were five gryphon in this room, positioned all over. Posc ran forward with Brick to take down two of them, while Jack and Corey ran to either side to get two more. They dispatched the. Similarly to how they took the first ship, then turned their attention to the last one.

"Intruders!" it yelled. It pulled out a whistle and blew hard on it, making an ear-ringing noise.

Brick brought up his M4 and put three rounds in the gryphon's chest, ending the whistle. Without waiting for orders, he then ran to the body and picked it up to move to the shadows, trying to keep the floor as clean as possible. The rest of the team did the same with the other bodies.

Posc looked in the direction of he flammable signs. "Let's move, someone may have hear a that," he said. The DOGs ran through the area to plant the bomb.

They did it fast, happy to have gotten it all done, and moved back to the stairwell. Before going in, Posc leaned up against the door and listened. On the other side, some distance up, he could hear voices complaining about something. And they were getting closer.

"Uh oh," he said. Posc turned to his team. "Okay, get ready guys, we're shooting our way back up."

Everyone positioned themselves before the door to open fire when it opened. Thanks to the suppressors, the noise wouldn't go too far. As soon as the door swung open, the DOGs loosed their 5.56mm rounds on the interlopers.

Immediately, they moved back into the stairwell and looked up. There were no other gryphons coming, but that might not last. Thy hauled up the stairs, taking them two at a time, until they were back on the surface level of the ship.

Posc looked out the door and concluded that they couldn't go that way. They moved farther up the tower, sneaking past several rooms of sleeping gryphons, until they were at the second-to-top floor. There, they found a balcony that led to the rear of the tower.

The team moved onto the balcony, weapons up. Back there, though, there were only three gryphons, not a problem for the team. Brick, Jack, and Corey took them out with well-placed shots to the neck. Not immediate kills, but certainly kept them from shouting out.

Carefully, the DOGs hopped down from the balcony onto various platforms at other levels until they were on the deck. Once all the way down, they moved to the edge to find out where their last life boat was. They couldn't take the one from this ship because dropping it would make too much noise.

The tiny boat had drifted about twenty meters away, not too far. Putting their dive gear back in place, they all went over theirs of the ship and into the cold water below. Then, they swam out to their life boat. Onboard, they checked their weapons and drove off into the night.

"Those guys'll get a nasty surprise tomorrow," Jack commented.

"Eeyup," Posc replied. He keyed his mic to Command. "Command, Posc. Objective confirmed, green light for coastal operation. No escapees."

"Roger Posc, good work," Command replied. "Get ready for more, there's bound to be more coming your way."

"Always ready." Posc looked determinedly in the direction of the continent.

2698351

Orion stepped off the train, the VIP ticket giving her fast procedures and customs.

Her baggage was light, only carrying the essentials. The more heavy duty stuff was in a post box in one of the post offices in the city itself, she'll have to find that later.

Right now, her only concern was finding the safehouse.

Orion dropped the package on the table and wriggled her jaw, getting used to the sore feeling. She had already been here once, and most of her stuff had been unpacked.

Opening the folder, she spread out the documents and pictures. The green and white pictures weren't substantial, but they were covered in ink writing, each tip a thing that the analytics discovered.

"Thank celly for the Trip R and 5th..." Orion perused the pictures and learned her targets.

Two hours later, she memorized the figures, and theorized their routes. Her computer whirred as she typed in quickly.

She yawned. It was getting late.

Her crystal vibrated. "Equestrian Pizza, delivering high-class pizzas now, how may I help you?"

"Cut the crap, Orion. Resonance can't be picked up by their tech."

"Fine. What's up, I take it this isn't a social call."

"Fifteen minutes ago, the Trip R detected them again. Now we've got reports of a raid on the Griffon coast."

"Not too far away..."

"Higher ups want you to go investigate."

Orion leaned back. "Sure. ROE?"

"Keep it clean. Non-lethal for the unknown humans. Lethal if Griffon."

"Roger."

Dressed in her light armor, with all the tools of the trade strapped to her body, Orion took off into the night, using the darkness to cover her approach. Flying North to find the coast, she followed it into Griffon Territory, and the fight.

"Alright guys, heads up."

Stardust spoke to the assembled few in the room. There were three other pegasi. They all shared the qualities of all Royal Scouts, such as good observation skills, flight skills, and marksponyship. However, each pegasus had a subtle advantage over others that made them better than another in at least one way.

They were situated around a metal table. The tabletop was about as thick as a hoof, and encased in the metal frame was a glass surface that was a third as deep as the frame. The Holotable hummed and lit up as it turned on, quickly shifting to a projected holographic map of the area, certain points of interest marked on it. In the sky, there was one contact marked 'ARROWHEAD 2-3'; it was one of their pegasi currently up in the air.

"As you've probably heard, the humans have continued operations in the area." The Table marked the position of the humans, data given by the recon flight. "Earlier, we determined they're friendly; most likely Americans, but we don't have anything confirming it. Now they've continued on towards Gryphon positions." The Table's view shifted so that a nearby town was visible as well.

"So what do we do about it?" asked a gunmetal-gray pegasus with a short chrome blue mane. This was Captain Match Grade, Stardust's best friend. Despite the rank similarity, they often worked together; ranks worked differently in the Royal Scouts. However, whereas Stardust was the quieter and agile one, Match was stronger and more importantly, one hell of an amazing shot.

"Follow them. Track them every night until we figure out what's happening. And if they're going in and rousing the griffons, we'll take advantage of it."

"I take it we have the first night?" asked a dull-blue coated stallion with a gold mane. 2nd Lieutenant Comet Crosser was his name, and he liked thrills. Whether that was high-altitude recon or busting into a base ready to go guns blazing. He was the youngest of the group, just in his late-20s.

"Wouldn't be here if we didn't."

"Maybe you were just prepping us to take tomorrow while some other guys went out tonight," said a white pegasus, his red mane in a very short manecut. Lieutenant Sharp 'Sharpie' Skystreak was fast, highly proficient at high-speed recon or getting in the enemy's face. He was also one of the more perceptive operatives.

"Fortunately for us, that's not the case. We move out in thirty. Let's go."

I like my Holotables, CE. This one's a portable field version.

They might have been the 3R, but that didn't mean they didn't fight; that was called armed recon, for varying levels of 'recon'. Besides, they were Special Intelligence and Recon- if getting to the intelligence meant fighting their way to it, all the more exciting.

"Hey Dusty, what do you think I should take?" Match asked his friend. The four-pony team found themselves in the armory, preparing for the mission.

"I don't know; you're the sniper," Stardust replied. "I'm just the spotter and second designated markspony," he grinned as he prepared his Mk 14 EBR. On the rails were attached all sorts of things, including a grip in case automatic fire was required. In contrast to that possibility though, there was a low power scope meant for medium range engagements, the expected role he was going to take.

"MSR it is then." The darker gray pegasus walked along the shelves until he came across a certain case. Pulling it out and placing it on the table, he took out a bolt action sniper rifle, fitted with a variable power scope and covered with attachment rails. A perfect combination between weight and range, chambering the powerful .300 Winchester Magnum.

"Since when did you get one of those?"

"Stole it off of a dead SOCOM guy," he replied flatly. They shared a chuckle. "Nah, M24 was getting old for me; wanted something new. We going silent?"

"Is that even a question?" Sharp asked as he put on a suppressor on his HK416. The rifles were common in Equestrian special forces, as it was just an upper receiver replacement for AR-15 pattern rifles- something Equestria was not short on after the past years. This made it easier to upgrade their arsenal, as the lower receivers were Equestrian custom-tooled furniture to fit pony anatomy.

"Just double-checking; ballistic performance and all that," Match said. He walked over to the shelves once more, retrieving a smaller case. In it was a UMP, chambered in .45. They liked .45 ACP; made logistics easier with the M1911s the Royal Scouts carried.

"And that's why I'm not the sniper," chuckled Comet. He laid down his gun on the table as he put on attachments. It was a SCAR-L; he got it on the basis that "USSOCOM was getting rid of them, might as well not let them go to waste". Comet left to get another case, this one clearly holding a pistol. Opening it, it revealed a revolver. Instead of firing regular rounds though, he loaded it with special tranquilizer rounds; Comet believed that in some circumstances, lethal force was not always required, and this would make it easier.

Once they all got their gear set, they headed for the outdoors. Stardust and Match adjusted their forest-camo boonie hats- it was something they always wore on ground missions ever since a specific earlier deployment, one close to their hearts.

"Arrowhead 1, Arrowhead Actual, comms check."

"Arrowhead 1-1, check," Stardust replied. The rest of the team followed.

"All systems green. RV marked by Arrowhead 2-3, bearing 0-4-8, double check with equipment." They all took out small electronic telescopes, datalinked with all the other systems. Turning to the given direction, the scopes found the given waypoint far out, giving both bearing and distance. Placing the scopes back in a pocket, the waypoint was memorized by the pegasi, now displayed in their ARCANE-enhanced eyesight.

"Objective found."

"Arrowhead 1, copy. Cleared to take off for insertion into Gryphon territory."

The four pegasi looked at each other and nodded, taking off to the skies shortly after.

"Ten seconds; painting the target, Vertigo. We on schedule?"

"We're about to find out."

The bombs planted on the transports went off, engulfing them in flame. At the same time, the patrolling Griffon destroyer received a Paveway, planted squarely on it's bridge, crippling it. It was a grand view from the small boat Falcon was in.

"That's our que," Marshal said, ordering the drivers to start moving towards the shoreline. "Mother, Marshal; how's that diversion coming?"

"We're on it Marshal, several enemy contacts already down. We're moving back, leading them off in the opposite direction. Engagement is on and off. Keep in contact."

"Roger that, AFO Wolfpack?"

"Dusty here, Deuce and I are on sniper support for you guys; Panther and Vegas are helping Neptune."

"Roger, we're inserting now."

The troops came close to the beach, getting into the water and slowly wading towards the shore. There was a single Griffon out on patrol, not looking in their direction. Vertigo checked his M4, clearing the water out, and fired a shot into the target's head.

"Everyone ok?" Marshal asked as they came ashore. "Ok, let's get ready to move out."

2696874
"5th SF, this is AFO Falcon; we are moving now. Are you operating?"

2683347
"JTF, this is the US JSOC; we're a little shorthanded around your area, you mind lending us a hand?"

2724607

Orion crawled up the hill, integrated NV/IR goggles just perched on her forehead. Her matte black suit faded in well with the darkness.

Suddenly, a voice. "Dusty here, Deuce and I are on sniper support for you guys; Panther and Vegas are helping Neptune."

Orion laid low. She was sure that the voice came from her right. Lifting off with silent flaps, she scanned the area with her IR. The two snipers were well hidden, but they forgot to cover their barrel. Orion oriented herself with the gun, looking down at the coast. Tracing it, she realized that that was not where the initial attack was.

"Intriguing." Orion whispered.

The snipers suddenly flinched. Orion dropped down into the mountain scrub, blending in.

"Too close." Orion crept backwards, watching as the snipers settled down again.

Taking off, she soared way above their heads, going towards the beach. At her speed, she reached the sandy area in no time. Landing and crouching, Orion found the Griffon body.

"Looks like a 5.56, very clean." Orion closed the Griffon's eyes. As much as she hated them, they were honorable enemies, and deserved some form of respect.

She spotted the bootprints. "Ops room, Operative Orion calling. Confirmed humans."

"Affirmative. Keep tracking and report back regularly."

Following the bootprints, Orion sped after the infiltrators, staying in the dark.

"Arrowhead 1, be advised, 2-3 will provide information on activity in the area. Human forces are spread out. Gryphon soldiers are being diverted away from the port."

"Solid copy. Where do you want us?" The four pegasi were still in flight.

"Arrowhead 1, recommended you take advantage of the situation. There is an opening to the northwest, clear of human activity. Infiltrate the town from that point. Land at designated marker. Additional markers will indicate known positions of human special forces and griffon positions. There is a human sniper position on a mountain to the west of the town overwatching the town; avoiding detection recommended."

"Copy that." Finding the markers with the electronic scopes, they turned to that position. Their flight path would take them near the sniper position, and they were careful to pass by behind them. They quickly reached the marker, landing softly on the ground.

"Arrowhead 1, information update. One unit operating in the area identified as 5th Strike Force, human. Delivery into airspace by pegasus. Drop zone will not interfere with your mission."

"Copy that." Stardust turned to the other three. "Alright, since they're making their moves, we might as well go in and see what we can find. Kill some griffons on the way."

"They got any high-ranking officers we might be able to kill?" Match asked as they started heading toward the town.

"No, not as of now, at least. If we stay in the area long enough, and by long enough, I mean nearly sunrise, we might catch him passing through."

"Arrowhead 1, information update. Arrowhead 2-3 has detected a lone pegasus in the area, down at the shore southeast of the town. Identity and intent unknown. Will continue to track and update on any actions of significance, as well as search through databases concerning current operations."

"Noted."

"Damn super-clandestine ops..." Sharpie commented.

"They don't bug us, we don't bug them, as far as I'm concerned, it's all good," Stardust said. "They're all the way on the other side anyways."

"Like you said, as long as we don't see each other, I'm all fine."

2724607

"This is JTF2 ops command. Copy JSOC, patching you through to our team in the field"

...

"Strike one actual copies, go ahead, over."

2711708

The initial crackle of static surprised Lead for a second but the voice that followed relaxed him instantly. It was odd for an entirely different unit to contact each other during an op but that didn't mean it never happened. 5th SF had worked with AFO in the past, so the air of familiarity meant that no surprises were going to come from them.

Lead didn't answer right away, he was more focused on moving cautiously through the woods, there was always the chance that some sort of hostile was patrolling; even if it was an remote area. Lead slowed his movement to a halt before raising a fist. His team followed suit and came to a stand still. They knew what he was doing.

He brought his left hand hand to his wrist mounted comm device, pressing a button before moving that hand up to his headset's ear piece. The thing was basically a glorified channel changer but synced for their comm network instead of a T.V. The comm's unit was slim, comprised mainly of a an up and down set of buttons, as well as a mute button and scanning button. Mix that in with a tiny screen, as well as synced head set, and you had the latest technology that the U.S. could afford in terms of communications.

"AFO Falcon, this is 5th Strike Force, solid copy over." Lead said quietly, keeping his voice only high enough to allow the mic-piece to pick it up. There was no immediate response to the call. Often enough, the passive magic of this world hampered with the tech the team used. It mainly disrupted communications at times but it was never a large enough issue.

"AFO Falcon? What are they up to?" Rain spoke, even as he continued to scan the area.

"Who the fuck knows, those Air Force half wits are always scurryin' about with their heads up their asses." Obs muttered.

"If that's the case, shouldn't you be working with them instead?" Rain replied sharply and with a slight laugh to it.

"Oh har har, Rain. Go chew on some maple syrup or something. Shouldn't you be riding your moose?" Obs asked bitterly.

"Cut the banter!" Lead hissed into the mic. "Triple-A, can you do anything to improve our end?"

"Sir, with all do respect I can't fix physics defying magic." He replied curtly before pulling out a small PDA. There was a flurry of finger taps on the dimly lighted screen before he looked back over to Lead. "Sorry sir but nothing I can do will fix this world."

Led grumbled in reply. He didn't want to sit around and wait for a reply to come back in. That could cost them time and even though they had a lot of it, they still needed to make sure that there was no room for error in this Op. He motioned with his hand for them to resume movement before reaching up to his ear, hitting the cross comm talk button.

"I repeat, AFO Falcon, this is 5th Strike Force, solid copy over."

2741045
"There are reports of an enemy supply convoy attempting to cross the border and supply insurgents. Halt them if you can."

2741294
"Is the anti-air threat down yet?"

2746365

The reply gave the entire team a moment of pause. Each of them looked amongst the group, trying to see if they had any idea what was going on. Of course the fact that they had NVGs on made it tougher to judge facial expressions. Lead was confused as well, sine their mission was to capture a VIP in four hours. Lead moved his hand to the ear piece to reply but was cut off as another transmission came over the comms.

"5th SF, this is Stadium, how copy, over?" The team looked to Lead. Stadium was the designation for their headquarters in Stalliongrad. What could they possibly want now?

"Stadium this is 5th SF, solid copy, over." Lead wasn't sure what to make of this. Out of the entire group, only Triple-A wasn't intrigued by this development. He stuck to his orders and if those changed then he moved with them.

"5th SF, you are being rerouted to location Delta Niner, Zulu Five. Initial Primary Target has been delayed. New Primary Target is now an AA complex set upon that location, over."

Rain reached into his side pack while moving over to Lead. He pulled out an Area of Operations map before handing it to lead. He scanned over it before finding the location that they were talking about. Right on top of a mountain.

"Roger Stadium, how are we to eliminate Primaries? Over."

"An Artillery strike package will be made available if necessary. Command suggests infiltration, since your previous target will be in that complex. Hop to it soldier, Stadium out."

With that the comm was killed. A large sigh escaped everyone in the group. For the first time in months they had a simple mission but of course that went straight down the drain. Now they had to infiltrate an entire mountain complex just to take down some AA and capture their original target.

"Is it Tuesday already?" Rain asked as they moved into a tighter formation.

"Not even close... seriously though, an entire mountain? Can't they just flatten it from the atmosphere or something?" Obs spoke as he pulled out a canteen, taking a quick sip before putting it back in its place.

"Doubtful," Lead muttered ad he handed the map back to Rain. "Alright boys, listen carefully. We are going to move to this new sector, bust down their door, put a hole in their heads, ex-filtrate our VIP and then blow the place to hell. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir," came the reply from the other three. Lead then motioned in the direction to move before standing back up. The group moved silently through the forest, with a little more of a hurried pace. Lead reached for his comm again.

"AFO Falcon, this is 5th SF. Proceeding to AO location Delta Niner, Zulu Five. Approximately ten clicks out. Will update upon reaching location, over."

"Alright, everyone, hold position. I'm going to take one last look."

Stardust leapt up, hovering above the forest canopy. He took a look through the electronic telescope, scouting out the positions ahead. All positions, whether friendly, neutral, or hostile, were marked in the sight as long as 2-3 kept overwatch. Quickly analyzing what he saw, Stardust landed back on the ground.

"Okay, this corner of town's a bit more quiet. Most of the guards are either far out closer to the Equestrian border or are near the road leading in. The human sniper hill won't be able to have sightlines at a certain position."

"What's the defense positions like? MG nests? Guard towers?" Match asked.

"Couldn't see from my angle. Arrowhead 2-3, this is Arrowhead 1-1, can you determine the defense positions at our insertion point?"

"1-1, it looks like a guard tower and a few MG nests. Not too many griffons in the area."

"Copy that. 1-1, out." Dusty turned to the rest of the team. "Alright, no need for the telescopes. Mount eye scopes." The eye scopes were basically the electronic scopes they used earlier with the magnification portion removed, so it was a piece of equipment about as long as a 5.56 casing. Mounted on a mount that hung just above one of their eyes, it allowed them to receive a continuous live feed of information as long as their eye in the sky was up there to give the info.

"Ready all?"

The three other pegasi gave affirmatives.

"Let's move."

Soon, they arrived at the perimeter of the town. They stayed behind cover as large lights lit up the area. Scanning around, they found the single guard tower with an even brighter searchlight and two MG nests on the ground, plus another position inside a small building.

"Man, they look like they either hate their jobs or love 'em," Match commented.

"They're going to be hating them in the afterlife for sure in a moment," Sharpie replied. "But the one in the guard tower looks like he's taking his job seriously. Sweeping the searchlight back and forth. I'll give him credit for it."

"He ain't living long enough to see his promotion for it though," said Stardust.

"Three in that MG nest look like they're bored out of their minds. Three in the other ground MG position look like they agreed to taking shifts with the first guys. Out cold," said Match.

"Building position isn't manned; whoever's supposed to be on duty in there isn't at their post," Comet noted. "According to the markers, they're not looking out the window." With Arrowhead 2-3 flying overhead, magic sensors could see through the roof of the small building, giving them an idea of the positions of the griffons inside.

"Alright. Ready to go?" Stardust asked.

"Let's do this," Sharpie said.

"Line up for sync shots. I got the one in the tower; rest of you get the three awake. On my shot."

The procedure was that aiming followed the fire-team hierarchy. Only the lower ranked members would pick a different target if the pony above them already had the same target. They determined who was aiming at what through the datalinked eye scopes, lining up their aim with a simulated line and a number.

The four quickly managed to organize their aim. "Now!" Stardust quietly exclaimed as he pulled the trigger on his Mk 14 EBR, three suppressed shots quickly following instantaneously. Four griffons fell dead.

"Think we can creep up to those sleepers?" Comet asked.

They looked around for any other markers denoting griffons in the area. The only other ones were inside the building. "Comet, Sharpie, stay back. Me and Match will go first. Keep your aim on 'em in case they wake up."

"Got it."

The two gray pegasi dashed between cover using their wings, at the same time careful to being quiet. Quickly, they got behind the MG position.

"Okay, both of you get up here." The two followed in a similar fashion.

"Knives to the neck?" Match whispered, audible only through comms.

Stardust nodded, and Sharpie got behind the third griffon. Three more griffons were silently retired.

"Clear the building next?" Comet asked.

Stardust motioned to the second-floor window with an MG sticking out. "Check the window."

Ghost Recon was such a fun game.

2751935>>2746365

Orion wandered in the dark, making sure that she kept to the shadows.

"Ops room, approaching target. Beginning surveillance." Orion listened to the conversations by the humans. "This isn't a one team job. There are snipers and at least two other spec ops teams on the ground."

"Received. Continue monitoring the one you are at now, AFO Falcon seems to be the lead coordinating team." The sound of typing echoed over the channel. "We've piggybacked into the nearby 3R unit's surveillance. Fun fact, you were detected by their eye in the sky."

"Friendship is freaking magic." Orion rolled her eyes. "So long as they are friendly, I'm fine showing them my ass."

2746365>>2749494>>2699516

Orion was quietly listening in on the human squad when her crystal shivered. She retreated further into the bush, before taking the call.

"Operative, responding."

"Orion, confirm mission complete and report."

Orion looked back at the gathered humans. "Confirmed. Human team has indeed infiltrated gryphus territory, and are currently beginning attacks upon the kingdom. This does not appear to be a single unit, rather, multiple units with varying roles."

"Very good. Now, pull out of there."

"What of finding where they live, Ops?"

2751935

"We've pulled some strings and gotten the higher ups to pass orders for the nearby Trip-R teams to take over your mission, without mentioning us, of course."

"Very well. There must be some fire if you are pulling me out."

2800052

"A couple of minutes ago, Prime Minster Abbott of Australia landed at the Australian Embassy in Canterlot. This order is from the Princess herself. She wants 5th Echelon to watch over the proceedings and make sure no Changeling intervention will disturb the meeting."

Orion paused. "Roger. Any assets in the area?"

"Several Royal Guard contingents, the AFPIRU, not much else. You are the closest Top Tier Echelon in the region."

"Where's the blink unit?"

"We're gathering the unicorns now, it's in a gully not too far away from here. We will drop you in at the gates to the Castle, you are expected."

Orion shifted as the coordinates uploaded themselves.

"Confirmed, moving now."

The bright lights evaporated, and Orion found herself at the gates of Canterlot Castle, as promised. The two guards on duty didn't even flinch at her sudden arrival, only nodding in greeting.

"If you are from 5th Echelon, please report to Princess Luna. The delegation from Australia will arrive shortly, she wants you out of sight before that." One stiffly replied. Orion bowed her head in thanks and moved off.

Minutes later after reporting to Luna and getting more gear, she was positioned in the high rafters of the meeting hall, ready to swoop down and stop any possible attack.

2749494
"Copy, let us know when the airspace is clear," Marshal replied, turning to the team. "Ok, let's get moving. We've got a timetable to meet."

The team began moving off the beach and slightly inland, keeping their eyes open for hostiles over the costal plain.

"Falcon, Wolfpack; guards inbound at you, flying, too hot."

"Hold up, drop."

The team fell on their bellies and kept still as the large swarm of Griffons flew overhead quickly.

"Damn, they're in a hurry," DJ commented.

"Not for us, for the ship that was blown up," Marshal said. "Dusty, does it look like they're aware of our presence?"

"Not yet, raised alertness state, but none that shows defense against ground insertion."

"Copy, first target ahead, 200 meters, enemy howitzer battery. Swing right, approach from behind."

The team did this slowly, staying low as there was very little cover, and eventually resorting to crawling closer.

"Target confirmed. One, two, three, four guns. 2A65s, 152s. We got...twelve hostiles, mostly the crew. They're huddled around a fire."

"Ignorant of the situation as ever," Wax added.

"Dusty here, you want us to shoot?"

"We're ready, we'll hit them on your shot."

"Copy. Deuce, first target, the guard away from the rest of the group, leaning on the gun. Wind's...3 knots from the south-southeast. Send it."

A large 50. caliber bullet smacked into the Griffon guard, alerting the others. The Air Force operatives opened fire immediately, cutting down most of the huddled group quickly. One tried to run in the opposite direction, but took another sniper bullet and fell. What little return fire there was seemed aimless.

"Clear," Vertigo announced.

"Alright, plant the explosives on the guns and let's get moving," Marshal ordered.

"Marshal, Dusty; we're moving to a new position, set up in about 3 mikes."

"Copy, we're moving towards town. Going to be a bit of a fight there, so keep an eye on us."

Sorry it took so long, life's been hard.

2914950>>2879715

An hour into the conference.

"Orion."

Orion quietly broke the neck of the last Changeling, laying the body down in the vent. "Operative here. Status of perimeter?"

"Our Trip-R unit orbiting Canterlot detects a massive surge of magic from the recent contingent of guards sent to change shift with the current guards. But get this, they were all either Earth Ponies or Pegasai."

"So we have a contingent sized incursion of Changelings? Posed as the castle guards?" Orion asked with a hint of disbelief. "Them bugs got real smart, real quickly."

"We concur. We've alerted the Captain of the Royal Guard, and there's a battalion on the way there right now. Every single guard on the outside of that conference room is Changeling, there are no ponies left. R.O.E. is clear. Shoot to kill."

Looking over the room again, all the guards inside had not swapped shifts yet, so they were reliable. Orion spied the conference room's door opening. A single Pegasus guard slipped in, and moved to the guard nearest to the princess.

A sudden loud detonation emanated from outside the walls. Orion saw the looks of shock on those assembled in the room, except for the new guard. He remained composed.

"Princess, Prime Minster, we have to evacuate. Follow me." He shouted, flying towards the door.

Blindly obeying one of what she believed to be her own troops, Celestia stood up and began to follow.

Nopenopenope... Orion though, moving swiftly through the rafters. Positioning herself above the doors, she waited.

Just as the faux guard crossed, she struck. Landing on his back, she stabbed him quickly with a poisoned blade, covering his mouth. The guard struggled, before going limp. Green flames enveloped the body, revealing the changeling.

Bucking the door closed again, she locked the doors and looked for something to hold it closed. A table appealed to her, which she began to drag. A few of the original guards also helped out.

"Don't just stand there!" Orion addressed the AFPIRU standing around with various guns drawn. "Barricade the door and cover the windows, we're in for a battle!"