The Prince
For Clark, it seemed like forever since he had visited the sprawling metropolis in the District of Colombia; though that did not mean he missed it either. Washington did not have the mass, magic, or culture of a city on the scale of one like New York, and the seemingly endless number of monuments and museums scattered through it made it feel more like a museum than a place one would pick for a vacation spot. And beyond that, there was the obvious political addition; though it did come with the role of playing capitol.
Walking down the average windowless hall in another Neo-Classical building, Clark switched his thoughts between that and his own plans for how to deal with the situation. There had been a quick brief with a handful of others hew were vital to Rainbow’s existence, but beyond an explanation of what happened, there was not much more for the few others to do. In fact, less than one hundred people in the city knew that the Rainbow organization existed, which was a good number more than he would like.
“John, I don’t know how the hell you pull these tricks off,” the CIA’s director commented as the two continued their stroll. “Jesus, you’ve really stuck us in a corner now, you know that?”
“I was kind of hoping you would be happy to find out a multi-million dollar group of soldiers was alright,” Clark replied.
“Of course I am, only problem is now they’re handicapped to some Disney princess in a fairy tale world. Are you really that bad at negotiating?”
“Give me a little credit, Ed, I got everyone out alive,” John said.
“Not technically,” he replied. “To cover both sides we’re going to have to keep at least one team there, and one team here, at least until we recruit more soldiers. That’s not easy to do.”
“Right, so what now?” Clark asked. “Just continue work as normal?”
“More or less,” Ed replied. “You’ll be going back tomorrow; we’ve got some more negotiating to do.”
“Sending me back there already?”
“You’ve had a week to sort things out here, that’s more than enough time in our world. Besides, you’re someone they trust, at least relatively,” Ed replied, opening up a wooden double-door to a lobby. “But like I said before, you need to work on your bargaining side, which we don’t really have the time for. So, you’ll have some company to help out.”
The lobby was empty except for one average looking, black-haired man. For the first few seconds Clark wondered why it was so empty, and what the random guy had to do with that. Once he recognized the man in the suit, however, he wanted to kick himself hard, or at the least consider visiting an eye doctor.
“Ryan? Sorry I didn’t notice you earlier,” Clark said.
“Remember its Mr. President, but I’ll let it slide this time since you just got back from what I can assume is purgatory,” Ryan replied. “It’s good to see you again, Jack.”
“You too, John,” he replied. “You can come with me now. I’ll lay out our objectives on the way to the airport.”
“God… more flying?” Clark groaned.
“Man up! I hate flying too,” Ryan reminded him. “You don’t see me complaining.”
“You didn’t have a deadly plane crash to go through.”
“That’s right, mine was a helicopter,” the President retorted, referring to the crash that ended his career as a Marine platoon leader.
Clark stopped talking and berated himself mentally for forgetting that crucial part of Ryan’s history. That only reminded John of the real reason Ryan was afraid of flying, with his parents dying in an accident not a year after that. It made him feel sorry, and like a whiny little jackass more than anything, something he detested.
“Sorry, sir. I forgot about that,” he apologized.
“It’s fine, we’ve got bigger things to worry about,” Jack replied. “Let’s get going.”
While walking through the corridors of the castle, it was obvious as to which one of the two was new to the world. Ryan was constantly surprised by every new thing that popped up, which in comparison to what Clark had seen was not very much. Clark hoped it would not throw the President off during the talks too much, and he assumed it would not.
“Wow, you were right,” Ryan said. “This place is… Christ I can’t even find the right word for it.”
“Fluffy?” Clark suggested.
“No, not quite what I had in mind; it feels a little rough around the edges for that,” Ryan continued, searching his extensive vocabulary. “At least this place doesn’t look like that. Ostentatious maybe?”
“I believe the word you are looking for is regal,” a voice said from behind them.
The two stopped and turned to see a white, rather upper-crust looking unicorn.
“That would be the best description. Kingly would also work, if you’d prefer,” he continued.
“Uh I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve met you before,” Clark said. “Name?”
“Blueblood? Prince Blueblood? Does that jog your memory, perhaps?” the unicorn asked.
“Hm… nope, sorry. I’ve never heard of you.”
“Hmph, fine then,” the Prince snorted, almost as if he were insulted. “Well, I’ve certainly heard of you, Mr. Clark.”
That worried Clark a bit, and he could tell it worried Ryan as well. There would certainly be some of the population that had heard of the incident and the strangeness that came out of it, but for the news to reach this far off from the town itself was a little scary. Maybe he knew because he was a Prince; maybe he had some kind of special permission to know it.
“From where?” Clark asked.
“From private sources and close accomplices,” Blueblood said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“And who those be?” Clark continued, getting irritated.
The look on Blueblood’s face turned from annoyed to insult.
“They would be private, and none of your business human,” he snarled back. “And another thing, if you ask me, we do not need your assistance! We are fully capable of handling this insurgency on our own; you will only cause more trouble!”
Clark’s fist clenched in anger, but held his restraint, and stayed satisfied with pointing out his flaws.
“Firstly, I didn’t ask you,” he said, keeping his voice deceivingly calm. “Second, we seemed to be able to handle your guys and the bad guys pretty well.”
“Don’t think we will forget that! I will make sure you are held accountable for your actions, even if I must do myself!” the Prince replied, unable to find a true counter.
“Whenever you want pal; I’m dying for an excuse to put my foot up your royal ass.”
Blueblood and Clark engaged in an angry staring contest that seemed to last forever. It ended with yet another scoff from Blueblood as he turned and moved back down the hall in the opposite direction. Ryan simply stared the whole time, not quite sure what was happening, nor wanting to get involved. When it was over, Clark turned back to him as if nothing had happened.
“Over-the-top?” Clark suggested to Ryan, getting back in their little game. “Does that sound right?”
The President took a second to understand what Clark meant before responding.
“That sounds good,” Ryan agreed before trying to change the subject to something more comfortable. “I’m still trying to figure out why the armor is golden. Are you sure that’s not just paint over some other metal?”
“If it was something else, it was just as weak,” Clark answered.
“No way will that stuff stop a bullet; but then again, they don’t have guns,” Ryan commented, still studying the chest plates of the guards they passed it like the blueprints to some secret weapon.
It looked to Clark like Ryan had not lost much of his special training during his time in office.
“You never do lose that CIA feel, huh?”
“No, never,” Ryan confirmed. “You never know when it will become useful again.”
The two continued down the hall for a bit until they reached a large wooden door. Two gold-clad guards stood on each side, spears ready at their sides. Both were at attention, staring blankly straight forward until the two men came within a few feet of the door. Both looked up and over in recognition of their arrival.
“General Clark? We were told to expect you,” one of them said. “Is this your leader?”
“Yes, we’re here for the meeting.”
The guard gave the two a quick study with his eyes and grinned slightly.
“I thought so; give me a moment.”
The guard disappeared behind the two large doors, leaving the two to stand there awkwardly with the second guard. He seemed more interested in continuing to stare rather than strike up a conversation, so John and Jack kept to themselves. After two short minutes, the pony returned through the door.
“Go ahead and follow the other guards on the other side of the door; they’ll take you to the Princess,” he said.
“Thank you,” Ryan replied before stepping through the wooden double-doors first.
There were another two guards on the other side, both of whom immediately began to walk back down another corridor, guiding the two without a word. They continued half way down the hall until they stopped at a seemingly random, simple door to their left. Both took positions on the side of it to guard before speaking to their two human guests.
“The Princess is on the other side here,” one explained. “She’s waiting for you, so you can head in now.”
“Thank you,” Ryan repeated to the new set of guards.
Clark took the first step in this time, entering into a surprisingly simple room. It was nothing more than a stone room with a single window which provided enough sun to light the room fully. The only furniture was a small, rectangular oak table with two sets of chairs on each side. Celestia was sitting on the far one, along with an Earth Pony he had not met before who had a shimmering coat of bittersweet orange.
“General Clark, it’s nice to see you again,” she greeted with a warm smile.
“Likewise,” Clark replied.
She turned her attention to Ryan next.
“And you must be his leader,” the Princess guessed.
“President Jack Ryan of the United States of America,” Ryan explained, extending his hand for a shake.
Celestia extended her hoof, which he shook, not hesitating or being hampered from the lack of fingers.
Princes Celestia of Equestria,” she responded. “Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable, then we can begin negotiations.”
“Princess, I don’t believe I know this other pony,” Clark pointed out politely.
“I was just about to get to him,” Celestia replied proudly. “He is actually the part of the first point I wished to discuss.”
The pony leaned across the table and extended his hoof to Clark in the same way Celestia had, which Clark shook in the same way Ryan had.
“Name’s Quick Tracker,” he said with a friendly smile. “But you can just call me General Tracker, if we’re keeping everything formal.”
“Yes, that’s right; you two hold the same rank,” Celestia noticed.
Clark was not sure if that was entirely right; he doubted that the ranking system of this world was identical to America’s. Even if it was, it still would not be true. Being in the CIA, his official rank was Simulated Major General. All the same, he figured it would be better to keep the simple things simple and agree.
“Yea, it’s nice to finally meet an allied counterpart in this world,” he answered.
“General Tracker here is quite important; he is going to be the head of Equestria’s own anti-terrorist group,” Celestia explained.
“That’s nice; at least they won’t be relying on us alone the whole time,” Clark thought. “Makes our job a little easier.”
“General Tracker has been in the Equestrian military for nearly twenty-two years now,” Celestia continued to explain, turning to Ryan. “He has shown great proficiency in hunting down insurgents.”
“That is an impressive, but it does take more than just the proper leadership to create an elite group,” Ryan explained. “There’s a lot more that goes into it; training, equipment, and planning, to name a few.”
“And that is where General Clark can help,” she went on. “I would like Mr. Clark and his Rainbow team to train and supply this group. We can select the best troops, if only you could train and supply them.”
Ryan stopped and thought for a moment before turning to Clark.
“It’s doable,” Clark answered before Ryan could say anything. “It would take time, but it’s possible.”
“I assure you that my ponies will be quite cooperative, I’ll see to that; I’ll select them myself,” Tracker replied. “And I’m a quick learner.”
“I’m sure you are, but that is not the problem,” Ryan replied, stopping again to consider the options. “I will agree to the former, but we will not supply your forces.”
Celestia looked a bit surprised from response.
“I fail to see the problem, Mr. President; we are more than willing to take our matters into our own hooves,” she said.
John kept quiet, but he felt a bit displeased. Why Ryan would not arm the ponies, he could not tell. Perhaps he did not trust them, which he could understand a bit, but not to that point. To him it was just politics getting in the way of things. He did not blame Ryan for that, either, but he still did not like it. It was not something that they could avoid, having to work with a necessary evil.
“I am more worried about the terrorists getting a hold of them,” Ryan explained. “If we equipped your military with firearms and other weaponry then that means these rebels will get a chance to take them. It could be from taking them off a dead body, or just finding a way to steal them; no matter how, it would make our job far more difficult.”
Now it was Clark’s turn to be surprised. For all his experience, he had actually not thought of that possibility. It actually made him a bit unhappy, after the feeling shock had passed over; for all of his training and experience, he had not thought of the consequences of that. He and his men had killed ponies; would he have given one of them a gun if they had asked for it? And what if they had actually gotten one? Would they turn on him? He felt that he should have predicted that earlier. For a minute he thought his age was catching up with him; that he was losing his touch.
But he had to give it to Ryan; he knew how to work politics. Maybe that was why he missed the point; he might not have thought of it until one of the ponies actually asked for a weapon. Ryan could see ahead and predict things, which a politician needed to do, which made it a good thing that he was President. Though at the same time, he might not have made it to that position had the original President not been killed by a Japanese pilot’s suicide attack after the U.S. won another war against them back in 1995.
But still, Ryan had stepped up to the plate, and led the nation through another war with Iran the year after. And he had led well in the four years since that war had ended, too. John remembered him urging the nation through the fight, even when the enemy had launched a biological war by attacking the mainland with an over-effective Ebola strain. That part had angered Clark a good deal, but having the of ending the war, and taking the honor of being personally allowed to guide a smart bomb onto the Ayatollah’s crown, eased the pain.
“I… suppose that would cause trouble,” Celestia answered. “Still, I assure you we would take good care of them. We would only assign them to General Tracker’s group.”
“I am sure you would try your hardest, Princess, but I will not risk it,” Ryan replied. “You may have saved Rainbow in an odd way, but that would be rather pointless if a terrorist with a captured gun ambushed one of the soldiers. I do not think either of us would want to deal with that outcome.”
Celestia sighed a bit, and Tracker simply continued to watch with a simple look, in his own world of thought.
“Rest assured, Princess; Rainbow will still train your troops to be the best and deal with these trouble-makers,” Ryan added.
“You will still be available as a rescue force to respond to hostage situations, correct?” Celestia asked.
"Of course, but for how long? We do have similar situations on Earth.”
“Only until General Tracker’s force has been proven to be effective,” she assured the President. “We are anxious to take matters into our own hands, Mr. Ryan.”
“That seems reasonable enough,” Ryan replied. “I think that covers the problems based around Rainbow. Was there anything else you wanted to talk over concerning that topic?”
“Not immediately, no; though there is certainly a good deal more to talk over in establishing relations,” Celestia said.
“Of course; I’ll have plenty of desk work to do tonight,” Ryan said. “Nothing too different than the usual.”
“I suppose I will have a nice stack of paper to deal with, as well,” Celestia agreed with a chuckle. “Politics seem to be the same everywhere.”
“That would be the case,” Ryan replied with a smile. “I doubt you want to sit in for this, General Clark.”
“Well, you know me,” Clark said.
“I do not think General Tracker is needed, either,” Celestia added. “Why don’t we let these two go and talk over the matter of establishing this organization, while we continue with our discussions?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Ryan said, turning to Clark. “I’ll come find you when we’re all done.”
Clark watched Tracker get up from his seat and move to the door, and stood to follow him.
“Goodbye, Mr. President.”
Clark walked over to the door behind him to find that the pony general had already exited the room. He quickly pushed his chair back under the table and left the room. Exiting back into the hallway, he found the two guards at the door still standing at their posts. Immediately, one motioned his spear slightly down the left end of the hall, in the direction Tracker was heading.
“Hey, where are you going in such a rush?” John asked, catching up with him.
“To get something eat, I’m starved. Haven’t eaten all day,” he replied. “You hungry?”
“No thanks; I’m a little more worried about getting your specialist group up and running.”
“Right, of course,” Tracker said. “We can go over it while I eat, if you don’t mind.”
Clark noticed that this general was being a bit easy-going about things. His nation was being ravaged by insurgent attacks, and he had been given the duty to create a group to hunt them down, yet he showed no kind of worry or anxiety, and only a small amount of seriousness. Surely, there had to be some kind of nervousness Tracker felt, being in such a high position now.
But, that was nothing more than a minor notice that seemed out-of-place compared to normal. Perhaps he did feel it, and was just good at hiding it. Celestia had chosen him out of the whole military to lead this operation, so Clark felt he could trust Tracker’s abilities for now. Maybe a lack of anxiety or fear was what made him good at his job.
“Sure. Just hope it’s not too noisy,” John agreed.
“It shouldn’t be around this time of day,” Tracker assured him. “Though if Blueblood’s there, he could fill up the whole room on his own.”
“That Prince guy?” Clark asked.
“Yea, you met him?”
Clark drummed his fingers against his palm, still slightly aggravated over the Prince’s speech.
I did, sadly,” Clark confirmed. “Is he always so pompus?”
“He is, and proud of it,” Tracker explained. “That crazy jingo can get on anypony’s nerves.”
The word ‘jingo’ stood out strongly to Clark.
“So is that what he is? Jingoistic?” Clark asked.
“Yea, he hates asking for help, and he’s been pretty mad about Celestia calling for your help to deal with these insurgents,” Tracker said. “He’s been talking pretty big about it lately, too.”
“That’s never a good sign,” Clark said, shaking his head. “He could be trouble.”
“Could be, but not at the moment,” Tracker said. “Let’s get to focusing on my group first. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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Jog*
4678847
Right, sorry. I think that's Word's bloody correct again...
Well, Clancy was nothing if not original.
Also, nice to have you back. Hope Blueblood gets kidnapped and held for ransom. If only for added irony.
4679841
Well, be honest, I never really left.
I've been really busy working on a massive EoE MiE collab; I needed to put a ton of detail and work to make it good. Actually, it just came out, too. Want to give it a read?
(Yes, I'm promoting work, which I never really do much. Main reason for this time is that, being a collab, a lot of people have stuff worked out, so I don't want it to crash because of me and fail them, letting all their work go to waste and whatnot...)
Actually, I still need to read Debt of Honor. I've heard it's one of the best.
It's been awhile.
Good to see more anyway. 
4680446
It has been a while. But, like I said; I've been pretty busy. But it looks like it's paying off.
4680497 I'm about to endure what is sure to be some pretty hellish wilderness training.
Even for a blacker than black ops mission like negotiating with the leader of a nation that 'doesn't' exist about an organization that 'doesn't' exist, you would think the President of the whole United States would have a much larger entourage than one person. Even four spec-ops/black-ops/MIBs would make sense to have.
Also, just a general criticism of your writing, the ponies seem slightly OOC. Celestia less than princessly, the mane six too stereotype-y. It feels like you took one of the quirks of them and made that their entire character. For instance, Twilight is only speaking about curiosity and learning about be new aliens, having absolutely no trauma over the literal death of FIFTY Gaurds, not to mention the terrorists being blown apart literally in front of her. Rainbow is only ego in this, Rarity is only generous. None of the characters seem to have depth.
I couldn't begin to tell you what to change, as I personally don't know. I could recommend reading their dialogue out loud and asking yourself if that is something they would actually say. Keep in mind a characters actions as well.
Aside from that, you did Bluebloof pretty well (even if he is a one dimensional character in the show) and though I don't know Rainbow Team's characters well they seem to be people rather than props.
Keep up the writing!
6202570
Thank you for the assistance.
Will this story be updated or are you focusing on other projects?
6791071
I'd like too. I actually had a bit of an urge to do it since Siege came out, and I've got the plot laid down, so it's just a matter of grabbing the book again and working out the next chapter. There is a lot of other stuff I want to do, and the collab story kind of always takes precedent when I do decide to write, but this is a story that's in my upper tier of things to work on.
6863961
Like I said, I do it by following the book. I know full well that the center around the chest is most lethal, but the book stated that they focused on headshots. They also specified the stated HK variant, which I think I linked in another comment. So yea, it's not as much a lack of knowledge as it is staying true to the source material.
Edit: To be even more specific, for those who want to save a minute, the MP-10 is a variant of the MP-5 that was released in 1991 by Heckler & Koch that was chambered for the 10mm cartridge; basically a large-caliber MP-5.
I should also mention an assault rifle would not necessarily be superior to an SMG. It is more powerful, but it's also larger. Rainbow's operations as counter-terror response is focused on fast response to terrorist situations and assaulting them, and much of this is focused on close-quarters urban environments. In this regard, the SMG proves superior, being smaller and easier to handle in such battles, while a rifle like the M16 would have it's power advantage somewhat nullified by the fact that it's terrorists rather than actual soldiers of another army, making it rather unlikely that they have significant protection.
Loved this. I really love this. Brothers in Arms is still a great read, and with this? It's got a new contender.
Keep up the great work!
I need my hit of Rainbow man, I need it!
I think they got off a bit light when it came to paying back for all of the lives they've taken. I am surprised they never thought of using LTL methods or all-out stealth to break out their teammates.
Certainly Celestia will get whats due to the victims families and then some from Ryan now that theyre alone.
I hope this will be finished. Just read the synopsis and I’m already hooked! Rip Tom Clancy.