Chapter Ten: Affairs Of Darkness. Part I
Chapter Ten: Affairs Of Darkness. Part I
"WHERE IS HE?!" a gruff, female voice screamed.
"Please calm down ma'am. He is right this way. Third door on the left." a much calmer voice answered.
"How did this happen? How did he let this happen?"
"He will be alright. Please don't worry."
"Don't worry!? He was nearly killed! What's not to worry about that?!"
"Nothing I suppose. Please don't wake him. He needs his rest."
The pair walked into a dark hospital room, and stood over the sprawling form of an injured griffin.
"He's hurt bad, isn't he?" the female voice asked.
"The injuries are severe, but the worst has passed. He will heal."
"W-what? Who's there? C-come at me coward!" a third voice echoed.
"It's me! It's me! I'm here."
"Gilda? W-where am I?" the injured griffin weakly questioned.
"Doctor, can you give us some space?" Gilda asked the griffin physician.
The doctor nodded. "Certainly."
Once the doctor had left, Gilda embraced the stricken griffin in a panicked hug.
"Phal, I'm so glad you're okay. I'd though they'd killed you out there!"
"Calm down, I'll be alright." the griffin spoke over the pain. "That pony got a lucky shot on me. Make that five or so lucky shots. We won't underestimate them again." Phalanx replied.
"I thought they were supposed to surrender! That's why we gave them the horns! It was supposed to scare them into giving up! Just like the others!" Gilda screamed.
"They had help! Strange creatures I've never seen before were helping them! They had weapons too! Its like something out of the fiction novels I read as a fledgeling!" Phalanx defended. "But we are gaining the upper hand. Reinforcements are pushing them back towards the town. It won't be long before they're forced to retreat."
The griffin sat up in his bed.
"I am still concerned about these interlopers. They seem to have allied themselves with the ponies." Phalanx responded with a bit of worry.
"That's not cool." Gilda answered coldly.
"Certainly not." an eery voice calmly spoke from the shadows.
A large griffin stepped from the darkness of the room. Gilda and Phalanx put their paws to their chest in salute.
"C-chancellor!" Phalanx coughed. "This is unexpected. Pardon me for not standing."
"Tis fine." the larger than life griffin responded. "Do not worry. I have come as a friend, not as a ruler. Are you well, Praetor?"
"I have seen better days, my liege. But I will resume my duties as soon as I heal." the bedridden griffin spoke.
The large griffin nodded. "You spoke of interlopers coming to the aid of pony-kind. I have heard similar reports."
"What are we gonna do?" Gilda asked, still standing over Phalanx's bed.
"They stand against us. There can only be one response." the large griffin responded.
A ram taller than any pony Gilda and Phalanx had ever seen, stepped from the shadows.
"Do not rush to judgement. If these interlopers are new arrivals to this land like I've heard, they may not be aware of what they do. Perhaps, they could even be swayed to our cause. However, if they refuse to stand with us, or stand down, they are enemies of our alliance, and must be treated as such."
"I agree."
The group looked up to see a menacing, pony sized dragon hanging from the roof.
she began to speak. "The rest of the council agrees with this sentiment. We will give them a choice-"
"-Allegiance, or death."
*******************
In every culture there are legends.
Stories to scare the young at night.
Threats to keep the old in line.
Stories no pony realized could be true.
Alcatrotz was one of those legends.
It was nightfall over Equestria.
A single Black Hawk helicopter covertly flew over the Everfree forest. Inside, a mixed team of Black Ops soldiers and AOD specialist ponies silently waited to reach their fabled destination.
Lime Tree Hill, now clothed in a black AOD suit and matching coat paint, struggled to come to terms with what was happening around him. He looked around, and saw the battle hardened soldiers of two words bravely awaiting the mission to come.
The various humans and ponies were readying their gear or studying the operation intel. Lenard, on the other hand, was absentmindedly staring off into space. Every now and then, he would stare down at his watch, its light brown color closely resembling the color of his skin. Lime Tree noticed that he hadn't bothered to put on any black face paint. Steven was busy smearing on as much as he could, making sure not a single inch of pale skin could be seen.
To Lime Tree's right, the silhouetted pegasus form of Star Sabre quietly sat, adjusting the scope on his crossbow with his hooves. He was no doubt wondering how his friend and mentor Sky Blade was faring in the ongoing battle near Ponyville.
Lime Tree remembered how eager the pegasus had been to volunteer for this mission. Though still unable to fly, the pegasus claimed to be in good enough physical condition to fight, and for some reason, command had allowed it. The prospect just made Lime Tree that much more nervous.
How did I let them drag me into this? The green, now black, earth pony thought.
In truth, Lime Tree Hill had more experience in the Everfree forest than most ponies. Several times, he'd crossed small sections of it to reach other cites in Equestria, usually for some diplomatic effort the Mayor sent him on.
That doesn't mean I'm some kind of specialist. Lime Tree mused to himself.
He did know how to survive, which plants to eat, what to stay away from, what sounds to run in fear from. But now, to go to such an untoward place, unthinkable!
"How is it even possible?"
The stallion searched through the memories of his foalhood. As far as he could remember, Alcatrotz Island was a fictional fairytale prison where the "bad ponies" that forgot to brush their teeth or clean their rooms went. No pony believed such stories, even as foals. But as a pony got older, the stories got darker. It may have been little silly things as a foal, but as a teenager, it was the dropouts and street trash that were sent there. As an adult, they would say that ravenous murders, terrorists, and the worst villainy and scum imaginable were imprisoned within its walls.
Lime Tree just couldn't make sense of it.
Are the stories real? Are there still ponies imprisoned there? Was that griffin in the report right about his ancestors dying there? Lime Tree silently wondered. He was certainly not comforted by the knowledge that he'd soon find out.
And how did Twilight know the place existed? Let alone where it was supposedly located? Everypony knows that Twilight had access to Royal Library in Canterlot, but to know such things... What else has she learned there that have never come to light?
The green stallion was jolted out of his internal discussion by a human hand tapping his forehead.
"Lime," Captain Greene whispered, trying to get his attention. "Listen up. The CO's about to explain things."
A older Stallion, covered from muzzle to hoof in black, stood up in the front of the cabin and put a radio to his mouth.
"Alright stallions- and, er, men. I'm Major Bronze Leaf, your commanding officer for this mission. The other Black Hawk is breaking off toward Canterlot for the army recapture operation. We are dropping into the jungle canopy now. This is as far as we can go in this vehicle without alerting the enemy. We'll continue the journey on hoof and foot til we reach the lake. Once we do, we'll need to traverse it inconspicuously. Sorry, but swimming is the only way to do this. Check your air tanks now or you may regret it later. Once we reach the shore, silently neutralize anything that could blow our cover. We'll be using bows primarily, and I've been told that the firearms are of the quiet variety."
Steven Mace attached a suppressor to his now much quieter .50 caliber sniper rifle.
The Major continued. "No explosives are to be used, and use hoof to hoof combat only if necessary. You've each been given a copy of the map Ms. Sparkle supplied. We don't have time to memorize them, so keep them handy. They may save your life. Remember, this is by the book; stay hidden and stay quiet. Pilot, turn out the lights!"
Gerianna Reed throttled back the Black Hawk's engines, and the helicopter landed with a soft thud in a small clearing.
Lime Tree stood up as Lenard pulled one of the doors open. As the rest of the soldiers began to file out, he noticed a dim orange light in the sky.
He cocked his head to one side. "Funny, doesn't look like a star-"
A pillar of fire impaled the helicopter
There was a large explosion.
******************
A pandragon aerialist climbed off of his mount, led it to a pen, and ran over to his commanding officer.
"Sir we spotted one of those flying machines landing in the forest, but we destroyed it!"
"Hmm. any clue as to where it was headed?' the pandragon officer rubbed his chin.
"I'm not sure, but It could have been trying to attack our base." the aerialist explained.
"They couldn't have figured it out already. Are you sure it was destroyed?" the officer cocked one of his eyebrows.
"Quite sure, Captain." the pandragon nodded.
"Hmm. Lets err on the side of caution, shall we? I'll send some guards out to make sure."
*****************
A team of humans and ponies quietly spread out from the burning landing site and sprinted into the forest.
"What his us!" Lenard called out.
"Don't know, but I don't think we're being tailed. We need to move!" Star Sabre answered.
"Here we are again, running for our lives in the Everfree Forest. You'd think we would have gotten used to this by now! You know, I better get a rank or something when we get back." Lime Tree whispered to the other members of his team.
"You're more of a civilian specialist, Lime." Star Sabre quietly commented back.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lime Tree mumbled.
"That means you don't get a rank, but it also means they can't court marshal you. Now shut up so we don't get shot!" Star Sabre whispered/yelled.
"How did they know we were coming?! Somepony answer that!" Lime Tree defiantly questioned back.
"We need to stay quiet Lime." Lenard chided. "Keep moving."
Lime Tree was livid. "They're all dead! We're the only ones left! This demands more attention, don't you think!"
"The mission is still a go. We just have less men to accomplish it with, so I'm not going to ask you again." Lenard shot the green stallion a look. "Shut up Hill!"
"Yes sir." Lime Tree gave a mock salute.
The small group moved in swift silence until they reached the shores of a large lake. About a mile away, in the center of that lake, was a large island. It was walled on all sides and boasted several guard towers, each sporting rotating search lights.
"Sabre, you and Mace get eyes on targets." Lenard quietly ordered.
Steven Mace brought the scope of his rifle to his eye. After a few seconds, he shouldered his weapon and turned to his squad mates.
"I spot six rams, twelve griffins and a pandragon on one of those huge fighter dragon monsters, patrolling the outer gates." he finally said.
"Same here." Star Sabre answered. "Who knows how many are on the inside of the facility."
Lenard Sighed. "The Major was right. We can't fight them, not directly anyway."
"Any ideas?" Star Sabre impatiently asked.
"We'll have to be pretty fast to breach the walls. We'll have to time the search lights just right, to give us enough time to climb over." Lime Tree added
"I concur." Lenard affirmed.
"If that's how you want to do it, we'll have to be extremely careful not to tip off the sharp shooters." Steven added.
"If we're going to swim, stay vigilant under the water. If you see anything that isn't pony or human like, give it some space." Lime Tree explained.
Star Sabre looked a bit nervous. "You don't think there will be sharks or som-" Sabre stopped and raised his bow.
"FREEZE! FLANK-SPANKER! HOOVES UP!" Sabre pointed his bow at a shadowy figure under a tree.
The figure did just that. Only it didn't have hooves, it had hands.
"Chill, it's just me." a female voice calmly spoke.
"Gerri, you're alive?" Lenard shouted with glee.
Gerri shrugged. "It hit the aft section, I managed to escape before it completely went up."
"Why were you sneaking around?" Lenard questioned.
The female pilot put her hands on her hips. "Look, I'm new to all this. Unlike you, I don't run around pretending to be a spy." Gerianna Reed retorted. "By the way, we have a stowaway." The pilot pointed behind her.
A familiar cyan-blue pegasus poked her head out from behind a tree, her rainbow mane partially blacked out by paint.
"Awwww," Rainbow Dash whined. "How'd you know?"
Lenard's forehead was starting to hurt from repeated palm strikes.
"Subtlety is not your strong suit, mare." the female pilot answered.
"How did you even get here? I know you still can't fly." Lenard wondered, rubbing his head.
"I just put all this black paint stuff on my mane and no pony noticed when I climbed in the copter," Dash answered.
"Wait, you were in the chopper?" Steven spoke up.
"Yep." the pegasus affirmed.
"Wait, wait!" Lenard interjected. "It's only been two days since the blast. The doctor said you were still weak. You're telling me your all better now?"
The pegasus laboriously clopped up to the group, answering the question.
"What made you think you could be of any help still hurt like that?" Lenard questioned.
"I think the real question is," Steven began. "why are you here?"
The rainbow maned pegasus put a hoof to her neck. "I don't know. I just wanted to help."
"Then I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into." Star Sabre answered. "This isn't some kind of game! If we're spotted, the Princesses could die!" Star Sabre threw his hooves up. "Can you even swim?"
The blue pegasus turned her head down. "Swimming isn't exactly my thing."
It was Star Sabre's turn to strike his head with his hoof.
"Can Pinkie Pie and Applejack swim?" Lenard asked.
"Consarnit!" a voice rung out from behind a tree.
Two blacked out earth ponies trotted/bounced out of the underbrush, one of them was missing her trademark stetson.
"You got a serious pair o' eyes on ya Lenno." Applejack stated.
"That's why I'm a pilot. You didn't answer my question. Can you two swim?"
Blackie Pie- er, Pinkie Pie bounced up and down uncontrollably. "Of course! How do you think I found my pet alligator Gummy?" Surprisingly, that statement didn't draw any attention.
"Ah used to swim all the time in the lakes near th' farm." Applejack answered.
"I guess you all heard the plan?" Lime Tree asked the now larger group.
"Yes."
"Affirmative."
"Eeyup."
"Let's party!"
"Lenard, you're not actually going to let them come with us, right?" Lime Tree questioned.
"We can't leave them here. They're untrained civilians, they'd be picked off by patrols in a heartbeat. They're safer with us." the pilot captain answered. "Look, I don't like it either, but we can't leave without a chopper, and we don't know how long the Princesses have left. We don't have time to take them back."
"What if those horns were fake, and this is all just a ruse to lure us into a trap?" Lime Tree protested.
"What if they're real, and Celestia and Luna need our help? Are you willing to take that chance?"
The human pilot and the green stallion stared each other down for almost ten seconds.
"Well- no, i guess not." Lime Tree finally answered.
"Then lets go. You three, we don't have any extra weapons with us. We weren't exactly expecting you, and we barely made it out with our own stuff. Speaking of which, how did you guys escape the blast?"
"I leaned out of the cockpit at just the right time, I guess." Gerri shrugged. "The guy next to me wasn't so lucky." she looked down.
"And you?" Lenard looked down at Pinkie.
"My Pinkie Sense! My tail started twitchin,' so me, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash jumped out!" Pinkie explained like this was a perfectly logical answer.
"Uhh, Pinkie Sense? Mare, what are you talking ab-" Star Sabre questioned, looking confused.
"Precognitive reflexes. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Don't even bother trying to figure it out." Lenard cut him off.
Star Sabre cocked his head to one side. "You mean like in the Spider-Stallion comi-"
Lenard shook his head. "I told you, just don't bother. It'll save you from a headache."
Star Sabre shrugged. "Whatever then, who's ready for a swim?"
Turns out, no one was.
******************
"What a mess." a ram said to a griffin.
The griffin looked up to a hovering pandragon, who was without a mount. "You guys don't leave much to salvage, do you?" the griffin spoke.
"Sorry, next time I'll try not to be as efficient." the pandragon rolled his slitted eyes.
The small team looked down at the remains of several human and pony soldiers.
"I'd say these humans were weird lookin,' but look at us!" the griffin gave a hardy laugh.
"Hey, we got a survivor!" the ram yelled to the others.
The soldiers huddled over the broken body of an earth pony.
"Hey there pony. What's your name?" the griffin spoke with mock sincerity."
"B- Br- *Cough* ahhh!" the pony roared in pain.
"I can't quite hear you, can you speak up a bit." the griffin chided.
"B- Bron- Bronze L-leaf." the pony choked.
"Well Mr. Bronze Leaf, we're gonna have to ask you to come with us." the ram spoke.
"I'm n-not going anywhere with y-you!" the pony spat at the ram.
"How, unfortunate. I'm afraid we're going to have to insist. There's someone who wants to talk to you. Grab him." the ram instructed to the others, who knelt down and held the pony by his shoulders.
The pony screamed in pain.
"No! Wait! Where are you taking me?!" Bronze Leaf cried out.
"To the council."
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♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪
37558
Thanks!
moar
37656
you guys are just awesome!
Murphy's Laws of Combat Rule #492: Covert Operations aren't.
Murphy's Laws of Combat Rule #560: If your covert insertion is going perfectly, you've forgotten something.
Murphy's Laws of Combat Rule #636: Never forget the Red Shirts; it's suicide to live with 'em, but Command gets pissed if they die.
Murphy's Laws of Combat Rule #128: Never forget, everyone is expendable, including you.
Murphy's Laws of Combat Rule #10: Never forget, your equipment was made by the lowest bidder.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MORE!!!! If it's incentive you need, then this copious amount of unmarked bills should do!
power104.fm/powerblogs/Jasmin-Doobay/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pile-of-money-1.jpg
Happy one hundredth comment y'all! And thanks to all that read these stories!
38133 He's right. They way I've had it described to me is, that it only makes the gunshot sound further off.
38133
I meant silenced in a more literal term. As in "she was silenced." not the technical terms. Suppressors people!
12227
Youve played battlefront 2? *Brohoof*
Soo, how much time till the next chapter?
41012
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Great story. Can't wait for more!
This is a truly astounding fic.
Normally I criticize those who make even the tiniest mistakes in grammar/spelling, but the plot and characters were just so amazing that I didn't even care.
Tracked, Favorited, 5 starred - I'm definitely looking forward to more.
That scene at the end reminds me so much of the campaign of Battlefield 3.
"Live, or die, mister? Live or die?"
I just hope no one has to pull a "saving private Ryan" on this mission
The griffins killed US soldiers?
They have no clue what they have done, do they- they have just made an enemy of the most powerful nation in both worlds.
They're screwed.
Random OP fire pillar, lol wut
3517733 They are gonna get a nice healthy dose of FREEDOM!
OHH you killed a few of are soldiers well then guys say good bye to you're army you're nations and you're women FREEDOM MOTHERFUCKA
Just declared war on all of humanity... you're several levels of screwed now.
the real question is: can you silently and efficiently kill another living being without a second thought?
Spoiler alert for the Season 9 Premiere.
The ram Grogar appears as one of the main antagonists of season 9. Thus, his appearance also means that rams are now an official species in the cannon series. Does anyone know if LewisClarke based his rams on Grogar?