With the Shadow of Lightning

by oneupthextraman

Chapter 6: A Little Action

Chapter 6

An adventure Lightning is describing to Rarity;

(oh, and I know shining is spelled with a g)

The mighty sand dunes seemed to stretch on forever. Sand everywhere, as far as anypony could see. Well, at least the two ponies traversing mighty sand planes. Prince Lightning and another pony known as Shinin slowly crept up one of the mighty dunes not wanting to attract attention of the group they were stalking. The two were trained very well, but all the training in the world could not prepare them for the hotness of Celestia’s sun and the sand.

On the top of the dune, Lightning pulled out a spy glass, and examined the group of pony like creatures.

Lightning said to his friend, “Well, there are a bunch of them over there. I would say maybe 15.” He handed the spy glass to his associate; a colt, only about three years younger than Lightning with two shades of blue in his hair, and a shield on his flank.

Shinin examined through the spy glass, and said, “Yeah. And not very well organized. Their tents are in an odd formation. Not in a grid, or anything that would make you think they knew what they were doing.” Shinin gave the spy glass back to Lightning.

Lightning looked to his associate, and said, “Well, you know what Star Wwirl the bearded said about one’s enemy; Sometimes stupidity is the best disguise for genius.” Lightning wagged his hoof at his associate, who then nodded in agreement. Lightning used his spyglass again to examine the camp. “You shall infiltrate at night fall. I will provide radio support. With any level of luck we will be out of here tonight with their secret from these changelings.” Lightning put the spy glass away in his saddle bag.

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After night fall, Shinin was suiting up for the mission; donning his sneaking suit, and his ear piece.

Lightning said into his mic, “Check, one two three.”

Shinin replied, “Check. Ready to start the mission sir.”

Lightning replied, “Go for it. And be careful out there; I know you are getting married in a few months.” Shinin smiled, and walked off the edge of the dune.

The darkness made it impossible for the changelings to see that Shinin was sliding down the front of the dune the two were on earlier. Lightning pulled out his night vision magic binoculars to see what was going on. He could see Shinin approaching the encampment. Lightning said into his head set, “approach from the east. The guards are patrolling around the other side of the encampment. “

Shinin responded, “roger that, approaching from the east.” Lightning could see Shinin approaching the encampment. Lightning pulled out another set of binoculars; heat sensing ones. Lightning examined the heat signatures.

Lightning spoke into his headset, “Shining, I see strong thermal signals coming out from the tent to your north. Be careful.”

Shinin replied, “Oh, be CAREFUL. I was going to be brash.” Lightning smirked at the young agent’s remarks, reminding him of a younger self. Although they were only three years different in age, Lightning had been on lots more missions than his associate.

Lightning replied, “I’m sure you were.” There was a pause. “The guards are making a loop back around to your location. If you hold, you should be fine.” There was no response from shinin, as he did not wish to alert the guards with an acknowledgement. Lightning continued to look through his binoculars to see when it was safe. After a few some-what tense moments, Lightning notified his associate that it was clear to proceed.

Shinin approached the radio tent. He knew it was the radio tent as it was the one with a large antenna coming out of the top of it. Lightning spoke into the headset, “You are approved for non-lethal actions. Try to avoid killing any of them.” Shinin confirmed by clicking on his radio twice. Lightning could only hear what was going on, and what he heard was a quick scuffle, and some thuds.

Shinin reported over the radio, “Subdued. Examining for codes now.” Lightning could hear some paper ruffling, and movement of some files. “I have captured the codes with my camera, and some other files. Exiting tent.”

Lightning spoke, “Stand by on tent exiting.”

“Roger that.” There were two guards outside of the test. They lingered outside of the communication tent for a good while. They just seemed to be chatting about nothing, from what Lightning could hear. Lightning was getting more and more nervous if the two guards were to enter the communication tent, Shinin would be in trouble.

But then they went inside of the tent. Lightning could do nothing besides hear his associate get in a scuffle with the two guards. There were grunts, and punches that could be heard. After a few moments, Lightning heard a loud thud, and heard dragging sounds. He figured his associate was knocked out. Quickly donning the heat sensing binoculars again, he tracked him to one of the tents.

Lightning quickly put on his own spying gear, and checked his equipment. Mirror, check. Horn Silencer, check. Night vision visor, check. It took a few minutes to adjust his outfit, and make sure he was comfortable, and double check his other equipment. He was ready. Dressed like someone who was about to infiltrate the castle of the royals. Lightning slid down the dune, much like his associate did. With a quick gallop, he was at the edge of the camp. Looking around with his magic visor, he saw no guards. Figuring that they were guarding their new prisoner or asleep. Quickly jumping between the tents, Lightning came across the tent he saw them drag his associate into. There was one guard. Lightning mentally scoffed at the fact there was only one. He was somewhat hoping for at least two. In one quick swoop, Lightning jumped through the air, and silently took out the guard, and dragged him around to the side of the tent where it would be less likely that another changeling would see him.

Using his mirror to see inside of the tent, he saw his associate, a changeling who appeared to be the captain of the camp, and one guard. His associate was now awake, but tied to a chair looking rather beaten up. Sneaking to the front of the tent, Lightning quietly stepped inside. Just as quietly, he snuck up to the guard.

The captain was attempting to interrogate his associate. “Answer my questions pony!” He lightly smacked Shinin across the face. Lightning was shocked to see how lightly he was hitting his associate. It was like the captain was afraid of hurting him. Lightning quietly took the guard out with some chloroform, and dragged him outside next to his buddy.

Sneaking back inside, the captain seemed to be growing tired of this. “Guard, smack the pony around a bit. I want him hurting so I can get some answers.”

Lightning stepped up the captain and smiled. Shinin did not seem to notice immediately. Lightning spoke, “Can’t even interrogate your own prisoners correctly. How did you elevate to a rank to run a camp like this.” The changeling quickly turned his head to see Lightning, but was quickly bucked in the head. Lightning rushed over to his associate, and undid his restraints.

Shinin said, “Wow, that was a quick rescue. What was that like 30 minutes?”

Lightning released Shinin, “Yeah, I would have been here sooner, but they only had one guard outside of your tent. That totally threw me off. Do you still have the objective?”

Shining nodded. “Yes I do. They didn’t even search me.”

Lightning thought about this for a bit. “This almost seems too easy. You know what Star Swirl is recorded to have said, ‘Sometimes your enemy knows you better than you know thy self.’”

Shinin sighed. “Yeah. Whatever. Let’s just go. I’m starting to get tired of all this sand.”

The two ponies left the tent, and quickly left the camp. The sun was coming up, and they wanted to be further away from the camp then they were at that moment. Guards started waking up getting ready to guard stuff, but they did not notice the two ponies running away up a dune, as they just woke up.