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Prologue: Predictions1,615 words
Operation Takedown (Part 1: Quiet Before the Storm)1,729 words
Operation Takedown (Part 2: Revelation)4,101 words

Prologue: Predictions

The Insecurity
RandomExpert781
Prologue: Predictions

Scootaloo was running. Running where; she had no clue of where, but all she knew was that she was in some forest, and something was telling her to keep running, keep running, don’t stop. Voices were all around her, all different voices, whispering different things. One voice in particular she recognized as Sweetie Belle’s. “I would never let you down,” it kept saying. Another voice came through; a colt’s voice, soft and cheerful. “I-I remember you . . . the mission in Stalliongrad!”

Scootaloo finally reached what she thought was her destination. A mountain. She could sense inside was some sort of labyrinth of tunnels, some intricate base. There were plenty of ponies guarding the place, all dressed up in military gear. She started listening again. The voices- they were different this time. Instead of whispering, it was faint screaming. Many voices this time, too. All were screaming, “Help me!” like some sort of haunted house on Nightmare Night. But it was all too real . . .

Suddenly, everything froze. The ponies, the voices, everything – except for herself. Scootaloo looked around, frightened for the first time in a very long time. A familiar face appeared in front of her.

“Applebloom?” Scootaloo said, confused.

“We’re gonna make it,” Applebloom whispered, smiling broadly. Her smile immediately turned to horror. “Oh, Celestia.”

Scootaloo found herself falling for a split second, before falling into a chair. She looked up from where she was sitting and froze. She found herself looking into the barrel of a pistol.

“Tell me everything,” a gruff voice said.

“Please don’t kill me,” Scootaloo whimpered.

The gun fired, and Scootaloo raised her arms as to protect herself. Yet she felt no pain and saw no blood. Instead, she was again, falling down, down, down, into what seemed like a never-ending abyss, inside what seemed like a cage. She started screaming. Yet through her screaming she heard a soft, motherly voice: “I will bring you back, back up, up, up . . .”

* * * * * * * *

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Sweetie Belle was yelling and shaking Scootaloo crazily. The three Crusaders were having a sleepover inside their clubhouse. Planning the sleepover itself was tough; they needed considerable freedom from their sisters, of which Applejack and Rarity were not ready to give up. Eventually the two sisters gave in, and the crusaders were finally able to have it. But Sweetie Belle was having second thoughts.

“Wake up!” she cried one final time. Applebloom was standing right beside her, eyes closed, whispering as if in a prayer. “Please wake up, please wake up.”

Suddenly, Scootaloo’s eyes opened wide. The filly sat up quickly, gasping for air, sweat running down her face and neck. She was cringing and groaning, as if in pain.

“Are you okay?” Applebloom asked, coming beside Scootaloo and gently rubbing her back.

She cringed again. “I-I don’t know,” she stammered. She took a deep breath and massaged her temple with a hoof. “W-w-what just h-happened?”

Sweetie Belle gave a quizzical look to Applebloom. She could only shrug. “We were about to ask you that,” Sweetie Belle said, facing Scootaloo.

She looked of into the distance for a few moments. She looked at the clock beside her. 1:44 AM. She gave a small chuckle and shook her head. “Please, don’t worry about it,” she mumbled, lying back down. “It’s late. Go back to sleep, I’ll be fine.

Applebloom pulled her back up and looked into her eyes. “We want to worry about it,” she said, laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Tell us. Please.”

Scootaloo put a hoof on her chin, as if thinking. “What if I say . . . no?” she said softly.

“As long as your fine, we won’t push it,” Sweetie Belle assured, giving a soft smile.

“Then I think that’s how I’ll leave it,” Scootaloo stated. “Go back to sleep, girls. We have a lot of crusading to do tomorrow.”

Both fillies hesitated. “Well,” Sweetie Belle said cautiously. “Okay, then.” Both fillies went back to bed, and both were asleep within minutes.

But Scootaloo was restless, still awake and thinking hard about her dream. She looked at the clock again. 1:56 AM. The only thing she could do was be worried, wondering, was it only a dream?

* * * * * * * *

Meanwhile. . .

Sen. Sgt. Aleksei was worried. No, worried is not the right word. Truthfully, he feels worried every day. No, he wasn’t worried. He was scared.

The tan-bodied, blue-tinged blond Pegasus was new to the group he had just joined, which had him on his nerves. The League of Discordian Rule, or LDR, was basically an army against the rule of the two sisters, and supporting Discord. But since Discord was trapped inside stone, followers of Discord decided to come together to overthrow the sisters and rule in his name. The pony who had influenced him to join – Ekaterina, a unicorn – had spoken of grand times.

“Think about it,” Ekaterina had said, pointing to the sky and horizon. “You could be part of royalty along with us, and own a part of all of Equestria. And the money – so, so much money, enough to make you drool.”

She had finally been able to convince him to join LDR. At first, being a private, ponies of higher rank had looked down on him like he was a joke. A few high-ranking officers came to watch him the first time he went to the shooting range, which happened to be completely empty of shooters.

“You couldn’t handle a gun if you tried,” said the unicorn on duty, a sly smirk on his face. But Aleksei walked right past him to a gun rack, lined with. Without even hesitating, Aleksei picks up a Heckler & Koch UMP45, and from a huge collection of magazines, picks up the correct one, a .45 ACP magazine. He walks up to the firing range, puts the earmuffs on, and loads the gun. With the officers now watching intently and in surprise, he aims the gun at a target about 50m away with one hoof, looks away, and pulls the trigger.

He emptied the magazine within 4 seconds. He then drops the gun, takes his earmuffs off, and looks at the target. To the chagrin and amazement of the officers, the only thing on the target was a hole right in the center, the size of a plastic bottle cap, about 3cm across.

The officers watching just had their mouths open, staring wide. Aleksei remembered shaking his head in pity. “You guys are just sad rookies. I’m outta here.” He walked out of that shooting range. He got promoted and no one has messed with him since.

He had been invited to a meeting for his first mission. Judging on how hush-hush the ponies were keeping this (which was very), and the fact that the meeting was in the middle of the night, he figured it was a pretty important mission. It made him smile. Heh, he thought. I used to be in such a low position, and now my first mission is one of the most important ones yet. That’s how I roll.

Trotting into the meeting room, Aleksei noticed seven other officers in the room; all were of respectable rank, and all were sitting at a conference table. The table had a laptop with a projector next to it on a blank PowerPoint slide. Looking at each one, he noticed a dark blue Unicorn, with a silver and yellow-tinged mane. It was his friend, Lt. Faruq, with an empty seat next to him.

“Nice to see you again, Lieutenant,” Aleksei whispered, sitting down.

Faruq gave him a pat on the back. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me soon,” he said, smirking.

Finally, a high-ranking officer walked in. He was an Earth pony wearing a military uniform, white with a blue mane, giving an irritated. He faced the conference table and the other ponies in the room.

“Hello, everyone,” he said calmly. “I am Colonel Safi. Let me just start by saying that this mission is a crucial step in moving forward. This mission will hugely affect the outcome of this group in the future.” He glanced at everyone in the room and smirked. “No pressure.” He looked at the clock: 1:45 AM. “Let me just remind you that this is just a briefing. Specific details will be given later.”

He clicked his laptop, and six ponies appeared on the slide, in the shape of a pyramid. On the bottom of the pyramid were three ponies: a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane; a white unicorn with a very elegant, purple-curled mane, and an entirely pink earth pony. The next layer had two ponies: a blue Pegasus with a blonde mane and sunglasses, and an orange earth pony with a rainbow mane and a cowboy hat. The last pony on the top was a purple Unicorn with purple bangs, and a magenta/violet streak.

Safi gave an evil stare at all the ponies in the room. “Also, to make a very important point, this,” Safi pointed at the purple Unicorn. “She is a top priority. She is to be taken care of at al costs.”

“Wait a minute,” an officer said, getting off his chair. “What is the nature of this mission? Murder? Rape?”

Safi paused a moment to ponder at the question. He looked up at the clock: 1:57 AM. Safi looked at all the ponies in the room, and then pointed at the projected screen. “These pictures you see in front of you are the holders of the Elements of Harmony. This kidnapping is, from now on, to be called, Operation Takedown.”

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