RAID

by Aqua Fortis

The North Wind Blows

Chapter 5: The North Wind Blows

1354
13 MAY 05 MIL-STD CAL

Dash strolled down the packed street, weaving between slower ponies in her way. Though the road was wide enough to comfortably fit two full-size carriages side-by-side, the dense crowd completely blocked vehicle passage. She tried her best to look casual, but having grown up in a pegasus city, her first time walking through Fillydelphia’s Near West Side was overwhelming. Ponies, zebras, griffons, and a dozen other species from all around the world gathered and lived in a cultural collision, flooding the streets with sights, smells, and sounds that could not be found anywhere else.

The smell of grilled corn on the cob wafted from one of the many carts parked on the side of the street, calling out to the rainbow pegasus with its siren call of salt, pepper, and melted butter. She trotted through the masses, passing a street band playing an upbeat blues tune to the great amusement of the gathered crowd. As she approached the stand, her lolling tongue and entranced gaze were all the zebra behind the grill needed to figure out that he had snared another customer. Dash retrieved three bits from her saddlebag, hardly taking her eyes off of the roasted corncob being slathered in butter and seasonings.

For any non-pegasus, eating corn on the cob while moving would have been a challenge, but Rainbow simply hovered a few feet off of the ground, staying to the edge of the crowd to avoid accidentally smacking somepony with her wings. She drifted past storefronts, savoring the delicious treat in her hooves.

After a few minutes of nibbling at the corncob, she was left with a barren husk and several butter-saturated napkins. A nearly full trashcan was located after a brief search, where she tossed the remnants of her meal and alighted on her hooves once more. A shifting weight in her saddlebags reminded her of her purpose in the surprisingly interesting neighborhood. A quick check of the tourist map she had procured told her that her destination was just a few blocks away.

She continued down the street, passing more food stands, musicians, and junk peddlers than she had ever seen before in her life. If she had not been on a strict timetable, she would have stayed to enjoy the unique experience. A quick glance inside a shop window told her that she had only a few minutes to go before somepony assumed something had gone wrong.

Dash stopped at an unremarkable apartment building, its light blue paint peeling back to reveal older coats of dull white. In some places, the wood showed through completely. A rickety fire escape ran down one side, zigzagging between floors before ending in a rusty ladder Dash wouldn’t trust to hold the weight of a foal. The lower windows were covered with sheets of plywood, and every window above them was coated in a layer of grime that spoke to the years since their last encounter with soap and water. Electrical wires ran from poles in the street to a rat’s nest of a junction box hanging haphazardly from the wall.

Wow, she thought. Gilda said it would be run-down, but she didn’t say it would be this run-down.

The crowd was much thinner this far down the street, with most creatures slowly shuffling past each other, as lifeless as the building facades that surrounded them. Music from street bands could still be heard, but their bluesy chords mixed together in a discordant cacophony of senseless noise. The vibrant Near West Side was beginning to fade into the far less welcoming neighborhood of Fillydelphia Heights.

It was there, on that dilapidated city street, that Rainbow Dash had been ordered to make a special delivery. “Your speed,” she had been told, “will allow you to keep the components safe should somepony try to intercept you en route.” She did not know what components she was carrying nor who might try to stop her. The only information she had been given was the time, location, and method of delivery. If she had been correctly informed, somepony would be opening the door to take the box from her saddlebag in less than five minutes. After that, she was to return directly to the Hub.

Dash stood outside the door, waiting for it to open. She had never been good at waiting. To a pony capable of traveling ten miles in just one minute, five minutes felt like an eternity. It made her very uncomfortable to stand still for too long, a feeling exacerbated by amorous looks from passing ponies mistaking her for a very different kind of professional. One grimy stallion began to approach her, but a cold glare from the pegasus warned him of his grave error before he compounded it. He stumbled off into the street with a mumbled apology, leaving Rainbow Dash more annoyed and impatient than ever.

To her great relief, the door behind her creaked open, revealing a haggard unicorn mare with square-framed glasses adorning her periwinkle face. Her light brown mane had been pulled back in a bun, but the work was old and sloppy, betrayed by the many loose strands falling into her eyes and around her drooping ears. She eyed Rainbow Dash with a panicked expression, quickly glancing down either side of the street.

Dash noticed the poor mare’s condition, but chose to ignore it in favor of leaving the depressing neighborhood as quickly as possible. “It’s about time you showed up. This is some place you’ve-“

“Shh! Get inside!” the mare implored, motioning towards the entrance with her hoof.

Rainbow cocked her head at the unkempt mare. “Inside? But my orders are to deliver this thing and leave.”

“I don’t have time to explain. Just get in here!”

Cautiously eyeing the paranoid operative, she quickly trotted into the dingy foyer, watching as her contact glanced left and right before closing and locking the heavy wooden door. The pink operative’s cutie mark was clearly visible, a magnifying glass and quill crossed over a scroll of parchment. She had seen a similar motif before – the Spyglass, Quill, and Bolt insignia of RAID’s most mysterious Division.

In a sudden moment of clarity, the strange situation made sense to Dash in an instant. Theta was running the mission.

The pink unicorn exhaled deeply before turning around, shooing Rainbow up a flight of stairs further into the dimly lit building. She wrinkled her nose as a moldy odor assaulted her, wafting from discolored stains in the ceiling and walls. A thick layer of dust and insect bodies had accumulated on the sill of the staircase’s only window. Incandescent light bulbs glowed a dull orange light, hung from exposed wires. To Dash, it seemed like the building hadn’t seen a repair since before she was born. Theta’s presence in such a dump was baffling. The few times she had seen Theta operatives, they had always been immaculately groomed and completely engrossed in their shiny new equipment.

When Rainbow reached the stairwell’s first landing, the frazzled unicorn hurriedly directed her towards one of the many grimy doors lining the hallway. The Theta operative hoofed a section of doorframe, pushing it into the wall with a loud click. A familiar aura surrounded the pair, but no voice announced their identities. Instead, the chipped-paint façade of the door vanished in a bright flash, replaced with a matte black metal surface. It noiselessly slid to the side a moment after appearing.

“Not bad. Y’know, for a unicorn,” Dash remarked.

The pink operative snorted. “You should see what happens when it doesn’t recognize the pony trying to open it.”

“What’s that?”

With a smirk, the unicorn nodded towards the floor. “You’re standing just above an anti-pony mine.”

Dash stared wide-eyed at her hooves, color slowly draining from her face.

Rolling her eyes at the rookie, the Theta operative led Rainbow through the disguised door into a dimly lit room crammed full of computers, displays, antennae, and all other manner of arcane devices the purpose of which Dash could hardly fathom. A middle-aged brown pegasus stallion sat at a monitor in the corner, holding a hoof to the earphones resting atop his head. Jagged lines slowly scrolled across the blue display, occasionally spiking into large peaks and troughs.

“What’s he doing,” Dash asked, “watching for earthquakes?”

Ignoring the question, the unicorn trotted to her compatriot and tapped him on the shoulder, rousing him from the trancelike state into which he had fallen. She wordlessly pointed to Rainbow.

“Ah! Just the pony I’ve been waiting for,” he exclaimed in a clipped Canterlot accent. “That is, of course, if you’re here to make a delivery. That is your purpose here, I presume?”

“Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t told a whole lot about this whole deal,” Dash replied. She loosened her saddlebags and began to shake them off, but a sudden panicked outburst from both Theta operatives stopped her.

“What?” she asked, confused. “I’m giving you whatever it is you need.”

The stallion shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, but the item you’re carrying is exceedingly expensive. It wouldn’t do to have you dropping it on the floor like yesterday’s cabbage.” He took to his wings, hovering over to Dash and taking the saddlebag in his forelegs. “I’ll take this from here, darling. I’m afraid you can’t be of any further help at the moment.”

Dash’s curiosity and discomfort at being called ‘darling’ by the older stallion combined into a retort with more venom than she had originally intended. She swatted his hooves away, backing up towards the door.

“Now, wait just a minute, ya Fancy Pants-wannabe. I’ve been kept out in the cold since the beginning of this delivery run. Everypony’s been acting like the world’s gonna end ever since that thing last week. I want to know what’s going on, and I’m not going to give you whatever this is until you creepy spooks tell me!”

Both Theta operatives stopped in their tracks, slowly turning to face each other. After a still moment, the pegasus nodded towards Rainbow without breaking eye contact with his partner, who repeated the gesture, wide-eyed. The pegasus signaled his confirmation with another subtle nod. Glancing sideways at Dash, the unicorn sighed and shrugged at her partner, who returned the signal.

The wordless exchange did not help Dash’s sense of exclusion. She gritted her teeth, preparing for the same response she had heard so many times already. to her surprise, though, the reply was far from typical.

“Rainbow Dash, we brought you inside because the situation has changed. I don’t know why you’ve been kept in the dark so far, but things have changed a bit. Even we can’t be certain until we get what you’re carrying. After we get it running, I’ll read you into the current operation.” She nervously glanced back at the screen. “Recent, uh, developments have given us the authority to bring in outside operatives if we deem it prudent. It was a bit of a last-minute decision, hence the unusual exchange at the door.”

“Finally! It’s about time somepony told me something.” She carefully removed the saddlebag, relinquishing it to the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. The bag gently floated away from her. She met the gaze of the Theta pegasus, suddenly feeling a small twinge of guilt. “Sorry about… all that, though. It’s been a tough week for me.”

He adjusted his square-rimmed glasses with a hoof before jovially replying, “Ah, don’t worry about it. I heard about your rather troubling mission just the other day. Nasty bit of business, getting your first kill in combat. There’s no easy way to go about it. I remember when I got mine, way back when I flew with the Gamma teams. Hardly ate for three days until my lieutenant sat me down and had a long talk to get me back on my hooves.”

“I was the same way,” Dash admitted. “Spitfire came to me a couple days later and talked to me for hours.” She tapped her chin with a hoof, looking away in thought. “Well, it was more like hours of her insisting that we talk and me saying that nothing was wrong. Once she finally got me to open up, it was, like, fifteen minutes long.” She chuckled. “I’m still not back to my full awesomeness yet, but I’m way better than I was.”

The pegasus chuckled at their shared experience. “It seems you and I have something in common.”

Dash nodded. “Looks that way.”

“It appears we got off on the wrong hoof,” the pegasus continued. He extended his foreleg for a shake. “I’m Dialect. Theta Division linguistics expert.”

Rainbow returned the hoofshake. “Rainbow Dash. You apparently already know that.”

“Sema Four. Signals Intelligence technician,” said the unicorn, her hind legs sticking up in the air as she leaned into the top of a large black box to install the new component.

“You, uh… need some help there?” Dash asked, cocking her head at the strange sight.

“Nope!” There was a brief flash of light and a crackle of electricity, then a dull thud as Sema’s hooves landed on the floor. “Everything’s set. Time to find out just what the hay we’re dealing with.”

Dialect nodded in agreement, trotting to his console and replacing the headphones over his ears. Dash and Sema Four slowly crept up behind him, watching the screen over his shoulders. A silent minute passed. Despite the state-of-the-art headphones covering Dialect’s ears, Rainbow subconsciously quieted her breathing as she waited for the explanation she had been anticipating for days.

After a few more minutes, Dialect removed the headphones with a deep sigh. “Well, my dears, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that the transmission has a distinct Novosibird accent. The code words they’re using may prevent us from figuring out what the buggers are talking about, but King Ivory might as well have signed his name to this signal.”

He pointed to the series of lines on the screen. “The good news, however, is that the signal is strong enough to triangulate their position. I’ll contact our colleagues in Cloudsdale; if my hunch is correct, they’re in the best geographical location to help us.” He took a step away from the console. “Sema, I’ll leave you to your… whatever it is that you do.”

Sema Four planted herself in front of the console while Dialect trotted across the room. “You were wondering why you’ve been kept in the dark, Rainbow Dash? That’s why,” he said, nodding towards the display of jagged lines. “We discovered that signal two days ago, but it was too weak to decode without the amplifier you just delivered.”

He stopped next to a crystal comm suite similar to the one Dash had seen Gilda use the week prior. “About an hour ago, there was a brief spike in broadcast power, during which I thought I heard an accent from somewhere in the Griffon Kingdom. Sema and I figured it would be better to play it safe and bring you inside, what with the rather diverse population of this area,” he continued, vaguely waving his hoof towards the surrounding buildings. “It would be far too easy for one of these ‘innocent’ griffons to be not-so-innocent.”

He brushed a strand of his dark grey mane out of his face before placing the combination microphone-earpiece on his head. “Red Maple to Douglas Fir. Come in, Douglas Fir. Over.”

After a moment of silence, the speaker crackled to life. “Douglas Fir to Red Maple. We read you. Over.”

Dialect pushed the microphone away from his mouth, leaning back to address Rainbow. “Best be getting on back to the Hub, then. You’ll probably be needed soon.”

Dash’s first instinct was to protest; she wanted to be present for the discovery of the signal’s location. After a moment’s consideration, though, she conceded that the stallion was likely correct. Not only would she need to be ready if called, but she would also need to explain her tardiness in the current mission. She was supposed to have left Fillydelphia nearly thirty minutes ago. Considering the situation, she doubted there would be any repercussions. Either way, there was no reason to waste any more time. She left the safe house as quickly as she could, taking wing for the Hub as soon as she stepped outside.

---

2136
13 MAY 05 MIL-STD CAL

Rainbow’s stomach churned in a nauseating dance as she exited RAID’s secure briefing room. The discovery in Fillydelphia had planted seeds of apprehension that grew rapidly as the afternoon slipped away. She had hoped that Dialect’s assessment had been mistaken, but as activity subtly picked up in the Hub’s atrium over the course of the evening, she knew something was wrong. Though she was loath to admit it, she knew there was only one reason for the increase.

The briefing had confirmed her fears. The encoded transmission Dialect and Sema Four had detected was coming from deep within the Crystal Mountains, and it was almost certainly intended for the Griffon Kingdom. A team of Gamma Division operatives was being sent on a “flexible response” mission. They would fly north overnight to arrive at the signal’s triangulated location just before dawn to reconnoiter the source, at which point they would have several options. If it was a relay beacon, they would dismantle it and return it for analysis. If it turned out to be renegade ponies, they would be captured for trial. If it was a griffon military unit, though, they would attack in the pre-dawn light, destroying the griffons as quickly as possible, ideally before the interlopers could tell their superiors what had happened.

Rainbow Dash shook nervously at the possibility. The memory of her previous encounter with trespassing griffons, though not as raw and present as it was several days ago, still held her mind in a paralyzing vise grip whenever she recalled it. She was unsure if she was ready for a second engagement so soon after the trauma of the Manehattan Approach incident. Performing as required for another mission would take all of the discipline she had developed over the past year, and despite all her training, she had no idea if it would be enough.

She followed the platoon to which she had been temporarily attached towards the Gamma Division HQ, silently trying to calm her nerves when she heard a familiar voice call to her from the atrium.

“Rainbow Dash? Wait up a minute.”

She looked over her shoulder to see Spitfire trotting up behind her. A trickle of relief flowed into her at the sight of a friendly face. She had been a tough commander at the Wonderbolts Academy several years earlier, but as her mentor at RAID, nopony could read her better. Despite Rainbow’s brash personality, Spitfire had learned to see when the young operative’s brave face was just that.

Spitfire caught up to her just outside of the gaping tunnel entrance to Gamma’s headquarters. “You looked like you had seen a ghost all through that briefing. Something you wanna talk about?”

“I’m fine,” Dash lied.

She was met with a skeptical stare. “You’re shaking,” the Wonderbolt deadpanned.

A glance down at her hooves revealed that the yellow pegasus was correct. Rainbow’s bullheaded first instinct was to make up a quick excuse, but she held her tongue for the moment. If she had learned anything in the years since the Best Young Flyer Competition, it was to trust her friends to help her through tough times.

“I’m still… scared,” Dash admitted, hanging her head. “I keep seeing that griffon I killed just floating on the waves. No matter what I do, I keep going back to that. It’s just stuck in my head.” She locked eyes with her mentor. “I don’t know if I can do it again.”

Spitfire sighed, draping a comforting wing around her protege. “Dash… it’s never easy, getting over the first time you witness death. You never really ‘get over it’. It changes you. There’s no escaping that. You have it particularly bad. Most ponies, even RAID operatives, see a few takedowns before they have to do one themselves.

“But you’re strong. I know you are. You’ve shown that since the Best Young Flyer Competition, way back when. You think I didn’t know when you were supposed to perform? I had the list right in front of me, and I know stage fright when I see it. I don’t mean to compare performance anxiety with what you’re going through, but it shows that you’re tough enough to get past it.”

Rainbow slowly shook her head. “But what if I freeze up? What if my squad needs me to fight and I’m too much of a scaredy-filly to do anything?”

“Understandable,” the Wonderbolt replied. “You don’t want to let your fellow operatives down. I can’t offer any proof to back this up, but trust me, you won’t. Everypony thinks they will, but when push comes to shove, they find a way to stay with it when things get real.”

She was met with a doubtful glance from her protege. “You really believe that?”

“Doesn’t matter what I believe,” Spitfire countered. “Doesn’t even matter what you believe. Somepony higher ranking than either of us seems to believe it, or they would never have assigned you to this mission. Hay, they even put you on the Recon squad. That’s like a vote of confidence from the Gamma Division CO herself. Face it, filly,” she said, ruffling Dash’s mane. “You’ve got fans in high places. Ponies who should know don’t think you’ll crack.”

“Besides,” she added, “how many times have you faced monsters that threatened all of Equestria? Four? Five?”

Rainbow dug at the ground with a hoof. “I guess so…”

“You’re a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for, Dash, and knowing how fond you are of yourself, that’s saying something.”

Dash chuckled in spite of herself. “I can’t help liking myself so much. I work so hard for it.”

Her mentor gave her a pat on the back. “You see? Things will be fine. If some griffon gets in your face, just remind them who they’re dealing with.”

Smiling, Dash trotted down the tunnel, stopping after a few steps to turn around. “Hey, Spitfire?”

“Yeah?”

“…thanks.”

The Wonderbolt captain nodded. “Stay frosty.”

---

0521
14 MAY 05 MIL-STD CAL

15 kilometers north of Equestrian Border

Rainbow peered over the icy ridge at the waypoint displayed on her visor, searching for any evidence of activity. She squinted, trying to see through the obscuring snowfall. The only things she could make out, though, were drifts of snow piling up against boulders on the small ledge. There was no transmitter and no evidence of a camp. If the provided coordinates were correct, Dash presumed that whomever was responsible for the mysterious signal had vanished overnight.

Despite the heavy winter gear encasing her, a sharp gust forced her head into the cover of the rocky ridge over which she had been looking. Her detachment had reached the frigid heights of the Crystal Mountians two hours ago, and the weather had been terrible since their arrival. Every blast of arctic wind relentlessly searched out the seams in her insulated armor, keeping her constantly dreading the next gust. ‘Stay frosty.’ Very funny, Spitfire.

To her right, four other operatives, all similarly insulated in white camouflage, hunkered down out of the snowstorm. The one closest to her, a sergeant who had been put in command of the small detachment, shuffled closer to be heard over the howling wind.

“Anything?”

Dash shook her head. “Just a bunch of rocks and snow,” she shouted back. “If something was there yesterday, they must’ve run off overnight.”

The sergeant reached into his saddlebag, retrieving a bulky pair of binoculars. “Use these,” he said, hoofing them to her. “They’re enchanted to pick up heat signatures. If there’s something there, this ought to show their body heat.”

Accepting the binoculars, Dash poked her head over the ridge again. She looked through the enchanted optics, seeing a swirling mass of shades of black and dark grey as the freezing wind whistled through the ravine. As she focused on the ledge below, she was not surprised to see only cold black among the rocks and drifts. A scan of the surrounding area revealed that the only heat signatures being detected were those of the four ponies hugging the icy wall next to her.

A puff of condensation wafted through her mask as she sighed, half in resignation and half in relief. She ducked beneath the granite outcropping once again, hoofing the binoculars back to the sergeant.

“Nothing but ice and wind,” she said. “I don’t think anything’s there.”

The sergeant nodded, accepting the enchanted device. “Sounds that way, but we ought to get a closer look before we call it.” He turned to the rest of his team. “Swift Wing, Storm Chaser, you two take the binocs and get a little closer. The gale might be messing with heat sigs. Contrail, you stick with us. We’re gonna cover them if things go sideways.”

Taking to their assignments, the recon squad split up. Two pegasi took to the air, fighting against the frigid storm winds as soon as they rose above the small outcropping that had been shielding them. The remaining ponies spread out along the narrow ledge, each getting a different angle overlooking the supposed campsite. The two stallions both drew bows, each nocking an arrow. Dash unclasped the spear from her back, looking at the sergeant in confusion.

“I get how you’re planning to cover them,” she shouted, pointing at his bow, “but just what am I supposed to do? They’re a teensy bit out of my range from up here.”

“You’re supposed to be fast, aren’t you?” the recon leader replied. “If things go wrong, swoop down and make a mess. We promise not to shoot you by accident.”

Dash rolled her eyes, thankful that her tinted visor would conceal the disrespectful gesture. Nevertheless, she took her place on the ridge, peeking out at the campsite. The two operatives were on a smaller ledge about twenty meters below and in front of her, placing them about halfway between the coordinates and the rest of their squad. The only level ground between them and a sheer cliff face was the supposed campsite, forcing them to conduct their surveillance from a range that was less than ideal. She watched as they scanned the site once, twice, and a third time. They exchanged the binoculars several times, pointing towards one place or another they wanted double-checked. After a brutally cold five minutes, Dash’s crystal comm sparked to life.

“Sergeant, you’re gonna want to check this out.”

She glanced over towards the bow-wielding sergeant, who keyed his own headset. “Find something interesting?”

“We’re getting weak heat sigs from the big rocks. Not much, but they’ve all got one.”

“If it’s that weak, it’s probably background radiation that they scatter better than snow,” the sergeant replied, the disappointment in his voice clear. “Fall back to my position and prepare to move out.”

“No, sarge, it’s coming from inside the rocks.”

Dash saw him freeze for a moment. “Say again?”

“The heat signatures are coming from inside, repeat, inside the rocks. There’s something in ‘em.”

The sound of wind was the only noise for a pregnant minute. Finally, the sergeant slung his bow, shouting to address the pair of operatives to his sides. “I’m going down there to check it out. If anything pops out and takes off in a hurry, make sure it doesn’t get away.”

With that, he vaulted over the ridge, fighting against the headwind towards the two ponies ahead. Landing beside them, he took the binoculars and sighted the nearest rock. Dash saw him rub his visor with an insulated hoof, peering through the optics once again. After a minute, he returned the enchanted item to his saddlebag and waved the two operatives forward, joining them as they approached the rock nearest to their observation point. The sergeant tapped the side twice before turning to his followers and nodding.

Rainbow watched curiously as the three pegasi pushed on the boulder in unison, their hooves slipping in the snow. When they finally got purchase on the slippery surface, Dash was amazed to watch the boulder topple over, revealing a large hollow on the inside. In the hole left by the false rock, a sleeping griffon was rudely awakened by the sudden cold wind. She tore off the multitude of blankets covering her, but stopped short as the three operatives leveled their weapons at her.

The RAID operatives encircled her, leaving no escape. She glanced at the sword laying amongst her blankets, but the ponies noticed the weapon before she could act, dragging it to the cliff’s edge and tossing it over, blankets and all. Left with no other option, the griffon surrendered, allowing shackles to be placed around her legs and a restraining belt over her wings.

Satisfied that the prisoner was going nowhere, the sergeant radioed to the ponies on the ridge. “Rainbow Dash, come down here and guard this one. Contrail, keep giving us cover. I’m going to call for reinforcements.”

Dash followed the example of the three pegasi before her, jumping over the ledge and putting all her strength into pushing against the wind. It offered more resistance than she had expected, but she was able to make it to the campsite quickly enough. Remembering Spitfire’s encouragement, she gripped her spear in her fetlock, securing the counterweight in the leg plate’s dimple. The tip was leveled directly at the griffon’s throat, kissing her windblown feathers with its lethal edge.

The look on the griffon’s face echoed a confusing mix of emotions. The initial shock of being discovered had given way to fear at her own powerlessness, tempered with anger, both at herself for getting captured and at her captors for daring to meddle with her mission. Dash gave silent thanks for the mirrored visor of her arctic bodysuit, not wanting the fear in her own eyes to be seen by the citrus yellow ones staring back at her.

A second rock was overturned, eliciting a similar response from the hidden griffon. He was quicker to reach his weapon than the first griffon, though, and took a wild swing at one of his captors. The pony ducked under the slash, readying his katana to deflect the inevitable follow-up strike. He waited for a split-second, weapon in hoof, but the griffon collapsed, an arrow buried just below the neck. Dash glanced to the ridge she had recently occupied to see their archer overwatch nock another arrow to his bow.

Anticipating a reaction at the slaying of her comrade, Dash reminded the prisoner of the spear at her throat with a quick prod. She recoiled at the touch, the anger behind her eyes even more apparent. Rainbow prayed that the griffon had enough restraint to keep from making a rash decision that would require Rainbow to kill her. Assurances from Spitfire aside, she did not want to kill an unarmed opponent.

Then again, she thought, is a griffon ever really unarmed? With those claws and that beak, they’re like living, breathing weapons.

The sergeant and his team moved to the third boulder. With a grunting effort, they pushed it over, landing in the snow with a muffled thud. Underneath, there was pile of blankets, a small pillow, and no griffon. A hole in the snow leading under the edge of the rock caught their attention. If one of the griffons had escaped, there was no way the operatives could catch him in the storm.

“Contrail,” the sergeant began, “did you see anything get away?”

“Negative, sergeant, skies are clear.”

The recon leader gave rapid-fire hoof signals to his two subordinates. The three pegasi cautiously spread out, poking at drifts in an attempt to locate the last griffon. As the sergeant approached a particularly large snowbank, a large figure burst from under it. Very suddenly, he found himself staring at the tip of a crossbow bolt aimed squarely at his head.

Dash’s gasp was muffled by her mask. She kept the prisoner at the full length of her spear, constantly glancing between the scene developing to her right and the captured griffon in front of her. Swift Wing and Storm Chaser brought their weapons to bear against the threatening intruder, shouting at him incoherently over the howling wind.

In a flustered reaction to the sudden threat, the sergeant stumbled, landing on his side in the snow. The crossbow-wielding griffon did not break his aim.

“Equestrian scum!” the griffon yelled. “Meddling pigs! You picked the wrong fight! Do you really think your pathetic Royal Guard has any chance against the mighty Army of the Griffon Kingdom?”

“Contrail,” the sergeant mumbled over the crystal comm, “hold your fire. You hit him, he might clench and shoot me.”

The intruder continued, launching into a tirade. “You ponies are weak! You haven’t even succeeded here! Our mission is complete. We were to leave this very morning. You arrogant Equestrians did not even notice until too late! Our generals are most pleased with progress made here. So kill us! We will be heroes!”

“Drop the weapon and put your wings at your sides!” Storm Chaser shouted back.

The griffon was taken aback by the demand, recoiling as if insulted. “Surrender? So you can interrogate me? Make me betray my motherland?”

“This is your last chance! Put the crossbow on the ground! Now!”

His grip on the crossbow tightened, muscles in his legs tensing. He snarled at the sergeant, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

“There is no surrender for a griffon!”

Before anypony could react, he raised his crossbow and fired over the sergeant’s head. An arrow came sailing in from behind, striking the griffon in the thigh as both operatives swung their weapons at him. Dash, reacting to the apparent change in target, threw herself into the snow.

A second later, she recovered, quickly scanning the ledge. The griffon with the crossbow had been cut down, slashes and stab wounds staining his coat, feathers, and the snow around his unmoving body. Rainbow looked around for the captured female, only to find her slumped in the snow as well, a crossbow bolt buried at the base of her skull.

The sergeant lifted himself out of the snow, turning to Dash and the slain captive. He slowly walked to the dead griffon, prodding her once with his hoof. Convinced that all the intruders had been killed, he swore under his breath.

Dash thrust her spear into the snow. “What the hay was that all about?!” she screamed, her voice cracking. “He shot his own squadmate?!”

“Looks that way,” the sergeant replied, nodding sadly.

The obvious response left Dash grasping for words. She fell back on her haunches, torn between anger and confusion. “Why would he do that?”

“Dead griffons don’t answer questions.”

A silent moment passed as the operatives took in the scene around them, baffled by the fratricide they had just witnessed. The gale around them began to subside as the eastern horizon showed signs of light between the jagged peaks. With the storm dying and daylight barely an hour away, they would need to return to their Crystal Empire safe house soon or risk being spotted. The sergeant keyed his crystal comm, somberly contacting his superior.

“Recon reporting. Contact with hostile griffon force. Three EKIA. No prisoners. No friendly casualties. No sign of transmitter. Over.”

The comm line buzzed with interference for a moment before a response was heard. “Roger, Recon. Transmitter has been located about a half klick south of you. Let’s get this stuff home to the Beta techs. They’ll have a field day with it. Over.”

“Copy. Over and out.” The sergeant slung his bow once more, stretching his wings once it was secure. “Y’all heard him. Let’s move.”

The operatives took to the early dawn sky, leaving the bizarre, frustrating carnage behind.

---

1539
14 MAY 05 MIL-STD CAL

A glance at the clock and some quick mental math told Rainbow that she had been awake for almost forty hours straight, nine of which she had spent in the coldest place she could imagine. It was nothing short of a miracle that she was able to stay awake in the stuffy briefing room in Section 37’s concrete depths. Gilda and Spitfire had been briefed separately, leaving Dash all alone, waiting for somepony to tell her what to think.

The clanging of metal on metal interrupted Dash’s half-awake stupor as the entrance unlocked. She spun around, watching the black metal door swing open to reveal the Commandant, unaccompanied by her normal escort of bodyguards. After a second of uncomprehending silence, Rainbow flailed her limbs wildly in an attempt to quickly leave her seat and come to attention.

“At ease, Rainbow Dash,” the Commandant said, the gentleness of her voice foreign to Rainbow. “You’ve had a tough run lately. I’m not here to chew you out.”

On a normal day, Dash would have been suspicious of such low-key proceedings with a high-ranking officer, but her exhausted mind simply took it at face value. She returned to her seat with a calm, focused energy flowing anew through her as RAID’s senior officer quietly proceeded to the front of the room.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m debriefing you in person,” the Commandant began, “so I’ll cut to the chase. In light of this morning’s mission, I’ve brought us to Response Level One, the highest readiness level RAID has. It looks like we’re in for a conflict with the Griffon Kingdom, and I want to handle as much of it as possible in-house. I’d like to prevent an all-out war, if at all possible.”

She produced a manila folder from a saddlebag, opening it on the desk in front of her. “Despite your predictable reaction to your first mission, you are a great asset to this unit. Obviously, my subordinates share my views, or you would not have been deployed this morning. You are strong, resilient, quick to adapt, and fast as Tartarus. You still make the occasional rookie mistake, but nothing so bad that your teammates can’t cover it.”

She subtly straightened her neck, standing ever so slightly taller. “For these reasons, you have been hoof-picked for special duty until further notice. It’s clear that we will be fighting in the air for the time being, and your speed has already proven its usefulness in combat.

“I’ve already briefed Captain Spitfire and Gilda, and they both think you’re ready for this. Everypony who’s worked with you has good things to say. You might not know it, Ms. Dash, but those who matter have a high opinion of you. You may yet be a fine operative.”

She ran a hoof through her mane. “I can’t say that the next while is going to be any kind of easy, nor can I promise how you’ll come out of it. But if you can stay as strong as I’ve seen you be, you’ll pull through. You think you can do that?”

Dash hesitated. “I don’t know, ma’am. I’ve been pushed hard the past week, and the only thing we’ve accomplished is killing a few griffons. If you ask me, ma’am, it seems like we’re wasting a lot of effort. I may not have paid much attention in school, but I know Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom haven’t always played nice with each other. What’s different this time? Why can’t the Royal Guard handle it?”

“Honestly?” The Commandant closed the folder emphatically. “I have no idea what they’re up to, and neither does Theta Division. King Ivory denies sending any griffons here or receiving any transmissions. I’ve told Colonel North Star to get his act together, but we don’t see eye to eye on how an intelligence organization should be run. I wish I could remove him, but he conned his way into a recommendation from Celestia herself, and I can’t just ignore that.” She grimaced. “I don’t even wanna know what he did to get it.”

“So that’s it?” Dash asked incredulously. “Just, ‘we don’t know what’s going on, but you have to be ready to go and kill at a moment’s notice’? It sounds like nopony knows what’s going on, so our first reaction is to murder every griffon who shows her tailfeathers on this side of the ocean!” She shakily rose from her seat. “If that’s the case, why don’t I go and knock Gilda over the head a few times, ma’am? I could put another notch on my spear!”

The Commandant glared at her. “First of all, Miss Dash, I am your commanding officer, and I will not be spoken to in such a manner. You may disagree with me, but you will do so respectfully and with the professional courtesies expected of an operative addressing a superior officer.”

Dash put on her best poker face, but the combination of exhaustion and anger made her compromise on a scowl. The Commandant, apparently satisfied with the minor improvement, continued.

“To speak directly to the point you’ve made, it surprises me that I would have to explain this to you. Our country is under attack, and the Element of Loyalty is asking why we need to defend it? I expected better of you, Rainbow Dash. You’ve defended Equestria many times before, each time putting your life on the line for your fellow ponies. I ask you, how is this different?”

Rainbow cocked her head at her superior’s description.“‘Under attack’, ma’am? With all due respect, you’re reminding me of a dressmaker I know from home. A couple of three-griffon teams not even crossing our borders is not an attack. It’s a problem, ma’am, one that the Guard is equipped to handle. I know it is; I’ve met the Captain before. It would take a little more than a half-dozen griffons to overwhelm his forces.” She shifted her weight, trying to shake the exhaustion plaguing her every move. “I’d say you’re milking this just a teeny bit, ma’am. I’m all for defending Equestria, but I don’t think we need to annihilate every puddlejumper who happens to look at our airspace wrong.”

“I think recent events prove that the griffons aren’t big fans of avoiding bloodshed,” the Commandant countered. “They didn’t retreat when outnumbered five to one, and one of them shot his own squadmate in the head to keep her from getting captured. That kind of behavior is not something that will back down from a fight, no matter how hopeless.

“And if that’s not proof enough,” she continued evenly, pushing the folder towards Dash, “then perhaps this will change your mind. Page seven. Cargo manifest of the Azure Sky, which left Baltimare Harbor two days ago.”

Rainbow opened the folder to the specified page, skimming the text. “All I see is a lot of raw iron and some chariot parts. Nothing out of the ordinary, ma’am.”

“The Griffon Kingdom has the biggest raw iron industry in the world,” the Commandant said. “They haven’t imported iron from us in recorded history. Why would they suddenly need two thousand tons of Equestrian iron?”

Dash closed the folder. “Alright, that’s a little weird. But... what’s the point?”

A yellow hoof retrieved the folder. “Theta thinks it’s a cover for cargo of a more, uh, sinister nature. We’re going to board the freighter tomorrow and find out what they’re hiding. They’re sailing into a building storm, which will give us cover for an approach.” She looked squarely into Rainbow’s eyes. “I know you were a weather pony before joining up. You have experience flying in storms that other operatives simply don’t have. That’s why I’m placing you on the boarding team. Unless,” she said, narrowing her gaze, “you think I’m overreacting.”

The specter of another hasty engagement haunted every scenario Dash could imagine. RAID had been moving quickly and aggressively since the intercept outside of Manehattan, and she was leary of her fellow operatives’ penchant for swiftly ending lives. She loved Equestria dearly, and there was no doubt in her mind that she could kill its enemies. The skirmishes she had experienced over the past week, though, did not convince her that the griffons were truly Equestria’s foes.

Just as she was about to voice her objection, though, the strange shipping manifest tugged at her mind. If the griffons had so much iron, why were they buying so much of it from a country across the ocean? What was worth hiding like that? Were they smuggling weapons? Spies? Technology? Something worse? Though the risk was small, there was still the possibility that the griffons were building a strategic edge right under Equestria’s nose.

A thought occurred to her. If she was on the team, she could keep things from spiraling out of control again. It was like she had told Fluttershy a thousand times - she just needed to be more assertive. She needed to suck up her fears and personally control her surroundings. It would not be easy or pleasant, but she was certain it would allow her to stop violence before it started.

“No, ma’am,” Dash said resolutely. “I’m good to go.”

The Commandant nodded. “Glad to hear it, Miss Dash. Gilda will brief you before you deploy tomorrow. Until then, get some rest. You deserve it.”

Dash saluted as her superior rose. “Yes, ma’am.”

“You’ll do alright, kid,” the Commandant said as she trotted out of the briefing room. “This ain’t an easy life. You just gotta learn not to make it harder on yourself.”

Rainbow watched silently as the heavy black door opened with the oiled squeal of metal on metal. All at once, the past forty hours caught up to her, leaving her completely drained. The short walk back to the barracks may as well have been a hundred-mile hike for how tired she felt. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof, trying to ward off sleep until she was comfortably beneath her sheets. Exiting the secure room, she allowed a yawn to pass her lips. Throughout the entire walk back, she mentally repeated one phrase, burning it into her consciousness.

The fight is mine to control.

NEXT CHAPTER: “Boarding Action”

Comments

[AllPowersCombined]

Ok I'm convinced now that compared to this, being in the Wonderbolts is just a retirement for these guys not a main goal.

[Rocket0007]

Wonderbolts should be more of a mid career lull (something more like the blue angels) but then again, that might require admitting to raid's existence.

Anyhow, as far as the shipping is concerned, subtly removing resources from one nation to another that's already not on good terms is not a good sign, excess hidden baggage would only be more fuel for the wild fire, it's almost an inconsequential addition at this point. Needless to say, this next opp looks like it's going to tartaurus and RD won't be able to prevent it. War's a comen' (but maybe it will be a behind the scenes fight...

[edgelesspigeon]

Man, this story keeps getting better and better. I'm loving this.

[Brony Tom]

This made my evening at least 21% better.

[Rainbow87dash]

Why did I put off reading this
It's. SO.AWESOME

[Aqua Fortis]

2097529

[zaponator]

Another great chapter.
I have a feeling that the fight is not going to be as easy to control as Dash hopes.

[MellowMabari]

Sema Four - Signals Intelligence Technician

I see what you did there.

Another great chapter! A shit storm is clearly on the horizon, what with all the sneaky shenanigans the Griffons are getting into. I don't know if I'm supposed to, but I'm reading the Griffons with a Russian accent, and I'm not sure if that makes their interactions more intense or humorous. Maybe a bit of both. Anywho, still loving this