Chapter 3: Union
Skyfall Headquarters was busy and noisy with the sound of heavy construction. For the past few days, Quarter Master had taken up a secret project with Luna, one that they both adamantly refused to share with the spec ops team. But whatever it was, it involved a lot of metal and welding and round-the-clock work.
Today was no different. Fleethoof gazed in curiosity at the monstrous metal frame sitting like an eyesore in the middle of the chamber. It didn’t look like anything he had ever seen before. But then again, with Quarter Master, nothing was ever to be expected.
“Everypony’s waiting in the office,” Sharp Shot said, guiding his leader across the floor and over to the boardroom.
True to his word, when Fleethoof entered the room, four pairs of eyes turned in his direction. Nopony said a word as Sharp Shot closed the door behind them, sealing the six ponies in the nearly silent room. Fleethoof looked between his team, studying the expressions of concern, confusion, and upset.
“Well?” he asked after a few moments had passed. “I expected everypony to be enjoying their break, not moping. Is anypony going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Captain,” Valiant spoke up after another long bout of silence. “Who are Fireteam Union?”
The name made the pegasus blink a couple of times in quick succession. He hadn’t heard of that unit in some time, not since well before the Canterlot incident.
“Where did you hear about them?” he asked slowly.
“Quarter Master was talking about making new equipment for them sometime soon, and that he sent a prototype out to them. And, well, we hadn’t heard of them, so we thought—”
“Skyfall is being replaced?” Cupcake asked abruptly.
Fleethoof felt a wave of relief wash over him. That’s what this whole panic was about? He furrowed his brow slightly.
“Why would you think we’re being replaced? We just got started.”
“Exactly!” exclaimed the large Earth pony. “Did we do bad? We fuck something up, yes? That is why they make second team!”
“No, no that’s not the case,” Fleethoof reassured his comrade, leaning against the table towards the ponies. “Fireteam Union is like us, an experimental project going through their test phase now. We passed; they haven’t yet. They’re not a threat to us.”
Sharp Shot spoke up. “Then what are they, boss?”
Fleethoof wet his lips, trying to think of the best way to describe Union.
“Union is a specialty unit based out of the Wonderbolts Academy. We’re made of the best in our fields, but they’re made strictly of uniform abilities. They are all pegasi, so they’re a pegasi special unit, but they’re basic soldiers. They don’t deal in the same tasks we do. They get the easier ones, so to say, so we don’t get bogged or run down. They’re mostly a trial of public spec ops, and stress relief for us. But nopony is being replaced.”
Cupcake didn’t look convinced. “But, these ponies—”
“Nopony is being replaced.”
“But they—”
“Nopony is being replaced!”
Cupcake fell silent, leaning back against the far wall and crossing his hooves. A deep sigh left the captain, trying to think of another way to explain this to them.
“Look, Fireteam Union is going to be beneficial to us. They’ve already been fairly successful so far, and it gives us time to really hone our skills and focus on the most dangerous threats to Equestria,” he explicated slowly and calmly. “Imagine if we investigated every little hint of danger. We’d be run ragged by the end of the month. With the world in as much turmoil as it is, they give us some breathing room. They let us do what we do best. They’re not going to become us.”
Valiant shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Why didn’t you tell us about them?”
“It slipped my mind during all the chaos with The Sword, but I had every intention to,” Fleethoof apologized. “They weren’t high on my priority list though. I haven’t heard any news on their actions in some time though, so I mostly just assumed they had either completed whatever mission they were on, or had been disbanded or killed. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would worry you this much.”
Another unsettling silence took hold of the room. Fleethoof hung his head with a tired sigh. This day was not going well…
Finally, Cupcake nodded once, firm and resolute. “I forgive.”
A half smile touched the pegasus’ lips. If there was one pony he could always count on to back him up, it was that big lug.
“I suppose I understand now,” Sharp Shot agreed, his tone pessimistic. “But I have my doubts.”
“You always have doubt,” Cupcake retorted.
“Captain?” Valiant’s voice is what finally made Fleethoof look back up again, locking gazes with his teammate. “I still have a question.”
Fleethoof could feel his exhaustion grow. “Shoot.”
“What about the situation in the south?”
An icy chill gripped Fleethoof’s heart. A shudder ran through his core. He swallowed hard, dropping his gaze to the varnished wood of the table. He shivered gently and pulled his pills out of a pocket in his uniform, downing one quickly to numb the pain starting in his wing’s joint again.
“What about it?”
Valiant hesitated for a moment. “Well… aren’t we going to do anything about it?”
“No.” Fleethoof shook his head quickly. “You know as well as I do Equestria’s position is strictly isolationist. We can’t interfere.”
“But, sir, the fighting is escalating.”
“I know, Valiant,” snapped Fleethoof, resting his sore face in his hooves and exhaling hard to calm himself down. “I know… But we can’t do anything about it. The princesses have forbidden it. It’s not our concern.”
The room was quiet. All that could be heard was dull banging and clanking of the mechanics and researchers working just outside the door.
“Go home, everypony,” Fleethoof said, mumbling into his hooves while rubbing his throbbing temples to soothe the headache. “We’re not on active duty. Take some time to yourselves. Enjoy life. And don’t worry, nothing is going to happen.”
For the longest time, nopony spoke or moved. The room was as still as it had always been. And then Sharp Shot stepped out of the room. Cupcake and Lightning Flash followed shortly after, and then Blue Shield joined them. Valiant, loyal as he was, lingered a few minutes more, but when his officer didn’t speak or move, he gave up and, with a reluctant sigh, left as well.
Now alone in the quiet of the boardroom, Fleethoof let his hooves fall from his eyes. He felt tired, and wanted nothing more than to sleep and forget about the world for a time. With each passing day, the world seemed to be slowly unraveling at the seams, and only a few ponies were holding it together. Like Valiant, he was worried about Equestria’s foreign affairs, and of their stake with their allies.
But it wasn’t their fight. Equestria didn’t need another war. Hell, he didn’t even know which side he supported.
They were finally at peace again—truly at peace. There was no dark threat looming in the shadows; no doomsday heralded ahead. Equestria had finally reached a point of harmony, and he had to agree with the princesses. There was no need to compromise what they had fought so hard for.
And in truth, he was worried about Fireteam Union. Not because he felt they would be their replacements, but because he felt they were very temporary. They had not been established based on tactical skill, like Skyfall had. They were the crash test of a new breed of soldier: a counter offensive unit, akin to Skyfall, but built on the rigidity of the military. They were ordinary soldiers, retrained and sent off to be heroes.
Deep down, in the pit of his gut, Fleethoof had a bad feeling about the whole ordeal.
He glanced up at the screen in the boardroom. He hadn’t noticed it before, but somepony had turned it on. The monitor displayed a current world map. Down in the southern lands of Saddle Arabia, little diagrams of troops progressed back and forth in projected movement patterns. Details of engagements appeared in real time. He was watching a war through a TV screen.
A war that never ended…
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So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Fireteam Union is going to let success go to their heads and defect, or the bat ponies are going to. Either way, this is going to kick ass.
imma bout to readd the fuck out of this
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Enjoy it!
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With lots of caffeine, ideas, and late hours into Luna's beautiful nights.
And maybe now the Royal Guard will be a formidable fighting force once again! Hooah!
My guess is that Saddle Arabia is having either a blood feud, or border dispute with an enemy that they've been fighting for years it sounds like.
Silver out!
6,666 words so far? Megalith -Agnus Dei- incoming!
Or is it just a coincidence?
Either way, this looks promising. I need to finish translating my first story to my mother language so I can start with the sequel.
Well I have to say... this is starting out to my favorite of what you've made... and that's saying something. I think part of that might be because I feel like your writing has gotten a lot better from all the practice.
I'm looking forward to seeing where you're going with this and what's up next for team Skyfall... also for some reason I have given Cupcake a Russian accent.
Love the world you've created!
2283422 why u gotta use the armys shit. marines are the shock troops oorah
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dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4417-cadencefire.gif
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It's so interesting to know who everybody likes in the team. I've been considering making a poll to see who is the most likable. I'm glad you're loving it so far! they do say practice makes perfect, so maybe!
I imagined Cupcake with a Russian (Northern in Equestrian terms) accent too, so you're hearing him right! Glad you like it in here! I'll be sure to release the world map soon for everyone to immerse themselves in further.
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Oorah!
I only knew the Army's version
2286524 Looking forward to it!
Dusk, this is the most beatiful fic ever (next to mine), and it has the batponies, I love those things!
2285352 Well you wanna be a specialist go to the army. If you want be ultra badass go to the Mareines *rimshot*
2292283 marine corps has POGs too. we just think of them as civilians in uniforms. What do you mean by specialist? cause i had specialties when i was in afghanistan, i was a 203 grenadier, point man, sweaper, lead vic driver. ECM operator.... there is way more to learn in the infantry that most people think. modern warfare is to complex for just man with a gun. you gotta be a jack of all trades. the only downfall to being a grunt is that your skillsets dont transfer well to the civilian world. that and for some reason in modern america so many people are afraid of combat veterans for some fucking reason. if im at a party and i tell them what i do people seem to avoid me. im still a nice guy.
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If it weren't for combat veterans and my love of the military and warfare, none of this story would exist. You've got a friend in me.
2294162 well it wasn't to offend. I meant that the Army has large amounts of mechanics and artillery, and the marines are the assult and the army supports and assaults. Sorry if I offended you, I know that you're a jack of all trades, that's really awesome, in my opinion.
2294213 lol no i wasnt taking it that way at all. but you would be surprised that the marine corps has all the logistics it needs to support itself. the marine corps has 180k marines but only 32k of us are infantry. the other 150k are intel, logistics, aviation, armored, and administration. Their job is to support the grunts. I take pride in being a ground pounder and we let the POGs know that they are not like us but we do relly on them to provide us with what we need to do what we do.
2294184 I thank you for your support and your good reading material. And if you want to see the places iv been you shoul watch this documentary called "To hell and back" im in 3/8 and was in that AO in 2012, the doc is about 2/8 one of our sister battalions in the same place i was but back in 2009.
2294184 it shoud provide you with insight on counter insurgency if thats what your new story has anything to do with
2294264 Wow, forget the SEALs, the Marines are badass!
2294320 The SEALs are fun guys to work with. though they are a little excessive with their toys at times. For example they blew up an afghanis door that we could have just kicked open just because they wanted to use some C4. Most people dont realize this but regular marine infantry are qualified to be used in special missions just like the army rangers. Thats why we say a Ranger is the same as a marine grunt. they just like to call themselves special forces for some reason.
SEALs and marines have a mutual respect for eachother. we are each the best of the best when it comes to our specific mission types. if you got to fuck up some guys in a small compound use the SEALs. if you gotta fuck up an entire Town send in the marines. Read "american Sniper" by the late Chris Kyle. when SEALs and Marines work together shit is gonna go down
2294362 You worked with the SEALs!? That's awesome! I salute you sir! Man, you've done some pretty cool things in you're career, huh.
2294815 It was a very boring OP though. the fuckers we wanted to get were not home. Its more fun working with afghan special forces actualy because of the hilarity of the laungage barrier
2294831 did they know English well, or was it nanu nanu between you guys.
2294845 well i for one learned a lot of Pashtu so i was able to communicate at a basic level with the ANP and NDS that worked in the area. the NDS is like afghani CIA. we did some fun raids with them, they are some crazy ass people. the problem with afghanistan being such a tribal deographic country is that people speek dari, pashtu,tajik and, uzbek and a bunch of other languages. the ANA spoke mostly dari which i didnt learn so operations with them were kind of like a wacky game of scherades. i had the most fun messing with the ANP and NDS. id tell them i saw a certain villager fucking a goat and they would make fun of the poor guy who was like. "NA PUSA KUN RHAKA!!!!" (i dont fuck goats!!!) whe ever we captured some taliban i would insult the shit out of them in pashtu and the ANP would cover me by saying i didnt even know pashtu when the detainie complained about bad treatment. We had a hell of a lot of fun.
Some of them did speek some english. mostly the ANA because they are for the most part recruited from the northern areas of afgha nistan where they have a little bit of education. We would pull pranks on eachother like cutting the stingers off scorpions and throwing them at the isectophobes. some jokes cross all language barriers
2294896 That's pretty damn funny.
You... You will continue this. Now.
2308228 Dammit, you made a shipping within a story. Called the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, my first grade teacher!
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Is it wrong? Hell no! You're American, you're free to ship anything you want! Personally, I cast my vote for FleetNight - sounds cooler.
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i.qkme.me/3s18h4.jpg
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If it exists, someone will ship it. Personally, I think it's awesome people are shipping my characters. It means I'm making them real enough with enough personality to be given romantic aspects!
2309961 I know, just please readers, don't make this whole story love. Twilight could have been badass without romance (jk, twilight can never be badass, and I mean the book.)
Update already.
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Twilight minus the romance...
So Twilight would have been a better book if it were a cover filled with blank pages?
That actually sounds like a legitimate argument
But don't hate too much on romance. Emotion gives character depth, and gives fans something to fight over. Even if it's not your particular taste, it's a very useful tool to utilize.
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You too! I can update, but without action from Union for a reaction from Skyfall's side, I can only get so far. Help me help you.
2316158 I don't either, but Twilight kinda ruined vampires for me. I didn't even really like vampires. Romance is good, but I feel that romance is just to dominant.
Will King Alaric and the griffon army hire the Storm King, his army, and his fleet of airships for a surprise attack on Canterlot? Behind the scenes, the Storm King is waiting for both the griffon army and the pony army to weaken each other to the point where the Storm King can take over both nations without much effort.