"I don't know what to tell you Princess... they're coming from everywhere. Reports of Griffonian ships landing in the North Eastern regions..." Dash frowned as she looked up to Princess Celestia.
"We can longer stand by. This has escalated into open war. We are under a serious threat from the communists. If they are allowed to take Northern Equestria then they will be able to use that region as a staging area for an invasion for the rest of the coutnry."
Princess Celestia closed her eyes and thought deeply.
"I don't know what we can do... I just hope the Crusaders aren't too late..."
HYENA PUBLISHING PRESENTS...
AN ELAINE SPITZER NOVEL...
BATTLEFIELD|EQUESTRIA
The Griffonia Connection...
By Elaine Spitzer
14 DAYS EARLIER...
CHAPTER ONE | OPERATION ICEBREAKER
Mary-Louise "Scootaloo" Scooterson
Somewhere on the Equestrian/Foal Chi Minh Border
July 22nd, 2015
2229 HRS
Scootaloo opened her eyes. There was a second of blackness before she realised where she was and why. Crawling out from under the dusty tent she gazed around outside. Trees... a burnt out campfire... she remembered she was on an important mission. Reluctantly she picked herself up and got to walking, more like staggering though. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and let the warmth of the Northern sun embrace her. She wasn't quite used to the heat. Ponyville was comfortably warm and even then, it was mostly a pleasant coolness most of the time. Here the heat made the air quite thick, even the ocassional gusts of wind seemed to be dry.
She remebered what Dash had told her... why she was there.
"Just get in, find evidence of Griffon activity and get out. And don't fuck up."
"I don't fuck up. That's why they chose me to do this job." she had rembered saying. And now it was time to prove the truth in those statements. They say actions speak louder than words, and clearly now was a time to prove it.
Scootaloo gazed at her hoof-watch; eleven-thirty. The scorching rays of the sun penetrated shot through the spaces between the tall trees, making an intricate pattern of light rays amongst the shadows. She reached into her saddlebag and produced a cap and some shades. No body armour: she couldn't see the point. It weighed you down and if they were going to kill you
they'd aim for the head. No firearms either, just a small combat knife in case things got out of hoof. If things DID get out of hoof she'd probably get executed by the communist insurgents who were practically crawling over every inch of Foal Chi Minh.
Seeing the river ahead, she picked up the pace. The dead foliage crunched underneath her hooves as she found herself at the river's edge. Across the expanse of rapidly flowing water was Foal Chi Minh: a relatively small country which was 95% dense tropical rainforest, and snow capped peaks far in the North.
Scootaloo flapped her wings and hovered over the river and plopped down on the other side. It was time to find out the truth about what was really going on in that quaint country in the North of Equestria. Hopefully Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were already well on their way to the rendevouz point... if they hadn't gotten themselves horribly mangled on the way. She found a little patch of grass and laid down, looking out for the two ponies who were supposed to meet her there. She lazily gazed around, content that the tall grass would conceal her, yet provide enough visibility to look out for her comrades. She sighed as she allowed the warm sun to fall over her back.
Rainbow Dash
Canterlot Grand Hotel
July 22nd, 2015
2250 HRS
Rainbow Dash approached the mare at the desk half-heartedly, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
"Going already miss?"
"Yep. Business as usual."
"Come back soon." she said, with a blank expression.
The noon sun bathed the cobbled streets of Canterlot in a warm, bright light. The weather was just how she liked: scorching hot. After all, it was Summer and the time would come for all the beautiful mares to start lining the beaches and tan their rumps but for now, Dash had to wait before she could indulge her fetishes. Business was business and it was time to get down to it.
The tall white and gold trimmed building towerd on either side of her like a line of fortifications, the sun glistening off flawlessly clean windows, glaring Dash slightly. She took a turn into a narrow alleyway and waited. Before long, a grizzled unicorn entered the alleyway with her. He wore a tattered tweed jacket with patches of cloth obviously taken from different jackets of the same color but not quite the same material. A Franenstein's monster of a jacket.
The unicorn grinned up at her.
"Ahh Dash, you're here."
"Blueblood... it's been a while. And what the hay's up with that thing you're wearing." Dash laughed.
"This old thing? Bah... It reminds me of my youth." Blueblood mused, brushing his long grey hair to one side.
"Which part?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow.
Blueblood didn't need to answer, the expression on his face changed as he mused back on when he had been a billionaire playboy royal. Most idle moments working at the CFSA involved sitting in an office... idle time where he could really muse on his past, but not really in the good way. Wearing the old tattered jacket instilled in him a sense of humility.
"Blueblood?" Dash's words snapped him out of his daze.
"Ah, yes. The documents." Blueblood ushered Dash along the narrow street. It was quite a long walk until they approached what appeared to be a small apartment building. They approached the door and Blueblood slid in a key, turning it with his hoof. The two entered into the little room.
The interior smelled of oil, hayfries, alcohol and to an extent, cigarette smoke. Blueblood noticed the expression on Dash's face as he turned on the light.
"You living in this dump?"
Blueblood shrugged. "Wife threw me out."
"Again? I thought you'd got the message by now."
Blueblood let out a laugh and picked up a stray cigarette from the coffee table in the middle of the room and stuck it in his mouth.
"My ancestors used to live in wooden huts. Oh how far us unicorns have come... from wooden huts to shitty apartment blocks. You see! We're moving up in the world." he lit the cigarette with his unicorn magic and inhaled deeply, the feeling of the carcinogens flooding his lungs relaxing him.
Rainbow Dash simply nodded; mostly out of sympathy.
"Eh, she'll get over it eventually. She always does. But still, Rarity has standards you know. One look in here and she might decide to divorce me altogether. It's better than living in the streets anyway." Blueblood puffed a thick plume of cigarette smoke.
"Anyway, as you know Princess Celestia has authorized us to send in Crusader Team into Foal Chi Minh. And well, it's mostly under wraps but here's what I found out." Blueblood produced a yellow dossier from underneath the coffee table. He opened it up, revealing a few pictures and documents. The pictures showed Griffons in Foal Chi Minh, a pony holding up a Griffon Communist Party flag, a storehouse full of ammunition.
"This is... a lot." Rainbow Dash's eyes gazed on the documents now.
"Griffon activity in Foal Chi Minh? But why?"
"That's just the thing... we don't know why. Contact with the government in Griffonia has been lost for the past 42 hours... ever since that communist takeover last week." Blueblood frowned.
"I have a bad feeling about this...." Rainbow Dash said as she continued reading the documents... "Something big is about to happen in that country..."
CHAPTER TWO | SEMPER FIDELIS
Mary-Louise "Scootaloo" Scooterson
Somewhere on the Equestrian/Foal Chi Minh Border
July 22nd, 2015
0130 HRS
Scootaloo had been in waiting for some time now. The dust had formed a layer over her coat and mane.
"Damn, where are they..." she mumbled. Not too far away, several specks shifted. Scootaloo strained to see the two figures walking in the distance. Right on schedule, it was a unicorn and an earth pony wearing khaki drabs and matching saddle bags.
She picked herself up and waved the two down.
"Decided to take the scenic route eh?" Scootaloo said, unimpressed.
"We kinda got... lost. Sweetie Belle here ain't exactly the best map reader around." Applebloom glared at the unicorn.
"Well, at least we're here now." Sweetie let out a nervous smile.
"You see anything on your way here?" said Scootaloo.
"Well, we saw ah couple'f trucks headed North. It was definitley Griffonian vehicles." Applebloom said.
"Well, that's not good... but we still need concrete evidence of what exactly they're doing." Scootaloo said. "We need to maintain the timeline. The village where the meeting will be taking place is not too far North..."
"Same place those trucks were heading." Sweetie said, looking rather smug at making the connection.
"No shit sherlock... anyway we need to go now. Follow me..." Scootaloo said as the trio headed off...
Sergeant Elkheart Lightning
Checkpoint Delta, Hill 700, Foal Chi Minh
July 22nd, 2015
0135 HRS
"This is Arrow zero-two, we're in place." the earth pony crouched low in the bushes as the truck convoy passed by. "Definitely Griffonian vehicles... the village is not too far ahead, we're going to follow them. Over." Lightning looked back to the two other earth ponies who had accompanied him and gestured them to follow him.
The trucks were moving at a slow pace, enough for the ponies to follow along the thick foliage on either side of the road. They followed the 3-truck convoy for about 15 minutes until it had come to a complete stop in the middle of a small village.
"Ok guys... don't make a sound... they're exiting the vehicles..." Lightning said.
Several griffons exited the trucks, dressed in olive green garb with a red armband and the trademark hammer and sickle of the communist party. Out of the last truck however, two ponies were ushered out.
"You seeing this..." Lightning said, his eyes wide open.
"Shit... that's Arrow one-one." came the voice of the private beside him.
"This don't look good..." Lightning said.
Another griffon exited the driver's seat ushering the two ponies into a hut and following them in.
"We gotta do something..." the young private said.
"Nothing we can do..." Lightning clenched his teeth as ammunition was unloaded from the other two lead trucks.
The grizzled griffon soldier grunted as he tied the two earth ponies to poles on opposite ends of the room. After this, he left the hut.
"Now..." another pony stepped into the hut wearing a dirty military garb and a red communist arm band. "You tell me what you doin' here, ah?" the two ponies remained silent.
The griffon on standby punched one of the ponies in the gut. The earth pony gagged but remained silent.
"We'll get it out of them eventually." muttered the griffon.
Mary-Louise "Scootaloo" Scooterson
Hill 700, Foal Chi Minh
July 22nd, 2015
0150 HRS
"There it is... that's the village." Scootaloo scanned the small village with her binoculars. "Shit... Charlie's all over the damn place. No sign of Griffon activity but those are Griffon vehicles right over there."
"So it's true. The commies are helping out the FCH Liberation Army." Applebloom took out a crossbow from her saddlebag, strapping it to her hoof and loading a bolt. "So are we going in?" a piercing howl of pain emanated from one of the huts.
"I guess that means we're going in." Scootaloo said. "Applebloom, stay here and provide overwatch. Sweetie Belle, follow me. There might be POW's in the camp. I'm guessing it may be the missing Arrow-One team."
"Roger." Applebloom dropped to a prone position.
"Sweetie, you know how to use this right?" she hoofed her karambit knife to the unicorn.
"Of course! They wouldn't have thrown me in with you guys if I couldn't handle myself." Sweetie gave Scootaloo a little wink.
"Of course." the two ponies carefully climbed down the hill, careful not to draw too much attention. They slipped behind one of the huts and crawled underneath.
"Ok, the hut is over there. We're going to go underneath these huts and then enter when it's clear. Luckily Charlie seems to be congregating somewhere over yonder." Scootaloo whispered, pointing to the large crowd of raggedy ponies who were gathering in front of a small sheltered stage.
Scootaloo pulled out another smaller knife and stuck it in her mouth as the duo continued their slow crawl under the wooden huts.
"Look out... tango dead ahead." Sweetie Belle whispered.
"I'll take care of this." Scootaloo smirked as she crawled up to the pair of hooves standing at the edge of the hut. With a quick movement, she pulled the hapless pony underneath the hut, quickly sticking the knife into his throat.
"Ok clear..." Scootaloo said as she dragged the rest of the pony's body under the hut. "The target building is just up ahead."
"Got it." Sweetie Belle whispered.
Another pair of hooves appeared at the edge of the building.
"Wait..." Scootaloo whispered.
"Ah'll be back ah. Make sure you ge'it out of him when I come back. I'll be at the show." the pony said, quickly walking off to where the other ponies were gathering to see a musical performance.
"Okay coast is clear..." Scootaloo said, poking her head out from underneath the hut. All of the ponies were busy at the mini concert which was at full swing, all of them singing and dancing along to traditional folk tunes.
"Stay close, we're going in." Scootaloo extended her hoof to help Sweetie Belle out.
"Ugh, my sister would have a heart attack if she saw me this dirty." Sweetie Belle said as she dusted herself off.
Scootaloo took her place at the side of the doorway. She pushed the door open a crack and peered inside.
"Still not going to talk?" the griffon growled at the pony tied to the pole.
"Shit..." Scootaloo said. "They've got POW's in there..." she opened the door fully and threw the knife at the griffon, hitting him squarely in the back of the head. The tall griffon twitched a little bit before falling dead to the floor.
Scootaloo took the knife from the dead griffon's head before proceeding to untie the pony from the pole.
"I didn't tell them shit..." the pony said, tears rolling down his eyes.
"I know." Scootaloo looked up to the bloodied corpse of his dead comrade, tied to a pole on the opposite end of the room. "What's your name soldier?"
"Saschen Spinster, ma'am." Sweetie Belle had already begun to take out a medical kit from her saddlebag.
"Are there any more of you here? Where's the rest of Arrow Zero-One?" Scootaloo said.
"They're being held around the back of the officer's hut. It's... the one right at the end with the Foal Chi Minh flag." Spin said, biting his lip in pain as Sweetie Belle applied antiseptic to his wounds.
"Sweetie Belle, take Spin and get out of here. Do it quietly. I'm going to try and free the rest of the POW's." Scootaloo took a peek outside where the music was still playing loudly. "They're not going to be doing that forever, I need to get our guys and high tail it out of this place."
"Will do. Be careful Scoots." Sweetie Belle said as she helped Spin to his hooves.
"Right..." at that, Scootaloo was off."
Sergeant Elkheart Lightning
Hill 700, Foal Chi Minh
July 22nd, 2015
0210 HRS
"What's that?" Lightning said, his mouth wide open.
"A huge girffon convoy heading South!" the skinny private said.
"But... that's the border to Equestria! Why on earth are they heading South?"
"I don't know, but we need to get out of here quick and alert Overlord-Zero."
"What about the POW's?" one of the ponies said, a corporal.
"Crusader Team is has hooves on the ground. We'll just have to leave it to them. We need to get back across the river and radio command." Lightning said.
"I hope you're right about this sir..." the private said as the three ponies took off into the distance.
Mary-Louise "Scootaloo" Scooterson
Hill 700, Foal Chi Minh
July 22nd, 2015
0212 HRS
Scootaloo kept low, skirting around buildings and ducking into bushes as she made her way to the officer's hut which was located dangerously close to where the singing and dancing had been going on. She made her way quietly toward the back where a little pit had been dug. Inside were two very sick looking ponies who had obviously been there for some time.
"Hold on, I'll get you out..." Scootaloo attempted to shake open the wooden gate above them.
"The key... with the... officer..." one of the ponies said weakly.
"Got it..." Scootaloo quickly climbed up to the window at the back of the hut and peered in carefully. Inside, the officer was sleeping.
"Perfect..." Scootaloo crawled in and stuck her knife into the officer's throat, spilling copious amounts of gore onto the white bedsheets. Quickly, she searched around the desk and found the key. She jumped back out the window and opened the wooden doors that sealed the POW's into the muddy pit.
"Stop right there..." came a hoarse voice. "Turn around." Scootaloo did as she was told, dropping the wooden gate back into place. Before her were two griffons pointing automatic rifles right at her...
